Article in ChillFactor - Expats Living in Chamonix
June 18, 2008
Photographer Peter Mathis
Skiing has definitely taken me on a journey in life that I could neverhave imagined growing up in the city in Melbourne. It has been through skiingthat I have a full time job as a professional skier, am able to travel to somany amazing mountains around the globe and have set myself up to be based outof chamonix france living with my fiancé Stian Hagen who is also a professionalskier.
When I was at school I never dreamt of being a professional skier and asa list of career choices being a professional freeskier did not evenexist. To do what I do I have tobe based out of Australia as the ski industy over in Europe allows me to livefrom my sport. Freeskiing is alarge growing industry in Europe.
Basing myself in chamonix France has allowed me to really follow mydreams to be a professional skier, I met my fiancé, I found a home and all thedaily ski challenges that I can dream of lie in the most amazing mountains thatare situated at my door step.
When I first arrived at this town I new there was something very specialabout the place. It carried anenergy of excitement, stories and history that I had not felt so stronglybefore in the other mountain towns that I had traveled to. The town lies in heart of the French alpswith mont blanc rising up at 4810 metres and the aiguille du midi lift stationat 3842 metres taking you to some of the most incredible lift access terrainthat you could ever dream of. Thisplace is filled with challenges and when I first arrived I was about asinexperienced as they come, but full of dreams, energy and determination tobecome a professional skier.
I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Stian Hagen in my first monthof arriving in chamonix and he whotook me under his guidance in the mountains. Before I first met him I had heard lots of crazy storiesabout him from the days when he skied a lot of serious steep descents. I really did not know what I got myselfsigned up for when I started going out with him. He took me on so many runs in my first winter that weredefinitely way above my ability and had me terrified. After overcoming my fears and gaining more experiencefollowing him around I started to get my confidence on the steep exposedterrain and found myself eager to get out there and gain as much experience aspossible. In chamonixwas able to immerse myself a high level of freeskiing. The mountains offer so many challengesand there is so much vertical to ski. I finally found a place where people just thrived on skiing and livedfor it.
The freeskiing industry was just at its beginning in 99’ when I did myfirst season in chamonix and at this time they didn’t have skis specificallydesigned for freeride as they do today. Freeski teams were just starting up andwhen I signed with Volkl I was part of their first freeski team, a start ofsomething new that we all didn’t really know where it was heading. It was great feeling to be involvedfrom the very beginning in this new industry of skis. When you look at where freeskiing is today it has reallyshown a lot of progression in their designs both graphics and ski shapes andVolkl is very much leading this progression.
When I won the World Extremes in Alaska in 2000 I officially began mycareer as a professional skier. Ithad been a dream of mine to live from a sport that I love and when it allhappened after winning a big event it all seemed to come about so quickly andbefore I knew it I was living my dream.
As a full time sponsored athlete I have an obligation to my sponsors toget as much film and photo coverage as I can and this comes from doing well incontests and getting internationally recognized and following this up withgetting good ski action on film. Ihave been spending most of my seasons traveling to free-skiing contests on theworld tour and now I am more involved in filming and photo shoots that havetaken place in Norway, Switzerland, France, US, Alaska, Canada, Nepal andRussia. I find I am living out ofmy bag for most of the winter –enjoying the time I do get to spend in my homein chamonix. Being based in France has allowed me to realize the dream as it isvery central in Europe and I am able to travel easily around to chase thestorms.
The days that I enjoy the most are when I am at home on a good powderday and can ski around on my favorite runs with a group of good friends. Theseare my best days of the winter as I know where to go and what are the best runsto ski and don’t have to travel far to get to the lift station. Our house is just 1 km from the GrandMontet ski station, which is my favorite place to ski in the vallley.
Living here has been a good challenge, I find the chamoniards don’t havethe same outgoing friendly nature as the aussies, there also seems to be lessrules, as far as what and where you can go in the mountains. Everything is allowed and you can skiwhere you want, you have a very real sense of freedom when you are outskiing. As for the domestic sideof things, you also have to be more prepared when it comes to cooking as mostshops shut at mid day and from 7pm onwards. So there is no chance for lastminute shopping. The french seemto be very liberated in their freedom and fine lifestyle that has them on a 35hour working week, long lunches and what seems many public holidays. Also their land has it all from theAlps, to surf coast, to the mediterainean.
As a foreigner living in france I find that most of my friends are alsoexpats. We seem to all have a similar understanding and are able to relate tosimilar problems that we face by choosing to live there. This common bond ofbeing foreign brings us all quite close. In saying this I do have some Frenchfriends but the majority are expats from Sweden, Norway, England and a fewaussies.
