We made it into Andermatt, got a spot in Hospental and prepared for the following morning mission. Up on the first tram, connected to the second and we were at the peak peering out into the backcountry. You can go left or right…we chose right…but not after some serious snowpack evaluation since the wind had been hammering most of Switzerland raising the avy danger considerably.

Once it was deemed safe to make the journey, we set out on the fairly short hike to the access gate. Once we dropped in and made out way down about a hundred feet it was apparent the snow was torched (meaning bad).

It’s never fun to have high hopes for an area only to get shut down…we made the painful traverse out of the backcountry and ended up in Hospental. We rode over the bridge and into the small village to wait for the bus to bring us back into the resort.

We had no idea how long the wait would be so we started snowboarding around the streets of the village, meeting locals and shooting photos. Within twenty minutes attitudes went from bummed to hyped. After what turned out to be a couple hours worth of filming and shooting, our new local friend Nicolas let us know where to get good snow late in the day…so we did. Andermatt mission salvaged !

The next two days we continued to search for good snow around Switzerland. A resort here, a couple of passes there…nothing that would convince us to stay in Switzerland any longer.

The Swiss mission is now completed…I’ll compare it to being a Phoenix Suns fan…emotional roller coaster. Some days so good, other days gone bad…but that’s how it works when working in the mountains.

Overall we had a good trip, plenty of film shots and photos. What really killed us was the wind ripping away so much good snow in the upper alpine…what could have been !

Our crew is moving on to the next locales, I’ll let ya know what we’re up to once we set up shop and starting shooting.

Peace, blotto

Sitting around the office making plans for the day

Right or Left ?

The Hospental local Nicolas and Jussi…good vibes

Frderik, Mads and Jaakko scoping lines and angles

The drive outta Andermatt

The road into Leysin

Jaakko, curious as to what the plan is…

“…how about right here…”

Is there light at the end of the tunnel ?

always

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