Skiing with world champions
I’m back at work today after a marathon 5 days in a row of proper skiing with my friend Phil. Starting off with a full day’s off piste on fat skis in good powder on Wednesday, we then toured up to the Argentiere hut on Thursday to get a bit of experience on skins. Friday was the Vallee Blanche and as it turns out was the least taxing day of the whole week - just a leisurely boot down the punter route & back in the office for 3pm.
Then on Saturday something very different. I joined Mark Gear’s All Mountain Performance special Freeride Frenzy course as the photographer. The special bit was that Arno Adam - the freeride champion of the world in 1999 was the guest star. To get an idea of what kind of skier Arno is, take a look at this clip from his film Do You, Do You Chamonix?
The idea behind this brand new course is that Mark provides world class coaching alongside Arno who’s role is as a demonstrator. It was a stunning day. To ski with someone with that level of talent was inspiring. Freeride skiing is all about skiing the whole mountain, expressing yourself with the line you take, dropping rocks, tearing down steep couloirs and jumping off stuff. All at mach 5. In fairly hard, bumpy off-piste conditions keeping up with the group challenged my skiing more than it ever has been in the past.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment