alpinelegends

Some people don’t like diving. Some people love to dive but hesitate to do
underwater caves. Very few people I know would gladly dive into a waterfilled
black hole in the ground.  Tatiana made that a living for some years working in
Mexico. Having finished Stockholm School of Economics she wanted to leave
the squared businesslife of the city for some adventures. This has been her
calling since. She moved back to Sweden with her babydaughter and somehow
the divorced Mexican father came along as well. A happy separation allows
Tatiana to travel all around the world more than most of us.

She is pro surfer and does not hesitate to try any adventure sport that comes
in her way.  Be it skateboarding in the bowls of cities, downhill biking in Norway
or skiing in Kirgiszistan where her fluent Russian comes handy. Somehow you
get the impression she prefers speed to anything slow. Her daughter is
growing fast and her biggest challenge and ambition is to be the best mother
of all.



To say that Tati is driven is almost an understatement, but she is also a very
caring and curious person. She mingles well at parties and you will definitely
enjoy her company at a dinner table. We are proud to have her as an Alpine
Legends Guide. 

Did you hang out in the bar Tango in French Val Thorens in the early 90´s?
Did you notice the nice colors in the bar? Well then Hasse just did that nice
painting job! His first four winter seasons were spent in Val Thorens, working
as carpenter, wardrobe host and door keeper, but mainly the days were spent
in the gorgeous ski area of Les Trois Vallées, skiing favorite runs on Cime de
Caron. After that the strong Stockholm skier went up to continue ski bumming
in Åre for some years.

In the early 00´s Hasse ended up in the Ayas valley and the impressive ski
area of Monterosa. Here he found his favorite spot where he constantly turns
back to spend both winter and summer seasons. Italy and it´s Alps have more
than skiing that attracts this gourmet and wine interested guide of ours. The
favorite happening of Hasses, is the Vinitaly wine fair of Verona in spring time.
Here our guides go to “develop” the skills and knowledge of wine and grappa
pleasures. The summer Alps of Aosta Valley also keeps Hasse in its spell. Climbing,
alpinism and sky running have become some other passions for this mountaineer.

Hasse also worked a lot at Alpingaraget Stockholm, and  nourished his interest
in gear and equipment. This made him the natural gear adviser and kit man of
Alpine Legends. He might seem a bit morose at the start, but a chuckle is always
hiding right behind the blond beard. As a guide Hasse is a perfectionist. The guests
are always to be treated with the perfect combination of fantastic skiing, great
wines and dining experiences according to his own demands. Hasse has developed
his guiding skills the last years and loves to bring clients around both Switzerland
and Austria, but if he can choose he sweepes around the Dolomiti Superski or the
Valtellina powder spots in Italy, to show his preferred slopes and bars. Courmayeur
is another favorite spot of Hasses.

As a guest you can feel safe to be delivered nice ski runs and the best possible
espresso around, but also you have your own technical support just by your side!

Alpine Legends clients are mostly corporate clients on conference trips and
the level of skiing is spread out from absolute beginners to expert skiers who
want to go way outside the marked slopes. To be able to satisfy the powder
freaks we contacted the best there is, Pelle “The Baker Man” Bagewitz from
Solna, Sweden. Educated in the toughest mountain guide school there is, ENSA
 in Chamonix, Pelle knows how to find the best and safest powder snow around
the Alps.

During his first years of guiding he thought that his home mountains around
Chamonix where the best and only mountains in the world, but now he knows
different. Guiding with Alpine Legends has taken him all over the Alps to Austria,
Switzerland, Italy, France and even to Norway and Sweden. He has also during
these years developed a great taste for wine and food, and when it comes to
coffee only an espresso or two is good enough. The first time you meet Pelle
you might think he is a stubborn and way too cool person, but once you reach
under his Gore Tex jacket and climbing ropes you find a warm and caring person
who listen to music like Every rose has its thorn and Purple Rain.

