“How’s it going, Kilian? I saw you went to Chardonnet today. How’s the snow looking?”

I got this message from Vivian Bruchez. I didn’t knew Viv that well. He was a friend of Seb Montaz, the cameraman who started to work with me earlier that year. Viv had come to a couple of shootings to help Seb.

​“Good. I went up the usual way. There’s quite a lot, but it’s pretty stable. I’d say the conditions are good,” I tried to pronounce, afraid of making a mistake talking to someone who knew those mountains a thousand times better than I did. 

​“And did you see the north face? Was it white or did it look icy?” 

​“Mmm. . . well, I think it was pretty white. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but that’s how it seemed.” I tried to remember how it looked. I’d gone over it, but I hadn’t paid much attention.  

​“OK, thanks,” he said.

​After a while, I got another message. “Want to come and ski the Migot Spur tomorrow?” 

We meet up at the Chardonnet bergschrund at 8:30 in the morning. I’ve spent the evening before mounting a pair of skis for the occasion. I only had racing skis home and they might be too thin for the descent so I took a pair of 80mm tables I had there and found an open shop at Argentiere to put the bindings.

We climbed the Migot spur, looking for the snow quality and the line we would eventually ski. At the summit we enjoyed the sun. Vivian with his acts and way to do things was introducing me to this world of steep skiing. The line isn’t particularly steep (45-50º) but involves some technical sections to avoid a gulotte. We skied in some snow slabs and some dry skiing for that and avoid to abseil.

This was my first first descent, and the beginning of one of my biggest passions since then. Vivian became a great friend and my mentor in steep skiing.