year 2016
the good stuff of 2016
I bought 3 music albums.
Le trio Joubran-as fâr and Majâz. Amazing music from palestine!
radiohead a moon shaped pool.
ben milstein-untitled EP : sweet intricate electro
I bought one ski movie: Sam favret : backyard: sweet film showing the chamonix backyard and sam’s crew. Amazing imagery and editing.
my other favorite ski movies were : jordan manley: china and jordan manley: Iran
Manley is still my favorite .
and also: la liste where jeremy heitz show us how to ski steep today.
2016 started at the infamous berghain
All kind of Chamonix happened.
chamonix, france, cosmique couloir
couloir alley italey
couloir alley italey
lofoten norway
lofoten norway, sauna-bath at lofoten ski lodge
lofoten norway
tokyo japan
tokyo japan
hakuba japan
hakuba japan
california
la grave
fly
I watched people flying , it is a good option when there is no snow…i may jump onto that sport. 
parapente , hangliding, aiguille du midi, aiguille de chamonix
parapente , hangliding
parapente , hangliding
mallory, aiguille du midi, climbers, sam favret
finding skiing in the desert
The Alps under high pressure, we can’t breath in Chamonix. Skiing can still be fun , sometime finding pockets of ancestral cold powder, some fun days out here and there with good company…
mont blanc
flo tomei
rosanna.hughes
aiguille du midi
aiguille du midi
somewhere in italy
giulia monego
giulia monego-Davide de masi
giulia monego
giulia monego-davide capozzi
At the top of a powder face , binding broke. Luckily the snowboarder Davide Capozzi comes to the rescue with a spare toe binding in his pocket and a screwdriver . pretty unusual-random. saved the day.
davide capozzi-davide de masi
giulia monego-davide capozzi
giulia monego
dry-chamonix
It is currently very dry in chamonix and the Alps in general. Although the high mountains are skiable, anything under 2500M is grass. It is of course not necessarily due to the global warming trend but if you add it to the arctic being 20c warmer than it should be.Over 61 millions americans voted trump and believe global warming is a chinese hoax-we should keep drilling everywhere-keep using as much fossil fuel as possible and fuck the research for better energy sources. This is worrisome . Meanwhile in chamonix , we breath the most polluted air in France, we have no snow in december. Oh well!
chamonix in december
US-101
In my 20 years in the US west coast i have never been up the 101 freeway past eureka. I took advantage of a 10 days vacation to go on road trip from eureka to port angeles at the end of the 101. From there I took the 20 east and the scenic north cascade freeway . Then the 5 freeway fast down back to California. In 1500 miles I encountered only one city-portland, absolute amazing wilderness, whales, many sunsets , full moon and the bird. It was a spectacular road trip. I have a few shots taken on the way…Next is carry on to Canada …
the view from michael “bird”shaffer house, in twisp
the bird house
shower around twisp
winthrop
north cascade road
rainier from port townsend
chris riding in the woods by garberville
leavenworth
twisp
twisp
michael shaffer . our shower
rainier from port townsend
Namibia
To get away from it all i opted to volunteer and work toward conservation , rehabilitation and research at the N/a’an ku sê foundation in Namibia. Go on their site at http://naankuse.com , they describe their mission and goal, very impressive. I was introduced to it via the great projects who specialize in volunteering trips around the world
I spent a little time at the sanctuary a 3200 hectare property sanctuary for animals in need of rescue, rehabilitation and sometimes relocation. Food prep, animal walk, game count , set up camera trap, animal feed, are a few of the the thing to do there.
Then i went to the very scenic and impressive Kanaan Desert location , 33000 hectares to establish there an unfenced wildlife reserve, which is based on scientific and sustainable management practices and which provides refuge for a suite of endangered species such as cheetah and hyena. The work there are taking down fences, game count, camera trap management, data processing, locate hyaenas , cheetahs or leopard tracks, poop or marking in order to define a pattern , install a camera trap and connect the dots…the project there is mostly on assessing the population of spotted hyaenas outside of game park.
after that i went to the neuras conservation and wine estate, 14,500 hectare. A sort of oasis in the desert with a vineyard , the longest canyon in the world. The work there was mostly like at kanaan, walk a lot and figure out the hyaenas. Study that hasn’t been done since the 90’s…how many hyaenas outside of game park?
It was an amazing and fulfilling time with amazing people, animals and scenics. A much better option, i think, than expensive safaris or backpacking in that region. It is also sending a positive sign to the tourist industry in regions where there is still wild life and must be protected.
