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Posts tagged “chamonix

Summer 2022.

Nothing really happened this summer , i worked mostly . 2 Jobs. Nothing happened Except it was the driest hottest summer i experienced in 15 years . The most crowded also. Probably the coldest for the rest of our lives . The mountains didn’t look happy and healthy. The cabane de la fourche fell down. A lot of things fell down . Sweden voted a (literal) Nazi party as leadership. Italy voted a fascist one . Russia. well. Russia. Anyways . the most beautiful thing was also the simplest : The ascension festival at the cabane du cerro. This was organic . Awesome. beautiful people . Cozy atmosphere . And all. As the world is crumbling apart we need more of those things.

Some photos .

The ascension festival at the cabane du cerro was by far the best festival and party I have been to in my 15 years chamoniards existence. I’ve discovered local talents musicians painters speakers crafters chef wine makers I didn’t know  existed. 

A revolution was happening in this little ghostly corner of the valley and most people didn’t know about it .

The caban du cerro is older than us all , built when the bosson glacier was still alive and well . It belongs to the people of chamonix , the mayor and team vote every 6 years? or so whose project manages it . 

The past years local environmental warrior and social cohesion hero Timothé was in charge of it . He transformed this little cabin into a heaven where local artists could show off their work to a crowd eating food produced almost exclusively on site . And let me be clear , in todays complete biosphere disaster lead by rogue capitalism, to transform a piece of rugged forested hills old moraine into a sustainable permaculture garden  able to feed a clientele  enjoying local artistry and culture all of which mentioned in the Gault et Millau guide is nothing less than a revolutionary act . Unfortunately, the  elected right wing politics hate revolution. Unless it brings profits. Lots of it . So this sustainable and financially sound cultural garden of Eden was voted out to be replaced by a  perfect MBA project supposedly super profitable . 

So, The Cerro team decided to make a 5 days festival on their way out with all the people who participated in this adventure patrons and artists .

Anyway 

Organic

revolutionary

This was good . 

La culture est l’heritage de la noblesse du monde


Covid Chamonix

niklas Ferin niklas hansen grand montet
niklas Ferin niklas hansen grand montet

Image

Luca Pandolfi is dead

La Palud . Hellbroner. Italy . Luca Pandolfi favorite spot. later called skyway.

Winter 2005, my first year in Chamonix, a complete rookie in anything alpinism-glacier. A classic February storm day lapping the top grand montet staying within the resort. On the last bin to the top, 10 pax max, i see that tall agitated guy wearing a back pack and a harness , talking to the lifty excited about a weather window and how he would be first track down the pas de chèvre . All i know about pas de chèvre is i can see it from my balcony , it looks sick and somehow finishes in Chamonix. I waited and watched him disappear into a sun-setting with fluffy snow flying around. I followed his track to realize he wasn’t going into my balcony view. I felt stupid and worry . i kept following the track until i could see what i was about to ski . The rectiligne. “Jeezing my pants” . Spectacular run all the way to where i met with Luca at the mottet hike . He immediately asked me if i’am a mogul skier because i followed his track . I admitted it is my first time and i have no clue of where i’am . He realized i didn’t have a back pack just free riding , he laughed . A friendship was born.

This is pre internet and smart phone. At that time for low income mountain plébéiens like me and Luca, to progress anywhere in Chamonix, without the red lines on runs all over the internet-go pro and a 1000 post per days , required a sense of adventure , a fair bit of stupidity or ” innocence ” and a huge amount of faith. So that day we both realized we’d be a match . I love his other motto “chi va piano, va sano e va lontano” which is very frown upon within the ski -alpinist-royals and elite scene . He sure was taking this to some annoying extreme at times . But this allowed us in years that follow to have many days bivying in the mountains to achieve climbing or riding goals. This is what our companionship was built on. Laugh-tranquillo-good times . The mountains are not an olympic stadium. We are the leisure class .

We both acquired a lot of experiences playing in the chamonix valley/italian mini golf riding zones and climbing . The climbing was by far the most comical but where I gathered the most knowledge. We were both 5c max so our days spent on aiguille de L’M north face , stuck in a lighting storm on the moine integral or climbing the frendo are some of my fondest memories.

