Andreas Fransson - Life from a different angle

Haglöfs Arctic weekend is now over and I?m just about to go to bed to get ready for a full day of traveling tomorrow! Its been a few really good days of skiing and ski touring in Riksgränsen, Björkliden and Låktatjåkka and the snow conditions have been awesome. This is a really special place to visit in the winter with the magic light, the cold and, if one is as lucky as we have been, the dry powder snow. On Friday I went to guide the lift access skiing in Riksgränsen and even though I have been spending many seasons there I have to say it was one of my better days I ever had there. In the night I went out with photographer Fredrik Schenholm to shoot some flash photos in the night (with really good results) and on Saturday I guided the classic ski Kåpparåsen from Låktatjåkka mountain station. In the evening I held a lecture and showed some photos from my Denali expedition last spring and today has been a day of work and design meetings.

Its been great to meet the great Haglöfs crew with associates, all the guests on the event as well as all my good old friends from the Riksgränsen, Björkliden, Abisko area. I?m already looking forward to next year?s event.

Tomorrow I?m going back towards Chamonix for more everyday adventures, or if Fredrik get back from his cold, we make take on a pretty special adventure. Lots of questions will find their answer tomorrow? 

I?m at Copenhagen airport at the moment on my way to Björkliden in the north of Sweden for Haglöfs yearly event ? Haglöfs Arctic Weekend.

It will be a weekend full of happenings, clinics, lectures, small adventures and lots of skiing of course. I used to spend a lot of time in the Riksgränsen area a few years back and it always feels like coming back home when I visit the mountains up north.

Read friend and fellow Haglöfs team member Johanna Stålnacke?s write-up on the weekend at: alpinepassion.blogspot.com

Just got the word that freeskier.com have posted a profile on me! Check it out at: http://freeskier.com/stories/profile-andreas-fransson-talks-motivation-chamonix-fear-and-going-solo? 

He just put up some photos from the weekend?s photo shoot - http://danielronnback.blogspot.com/2012/02/chamonix.html

I just came back from a two-day ski tour around Dents du Midi in Switzerland with Bjarne Sahlén.  We had planned to ski one of the awesome couloirs on the north side, but snow conditions where really tricky. First, on the south side we had to abandon our objective because of wind loading, and then, when we dropped in to our back up run it was also extremely wind loaded ? so the only reasonable thing was to walk back up and call it a day.

It?s weird though, that many times when I back of something I feel like a bigger accomplishment than when I get something done. Especially this time when backing of was a much bigger hazel than skiing down, that makes me even more proud of our decision. But looking back we still had two great days in perfect weather, a kick ass dinner as well as some really good turns. We might even have some good material to make another small webisode.

Keep an eye at Bjarne?s video blog as well; it?s loaded with lots of great films from the mountains ? endlessflow.posterous.com

Today we went up to Midi to get some fair weather shots. The crew for the day was Erik, Daniel and Bjarne. It was a good, cold and fairly slow day where we only did one run (a run from the top of Midi is around 2800 vertical meters) but we got the photos we where after and we skied some really good snow. The most intense moment was for sure when we got to track the Bosson glacier with zero visibility, but we made it spot on and where down in town for a good afternoon boulder session.

It?s been a good weekend and it was really cool that Erik and Daniel came by - Both are excellent company, Erik is a living ski motivation booster and Daniel is one of the best I know at documenting the action and the story as it unfolds. Daniel has been in Chamonix before with us, but for Erik it was the first town skiing the bigger lines and it was awesome sharing the experience with them both and to be able to show them a small part of what these mountains has to offer! 

Yesterday my friends Erik Sunnerheim and Daniel Rönnbäck arrived for a weekend of photo work. Erik, also known as ?the Demon? in the Swedish ski community is one of the Swedes on the Freeride World Tour and Daniel is part of the new generation of action sport photographers. It was kind of a last minute call for the duo to come by Cham as they didn?t have a car, but finally they arrived late last night from Engelberg.

Today we went up to try to get some good shoots from the Chamonix backcountry and after looking at the raws it seems like we managed to get some good stuff.

The best thing though was that we had a really good day out with a morning on Grand Montets and the afternoon on Midi. We got some really good turns in and Erik later claimed that it was ?one of the best ski days in his life?.  That coming from one of the best and most enthusiastic skiers I know makes me feel really happy. Chamonix showed its good side to us today so whatever happens tomorrow the weekend is already a great success.

Follow Daniel?s blog at: danielronnback.blogspot.com

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)

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! 

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. 

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

Yesterday we had our last day of our week of filming and we went to Helbronner on the Italian side of the massif. Our goal was just to have a calm last day together, ski some couloirs, get some playful footage on JP as well as to do some more ski mountaineering.

It was definitely calm as we only saw four other skiers on the whole day. We also got the couloir skiing we where after straight from the lift in nice and chalky snow with Mt Blanc in the backdrop.

JP found a bump where he threw a big backflip on his first and only try and after some good Italian coffee we did a spicy variation close to the lift that gave us some nice climbing, two spectacular rappels and some untouched snow with the clouds below us on the valley floor.

It was a fun ending to a great week of skiing together. It feels like we did the most we could from the conditions we had and hanging out with Bjarne and JP is a great pleasure as there are always positive vibes, smiles and laughter and everyone are trying their best to create a good atmosphere. More projects will be planned together in the future!

Now Bjarne will get some work editing everything together. In the meantime, check out his video blog at: endlessflow.posterous.com

Just got the message that this blog is listed among the best freeskiing sites on American ESPN.com. Great to hear after a year of hard work!

