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ISSUE 88 JANUARY 2010
The UK’s largest ski magazine* french spots that rock
Le Plagne, Les Arcs and Peisey
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ENTER OVERLEAF
igh t h o ll s lmos i t s as uys a a w d in f the g g are eeze, p22 w e Th me o landin the big Fr o the about s t a th leared alks to us c e Tyler t Jo
Battersea power station is invaded by the skiing masses for the FS04 Freeze PHOTO james bryant
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WTF!?
Gav Mackay gets airborne in Avoriaz
12 Sluff
Lots of semi-fascinating ski news
24 Eric’s chalet
Not Cantona. Kendall, long time Fall-Line contributor with tales from his new home
27 Investigation
Package holidays get peered at Poirot-style
30 Speed freaks
Racer Ready magazine’s Neil McQuoid on how our lot are going to fare at the Olympics
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Ski lab
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Big travel story
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Spots that rock
Transceivers, hip pads, gloves, bandanas, skis, even a resort – it’s all tested here
Get the gen on the west coast of Canada
Have a nibble or three at the huge Paradiski area, as we check out La Plagne, Les Arcs and Peisey
64 Backcountry
Fall-Line’s crack troop of British Mountain Guides go racing, ski touring style
69 Exotic travel story Chris Grabner skis Hannibal’s route across the Alps
76 Day in the life
24 hours in ski racer Dougie Crawford’s shoes
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Skills finder
87
Gear
Lots of lovely technique
Skis, boots, jackets, pants, gloves, helmets, baselayers – it’s all here
112 Resort finder
Best pack your thermals, we’re off to Canada and the US this month
116 Chalet finder
Stay with them. There will be tea. And cake
118 Course finder
Get tuition, from moguls to freeskiing to jib skills
125 Slopefinder Get downhill, near you
126 Shopfinder
They know their skiing, and their kit
130 Skeeks
Your 15 seconds: www.skeeks@fall-line.co.uk
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The most incredible ski photos in the world and how they were captured
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YOU know how it’s good to scope lines from the chair? Gav thinks the same, but bigger...
BEHIND THE SCENE
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the best of the west
Over the last six years, Fall-Line has regularly asked you lot – our readers – where you most want to ski. In the first year, you said Canada. The second year, you said Canada... And so it went on. So, mainly because you’d lynch us if we didn’t write about it, here’s our update on the snowiest province on earth; British Columbia on the west coast of... Canada WORDS BY RACHEL DEVLIN
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ROM the pillow lines of Whistler to the powder bowls of Big White, British Columbia (BC) has what any self-respecting skier wants… and it has it in abundance. Clean mountain air, abundant, untouched wilderness, beautiful, vast mountain ranges; the diverse geography and sheer size of BC means there is lots of great skiing to have you salivating with snow lust. It is Canada’s most mountainous province, boasting spectacular alpine scenery and yet just 33 large ski resorts spreading out all the way from Vancouver Island to the Alberta border – France has about 200 in the same area. The province boasts the mildest climate in Canada, yet snow conditions are amongst the best – Mt Washington on Vancouver Island enjoys up to 13 metres/43 feet of snow each season. With excellent snow conditions this season, many resorts opened early for 2009/2010. There is a reason for this; the Coast Mountain range sits in a rainforest. They’re not all in the tropics, and where they sit in northern climes you get vast amounts of water available to fall as snow (and rain...).
Vancouver is the host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (www.vancouver2010.com). This means it’ll be a little frantic through February but generally visits drop off for Olympic resorts – see the Italian experience after 2006 for a prime example. This little tome of ours can’t delve into a full exploration of all 33 resorts in BC so we’ve narrowed it down to four of our favourites, ones which we think will offer the best value for your money and effort… let us introduce you to Fernie, Big White, Panorama and Whistler. ➥ www.britishcolumbia.travel/ski
Where is BC?
It’s bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, by the US state of Alaska on the northwest, to the north by the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by the province of Alberta, and on the south by the US states of Washington, Idaho and Montana. Its land area is 944,735 square kilometres, bigger than any European country; yet Vancouver is only Canada’s 13th biggest city. There’s a lot of space to play with...
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JF Cusson makes the most of BC’s snow ridges PHOTO FÉLIX RIOUX
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The down is all the more enjoyable for the giant effort put in to get to the top. Just make sure you look up
JUST LIKE Fall-Line’s Chris Grabher swaps elephants for Scott Crusairs as he follows the Carthaginian commander’s treacherous route across the Alps PHOTOS DOMINIK HARTMANN WORDS LAURIS DE CLIFFORD 69
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pretty sure I am not mad, but Arnaud, the owner of the chalet we are staying in at Bramans, near the French-Italian border, doesn’t seem so sure. It’s been a long drive from my home in Austria, and the large helping of local schnapps I’ve been given is not really helping my language skills, but the more I explain my plan, the more Arnaud seems amazed. He’s not against the idea of crossing the Alps from his homeland into Italy, he’s just not sure anyone’s ever followed Hannibal’s route before. Well, not in his lifetime, in winter, anyway. And certainly not without a map of the area (this being Fall-Line, kings of organisation, mine is ordered but stuck in the post somewhere). After a good sleep, the question of whether the crossing’s possible is still rattling round the inner walls of the homely Le Relais de la Diligence as we sit down for breakfast. But Arnaud has found a map of the area, so I (with photographer Dominik) can at least attempt what the Romans thought impossible. Well, until 6000 cavalry, 20,000 soldiers and 27 elephants did it in 218 BC. The plan is to spend the day checking the up-route on the French side, before re-tracing our steps to the chalet and starting out to do the whole thing the following morning. Why the dry run, or rather half dry-run? Because we need to prepare a path for the ascent or we will not make it into Italy and down in a day. And unlike Hannibal, who supposedly spent a week up in the freezing cold peaks, I’ve no desire to be here for even a night. On Arnaud’s suggestion, we make for Le Planay to begin our practice/reconnoitre. It’s a fifteen-minute drive away, but worried about the deep snow and the car getting stuck if it all melts, as looks possible, we opt to park near Le Corney. It’s the only sensible choice, but means a further three kilometres to walk, and over an hour wasted, before we can access the mountain area we need, the Col du Petit Mont Cenis. First we pass a small power station, then traverse a little river. All the while the snow is getting softer and softer... Soon it’s too steep to make progress with skis on. We take our gear off and walk. Every step is a challenge as we sink up to our knees in snow. I can only imagine how Hannibal must have felt, leading his army up this ridiculously steep, narrow path, not really knowing what lay ahead, or whether an alpine crossing was even possible. We hike for 10 minutes, have a short break, then go again for 10 minutes. That’s how exhausting it is. It goes on like this for four hours, until, finally, we reach the summit. We’ve already been lost a couple of times, and the path in parts is treacherous, it’s so rocky and at such a pitch. But at least we’ve trampled the snow and put the necessary work in for the following day’s crossing. I try not to think about this, as I suppose, if
We hike for 10 minutes, have a short break, then go again for 10 minutes. That’s how exhausting it is. It goes on like this for four hours
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