August
LYSKAM summer ski mission
Luca Pandolfi called me up in the midst of a hot humid rainy mid summer period telling me we should go ski Lyskam. It is an amazing face in a zone i havent been so I dug out what i could find of my ski kit under- way- under the summer junks. Upon our arrival to the refuge, a picture of the face got me somewhat pessimistic, it looked like the rain had crusted the bottom half of the face. This is the type of face you want to ski with good big powdery turns, fluidly (or else you didn’t really ski it) … not really a jump turn- sideway skiing type thing. That said because of that: (what some would call) “snobbism” , i still havent skied the Couturier or the Gervasutti. On our way, we met with friends-ski world -movers and shakers joe vallone, PTOR and glen Plake who shared the same dreams . awesome!. At the summit , we made a few turns down the benedetti line on the N.face until we realized it was really gonna be miserable another 200 meters down. So we climbed back up and skied the other side. Oh well. im glad i saw that zone, a must do. I enjoy that kind of summer ski mission
The rest of August was unstable and rainy and crowded.I barely had windows to take my bike out on my days off. Dreaming i am getting dusted on the black rock desert celebrating hedonism. .
cosmojazz
Every year Andre Manoukian brings us the cosmojazz festival, A massive amount of amazing musicians from everywhere playing a wide very wide variety of jazz. Here some pictures of the Ethiopians ESTER RADA and the band from chicago who killed it in the center of cham : HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE from Chicago
HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE from Chicago
HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE from Chicago
HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE from Chicago
ESTER RADA: israeli ethiopienne singer and her awesome musicians.
ESTER RADA: israeli ethiopienne singer and her awesome musicians.
ESTER RADA: israeli ethiopienne singer and her awesome musicians.
ESTER RADA: israeli ethiopienne singer and her awesome musicians.
summer
between the rain and the job; Some climbing, biking…
blaitiere, ciseaux, fou, moon
Benoit Sancesario-Lasson- mont blanc
Benoit Sancesario-Lasson- mont blanc
sunsets
I am working night shift so I am waking up to this everyday…
mont blanc, mont maudit, tacul
aiguille de chamonix: grand charmoz, Grepon
aiguille de chamonix: blaitiere, ciseaux, fou
where people ski
tof henry
tof henry
michael “bird” shaffer
michael “bird” shaffer, julot berger
michael “bird” shaffer
ben briggs, mikko heimonen, jesper
y vouloir aiguille verte
Jesper petersson, mikko, ben briggs
aiguille du plan
Jordan Manley
Conditions in cham havent been very inviting so I’ve watched a lot of movies. After going thru my usual classic like “natural born killer” or “american beauty” and other “usual suspect” …i went back to the outdoor world and re watched All the Jordan Manley films. Those are still, by far, the best ski movies i have seen EVER. Well, to be fair, It is not your usual ski porn however they always take me somewhere with a well build atmosphere, good storyline and perfect imagery and most of all no bragging. They inspire me. To travel, go ski but also to maybe get into filming. More of a documentary/ski/poetic type stuff.
Unfortunately jordan is injured at the moment so nothing is new…but so good.
Argentina: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Dubai: A Skier’s Journey EP2 [S3] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Baffin Island: A Skier’s Journey EP2 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Iceland: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [S3] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Japan: A Skier’s Journey EP1 S3 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
A whole lot of nothing
It is spring , i am not working. My list of proud “tik” off that dream bucket should be huge by now. Not. I didn’t do shit. I tried a few time. Waited for a window, 8 hours at the top of the midi. I skied absolutely nothing worth writing about. But i hung out a lot , talked to a lot beautiful people. Partied a little. I had a spectacular last run down grand montet face on acid at sunset over a multicolored cloud. Hung out more. Good times really. The current conditions are not easy to read if you are on the lazy side of things…I am. it is good. Maybe i will score before it is too late. Or not. It is Ok.
Arolla-Zermatt-cosmique ridge
I got another side job, this time as a sherpa on a Corey Rich -marmot-polartec shoot. Being around another successful outdoor director was interesting. Especially Corey who was a bad ass climber/photographer bum living in a van back in those glorious yosemite days. His path is very unusual. Talented and hard worker his resume now goes from shooting gnarly climb up trango towers to apple ads and other nikon ads…impressive. check his website: coreyrich.com.
