Ridge Yurt

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Make it Look Easy

http://www.freeskiingworldtour.com/

Go for points

Stay within your limits

You're in it for the long haul

Fairly Safe....for Colorado

Link to Google Map >> http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=213189320128744515632.00049cfc7373eba7ee986

Chamonix Trip Report - Day 7 - Vallee Blanche

Chamonix Trip Report - Days 4, 5 and 6 - Le Tour, Courmayeur and Grand Montets

On day 4 we took the train to Le Tour. This was a pretty easy way to get there. No need for a car. The train was new, good schedule and well organized. We took the train to Vallorcine and took the gondola there into the ski area. then returned via

bus from Le Tour. It was a pretty good loop. This area was pretty cool with the west half being lots of trees and rock much like Alta, and the south east half be wide open with not a tree in sight.

That night we walked over the Maison de la Montagne and booked a guide for Courmayeur with the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. It was pretty cool having this place about 50 feet from our hotel. It became a nightly visit to talk with the guides and plan the next day. Early the next morning we stuffed ourselves with as much bread, cheese, yogurt and coffee as we could and stumbled out the door to meet our guides and the rest of our group. We all loaded into vans and drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy. To Begin with, we had a pretty big group of about 20 with 4 guides. Were were going to do some evaluation runs where the guides would test us and split us up into groups. these are always some tentative moments because you have no idea what the caliber of skiers will be. I recommended to Jill that she buckle her boots up tight and try her best to impress. Pierre, the lead guide asked everyone to follow him closely and immediately ducked off the piste into tight trees, over rocks and around bushes in an effort to loose everyone. Jill was stuck
to him like glue. When he finally stopped and Jill sprayed up next to him I was so proud. We waited as others tickled in or collected their gear after tumbles. We had
both made the top group and would be following Pierre for the rest of the day. We had the luxury of having a ski instructor, Jeujuex, and a guide in our group. a Jeujuex was awesome and he and I had fun all day picking alternate lines on the areas Pierre took us. They took us down through some trees to a big meadow with a few stone biudlings covered in snow where our groups reunited fro lunch. Inside this cozy little building was just our group, a wood stove, big furs covering the benches to sit in and the proprietor to bing us plate after plate of food. You didn't order, she just brought out whatever they were making. First she brought a pizza with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil, then a pizza with butter and garlic, then a plat of pasta. When she brought the first plate of pasta I though: "mmm, that looks good, but its kind of small." Little did I know that it was the first of three types of pasta she would bring. After that, she brought out four kinds of desert and espresso, then finally some hot wine. 2 and half hours after starting lunch stumbled back outside and clicked into our skis. Many of the runs Pierre took us on were super tight trees that were steep. and there were bushed mixed in between the trees. They were the kind of runs that if I took my friends there, they would all say: "This is the last time were following you!" For the last run, Pierre let Juejuex take a selected group on Final "Le Desent De Juer" which was probably the steepest tree run either of us had ever gone on. We will never forget making it out into the valley below Mont Blanc as the sun set and following the road back to the car. I was so happy and so proud of Jill. It was the best she had ever skied and she definite had some break thoughts on that day.



Each night we had amazing times in Chamonix and ate, drank and wandered in awe at being there, ski culture and the people.

We had so much fun that we decided to ski with Pierre again the next day in Grand Montets. We did the usual evaluation runs and I will never forget Jill's face when they handed her a climbing harness and told her she was in the expert group and would be going out onto the glacier. She was so proud as she looked at me and said,"Expert, Ive never been and expert before!" We had great runs which included the Glacier D'Argentiere and views over to the Aiguille Du Midi where we longed desperately to go.

The New Frontier

Here is a colection of great ski clips:

SKIPOPOW Teaser 4 from TKB Films on Vimeo.

SKIPOPOW - Teaser HD Ski Freeride Film from TKB Films on Vimeo.

Superior, Speed Fly from Marshall Miller on Vimeo.

Thank You from NIMBUS INDEPENDENT on Vimeo.

Chamonix Trip Report - Day 3 - Brevent and Flegere

We awoke with a start early the next morning and looked out the window to just see the sun hitting the top of Mont Blanc. It was a perfect bluebird day. I had been feeling pretty far from home but its amazing how even on the other side of the Atlantic, once I had my trusty boots buckled up tight, polypropolyen against my skin, my skis on my feet I felt right at home among the rocks, trees and trams of Chamonix. We started by walking from the hotel up to the Telecabine Chamonix-Planpraz in our new Technical Extreme gear and our rented 85mm underfoot Moment skis. No line
whatsoever and we had a bin to ourselves. The view of the mountain world from the PlanPraz was mind blowing. Clouds swirled below and bad ass black crows swooped and hovered over the exposure with the Mont Blanc massif as a backdrop. Cold snow crystals floated in the blue sky glinting in the sun. The Telepherique Planpraz- Brevent started from a location candalevered out over the cliffs and went up to an impossible summit in one fell swoop...No towers, no nothing, just rock, snow and air. As we went up I spotted my line. It was a series of untracked faces, skiers right, in between a cat track that weaved its way down Piste Charles Bozon. It was difficult to figure out what was open, what was closed, what was off-piste. Some places are actually posted as closed, but you can still go. Some places have no ropes or signs but are still very dangerous. We had no beacons. I was ducking ropes to get to my line. The snow was like no other I had ever seen before... I was a meter of dust on crust. and by dust I mean it was the lightest snow I had every seen. Lighter than 40 years of skiing in CO and UT, and by crust I mean that it was pretty icy. When you skied the thigh deep snow you could not even feel it on your legs and your skies jumped around underneath like you where skiing on some set up death cookies.

It wasn't epic good, but it was epic weird. I expected my line to sluff, and sluff it did, but I made the decision to ski with the moving snow as it was so light and my pitches were short enough. The WildSnow swirled up over and around me as I dropped into my first off-piste line in Chamonix. Wont forget it. We zigzagged our way across the ski area in awe of the possibilities and the differences from what what were used to. At the Index chair at Flegere it got windy and there was a lot of snow to transport. We saw some foot deep slabs cut loose spontaneously from the chair. We skied one off-piste line here carefully picking safe terrain. On the next lap the chair was closed to avalanches.

What a satisfying day. We didn't care about our luggage anymore. We knew we were good to go. Jill and I reveled in sharing this adventure, the comraderee, friendship and love in an apres ski bliss as we recounted each run over beer, cheese and meat.