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Heut haben wir unsre 2. Etappe Winter Park Colorado erreicht. Am ersten Tag ging es durch herrliche Wälder und beste Singletrails in das Hippydorf Nederland. Heut stand schon ein Höhepunkt auf dem Programm. Von Nederland über den Jenny Creek Trail erreichten wir den 3570 Meter hohen Rolinspass. Hier wird die Bikerluft schon ganz schön dünn. Vom Pass ging es über einen Supertrail hinunter nach Winterpark. Morgen warten wieder viele Höhenmeter und auch Kilometer auf uns…

In den letzten Tagen konnten Dagmar und Flory den Spätsommer in den Bergen nochmal richtig ausnutzen. An den bizzaren Nadeln der Salbitschijen kletterten wir luftige Touren am Südgrat. In zwei Tagen über 30 Seillängen.

Nachdem das Wetter im Juli doch nicht immer so beständig war, wurden wir im August mit herrlichem Sonnenschein belohnt. Viele unvergessliche Hochtouren konnten wir machen, so standen Tia (9 Jahre) und Colin (7 Jahre) auf ihrem ersten 4000er. Dagmar hat Spaß beim Klettern am Weissmies Nordgrat und Tia und Colin können sich auf abenteuerlichen Klettersteigen austoben.

Powder Anfang Juli hört sich doch verrückt an. Die Teilnehmer unseres diesjährigen Heliski Abenteuer Trips in Kirgisistan konnten beste Schneeverhältnisse im Tien Shan in Höhen zwischen 3.600 und 5.000 Metern genießen. Alle Gletscher waren dieses Jahr Anfang Juli noch tief verschneit. Wieder einmal ging es neben spektakulärem Skifahren auch darum, Land und Leute kennen zu lernen und möglichst viel dieses wunderschönen Landes zu sehen.

In a few days we will take out our skis one more time. For the third time Flory will take a group of skiers to one of the most remote and exotic heliski regions on earth. Skiing between the 7000 meter giants of the Tien Shan Mountains is an unforgettable experience.

Unser diesjähriges Ski Berge Abentuer Team Bergführertreffen fand am 9. Juni statt. Ein starkes Bergführerteam (Bernd, Flo, Andi, Stefan, Felix, Wolfi, Matte, Fedia und Flory) zusammen mit einem professionellen Backoffice Team (Dagmar, Andrea) ließen den Winter 09 nochmals Revue passieren. Der Schwepunkt des Treffens aber war die optimale Vorbereitung der Saison 2010. Alle Winterreisen, egal ob ins Allgäu oder in den entlegendsten Winkel der Erde, sind bereits schon professionell vorbereitet. Mit vielen interessanten und neuen Destinationen werden wir in den Winter 2010 steigen.

Nach aufschlussreichen Gesprächen mit neuen Ideen und Anregungen ließen wir den Abend in lustiger Runde auslaufen…

Die schönsten Fotos unserer Lyngen Alps Skitourenreise sind auf der Seite von Klaus Fengler unter dem Link zu sehen
Click here

Viel Spaß beim anschauen…

While in the middle of Europe it is getting warmer and warmer, we have moved north in order to find some more snow. Together with Christine, Mark, Martin and the photographer Klaus Fengler we have gone skitouring in the Lyngen Alps, in the very far north of Norway. The conditions are just great and we can go skitouring under the midnight sun.

A perfect winter season is coming to an end. At all our skiing journeys worldwide, the snow conditions were just… without words! We would like to say thank you to all our guests for trusting in us during all the journeys. A special thank you to our team of mountain guides, who have worked very professionally again this winter all over the world. Thanks to Bernd, Wolfi, the three Andi’s, Stefan, Felix, Flo, Matte, Fedia, Lutz and Josef.

Without our Kamchatka team, our heliskiing journeys wouldn’t work. Martha (overall organisation), Sascha (for us the best MI-8 helicopter in the world), Yuri (entertainer), Lena, Julia (overcoming Russian bureaucracy), Vitia (co-pilot), Sascha2 (mechanic), Irina (lunches): we are impressed by your performance this year. It was just great! And though this winter is not even fully over, we are of course again preparing for next season. If you want to know, where we will be heading next season, just visit our website again in a few weeks time.

