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Espace Killy is a world renowned ski resort in the Savoie Alps in France.  I was sure I’d get to know it properly last February, since I spent a good two weeks there during the Alpine World Cup. However, there were only two sunny days and the temperatures were extremely low, about -17 Celsius. The weather couldn’t keep me away from the slopes entirely but I managed to see and experience those slopes that were open, and I was very pleased with what I saw.

Val d’Isere is located at a high altitude so there’s plenty of snow each year. The terrain on which the slopes are located is vast and varied and so fits every skier’s needs.  Some lifts are out of date but most have been recently updated and are capable of getting you to the top of the slopes within a couple of minutes. The French are known to pay less attention to grooming of the slopes and expert skiers have trouble adjusting to the unkempt snow.

Due to the World Championships, Val d’Isere improved its own look and its offers to customers, which coming from the French is a good thing. It often happens in France that projects remain unfinished, dirty and so on. Val d’Isere really surpassed itself this year and is now ranked firmly among Europe’s best ski resorts, and needs just a few modern ski lifts and Swiss precision to become level with Zermatt.

The ski resort got its name after the best known resident of Val d’Isere, Jean Claud Killy. Even though he was born in Paris, he spent his childhood in the Alps. In the mid 60’s, he was the best skier of the time, winning several of the first World Championship races in 1966 as well as Olympic gold in three disciplines in Grenoble in 1968. In Franconia, USA, the place where Bode Miller learned to ski, he won three races in three consecutive days, a different discipline each time. When the FIS decided to entrust the World Championships to Val d’Isere, Killy was an obvious decision to be President of the Organisational Committee. It is interesting that he had to resign from his post to prove that the project wasn’t being carried out the way it was supposed to, and after that, things started going the right way – who knows what state Val d’Isere would meet the World Championships in otherwise.

Marc Bauer, Jean Claude Killy and SAS Albert de Monaco

Perhaps it was because of these discords that Killy was not present at all the races, but he was in the finish area at the grand slalom race. Perhaps he felt that a skier capable of achieving Killy’s success was already on the slopes. The young Carlo Janka had easily managed to stay on top of the extremely steep slope and avoided all of the mistakes his competition had made. At the age of 22, he won the title of world champion in the most basic of skiing disciplines. A new star was born and the public was in a state of shock – but not because of Janka, it was his relaxed demeanour during the race itself and the ceremony that followed. It only took a year for the Swiss to take Killy’s role – he too won gold in three disciplines in three consecutive days, which happened last weekend in Beaver Creek. Even Raich ad Svindal acknowledged his feat.

Now, the ski caravan is nearing Val d’Isere, where everything started for Janka and Killy. This weekend, both Super G and grand slalom races will take place and Killy will be watching again, perhaps thinking about the Olympics taking place this season, just like those in Grenoble in 1968.

After winning Air&style, Marko Grilc made it to the premiere of Burton’s new movie in Ljubljana. It was soooo sick to have him here, not only as a host but also as a friend. He’s achieved so much and made at least 400 people at the party soooo proud of being in the Slovenian extreme sports scene.

“‘Yo dude you gotta come over here…the premiere is on!’

“Grilo in the name of love”

It felt so good to be back among friends who I haven’t seen for  such a long time. I took a picture with everyone I knew, or didn’t and it made my day.

The press car only means trouble!

and tall girls mean only…long legs…definitely not trouble!

the hat means having a cool lifestyle

and a wink means only ALL IN!

a movie night gives us all a reason to hang out

the crowd shows appreciation of it!

and a group photo means nothing but love.

Yesterday, I got home from Kaprun where I spent 4 days hanging out with really cool people. BTW, the Cosmopolitan ski opening for women hosted by Mountvacation.com was also taking place. You can imagine what was going on mostly… Or not. Anyway, I tried to find the first pow in the season to draw some lines. I found it for sure but, unfortunately, there was a lack of base snow so the ‘reef sharks’ peeked out of the snowy cover almost everytime in the steeper parts. There were only couple of lines, but that was all I needed to start the season in Europe. Only freeriders know this feeling and what it can do for you for the rest of the day.

