The free skiing evening was a popular ski movie and gear event in the 2000s, but has not been around in recent years. But this year Jan-Erik "Blomi" Blomberg organized this again, in Helsinki's Suvilahti. As a charity event benefitting the Doctors Without Borders, and showcasing ski movies and talks.
I'm not much of a fan of parties, particularly when I didn't know almost anyone at the event, but I did enjoy the movies and talks a lot. I was particularly happy hearing the famous ski photographer Tero Repo's stories behind his photos. One of his famous photos is of Glen Plake with his signature Mohawk hair, setting up in the Aiguille du Midi exit tunnel in Chamonix. Wonderful photo, see above or browser the real one on Tero's website.
Tero told a story about how he had agreed for this photo shoot with Glen, and the difficulties with weather (despite the looks of the photo, it was shot on a cloudy weather day).
What was the funniest part about the story though was his explanation of how Glen sets up his hair, apparently the girlfriend irons the hair against kitchen table while Glen holds his head next to it. Way to go!
Event stage:
Tero:
Blomi:
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This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.