Dagmar, Andrea and Flory

Our group of mountaineers who aimed to climb Elbrus, the highest mountain in Elbrus, were not lucky with the wheather. On the summit day there was a big snow storm going on, so the sight was very bad and the avalanche risk high. On the saddle at 5,400 metres the group had to turn and descent again. One of the participants stayed a day longer and reached the peak the next day. Anyway, everyone arrived home happily and safely. Many thanks to Liza, Sasha and their team who did a splendid job, was usual.

After 11 weeks, more than 400,000 verticals, and more than 450 helicopter drop offs, we have had one of our best heliski seasons on Kamchatka ever. Our last run was in best corn snow more than 2,000 vertical metres from Kadutka volcanoe down to the hot river. What a great season’s ending!

Wolfi Schmid in best corn snow on Asatscha Volcanoe

While the southern slopes are clad in findest corn snow, the peak regions are still very winterly.

Happy skiers after a perfect day of helicopter skiing.

Our group has had a great week on Kamchatka: 7 days perfect heliskiing out of 7 days on spot. While in the beginning of the week, we still found some fresh powder snow, we could ski perfect corn snow during the last few days. All southern slopes are smooth and look like covered in silk.

Our group 9 has only just arrived today at 10 am, but as the conditions were just great again, we hopped on the helicopter and did almost 11,000 verticals with this sporty group during the first day. Not bad, let’s hope it just stays like that…

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While on the northern slopes you can still find powder snow, the southern slopes have pretty much perfectly transformed by now. That way, we normally ski in powder snow in the morning, and after lunch, go to the southern slopes that are clad in snow like silk. Also the next days are looking pretty good again.

It sounds almost unbelievable, but the winter on Kamchatka just doesn’t come to an end. Today the morning was still cloudy but we found a little hole in the clouds in order to get to the back of the mountain range, where the mountain peaks were already gleaming in the sun. Wonderful runs directly to the sea. After a lunch on the beach the coulds disappeared on some of the volcanoes. The whole afternoon we were able to do run after run on a 3,000 metre high volcanoe in perfect powder snow. To end the day, we had a chilled beer in a hot spring. What a day!

Group 7 just went home, and group 8 has already arrived on the peninsula. Our heliski adventure is slowly coming to the end. But the conditons are still just perfect. There is still so much powder, it is like a fairy tale. If it stays like that, the mountains will give us springcorn and powder on the same spot. We will wait for more news from the “hot spot” Kamchatka.

Also our 6th group has caught some real good snow conditions. The last two days were just beautiful again. The next days are supposed to be sunny and a bit warmer. Then it is time to catch some firn snow on the southern slopes. Our telemark pros from Switzerland are stunned by the possibilities and snow quality.

While Fedia, Wolfi and Bernd have been skiing the snow-clad volcanoes, Flory went on a trip to the north of Kamchatka in order to get an impression of the snow conditions up there. He drove 620 km up north to the little village of Esso. Here, you really get the impression, that you have arrived at the end of the world. But Esso wants to go into tourism and therefore, has build a new hotel with on-site hot springs.

Best powder for our 4th group on Kamchatka, once again. The snow conditions have been nothing but great this year. During the last 6 days, we skied about 55,000 verticals with our group. The skiers are overwhelmed by the many, many different runs and vast opportunities, even though most of them have been to Kamchatka already several times. The peninsula is just that big and varied that even after years everyone still finds new possibilities, new landscapes, new runs. Flory has been exploring the island for 9 years now and does not by far know all the possibilites that are there.

Last not least it has worked out: our group of skiers and snowboarders went heliskiing in Muerren / Switzerland last week. With two flights, one to Aebnifluh and one to Petersgrat, they used the package to the full and did two great runs in the impressive landscape around Jungfrau, Moench and Eiger. But not only on Saturday but also on Sunday, the group had great fun skiing around the Schilthorn region, partly doing runs, that are only known to the locals. Many thanks to Stefan, our mountain guide, for this great weekend!