Laughing at one of the lamest and easiest short lines…but it was just so cool!

The line in the middle was rough to my skis, and the next one was rough to my body after falling from a rock 4m high to other rocks.

I just love these ends of day

Two days ago at 3 o’clock in the morning I was partying pretty hard and I got news from Innsbruck where my friend Marko Grilc won the Air & Style competition… I couldn’t believe it and i still can’t really tell how cool it is to hang out with my friends who achieve so much in their lifes and inspire me every single day, no matter where we hang out. Every single one has done so much in this season already and it hasn’t even started yet. Trust me good old YUGO’s will rock this year everywhere. No matter where and how we gonna kill it!

Marko invited us for a dinner tonight

Be Forewarned:
First and foremost, ski bindings should always be torqued by a professional, especially if you’ve recently purchased your “new” skis from a pawn shop, garage house sale, or from a flea market—essentially, anything second hand or used (or new for that matter). That said, adjusting ski bindings like the pros do is not so very difficult mind you, but does take a bit of insight and intellect. Here, I’m going to tell you about the process and how it’s done by those who over-charge you from the back of their ski shops.

What does DIN # mean anyway?

Since those crafty Germans are known for so many refined products, they no surprisingly get credit for the acronym DIN—the Deutsches Institut für Normung (or, the German Institute for Standardization) founded in 1917—the numbers needed to correctly adjust your ski bindings.

The first thing you’ll need for the correct DIN adjustment of your ski bindings is your skiing ability, your height, your weight (don’t lie ladies and gents), your age and your boot length from sole to sole (usually printed somewhere on the side of the boot, but can be measured as well). Once you know the DIN, you’ll know the correct torque for both the front and back of both skis.

What Does the DIN # Do?

If you’re a beginner, then you are a novice by definition. You’ll want a very (if not the) lowest release force for the binding release mechanism. If you’re an intermediate, you’ll want a release that is neither too low nor too high. If you are an expert, black trailblazer, then you’ll require a higher release force than the other two because you’ll be skiing more aggressively. The DIN # matches your ability and gives you a safely torqued ski binding—one that will stay attached or detach when you need it to.

Phase 1: Find Height & Body Weight Code:

Find your body weight from the top of the (blue) chart I created above. Then, find your height from the left of the chart. Now, match up your weight and height, and where those two numbers cross, that is your body height-weight code or letter (A - M). Now, remember that code to go to Phase II (orange).

Phase II: Find Your Skier Code

Your skier code uses your previous letter from the Phase I (blue chart) and appears as the alphabet in the first row of the Phase II (orange) chart. In the left of this chart, just find your age and then your skiing level ability and find your next letter to the right, which is your skier code letter. Now, remember it for the third and final chart for Phase III (pink).

Phase III: Find Your DIN # For Your Ski Bindings

All you have to do here is take your previous skier code from Phase II (orange) and find your corresponding letter in the first row of letters on the pink chart. Now, using the measurement of your boot sole length—not the standing surface but the entire length of the boot front to back. After you have found that number (usually printed on the boot somewhere), find that appropriate mm size to the left on the pink chart. With the skier code letter (top of the chart) in mind, find where the boot mm size and your skier letter cross. That, my friends, is your DIN number—the release setting number for both bindings on both skis.

Happy and safe skiing this year!

If there is such thing as love at first sight, then this goes for Hermann Maier and Beaver Creek. When Vail was proposed to hold the World Championship in 1999, the Americans presented an ambitious project: to build a ski slope bearing the name «Birds of Prey». It was planned to be one of the most difficult slopes in the world alongside Kitzbühel. The International Ski Federation approved the project and the Americans began building, but no-one expected that this slope would change the life of a builder from Flachau, Austria.

