Candide Thovex | “Few Words” FULL MOVIE! Happy St. Patricks Day – Quicksilver just put Candide Thovex’s 2012 film “Few Words” up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Follow Candide’s journey to become one of the most successful and talented freestyle skiers the world has ever seen. Winner of the Best Male Performance (Candide Thovex), the “Full Throttle” Award, the Best Cinematography Award and the Best Documentary Award at the Powder Awards, Utah, USA. Backcountry ameliatraynor | March 17, 2015 0 Comments
Ski Instructor Charged with Manslaughter in Avalanche Death A ski instructor in Val d’Isere has been charged with manslaughter, following the death of his client in an avalanche in December 2010. The avalanche occurred off-piste in the “couloir des pisteurs” on the north face of the Charvet. The two men were carried 400 meters by the slide, and while the instructor managed to stay above the snow, his client was completely buried by the avalanche. Thanks to an avalanche beacon, he was found after 20 minutes. The client was already in a state of cardio-vascular arrest, and was airlifted to […] Avalanche ameliatraynor | March 16, 2015 1 Comment
Skier Clipped by Plane, Suffers “Near Amputation” A Polish woman was seriously injured Thursday when she was hit by a plane careening down the slopes of Avoriaz in the French Alps. The ski-equipped Jodel single-prop plane failed to take off from a snowy high-altitude runway near the ski area, and the pilot was unable to stop the plane as it slid into resort bounds. The plane skirted a group of children and slid under a chairlift before clipping a 55 year old Polish woman with its propeller, almost completely severing her hand. Emergency services reported that she suffered a “near […] ameliatraynor | March 16, 2015 2 Comments
16 Ski Areas Could Change Hands in Major Resort Sell-Off Over a dozen ski resorts could be changing hands as CNL Lifestyle Properties, a real estate investment trust out of Newry, Maine considers getting out of the snow business. Owning ski resorts from Maine to California, CNL’s portfolio is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. CNL Lifestyle Properties owns 16 resorts – including Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine, Bretton Woods, Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, Okemo Mountain in Vermont, Stevens Pass in Washington, Crested Butte in Colorado, Brighton in Utah, and […] Industry News ameliatraynor | March 16, 2015 13 Comments
NASA Scientist: California Has One Year of Water Left If you’re not taking the drought in California seriously yet, this may change your mind – a senior scientist at NASA predicts there’s only one year of water left in California’s reservoirs. In an op-ed published Thursday by the Los Angeles Times, Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said “we’re not just up the creek without a paddle – we’re losing the creek too.” Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this […] Weather ameliatraynor | March 16, 2015 2 Comments
The Benefits of Living Alone on a Mountain It’s a lonely job, but someone’s got to do it. Lief Haugen has spent every summer since 1994 as a fire lookout in a remote outpost of Montana’s Flathead National Forest. Filmmaker Brian Bolster profiles Lief’s day to day life alone on top of a mountain. “To be a lookout, you really have to love solitary time by yourself,” he says. “This is a reminder of keeping it simple. It’s just me and this place and the work.” ameliatraynor | March 15, 2015 2 Comments
VIDEO: Aussie Skier Rescued After Burial in Swiss Avalanche January 30, 2015 – Les Crosets, the Swiss-French border. Australian skier James Mort and his three friends were just a week into their month-long ski trip when a storm brought more than three feet of fresh snow in a 48 hour period. Although the avalanche risk was a 4/5, the men were eager to make up for the dry conditions during the week prior. After spending most of the day playing it safe, they decided to head off-piste for fresh tracks in a wooded line known amongst locals as a safer option due to its short length and low pitch […] Avalanche ameliatraynor | March 12, 2015 0 Comments
Can High-Tech Snowmaking Save California Skiing? As you already know, California is suffering through what might be its worst winter in history. By mid-February, almost every hill in Tahoe had received less than 50 percent of its average snowfall – resorts like Tahoe Donner, Soda Springs and Homewood have all closed for the season. But the snowmaking team at Heavenly is doing all they can to fight back against California’s drought. Owned by $3.1 billion company Vail Resorts, Heavenly is equipped with some of the most sophisticated and expensive snowmaking machines in the US […] ameliatraynor | March 9, 2015 3 Comments
Amelia Traynor
Backcountry
Avalanche
Industry News
Weather