In 2007 I had enough confidence-knowledge and along with other friends we started to tackle the bigger chamonix/alps extreme -steep skiing classic test pieces. Many of the north-east faces of the argentiere basin often sleeping at the top of the grand montet station Luca had the keys for , drinking wine , eating good food and having an amazing time . The couloir du diable. the yager. mont blanc west face . Monviso coolidge, of course still keeping it stupid/epic/faithfull with regularly storm riding the Marbree, cosmique , the eugster and anything in between. This period until 2013 is the most epic unreal intense skiing experience i’ve had . I cherish it .

Meanwhile we also lost some of our ski partners and/or influencers: Felix Hentz , Arne Backstrom, Remy Lecluse, Kip Garre .

In 2012 I invested into bigger camera equipment and Luca started to be seriously sponsored . I very fast was getting attention from brands and magazines and in 2013 I was booked on an heli trip to canada for 2 weeks and then in Haines Alaska where i would be the house photographer for a month , taking industry standards photo of pros and possibly work along sherpa cinema whilst they were finishing their movies “into the mind” shooting in Haines . This was a huge step up. Unfortunately , a cornice broke in Haines after 5 days and took all those projects with it. I lost a friend in the process . And this is where i started to loose my faith.

The years that followed , Luca’s professional snowboard career was launching, he skied Layla peak in Pakistan, big mountains in Peru. The shangri-la in Nepal, some first descents in the alps. I was trying to recover among a cycle of tragic accidents which was taking our friends/ski partners one by one sometime 2 by 2 each year for the next 5 years . I also went thru a couple of close call myself, getting beat up one too many times . The result is I lost my faith entirely but most importantly the trust in myself , in my decision’s and others’s . Including Luca.

Since, we spent those years after a bit frustrated. He kept on calling me for every mission he had or every powder days to go out with him , telling me how good it is and how fun it would be. He never understood how loosing faith and trust (in me and other) could block me from skiing anything fun.

Luca was also a big believer , he believed in fate . Everything is written on stone somewhere in the universe . The day we die is written . This is very symbolic that he died during covid restricting all the freedom he based his lifestyle on. The climate crisis is also making us guilty for any travelling, the series of mediocre winters and of course aging is limiting that freedom too. So. Evidently. If there is one guy who is now one of those free choucas up in the high mountains it is him. Give him some pizza .

For a guy like Luca Pandolfi who started snowboarding at 18 without any alpinist/snowboard royal/elite lineage guiding him , no internet red line , working night shift at the tunnel, to get to the very top professionally, riding the Shangri-la in Nepal with the biggest snowboard legend Jeremy Jones is so impressive . His resume of achievement and fun is epic. No matter how corporate he got , he was still the jester, never bending to the corporate elitism and conservatism. His video riding skyway got 100K at his death. He is happy 😉

one of my favorite shot of luca

helbronner -skyway
Mallory
west couloir aiguille du midi
west face mont blanc
Brenva chamonix.
monviso Coolidge
chamonix.
la palud italy
italy
luca pandolfi
couloir du diable
couloir du diable

Covid Chamonix


Chamonix Covid 19

grand montet
brevent

FOEHN covid chamonix

Sahara sand storm

Anecdotally, residents in areas of frequent foehn winds have reported experiencing a variety of 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.[6] A study by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during foehn winds in Central Europe

Sahara sky in covid Chamonix

chamonix covid 19

aiguille du midi
aiguille du midi
grand charmoz, aiguille de chamonix, blaitiere , le fou ,

