I was at a house party in Chamonix last season, and the Swedish girl who was stomping the Grands Montets all afternoon started blowing fire. She won the first competition she entered in New Zealand, on telemark bindings. Last season she won the infamous Verbier Xtreme and ...

Chamonix this winter feels like spring. Many of the ski stations in the Alps have next to nothing for snow yet the self proclaimed home of alpinism has been able to deliver the goods. As it has for almost a hundred years skiing continues in the Haute Savoy.

In October the glaciers were white. A wetter than usual summer had primed the mountains for winter. More snow could mean a lot of steep Alps skiing. Floating over chairlifts and ski runs then bouncing off patches of pow; kite-skiing is everywhere. Then on the 3rd of the year ...