This time we had a drone which was fun to see those operate up in the alpines…not so practical but if you know what you are doing the footage from it are sick! To operate them isn’t all what you need , sean the pilot is a full on engineer able to trouble shoot and fix whatever bug there is on the drone or connections or fix the liaison between the drone and the monitor and so on. full job. Remote control operator could be a good idea for a lucrative career if you are into that. it is going to blow up…
Warren Miller entertainment. arolla
I was invited to follow Seth Morrison, Tim petrick, Heather Paul Featherman, Tom Day, Matty Moo herriger , Mike hattrup on a warren miller film segment shoot here around cham. The guide was Miles smart and the sherpa oli herren. The weather forecast was the typical spring unpredictable crap but Miles was able to make the best out of that, taking the crew to
arolla
where we were able to skin up to the refuge des vignettes ski a bunch of cool stuff. Next days heli ski the local classic couloirs with local young gun Gille Sierro. Back to cham on a very hot spring high pressure we went with helis back to swiss land ski some other classics . I managed to forget my ski boots on one of those epic heli days, ah , i will put it on my tiredness after working round the clock between that shoot and my nightshift desk job . It was all good times and pretty fun for me( ordinary ski bum) , to hang with people who have been shakers and movers in the ski world for quite sometimes now… We met with 1 swiss legend André Anzévui , the first to ski the north face of cervin among other beautiful swiss summit…I love flying with choppers, i won’t deny that. I should get my pilot license. 70 000$ -anyone?
another swiss legend
back into the Alley and a pretty shitty Y
Luca had the brilliant idea to go back to the Miage glacier and ski the domenech couloir. A couloir barely visible on the picture which was intriguing to me.
It was skied a week before so we could ski it on sight and take the leisure to go from the refuge, have a nice late start, sweet skin to summit and drop in. Mika , a Finn came with us. Finns like to rush so i had to tell him to breath in breath out at time whilst waiting for luca dealing with heinous crusty traverses on split board .
To start from the top was brilliant. This couloir sorts of zig zags thru the rocks and i was in awe at every corners as we were diving deeper and deeper within the mountains. Rocky faces, spires, gullies: A gigantic gothic cathedral. The snow was variable but skiing almost became secondary or just a tool to access this corridor in a ludic fashion. Half way in the run i was amazed we were only half down. Once i could finally see the end, i was pleased. At The bottom, the release of focus felt like after sex and we all high fived each other squirting the jeez of stoke into the universe.
My plan was to link that to the black week end, a 3 days yearly bacchanal organized by black crows ski. I realized one party was 40 euros the other 30 not including the various party flavors. Pretty much costing my monthly salary. I decided to go ski instead. That is free. With Eva and my alaskan friend Gabe new in town. We thought after all that sun the y couloir on argentiere basin would be spring snow. Wrong, the snow barely transformed and it was a pretty shitty challenging descent. Once again in a gorgeous couloir with rock spires. Sometime slow skiing makes you look around and enjoy the place …
Back to grand montet, the black week end was still going. Finally A free party! I looked around see if i could score free Lsd or 2cb or something. But people were mostly charging on booze. Oh well! i stayed there enjoying some minimal tech house in a unusual environment until the dj started playing some poppy vocal house stuff which is when i bailed…
Couloirs Alley
Since i came down from the west face of mont blanc and ski thru this glacier (miage) i always wanted to come back. My idea was to get one of those domes tent and post up there for a few day skiing couloirs everyday. there is such a concentration of awesome couloirs…It never happened of course.The only people skiing regularly there is the italians crew. They scored some of the most beautiful couloirs around. (check snowhow.it) link. Until today when finns and scottish were stoked on skiing the uber classic Bonatti in one day. The conditions were top: amazing powder and long day.
Kirsti Lehtimäki hiking-1-2
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- Kirsti Lehtimäki
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- ross hewitt
some of the awesome couloirs which never get skied
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- ross hewitt
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- ross hewitt
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- ross hewitt
this and that.