There is a lot of foreign investment in chamonix both in property andalso in businesses especially by the English and Swedish. In winter the townfinds itself inundated many young Swedish skiers that come for the season andthe night life is thriving and in summer the town is filled with a differentcrowd of day tourists and families that don’t get out much at night and thetown although is busier it feels like a ghost town after hours.
Stian and I have a good set up here and have all the equipment we need to tapinto the mountains both in winter and summer. In summer we love mountain biking and go rock climbing. There are lots of trails to mountainbike and endless challenges in the mountains for climbing. We also have a golf course just 5minutes from the house so there are plenty of opportunities to practise ourswing.
We also find ourselvestraveling to the surf coast during summer to do our best attempt ofsurfing. When I tell people that Icome from Australia everyone assumes I am naturally a good surfer, which is notthe case, but I do love the sport.
Leaving Australia tolive in France was never officially a decision that I made, it was somethingthat just happened and before I knew it was based out of france with a houseand a partner. It was the only way I found that I could live from my sport, asin australia the industry is not big enough to support me. I find that I am in a unique situationas there are not that many freeskiers living from their sport that come fromAustralia but I hope that I am paving the way for the future generation offreeskiers from australia.
What has made it easierfor me to live in Europe is that I do have aswell as my Australian passport, aEuropean passport as my mother is from germany. I speak German fluently which has made my dealings withsponsors very easy as Volkl and Red Bull are both based out ofGermany/Austria. I also havefamily close to Munich so when I am feeling homesick I try to visit my cousinsand aunt as much as possible, it gives me a sense of belonging and feeling thatI have a family close by.
Asgetting home to Australia for a weekend is next to impossible if you findyourself homesick. So I try tomake Europe now my home and come to Australia each year to get up to my localmountain - Mount Hotham.
It is strange that nowwhen I come back to australia I find that I really do feel more at home inEurope, that is where a lot of my friends are who have a good understanding ofwhat goes on with my life now. InAustralia all my friends have gotten on with their lives and there is often somuch change in their lives it is hard to pick up where I last left off, so inthe end I find myself naturally drifting apart.
So it has been through skiing I have found a life that has taken me bydefault away from Australia. Ihave not lost my Australian accent and am still proud to call myselfAustralian. But it has not beenpossible to base myself here and be a professional skier. I feel very lucky tohave found this path in life as I never know what is around the corner and eachday in the mountains is full of new adventures that I live for.
Skiing has definitely taken me on a journey in life that I could neverhave imagined growing up in the city in Melbourne. It has been through skiingthat I have a full time job as a professional skier, am able to travel to somany amazing mountains around the globe and have set myself up to be based outof chamonix france living with my fiancé Stian Hagen who is also a professionalskier.
When I was at school I never dreamt of being a professional skier and asa list of career choices being a professional freeskier did not evenexist. To do what I do I have tobe based out of Australia as the ski industy over in Europe allows me to livefrom my sport. Freeskiing is alarge growing industry in Europe.
Basing myself in chamonix France has allowed me to really follow mydreams to be a professional skier, I met my fiancé, I found a home and all thedaily ski challenges that I can dream of lie in the most amazing mountains thatare situated at my door step.
When I first arrived at this town I new there was something very specialabout the place. It carried anenergy of excitement, stories and history that I had not felt so stronglybefore in the other mountain towns that I had traveled to. The town lies in heart of the French alpswith mont blanc rising up at 4810 metres and the aiguille du midi lift stationat 3842 metres taking you to some of the most incredible lift access terrainthat you could ever dream of. Thisplace is filled with challenges and when I first arrived I was about asinexperienced as they come, but full of dreams, energy and determination tobecome a professional skier.
I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Stian Hagen in my first monthof arriving in chamonix and he whotook me under his guidance in the mountains. Before I first met him I had heard lots of crazy storiesabout him from the days when he skied a lot of serious steep descents. I really did not know what I got myselfsigned up for when I started going out with him. He took me on so many runs in my first winter that weredefinitely way above my ability and had me terrified. After overcoming my fears and gaining more experiencefollowing him around I started to get my confidence on the steep exposedterrain and found myself eager to get out there and gain as much experience aspossible. In chamonixwas able to immerse myself a high level of freeskiing. The mountains offer so many challengesand there is so much vertical to ski. I finally found a place where people just thrived on skiing and livedfor it.
The freeskiing industry was just at its beginning in 99’ when I did myfirst season in chamonix and at this time they didn’t have skis specificallydesigned for freeride as they do today. Freeski teams were just starting up andwhen I signed with Volkl I was part of their first freeski team, a start ofsomething new that we all didn’t really know where it was heading. It was great feeling to be involvedfrom the very beginning in this new industry of skis. When you look at where freeskiing is today it has reallyshown a lot of progression in their designs both graphics and ski shapes andVolkl is very much leading this progression.
