A passion for extreme skiing

Trying to make new ski tracks on the mountains around chamonix has occupied most of my time since 2010. Whether it's to find new lines or to repeat classics, observation is the key to success. It starts in the summer, when the mountain is not covered with snow, and will continue during the fall with the first disturbances. Then, you have to be on site as often as possible during the winter to understand the conditions.


My objective this year remains the same, but with the addition of paragliding. The research will be even more precise because from now on we will have to find areas to take off and land before achieving the objective on skis.

WHO IS YANNICK BOISSENOT ?

My name is Yannick Boissenot, I am 38 years old and my passion is skiing. My last 12 years have been shared between projects in the Mont Blanc Massif and expeditions around the world thanks to my job as a cameraman (Peru, Pakistan, India, Japan, Alaska...). I have always had an attraction for extreme skiing (steep and exposed slopes).

I am now a father of 2 children and it is naturally that I reduce the commitment in my mountain projects. Combining paragliding and skiing is a new challenge that brings me as much satisfaction and pleasure as extreme skiing.

I've only been paragliding for 2 years, so I still have a lot to learn and this is without a doubt the most difficult part of the project! Loic Chamel is a young man from Chamonix who grew up surrounded by these mountains since his childhood. We have shared some beautiful descents together and it is with him that I have made my most beautiful paragliding flights (Aiguille du Midi at 3800m for my 15th flight, Mont Blanc for my 30th flight...) He was the perfect partner for this project.

salewa sella


The SELLA PROJECT 2023

The idea is to take off from the Aiguille du Midi, land at the foot of the face that we will climb on foot to ski, and the ideal would be to take off again to finish the day by landing at home. That will also allow to avoid the long descents on foot and to save our knees...
As a test run, we will start with a flight towards the Périades area, 40km/h of west wind will prevent us from taking off at 3600m. So we found a fallback spot at 3400m which allowed us to cross the white valley and land a few hundred meters below the start of our run. A virgin couloir with good snow was enough to fill our day for this first test. After a long wait, we try to find the weather window that will allow us to gather good conditions to take off from the Aiguille du Midi and ski the North face of the Dôme du Gouter at 4304m.

A dry winter like I had never seen since I live here, and complicated wind conditions for my level of paragliding will not allow us to achieve this combo so desired. As a ski cameraman, I'm also on the other side of the lens, so I know it's one of the most difficult disciplines to film because of the weather and snow conditions. Add in the wind factor, and it becomes a Chinese puzzle to do this type of project.

The mountains will still be there next year (I hope so anyway...) so I prefer to focus on safety in this kind of project where the air still has a large part of unknown to me. The global warming affects unfortunately more and more our playground, and the option of paragliding to access or escape from the ski areas will be more and more useful, even essential on the long term. Even if there is no lack of projects, we will still have to be patient to realize them when all the conditions are met.


SALEWA


contactez nous alpinstore