PowderPeople | Nikolai Schirmer: Ultimately, I justify the risk with my videos

Nikolai on Instagram and on YouTube.

Claus Lochbihler: I was looking at what user comments you reply to on your YouTube channel. I noticed that you always seem to reply when someone mentions that they themselves have survived an avalanche. Or even lost friends or relatives in an avalanche.

Nikolai Schirmer: That's right. That's always my answer.

Why?

Because what I do and show in my films could re-traumatize people who have survived an avalanche or lost friends and family while freeriding or ski touring. I want to reach out to them and say that I am sorry for their loss. Especially if perhaps a video of mine has reopened their wound. Ultimately, I justify the risk with my videos. A risk that may no longer be justifiable in the eyes of people who have lost someone as a result.

If you ever have children - would that make a difference to what you do?

I hope so. It's a big responsibility to bring life into the world. After all, children don't choose to be born. If a parent dies - even more so in something you don't have to do - everything is much shittier for the child than it needs to be from the outset. Do you know the scene in Meru? With Jimmy Chin, who promised his mother he wouldn't die in the mountains. When she dies, he says, 'Okay, let's go back to Meru'. I think that sums up the conflict that most alpinists know quite well and even humorously. The relationships with the people we are closest to should have an impact on our decision making.

In the vast majority of videos, you are not out with other freeride celebrities, but with friends.

At the very beginning of my career, I thought I absolutely had to work with other, better-known ski pros. But there's simply nothing better than skiing with friends. The most important thing for me is to have a good time. I'd rather go on tour with a friend or a good girlfriend than with a ski celebrity I don't even know well.

Or a monk.

That puts many people off. But it's important to get everyone on board. If someone reduces their emissions by half, they are still much better than most of the world's governments. That's why I think it's important to spread the message: Just do something. Doing something is much better than doing nothing. Eating a lot less meat than you used to is already making a difference.

Are you a vegetarian?

No. But when I get a burger, it's usually meat-free. I love the meatless burgers. It tastes as good as with meat. You can always put a slice of bacon on it.

You've been able to make a living from skiing and filming for a few years now, your most popular video "I've never seen anybody ride that fast!" - Endless Winter 3 - YouTube has 1.3 million views. Were there nevertheless moments in your career as a freerider and YouTuber that you would describe as failures?

My biggest struggle was finding a way to manage all the work. Finding a balance between skiing and film work. Many people think I only ski. But planning, shooting and editing my films is an incredible amount of work. If you're not careful, it becomes even more. If every moment suddenly feels like it could be filled with work, it's not good in the long run. Apart from that, I consider myself very lucky. My injuries have all healed well. And I haven't lost any of my close friends in the mountains yet.

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Among your YouTube followers, I noticed a pretty religious and somewhat bizarre splitboarder from Alaska.

You must mean Faith in action. He really is the best. Laughing.

In his videos, he prays out loud at the summit before setting off on the descent. Apparently his way of showing gratitude for the mountains and focusing on the descent.

I have the feeling that he wants to remind me that Nikolai Schirmer is going to hell one day because I'm not a believer. Laugh. All the more reason for him to like one of my last videos: A Time for Everything.

Why?

Because the video title is a quote from the Bible, but also the title of a book by Karl Ove Knausgård , the Norwegian author that I really like: En tid for alt (Everything has its time). My video is about the fact that everything has its time - whether it's about certain life decisions or, as in the video, about the right time for a descent through the northern flank of Store Jægervasstinden. And that sometimes you have to turn back when the time has not yet come. It's also a bit about the Bible that my very religious grandmother gave me - her not at all religious grandson - as a gift for his youth consecration. Faith in Action should really like that.

Do you think ski touring in Norway, which has become popular among ski tourers from all over Europe, is actually riskier than elsewhere?

No. Of course, you have to adapt to the local conditions - just like everywhere else. For example, here - especially in the north - there are very frequent and long-lasting weak layers in the snow cover. Although this is very similar elsewhere. The weather in Norway is of course often very, very rough, also because of the proximity to the sea. And then you're often all alone on many tours far and wide.

The terrain is often even rockier than in the Alps.

That's right, there are lots of rocks here.

Your last major injury - including a ruptured Achilles tendon - was sustained when you fell over hidden rocks.

There were four rocks. Boom, boom, boom, boom, that's what it did (Watch the video: Doing a 78 week rehab in 15 weeks. Healing an achilles to save winter.) However, I don't know whether the risk is really higher in Norway due to the rocky terrain. I don't know any figures on this. It's probably more a question of the snow conditions and the terrain everywhere. And how early you set off.

In your videos, you can be seen almost as much trudging uphill - bootpacking - as you are on skis. Is that specifically Norwegian?

In Norway, with the terrain I like to ski, you have to get off your skis quickly on the ascent because it's so steep and narrow. Bootpacking has also become a lot easier thanks to new equipment - such as the material from Auftriib. Ultimately, it depends on what kind of terrain you're interested in. I actually bootpack everywhere - and sometimes wonder why more don't do it in the Alps.

A few of your friends are mountain guides. When you're out with them: Is the mountain guide always the boss? Or do you have equal rights?

Of course, I always bow to the authority of wisdom. Laughs. But we usually cultivate a kind of dialectic process. So a discussion within the whole group: what has been observed, what does it mean and what decision should we come to.

Have you ever experienced this kind of diffusion of responsibility? That no one decides because everyone and no one is responsible?

I think that's most likely to happen in a group that's too large and thrown together. And rather not if you are constantly communicating with each other and asking yourself: What is the snow cover like? Does it match our assumptions? Is it safe or not? Where are the safe stopping points on the descent? But of course, this group communication doesn't always work, as you can see in our first WAVY film.

There's Merrick Mordal, the woman in your trio, who is more cautious than you two men. She would like to dig a snow profile, but because the group is running late - the boat engine didn't start in the morning - and you're worried that the warming will throw a spanner in the works, you want to save time and forgo a snow profile. As you enter the slope, you trigger an avalanche after the first few turns - but manage to save yourself on a ridge.

That's where things really went wrong. I still don't think that's a good example of diffusion of responsibility. It's more an example of what happens when two people - me and my friend Krister Kopola - are far too fixated on this one descent. What's more, Merrick, the cautious one, was so far behind us. We couldn't talk to each other. By the time she gets to the top, Krister and I have already made a decision.

Don't ski videos - even if they are as realistic as yours - also create dangerous illusions and pipe dreams?

Of course, ski videos mainly show the good days. If I produce ten videos in a season, then I only need ten good days. But everyone thinks that every one of my skiing days is like the ones in the videos. But we also sit around a lot and wait. In WAVY II, for example, it's basically all about finding good, safe snow. We talk about our snow strategy before the trip and how the heat affects the snow. The Eulogy Of A Steep Skier is also very much about the snow conditions and the appropriate strategy. On the other hand, I don't want my videos to be a tutorial. I must also not overstep my own role and competence. After all, I'm not a mountain guide or an avalanche researcher.

What are you?

I'm just a professional freerider trying to have fun. Of course, I'm aware that some people watch my videos and then emulate them. That brings with it a responsibility that I try to live up to. But again: I'm not an authority in this field and I don't want to pretend to be.