Look closely and you can see tracks on some of the spines.

Wow! I just had one of my best days of heli skiing  yesterday! We had a pretty tough start to the trip, lots of down days, and on the days we actually got out we were dealing with some very unstable snow conditions. Down days have been pretty good here in Girdwood as we have had the resort to ski, and also done some cat skiing. Unstable snow in Ak is a very frightening prospect as a lot of the lines have major exposure, the first day we set of a couple of slides, and then we had a few more days of snow. The next time we went out we saw a lot of natural avalanche activity in the terrain, and it also got really warm. We skied some smaller lines, but stayed away from the really good stuff. The weather report looked pretty bad for the next 5 days, but miraculously  yesterday morning was clear. We headed out to a zone called Spinecell. The coolest zone i have ever seen or skied! Spine after spine after spine in perfect snow!

Spine heaven!

The promo film from the trip I did to the Lyngen peninsula in february is out. It´s an amazing place up there! I strongly recommend going for a ski trip up there! Right now it looks like I will be going up there again in the middle of April for a film shoot with Field productions. I cant wait to go back! Hopefully it will be a little warmer in April than it was in February.

It has been an amazing winter here in Chamonix, we have had more or less a constant snow fall since x-mas, but the last week the warm Føhn wind came in and directly after we got  a strong and cold  North/North East wind that refroze the snow. But  it’s still possible to find good snow, two days ago I skied a very nice line on the Aig. de l’Encrenaz with my friend Todd Windle. The steep section had chalky nice snow and the further we got down the more powder we found. All together a very nice day in the mountains!

I just got back from a film/photo trip to the Lyngen penninsula in the north of Norway, the trip was organized by farout.no an event company that are specialized in the north.  I have had the pleasure to visit this area a few times before, but always in april and with a helicopter. This trip was a pure skitouring adventure, and we accessed the skiing by boat.

Northern Lights! Photo: Ørjan Bertelsen

We sailed out of Tromsø on an old whale hunting ship, that now has been transformed into a “Spa Boat“. A hot tub, sauna and a haman has been fitted in the boat so now you can sit in the sauna and look at the Northeren lights, while you cruize through the fjords . We  got served some amazing food while on the boat, fresh Cod fish straight out of the fjord and also some very tasty raindeer! For the second part of the trip we transfred over to a more modern sailboat and explored the mountains around Lyngen lodge.

Last Light! Photo: Ørjan Bertelsen

All thoug it was a very cold trip, I must say that this time of year is amazing up north, short days but the light is unbelivable. We also lucked out and got to see the northeren lights twice, I have seen it before in Alaska and norway, but not like on this trip, pure joy! The skiing was ok, but strong winds had taken away most of the fresh snow up high, and the snow pack was rather unstable. We skied some fun peaks but stayed away from the steepest lines. I used a pair of Katana 176cm with the new Marker Tour 12 bindings, I was very happy with this set up. The Katana is not the lightest pair of skis, but matched with the new Tour 12 binding, the overall weight is manageable and when it comes to skiing back down it would be hard to beat this set up. I also used the DalBello Virus boot, this was the first time I have used it on longer tours, and I must say I was very impressed with the performance of this boot, it both skis and tours fantastic!

Geared up to deal with the cold! Photo: Ørjan Bertelsen