Today was the best last day of the season I have EVER had!

After landing in Geneva on the 21st to attempt a frist descent ski BASE on Mt Blanc around the 23rd 24th or 25th, we decided to abort the mission because of late snowfalls, HUGE avalanche danger and bad access road. On top of that, the approach (due to conditions) would have taken 2 days for one side and 3 days for the other. And, as great things are often unexpected, I got a call from Matthias Mayr (Elan team manager) and Matthias Haunholder (Atomic team pro skier and top 5 on the world freeskiing tour) to come ski the Eiger with them!

After doing a quick google map, we figured out that it is only a 2hr30min drive from Chamonix so only 3hrs from my parents place in Megeve. Pointless to say I was on the road the next day..

As I arrived, Matthias and Hauni were skiing on the glacier which they accessed by plane so I drove to Lauterbrunnen, one of the best BASE jumping spots in the world, met with some local jumpers and did 2 jumps off a 500 m cliff (1500ft).

Matthias and Hauni came back from skiing at 6pm and the game plan for the next day that we came up with was a helicopter ride to the Eiger and do a ski BASE jump from the west wall straight into the North face!

Last thing I know, I am standing on the Eiger with a 50+ degree slope, icy snow, avalanche debris everywhere and cameras rolling in the helicopter. The skiing was tricky and not forgiving. This is the biggest NO FALL zone I have EVER experience but also one of the coolest runs. I ended up sending a pretty sizable frontflip off it and landed all the way back at the train station!

Our guide (Martin) who is also a BASE jumper decided to check out a cliff called La Mousse after the Eiger so we repacked our parachutes at the train station and jumped the 1500ft cliff to get back down in the valley. After a solid jump, Martin looks at me and says: let's go jump the High Ultimate, it is the biggest cliff here 2200 ft with a positive rock on top to jump from that you have to clear. A few people have died there but just give a good push when you jump to clear the ledge.

So, we packed out rigs for #3 of the day and THE best cliff in Switzerland. 10 minutes later (by cable car) we are on top of the cliff and ready for 30seconds of freefall...

I am happy. That's all I have to say. Life ROCKS. You can check out a little slideshow that the Austrians put together at http://www.matthiasmayr.com/news/making-of-up-and-down-over-the-top/
http://www.matthiasmayr.com/news/making-of-up-and-down-over-the-top/

Oh and yeah, we were of course shooting for a new ski movie/ docu/pmentary called Up and Down so make sure to get a copy when it comes out!

I am back to reality now and will be in full "office mode" to get you guys summaries of exposure, proposal for projects and working on up coming tradeshows until the snow falls again.

I hope you had a great week end and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,
Matthias Giraud