Another few days off work in the land of nod. Nothing special, everything normal. The routine. I am pretty broke so no after skiing naked chicks dancing at the moo-bar or elevation …
storm powder day crowd.
niclas ferin
Sam Favret
sam favret
in the cosmique with Davide demasi
in the cosmique with Davide demasi
in the cosmique with Davide demasi
epaule du tacul with ross hewitt
epaule du tacul with ross hewitt
epaule du tacul with ross hewitt
a midwinter spleen
Things didnt assembled as planned for this season so i find myself with 5 € to spent this month and the few next. I am Stuck Working a night job only 3 nights a week. That means no coffee, no drugs, no booze… Sounds healthy and happy? Well, it is not ukraines or anything but all of a sudden i dont have any distractions. I see everything as it is- #no filters. And I have plenty of time to reminice…
I miss dwelling in my van . In the desert along the 395 desert rd. Driving up and down, choosing the best mountain. Skin up it. Lunch at the top and ski down. Drink a 6 pack . Find a sweet spot to park and watch the sunset. Go to bed . Repeat. Simple.
I miss the sierra rythme as well. In chamonix , it seems everyone is in a rush always. It is a perpetual rush hour. Everyone loves to be in the mountains but rushes to be back in town by 2pm. Faster, more runs, laps laps laps. There is the february crowd, the march crowd. sometime it is too much. More more more. Faster. Faster.
On the 395 desert road, you get to the base , skin up. Spent quality time at the top just chilling , eating drink a beer maybe. Enjoy time. Slow pace. Then ski. Get back to the car , drink a six pack…watch the sunset.make a fire. Sleep. repeat.
i miss the hot tubs
i miss the joie de vivre, the leisure class. the simplicity of it all.
rant- {In cham everyone is a prorider. You go ski your run fast, meet at the bar. Talk about the gear and your respectives hashtags. Go home , post a picture of that couloir, that radical rap…hashtag-me hashtag-me hashtag-me..thanks this thanks that oscar acceptence speech…all the identical hashtags “like” the picture. Instant gratification. Hashtag is happy.the cult of self. self importance. People are hashtags. Skiing is a vector. Greedy, vain and ambitious skiing personalities (riders,filmers,photographers,industry) are dominating the chamonix ski scene more and more. This is the celebration of Image over substance, of illusion over truth. This is not why I started skiing. In fact, this could be why I stop. or move…
Skiing lost its soul. Everybody is a prorider, a film maker , an actor , a model. Not for creativity, to share a vision or experience but to promote their hashtags. Skiers became live billboard.”The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” . It feels like walking down hollywood boulevard at 2 am. Except on hollywood blvd there is always the dude with a bottle of wiskey in one hand a cig in the other, the pocket filled with all type of gear. Its comforting to know the dude is there….}-end of rant.
Anyway, tmrw is another perfect powder day…
Foehn week and the Föhnkrankheit
A Föhn or Foehn is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (see orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes. Föhn winds can raise temperatures by as much as 32 °C (58 °F)[1] in just a matter of hours.
Winds of this type are also called “snow-eaters” for their ability to make snow melt or sublimate rapidly. This snow-removing ability is caused not only by warmer temperatures, but also the low relative humidity of the air mass having been stripped of moisture by orographic precipitation coming over the mountain(s).
Föhn winds are notorious among mountaineers in the Alps, especially those climbing the Eiger, for whom the winds add further difficulty in ascending an already difficult peak.
Anecdotally, residents in areas of frequent föhn winds report illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis. The first clinical review of these effects was published by the Austrian physician, Anton Czermak in the 19th century.[2] A study by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe.[citation needed] The causation of Föhnkrankheit (English: Föhn-sickness) is yet unproven.
la palud, italy, mikka merikanto
la palud italy
la palud, italy
minna riihimaki
luca pandolfi
la palud, italy, Nikolai Schirmer
la palud, italy, nathan wallace
nathan wallace
la palud italy, ross hewitt
la palud
Tof Henry, Ollie Herren, Seth Morrison
luca pandolfi, Davide Capozzi
nathan wallace , tom burt
nathan wallace , tom burt, luca pandolfi
Seth Morrison, Ollie Herren, glen Morden
Seth Morrison, Ollie Herren, Nathan Wallace
Fluid mag
Its a very nice French ski mag. that edition focuses on chamonix With a few sweet articles, one written by Antoine Grospiron about last year steep season, another about remy Lecluse and the “le zoo de chamonix…” written by young gun Arthur Ghilini painting a fun-razor edged description of the chamonix scenes!
And of course a few of my pictures 😉
Also Sam Favret portrait of a chamoniard!
not my picture just the cover
Cedric Bernardini 