Post by superbman on Oct 1, 2014 5:22:05 GMT -7
I'm sure most of you have seen/ heard that JP Auclair, one of the greatest free skiers in a generation, and fellow free skier Salomon athlete Andreas Fransson died recently in an avalanche while alpine climbing (not skiing) on the Chilean/ Argentinian border. From what I understand, They were accompanied by two Swedish photographers, who both survived the massive rock and snow slide and helped authorities recover the bodies.
I'm perhaps a bigger fan of film-based big mountain skiing than most on this site, and Auclair was a giant and a personal favorite (to many, I'm sure). He's been a major star for more than a decade, and is one of the pivotal figures who led the new school transition of slope style skills into big mountain setting (and urban settings). But, unlike many of his first generation contemporaries, he was also a brilliant and smooth technical skier. Creative, athletic, and poetically graceful, Auclair (along with other notable Thovex) helped forge a seamless bridge between the big mountain super-G lines of the mid 90's to the superhuman style and high-flying elegance of today. Of course, he was also an innovator, helping to found Armada skis and was one of the driving forces behind that companies JJ--a ski design that changed not only where, but how people ski.
Many remember his well-trodden 'Street Skiing' sequence that served as the enticing trailer for Sherpa Films wonder All.I.Am, and while that is a worthy film segment, let me share my favorite short Auclair film. It features very little 'jaw-dropping' slope style antics, or any 'big face, big lines' skiing at all. It's a simple, fairly quiet film of JP Auclair and Chris Bentchetler skiing the relatively low-angle lines of Niseko, Japan through heaps of power. It's mesmerizing, start to finish. It demonstrates how refined the skills of these athletes really are, and it strikes that oft missing 'real-world' skiing chord I long to intone.
Enjoy.
I'm perhaps a bigger fan of film-based big mountain skiing than most on this site, and Auclair was a giant and a personal favorite (to many, I'm sure). He's been a major star for more than a decade, and is one of the pivotal figures who led the new school transition of slope style skills into big mountain setting (and urban settings). But, unlike many of his first generation contemporaries, he was also a brilliant and smooth technical skier. Creative, athletic, and poetically graceful, Auclair (along with other notable Thovex) helped forge a seamless bridge between the big mountain super-G lines of the mid 90's to the superhuman style and high-flying elegance of today. Of course, he was also an innovator, helping to found Armada skis and was one of the driving forces behind that companies JJ--a ski design that changed not only where, but how people ski.
Many remember his well-trodden 'Street Skiing' sequence that served as the enticing trailer for Sherpa Films wonder All.I.Am, and while that is a worthy film segment, let me share my favorite short Auclair film. It features very little 'jaw-dropping' slope style antics, or any 'big face, big lines' skiing at all. It's a simple, fairly quiet film of JP Auclair and Chris Bentchetler skiing the relatively low-angle lines of Niseko, Japan through heaps of power. It's mesmerizing, start to finish. It demonstrates how refined the skills of these athletes really are, and it strikes that oft missing 'real-world' skiing chord I long to intone.
Enjoy.