When Pelle is not skiing or climbing he escapes from the Chamonix Valley to
Bali for surfing where he also owns a house. Surfing has taken him exotic places
like South Africa in order to fulfill his biggest dream, to become a radical surfer.
If he also wants to become a great golfer is still an unanswered question, but rumors
says that he bought a house on a golf course in Bulgaria. This hobby will at least keep
him away from his biggest fear, being attacked by a shark. As you can see this man
is a person with many qualities and as bonus information we must add that he is also
a great server in restaurants, his favorite color is purple, he loves cows and there is
only one football team, AIK

I somras hade vi lyckan att få vara en hel vecka i ett av Europas bästa
områden för mountainbike och downhill cykling, Portes du Soleil.

Här har man satsat på att hålla berget levande även på sommaren och med
25 liftar och 650 km cykelleder öppna är detta också Europas största
system för cykling. Här finns 10 bikeparks med byggda hopp och banor
samt massor med fina crosscountryleder.



För att få fler besökare till de vackra bergen även på sommaren har dom
satsat på något som heter Multipass. Det innebär att man kan köpa liftkort
som endast kostar 1 Euro/dag för få tillgång till alla liftar för vandring. 
Vill man cykla får man lägga till för ett cykelpass.



Systemet sträcker sig från Champery via Les Croset, Champossin, Morgins,
Chatel, Avoriaz och Morzine till Les Gets.  Vi tog kabinbanan upp från Champery 
och fortsatte in i Frankrike. En fin tur som vi fick rekommenderat var en tur till
Col de Cou.

Det finns två saker man måste se upp för när man cyklar här. Vandrare och kor.
Dom är inte så snabba och flyttar sig sällan när man kommer, korna alltså.



Vi stannade till och åt en liten ostbricka på Lapisa där vi bodde i vintras
på vårt mitt i vintern möte. Tre sorters egna ostar tillverkar dom här på
Alpen.



Med ost i magen åkte vi vidare och fick vi en fin liten nerförslöpa.



Efter nerförsbacke kommer uppförsbacke och med våra tunga cyklar
är det lättare att gå än att cykla så vi segade oss ca 30 minuter upp till
Col de Cou på 1920 m. Passet ligger precis på gränsen mellan Schweiz
& Frankrike.



Härifrån fanns det en singletrack som gick längs kammen ner till Champery
via La Barme. Vissa delar var fina medan andra var lite läskiga med branta
sluttningar på var sida om ett smalt djupt spår. Utsikten var dock fantastisk
trots att Dent du Midi var delvis täckt med moln.



På vägen ner passerade vi Cantine de Barmaz.  



Efter en fin dag på berget kom vi ner till Champery. Känslan var inte olik
den man har efter en fin tur på vintern.

Så KEEP BIKING!!!

/Anna

Some people think that you should be young and single in order to be an
Alpine Legends ski guide. We think it´s almost better the other way around
and we are proud to say that the average age on our guides is above 40.
Tompa is a living example of that. With the passion for skiing, speaking the
alpine language French, knowing his wine and food, Tompa still loves to take
care of corporate guests in Dahu terrain. He is married and he has also passed
the 40 years margin.

Tompa has spent the last decades by the foot of Mont Blanc in the Alpine
capital Chamonix, running famous bars like Chambe Neuf and Goofys together
with his best friend Kristian Baggerud, also he an Alpine Legends guide. And
even if he now spends more time in Italy and Stockholm he will always keep
the mountains close to his heart. In Italy he fills his sunny days with climbing,
which is his other favorite sport. The time spent on the climbing walls has to be
shared equally with the time in Italian restaurants, since Tompa is also a real
gourmet. Some years ago Tompa started the famous restaurant Stockholms
Matvarufabrik and he has also been involved in the food and bar business on
the Swedish summer island, Gotland.

To show the various capacity of Tompa we also have to mention that in his
previous life among lots of things used to be a hard core Harley Davidson
biker and a bass player in the band of Ulf Lundell. He was also involved in
some internet business back in the days, but looking at his mail skills today
you can tell that it was a long time ago

Our second foreign guide is of course from Switzerland. Since we have lots
of guests in the land of cheese and chocolate every winter and many of us
live there during the snowy season, Chris was an easy choice. A great friend
since ten years, who felt that working with IT solutions every day was not
enough. And since he must be born with a special talent, taking care of people,
it was only natural that he joined in when we started Alpine Legends four years
ago. The best thing with Chris when you are out working is that he never gets
tired. When skiing and conference sessions are over he happily stays out dancing
all night, only to be the first one in the breakfast room the next morning.

