ROBOTS ARE EATING MY FACE.
Oh fuck. A new lame pseudo-category of skiing. "Freeski mountaineering". Is nothing sacred?
raising the bar like the tiger woods of big mountain skiing - good job Chris - congratulations!
"When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible."
Mohandas Gandhi
Nice work Chris!
I've been to the Eiger, one bad ass piece of rock!
Here ya go: http://biglines.com/blarticles/3714/...ers_and_Beyond
Ptor's comments are the most interesting part, IMO
Good reading there, Spetziks points were very valid.
But it is allways sad if the stuff degrades into a pissing contest between the "old guard" and the new.Just like in climbing scene.
And most annoying thing is that many times it is due to some journalist/writer trying to make his point.
But, however,gorgeus lines were skied.
Hopefully they dedicate some time in the movie for those too. Usually the moviemakers try to portray theese descents in the same way as all the other stuff in the film.
Rock music,quick editing,lot of "gnarly,extreme" comments and 45 seconds of MTV editing..
Hopefully we could some day see a whole film dedicated for theese bigmountain descents.
The floggings will continue until morale improves.
I've been trying to read that all night and Biglines finally comes around and I read the interview and just as I start start reading the first few lines of Ptor's comments the screen goes blank and I can't get it back again. So this space reserved for comment, if any, on the whole situation.
Thanks for the link Goldenboy.
Nice! Didnt realize they were bagging multiple classics. I got to ride the gondola at the Grand Motets on Apr 30th and talk with these two (Chris and Christian) about what they were doing. Took until the top of the box to piece together who exactly they were considering how down to earth the both of them are.
Buddy: Hey those are pretty rad looking skis, how much did those set you back if you dont mind me asking?
Chris: Not quite sure, theyre pretty nice though and I like the bindings.
:P we are idiots
http://biglines.com/blarticles/3714/...ers_and_Beyond
The push for a new(percieved) genre in skiing is no doubt driven by capitalist interests. Thats what makes the world go round after all. I'll continue to look at ski mountaineering as just that, whether on 105 waisted ski's or 75mm. Ptor covers the bases quite well. Like he said (paraphrase because Biglines is out so I can't look it up) Its not like fat ski's have enabled skiers to link worm turns in 55 deg. terrain. People have been skiing in the "big mountains" without fanfare and marketing for 40+ years.
I prefer the broader term of the Euro's anyway, Alpinism.
Sweet lines by awesome skiers- but Tiger Woods?
The only line that was notable was the Matterhorn- first skied in 79 or 80- the others are essentially big moderates by today's standards, and get skied regularly.
What's really impressive is when those lines were first skied: '41 and '51 for the Dome du Gouter and Mont Blanc, 60's for the Marinelli and Eiger.
IMVHO, Ptor's totally right.
Dav's surely fine, but I can't see what bar went where....
A friend from macugnaga posted me on May 14: "Hollywood went to the Marinelli..."
Nice lines, I'm jellous, because I ran out of time to do those lines myself this winter....But rasing the bar????? Most if not all of these lines get skied often by the local freeriders...
Try repeating Benedeti's lines but in a freeride style, now that would be impressive....then again just repeating Benedeti's lines woudld be impressive.
Knowledge is Powder
If Dav really wants to raise the bar he needs to replicate Gincognito's line at Hillend dry slope. This involved skiing across fully forty yards of grass covered in nuggets of rabbit turd.
As far as I know, this feat has never been accomplished using what could be described as a freeski mountaineering technique.
"Nothing is funnier than Hitler." - Smokey McPole
Davenport and the movie Steep have very little to do with steep skiing. No disrespect, but both have nothing to do with what is really going on. Davenport had a nice holiday in the alps, and Steep is a movie about heli skiing in Alaska.
OK, I will respond -
Chris is raising the bar in the sense that he is prolific and systematically approaching these projects in a cohesive and marketable way. [edit/] he makes a good living from it, which is not an everyday aspect of skiing, but a necessity to feed his family.
His project up in Alaska last spring on Denali was impressive and included many firsts.
Also, he has managed to promote the sport of skiing and also accomplished these tasks while remaining a loving husband and father, and community contributor.
It is not any single accomplishment that defines him as having raised the bar, but his striking determination, prolific number and variety of descents, and overall style and respect for the sport that has raised the bar.
Maybe my congratulatory comment to a friend was taken too literally. There are indeed a great many humble rippers around the worls getting it done every day.
"When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible."
Mohandas Gandhi
The trumpet scatters its awful sound Over the graves of all lands Summoning all before the throne
Death and mankind shall be stunned When Nature arises To give account before the Judge
Why does everything have to turn into this?
Since some peeps need to boost their ego and make absurd claims of 1st this and 1st that... although I'm certain Dav isn't such a person.
Similar things have happened on other disciplines as well... Funnily enough, one such case was the Realization climbed by Sharma. Great feat by any means, but certainly not the hardest route even at that time... not even ground breakin', even though it was marketed as such... (for those thinking it still was the case, read something about Akira, which is a whole lot harder (~f9b'ish vs. f9a+) and was climbed almost 10 years before... still unrepeated, and not for the lack of anyone trying as peeps like Dani Andrana and other top notch climbers have all tried it... and failed).
What is the most absurd and sad thing, is that each time similar claims are made... well the guy doing the actual thing has been an American. Seems like you really don't want to know there are people outside the good 'ol US of A.... and they certainly can't be doing anything like we are, at least not on the level we are (even though, the disciplines were mostly originated eons before they were introduced to the US)...
So, in the end, it's just mostly marketing spew... I'm kind of disappointed at Dav trying to make it that he has done something ground breakin'. Well it ain't, at least not the stuff he has done in Yurp. But I do understand, that he needs to earn money to support his family, and I guess makin' big claims to mostly ignorant audience is a good way of doing it.
Originally Posted by RootSkier
Down with the Great Satan!
Here's an older article about Dav helping others get out in CO:
http://www.redbullskiing.com/news/20...ches-color.php
ROBOTS ARE EATING MY FACE.
i think that all these descents are nothing of special...italian locals do these descents every year...if you want to see something really steep..go here :
http://www.snowhow.it/home.htm
ciao zeo
heli sucks !!![]()
Did you even see the movie? Alaska heliskiing was at the end, representing the late 90's and beyond, as well it should considering the way it changed skiing. Boohoo. You probably hate snowmobile-accessed skiing too.
Probably because skiers the caliber of Stian and Dav can rip the shit out of a moderate route and make it look good on film for MSP. Skiing a desperate route will tend to be slow and boring (which isn't to say that some people might enjoy watching that, but most people would rather see ripping)
If MSP does this segment right, I think it could be really cool. Put a little history in there, maybe a clip or still or short interview with the first descenders of these lines, then cut to Dav and Stian tearin' it up. Potentially a segment that's more than just the standard "music video" approach to ski movies.
Definitely more there than "a little holiday in the alps". The E face of the Matterhorn is absolutely hairball, and the others are runs of a lifetime for most of us. Being able to snag all of those lines in one trip is pretty sweet, and there's no doubt in my mind about the caliber of the skiers.
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