Extreme Skiing - Antarctica Edition

Suunto athlete Kim Havell went on another incredible adventure - Skiing Antarctica? Yep.

Read her recent Powder Magazine blog post highlighting the beginning of their trip. Here's a highlight.

Kim Havell:

We arrived to a place with no one else, with endless descents and up to 9,000-foot peaks straight up from the ocean. This is a backcountry skier’s dream realm, but it also comes with some harsh realities—Antarctica is a moving target.

With endless route possibilities, Antarctica also puts forth challenging obstacles that have to be carefully navigated: abrupt weather changes, tricky small boat—Zodiac—landings, pack ice movement that can trap a ship, lurking crevasses in the glacier, and other objective hazards.

Julian Carr Featured at Whitefish Mountain Films

Pro skier and Suunto athlete, Julian Carr, has been getting ready for the snow season by getting out and touring a bunch of ski videos, making appearances with a host of superstar athletes.

He's been making the circuit including Whitefish Mountain Films in Whitefish, Montana - here he is hanging with Chris Rubens before the screening of Eye of the Condor:

(Click photo for a link to a series of images from the Whitefish Mountain Films show)

Julian has also been to shows in Colorado, Utah and across the country.

If you didn't get a chance to connect with Julian on this film showcase, you'll have to wait until the thaw - now that the powder is accumulating, you can bet Julian will be spending more time doing what he does: killing it in the mountains.

Kim Havell Travels to Morocco

An amazing pro skier, mountaineer, global adventurer and good friend of Suunto, Kim Havell, recently returned from a whirlwind trip of skiing in Morocco and we couldn't be more excited to see her photos and hear about the trip. Here are some of the snapshots from Kristoffer Erickson, expedition photographer and trip leader. Check out the great shots of Kim's Suunto Lumi altimeter, barometer, compass wristop computer that helped her log her vertical feet and gauge weather trends on the adventure. Photos courtesy www.kristoffererickson.com.

From Kim Havell's blog HavellsTravels-- Skiing in Morocco..though the French have been establishing routes there for years it remains a relatively undiscovered mecca of adventure skiing and free climbing. Located on the north-western tip of Africa, Morocco boasts magnificent coastline, far reaching desert (the Sahara), and mountain ranges that top out over 4,000 meters. For two weeks in March our team of five (Kristoffer Erickson, Chris Rubens, Dave Mossop, Jordi Montserrat, Kim Havell) embarked on an exploratory mission in the Central High Atlas mountains of this mystical country. With a starting point in the vibrant city of Marrakech, we traveled East and North to the Ait Bougmez Valley. It was an enchanting adventure that involved many unknowns but that resulted in great success in all our climbing and skiing endeavors. Highlights from the journey included a ski descent from the 2nd highest peak in Northern Africa at over 4,000m, Jbel M’Goun, as well as five additional summit ski descents and some reconnaissance missions. Along the way we skied some new routes/first descents, which added to the pioneering sensation of our travels.
Simultaneous to our ski tour adventure, we also filmed with Salomon Freeski TV for an episode due out next ski season 2010-11 with Rocky Mountain Sherpa’s Dave Mossop as the master mind, and Kristoffer Erickson as the expedition photographer and our trip leader. There was a lot of vertical covered in this trip in back to back big days in the mountains, covering anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 meters of vertical ascent along with miles of approach and travel along ridges and valleys. We had some big loads, some great weather, exciting ski lines, and some really fun corn skiing! We met warm, sharing, and impassioned people, and experienced some phenomenal villages, towns, and cities with pulsing beats and thriving culture.

Heybrun Couloir by Andrew McLean

"Here's a link to some helmet cam footage from skiing the Heyburn Couloir in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho last Wednesday (April 22). This was one of many couloirs in that area and I'll definitely be going back to ski a few more! We stayed up at the Bench Yurt for three nights and this line is about a one hour hike away. The couloir itself is about 1,500' long and a true classic."

Happy turns,
Andrew

This came in from Andrew McLean. Not only is Andrew one of the longest Suunto Ambassadors in US but known for being one of the most influencial skiers in US history. Andrew got awarded POWDER MAGAZINES most influential skiers for the year 2003.