In the exigent Alta Badia’s slope, Massimiliano Blardone (Team Dynastar and Lange) has proved that he is come back at his best level. Sixth of the first run, he has negotiated well the second run and finished at the first place in front of two Austrians, Hannes Reichelt et Philipp Schoerghofer. He has already won twice on this slope, in 2005 and 2009. In the arrival area, the Italian made the show with the public ! 

It’s official. This winter, Dynastar will equip « Compagnie du Mont-Blanc », « Compagnie des Guides », « Club des Sports de Chamonix » and « Ecole Nationale de Ski et d’Alpinisme ». 

Dynastar will be sponsor of the Kandahar, the mystic stage of the World Cup in Chamonix. (4th-5th February).

During the press conference, the new freeride line “Cham” by Dynastar has been introduced by tne World Champion Aurélien Ducroz.

For the second season in a row, Switzerland’s  Dominique Gisin managed to reach the podium in Lake Louise where she came in 3^rd in the first downhill race of the season. The next day she was 5^th, missing the podium by only 5/100 of a second ! On Sunday, the Swiss was 19^th in the Super-G after a bad run marked by a series of big mistakes.

The skier from Engelberg, a traditional ski resort located in the middle of the country near Lucerne, has this season ended all her races among the top-20, quite a encouraging consistency for the 26-year-old champion who started her World Cup career in Lake Louise six years ago.

« It’s really good for my moral to have achieved such a series of good results so far this season, the excellent performances in the recent giant slalom races definitely helped me here to be more confident and take more risks,” said Dominique after her races.

“I’m really proud of this 3^rd place obtained by difficult weather conditions. You needed to fight hard and believe in yourself to remain determined and focused despite the strong gusts of wind. It has been a solid performance for sure,” added the passionate pilot. “Unfortunately I tried too hard on the next day and made a few unnecessary mistakes, but that’s part of the game. You always have to push yourself to better know your limits. Considering the circumstances, this 5^th place so close to the podium is fine for me.”

“My tactic was not good for the Super-G on Sunday, I didn’t made the right choices and I missed the opportunity to get another good result in that technically demanding run,” also said Gisin who has won a Super-G at Crans-Montana in March 2010, beating Lindsey Vonn herself!  “I hope to do much better at Beaver Creek on the tough ‘Birds of Prey’ course.”

A winner in three World Cup races so far including two in downhill on the challenging courses of Zauchensee and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Dominique Gisin, mostly hope to achieve a ‘full season’ – a winter without injuries or major problems. 4^th in the combined event at the 2011 FIS Worlds at Garmisch-Partenkirchen last February,  Gisin has the potential to end the World Cup tour among the top-10. For the moment, she moved up in 6^th place in the downhill start-list.

Pointe de la Lune or Punta di Ceresole, 3777m .  Gran Paradiso range.  « We skied on the moon….»

I found this couloir on Pointe de la Lune during a ski excursion with some clients of mine the previous winter. It’s located on the eastern ridge of “Gran Paradiso”or “Cresta Gastaldi”. The past weeks has seen the foehn blowing hard in Chamonix valley and it was obvious that there was a lot of precipitation falling on the Piemonte. This was confirmed by following the weather systems on the forecast websites.

After a few days skiing in the Cervinia area and a warm up on some steep slope in the Vanoise, I sent a text message to my friend Glen:

“I am going to try a new thing tomorrow in Gran Paradiso, are you coming along???”

Answer: “Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The classic approach would be via the "bivacco Ivrea" located at the bottom of our mountain, but we would have had a long walk in carrying our skis on our backpacks for at least three hours, so we choose another route via the Teleccio dam and Val Piantonetto where there is a road going up to 1917m, easing access.

Less walking, more skiing is our motto!

We swap our walking shoes for touring boots & skins at the Pontese hut at 2200m. Then skin up to the Becchi pass at 2989m. We have to cut a trail through 20-30cms of deep powder. At the pass we descend to the “bivacco Ivrea”. This is simply amazing powder, powder & more powder!

Our shelter is a yellow half barrel which could sleep 9 people if everyone liked each other a lot! Glen's dinner was chicken “Colombo” & for me, chili con carne. All freeze dried, “junk” kind of “gastro-romantic” dinner…

We wake up at 6am, take off at 7am and are at the bottom of the couloir by 8am and standing on the summit by 9.30am - we aren’t “faffing around”. Parts of the couloir are on corn snow and we have to ski them before the shade returns to give the best conditions. The view from the top is just stunning looking all the way far to the South to the Maritime and Ligurian Alps.

Heading off the skiing is amazing corn snow on the left and powder snow on the right! We had to take our skis off just once for a short down climb into a snowy chimney. The steepness is about 40 to 45° with some pitches around 50°, may be a bit more. Some of the slopes are large overhanging cliff bands making it an especially beautiful ski. I feel a very special steep skiing “ambiance” there. At the bottom of the couloir we ski more amazing powder all the way back to the bivacco Ivrea.

From there we have a one hour skin back up to the Becchi pass before the final slopes home; hundreds of turns in perfect powder, slaloming around big boulders covered in snow like magic mushrooms. Only the last 100m turns into breakable crust, which is just enough to make our legs ache at the end of the day! Back at the Pontese hut, after 2000 meters of powder in two days, we are back in the normal world.

The Route:

Pointe de la Lune on Punta di Ceresole, 3777 m .

South East Couloir, 1st ski descent 20 November 2011 by Rémy Lécluse et Glen Plake.

600 meters. 40 à 45° with some parts at 50° Grade: 5.2 E3

Rémy thanks: Arc’teryx, Dynastar & Grivel

Argentina is already a good old memories!

After returning from South America, no place to rest, but return to work as a plasterer and painter, and this again for one month!

In October, I visited two events that were important to me. Freestyle.ch in Zurich, international Freestyle Event, with BMX, Skateboarding, FMX, Snowboard and Freeski, my favorite discipline. Elias Ambühl and Kai Mahler the two Swiss guys finish first and second.

The following weekend, I participated at the IF3 Europe, International Freeski Film Festival in Annecy. Program, the new world freeski films, brands and new winter collections, but also parties, a short weekend to announce the new ski season.

The good news these two days, Jeremy Bernard, my photographer, was named "Best European Photographer of the Year 2011".

But alongside these days of relaxation, I prepare my ski season at best. Example of a typical week of October:

- Monday, 9h service on site, fitness 1:15
- Tuesday, 9h service on site, 1 hour trampoline
- Wednesday, 9h service on site, fitness 1:15
- Thursday, 9h service on site, 1 hour trampoline
- Friday, 9h service on site, fitness 1:15
- Saturday, 5 hours of skiing on the glacier of Zermatt
- Sunday, 5 hours of skiing on the glacier of Zermatt

The rest of my program, I'm going next week to 8 days skiing on the glacier of Zermatt between test skis, give and take courses, then a few more days of work, and winter begins ...