The most desirable line you have ever seen

[SerreChe 2]

You can still buy the poster online too.

http://www.montagnelibrairie.com/produit.aspx?id_sous_cat=65&id_pdt=724

[SerreChe 2]

Sorry to swamp this topic, but that was their line:

 

[SerreChe 2]

ok, here we go:

 

 

this one is a repeat but clearer than the previous one I posted:

 

[SerreChe 2]

In the same vien: a comment by Siffredi regarding his soloing of the Nant Blanc:

 

The route started off flat — it was like 45°, really flat, until I reached a very exposed, 50° to 55° traverse underneath a ridge that lead to a little 50° to 55° gully. The gully carried out onto a 50° to 55° ramp, which ended at a 60-meter rappel past a vertical rock band. Just past the rock band is where I came to the steepest part of the route: 500 meters of 55° to 60° with a section of 65°. After that I came to another rock band where I had a little jump before making the final turns back to the rimaye. The total descent took me two and a half hours."

 

He is now dead too. RIP.

[SerreChe 2]

This link is in english and has 3 more pics of the north face of the triolet descent (click on the photo link on the top left handside).

 

http://snowboard.mountainzone.com/2001/voice/cook/html

 

Enjoy.

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Fattwins:
ive got a shutter man lined up when that line can be skied

FT - which line? The Sock Monkey??

SerreChe

Awesome pics and links, thanks mate! And thanks for the link to buy the poster. That line is obscene. I had heard about that Helbronner death before. Didn't know it was one of these guys.

Regarding Marco, it is inspirational to read about what he did, when he did it and why he did it. Truly unique but sadly dead. I know a guide that rode with home a few times and saw him out and about all the time. He said the following when I asked about him:

"Something like this [referring to the slope we were resting on, a 1000m long chopped up icy lumpy sun baked re-frozen crevassed 40 degree thigh buster that every snowboarder on earth would hate], Marco would be at the top saying come on guys, lets go. Then a blink of the eye later and he would be at the bottom before you even made your first turn".

and also:

"The equation was simple, to be the best you have to be prepared to die. He was dead at 22".

There is a nice caravan park near the hospital in Chamonix owned by Marco's parents. I didn't know until I saw a few pictures of him on the wall in the office. He used to work in the caravan park and from the grounds you could look up directly at the Mallory route of the Aiguille du Midi. Apparently he rode it like we ride blue runs. It is a great little campground, you should consider staying there if you visit Chamonix. I am not the one to collect 'personal heros', but Marco Siffredi has laid down a lot of inspiration. You know, I read about him and I think, I wish I had not wasted so much of my life.

 Quote:

"Soloed the Nant Blanc??!? Who?"

"Marco Siffredi — a local kid who's been working his way through the classics all spring. After he ticked off all the majors he started sending everything in sight: Isolée Couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, the Diagonal on the South Face of Mont Maudit, Southwest Couloir on the Aiguille de l'Epéna. He's laying down first descents like they're just another afternoon in the snowpark for most riders."

"Never heard of him."

"Pas de surprise. He's only been riding for four years..."

The Nant Blanc and everything on the Vert is insane, and all been ridden. The Aiguille Vert, home to col de Nant Blanc and the awesome Couturier Couloir. This picture was taken at sunrise when I was walking up the other side of the valley.

And this is him doing the Nant Blanc solo



Here is a lits of his big descents. I have managed to ride a measley one of them (les Courtes NE couloir)

 Quote:

* Tour Ronde, couloir Gervasutti (350 m à 45°, 50°) en 1997
* Couloir du col du Diable au Tacul (550 m à 45°, 50°) en 1997
* Aiguille du Midi : couloir de la Passerelle (1000 m à 45°, 50°)
* Aiguille du Midi : couloir Eugster (1200 m à 50°, 55°)
* Aiguille du Midi : voie Mallory-Porter (1200 à 55°, 60°)
* Petite Aiguille Verte : couloir Chevalier (350 m à 50°, 55°)
* Petite Aiguille Verte : face Nord (150 m à 45°, 50°)
* Les Courtes : pente Nord-Est (600 m à 50°)
* Aiguille d'Argentière : couloir en Y (450 m à 45°, 50°)
* Col du Tacul, glacier du Capucin (300 m à 50°)
* Mont Blanc, corridor de la Brenva (2500 m à 45°)
* Mont Blanc du Tacul, face Nord intégrale (1ère descente en snowboard - 2000 m à 40°, 45°)
* Mont Blanc du Tacul, couloir Jager (600 m à 50°, 55°)
* Mont Blanc du Tacul, voie Contamine Negri (450 m à 45°, 50°)
* Col du Plan, face Nord (1200 m à 50°, 55°)
* Mont Maudit, face Nord (400 m à 45°, 50°)
* Chardonnet, face Nord (1ère descente en snowboard - 600 m à 50°, 55°)
* Mont Blanc du Tacul, voie Contamine-Mazeaud (350 m à 50°, 55°)
* Mont Blanc du tacul, couloir Gervasutti (700 m à 45°, 55°)
* Couloir Ouest des Aiguillettes du tacul (1ère descente en snowboard, 500 m à 45°, 55°)
* Couloir Ouest du Col du Diable (1ère descente en snowboard, 550 m à 45°, 55°)
* Couloir Ouest de la brèche du Cardinal (450 m à 50°, 55°)
* Couloir de la brèche Moine-Evêque (550 m à 50°, 55°)
* Les courtes, couloir Sud (700 m à 45°, 55°)
* Tocllaraju (6034 m), arête Sud (1ère ascension et 1ère descente, 1000 m à 45°, 60°)
* Ascension de l'Alpamayo (5937 m)
* Ascension du Huaynapotosi (6090 m)
* Aiguille de l'Epena (3421 m), couloir Sud-Ouest (1ère descente, 450 m à 50°), en 1999
* Mont Maudit, face Sud, voie diagonale (1ère descente en snowboard, 700 m à 50°, 55°)
* Mont Blanc du Tacul, face Est, couloir de l'Isolée (1ère descente en snowboard, 600 m à 50°, 55°)
* Aiguille Verte, versant du Nant Blanc (1ère descente en snowboard, 1000 m à 50°, 55°, 60°) en 1999

More Marco...


That article that SerreChe posted is very good. Worth reading if you missed in in our flurry of excited posts.

[Fattwins 0]

db the sock monkey one or in the area.

[Rag-Doll 0]

"You know, I read about him and I think, I wish I had not wasted so much of my life."

 

Spud,

 

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re living the dream and exploring aspects of snowboarding that most of us will never come close to. But you do it safely, at least that’s the impression I get. The prevailing sense on this forum for BC riding (skiing and snowboarding) is that if you’re going to do it, do it safely. For this guy, as you say, he was dead at 22. That to me is a wasted life. There is nothing heroic or admirable in doing stupid things until you kill yourself. Riding routes like he did is beyond amazing – it defies belief. And now he’s dead. The guy is dead when he could have been doing so much more with his life and for snowboarding. Apart from the relatively small extreme skiing/snowboarding fraternity the guy is completely anonymous. What has he achieved? I wonder if the NRA reserves a special place in their pantheon of gods for those who died playing Russian roulette. Riding that stuff amounts to the same thing.

[mattlucas 0]

I agree with Spud

I don't think I've wasted my life but there are certainly things I wished I had done differently so that instead of getting into BC skiing when I was 24 I could have been BC skiing when I was 20. And that's all I'll say about that.

 

As for this young Snowboarder

Yes he died at very young age and it's a real shame. But at least he went out doing something that he loved

In my books that's much better than sitting at a desk making money till your old and gray and can't enjoy it

 

But then I think we've hashed this out already. Some people get pleasure from taking risks and pushing themselves. Some people take pleasure from having a good time no matter if they push themselves or not

[Rag-Doll 0]

Toque

 

Fair enough and I'm not trying to rehash the other thread. I'm just not very inspired by people who kill themselves doing, what I would consider to be, stupid things.

 

On a slightly different tack, is dying doing what you love really such a consolation? If you fell in a no fall zone and slid off a cliff, is the moment of realisation that you're about to die any less terrifying than it would be if you were in a car accident? “At least he died doing what he loved” – hmmm… maybe not such a good thing after all because he probably died in a panic desperately trying to arrest his fall or if he was unlucky, cartwheeling down the mountain being smashed to pieces. I'd rather die doing something I really hate because then at least, when I realise I'm about to die, it will be a relief and I'll be thinking, thank god that's over!

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Rag-Doll:
I'd rather die doing something I really hate because then at least, when I realise I'm about to die, it will be a relief and I'll be thinking, thank god that's over!