It is hard to believe: after our third group went home with 56,000 verticals in their feet, it just keeps on going like it has for our 4th group. After only 2.5 skiing days we have already reached the 30,000 verticals mark. But it is not mainly the number of vertical metres that we are doing, moreover the snow conditions are just great and it is really, really fun skiing over here. A big thank you to our pilot Sascha, co-pilot Victor and mechanic Alexander. Guys, you do a splendid job! Pictures are to follow…

Our third group is hitten by the powder. The coditions are better and better, from day to day. Today we once again did 14,000 verticals in finest and really deep powder.

The last weekend in Mürren unfortunately had some bad weather. The planned helicopter flight could not be carried through. Too much wind. But overnight it snowed, and at least the group could ride through some nice powder in the area round Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau. We are going to have one more group for the heliskiing in Muerren. The weather is supposed to be better. Let’s wait and see.

I dont know, if Flory this year has been telling me anything else as: awesome, perfect, great or “that is off the chain”. Today they did 11.000 verticals. It was Florys best day on the peninsula. And the best, it was actually bad weather in Petropavlovsk. Which does not disturb our pilot Sascha as usual. He always finds the blue sky. So nobody could belive, that they will have such a great day! Many thanks to Sascha, who always finds the blue sky for us…

This week we have again best conditions on Kamchakta. Yesterday we did 10.000 verticals, in finest snow. To crown the day, we found our last run, down to the pacific coast. Today it snowed the whole day. The group was happy to have this break. The legs burned like fire, from toe to hip. For Tuesday, the forecast is good again. We are excited to show them more of the highlights. And as well to you, just stay on line!

After one more nice “Datscha evening”, our heliskiing group went home. The next group arrived safely in Petropavlovsk. To cover the “jet lag”, Flory turned on the helicopter in order to exploid the beautiful day. After ten perfect runs they tumbled in their beds. Now everybody can’t wait for their next days on Kamchatka….

La Grave, one of the first and steepest freeride areas in the Alps. Sophisticated and steep. The right thing for skiers who feel on normal freeride slopes like on easy pists. Our group, led by Wolfi Schmid, had a lot of fun. Last, but not least, because Wolfi is so much experienced in this area. He used to go there, years ago, when he lived for some winters in Chamonix, and visited this part of the Alps a lot of times. Wolfi, thanks a lot to you.

Our Freeriders had a lot of fun in Engelberg.The snow and also the weather were quite good last weekend. The pictures were taken by Isabel, thanks for that. Many thanks also to both Andis, they did all their best to find some good adventures. Now we will be going to Mürren, we will see how the powder is there. We will tell you here…

This winter, god is our friend, we guess. After 2 days bad weather, and snowfall in the mountains, showed us the new morning a cloudy sky over Petropavlosk. That expect first nothing good. But pro enough, and pilot Sascha on our hand, we had once more the best instinct. We flew into the country. After a few minutes of heli flying, the sky cleared up, and we saw and skied endless mountains, in finest powder. The next days weather should be easier. So we will rock the mountains agian.

With a skiing day of 14,000 verticals, we could give our first group the best goodbye. As you can see on the photo, some of them lost the ground under their feet! They stood on their head…

The first week is already unbelievable. Yesterday the big dump brought 60 centimeters of fresh and deep powder. The next morning  was a bit cloudy, but our vast experience on Kamchatka helped us again. Even in stormy weather took us pilot Sasha direction north, where the tops covered in thick snow beamed in the sun. The powder was like the weather, beautiful, deep and soft …

Tomorrow must be super again. Let´s be surprised!

A little bit late but here are several photos from our Courmayer-Week from 1.-7.3.09. Beside the wonderful snow condition and cosy atmosphare in the group, special gratitude to our mountaingide Andi Millinger, who have done a super job by escorting the group safely and sovereign through the mountains. Thank you very much Andi!