The next step between Chris and Alpine Legends is also taken. Since this
spring he is a part owner in our Swiss company Alpine Legends GmbH. His
plan is to find Swiss companies that want to do alpine conferences the way
they do in Sweden, not only in the Alps but also up in Scandinavia. We are
sure that Chris is the right man for that job.

When Chris is not powder skiing around his home mountains in Engelberg or
somewhere else in the Alps with happy guests, he takes out his Kite surfing
equipment. Sometimes you really wonder if he might like that sport even better
than skiing. This sport has taken him to lots of exotic places around the world
like Egypt, Brazil, Portugal, France and Scandinavia. Travelling is another great
passion for Chris and his former job as a chef gave him opportunities to live in
both North America and Asia. But he still loves Switzerland, where he lives in a
beautiful house by the lake of Zug together with his girlfriend Moni and powder
dog Jil.

Vi började dagen med en skön frukost på terrassen vid The Lodge. 

 

Efter två dagars cyklande hade Uffes gaffel börjat läcka olja. Vi åkte därför
ner i dalen för att försöka få ordning på det och passade samtidigt på att
träffa Steve Beck som är marknadsansvarig på Chablais Tourisme. Området
sträcker sig från Genèvesjön upp till bergen i Champery och vingårdarna i
Valaisdalen där det också var aprikossäsong. Vi åt lunch i Monthey och fick
en del tipps på vad vi kunde se och göra i området.
 


Via Ferratan i Champery var ett av Steves tipps. Så efter lunchen åkte
vi tillbaks till Champery och hyrde sele, hjälm och slingor. För den oinsatte
så är Via Ferrata en enklare form av klättring där man hela tiden är säkrad.
Efter ca 30 minuters anmarsch kom vi fram till starten ligger vid ett vattenfall. 

 

Två hängbroar korsar vattenfallet.



Innan man kommer upp på sista klippväggen. 

 

Själva Via Ferratan är en fin liten tur som tar ca en timme att klättra.
Hela tiden har man utsikt över Champery.



Vägen ner går förbi en mysig liten racletterestaurang som heter Cantine
des Rives. Vi fortsatte dock ner till Champery på en spektakulär vandrings-
led som är uthuggen i berget. 



Vi avslutade med en "after via ferrata" i jacuzzin.
 


Sen var vi laddade för mer cykling.

KEEP CLIMBING!!!

/Anna

Kristian ”Baggen” Baggerud is a true skier. Powder snow, steep
French couloirs, “hot dogging” in the moguls of Sun Valley, back country
randonée touring, living glacier descents on Mont Blanc, race tracks and
happy carving, as soon as there´s a chance, the man is up skiing on them
beautiful mountains. Home is Chamonix, France. Here the possibilities of skiing
breathtaking runs are almost never ending. Baggen has always been a dedicated
skier and started off with a couple of seasons in St Anton in the early 80´s, but
he soon ended up in the mythical and exciting Chamonix and stayed for six seasons.
That was the first turn to Chamonix…

His colorful background consists of being a biker building his own Harleys,
studying marketing and working that business during the 90´s, running three
restaurants in Stockholm and one in Chamonix with the best friend Tompa Månsson
(also ex-biker and excellent AL-guide). And after the Goofy Restaurant was sold
he settled down in Chamonix and raised a little family consisting of his dear wife
Francine and their six years old son Teo.
 
And as times are rolling by, Baggen is running his own business with Francine
and is getting established in Chamonix, but the dream is still glowing of opening
a new restaurant with long time team-mate Tompa.

As coming back in every guide blog, even one of Baggens best qualities as a guide
is his social competence, and that also explains why he´s in the business; “because of
all the nice people you would never meet otherwise”. A bit like his favorite ski
memory from -98 when he crashed into American top model Christie Brinkley in
the famous moguls “Limelight” in Sun Valley. Pleasant surprise...

