Fly to Ski

The quest to keep painting fresh tracks into the snow in the mountains around Chamonix has taken up most of my time since 2010. Whether searching for new lines or repeating the classics: Observation is always crucial. It starts as early as summer, when the mountains are not yet wearing a mantle of snow, and continues into fall, which brings the first severe snow fronts. Then, in winter, it’s essential to be on-site as often as possible to understand the conditions. This year, I am pursuing the same goal – but I will also bring along my paraglider. This means that preparation and research will be even more meticulous, as I will have to find suitable areas for take-off and landing before I can reach my destination on skis.

My name is Yannick Boissenot, I am 38 years old, and my passion is skiing. For the last twelve years I have pursued missions in the Mont Blanc massif and accompanied expeditions all over the world – Peru, Pakistan, India, Japan, and Alaska, among others – as a cameraman. I have always had a thing for extreme skiing, particularly really steep and exposed lines. Nowadays, I am a father of two children, which means that I pay a little less attention to my projects in the mountains. The combination of paragliding and skiing is a new challenge for me, giving me as much pleasure and satisfaction as extreme skiing.

Since I’ve only been paragliding for two years, I still have a lot to learn – which means that this is undoubtedly the most challenging part of the endeavor. Loic Chamel is a young man from Chamonix who has been surrounded by mountains all his life. Together we have mastered some beautiful descents and I have experienced my best paragliding flights with him – the Aiguille du Midi at 12,500 feet for my 15th flight, Mont Blanc for my 30th. It was obvious right away that he would be the perfect partner for this project. The idea: we take off from Aiguille du Midi, land at the base of the wall, set off for the climb and then ski the mountain. Ideally we would take off again with the paraglider and end the day with a landing in our own backyard.

This would avoid long descents on foot and also protects our knees. As a test run we started with a flight towards the Periades, where, however, a westerly wind with wind speeds of up to 25 mph at an altitude of 11,800 feet prevented us from taking off. Therefore, we had to find an alternate starting point at 11,150 feet, allowing us to cross the Vallée Blanche and land a few hundred yards below our take-off. An untouched couloir with perfect snow conditions allowed us to complete this first test successfully. We waited a long time, hoping for a weather window with good conditions that would enable us to start from the Aiguille du Midi and ski the north face of the Dome du Gouter at 14,120 feet.

However, a dry winter, the likes of which I have never seen in my entire life, and wind conditions that would have been very challenging for my level as a paraglider did not allow us to accomplish this much-desired combination. As a cameraman specializing in shooting on skis I am often on the other side of the lens, and I know that these types of shoots are among the most difficult of all because of the weather conditions and snow cover. Add to that the wind factor and such a project becomes a real challenge. The mountains will also be around next year - at least I hope so – so I decided to prioritize safety throughout this project because the flying part is still relatively uncharted territory,