dont follow tracks
Or how Michael “bird” Shaffer, JT Holmes and Valentin Delluc are showing skiers/snowboarders a new style of getting out of runs without dicking around with ropes or sidestepping shit snow.
valentin delluc
jt holmes
jt holmes
jt holmes
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
valentin delluc
michael shaffer
michael shaffer
Pre-season 2017-2018
This pre season started better than the last 4 years, we got hit by a few big storms. Yet we are now dealing with abnormal temp fluctuation bringing the iso 0 from 800M to 2000M back and forth with a lot of precipitations. Which makes it hard to ski anything. It is forecasted for the next 10 days so we have to be patient. I am pretty sure , when the weather will calm down , it will be sick skiing, top to bottom. I had to work most of that time so skiing at lunch break mostly , alone more often than not. I got some epic forrest skiing sometime meeting with fun crews….
A nice early season scenic training hike with Davide De masi and Dyane Dvy
Davide Demasi
aiguille du midi, mont blanc under clouds
Dyane Dvy
On a lunch break i met with Ross Hewitt, johanna smilla stalnacke and Michelle Blaydon for an epic plan de l aiguille session
johanna smilla stalnacke
johanna smilla stalnacke
johanna smilla stalnacke
Ross Hewitt
johanna smilla stalnacke, michelle blaydon
johanna smilla stalnacke, michelle blaydon
johanna smilla stalnacke, michelle blaydon
johanna smilla stalnacke
johanna smilla stalnacke
johanna smilla stalnacke
A day under the super classic Val Veny cable line with Luca Rolli and Luca Pandolfi.It was new to me and despite seeing that run from the lift as we go up, it is very intimidating and not so straight forward, steep and very exposed. I was happy to be with Rolli who is conservative in the way he approaches this kind of run…
luca pandolfi
luca pandolfi
luca pandolfi
luca pandolfi
Luca Rolli
luca pandolfi
Luca Rolli
A day at the montenvert forrest delight with Ross Hewitt and Michelle Blaydon
michelle braydon, Ross hewitt
michelle braydon, Ross hewitt
Ross hewitt
michelle Blaydon
Ross Hewitt
An epic lunch brake with Glenn Plake his wife Kimberley and the son of Remy Lecluse at the plan de l ‘aiguille…
Glen Plake, Lecluse
Glen Plake
Glen-Kimberley Plake,Lecluse
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
Glen Plake
As i am writing this , we have a 5/5 avalanche risk which i have never seen in the 12 years here in cham….or maybe once. Mostly due to heavy snow fall over 2000 meters and heavy snow and rain under 2000 meters 
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
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
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…
.
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
La grave
Not finding what i need in Cham i escaped once again to middle earth, the center of the world: La Grave. My first time there. La Grave feels isolated, a small french village surrounded by gigantic jagged peaks. The world capital of soul-skiing. I surfed Joe Vallone ‘s couch. Joe Vallone is pretty much a local. His flat is an ode to skiing with past memorabilia , hundreds stories. I am a thousands light years from holly-cham, back to the source maybe. Finding skiing. Him and Ptor Spricenieks take me on a stroll without using the postcard lift to a corner of their playground along the flank of the Tabuchet. In a couloir where no one ever goes. A lost couloir . A possible first descent? How could that be? It has everything of a classic. We skied it leisurely with a sunset light. Apres ski at the skier lodge K2 bar, a Place filled with ski history. This was a classic ski day, reminiscing those days i had in the eastern sierra california , reminding me why i am a skier.
ski day start with coffee at the leisurely time of 11 AM with Ptor Spricenieks and joe villain
break
the summit. i could see mont blanc
Ptor Spricenieks
Ptor Spricenieks
joe vallone
joe vallone
joe vallone
Ptor Spricenieks
joe vallone
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- a lot of things define joe vallone but I’m sure anyone could guess who i am talking about with that picture
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.
couloir(e)
minna rhimakki, luca pandolfi
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. .