My experience in namibia with locals as well as participating in conservation was far more enriching than any backpacking trip i did anywhere in the world. Tourism and backpacking is to me so passè and overrated . Participating is much better than just being a consumer…the great projects organizations has many trips around the world where you can participate and mix it up with locals as well as learn and have an over all good time. Visit them…
zebras
pool
river
river
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
dead vlei
viyard
namibia highway
pizza night
braai
braai
sandboard
breakfast
oryx
oryx
spring box
springbox
oryx
oryx
ostrich
oryx
vervet monkey
vervet monkey
samira was brought in young, people kept her as pet and fed her veggies and dog food. cheetahs are strictly carnivores …she was malnourished. she is now the oldest cheetah with the loudest purr
this is gobelina….brought to the sanctuary as a part of 5 lions . gobelina and male had to be separated , they were fighting. then a honey badger cut meatballs balls. Meat ball died of infection.
leopard
jackal
montenver
this was probably the last valley blanche/grand enver of the season and it was damn good. !
mid may valley blanche
aiguille du midi. stormy.
scary mob
aiguille du midi
seth morrison, ally watson, michael shaffer
a bird
aiguille du midi
dave searle
seth morrison, ally watson, michael shaffer
lurking
I hung out at the top of the aiguille du midi . That is all.
Climbers on the cosmic ridge
cosmique ridge
people walking on the white desert toward the refuge des grand mulets and mont blanc summit
voie normal mont blanc
By far my favorite ski run.the south west face of les droites. Not the hardest, steepest or most bad ass by today’s standard but my favorite. One of my ambition was to climb the north face and ski that face. Never found the partner to do it with…
west face les droite
the tour ronde north face with all the satellites : adolphe rey, or de siam, capucin. great memories, great summits, great climbs. and ski.
north face tour ronde, pointe adolphe rey, grand capucin
dent du géant
dent du géant
skiers in the rond
skiers
cervin, grand combin, triolet
choucas
radness
mont blanc du tacul
shaffer
And of course, a wing suit pilot jumped…
wing suit. aiguille du midi
Refuge des grand Mulets
the refuge des grand mulets is one of my favorite refuge. Sitting on a rock at 3000 meters in an ocean of chaos. It is on the original itinerary of Mont blanc summit and now is used mostly by skiers in spring. I may do a trip there this year. most likely.
steeps
This past 20 days i haven’t skied at all but the conditions were all time and i watched the history of steep skiing unfold …it was very entertaining. The cult of self providing 3 min bad video footages and mostly bad pictures of everyone’s steep descents all over the social medias. While it was all bad quality it was showing a nice view of the steep skiing phenomena …I was baffled by the amount of good alpinists and skiers tackling 5.4 and 5.5 runs all over the mont blanc massif. I lived in chamonix for 10 years , not an alpinist, it took me 4 years before i could get on the north faces of the midi or runs on the argentiere basin north faces. I never heard of anyone skiing the north faces of the midi or the col de la verte within my first 4 years. Today with the new gear technology, every alpinists can ski and every skier is better. It takes less than a season learning skiing for an alpinist to tackle a 5.4 run which on an alpinist point of view is just a easy descent they usually run down on crampons. I saw young skiers skiing the mallory on their first season in chamonix (with a friend alpinist or guide) . So, anytime things are good (global warming helping), people line up on every run. This past 20 days was the biggest so far with every ski runs in the argentiere basin north face skied by minimum 10 people, sometime 20 people or more , the aiguille du plan north faces , pain de sucre, frendo, all the runs on the aiguille du midi skied by many. Most with huge G.S turns at mack2. Amazing. If, people were less competitive, less self centered, the medias/industry more unifying, interested and honest, the best ski movie of all time could have been made this steep season including rock star pros as well as struggling sponsored dirt bags and all the other passionate freaks. Instead, we will hear about some privileged prefabricated super hero athletes skiing whatever something in the alps or exotic location in a fabricated story with all sort of superlatives and logos claiming first decent of a 30 meters variations … I randomly stumbled on the descent of the Nant blanc by Alex Pittin, tony Lamiche and Hélias Millerioux. The nant blanc face is the most impressive, intimidating , steep and exposed face visible from the valley. The climbing is a D+ the skiing a 5.5. It was first skied by J.M Boivin in june 1989, repeated on snowboard by Marco Siffredi in june 1999. repeated again by Pierre Tardivel and Stephane Brosse in june 2009 and then by 2 of the T-crew and more (?). This mid April, Pittin (ex world cup skier) with tony Lamiche (guide, 9A rock climber , alpinist, skier) and Hélias Millerioux (guide, top alpinist, hangs out on Nupse with colin haley and ueli steck) were the first on this face, arguably the most beautiful face visible from the valley. I enjoyed the descent with Alex pittin’s father who was a little stressed and I took some photos. It was very nice. A very clean descent from first bin grand montet on sight. I’ve never been interested in skiing that face myself. I would need an alpinist for partner on that one. But you never know, 5 years from now, that face might get good from january on, until then , this face will get skied a lot more in the next month or so…
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This is the argentiere basin north faces , All those approximate red lines show the ski runs, in the past 20 days , each one of those receive between 10 to 30 skiers.
argentiere basin
this is the top of the aiguille verte, on the top left you can see 3 skiers going up. they skied down the couturier (i saw 9 skiers that day going that way). on the right of the calotte, you can see helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin getting involved in the Nant blanc face.
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
this is Alex father watching the descent a little stressed.
