In his latest series, 'Fringale', former professional traileur Michel Lanne took Martin Fourcade and Julien Lizeroux on a four-day ski touring trip in fun and adventure mode.
At the beginning of 2021, Michel Lanne announced his retirement from competition, after 10 years spent treading the trails of the world's most prestigious trails. But the Tarbes native was far from leaving the mountain world, continuing his work as a mountain guide and member of the PGHM. Last month, the Mont Blanc Marathon winner also unveiled the second episode of his 'Cravings'. After a first opus in high-altitude slalom mode with Julien Lizeroux, Michel Lanne once again reunited with the former professional skier for episode 2, also accompanied this time by Martin Fourcade.
"The 'Fringale' series is a project I'd had in mind for several years but hadn't had time to launch during my sporting career," he explains. "I took the name from this excuse that a lot of people sometimes use in top-level sport to justify under-performance (laughs). The idea is to touch on several universes that are close to my heart, such as trail running, ski touring or mountaineering, and to drift towards other disciplines that I'm less familiar with, such as paragliding, mountain biking or snowboarding."
As for casting, the former trailer turned to friends. "They're people who come from their own world or whom I bring into my world. The aim is to introduce characters and friends, and show how we practice mountain sports with each other. We also want to prove that you don't necessarily have to go to the ends of the earth to have great adventures."
"For this episode 2, I took Martin and Julien with me on a four-day trip through the Aravis mountains with the aim of sleeping in a tent. It's quite different from sleeping in a refuge. You leave with your tent, pitch it for the night and it's your home for a few hours. When I suggested a little ski raid in bivouac mode, they went for it. We arrived at the Trou de la mouche, the weather was fine, we could see the lights of the town below, we took the shovels, flattened everything out and it was the best pitch in the world. That night in the tent was the highlight of the trip."
In terms of equipment, the four friends went on an adventure with Samaya tents (models to be found starting this Tuesday on Private Sport Shop). "Before, bivouacking was often done in summer on the best days," adds Michel Lanne. "Today, it's no longer a problem to do it in winter too, with equipment that has evolved considerably. Tents and sleeping bags now enable us to enjoy these adventures in winter too. And that's the case with the Samaya tent, which you can put at the bottom of your bag just as you would with a small down jacket. It's solid, strong, light and doesn't take up much space. Today, it's no longer a handicap to take it with you into the mountains. You can do your day's sport and still have your tent with you in the bag. And finally, pink is a good idea. It adds color and makes a change from the usual sad khaki or navy blue tent. This is fun."
For future episodes, the former top-level sportsman wants to continue highlighting the Aravis massif and beyond. "I'm also thinking of the Mont-Blanc Massif, for example, or the Beaufortin. In any case, I want to continue to show that if you're curious, you can have a great time not far from home. And continue with the concept of the tent, avoiding refuges which are perhaps a little too comfortable for real adventure. It's so much stronger to experience it by sleeping outside. We really enjoyed the first few episodes, and it's given us ideas for what's to come."
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