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snow of tomorrow

Snow of Tomorrow | Time for some self-reflection

And now?

by Jan Imberi 12/28/2021
I am a winter sports enthusiast with heart and soul. And that's not surprising, as my parents let me walk through the winter garden on skis waxed with klister when I was just 2 years old.

In my childhood and youth, I spent my winter weekends at ski races or training. In the fall vacations, I was already off to Kaunertal, Sölden, Laax and club training to prepare for the season. My successes in slalom and giant slalom were mediocre, despite the great efforts of my parents. I found the constant traveling and commuting from one ski race to the next, the constant training between poles and honing my skiing technique a burden. It was restrictive and not very playful.

We lived in Freiburg and spent the weekends and vacations at my grandparents' house in the Black Forest. The house was at 1000m and the lift was only five minutes away by car. We had a lot of snow. We built ski jumps in the meadow behind the house.

The races in the Black Forest were held in places where the lifts are rarely in operation today. Fischbach, Muggenbrunn, Hasenhorn, Heidstein, Stollenbach, Todtnauberg, Altgalshütten, Saig, The Saig downhill race was my favorite. We didn't have to travel far. Everything was close by.

Then came 1983 and Apocalypse Snow at the movies. I had just saved up my first skateboard and now I saw these guys in colorful overalls surfing in the powder. That was the end of my skiing "career". My horizons broadened. Tom Sims founded Sims Snowboards and doubled Roger Moore in 007 James Bond "A view to a Kill". From then on, the slopes of the Black Forest were no longer the only place in my dreams.

I bought my first snowboard on a school exchange to La Clusaz. When I was 14, I turned my back on ski racing for good and only "rode" snowboards from then on. It was trial and error and there were few role models. I didn't think Perter Bauer was cool and I had to work hard to earn the acceptance of the local Lepertran crew*. At the weekends, we went to Andermatt, Engelberg or Meiringen. The gas was affordable and the parking lots were empty.

The USA was the place to be for me back then. It was where my idols met. After graduating from high school, I packed my bags and flew to Seattle with a brand new Black Forest Burning custom-made board made of vertically glued ash in my pocket. I made my debut on the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom in 1994. Craig Kelly had set the course and Terje won - Switch. I was extremely unhappy with 23rd place. The circumstances had not been ideal. I knew I could do better. Then 5 weeks Whistler-Blackcomb with a fake lift pass, Squawvalley, Lake Tahoe, Mt. Hood. I met the guys from Dogtown Snowboards at the Tradeshow in Las Vegas. They brought me into their team. They produced the boards at Morrow. They were quite ok. We rode parks in Bear Mountain and Snow Valley.

Back in Europe, I continued my travels. For the opening in Kaunertal, WPT Boardercross in Sölden then Val d'Isère, we started the King of the Forest, a banked downhill cross. That was in 1999, my injuries increased and so did my breaks.

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Then came the break.

I turned my back on winter sports.

I moved to Frankfurt, Barcelona, London and Berlin. My encounters with snow were limited to parks or visits to my home in the Black Forest. The snow rarely came while I was visiting. This went on for a few years.

I developed a longing for it. It grew from year to year. Then I gave in to the pressure. I got myself skis, wide powder boards with touring bindings and started traveling again. From Berlin, I explored the neighboring countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. When it snowed, I would leave Berlin at five in the morning so that I could be at the lift in Karpacz in Poland at 9 o'clock. It became obsessive and the distances increased. From November to May, I spent all my free time skiing and was prepared to travel thousands of kilometers by car, plane or train.

I was driven to scan the precipitation and temperature forecasts in order to be in the right place at the right time. But things had changed. The winters had become shorter and there was less snow. This was not only noticeable in the high mountains, but especially in the low mountain ranges. This raised questions. Questions that I had previously only considered globally, but had rarely considered in relation to my own actions.

I began to think about the fact that winter as I knew it could become a finite phenomenon. This thought made me uneasy, worried and anxious. A fear rose up in me, the fear of missing out on something. I scanned the destinations and researched flight prices. Now once again Chugach Mountains, Hokkaido, Pir Panjal, Lofoten, Vancouver Island, then Portillo, Valle Nevada and on to Svaneti. Now to shred everything again before it's over. Jesus, it can't just come to an end, can it? Please tell me this is just a temporary problem!"

2021 April, PowderGuide year-end

A year and a winter season in lockdown dominate the discussion this evening.

In a cozy round at the virtual bar, we share the experiences of the past year. What was it like for you during the lockdown? What tours were you able to take? What happened to all your travel plans?

A year in lockdown has curtailed what we previously took for granted, the freedom to travel and move around the world without restrictions. A season in which even Switzerland became an almost unattainable destination for us Europeans. Incidentally, this self-image of being able to travel without restrictions is by no means a matter of course for everyone, but a privilege of high earners from rich industrialized countries.

But forget it, we are here among ourselves. - Cheers!

In view of the rapid pace of climate change, our travel must raise questions in many respects. Can we and do we want to continue to travel hundreds of kilometers by car for a powder day, for a quick fix? Is it justifiable to jet around the globe for the fluffiest pow?

Questions that we should ask ourselves as profiteers, as winter sports enthusiasts with body and soul.

What is the effect of our actions?

Do we want to celebrate "business as usual" or is it not precisely our task to live alternative actions? What role model function do we set for ourselves and our fellow human beings?

PowderGuide is a platform by and for winter sports freeriders. Shouldn't it therefore be our task to make this enthusiasm for free play in this fantastic element possible for future generations? I am a child of the seventies, socialized in the golden eighties, a decade of liberalization and privatization, in which the "unleashing of the market" was proclaimed to the world with golden fanfares and boundless growth, prosperity and wealth were prophesied. - Anything seemed possible.

We adapted our actions to these new rules. We took for granted what was unimaginable for our grandparents. Travel became a product for us, which we also consumed, making ever higher doses necessary. The sky's the limit was suddenly no longer enough, it had to become Nix Olympica East Face / North couloir.

- Where exactly is that?

- Until we realized that we had made a mistake. That we had moved in a direction that had irreversible consequences.

So far, so familiar. And now?

Silence.

I have adjusted my behavior. At least that's what I think. Others may judge that. And it's certainly relative, depending on your point of view.

But my declared goal is to travel emission-free in the future. I'm still struggling with that.

I'm not a fan of preaching and doing without, but of moderation. And that can be a lot. Nevertheless, my life is still intense - and that's a good thing. In the mountains, I've learned to adapt, which I often don't manage with people. But that's because of the roles. Because there is no discussion there. There is a clear balance of power. The mountain forces me to be careful. It demands a cautious approach if you want to push the boundaries.

For me, the mountains are a metaphor for life. Winter is their heyday. We should pay attention to them instead of consuming them. They bear witness to our actions and archive our history.

In the mirror of the here and now and what has passed.

The future, on the other hand, remains uncertain, for us, but not for them.

They can play for time.

We can't.

*Lebertran Crew

Black Forest snowboard pioneers with serious attitude.

Credo: Do not follow us!

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