Check it out here: http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/blog/_/post/7555160/best-freeskiing-sites-internet

I?m happy to announce my new sponsor, Swedish world leading outdoor gloves manufacturer Hestra Gloves. I grew up using Hestra gloves and I?m now proud to join the team.

Check out Hestra Glove?s website ? hestragloves.com 

Yesterday Jp Auclair, Julien Regnier, Bjarne Sahlén and myself went up to the Argentiere basin to do some skiing up high. We knew that the snow was not to good after the hard winds during the week, but we still wanted to take the chance to make something semi-big together.

It had been mostly northeastern winds lately so we figured that skiing something facing southwest would be our best bet conditions wise. The Angelique on Les Courtes seemed to be the perfect choice ? and off we went.

The approach and the climbing up went smooth even though all of us could feel the hard work. I was really happy to be out again as this was my first real ski mountaineering adventure of the season.

At the top we did one rappel to get in to the couloir on the other side and then the fun was supposed to start. But the conditions where actually not that great with a mix of chalky snow that would break loose and breakable crust mixed up with a few turns of powder.

JP was joking that he felt the same thing on the way down as on the way up ? ?are we at the end soon??.  However, the end of the couloir came sooner than later and we all agreed that it was a character building run, to say the least. Anyhow, it?s a beautiful couloir in a beautiful setting and the boys got themselves a tour on a big part of the Mt Blanc range ? from the depth of the Argentiere basin, up Les Courtes NNE face, down on the other side to the Talefre basin continuing down to Mer de Glace and then the James Bond trail all the way down to town.

Thumbs up for a good crew on a nice adventure meeting all the challenges with a big smile. Today its rest day with some computer work and interviews for our Chamonix episodes and tomorrow we will go up again for the last day of skiing together, for this time. 

Today Bjarne, JP and myself met up with Stephan Dan, Julien Regnier and Francois-Regis Thevenet for a ski day around the Cham valley. The plan was to do a tour skiing a run in Aiguilles Rouges then do a variation on Grand-Montets and then do a lap at Midi, but conditions and avalanche danger made us ski one run at Flegere and then go straight to Midi. We found some great snow and we where moving really fast for being such a big group. From Plan du Aiguille we made a variation that was new for all of us that gave us some amazing snow and some rock n roll route finding. The rest of the crew went for a third run, but I hit a tree on my arm jumping of a small cliff and thought it was a good idea to go home and ice it for the adventures to come in the next few days.

For me, today was an excellent proof on how one can have a great and chilled powder day with friends in Chamonix even one week after the last snow fall.

Yesterday we had our eyes on a good couloir in the Aiguilles Rouges. We started in Flegere and walked up to Lac Blanc but the wind was really strong and it was  very cold and the slopes wind loaded. There was spontaneous avalanche activity on south eastern slopes and we understood early that our approach couloir could be a no go. But we kept at it to have a look and get some exercise. When we finally arrived to the base it actually looked better than we had thought but nevertheless we decided that it would be pretty offensive going up this one as there was a bit of loading, it was just above terrain trap and the slopes we would ski after the objective would be very loaded as well. This time we where not worried at all about the couloir we wanted to ski, but it was getting to it and back that was the sketchy bit. So we walked back to Lac Blanc and climbed up to Col de Bellverdere, a classic ski tour in Aiguille Rouge. The small couloir leading to the bowl on the backside had a sideslip track as always but it was powder just to the side of it and the big bowl it self was totally filled in with no tracks.

Even though we didn?t get to ski our objective we still got some great powder turns and a fine day out?

Today had been a rest day with paper work for me and a trip to Grenoble to sort out some boots for JP and tomorrow we have some new ski plans? Life is good?  

Yesterday JP Auclair arrived and we will work on some Chamonix episodes. We are not trying to make something extreme, its more about getting good days out and trying to show the Chamonix feel to anyone interested. So today we went out and did a few runs at Brevent in the morning and then we went over to Midi for a run down Glacier Ronde. It was a beautiful day and the skiing and the company was simply awesome. JP said it was his best day in Cham - ever... And for me it was definitely the best one so far this season! 

Today I had a great ski day with Bjarne, Carl and Martin. The two later was coming by Chamonix for the day and I wanted them to get a good impression of the area? After runs down the Bellin, a secret variation beyond Ensa as well as a finish down the Cosmique I think they understood how good Cham can be. We did not meet any other people for the whole day? Its so great to be up among the mountains with friends after the heavy times we have had? 

A ski boot with wings and flowers was standing on top of Felix?s coffin. The church in Chamonix was full to the brim with family and friends from all over the world. It was a beautiful service worthy a great friend and center point in Chamonix. He will be remembered and missed by many! 

This night we had Felix?s memorial party. It was a warm evening with lots of tears, smiles and laughter among friends and family. It was a full house with plenty to eat and drink; lots of great people on a limited amount of space. I think Felix would have liked it? 

Today I finally got back on my skis. After a well needed sleep in I phoned Nicklas Hansen to see if he was up for some skiing. We went to Grand Montets and was lucky to time everything perfectly.  The sun came with great visibility and  there where few tracks.  It was a wonderful day and it felt great to be out there again after Felix?s accident. He used to say that he wanted to keep on doing what we love even if something would happen to him. This one, and many more to come, where for you?

As always I didn?t bother taking any photos when it was really good skiing, but I still post some from the day?