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
nant blanc, helias millerious,tony lamiche, alex pittin
a stormy rond and cosmique . a sunny valley blanche
jeremy heitz, laurent gauthier, leo slemmett, christopher baud, logan pehota
leo slemmett
jeremy heitz
laurent gauthier
laurent gauthier
jeremy heitz
logan pehota
logan pehota
logan pehota
logan pehota
logan pehota
logan pehota
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- logan pehota
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- jeremy heitz, logan pehota
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- jeremy heitz, laurent gauthier, leo slemmett, christopher baud, logan pehota, tof henry
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- jeremy heitz, laurent gauthier, leo slemmett, christopher baud, logan pehota
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- christopher baud, leo slemmett
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- jeremy heitz, laurent gauthier, logan pehota, slemmett
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- Pica herry, Lambert , sam favret
re-entry – Chamonix
Back in Chamonix , My friend from San Fransisco was at my flat for another day so i took him down the cosmique back to cham via the junction. The cosmic had been tracked and was OK but the junction was all time …what a beautiful way to come back and a memorable last day for my friend.
next day 10 of us took a heli up the petit mont blanc to ski the super classic bonatti couloir to celebrate our friend lionel hatchemi aka so-connard birthday . A classic day. so-local. next morning was hang over day.
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- seth Morrison
we went with tof henry to try to shoot something nice but it wasn’t in the way we wanted.
Lofoten Norway
Lofoten being talked about in the Chamonix ski scene extensively every goddamn year, i naturally want to go .The Chamonix february crowd was not inspiring so Minna and myself decided on an early arctic trip hoping to capture some magic winter light and powder with my lens. We stayed at the Lofoten ski lodge link. which is pricey for a dirt bag like myself (i almost puked in my mouth when minna talked about the price) but worth every penny. Seth Hobbit’s knowledge on the area is worth a million $ and Maren will make sure you are very comfortable. It is full board: breakfast , lunch , waffle apres-ski and dinner with local fish and every thing fresh and tasty superbly cooked by their chef. The lodge sits on the water with comfortable cabins spread around. At night the sun wind comes in. The skiing is spectacular, couloirs everywhere, hanging faces, big bowls of powders, steep stuff all around fjords. I was here to make good images so we were chasing the light more than the great classic or first or gnarly . The weather was difficult , typical lofoten changing weather at first to consistently grey later. The snow was also variable. I didn’t get “the shot” but i will surely come back for more light and powder and maybe for skiing something big, steep and gnarly. The changing weather and light make the place magical and mystical. Skiing lofoten and staying at the lodge is truly a priceless ski dream experience.
The Host: Seth, Maren and family.
Minna Riihimaki diving in the ocean outside the sauna. ((which we did every eve))
Sun wind and the lodge
lodge
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- caught this morning for dinner tonight
ski
ski and views.
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- Michelle
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- Michelle
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- Michelle
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- Ross hewitt and Michelle joined us
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- Ross , Michelle, Minna
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- michelle
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- Ross
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- Michelle, Minna
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- minna riihimaki
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- mina riihimaki. lofoten. norway
Every morning view from the lodge.no filter.
Fish heads
surf
views
Hakuba . Japan. 2
We had to sit thru a few rain days. Drinking beers, netflix, taking the train to the beach on the sea of japan. Visiting temple. eating fresh shrimps. Eat the deadly blowfish. Rain in Hakuba mid february is not completely unusual. Yet, Can it be global warming. We burned jet fuel to fly half way around the world to find rain. I find this uncomfortably amusing.
The snow finally came in. We got a good taste of what that Japow forrest storm riding is all about. It is good indeed. Fluffy pow. space out trees. Beautiful.
next day was a pretty good japanese blue bird.
we arrived in Tokyo a day late at night after a day skiing. We stayed at those capsule hotel so typical of japan. Japanese being civil, well mannered the place is pleasant …no loud douche banging on walls, destroying things , puking all over… it is well organized which makes it a good cheap option in the center of tokyo. Tokyo was a bit overwhelming after a week in the mountains…I thought of Japan being an expensive destination, it was not. The plane tickets were 400 euros on turkish airline which happens to be a great airline. The lodging in Tokyo at the Oak Hostel Zen on the first night and at the Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel were 25 euros a nights. In Hakuba we stayed at the west coast inn for 307 euros for 7 days. All those were very clean and comfortable. We bought points for lifts which ended up costing 20 euros a day. The transport is where we spent the most , to and from tokyo was 30 euros by bus and about 80 euros taking the bullet train…the food isn’t more expensive than average europe or USA. So it was a very affordable and pleasant trip. Japeneses are amazingly welcoming and sweet and very helpful. We left our stuff unattended many times at busy train stations or subways and never feared to get them stolen. Amazing.
Hakuba-japan
I am currently enjoying Japan skiing. We went to hakuba on a low snow year thinking we could ski the higher peaks. However, as we rolled in so did the snow/rain. It isn’t Japow yet but it is on its way…
Cedric Bernardini 