Last Spring I ventured up to Sentry Lodge and Fairy Meadows to put the new Salomon Guardian touring binding through it's paces for Salomon Freeski TV. I was joined by Chris Rubens, Elyse Saugstad and Kim Havell as well as photographer extraordinaire Bruno Long and Greg Franson from Blue Bird Guides. What we got was all the incarnations of winter: blue bird powder, big alpine couloirs, and deep winter pillows and trees. It was a good time to say the least. Check out the video and make up your own mind.

Bird's Eye of a Burn- A b4apres Edit from b4apres media on Vimeo.

Between Christmas and New Years I had the good fortune of skiing at Great Canadian Heliskiing. Each year, Jordan Manley travels to GCH to experiment with ideas for original still images and he invited me to join him to shoot video. This year we explored the incredibly aesthetic burns that GCH have and got this great bird's eye view.

Visiting Nelson for the first time is like returning home. The place accepts you with open arms and one can feel at ease. In the same way, returning to Nelson is much like visiting for the first time—the energy of the place hits you in an epiphany and the people are refreshingly laid back. For myself returning after five years to ski the place where I truly learnt to “ski the trees”, a lot has changed. The cult ski resort of Whitewater has expanded much to the initial chagrin of some locals, but you would be hard pressed to find someone adhering to that sentiment these days. Whitewater simply just got better.

I also called in to the Salomon studio last week and got a sneak peak of the Freeski TV episode we filmed. I think you will all be stoked so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the trailer here.

I recently returned home from the USA where I joined the Pole to Pole Run expedition as a documentary filmer. As you might expect, it is a run from the North Pole to the South Pole and being undertaken by an Australian ultra marathon runner named Pat Farmer. He is running two marathons a day (85kms), everyday with no days off. You read correctly, no days off. And all of this to raise money and awareness for the International Red Cross.

As the film continues it jaunt around the world on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, it was featured in the Australian program with an interview with myself. Check it out and get out to see all the other great films as the tour comes through your part of the world.

Read the full feature inside.

Last week AZADI:Freedom screened at the Festival Aventure et Decouverte in Val d'Isere, France. Surprisingly I recieved a call from them on Thursday and I was plugged into the awards ceremony were the film had claimed two awards. The first was le Prix d'Encouragement a la Realisation, which roughly translated is the "Emerging Director Award" awarded to a debut director and comes with a €5,000 production scholarship from CMC Video to put towards a subsequent project. The second award was the Le Prix Special Ushuaia TV which was judged by a panel of broadcasters from Ushuaia TV in France with an offer to screen the film on television in France. Look out for a dubbed version of AZADI.

A huge thank you to Violaine Schneider, the festival organizer for contacting us and inviting us to submit our film. Onwards and upwards.