Géraldine Fasnacht

An outdoor spirit, 28-year-old Géraldine Fasnacht grew up in the Swiss mountains. Skiing at age 2, she rapidly switched to snowboarding at 10, then began climbing, mountain biking and hiking in the summer.

Always in search of the next extreme outdoor adventure, she started skydiving and after 300 jumps she decided to go for base jumping and then discovered the wing suit. Géraldine sees her aggressive outdoor activities as a natural progression and another way to enjoy the landscape.

As professional snowboarder Geraldine twice won the most prestigious world freeride event, Verbier Xtrem, and had a promising start on the fresh Freeride World Tour, winning the first contest in Mammoth, California in January 2008. Injured in Sochi she expects to return stronger this year and hopes to win the world female freeride snowboard championship.

Flying is part of her life. She is one of the pioneers of the wing suit, developing new wing designs and pushing the discipline not only in terms of performance but in terms of territory as well. During an expedition on Baffin Islands she did manage with a group of guides, base jumpers and mountain experts to be the first to jump off five cliffs including the 1770-meter Broad Peak, the highest cliff ever jumped.

She has an ambitious project for 2009. You will soon discover it.

thomas may / max biedermann

Tom is the eldest, Max the youngest. Ten years separate the two teammates but together they have succeeded in building a strong performance based on their piloting skills and their mountain experience.

They grew up in the Austrian Alps, close to the n°1 alpine downhill world cup race, the so called Kitzbuhel's Streif.

With this background they are strong skiers, however their story started in acro-paragliding, a new practice combining ski and paragliding. Some others use their kite boarding wing to ride the snow with their skis. The teammates could not help trying it. It was in 2006 and they were the first German-Austrian speedflyers or speedriders, as the sport is sometimes called.

They have now opened the road to many newcomers in this ever-growing discipline. As a consequence they are organizing and promoting in March 2008 the first "Deutschen + Österreichischen Speedriding-Meisterschaften" at their home resort Opfgarten. Witness an amazing aerial demo and enjoy a chance to meet them in Les Arcs next February for Columbia SpeedFlying Pro Les Arcs 2009 .

ADRIEN COIRIER

After two titles on the U.S. Freeski Tour, Adrien has taken the lead on the Freeride World Tour. In 2008 he managed to stay in the top 10 and earn a direct qualification for season 2009. It was anything but easy for Adrien as he injured himself by injuring his knee in April 2007. After a successful surgery he had to wait for six months before coming back on the freeride scene.

Last February, after making a full recovery, he left for Japan for a ski trip with his mental coach who has been a former monk. Adrien has said that trip helped stir his soul. Stronger than ever this 2009 season could be his season to shine.

thibaud duchosal

Thibaud Duchosal is a freerider in the truest sense. A strong competitor, he finished 3rd in the 2008 Freeride World Qualifying Series and gained access to 2009 Freeride World Tour.

Then he is a traveller. No matter the season or the continent Thibaud lives endless winter. Argentina, New Zealand, Uzbekistan are some of its last destinations. You have certainly seen some of his adventures in portfolio section of most prestigious ski magazine. Why? Thibaud has a great experience working with photographers to chase lights and unexpected environments even if he has to wait for several days before getting the right conditions. You may discover him skiing during the night on a 2008 ski video. To be seen.

gavin & jamie mackay