Steep skiing in the Alps: Aurélien Lardy makes it look smooth and nonchalant. Photo: Aurélien Lardy Collection
Front and center, Aurel Lardy. Vivian Bruchez (left) and Thomas Guerrin (right). Credit: the selfie
On this episode, we feature France’s steep skiing Jedi, Aurel Lardy—smooth in the steeps and at home slogging across the Alaska Range. An excellent combo.
Lardy takes a breather from the alpine as we catch up with him in Chamonix. (We recorded the interview this summer.) A former ski racer, and lover of both front flips and easy-access Cham-steeps, the San Antonio Spurs, and fast or slow churn expeditions, we are psyched to have Lardy as our guest.
Good energy and ceaseless energy are two key qualities for those making a life for themselves in the hills. Aurélien Lardy, a prolific ski mountaineer based out of Chamonix, has been on a tear for the past few years. If first descents or rare repeats are a benchmark, Lardy, who goes by “Aurel” for short, has notched plenty of them. For example, he and Gaspard Ravanel repeated a sought-after ski/snowboard descent of the L’éperon des Jumeaux on the north side of the Aiguille du Midi this past May.
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There is something about Lardy’s style that belies the very exposed positions he finds himself in. If you are a visual learner keen on mastering steep turns, Lardy’s utterly smooth technique is the opposite of what we may conceive of as a jump turn. It is a high-alpine meditative practice: ski tips remain in contact with the snow, knees remain slightly bent, releasing just the right amount of kinetic energy, ski tails swing around, completing the turn. Mathematicians, surely, could derive an elegant equation to explain what we see. Then again, it could be pure art—steep-turning ballet.
Lardy and his steep skiing and ski traversing clan will surely make an appearance at an adventure film fest touring near you. He’s featured in films about skiing in Argentine Patagonia (Painting the Mountains) and a mega-traverse in the Alaska Range (Les Jours Sauvages). If you still need to get your fill, the film Chronoception chronicles his adventures in Kyrgyzstan—it should be available online on 10/17.
Aurel Lardy: At home on the ascent. Photo: Aurélien Lardy Collection
Aurel Lardy, at home on the descent. Photo: Aurélien Lardy Collection
No doubt, Lardy and his people are prolific. Let’s focus on the Alaska Range ski traverse for a moment. 50+ days. And as noted in Les Jours Sauvages, the style is heavy and slow. The ski party enters the range in the low-lying bush, weighed down by sleds and a fair share of cigarettes; they slog into the heart of the Central Alaska Range via the Peters Glacier. They ski Denali and Sultana (Foraker), ski traverse and muddle out the range, and eventually pack raft back to Anchorage. Mon Dieu!
Conversely, Painting the Mountains is a film about expressing the extrême. Matt Tufts helps frame the narrative as Lardy, Vivian Bruchez, and Jules Socié repeat the Whillans-Cochrane on Aguja Poincenot—a line first skied by Andreas Fransson.
Aurel Lardy, deep into their journey across the Alaska Range with Sultana in the background. Photo: Aurélien Lardy Collection
You can follow his high-octane adventures on the socials.
