The skiing is a bit boney at the moment.. We desperately need more snow in the alps but that being said its always worth going out and enjoying the good weather! Thanks to Ross Hewitt, Johnny Collinson and Griffin Post for a sweet day.
When It Comes…
If your a fan of reading Chamonix based blogs it’s likely that you’ve not been reading mine very much recently! But why would you? I’ve not written anything for a while and there are surely some better options for you out there right now. First off I’d like to apologise to anyone who genuinely cares what I’ve been up to (Mum and Dad?!) and say that I’ll try harder to put some content up on here for you. What follows is a wingey paragraph of why I’ve not done much and why I haven’t blogged. Feel free to skip to the one after.
Its been a tough winter to get out skiing and climbing. The weather has been all over the place, the snow has been weird and I’ve dealt with some tough emotions due to the loss of friends and changing circumstances. After a reasonable successful period in January and February, March has been a slightly frustrating month. I’ve started a new job For EpicTv.com which despite being an awesome job (ski reviewing!) its taken a lot of energy out of me. When I have had days off it’s either been poor weather or I’ve been feeling clapped out! BLAH BLAH BLAH…What a winger, geez.
I started with epictv back in Feb and was originally taken on as there web master for climbing and skiing content. After a few weeks they asked me to do a screen test for being the ski reviewer for their online shop. Somehow I got it and a few days later I was out on the hill skiing, shooting and reviewing skis for them. This gig should last for at least a few more weeks and its been awesome to have the chance to test so many different pairs of skis and get paid to do it! Sometimes skiing chairlifts can get a bit dull (I cant really help the fact I’m used to more excitement than that) but on the whole its been great fun and certainly the best work I’ve ever had!
When the stars align and I get a day off with good weather, snow and energy I feel pretty lucky that I have some super stoked friends and one of the best ski lifts in the world to harness my lust for big mountain skiing. Sometimes I think I’ll never forget the feeling of blasting fall line on some big skis in steep powder but it felt like a almost new sensation yesterday. Grinning ear to ear as I pushed down on the tips of my skis with my toes to give myself another face-full of cold snow.
Nothing new went down and it was really just another Midi powder day but it felt so so good to be out skiing for myself and with a pesky layer of cloud sat around 3000m it felt pretty adventurous navigating 20 or so lost freeriders back to the mid station after the first lap ;-).
More of the same soon please!! 🙂
Take Two….Gliere SE Couloir
Today we succeeded We succeeded in our goal of skiing this little known yet handsome SE Couloir of the Gliere. This, unlike most of the lines I have skied in the Aiguilles Rouges is actually reasonably involved with a few pitches of steep “no fall” skiing near the top. This was a great place to find my bindings weren’t properly set up and occasionally I would land a jump turn free-heel. Scary. We had been up to this couloir two days previously but found there was too much fresh snow and quickly realized we should be tree skiing. We turned back after three turns and ran back to the resort. Ross still got a few photo’s here….
Today was different. We had a clear view of where to go and how to get there (today I’m working so technically this was done on my lunch break!) and with the track already in from the top of the Cornu chair in Brevent we were up and starting to ski in no time. The snow was very firm at the top but got better the further down we got. Still it was an awesome line and well worth the effort. Here are some shots….
My Biggest Day this Winter.
Its been a slow few weeks mountains wise. Lots of snow has been falling and lots of leaving party’s to go to. Productivity has been low and therefor stuff to write about has been few and far between. Two days ago the clouds parted and the promise of good conditions saw me getting ready for a big day off the Midi. With my knee feeling good I was very psyched to get up and have a productive day. I meet my Friend Ross Hewitt and Si Christy. Continue reading
I’m Back!
I’ve been back in Chamonix for a couple of weeks now and it has been more or less solid work during this super busy holiday period. This week however I managed to make it out for a few hours of skiing! I have been working really hard on the physio and things are feeling really good. It seemed quite apt that my first days skiing since I broke my leg was at the Le Tour baby slope. This is where skiing started for me 4 years ago so it was a bizarre feeling to be starting all over again in the same place. The day after Le Tour I headed out for another ski at Brevent, which again went really well I even skied a black run. I’m so happy with how things have progressed since my injury and also very surprised by how quickly I have returned to sport. My surgeon told me initially that I wouldn’t be doing any sport untill at least 6 months after my op. It turned out to be 2 months and 12 days. There is still a way to go before I am back to my normal pace but I really can’t complain.
I’m looking forward to getting out in the big mountains again soon but for the mean time its more pistes and one legged squats!!
Jackson Hole Mini Skiing.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/21864555]
Found this video on-line made by Tristan Greszko. I recently got a new camera (cannon s95) and it has a miniature effect in the video capture mode. I had been trying to work out what it could be used for, but when I stumbled across this video it really showed me what is possible. Obviously Tristan has used a much better camera than mine but I am still blown away… Nice work!