Dass die Dolomiten-Reise vollständig ausgebucht sein würde, war uns ja schon klar, bevor überhaupt die Ausschreibung fertig war. Bei den diesjährigen Schneeverhältnissen zieht dieses Gebiet die anspruchsvollen Freerider magisch an. Bei anfangs durchwachsenen Wetterbedingungen ging es zunächst für die 7 Teilnehmer und unseren Bergführer Bernd Adler viel durch die verschiedenen Waldgebiete. Zum Schluss wurde das Wetter dann aber noch so gut, dass die Gruppe sogar das berühmte “Holzer-Couloir” fahren konnte, das in den 70er Jahren von Heini Holzer zum ersten Mal befahren wurde.

Our first group on Kamchatka got their first day of heliskiing already yesterday. Directly after arrival in Petropavlovsk they jumped into the helicopter to draw some lines in the fresh snow. The perfect strategy to get over the jetlag!

Yesterday I was out in the mountains the whole day, together with Sasha in  the helicopter. We went to three different regions and had a look on the different runs. We were stunned by the actual snow cover. Where in other years we had seen rocks and stones, this year everything is deeply covered in snow. We are already looking forward to a great heliskiing season 2009.

Flory has arrived on Kamchatka, yesterday at 12 am noon local time. The picture is a bit old, at the moment one couldn’t see anything on it but white. The flight was exhausting, as always, but everything went well. Now he will try to get some sleep, bacause he would like to go on a logistic flight to some areas round the city together with our pilot Sasha tomorrow early in the morning .The best way to see how the situation is in the mountains. So let’s wait for his update. Last not least Flory’s message to all heliskiers to come to Kamchatka this year: “The big red cherry is parked in front of the hut, ready for you to jump in”. Have fun.

The white dream doesn´t stop this year. That could also be confirmed by the Russian boarder group at Val d’Anniviers. Our mounrain guide Bernd was quite surprised by the way they surfed down the powderruns. Now, he is ready to start the heliski season on Kamchatka. He will also start very soon on his way to the far east, and will stay there for one month.

This what perfect ski racing looks like. Do you have any questions? Tia would gladly answer those. The picture was taken at a local ski race by the daddy of another little “racer”. Thanks a lot!

The best Niseko pictures are online on the new website of Klaus Fengler, our fotographer. Just click here.

The King of the Forest: das ist ein Race für Profiboardercrosser am Feldberg. Eigentlich sollte man mindestens 11 Jahre alt sein. Mit seinen 7 Jahren war Colin der Jüngste. 12 Jahre lagen zwischen ihm und dem nächst jüngsten, der das Ziel erreichte. Nur klar, dass er sich am Samstag so nicht für den Sonntag qualifizieren konnte. Wobei ihm nur ca. 30 Sekunden auf den letzten Qualiplatz fehlten. Die Strecke war für Erwachsene ausgerichtet. Dennoch ist Colin einen super Lauf gefahren. Der Zielsprung war vor einem ca. 35 Grad steilen Eishang, der dann in dem Auslauf eines Schanzenbettes mündete. Schon für einen Erwachsenen eine Herausforderung. King und Queen sind Julia und Etienne, die beiden kommen aus dem Boardercrossteam und starten im Europacup. Das Team wird von Thorsten Schelling geleitet, und das sehr erfolgreich. In dieser Saison wurden schon einige Medaillen nach Hause gebracht. Vielleicht sind das schon die nächsten zukünftigen Olympioniken, und Colin mitten drin…

Tia war ein bisschen enttäuscht, als sie nach dem 2. Lauf mit 17 Hundertstel Sekunden Rückstand auf Platz 2 landete. Das Ziel war schon ganz oben zu sein. Doch das ist auch schon bei den großen so. Der Schnellere siegt. Wir sind trotzdem stolz auf Tia. Flory ist noch zu Hause und konnte ihr sogar noch ein paar nützliche Tipps geben. Er fliegt jetzt am Mittwoch nach Kamchatka und bereitet alles für die erste Gruppe vor. Start ist am Samstag, bei besten Powderbedingungen!

Wollt ihr reinschaun? Dann klickt hier. Ein Dankeschön hierfür an Björn.