Le cornu covid 19

chamonix covid 19
le cornu covid 19

Image

views

le tour, chamonix, france, powder


mont blanc

paragliding

mont blanc

mont blanc paragliding

mont blanc

paragliding

mont blanc

paragliding

mont blanc

paragliding

sky walking mont blanc

sky walking

marmotte

marmotte looking chamonix


Mont blanc . first track post covid

mont blanc

first track post covid

mont blanc

mont blanc

mont blanc

mont blanc


sky running

mont blanc

sky running mont blanc

mont blanc

sky running mont blanc


run run run

sky running

Nicklas Hansen. aiguille verte , dru


victor de le rue among glacier


the bird flying over an island of ice

Michael bird shaffer


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

valentin delluc

jt holmes

jt holmes

jt holmes

jt holmes

jt holmes

jt holmes

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

valentin delluc

michael shaffer

michael shaffer

michael shaffer

michael shaffer


aiguille du midi morning Tv

aiguille du midi, mallory, chamonix , north face

tof henry and papy on the malory


skiers

mont blanc, chamonix, skin

skinning

mont blanc, chamonix, skin


Unlimited Festival

(

Black crows ski have been hosting this festival for many years now. It used to be an intimate home made 3 days bacchanal called the black week end with sweet DJs and crowd. This is now a full blown (mostly) electronic music festival with cutting edge sound designers and huge crowd. As usual, my procrastinating punished me, i didn’t get that “black bracelet” on time allowing drinks and entry to all events for cheaper…i had to choose which and what without costing my arms and legs. Luckily, my wish was on heavy , dark industrial techno berliner Berghain resident Marcel Dettman, playing 3 times with 2 free events. It is easy to find good house music or dance music in any event but techno is far harder. Marcel dettman is a sure thing. Under the same MDR/Ostgut-Ton label, answer code request was playing as well. the cherry on the cake. (on the techno ostgut-ton label, ben Klock was here as well but i missed him)

For me the festival started at the aiguille du midi. Which happened to be my first time up there this season. Yes, kinda unreal but a mix of bad season leading to work a lot and my bad attitude had this happen …what a treat to be partying up there…

unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi

unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi

unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi

The most defining moment was at the refuge de lognan , me and Nate at a table when answer code request (Patrick Gräser) started with playing that song. The scenic, clouds, the song . This is where i fell in love. What followed was pretty amazing . Precise bass in an outstanding setting in the privacy of a mountain refuge…priceless.

answer code request, unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi

answer code request, unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi

answer code request

unlimited festival, black crows , chamonix, aiguille du midi


the grand mulet hut and Mont blanc.

Grand mulet hut, mont blanc , chamonix

Grand mulet hut, mont blanc , chamonix


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

berghain

All kind of Chamonix happened.

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chamonix, france, cosmique couloir

chamonix, france, cosmique couloir

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couloir alley italey

couloir alley italey

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couloir alley italey

couloir alley italey

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20160114_30

20160106_19

Lofoten

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lofoten norway

lofoten norway

lofoten norway, sauna-bath at lofoten ski lodge

lofoten norway, sauna-bath at lofoten ski lodge

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lofoten norway

lofoten norway

Japan , hakuba

tokyo japan

tokyo japan

tokyo japan

tokyo japan

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hakuba japan

hakuba japan

hakuba japan

hakuba japan

california

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Namibia

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La grave

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la grave

la grave


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

mont blanc

flo tomei

flo tomei

rosanna.hughes

rosanna.hughes

aiguille du midi

aiguille du midi

aiguille du midi

aiguille du midi

somewhere in italy

somewhere in italy

giulia monego

giulia monego

giulia monego-Davide de masi

giulia monego-Davide de masi

giulia monego

giulia monego

giulia monego-davide capozzi

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.
20161208-0d1a6284

davide capozzi-davide de masi

davide capozzi-davide de masi

giulia monego-davide capozzi

giulia monego-davide capozzi

giulia monego

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, france, mont blanc

chamonix in december


lurking

I hung out at the top of the aiguille du midi . That is all.

Climbers on the cosmic ridge

cosmique ridge

cosmique ridge

people walking on the white desert toward the refuge des grand mulets and mont blanc summit

voie normal mont blanc

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

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

north face tour ronde, pointe adolphe rey, grand capucin

dent du géant

dent du géant

dent du géant

skiers in the rond

skiers in the rond

skiers

skiers

cervin, grand combin, triolet

cervin, grand combin, triolet

choucas

choucas

radness

radness

mont blanc du tacul

mont blanc du tacul

shaffer

shaffer

And of course, a wing suit pilot jumped…

wing suit. aiguille du midi

wing suit. aiguille du midi