The Swiss father of extreme skiing pioneered descents from the Alps to the Himalayas — and became the sport’s first star
When his helicopter crashed in the Himalayas in 2007 and Sylvain Saudan disappeared, the tributes came pouring in. “For today’s riders, Saudan is a glorious ancestor,” wrote the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. “He was a pioneer,” mountaineer Jean Troillet told La Tribune de Genève, “he made a lot of people dream.” Everyone made liberal use of Saudan’s dashing sobriquet: the “skier of the impossible”. Except Saudan was about to pull off his most impossible trick yet.
Without the funds to train seriously as a racer, in his twenties he qualified as a ski instructor, working across the valley in Crans Montana, then setting off on a world tour that saw him teach in Aspen, New Zealand and even the tiny resort of Glenshee, Scotland. Back in the Alps, his attention started to turn to steeper routes, first in Arosa and St Moritz .
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