Never thought of that

I guess it's probably the way people will remember you

[Fattwins 0]

i dont want to die sking at all. in the mists of a fall ill be saying why did i fark that up. I dont regret any part of my life. im glad i found sking when i did i think it made me fall more in love with it. I have fun sking and pushing myself but i hate ropes so i cant see myself wanting to get into certain lines at all. i dont mind a top rope in but no in the middle for me, for me thats not fun. thats what its about though you dont have to do what you dont like. there are a ton of big mountain skiers who wont do rope downs and there are a ton that will.

 

At 22 that kid pushed it so hard and so fast that the numbers would be against him. Even the best fall down and sometimes you just arent allowed to fall.

[SerreChe 2]

The pics above of these guys riding the triolet and marco doing the nant blanc are simply UNREAL !!! Out if the 3 I mentionned in this thread, 2 have passed away. Nobody is perfect regardless of how good you are, and when you are riding 55+ blue ice with rock bands and crevasses below you, one mistake, one small lapse is all it takes. When you ride Cham or La Grave, 99.9% of the people will ride the safe routes and nothing will happen to them. But for those those doing the extreme stuff, it is like rolling the dice every time: double or nothing, until you get nothing... They know the risks they are taking but it is their choice in the end.

[damian 0]

RagDoll - good post. I am not trying to counter your opinion at all, but I should clarify: Marco's acts of extreme snobo leading to death isn't what makes me feel I wasted so much of my life. Rather, it was his pure motivation to get out there and do it, to accumulate the necessary alpinist skills at such an early age. His body was never found on Everest, reports say his tracks ended in a turn and then nothing, no marks on the snow or anything. I don't want to emulate or live up to that kind of ending. But I really wish I had the alpinist skills to consider putting myself in a fraction of that kind of committed descent. I can't, and I wasted years of my life not accumulating that experience earlier. Not to matter, I've done so many other multidimensional things that are all part of me. But Like Toque says.... to have started earlier would be something I really wish I could change. I joined this forum in Sep 2002, a month after I turned 30. When I joined I had never even snowboarded and had not skied since 1987 or so. I hadn't stood on snow since then either, and, well, I certainly didn't have one milligram of alpinist experience. That annoys me a bit. These days I am frustrated by a search for a much more experienced alpine buddy to learn from (who I don't have to pay!) and the want for spare time to get out there and rack up the experience. In the latter respect I am not unique, office life frustrates many of us.

 

A veteran Chamonix extreme skier and guide who lost his 24 year old son in an extreme skiing accident (in Chamonix) made this public statement:

 

 Quote:

Better to be lost to ones passion than to lose ones passion

I see his point. I would rather die enjoying my passion (what ever that may be) than die of some accident or illness whilst living a treadmill existence and being entertained by Big Brother in the suburban breeding colonies.

[mattlucas 0]

Reminded of this Marco I went and read another website. This one closer to home because many of the mountains I want to climb/ski and 1 of them I have

 

Another guy taken too early. At the time he would have been just 1 year older than I am in 2003.

 

Cascade Classics

Check it out for amazing ski and kayaking trip reports

 

[Fattwins 0]

le spud you are just lucky to have the kind of job that gives you enough money to play around.

 

Ill read that after toque. so much rain here the rivers have been nice.... but the other day she was raging mad, flipping me like crazy. i had no partner so i got out above a class 4 rager

[bushpig 0]

great pic there beanie.

 

FT, the rivers have been mad eh! Went for some waves at the beach on Sunday and the water between the shore and about 500 meters was brown cos of all the runoff. You could see a clear line where the runoff water ended and the ocean water started.

[Rag-Doll 0]

Spud,

 

I'm glad you didn’t take offence. My post was really an imprecise shot at the idea that guys like Marco should be idolized when ultimately perhaps they should be pitied. Why is it that simply because they do it on skis or a snowboard, their self destructive behavior is somehow commendable? If they died drag racing cars in the back streets or smoking crack would they receive the same admiration for living on the edge and pushing the limits, living fast and dying young blah blah blah? Obviously this phenomenon isn’t limited to skiing/snowboarding and exists in base jumping, rock climbing, car racing – probably just about any potentially dangerous sport.

