“I didn’t want to do things halfway” – Coline Ballet-Baz

Possibly the first female urban skiing project ever, Coline Ballet-Baz’s 2016 urban mission was an awesome step in the right direction for freeskiing, as a sport and an industry. Photographer David Malacrida shadowed Coline and her team on their mission to showcase women’s street skiing.

Saint Nicolas La Chapelle, Savoy. The spot is by a church, above a calm cemetery and in front of skeptical students. For three hours we’ve been onsite, in a snowfall that’s eventually turned to rain. Totally drenched, Coline has attempted the feature some 30-odd times already, and keeps pressing on with a determination reminiscent of urban-skiing innovator Cam Riley. She won’t give up, and long after we’ve all given up on the spot, she finally nails it. I’ve already put my camera away due to the weather, and am busy balancing a shovel over my head as a makeshift umbrella. Erwan, meanwhile, has put a protective bag around his camera and continues to film. Finally we yell, jump for joy, and show Coline the video.

Read the rest of the article, and others about the monstrous Suzuki Nine Knights hip or Fabian Lentsch’s journey into the unknown, in the new Downdays Magazine Novemver 2016 issue. 

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