When the slope was first tested out in 1997, Hermann Maier was just building his reputation among the Austrian national team. He came to the fashionable resort of Vail with two wins already in the bag, despite the stiff competition. The new slope appeared to be tailored to his physical abilities. He came in second in downhill, won the Super G, and his incredible success story began.

Herman Maier was at the peak of his performance just before the World Cup in 1999, Beaver Creek was the stage where he would win the title of World Champion. The Americans saw Maier as the new Arnold Schwarzenegger, and thought of his possible future on the Hollywood screens, but all he cared about were medals.

Lovers of alpine skiing will always remember the downhill race in Beaver Creek that year. Maier went for a gate, which was positioned on a difficult lateral passage, at a speed of 100kmph and showed the world an amount of determination never before seen in alpine skiing. Even if the gold medal in downhill escaped him, he still won the world championship with a substantial lead compared to the legendary Norwegians Kjus and Aamodt and, on top of that, he was the World Champion in Super G as well.

Next season, the ski caravan stopped amidst the Birds of Prey yet again. The Herminator’s statistics were: three races, three wins. During his career, he won at Beaver Creek 8 times, and came in second another four times. If we can call Wimbledon Roger Federer’s living room, then Beaver Creek was surely home to Hermann Maier.

The legendary Austrian won’t scare the birds of prey any more, since he has retired this year and ended his incredibly successful career. Beaver Creek will never be the same without him.

As we are in the very beginnings of the skiing season across much of the northern hemisphere, it is important that we not forget how this great recreation came about, evolved and turned into a present-day phenomenon. Nearly all forms of skiing had its beginnings in something related to survival. Whether used for hunting, for gathering, for escape, for war, for military maneuvers or for traveling over expansive distances and mountains, we can thank those who persevered for the evolution later turned recreation sport of skiing. As you hit the slopes this holiday skiing season, be sure to keep in mind the histories of this now worldwide pastime.

Long Ago-ish History of Skiing:

I think it is safe to say—and historians who get paid to do this sort of research likely agree—that the modern type of skiing we know today was invented somewhere in northern Europe. Skis dating from about 5000 years ago were found on the border of France and Switzerland with a ski as old as 6500 years old found in a swampy bogland in Sweden. Even older drawings of skiers using one pole are depicted in carvings from over 7000 years ago in Nordland, Norway. A ski recently found and carbon tested dates at over 1000 years old.

Ergo, we can safely assume that, yes, northern Europe generally and Nordic people specifically were setting a world example even way back when. Most of the time, unlike today however, these Nordic and Sami populations used skiing as a way of survival and livelihood rather than recreation and holiday getaways. Be thankful (heck we should throw an annual party) that these guys survived to pass on their intimate knowledge of this sport.

Not So Long Ago-ish History of Skiing:

If you know some history of skiing, then you’ve probably heard the name Sondre Norheim pop up now and then around the midday meal. Some researchers give Norheim the honor of the “father of modern day skiing.” All those slopes you’ve enjoyed, all those innovations to your over-priced skiing equipment and all those cracked bones, twisted ankles and bruised knees and tailbones can be attributed, then, to Norheim himself.

Again, thanks goes out to northern Europe and Norway again, Norheim advanced the sport of skiing by his innovations in secure and stiffer ski bindings. He didn’t use animal skin or leather like others before him, but made his quite tough but pliant straps from the dug up (or newly dead) roots of birch trees. Norheim’s contribution, especially to downhill skiing, made it possible for skiers to not only go downhill faster, but accompany this newfound speed with jumps, turns and before unseen maneuvers—today, they might be aptly more known as “tricks.”

Norheim some decades later kept making improvements to his and other’s design with more narrow, curved and shorter skis—today’s telemarking. All sorts of woods and layers of wood were used for decades to come, and improvements came quickly with international exposure; however, Norheim’s crafty hand played a huge role in what we all get to enjoy (no matter the type or skiing) today.