Chamonix Insider

While day after day of outstanding late-season dumps has kept everyone with big smiles on their faces, it did bury your hopes of any sunny day park sessions.

But it ain’t over ’til it’s over. The good crew over at HO5 who manicure the park at GM have built a massive module that looks fun and terrifying at the same time.

Try to maintain a bit of sobriety until after you’ve had the chance to hurl your carcass across this beauty a few times.

In addition there will also be the usual shenanigans including a big air bag, live music, BBQ ski joering, wingsuit show, speed riding demo and of course, a bar.

What? No pond skim?!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in resort news

Tagged fermeture, HO5

I googled ‘Assistant Producer’ and this is the image I got. Odd yes, but then again, perhaps it’s appropriate.

EpicTV is a new video-on-demand service for premium adventure films based in Chamonix, France. We’ll be launching in a couple of weeks and we’ve suddenly realized this beast is bigger than we originally thought and we need a super organized, highly-energetic, multi-talented, hard-working assistant producer who think the best job ever would be to get paid to talk about adventure sports, watch adventure sports films and videos, and meet professional athletes.

What you’ll be doing:

• All office administration duties including answering the phone, greeting visitors, paying bills, etc
• Organizing pro athletes and filmers for the shows we produce
• Organizing all the amazing content for shows
• Fact checking blog reports and video podcasts so that the editor-in-chief doesn’t get thrown in jail
• Writing production notes for films in the VOD service and shows

Required skills

• Very well organized
• Strong attention to detail
• Good written and verbal French
• Very good written and verbal English
• Great sense of humor
• Ability to work successfully with coproprietie, Chamonix mairie and other bureaucrats
• Solid working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Facebook, Twitter

What we offer

• Full-time contract on a fun and exciting international project based in Chamonix
• Competitive pay and Mont Blanc Unlimited season pass (of course)
• Hectic, fast-paced work environment with a fun-loving crew
• Three people speaking a secret language you’ll never be able to comprehend
• Cute, loveable hyperactive office dog
• Opportunity to be an important part of a team creating something new and cool
• Pimp new studio within spitting distance of the Aiguille du Midi téléphérique

If this sounds interesting to you and if you’ve got the skills then go ahead and send your CV to us at jobs@EpicTV.com.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in resort news

Chamonix homeboy Douds Charlet continues to crush the 2012 FWT men’s snowboard division with a win at the Fieberbrunn event held last weekend.

The FWT counts the three best finishes of the season which, with two wins and a second place finish, means Douds and Ralph Backstrom are tied for first going into the final event of the season, the Swatch FWT Xtreme Verbier.

Chamonix’s Aurélien Ducroz desperately needed a podium finish in Fieberbrunn to solidify his hope of hanging onto his 2011 title but came in a disappointing sixth.

Auré is currently sitting 4th overall but because the final overall score is determined using each rider’s four best results, he is mathematically not out of the running. A win at Verbier combined with his second, fourth and sixth place finishes would be enough to push him past the three leading skiers if they all crash out or get abducted by aliens mid-run. I think. To tell the truth I can’t be bothered to do the math but a quick glance at the current FWT rankings makes it look realistic. Anyone out there have a calculator?

The Swatch FWT Xtreme Verbier 2012 will be held sometime between the 22nd and 25th of March. Alas, Kate Upton won’t be there but rest assured you can always find her here. Allez le 74!

Go Douds.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in skiing, snowboarding

Tagged Aurélien Ducroz, Douds Charlet, Fieberbrunn, FWT, Kate Upton

JP Auclair hit town in February so he and Swedish Adventurer of the Year Andreas Fransson decided to knock off a few of the classics (formerly known as test pieces) which Andreas now has trouble distinguishing from the pistes.

Man, I wish that guy would stop making this all look so easy.

To read more of Andreas’s thoughts on skiing and life, check out his insight-filled blog and stay tuned for JP and Andreas in Chamonix – The Sequel! Coming soon.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in skiing

Tagged Andreas Fransson, Col du Belvedere, ENSA Couloir, Glacier Rond, JP Auclair

Nate Wallace has dropped a new edit but if you look closely you’ll notice this one’s not in Chamonix and the skiers are even older – JHAF represent! Plus this one has a bomb drop to tweaked backside called the S&S and no crevasses.

Well done, Nate. Keep ‘em comin’.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in skiing

Tagged Nate Wallace, Rats in Jackson

How ’bout that latest edition of Salomon Freeski TV which features Chamonix loc Tristan Knoertzer ripping the trees around Gulmarg, Kashmir.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in skiing, video

Tagged Gulmarg, Salomon Freeski TV, Tristan Knoertzer

Meanwhile over on the sunny side, Davide Capozzi and Stefano Bigio stuck a first descent down the SW face of Mont Rochefort – a route they’ve been eyeing for years.

In a post on PlanetMountain.com, Capozzi reports, “The descent is continuously exposed, down 45° – 50° slopes. The snow varied considerably since it hadn’t settled completely. We made [two] abseils [down] the final section, one 50m abseil followed by a second, shorter one.”

Capozzi and Bigio rate the route 5.2 E3 and called it Pente a Rémy in honor of Rémy Lecluse who originally suggested skiing the line together.

Check out the full story on PlanetMountain.com.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Are we not men?, AT skiing, snowboarding

Tagged Davide Capozzi, Mont Rochefort, Pente a Remy, Stefano Bigio