Fedia, our mountain guide and friend on Kamchatka, today sent us this picture of Koriaksky volcano (3,456 m) which is the biggest mountain near Petropavlovsk (35km from the city). This picture was taken by a friend of his, a volconologist who was on a scientific flight resently. They have quite a lot of snow already. Even in Petropavlovsk there are about 2 meters of snow. And much more in the mountains, of course. So, we can say that we and our mountains are ready to meet you there.

Wir ihr auf den Bildern sehen könnt, haben es sich die Teilnehmer der Freeride-Reise nach Japan richtig gut gehen lassen. Über den unglaublichen Powder haben wir ja schon öfter berichtet, aber das Essen hat anscheinend auch noch sehr gut geschmeckt! Grund genug für uns, im nächsten Jahr mehr Termine in Niseko anzubieten. Reservierungen nehmen wir ab sofort entgegen. Ihr denkt das ist zu früh? Weit gefehlt, die 1. Gruppe für 2010 haben wir bereits zusammen!

Wer weiß, vielleicht werden die Träume der Kinder irgendwann einmal war. Zumindest die Vorraussetzungen dafür sind gegeben. Über Fasching sind die Kerns (natürlich außer Flory, der steckte in Japan im Powder) ins Pitztal gefahren. Getauscht wurde Faschingsparty gegen Traingscamp. Tia besuchte die Race Akademie Raich. Eine Einrichtung vom berühmten Skirennläufer Benjamin Raich, zur Förderung junger Talente. Das war ein Geschenk von Dagmar, dass Tia sofort eingelöst hat. Anbei ein großes Lob an die Trainer Alfons, Harald und Mario, die bei recht schlechtem Wetter einen super Job geleistet haben. Die Organisation war prima und Tia war sehr glücklich. Infos über diese Camps gibt es unter: http://www.race-center.at/racecenter-team.html Damit noch nicht genug: ganz spontan ging auch Colins Co-Trainer vom Landesteam mit, um Colin in der gleichen Zeit technisch zu betreuen. Das Au-Pair Lilia noch im Schlepptau, war es für alle fünf ein super Ferienereignis, das vermutlich an Ostern wiederholt wird…

Und erneut haben unsere Bergführer eine gute Nase und viel Flexibilität bewiesen. Das Heliskiing in Mürren wurde aufgrund der brisanten Lawinengefahr, bei der man die richtig guten Sachen nicht hätte fahren können, kurzerhand am Samstag morgen ins Lötschental verlegt. Und dort hat die Gruppe rund um Flo Hellberg zwei Wahnsinnstage erwischt. Ihr wollt wissen, wie das aussieht? Dann schaut euch diese beiden kurzen Video-Clips an:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnZetNTtQD8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDUL_I79CBs&feature=channel_page 

Wenn wir es nicht selbst erleben duerften, wuerden wir es nicht glauben: heut ist unser 7. Tag in Niseko. Ueber Nacht hat es wieder eine satte Ladung auf die grundlos tiefe Unterlage geschneit. Heut frueh zeigt sich sogar die Sonne etwas, voller Vorfreude geht es bei uns gleich los.

Was wir hier in Niseko erleben, uebertrifft alle Maßstaebe. Seit 4 Tagen tiefster powder in einem perfekten Areal. Vom Niseko Vulkan geht es durch lichte Laerchenwaelder in jede Richtung hinunter. Alle Stories und Geschichten, die wir von Niseko hoerten, haben sich mehr als bestaetigt. Auch der heutige Tag schaut schon wieder vielversprechend aus….

 Reiner und Wendelin, die bei unserem Lenzerheide Freeride Weekend vom 6.-8.2.09 dabei waren, haben einen super Reisebericht inklusive Fotos und GPS Tracks online gestellt. Ihr findet ihn unter http://www.carving-ski.de/skiurlaub/freeride-reiner-wendelin/. Vielen Dank an die beiden!

You want to know what the conditions for Flory and the rest of the crew are like in Niseko? Check out this link for the daily video powder report:
http://www.harmonyresorts.com/en/hanazono-tv/video/1789730.html