THE CRADLE - Tormod Granheim

THE CRADLE

I will remember this day as one of the best, most fun and most productive days of the winter of 2020. For days, snow had been falling over the mountains, but on this February day the weather slowly cleared. First I skied powder in the snow with good friends, then I took the photo "AFTER THE STORM". Then I traveled over to Flégère with Jens Wessel Normann with a clear plan to catch a big backflip over the Mont Blanc massif. When my friends went for après ski I saw how the light developed towards something magical. I decided immediately to find fresh camera batteries and got in the car and drove up the Chamonix Valley, where I captured the Aiguilles de Chamonix plastered in fresh snow and bathed in the sunset.

The title is inspired by the mountain at the center of this range - the Aiguille de Blatière - the birthplace of modern steep skiing. In 1967, Swiss Sylvain Saudan climbed to the top of the Couloir Spencer and stepped into his bindings. The turns he made in front of a pack of press photographers down the 55-degree snow chute were the start of the extreme skiing phenomenon.

Ten years later, Jean-Marc Boivin skied the glacier that dominates the picture - the north face of the Aiguille du Plan. The sport had matured.