Whether on the Natural Selection Tour or in Nepal for an expedition with Sherpa women, Marion Haerty will be busy this winter.
We left her at the end of last season on a very North American winterThis year, Marion Haerty will be back in 2023 on the Canadian and American spots, marked in particular by her participation in the Natural Selection Tour (finished at a nice second place behind the American Elena Hight). Marion Haerty will be back in 2023 on the spots of Canada and the United States. She hopes to add her name to the list of winners of the young event, she had left the Freeride World Tour after having outrageously dominated it between 2017 and 2021, and had found in the Natural Selection Tour a new career goal.
This season, the Grenoble native, who now lives in Chamonix, will be aiming to win this event, created by American snowboarding legend Travis Rice. 24 of the world's best snowboarders will be competing in the event. 16 men and 8 women will take the start of this third edition of the Natural Selection Tour, and the organizers have concocted a number of new features, including the addition of a first stage: the "duels" (split between January and February). And the icing on the cake is that the Frenchwoman's duel may well take place on her home ground... In addition to the Natural Selection Tour, the Frenchwoman should also take part in the Verbier Xtreme if the organizers grant her a wildcard, as they did in 2022.
Out of competition, the French snowboarder will unveil her new film "DIDI" ("big sister" in Nepalese) on Women's Day, March 8. This production is a tribute to all the "didi" women who, through their mountaineering activities, are paving the way to emancipation for a new generation of Nepalese women. On this autumn's expedition, Marion met the rare female Sherpas Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, Purba Xaam Gi Sherpa and Fura Deki Sherpa, as well as Mingma Doma and Maya Raide, female mountain and trek guides. Proud, strong, independent women. Women who had the courage to defy the cultural traditions established by an omnipresent patriarchy to follow their dreams. If Marion knew that, by setting off on this expedition, she would be making her first ascent to an altitude of over 6000m and following in the footsteps of mountaineer Micheline Rambaud, 63 years after her expedition, she had no idea that she would become the first female snowboarder to descend the Lobuche.
"If someone had told me when I was younger that I would become the first snowboarder in the world to ride the Lobuche, I wouldn't have believed it," explains the four-time freeride world champion. "I'll never forget that moment when, facing Everest, in absolute silence, I buckled on my snowboard bindings and traced the most beautiful line. It was a magical, timeless moment. This trip to Nepal is the most beautiful of my life. From the logistical organization upstream, to the incredible moments shared with these inspiring women, to this completely unprecedented world premiere on the Lobuche... It was fabulous. Above and beyond the adventure itself, I'm touched to see how far our industry has come in terms of the budgets allocated to female riders. This would never have been possible 10 years ago. It's important to point this out.
Another production in which the snowboarder took part was the film "LINE & AIR" by wingsuiter Géraldine Fasnacht, which you can see below in full. Last season, the Swiss snowboarder invited Marion Haerty and former Olympic skier Christina Lusti to follow her on her adventure in the heart of the Alps. This was an opportunity for them to discover a different approach to the mountains, to learn about piloting, and to follow in the footsteps of Hermann Geiger, the legendary "glacier pilot". Indeed, the Swiss pilot was a pioneer of mountain rescue, and 70 years after his first landing at Kanderfirn, it was important for Géraldine to pay tribute to him.