Crew Edits

DVP’s Italian Madness Chapter 2/3 – Aosta Valley

To follow up on DVP’s first Italian Madness chapter – where the crew shralped Italian volcano Mount Etna – the boys headed north from Sicily to the Aosta valley in the shadow of Monte Bianco. DVP filmer Marco Morandi gives an overview of their time spent shooting…

1567 Km. That’s the distance we drove from Sicily to Aosta Valley, our destination for Italian Madness’s second trip. Cormayeur was to be the place where we spent the next ten days filming for the second chapter. It was definitely a different location compared to the Etna Volcano…

The Alps are the biggest mountains we have in Italy and especially the ‘White Mountain’ – Monte Bianco, or Mont Blanc – is the highest peak in Europe, stretching to 4,808m above sea level. Ethan Morgan, Simon Gruber and Marco Grigis were shadowed by myself and photographer Roby Bragotto, and together we spent a week around the Italian side of the Big Peak searching for the best powder conditions to film backcountry.

Tree hugging is a bit too hippy for Ethan, so he gave one a high five. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Simon Gruber. Cab 5 in Courmayeur. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Rooster time for Mr Morgan before the rain rolled back in. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Marco Grigis has a fine Method on him, that's for sure. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Our most memorable time was when we spent a night at Rifugio Torino, located near the boarder with France, about 15 km southwest of Mont Dolent and on the tripoint with Switzerland at 3,375m above the sea level. We woke up at 5 in the morning, at sunrise, and it was insane to be on the top of the Alps taking in the panorama.

Another thing was the weather: you know that the weather changes so fast up in the mountains, but last year was definitely crazy. We got rain the first day, more than a metre of fresh pow by night, then bluebird, and then rain again, so we decided to get a guide to be safer and more productive up on the hill.

“We got rain the first day, more than a metre of fresh pow by night, then bluebird, and then rain again”

Simon Gruber. Switch back 5. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Ethan takes in the views from Courmayeur. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Grigis creaks one in Courmayeur. Photo: Roby Bragotto

The snow conditions changed so fast and especially down in the valley it was really dangerous, due to avalanches and warm temperatures. It was not easy at all to get shots but certainly a sick experience once again up in the mountains.

Courmayeur is fiiiiine. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Dream team: Gruber, Morgan & Grigis. Photo: Roby Bragotto

Front 3 from Ethan. Photo: Roby Bragotto

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