Saturday 31 March 2012

Russetind – A good worm up


Yesterday we went down to Nordkjosbotn to ski a favorite, Russetind, as a warm up for the trip. It has a 1000m plus east face that is a beautiful ski that I skied a couple of years ago. I have always thought it would look awesome on film and as its fairly straightforward we chose it as a good mountain to get a feeling for the conditions in the area.

We arrived in perfect weather and Morgan and myself walked up on the west side while Bjarne climbed a mountain facing the east face to get a good filming position. Everything went smooth, but unfortunately, when we got close to the top bad weather came in. We still tried to drop in on the face, but poor visibility together with lots of snow made us turn around after fifty meters. With no visibility it was really hard to judge the conditions further down and to choose a good line down. We really didn’t get much film material and we didn’t get to ski the line we wanted, but we got some really good turns and we got to test our shape. Best of all was that I got to be out with Morgan again, he’s a great guy, excellent skier and one of the persons I trust most in the mountains.

We are having a rest day today and tomorrow we are of to the Lyngen alps for some, hopefully, awesome couloir skiing. Its lots of snow in the mountain and its been snowing today as well, so I bet we will get some good turns in. The question is just if its possible to do the bigger lines at the moment. Time will tell though… 

The awesome east face of Russetind! A great ski... Unfortunately we didn't get to ski it this time, but who knows, we might come back! 

The Sahlén brothers

Morgan walking


And climbing


The summit ridge

Morgan and myself on the top

Morgan is WILD!

Good turns in the west couloir


Tromsö


Last Thursday I packed the car and made the long drive further north from Luleå to Tromsö together with Ale! I’m really feeling at home in these parts of Scandinavia and it feels great to be here!! Well in Tromsö we met up with the Sahlén brothers and now we are looking forward for a couple of weeks of filming in the north! 

Going north!


Reindeers... We also saw 6 mooses!

The straight roads in the north of Finland!

The team, Ale and myself!

Aproaching Kilpisjärvi! Last time as here was 2004 with Wille Lindberg! We where competing in the Finnish championships... Good memories!

The fjords in Norway

Tromsö!

Johanna Stålnacke, our awesome hostess, Bjarne, Morgan and Ale! American style!

Adventure planning! 

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Interview on Swedish Radio


Today I went to the Swedish Radio to make an interview on winning the Adventurer of the Year award. Listen to the interview here (Swedish only)… 



Monday 26 March 2012

Driving north


After a week in France with Salomon I’m now back home in Luleå after a long drive from Stockholm. The next stop is the mountains in the north! 


Sunday 25 March 2012

Swedish freeride wonder: double world champions in the Freeride World Tour

Swedish freeride skiers Reine Barkered and Charlotte Hargin both took first place in the Verbier Extreme yesterday and got the overall world champ title from their feats. Big congratulations to both of them! Skiing is a national sport in Sweden, and I can unscientifically say that there are more people enjoying offpiste skiing than that are racing and still there is almost no response from the media in our country.  When is the Swedish media going to give freeskiing some attention?

Read about Reine’s and Charlotte’s feat as well as about the Freeride World Tour at: www.freerideworldtour.com… 

Check Reine and Christine's winning runs bellow:


Saturday 24 March 2012

Salomon Mountain Collective meet – La Clusaz

During Wednesday and Thursday the Mountain Collective moved out from the office in Annecy out to the slopes of La Clusaz. We had two great ski days testing our own and competitor’s equipment. The skiing was really good, the first day tracked powder and the second day warm spring conditions. It was really inspiring to ski with the team and there where plenty of positive vibes. Looking forward to the next gathering for sure! 

The swedes... 

Josh Dueck, Chris Rubens, Jesse Malman, Bruno Bertrand and Mike Douglas


French breakfast


The boot testing team

Rick Armstrong and Enak Givaggio

Kaj and Chris

Kaj Zackrisson ripping

Rick doing the same.. 

Henke, Romain, Christoffer, Tony and Tristan hanging out in the sun 

AJ and Thomas

Chris

Tony

Kaj

Hendrik, Rick and AJ touring up the piste for a dinner at the slopes




Kaj and Henke on the way down..


Bruno and Tristan

Myself tired in the morning

Binding testing with Mike, Tristan and myself



The alps from my Geneva-Zurich flight, a perfect flight to check out lines...