Backdrop Journal's FFS Backcountry Podcast

Episode 20 - Recorded in early January, on a Backdrop Crew visit to the Verbier valley to check out a couple mountain huts, we took the opportunity to interviewed Daniel Coquoz - Verbier’s Head Mountain Guide.

The Verbier valley is renowned for its extreme terrain, especially as it hosts the Freeride World Tour final each season. This recognition has seen a huge rise in backcountry skiers and boarders hitting the slackcountry zones straight from the lifts, often without the skill set or knowledge to do so, and even more frighteningly the necessary safety equipment.

Pete Coombs catches up with Daniel to hear what the resort is doing to enhance safety, and to find out more about what life as a head guide means. He also chats with local guide Richard Michellod, and hear direct from the skin-track, as Pete skins in the morning sunshine high above the Cabane Brunet Mountain Hut.

Episode 19 - Xavier De Le Rue three times Freeride World Tour winner; four times World Boardercross Champion; backcountry legend; Olympian; splitboard enthusiast… the list goes on.

Yet when we chatted with Xavier De Le Rue, in his Verbier home, we found an honest and grounded individual who wears his heart on his sleeve: passionate about backcountry safety, family values and the sport we all love.

In this pod Xavier talks about avalanche education, the thought process behind riding big lines, future aspirations and of course - Fear, Failure and Success.

“I’m trying to broaden the range and spectrum in the mountains and transform - ice - into a feature rather than an obstacle.”

“My biggest close call in 2008, when my daughter was two years old, made me feel really guilty. Seeing death so closely it’s made me extra careful. ”

Episode 18 - Mats Drougge, from Stranda snowboards, has a fascinating take on life and snowboard design.

Riding sideways has always been part of Mats life, and after time in a punk band, a life of surf and snowboard travels, and an inspirational kick up the arse by his wife, he started his Stranda Snowboards journey.

Inspired by 60’s longboard surfers and the directional riding of Japan and time in Colorado, Mats makes snowboards that maximise float, glide and edge hold, cause it makes him happy.

Episode 16 - Christine Feleki is Canada’s first woman to be certified as an  ACMG snowboard guide. Told she’d be better on skis, Christine simply knuckled down and proved that she could pass all the necessary assessments on her split. She started off working in various BC restaurants and cafes, to gain slope time, before beginning her 10 year journey from kitchen porter to guide. We chat guide culture, reshaping expectations and Christine talk us through the various hurdles you need to jump to become a ACMG guide.

Christine rides for Phantom, Arc'teryx, Pallas Snowboards and Trinsic Optics

Photo Credit Robin O"Neill

Episode 15 - Hampus Cerderholm is always pushing boundaries, be it splitboard or hard-boot (or not so hard-boot) design.

We catch up with Hampus, who springs from Southern Sweden, and now lives in California, via an education in Innsbruck. Hampus is the brainchild behind the design and development of the  Furberg Snowboards Floorboard Technology,  a tongue and grove system that they claim eliminates movement between the two splitboard halves.

He’s also joined forces with one of the Plum crew, to develop a new hard-boot, or as he calls it ‘a not so hard-boot’. Designed for precision splitboard touring and easy flow soft-boot feel riding. The new Disruptive boot, from Key Equipment, is available for pre -order now.

Finding himself somewhat disillusioned with snowboarding, and by what his personal perception of what a snowboarder should be, he moved the goal posts.

Nicholas shares his time between working as a psychotherapist and designing some of the most thought provoking boards on the mountain, with the simple turn becoming the cynosure of Korua Shapes fresh designs.

Nicholas’s considered approach to life, board design and environmental issues had the Backdrop Crew captivated, so crack a beer, sit back and open your  homes to one of the most influential guys in snowboarding.

Episode 13 - John Keffler has been splitboarding since day one. He’s not only the founder of Phantom Snow Industries, but also a co-founder of the Silverton Splitboard Festival.

He started by offering wanna-be splitboarders a cutting service to turn their solid boards into splits, before then turning his NASA engineering knowledge into the development of hard-boot splitboard bindings. Phantom has now developed a splitboard-specific hard-boot to work perfectly with the Phantom Binding system, straight from the box.

We talk; guide culture, the progression of the Colorado splitboard scene, the development of the Phantom bindings and the new Phantom Slipper hard boot.

For those not familiar with Tignes, it covers a huge area - and when joined with the neighbouring linked resort of Val d’Isere it makes up some 10,000 hectares, containing 300km of groomed pistes alongside miles of off piste routes.

Tignes Hors Piste contains 275 routes for all off-piste abilities, ranging from short descents between the pistes,  through to multi-day backcountry missions. 432 loaded pages contain a wealth of local information and adventures, with excellent topos, routes images and descriptions in both French and English.

All of the publisher's profits go to SOLEA – a  local Tignes charity which supports cancer research.

Episode 11 - The bear base camp reunion pod, see us start off talking Iceland and BC with heli guide Owen Day, founder of Summit Ski Tours, before we have a reunion with Romi Nella and Andy Beal, who were all chased uphill by a bear while touring from a base camp with Owen.

Owen has worked as a guide with Arctic Heliskiing since its inspection and gives us an insightful lowdown on riding and touring in Northern Iceland.

Owen also works for Northern Escape Heli-ski out of Terrace BC, close to the Alaskan border. It’s within the Northern Escapes tenure that Owen runs heli-accessed week long tented base camps and where the Backdrop Crew woke, met, shouted at and eventually ran from a grizzly bear.

Episode 10 - We have the absolute privilege of chatting with Stephan Harvey, the brain behind White Risk, the Swiss run avalanche knowledge hub. Stephan has been a mountain guide and researcher at the SLF (Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research) for over twenty years.

Still as passionate about avalanche safety and science now as he was twenty years ago, Stephan shares his immeasurable Knowledge with us mere mortals.

White Risk is an ever-evolving project, which started life some 15 years ago as a CD Rom, it’s now an interactive avalanche resource hub for everything snow, with planning tools, inclinometer, safety analyser, real time Swiss avalanche and weather forecasts, plus snow history and detailed planning maps for Switzerland, Austria and France.

We have 100 discount codes for 30% off a years subscription to the White Risk Standard Plan, to get a code follow us on Instagram and then DM us and we’ll ping you a code. Codes start date valid until 1.1.2022.