Ski B.A.S.E. Jumper Matthias Giraud
Pro skier Matthias Giraud, 26, was the the first to ski B.A.S.E jump off Mt. Hood, Telluride's Ajax, and southwestern Colorado's Engineer Mountain. With his trademark charm-your-pants-off French accent, he dishes about managing fear, losing his mentor Shane McConkey, and how to take the leap yourself.
The Powder Feed: It's early season. What have you been up to?
Matthias Giraud: I've been cruising all over the Northwest and hitting all the cool spots along the way. I just jumped off a 700-foot radio tower antenna in eastern Washington at night, then I went to Seattle. I had some epic days on Mt. Baker and Mt. Hood, then I had a call from some friends who were going to go jump a cliff near Stevens Pass, so I got four hours of sleep, jumped in the car and next thing you know, I'm standing on top of 370-foot cliff with a parachute on.
Finding yourself on a cliff—does that happen often? Are you doing more skiing or ski B.A.S.E. jumping?
I've been focusing on first ski descents and first ski B.A.S.E. jumps. It's been a lot of fun to be able to ski something and you know you're the first person to do it. The fear factor is way higher but it's really exciting.
Ski base jump of Mt. Engineer from Josh Stephenson on Vimeo.
A lot of people would ask, why do it?
Why do it? I mean, why not do it? It's the coolest thing you can do, literally. You are jumping off things and plummeting to your death but then you fly away with a little piece of nylon. Skiing is so great by itself, then you put the two sports together, and it's all even better. You can ski things no one else can ski. With a parachute, all of the sudden these impossible lines are survivable.
So give us a sense of why the experience is so cool.
What I love the most about it is that it allows you to ski the fastest you would probably ever ski and really get to that point of no return. And when you think you're skiing as fast as you can and the edge of the cliff is only 100 feet away, you point it and go even faster. The last thing you know, you hit that edge and you're flying 100 or 200 feet away from the wall before you can pull your parachute. You're flying in mid-air. I think a lot of people are kind of bashing ski jumping. They say 'oh it's not skiing.' Well, it's more skiing than skiing would ever be. You're pushing skiing as far as it can be, you're going as fast as you can, as long as you can, then you get a cool parachute ride out of it, too. You look at the line you just skied and you go 'oh my god, it's outrageous, not in my wildest dreams did i think i could ski something like that and come out of there in one piece.'
That does make it sound really awesome...and terrifying.
It is. I'm not going to lie. Before each jump I'm absolutely terrified. I have to push myself to do it. You have to be in that Zen mode and tell yourself 'everything's ok, you've got it, you've done this before.' You've got to be really focused. But as soon as you drop in and start making a few turns, it's just another day skiing.
How do you get into ski B.A.S.E. jumping? It sounds a bit, well, specialized.
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November 27, 2009
Black Friday Gift Special: How to Avoid Stores
It's Black Friday, a time to avoid stores if there ever was one. To aid you in this effort, we here at the Powder Feed put together a cheat sheet of items you can buy online for the ripper that holds a special place in your heart. After polling dozens of skiers and snowboarders on their wish lists, the results are in. Need more ideas? Check out Outside's interactive gift finder.
TOP TEN WISHES FROM SPORTY BABES:
1. A fully planned weekend away. Bonus points for powder days and spa treatments. "Fond memories are very reinforcing for liking a guy," says one gal. If you're coming up blank on ideas, enlist the good folks at Ski.com to help you plan.
2. A cozy down jacket. Our pick: Cloudveil's Inversion Hooded Jacket ($200), which is the best of all possible worlds: warm, comfy and cute.
3. Anything made of cashmere. "It's elegant, it's nurturing, it's decadent, it's sensual," attests one mountain woman. "Whenever I wear cashmere I find myself constantly squeezing and stroking it. If it's a sweater that [my husband] bought for me, well, that bodes well for his evening." J.Crew has some nice items to choose from. May we suggest the Ribbed Cashmere Scarf ($98) for apres purposes?
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November 25, 2009
Video: Skier Escapes Avalanche with Parachute
My friend Steve Casimiro, former editor of Powder magazine, writer and photographer extraordinaire, and the brain behind The Adventure Life blog just reminded me of this insane video of Frenchie Antoine Montant skiing out of an enormous slide with a parachute. It's not new—from MSP's Claim—but it's worth watching again. Here's the replay. Sick!
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Eight Women from Eight Countries Ski to South Pole
There may not be much powder skiing in Antarctica. Nonetheless a team of eight women from Commonwealth countries set off on skis toward the South Pole yesterday. Hailing from Cyprus, Ghana, Singapore, India, Brunei, New Zealand, Britain, and Jamaica, they are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth with the aim of spreading the good word of cultural exchange and the power of women. They expect the 500-plus-mile journey across Antarctica to take about 40 days, depending on blizzards and such.
"I don't think I could put in words how empty it all seems," reported Stephanie Solomonides, an expedition member reporting after day one. To follow their progress, check out their podcasts and updates on the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition's website.
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November 23, 2009
Reader Poll: Best Ski/Ride Tune?