Cia Ekstedt is the kind of girl that makes you wonder.  She is an expert sailor,
skier, tennis player, speaks several languages and never sleeps. And on top
of that she is good-looking! Born to a sea loving father and a snow loving
mother she was brought up with a lot of wind and snow in her blond hair. Her
mother at 70+ is still an inspiration for most skiers.

Tourism in all its forms has been the calling for Cia, be it hotels in the Alps,
flying long distance in Scandinavian colors or taking care of Rock Stars at
Stockholm Festivals.  She has a sense of service that is truly unique and
sometimes beyond. It´s best described by the time when she got a little night
rest under a table in a closed restaurant because her guests needed the last
room in the overbooked resort. Having spent most of her life on the fly she is
as off-road a person can be. Her repair kit is famous. She knows how to fix
anything from air hostess stockings to leaking boats. Most summers you can
see her touring the Stockholm archipelago visiting friends in the smallest speedboat
ever seen, hardly any bigger than a smart car.

She is a proud mother of Oscar and faithful friend of many, but she never
stays for long as she is constantly on the move. Have you met Cia you are
lucky, if you haven’t you have something to look forward to.

För att få lite variation på vår Årevecka gick vi en liten vandring i Vålådalen
en dag. Vi fick tipps av Undersåkersborna Åsa & Henning om en vandring till
en smaragdgrön tjärn som heter Blanktjärn. Det var välskyltat så det 
borde inte varit så svårt att hitta.

 

I början av turen går man på en hängbro över Vålån.



Sen fortsätter det med varierad terräng genom urskog och våtmarker
tills man kommer fram till en tjärn. Där satt en fin pil med texten
Blanktjärnsrundan som vi följde. Vi tyckte nog att vi blivit lite lurade för 
tjärnen vi kom till var mer brun än grön. 

Det visade sig efteråt att det var Matskålstjärn som vi kommit till.



Hade vi gått ca 200 m till över åsen hade vi sett Blanktjärnarna.
Vi var ändå ganska nöjda med vår lilla vandring när vi kom tillbaks till
vackra Vålån. Turen är 14,5 km lång och går mestadels på platten, perfekt
för en mellandag.



På kvällen blev det BBQ hos Åsa & Henning som till och med lånat ut
en karta, men varför titta på den när det fanns så fina skyltar att följa?

/Anna

Första dagen på semestern mönstrade jag på Juliett tillsammans med
kapten Anders, Ola & Karolina. Vi brukar ju säga att vi gillar när det
lutar och det kan det göra på sjön med. Jag kan även få samma mäktiga
känsla av naturkraft vid havet som bland bergen.

Vi fick en sagolik första kväll nära Mörtö Bunsö...







Sen fortsatte vi till Huvudskär som ligger i ytterskärgården. En vacker
liten ö med en fyr och fina klippor.



Sen var det öppet hav ut till Gotska Sandön.



Eftersom ön endast betår av sand så finns inga naturliga tillägsplatser.
Vi la oss därför på svaj ett stycke ut och rodde in i lillbåten. Karolina
dukade upp sillmiddag på stranden som vi fick ha helt för oss själva.



Sen tog vi en kvällspromenad till fyren som för övrigt varit med i både
kriminalromaner och filmer.





Ännu en otoligt vacker kväll med en rosa solnedgång....



Vi kastade loss efter ett par timmar med sol, bad & bokläsning. Nästa
stopp som oxå blev mitt sista var norra Fårö där vi åt middag i Lauters
hamn. Därifrån är det inte långt till kultklubben Kuten som också fick ett
besök innan jag fick skjuts med en kompis till färjeteminalen i Visby. 
Den som tittar noga på Kuten kan hitta en Dahu på väggen, trot bestämt
det måste vara DaHultberg som varit här förut.

Kl 03.30 gick båten och jag var hemma 1 timme innan jag, Uffe & Tompa
tutade på raka vägen till Åre!

Här delade vi stuga med några kompisar. Cykling är ju en materialsport
och det är mycket som kan gå sönder och slitas ut. Tompa & Uffe leker
cykelmeckare.



