I just got the word from a German friend that they have made a profile on me on Freeskiers.net, a big ski portal in the German speaking ski world!  

Check it out here: http://www.freeskiers.net/portal/Magazin/Report-Andreas-Fransson-Skialpinist-und-Lebenskuenstler.html (German only, but you can use translate.google.com).

Today was one of those days where we got rewarded for trying. It was snowing more or less the whole day yesterday, but we still just got a few centimeters down in the valley. After a long high-pressure it felt like there was a big risk of getting “dust on crust” skiing today but we felt like it was a good idea to check it out anyways. The wind had been from the north so we felt like the best chance of good skiing was on the Brevent side of the valley. I have no idea on how the skiing was elsewhere, but it did rock in Brevent.

I met Tony Lamiche in the morning at the lift station and we got five great runs together before he had to take of to pick up his daughter. As it was getting warm I also called it a day, and will end the day with a climbing session. 

Tony is a skier, climber and guide living in Chamonix during the winters. Check him out on: www.tonylamiche.info (french)

Tony Lamiche skiing some light powder

Tony opening up the Bellin couloir

Tony again, beyond ENSA… 

Tony working his guide skills with the rope… He put me on belay so could check the snow in one of the couloirs. In the end we bailed out and skied something else. Its always worth checking though. 

Today I went out with friend and guide Linus Kulstad for some Ice climbing. After a long cold spell it was a relatively warm day with perfect conditions and we went down past Les Houches to one of the big icefalls on the side of the road. With a quick approach, four pitches of really fun climbing and good company it felt like the perfect thing to do while waiting for the falling snow to (hopefully) create good skiing for tomorrow! 

Call me ignorant, but I don’t really know the name of this icefall. However we climbed a variation on the lookers left hand side. 

Myself setting of on the steep first pitch (Photo: Linus Kulstad)

Linus cruising up the second

Myself following the second pitch (Photo: Linus Kulstad)

Me on the third pitch (Photo: Linus Kulstad)

And me again topping put (Photo: Linus Kulstad)

Linus rappelling 

Today I went out on the mountain to ski for my self. I kind of like to get solo ski days once and a while where I don’t have to wait for no one and where I get to just get close to the ski experience with no distractions and let the thoughts flow for themselves.

I chose to go to Brevent as it’s the perfect place to get quality skiing and get long runs in the falline and I just happen to love the terrain there. I usually say that Brevent would be the worlds best ski resort if it was north facing, but unfortunately it isn’t. However, this year in this cold it kind of doesn’t matter.

The best thing about Brevent I think is that it’s easy to find good snow a long time after snowfall if you just spice it up a little bit. I did four top to bottom runs (I only stopped for taking the photosJ) and I got excellent snow for a couple of hundred meters in each one of those. I love the feeling of covering a 1500 meter vertical off-piste run in one go, rest in the lift and the keep at it for an afternoon. 

An unskied couloir in Brevent

The Brevent top gondola

My Salomon Rocker 2’s just before I drop in to one of my favorite faces in Brevent. I have rarely seen other tracks here. 

Bjarne Sahlén and JP Auclair chatting

And I’m taking pics of the mountains… 

After a hectic start of the winter I’m finally proud to announce that I have got the opportunity to join the Salomon Mountain Collective, a group of skiers working closely with Salomon to help development, refinement and improvement of their already high class products.

I have for a long time been searching for a real ski company that is going towards big mountain skiing and I feel like I have finally found the perfect match. With the next generation of lighter freeride skis and boots, the guardian binding as well as lots of cool things on its way it’s going to be a really interesting journey in the years to come.          

Check Salomon out at: www.salomonfreeski.com

JP Auclair is not only a great guy that is extremely good on skis. One of his biggest projects are Alpine Initiatives, a platform directing resources from the snow sport community to sustainable initiatives around the globe.

Learn more about Alpine Initiatives at: alpineinitiatives.org

Alpine Initiatives from Alpine Initiatives on Vimeo.