When Faction released “The Collective” last fall, it surprised us—we expected the bevy of park shots and dub 10s, and they definitely delivered, but what really turned our heads were the staggering big mountain lines that Swiss skier Sam Anthamattan tackled. So when Faction rereleased a POV segment of Anthamatten dragging Wasatch young gun Andrew Pollard up some of his native steeps, we were psyched from the get-go.
Pollard, though competing in Freeride World Tour qualifiers since 2013, is hot off a series of podiums, skiing consistently well on some of the world’s toughest terrain. But here he admits that he’s never skied anything quite this steep. Anthamatten, born in Zermatt, was right at home. Far from the hop turns that one might expect on icy 55-plus-degree slopes, Anthamatten and Pollard open it all the way up. Rarely do ski films give us sweaty palms—we’ve seen more than our fair share—but this one counts as our cardio for the day.
Buckle in for full-throttle turns down immaculate glaciers. We hope they ate plenty of raclette after. They earned it.
This article originally appeared on Powder.com and was republished with permission.
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