Åre var en totalkontrast till det vackra varma vädret vi haft i södra Sverige.
+12 och mulet. Men cykla kan man göra ändå. Vi som inte hade egna
down hill cyklar hyrde på Åre Bikes.

Tyvärr fick jag inte med mig kameran upp på skutan när vi cyklade,
men från lunchen på Hyddan hade vi bra koll på killarna som vågade
sig på dessa "små" hopp. 



Vi cyklade i två dagar och hade som vanligt kul i de byggda banorna.
Jag blev kär i min hyrcykel, men det var för tidigt på säsongen för att 
killarna på Åre Bikes skulle sälja den. Att köpa begagnat är annars ett
bra sätt att slippa bli ruinerad.

Även Åreskutan gjorde sig fint i solnedgången.



Många solnedgångar blev det...

Tack o hej!
/Anna

On top of a hill, in the picturesque village of Biot, close to Nice on the French
Riviera, that´s where Pontus Rydlöf finally settled down. But a small flat in
Paris and the house shared with a friend on Tegelön outside Stockholm, serves
as complimentary homes for this travelling man from Stigtomta, Nyköping. As
most of our guides, he has been in the ski guiding business for many years. This
because of some terribly nice reasons; he loves taking care of guests and sharing
his knowledge about culture and mountains, to grab the chance to see and ski new
places around the world, and finally of course, he is having lots of fun!  



What makes Pontus one of the best ski guides to have around? Well except
for speaking six languages, having the license for driving a bus, being a top
class creative problem solver, knowing the best food and wine around the Alps,
he also is a particularly social and caring person, seeing every guest around him.
You want to know how it feels to ski with Pontus? Follow his tails here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W6IbB9buzM



When Monsieur Rydlöf is not running around France building interiors for shops,
which is his own prosperous business, he loves taking his motorbike over to Italy
to watch some Serie A football games and specially Inter at San Siro. Don’t be
surprised if you meet him on Madagascar around New Years Eve. Or just head up
the Alpes Maritimes in the winter time and you will find him cruising on his Salomon
Shoguns in his “own backyard”, the empty powder runs of Foux d´Alloz…

Lian Green-Brzezinska

When it comes to seeing every guest, Anneli “Lian” Green-Brzezinska has
developed a sixth sense. Being the mother of guiding, in the matter of taking
care of guests, seeing to their best during their trip and showing them something
special in every possible moment, she has created the role model of a caring
ski guide. We actually have a group that books Lian from year to year, and I
am not sure that they will go to the Alps without her.

Duiring the 80´s, Snöresor brought her working around the Alps, then creating
the first specialized tour operator of its kind, Ski Unlimited, together with Peffe,
during the late 80´s and continuing guiding through the 90´s and 00´s, very
few people have the competence close to hers, even if current emloyer Alpine
Legends is full of skilled guides. The will to grow and develop herself and people
around her, the stubborn attitude that everything is possible and her stunning eternal
will of always looking at the bright side of things, characterizes this skiing mother
of 4.Her inspiration for the future will hopefully be filled with long talks about
life with her children and other inspiring personalities on the way. Her own role
models are Astrid Lindgren and Ricardo Semler at Semco, Brasil.



As many of us, Lian has a weak spot and it´s spelled Italy, so naturally
Rifugio Guglielmina in Alagna and the alpine pearl Courmayeur are preferred
stops on the journey, and a long lunch in the sun with great wines always
brings her back here. On her trip of her life, Lian is normally bringing around
her favorite Salomon Geisha skis and a picture of her near and dear.

Luckily it doesn´t seem like this nomad is about changing life style. We will see her
putting on the guide uniform to help us developing AL, building up her current
other business with leadership training and coaching at TUFF and Empowerment Invest.
, and hopefully one day fulfill her other special dream; driving the Monte Carlo rally…

The Alpine Scotsman Mike Guest – “the Motor Mouth”

When we ran into Mike Guest in the Swiss Alps, just about starting up the
Alpine Legends business, we pretty soon realized we couldn´t set up a guide
team without this energetic smiling Scotsman! Born in Edinburgh the 6^th of
July 1980, the Scottish mountains always been a playground, either on MTB
or on skis. Pretty naturally Mike found his way to Engelberg, Switzerland, which
now has become one of his favorite ski resorts and the base during the last
powder seasons.



Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with
abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to
learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. Those are some of Mike´s
mottos in life. As well, Mike has many strings to his bow. Scotland has more
than mountains, a lot of wind and seas around too. So this summer the busy
Kite surfer Mike, after been touring as event technician, also kite surfs as much
as possible. Except for continuing to serve and guide our guests around the Alps,
Mike´s vision for the future is to build up the Kitesurfing school in Scotland. Sounds
very much Mike, compared to his dark secret from the early years in Edinburgh,
when the active young man used to practice ballet…

One of Mike´s best memories from different adventures was the night ski touring
with Legend Roger Kingston from Hairs mountain Heli Wanaka, New Zealand. “Rog
comes over for his chill time in Engelberg and we did the classic Titlis round tour and
had a mad full moon pow pow mission, nothing steep, no crazy lines, but pure and
simple fresh pow pow boot deep. As you made your turns you could almost hear
every snow flake move under your feet. Oh yeah and to top it off there was a bottle
of wine at the hut waiting for us.”

The Scotsman is looking forward to another winter in the Alps, in the fancy
Peak Performance guide clothes, and I am sure our guests that already went
traveling with Mr Guest also look forward to his return. We round it off with
another wise phrase from Mike;  “We are on this planet to SHARE the knowledge
we have with each other. For me this comes in the form of my guiding work with
Alpine Legends, the teaching of kite surfing and the guiding of people on the bike
in the hills. I get my buzz from making people buzz!” 

If you already have had the pleasure of being one of Jossan´s skiing guests,
you probably have seen mostly the back of her. Born and raised with the
skis on, mainly in the French ski resort Mégève, she´s hard to catch and has an
inspiring flow cruising down the snowy mountains.  Growing up in a big skiing
family by the foot of Mont Blanc´s north face, and with ski guiding parents the
script was set from the start.  I remember when Jossan was 12 years old and
she told me she was going to become a skiing guide when she grew up, and now
we are working together! The social skills also came along naturally, growing up
among skiers and colorful people and a traveling grand mother as role model.



When time came to start studying for the future, Jossan ended up in northern
Swedish town of Östersund (just like her father once did and close to Åre ski resort)
Here she is studying economy and the bright future might first be filled with dream
trips like skiing in Morocco or South America. But when winter approaches the Alps
normally starts calling her name.

Jossan is a particularly warm and caring person mastering the special combination
of gentle service and rational organization. Still young but full of experience,  she´s
been skiing plenty of the best places in the Alps and her favorite ski resorts are Courmayeur
(mainly for the great Italian food…) and Norwegian summer ski paradise Stryn, where
she´s been running the Pub at Folven this summer. If you ask her which hotel she might
check in to either on job or holiday, the answer would be Hotel Kurhaus Alpina in Swiss
ski resort Lenzerheide. Anyway, most likely you´ll run into her around Engelberg, or on
the never ending snow fields of the Titlis glaciers…

Karin has been working in hotels and restaurants in Champoluc, but as
soon as we started up Alpine Legends four years ago we hooked her up.
With her exceptional sense for service and truly caring about the people
around her, she possesses the characteristics that differs the better from
the best. It´s a quality that might be the most important for being an Alpine
Legends guide. During the years of guiding guests around the Alps, the
avalanche of cordially compliments to Karin just keeps coming. Karin takes
life day by day and in the future, after fulfilling her dream trip of skiing the
Rockies, she´s most likely running her own B&B somewhere in the Alps, and
keeps developing her rock climbing skills.



If you want to pass by and say hello, Karin is to be found this summer
in the charming bar at Fiery, 1900 m.s.l. overlooking the upper Ayas valley.
Here she gets up every day on her favorite Sintesi MTB to serve coffee,
drinks and local delicacies to lucky hikers.