So my friend Gregor hooked me up with some locals here and i owe him a lot for that due to this truly being a dream come true. Day one at gnarnia
this was all that you had to hike off the top of the lift
a little more sketchy than it looks, especially with the 50 foot fall to the left into nothingness
but then you got to this, a 1000m chute of sheer extreme powdery goodness
15sm felt like a lot deeper than that
Marco, the local guide for the day. Oh my god, I thought i was in love before but what did I know
Marco, story of the day-"man whats over there?"
Shun, oh wait, look close and you might see marco down there somewhere
where's waldo? i mean shun
we came down the chute on the right. Enrico also showed Shun and I around gnarnia
What a great day on down skis!
thats me, shit is just a lot bigger here, i mean A LOT
Shun giviner
we met this snowboarder on the "hike", another local ripper
Do you see the smile on his face?
here is the chute right off the lift! it didnt involve a "hike"
marco ripping it up
the fashion around here was second to none, except maybe milan
I forget what this run was from, but oh my god was is it good
the yellow buys were out for powder
the chutes just kept on goin and going
WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
photographer Enrico-can you tell he used to play volleyball? look at those legs
look at that powder
so i knew this place had unbelievable chutes, but add some powder on top and you might just get the best day of skiing of my life!
Enrico enjoying the conditions
and we were all enjoying the views
our tracks from the first run. you might want to buy a guide book if you ski here
the second run wasnt so bad either
ya this doesnt need a whole lot of explanation
so i knew this place had amazing chutes, but pillows too? who knew?
Enrico
it was totally rippable for maybe the first time this season
here the lift system looks a little different than america.
Marco on one of the very few safe zones on the whole mountain
the second day wasnt so bad either
boink land
shun boinking down to the valley floor, 1500m later
second run the second day and the visibility worsened, Thank god they were wearing yellow
hitchiking doesnt work so well when you got the hobo beard and your with three other freeskiers
we took a day off and went to innsbruck. side note on "the world is a village"-
Shun and I roll into Innsbruck and I contact Marius from powdergude-http://www.powderguide.com/powdermap/#33
He says he isnt skiing tomorrow but this guy Juho he knows is going up tomorrow so we should give him a call. I call him up and we meet Tuesday morning. Driving to the ski hill talking, we figure out that he used to date kaisa(who follows this blog), and is good friends with Ville (who i skied and drank a lot with last season in japan).
The world is a village!
so innsbruck delivered with powder
at times it almost got sunny
at other times it was just the white room
wheres waldo?
Juho the local ripper showing us the goods and also amazing hospitality. He invited Shun and I to stay at his place for a couple nights.
I cant wait to see the video from these days
not a super deep base but throughout this storm it got deeper
the twig, the skier
the powder was faceshot blower, reminded me of japan for a few seconds
thats my pole
good stuff to finish up this euro road trip
playful little pillows were abound
Juho
i couldnt even tell you whose pole that is
you can tell Shun's photo's. they are a step above
more goodness
Juho with his always perfect form
even on boinks around the mountain
I think because Shun is Japanese he gets more faceshots
I mean, come on
The next day we went to Pitztal Glacier. Some bigger terrain over on this side
Juho leading the way
And Kaisa-2nd country riding with you and it was great!
Down skis, you NEED to check these out
Kaisa straightlining
Juho
you dont have to go far to find the goods
the third day Juho took Shun and I up to Nochspitze ,sp?, for a tour
Juho had to ski down to his rolling tupperware that was halfway down the line. Funny scene to say the least
at the top the views were great
innsbruck was just a stones throw away
mountains everywhere
Juho dynafiting it up to the top. So jealous I think I am going to have to buy some for next season
Shun's roots coming through
wait, I have been spelling Gnar wrong all along.
shun showing off
the line and the skyline
I am pretty sure Kaisa had fun with her snowboard faceshots
Juho has a knack for finding all the drops
one more of Juho
Totally amazing trip. Packing up my stuff now and heading to Geneva tomorrow to get ready to fly. Thanks Europe for showing me a good time.