 

I don’t know – it’s a hard concept to put into words without coming across sounding like someone’s tut tutting grandmother . Pushing one’s personal limits is a wonderful thing to do and perhaps it is simply tragic that some people are so gifted that their personal limits meet or exceed the physical capacity of their chosen sport. I look at photos like those above and simultaneously think wow that’s pretty amazing and, those guys a crazy (literally, to do that they must be suffering from some pretty serious psychosis) because by doing stuff like that it is inevitable that they will die. Judging by the other comments here it’s rational to conclude that those guys will die if not on that decent then on some other decent, but either way, they will die sometime soon. They should be encouraged to ease back a bit and hang around for a while because there is so much more to the sport and they have so much more to share with us. This morning I was watching the First Decent snowobarding dvd that has Shawn White, Terje Haakonsen and a few others having a great time in Alaska. These guys, especially Haakonsen, are so incredibly gifted you’re just enthralled watching them cruise down the mountains. Certainly what they’re riding is dangerous but not impossibly so. Not so dangerous that it’s remarkable that they made it down in one piece. Would Marco have been even better?

 

Spud, I reckon what you’re doing is inspirational. You and Toque and FT and EBC the rest of the BC gang set a great example of how to explore and enjoy your personal limits and the sports you love. It gives hope to the rest of us who either lack the conviction or the opportunity to do the same.

 

“But Like Toque says.... to have started earlier would be something I really wish I could change.”

 

That is sentiment that quite a few of us probably share. I certainly do.

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Rag-Doll:
If they died drag racing cars in the back streets or smoking crack would they receive the same admiration for living on the edge and pushing the limits

That's great
Compairing people pushing a sport (not that drag racing is a sport. Or if it is definitly not a sport I'd like to participate in) to the very edge to people that have hit rock bottom giving hand jobs for crack in the back alley

I get what you are saying but probably not the best way that I've ever seen it put across

I took this from one of the better known mountaineers in the BC area of Canada

[qb] "People who regularly climb mountains soon find out that comfort, security, and predictability are not part of the game. The sport can involve periods of extreme physical and mental hardship. It is not surprising that people attracted to this pass-time are often very strong-willed, and by extension have difficulty getting along with people of similar dispositions. A wrong decision can be costly and lead to not attaining the goal, or worse, injury or death. There is no such thing as safe mountaineering, only levels of acceptable risk. The level of acceptable risk and discomfort, of course, varies from one individual to another, and assembling a team where each member feels both safe and challenged enough is almost impossible.

Successfully completing a difficult route on a mountain can be very rewarding, and can lead to addictive behavior where climbers get caught up in a cycle of undertaking increasingly more difficult and dangerous objectives. A lot of mountaineers think that others who are better at the game than themselves are crazy and people who are averse to risks are missing out on life." [qb]

My favorite part is the last sentence

[Rag-Doll 0]

"That's great

Comparing people pushing a sport (not that drag racing is a sport. Or if it is definitely not a sport I'd like to participate in) to the very edge to people that have hit rock bottom giving hand jobs for crack in the back alley"

 

I wasn't comparing anything. I was highlighting the similarities of the self destructive behavior that in sports is applauded but in other contexts is condemned. Perhaps you’re right in that I didn’t express it very well. It is a difficult thing to define and then again maybe I’m just getting too deep and not very meaningful about this. That last sentence of your quote is very good though. It sums up the difficulty of finding common ground on this very well.

 

 

I like this as well:

 

“Successfully completing a difficult route on a mountain can be very rewarding, and can lead to addictive behavior where climbers get caught up in a cycle of undertaking increasingly more difficult and dangerous objectives.”

 

The difference between someone who experiences that cycle on a mountain and someone who experiences a that cycle in another environment such as the local neighborhood is what?

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Rag-Doll:

The difference between someone who experiences that cycle on a mountain and someone who experiences a that cycle in another environment such as the local neighborhood is what?

Smoking crack = bad
Climbing/Skiing mountains = good

[AK 77 0]

beat me to it, serre che.

was going to guess that it would be dede rehm and jerome ruby!

only ever read about them in magazines - the photos were always so sick, you would be twisting the page thinking "It can't be THAT steep", except it was!

nutters. in the 'highly experienced mountain guide' sense of the word.

shame about dede.

[AK 77 0]

damn... I'm looking like a fool again - I just replied to a post from way back...

remind me always to refresh the page before replying.

oops

[Fattwins 0]

Toque some of the things you do are a bit crazy though. I would have liked to have used a rope once or twice with you this season.lol

 

I want to live untill im old and cant ski anymore. i dont have that drive to climb over holes or ski crazy death lines with repels.

[Rag-Doll 0]

"Smoking crack = bad

Climbing/Skiing mountains = good"

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me.