It all starts with the Alpine Clubs Words and photos: Jaakko Järvensivu For years I had been a member of the Austrian Alpine Club, or Österreichische Alpenverein, paying the annual fee of 69 euros, mostly due to the extensive (up to 25 000 euros) global rescue fee coverage, included in […]
“Out of service” the three words you don´t want to see plastered on the hotel elevator door on the fifth floor, in the early hours, when you´re in a rush to get down with a full ski bag, several pieces of luggage and two kids under the age of five. […]
On choosing ski gloves There are basically two schools of thoughts when it comes to choosing your ski gloves: one emphasising a technical Goretex glove with a removable liner and the other preferring a simple work glove. For as long as I remember I have been part of the first […]
In 2001, a snowboard shaper in France was working on a ski design, which was year´s ahead of it´s time. The ski evolved into an influential brand, which is now, 20 years later, trying to follow the successful path laid by one if it´s disciples from Chamonix. Words and […]
The Himalayas, Nepal, fall 2018 It´s the morning of the last day of September and high above the clouds on the sunny top of Mount Lhotse at 8 516 m, two people are carefully putting their skis on. It´s a mere stone´s throw to Mount Everest, the highest mountain on the […]
As news about an upcoming ski brand manufacturing innovative, award-winning skis in a farm, somewhere amidst the forests of Central Finland started to circle, it was time to investigate. I´m standing in the parking lot, in front of a traditional Finnish barn, in the heart of the country´s lake district. It´s […]
The variety of different tent options available today can be puzzling. While back in the day, you might have had the choice between a dome and a tunnel tent, now there are pop up and inflatable tents offering instant pitch, geodesic tents, and even tents designed to be pitched on […]
It’s the beginning of December and thanks to a storm, that has brought 80 cm´s of fresh snow in the last 48 hours, Laax Ski Resort in the Graubünden Canton in Switzerland, has just opened it´s lifts. I’m standing above the treeline on a knoll, focusing on a skier above […]
The lore of real skiers and small ski areas that rock Little ski areas rock, the mom-and-pop owned operations are keeping it real, saving the sport of skiing from McDonaldization by the evil empire, that the big ski resort corporations present. Although exaggerated a little, this is the lore […]
”The internet and gaming are our biggest threats”. The quote was made in a 2013 by Mike Douglas in a ski resort marketing website´s interview, where the freeski pioneer and producer of Salomon Freeski TV was asked to name the biggest challenge for the ski industry in the next coming 10 […]
