Doglotion.com - Freeskiing Community - alps

Last Days La Grave and Chamonix

AndreCharland — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:36:37 -0400

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My last days in the French Alps in 08. Epic conditions skiing with good friends!

I know it's been a few months since I shot this, but figured with all this summer sun we could use some winter stoke! Thanks to Lars, Christian and Mickael aka Boubou! Who's heading south? Send us some updates:)

Stay tuned for some video from touring in the fjords of Norway.

Blower Pow, Pillows and Exposure in La Grave

AndreCharland — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:37:00 -0400

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The last couple days of skiing in La Grave have continued to deliver!

With the snow pack tightening and skies still mostly clear we able to get onto some steeper slopes ski some bigger runs to the Valley. Pan Rideaux was the most exciting with some steep turns, serious exposure and deep pow. But Chirousse the 2400m vert epic was a close second. Rocky Garden provided blower pow under blue skies so all good. I can't wipe the grin off my face! Lars Krantz and Even Ofstad of BigTrix.com are awesome guys to shred with. More to come...

La Grave is Getting Nuked!

AndreCharland — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:13:19 -0400

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I just arrive in France and the snow started falling in La Grave. Yesterday winds were over 100kmh in the Alpine, it snowed about 30 to 40cms so Lars and I decided to go for a small ski tour.

Today is blue bird:)

Backcountry skiers put high stress on wildlife

Tobin Seagel — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:16:32 -0400

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TENILLE BONOGUORE

Globe and Mail Update

Backcountry skiing and extreme winter sports are stressing out native animals in the Alps, European scientists say.

In a study of European black grouse, the researchers first put captive birds under stress to measure the levels of stress hormone corticosterone that emerged in their feces.

The scientists then took that knowledge and used it to measure the stress hormone levels in animals in the south-western Swiss Alps.

What they found is native birds in outdoor recreation areas are suffering higher stress levels than birds in undisturbed habitats.

“Disturbance by snow sport free-riders appears to elevate stress, which potentially represents a new serious threat for wildlife,” the researchers note in The Royal Society's Journal B.

Corticosterone is used by many species to regulate stress, metabolism and immune reactions.

The ability of animals to cope with that stress is yet to be ascertained, they said, but the research team said Alpine wildlife may need protective zones to keep them away from increasing human activities.

This article was excerpted from the glove and mail. link below. If anyone knows what journal this was taken from, please forward me the info. I'd love to know how they isolated backcountry skiers from the myriad of other factors that occur in the mountains. thanks.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070307.wskistress03...

Falling Down

AndreCharland — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:52:50 -0500

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Is this Bec de Rosse in Verbier? Tobin found this fall on YouTube. Nutso!