173: British Backcountry, Pays de Gex & Freeride World Tour Finals

We discuss backcountry skiing in Scotland, Pays de Gex in France and the Freeride World Tour final in Verbier. Iain was joined by ski journalist Catherine Murphy, instructor and film-maker George Treble and founder of British Backcountry, Blair Aitken. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. SHOW NOTES You can vote for ‘The Ski Podcast’ as ‘Best Wilderness Podcast’ in the Sports Podcast Awards (0:30) Catherine was last on the show in Episode 99 telling us about the ski scene in Ireland George is based in Morzine and is an instructor at the Avoriaz Alpine Ski School Dave Burrows (SnowPros Ski School) reported from Glacier 3000 in Switzerland (3:45) Andy Butterworth (Kaluma Ski) is based in St Anton, Austria (5:15) Rob Rees was out in the Aosta Valley in Italy (07:45) Simon Burgess was reporting from Andermatt in Switzerland (08:30) The Ski Podcast is sponsored by Les 3 Vallees - the largest ski area in the world (9:30) Iain spoke to Tom & Olivier in Episode 172 about Les 3 Vallees Enduro Listen to Iain’s report on the Dynastar X3 Triathlon in Episode 93 (10:00) You can watch ’10 in a Weekend’ here (10:30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWqb4CHQEEI Find out more about action cameras and iPhones in Episode 171 (17:30) This is the cover shot of the film, showing Blair abseiling down Angel’s Face (19:30) Blair runs British Backcountry, with his business partner, Gav Carruthers (23:00) The Brits took place in Cairngorm last weekend (27:30) Olympians who turned out included Murray Buchan, Lesley McKenna and Kirsty Muir (28:00) Our next episode will be a special interview with Kirsty Muir Find out more about Pays de Gex in France and the ski areas (29:00) Iain reported from Abruzzo in Episode 170 (31:30) Try the zip wire in Pays de Gex (33:30) Jane Shah reported from the Freeride World Tour final in Verbier (36:00) Jane spoke with multiple winner at Verbier, Reine Barkered (39:00) Nicolas Hale Woods is the co-founder of the Freeride World Tour (40:00) Secure a free ticket to this October's Snow Shows with the code 'SKIPODCAST' Feedback (44:30) I enjoy all feedback about the show, I like to know what you think, ideas for features so please contact on social @theskipodcast or by email [email protected] Faustian: "Brilliant podcast. As ever wish it was more frequent. Loved the interview with Ed Leigh" Sassman1: "Wholesome, inspiring, addictive. This podcast evokes so many good memories and gets me very excited for many more to be made in the mountains" Ann Bennett: "Great podcast" InsideMorzine: "Quite simply the best out there!" The Comfortable Spot Podcast: "Loved your chat with Ed and the episode about Afghanistan"   There are over 170 episodes to catch up with so don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.  If you enjoy the pod, you can always Buy Me A Coffee at  www.buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast   You can follow Iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast on social