A new image in Germany’s Skiing magazine. The shot is of Candide Thovex, taken while skiing around the Rendl side of St. Anton in Austria. The rest of the mountain was a complete whiteout and even down below the tree line the light was very flat, but such good snow. This is a secret little location tucked away in amongst a few trees. When the visibility is poor you need to head to the trees for some definition and contrast.
A shot of Candide Thovex for Skiing Magazine, Germany
The last few days I have had the pleasure of shooting with a couple of Swedish girls known as Generation Flinga as they travel around the world in search of adventure and snow making an all-girl skimovie.
Sara Orrensjö and Janette Hargin passed through the Arlberg with cameraman Marcus Hansen in tow. Together with Nick Hayter and Adam Widen we spent a couple of days shooting around St. Anton and Sonnenkopf. Their timing here was well blessed with one of the best snowfalls that we have seen here this season. The girls certainly put the fresh snow to use with a few big drops and some beautifully deep powder turns.
The girls adventure will continue on Monday as they head off to Japan. You can follow their travels at www.generationflinga.com and be sure to watch out for the movie “Catch Us If You Can” when it comes out.
It has been an interesting week here in St. Anton.
The start of the week saw the O’Neill Big Mountain Pro come through town. The contest takes 6 of the worlds best snowboarders, Jeremy Jones, Mitch Toelderer, Xavier de la Rue, Fredrik Evensen, Thomas Eberharter, Eric Themel and 6 of the worlds best skiers, Cody Townsend, Loris Falquet, Thomas Diet, Richard Permin, Jeremie Heitz, Arnaud Rougier and puts them to work on various faces throughout the Alps for prize purse of US$60,000. The interesting thing about this contest is the fact the it is a movable contest and travels to wherever the snow may be and the conditions are best. This year the contest travelled between St. Anton and Saalbach further to the east.
I managed to catch the first run in St. Christoph. The face that the organisers chose had some good conditions though I would consider it to be an unusual choice for a competition with the words big mountain in the title. The face is around 100m vertical. Short though it may be the face provided numerous drops and hucks for the riders to hit and some good snow.
The contest has moved off towards the East where they have found some nice powder. I have heard that they may be returning here for another session this week which will be great as we have just had some fresh snow. Hopefully I shall get another chance to shoot with these talented riders.
Yesterday I made a trip out to Fieberbrunn near the Tyrolean/Salzburg border to watch the qualifying round of the Big Mountain Freeride Tour. With a total of 10,000 Euros prize money, the contest has attracted 76 entrants from around the world all hoping for their chance to qualify for a spot on the prestigious ski and snowboard freeride world tour. Though the majority of riders come from Europe the contest has also attracted riders from as far away as New Zealand. The winner at Fieberbrunn qualifies for the Nissan Freeride de Tignes which starts on the 8th of March and has a prize purse of 40,000 USD.
Clouds had hampered the previous day with only 5 riders being able to ski due to the diminishing visiblity. Yesterday the weather was clear and cold with the temperature being around -12° at 9 in the morning. There was a biting wind blowing which dropped the temperatures even further. Conditions were quite mixed on the course and a bit more snow would have been welcome as a few rocks were uncovered after a big landing or a heavy turn. Although the majority of the riders kept it safe there was a few throwing down a couple of big drops. The final will be held between the 7th and the 15th of Feb (weather depending).
I am not sure if I will get to make it back to the final as this week in St. Anton the O’Neill Big Mountain Pro kicks off with some of the world’s top riders but if the chance arises I will definitely be making the trip back to Fieberbrunn to watch the final (and I shall be sure to take a bigger lens).
Last week I had the pleasure of shooting with some of Europe’s top up and coming newschool skiers when they came to the Arlberg to film with the Finnish company Verse Productions. The three riders included Austrian Patrick Hollaus and the Fins Jussi Mononen and Roope Leppänen. Shots were taken in playing in the powder in Sonnenkopf and on a backcountry kicker in Zürs. Below are a few shots taken over the week. I am looking forward to shooting some more with them when they return here to the Arlberg.
Be sure and watch out for the new film from Verse Productions and produced by the talented Lasse Nevantausta. It will be called Faceshot and should come out early next winter.
Many thanks go to Skye Darden from Line Skis for lining the whole shoot up. Cheers Skye.
A new advert for Icelantic Skis has gone into the German Magazine Skiing. It is a full page ad using a photo of British skier Sam O’Keeffe jumping an icefall in Zürs, Austria.
Sam O’Keeffe taking a drop for Icelantic Skis in Zurs, Austria