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Boat, Bootpack, Sufferfest: Schirmer Crew Skis ‘Near-Vertical’ 800m Line in Fjords

Here's a 'rematch' between one of the best athlete crews in winter sports and the beastly line that could kill them.
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“How steep do you think this is?” The answer is, “Steep enough to die if a frontpoint cuts loose.” But for Nikolai Schirmer, Krister Kopala, and Joonas Rasanen, it’s just “pretty steep.”

That’s the right idea if you’re actually going to try to pull off a line like this. A year ago, the multidiscipline winter athletes traveled to remote coastal Norway to scout some chutes. The result was, in my opinion, one of the most nuanced ski mountaineering films you could hope to find.

Now, they’re right back at the same fjord, up to the same mind-bending tricks. “Rematch,” the intro typography says.

There’s a casual texture to the group’s attitude — as performed — that belies their internal sincerity. Describing one deadly flute of vertical snow, one athlete says “don’t f*** s*** up,” a statement that functions equally to forbid and entertain.

Don’t miss it.

Runtime: 16.5 minutes

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Over 3,500 vertical feet of rock, ice, snow, and no fall zones; does that sound like a doable line? For Krister Kopala, it’s all in a day’s work. Read more…

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