Snow might be scarce in Slovenia right now but that did not stop our friends from Vertical Adventures and JR SPORT from organizing the first Freeride Conference get together in Kranj for a interesting safety talk, tips on keeping your skis in shape and the premier of the Italian Freeski film “Gringo Esquiador” by black crows freeskier Enrico Karletto Mosetti.
After a day of climbing at extreme temperatures, by that I mean climbing in board shorts in December, I packed my photo gear, picked up Gašper and a buddy and headed to Kranj for a nice evening event with our fellow freeskier friends from Slovenia.
We arrived a little late with my car giving a few weird signs of trouble, that in the end cost a shitload of cash to fix :(. The show had already started. Rok from Vertical Adventures was sharing a bit of wisdom regarding avalanche safety. They even prepared a little checklist foldout for some advanced safety assessment for everyone already familiar with the basics of avalanche safety. It will be part of their new courses for this season so check out the webpage for details on the dates.
Rok also had an important massage that reverberated over the course of the evening. With all the dramatization with crashes of guys ending up on US TV CBSs 60 minutes, the sensationalism that professional studios and brands would like to label our sport with as being a rush of pure adrenaline, one has to take a step back and ask if that is really why we are in the mountains in the first place. The answer to that for me coincides with Roks massage for the gathered crowd. Go out there with your friends and have adventures. Fun adventures and respect the mountain and the nature. It is a mindset that really goes a long way into a mountaineering way of thinking and is not that easily grasped by snow park-rats who jib man made obstacles on mostly man made snow these days.
Next up was Luka Reberšak, who some of you readers will remember from our Japan trip articles. Luka works for SWIX and is also a technician for international competition teams in the world of competitive alpine skiing and snowboarding. He gave a very educating presentation on how to prepare skis. From tips to peeling edges all the way to base preparation including demonstration. It was especially interesting to learn how ABS sidewalls on modern skis require a bit of a different approach then a traditional ski. So watch those angles on the edges if you do it yourself ;).
Of course no such event would ever be complete without a movie premiere. This time thou the organizers did not want a high profile film. In the spirit of the evenings motto to just go out and have fun Enrico Karletto Mosetti aka Mose presented his daring expedition to Peru. You can read more on it on the black crows blog. Also check out the Trailer:
Of course this was not all. After the presentations we were able to check out a few brands that came to show us their latest products. SWIX, Dynafit, Scarpa, Pieps and Elan with people on hand were ready to answer all your questions.
It was getting late and it was time to drop my camera gear and have some party fun. After all this was also to be a get together in a layed back atmosphere. Finally saw Japan boddy Žiga who will soon be a dad 😛 and all the nice Bled people I like, but spend far to little time with. Beer followed and we soon ended up at a Karaoke bar in Kranj to ring out the evening with some singing and, you guessed it… more beer…
It was a really fun event and I hope we get to see a repeat next year. But now lets all just cross our fingers and pray to Ullr so that he can give us some snow like he does to Matic at Whistler on the other side of the world.