When I won the World Extremes in Alaska in 2000 I officially began mycareer as a professional skier. Ithad been a dream of mine to live from a sport that I love and when it allhappened after winning a big event it all seemed to come about so quickly andbefore I knew it I was living my dream.
As a full time sponsored athlete I have an obligation to my sponsors toget as much film and photo coverage as I can and this comes from doing well incontests and getting internationally recognized and following this up withgetting good ski action on film. Ihave been spending most of my seasons traveling to free-skiing contests on theworld tour and now I am more involved in filming and photo shoots that havetaken place in Norway, Switzerland, France, US, Alaska, Canada, Nepal andRussia. I find I am living out ofmy bag for most of the winter –enjoying the time I do get to spend in my homein chamonix. Being based in France has allowed me to realize the dream as it isvery central in Europe and I am able to travel easily around to chase thestorms.
The days that I enjoy the most are when I am at home on a good powderday and can ski around on my favorite runs with a group of good friends. Theseare my best days of the winter as I know where to go and what are the best runsto ski and don’t have to travel far to get to the lift station. Our house is just 1 km from the GrandMontet ski station, which is my favorite place to ski in the vallley.
Living here has been a good challenge, I find the chamoniards don’t havethe same outgoing friendly nature as the aussies, there also seems to be lessrules, as far as what and where you can go in the mountains. Everything is allowed and you can skiwhere you want, you have a very real sense of freedom when you are outskiing. As for the domestic sideof things, you also have to be more prepared when it comes to cooking as mostshops shut at mid day and from 7pm onwards. So there is no chance for lastminute shopping. The french seemto be very liberated in their freedom and fine lifestyle that has them on a 35hour working week, long lunches and what seems many public holidays. Also their land has it all from theAlps, to surf coast, to the mediterainean.
As a foreigner living in france I find that most of my friends are alsoexpats. We seem to all have a similar understanding and are able to relate tosimilar problems that we face by choosing to live there. This common bond ofbeing foreign brings us all quite close. In saying this I do have some Frenchfriends but the majority are expats from Sweden, Norway, England and a fewaussies.
There is a lot of foreign investment in chamonix both in property andalso in businesses especially by the English and Swedish. In winter the townfinds itself inundated many young Swedish skiers that come for the season andthe night life is thriving and in summer the town is filled with a differentcrowd of day tourists and families that don’t get out much at night and thetown although is busier it feels like a ghost town after hours.
Stian and I have a good set up here and have all the equipment we need to tapinto the mountains both in winter and summer. In summer we love mountain biking and go rock climbing. There are lots of trails to mountainbike and endless challenges in the mountains for climbing. We also have a golf course just 5minutes from the house so there are plenty of opportunities to practise ourswing.
We also find ourselvestraveling to the surf coast during summer to do our best attempt ofsurfing. When I tell people that Icome from Australia everyone assumes I am naturally a good surfer, which is notthe case, but I do love the sport.
Leaving Australia tolive in France was never officially a decision that I made, it was somethingthat just happened and before I knew it was based out of france with a houseand a partner. It was the only way I found that I could live from my sport, asin australia the industry is not big enough to support me. I find that I am in a unique situationas there are not that many freeskiers living from their sport that come fromAustralia but I hope that I am paving the way for the future generation offreeskiers from australia.
What has made it easierfor me to live in Europe is that I do have aswell as my Australian passport, aEuropean passport as my mother is from germany. I speak German fluently which has made my dealings withsponsors very easy as Volkl and Red Bull are both based out ofGermany/Austria. I also havefamily close to Munich so when I am feeling homesick I try to visit my cousinsand aunt as much as possible, it gives me a sense of belonging and feeling thatI have a family close by.
Asgetting home to Australia for a weekend is next to impossible if you findyourself homesick. So I try tomake Europe now my home and come to Australia each year to get up to my localmountain - Mount Hotham.
It is strange that nowwhen I come back to australia I find that I really do feel more at home inEurope, that is where a lot of my friends are who have a good understanding ofwhat goes on with my life now. InAustralia all my friends have gotten on with their lives and there is often somuch change in their lives it is hard to pick up where I last left off, so inthe end I find myself naturally drifting apart.
So it has been through skiing I have found a life that has taken me bydefault away from Australia. Ihave not lost my Australian accent and am still proud to call myselfAustralian. But it has not beenpossible to base myself here and be a professional skier. I feel very lucky tohave found this path in life as I never know what is around the corner and eachday in the mountains is full of new adventures that I live for.
