Cia, a guide on the fly!
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.
Champery DH World Cup
was held the same day. We left the car at our lodge and took the cablecar
up to Croix de Culet to walk down to the start of the race.
To make it possible for all the spectators to watch the race they have
built a special spectator trail beside the actual race course.
Champery World Cup downhill course is known to be one of the hardest
you can run and they recomend you to not even think about riding it
unless you are a World Cup rider. We could easily understand why.
Here a short video from the uper part of the course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIyuWNtDxc
The course was really wet and muddy and the pictures and movie doesn´t really
show how step and hard it was. I´m a beginner on downhill but I think everyone
that was there where more than impressed with the riders. On the way down we
saw a familiar face behind a big camera. Chris Patient from Zermatt came over
for the day to get some good shots. It is not easy to capture biking I must say.
Walking down was hard even though they built the special trail. It was so muddy
people were getting stuck in the mud at some places and sliding down at other.
Half way down we saw a helicopter that came to bring down a rider that
fell badly. From what we heard they also had to bring down a spectator that
slipped.
It was a very good atmosphere and the further down we came the more
people were there to watch. We heard a figure of 8000 paying visitors.
The winner for the men Gee Atherton made it down in 4 min and 2 sec.
It is insane how fast they are going considering the steepness and the state
of the course.
When the race was over we came down to the goal area where you could
walk around and look at the different bikes and parts and everything else
you need for biking.
Some of the riders were signing posters for their fans. Here is Steve Peat,
World Champion 2009.
This is also where they had the price ceremoni. Three french women were
top three for the women and two britts and a south african in top three
for the men. Not sure why, but maybe the britts are more used to the mud : )
Here are the superstars showering in champagne.
A more proffesional movie showing part of the run for the best women
and men can be seen on the 3 minute link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ylAVCJNZNU
When the ceremony was over we had a raclette with Chris in one of the
tents and headed home to our base for the coming week. I was lucky to
win a price in a drawing that the Valais Road Show had in Stockholm
together with Swiss Tourisme, a luxury apartment in the Lodge in Champery
just 300 meters from the cable car.
We had three bedrooms and would have loved to fill it up with some more
friends. It is a shame to have a big place like this to ourselves, but since
we were alone we choosed to stay in the master bedroom ; )
We even had our own jacuzzi outside. I think this is a great place for smaller
groups, friends or families. You have everything you need here and can
choose to stay home and cook or go out and eat. For bikers you have a
laundry room in the house and a place to clean your bike.
More info on the apartments can be found at: http://www.miggins.ch/
Uffe and I were superhappy with our first day in Champery and inspired to
go biking ourselves.
KEEP GETTING INSPIRED
/Anna
Blanktjärnsrundan nästan...
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
Till Åre via Gotska Sandön
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
Our golden boy from Biot!
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…
The mother of guiding
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
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 6th 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!”
Born ski guide-Jossan Brzezinska
skier of the Brzezinski-family, namely Josefina Brzezinska, born ski guide.
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…
Summer blog on our guides
a popular show, we present our summer blogs on our guides! Portraits of
our carefully chosen and extraordinarily humble servants, ski guiding the
most beautiful guests on the planet around the Alps and other steep places.
Today; Karin Malmberg - True Monterosa fan with the magic touch.
If you just saw the locals of ski resort Champoluc smiling, it´s most likely
because they just met Karin on their way. The blond blue eyed 28-years
old skier came from Strängnäs to ski the Alps and fell in love with the place.
It´s still her favorite ski resort and she also spends the summers in the
gorgeous Ayas Valley. Karin is one of the skiers going up on the pistes
skiing more or less every day of the winter season, whether it´s clear
blue skies or grey fog. The true believer always finds a nice lunch place
to enjoy delicious Italian food and good company if it´s bad weather!
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.
Sky runningsäsongen igång
Det finns många sätt att ta sig upp på en vacker alptopp. Många väljer
lift eller kabinbana, andra tar vandringskängorna, och sen är vi några
få förtappade själar som gillar maxfart uppför och nerför. Jo, det är jobbigt,
men det är ju innebandy också om man är otränad. Självklart kan man inte
unna sig att gå och titta på utsikten hela tiden, men vad gör man om man
gillar löpning och det inte finns nån icke-lutande terräng och man saknar
farten från skidåkningen på sommaren...
Man kan ju alltid starta sin topptur, givetvis i eget önskat tempo, från en
så vacker plats som Saint Jacques strax ovanför Champoluc i Aostadalen.
Längst ner till höger på bilden ovan ligger vårt hem och tillika lodge
Sherpa Prasec. Pra Sec är namnet på den lilla husansamlingen/gården,
belägen på 1700 meter över havet jämnt.
Trots få turer på hög höjd hittills i sommar så höll benen hela vägen.
Tar man lite tid på sig så stannar man med fördel till på hyttan på Resy
och tar en kaffe på vägen upp, och en pastalunch på vägen ner. Här har
man en magisk vy över Ayasdalen och skidområdet i Frachey. Sånt hade
dock inte fartdåren ovan tid med idag...
Med lilla kameran i handen så tillät jag mig trots mitt hetstempo att ge
de blommande ängarna sin chans till ett litet artistiskt bidrag...
Sista biten upp till den magiska utsikten på toppen Palon de Resy, 2675
möh. är tung, men väl på toppen så kommer vyn som belöning. Strax över
timmen upp får klassas som godkänt trots en bit från PB, även om min
ständige spårhund Noah gärna hade sett att jag hållt lite bättre tempo...
Svårt att fota sky running när man kör själv men nog f-n fick jag med
foten ordentligt i denna actionbild. Ska man fota ;) både uppför och nerför
så kan man ladda på riktigt bra med bästa trail runningdojjan på marknaden;
Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra!
Med både glaciär och glaciärsjö i ryggen så bar det av ner till en härlig
after hike med våra glada gäster på Sherpa! Grappabaren var öppen igår
för sedvanlig välkomstskål, vem vet, den kanske håller öppet även ikväll...
Never stop exploring lutande terräng! //eder stigvärd, Henrik Hultberg