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
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
L’ Epaule du tacul
It is Brett last day so I had to motivate despite the growing death in me, I’m coughing my lungs out. We didn’t go too far and luckily the US/CAN pro team in town had already carved the steps for us. Easy up, easy down. Fresh powder, scenics and sun…perfect. My coughing isn’t better, WTF.
brett lotz
brett lotz
Durier
Despite the current low tide, i was lured to the idea of spending a couple of days deep in the mountains, which didn’t happen for what seems a century. It is Bruno Compagnet bday. So we went with minna Riihimaki and Julien Casagrande. We opted for the wild and far away dome de miage area. The mountains out there are dry and feeling hostile at time …The plan des glaciers refuge is among my favorite one , cozy and comfortable in a wildly scenic area. The 2 days were well spent with good people…dolce vita. the skiing marginal.
the hike to plan des glacier refuge
le refuge plan des glaciers
the durier couloir
getting stoked (or not)
motivation is hidden deep these days. it is very hard to find. many excuses flirt with my mind such as: my gear lost or falling apart , not in shape, not good enough, some clouds, my vagina hurts …BLAH! Ive been mostly free riding off the aiguille du mid north face, west face and those awesome flat glaciers where i had a blast , gliding alone down forever silk , that way avoiding the crowded -north face- hysterical- fuckfest …. I finally motivated to get my ass on the argentiere basin to ski some of those dream lines . we were expecting a nice 20cm of fresh . we had nothing added to a breakable crust. The idea of dragging my heavy alpine gear up a 600 m steep breakable crust + the constant sluff coming down everywhere on the basin at 6 am made me turn around at one third of the way. everyone did but the bird who is stoked….i had a great time hanging out with friends on the glacier which might be all i need! stoked!
that day a bunch of my friends were on the north face, here tom grant skiing
it is my friend Brett lotz last day , the north face of the midi is good. I had (no choice) but to take him down that face. i was dragging my feet , and didnt even take my camera (too worried somehow) . I should have, it was a fun day. Here a picture of me taken by brett lotz.
if you dont know who he is , you may want to look at those: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtAplMaZb5k
wine
argentiere refuge
hiking
the bird stoked, full wing span
bird stoked
stoked
col de la brenva : voie tardivel. The wild side.
go up mont maudit make a left.
Dropping there is a very special moment. it is a very intense,unusual time. Everything looks huge and brutal . you know you are in for a very long ski in a very wild and beautiful place.
When we scoped the face from the tour ronde i thought it was going to be a lot easier: a nice ballad. the scale is so huge, from that far away i couldnt size things correctly. Like the gigantic serac and cornices we were skiing under , the rock bands which were a lot bigger and steeper , the overall lenght of the face. WE had a nice 20 cm of fresh snow on the top of nice edge-able crust. I could never find a safe spot or even anckor myself to my poles to set up and take pictures. Its never too steep but never a comfortable angle. At every turns, my partners would throw some wet heavy snow that could potentially take me off my edges. whilst Taking pictures of skiers under the serac i thought what if that thing goes, would I feel stupid for being here, will i get knocked off and slide down the abyss… I rapidly switched my mind back to enjoying the skiing , breath-in the outrageously beautiful and wild place i am in the middle of . I realize how privileged i am to be there. thanks to skiing and tardivel.
The route finding in the rock band was not hard but stressful knowing what is above you.
It is surely among the most beautiful face i have skied in the wildest place i have been to. also the most dangerous.
After skiing the face we went over the kuffner ridge and we skied down another steep couloir in hard condition with very tired legs. we then skied the valley blanche, we went up the montenver steps and rode the train down to cham. We Finished the day with a well deserved beer and burger at elevation.
this is the face, Brenden who took the first bin is on it , can you see him?
the previous evening
midi bivy
Ben is the only one to ski the ridge, in the dark with north wind and in really bad condition.
on the kuffner , the last steep couloir before the valley blanche and the beer.
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- on the kuffner ridge
du maïs sur la tour ronde
harvesting corn on the tour ronde was just perfect. fuck extreme skiing! and fuck that hair on my sensor.
spring powder. 2 days in the valley with Mark Shelp and Michael-bird-shaffer
une bande de cochons et pis c est tous. des salopards au col des courtes …
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- powder
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- ready to go
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- col des courte
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- col des courtes
Cedric Bernardini 