Here's an important question for you blog readers out there. What's your fave song to ride or ski to? I can't offer cash prizes for your inspired selections, but I can offer fame and glory on this website. Assuming that there actually are some of you blog readers out there, stay tuned for the ultimate ski/ride playlist to amp you up for your future powder experiences. (May they be plentiful and filled with music.)
Here is a video from The Levitation Project (accompanied by Talking Heads) to get your musical juices flowing. Please comment below...
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November 20, 2009
Silverton Mountain Adds Heli-Ski Options
Expert-only Silverton Mountain in southwestern Colorado has its fair share of die-hard followers—with good reason. It gets stupid amounts of snow, it has steep and alarmingly (in a good way) wild terrain, and the atmosphere is, well, let's just describe it as laid-back.
This mom-and-popper for the adventurous set, however, is poised to gather a few more devotees this season. They just leased their own helicopter and, after successful trial runs last year, are launching a full-blown heli-ski operation.
Now, in addition to skiing the one-lift hike-friendly area with a guide (or without a guide on certain days in December and April) skiers and snowboarders can opt for a heli lift to the peak of their choosing ($159); a full day of heli-skiing on untracked peaks and bowls otherwise unreachable from the area ($999); or a day of heli-accessed ski touring ($320), which includes a drop in the morning, guided touring all day, and a pick-up in the afternoon. Locations dependent on conditions and skier/snowboarder abilities, of course. For more info, go to Silverton Mountain's website.
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November 18, 2009
Sweet Deal? Ski Resort on Auction Block
Just in case you have a cool million or two lying around in your bank account (or really good credit), we here at the Powder Feed have divined a good* way for you to use it: Buy Elk Meadows Ski Resort in southwestern Utah. The non-operational ski resort is up for (sealed bid) auction through Friday, Nov. 20. Minimum bid: $1 million.
You’ll get 1,138 acres of forested hillsides, 36 ski runs, six lifts, two lodges, nine condos, some miscellaneous roads, and 400 inches of annual snowfall. You’ll also inherit the strained relationships with townspeople the old owners helped stoke by trying to turn the place into a private golf-and-ski resort akin to member’s-only Yellowstone Club. Oh, and current and future liabilities (like past-due taxes) are estimated at over $400,000. But you will have fresh tracks for a lifetime. Check it out here
*Ski bums associated with the Powder Feed can’t be liable for the merit of their financial recommendations.
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Review: Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover
If there’s one item of winter clothing to put on the wish list this year, it’s Patagonia’s new Nano Puff Pullover. Here are three reasons why:
1. It has easily one of the best weight-to-warmth ratios of any synthetic
jacket I’ve tried.
2. It packs down smaller than an orange (in the handy chest
pocket) and the women’s version I have weighs 8.2 ounces. That’s probably less
than last night’s hamburger.
3. Unlike down, this jacket isn’t useless when
damp and dries quickly, thanks at least in part to the DWR treatment on the poly shell.
In other words, this pullover is ridiculously versatile. It makes an excellent ultralight mid-layer under a shell on cold days, an outer layer on warm days, and a no-frills emergency layer to cram in the bottom of a pack whenever. This is not a puffy cloud-like apres-ski jacket; it’s a lean workhorse. It has proven its worth during countless days of backcountry skiing as well as an 18-day Grand Canyon raft trip this spring that turned frigid on more than a few occasions.
Admittedly, the cut isn’t that cute on women. The elastic on the bottom poofs where women don’t want to poof, but the trade-off is that the elastic helps keep the drafts out. (My guy tester liked the cut of his.) Questionable cuteness quotient notwithstanding, the Nano Puff is probably the jacket I wear most. (And the ugly truth is I have 20-plus jackets.) Patagonia’s prices usually prompt eye rolls, but $150? It’s worth every smacker.
--Kate Siber
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November 14, 2009
Women Ski Jumpers Lose Court Case
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November 12, 2009
Women Ski Jumpers Fight for Olympic Events
Last year, ski jumping phenom Lindsey Van won the first
international-level ski-jump medal for the U.S. since 1924 and set the ski-jump record
for both men and women at the Vancouver Olympic facility. But you won’t see her
at the Olympic Games.
That’s because women aren’t allowed to compete in ski jumping events. But a group of persistent athletes are trying to change that. Today and tomorrow, Lindsey Van and a handful of her teammates and competitors are appealing a former ruling in the courts of British Columbia. They hope a verdict in their favor will force the Olympic Committee to institute a women’s event in the traditionally Euro and macho sport of ski jumping.
These elite athletes have endured appalling hardships in the name of pursuing their sport, from being pushed from the competition platform in Poland to sleeping in barns during competitions for lack of funds. And believe this: Gian Franco Casper, president of the International Federation of Skiing, was once quoted as suggesting that women's uteruses might be damaged from repeated jumps (and therefore perhaps they shouldn't compete). Riiiiight. Can you tell where I stand?
Read the whole story as reported by the Christian Science Monitor here. To help the cause, donate to the non-profit organization Women’s Ski Jumping U.S.A.
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