Mammut: Aspects Campaign Copy Lead
I was the copy lead for the Aspects campaign, a multi-seasonal film and content series on avalanche safety presented by Mammut. The project combined copywriting, curriculum development, and an understanding of avalanche terrain and freeride culture.
In addition to writing the landing page, Journal articles, social media assets, and newsletters, I also provided creative feedback and input to support the video storyboarding and messaging directioning. Mammut partnered with Sherpas Cinemas to produce the films for the series.
Alex has the exceptional ability to take complex products and concepts and boil them down to what is essential for the user. With her educational background, you can tell she is always looking for ways to invite the reader in to build genuine experiences, and using her deep knowledge of the outdoor community, she knows just how to speak to the sports enthusiast.
- Matt Hundhammer, Head of Content at Mammut Media House
Skills: Copywriting; UI copywriting; Creative collaboration; Storytelling; Stakeholder management; Ethical storytelling; Health and safety
Landing Page Plain-Text
Aspects: Stories from avalanche terrain
Ep. 01: One more lap
In the mountains, every decision matters and every avalanche has a lesson. As a community of snow enthusiasts, we can use these stories to learn how to be safer going forward.
Excitement keeps us exploring, but phenomena like “powder panic” and “summit fever” can cause us to be blinded by good vibes and adrenaline, overlooking vital safety basics. Sharing the intimate details of incidents where this played a role gives us the opportunity to examine and reflect so we can try to avoid them in the future.
“We stopped paying attention to the obvious signs.”
On March 20th, 2021, Swiss freeriders, Forrest and Lake Schorderet, were ecstatic to wake up to powder after a two-month long dry spell in the Alps. What should have been a perfect day ended in an avalanche, with Lake fully buried. While excitement contributed to the situation, Forrest’s immediate avalanche rescue response is an outstanding testament to the importance of avalanche training and clear communication. When seconds mattered, he made each one count to save his brother.
Read more ↗ about Forrest and Lake’s story
What are the key safety takeaways?
As Forrest demonstrated, having formal training on how to quickly search and rescue saves lives. Check that you have the Basic 4 - beacon, probe, shovel, airbag - and that they are accessible and operational. Lastly, know the forecast and look for signs of instability.
Dive deeper
Links to Blog
Snow safety workshop
Mammut Safety
Watch online now
Check out the full Avalanche Safety Collection ↗
The best choice for the worst case
Newsletter Plain-Text
Subject line: Prepared for avalanche season?
Teaser: Excitement isn’t always your friend; watch Ep. 01 of our stories from avalanche terrain
Email Contents
Aspects
Stories from avalanche terrain
In community, looking out for each other means being transparent about what did - and didn’t - go well. We learn together and in our latest film, we hope to address one of the biggest safety challenges in our increasingly unpredictable winters: powder panic.
Watch now
Ep. 01
Excitement drives us to explore. But what about when it overwhelms us? Experienced Swiss freeriders Forrest and Lake Schorderet share what happened when what should have been the perfect day ended in an avalanche rescue.
See their story
Lake Schorderet
“In my head, I thought it was over.”
Watch now
Avalanche Safety Collection
Journal Article Plan-Text
Changing avalanche culture, one conversation at a time
In freeriding culture, focus is often directed on what went well. But after a crew of seasoned and competitive freeriders experienced an avalanche, they decided to flip the script and share their story on Instagram and with us. We sat down with Forrest Schorderet to talk about why.
Having spent years as athletes on the Freeride World Qualifier and Junior Tours, brothers Forrest and Lake Schorderet had trained and practiced avalanche safety with the world’s best. But after a dry start to the season, their excitement got the best of them on a bluebird powder day in March of 2021. Due to a series of unfortunate decisions and bad luck, Lake was taken by an avalanche and completely buried. In stunning footage of the ordeal, we see Forrest locate his little brother in just two minutes. Lake is dug out of the snow three minutes later, saving his life. What makes the account so powerful is not solely the fact that the pair were both wearing cameras throughout the rescue, but that they decided to share their story.
"I had maybe 10 seconds of feeling overwhelmed, but I knew I needed to stay positive and focused."
Alex Phillips: The footage of the incident was a textbook example of how to respond when there is an avalanche. Looking back, is there anything you feel you did particularly well in your rescue?
Forrest Schorderet: I’m really proud that we were able to get organized so quickly and stay calm. We split tasks, so everyone knew what they were responsible for; contacting the rescue services with the helicopter, digging, etc. And thanks to our training and practice, we were ready. The thing is: you don’t know in advance how you will react when something like this happens, especially if it’s your brother. I had maybe 10 seconds of feeling overwhelmed, but I knew I needed to stay positive and focused.
Alex: I can only imagine, but you didn’t show it at all. But I suppose that’s why it’s so important to have training and to practice; so you’re subconscious and muscle memory can kick in when your adrenaline is pumping.
Forrest: Yes, exactly.
“We want to normalize talking about these things, so it doesn’t happen to other people.”
Alex: Posting the GoPro clips and detailing what happened online couldn’t have been easy. Why did you decide to take it public?
Forrest: We wanted to share our story and the footage of the incident for a few reasons. That day, we made some mistakes and some bad judgement calls - and we want to normalize talking about these things, so it doesn’t happen to other people. First, we were too excited and confident. That’s just a state of mind we as freeriders can’t allow ourselves to get into because unfortunately things like what happened that day can happen. We also made some poor decisions at the top of this pitch. Dropping in together was something you just can’t do in those types of conditions. Yes, these landscapes are so beautiful and inspiring… but you need to respect it. Riding is still a dangerous sport. We also wanted to show people that you need to have the proper gear when you go off-piste, whether that’s freeriding or touring, and that you also need to know how to use your gear and be trained on avalanche safety.
Alex: Often, accidents happen as a result of multiple small mistakes or oversights, not one big one. With that said, is there one lesson you want people to take away from your experience?
Forrest: Try not to be stoked to the point that you can’t think straight. Every day you’re out, you need to work with your friends to decide if it’s really safe. Ski with a group that you trust, that’s knowledgeable and that you can have an honest conversation with. If you don’t feel safe, it’s not something to be embarrassed about; you should be able to speak up with your friends. Plan B is always there; you can ski around the area in question, maybe you can come back two weeks later when conditions are better... It’s not worth the risk if you have doubts.
Alex: As a skier myself, I had to learn that there are a lot of differences in freeride culture and snow safety practices in Europe and North America. What are your thoughts on that?
Forrest: I was lucky to meet my girlfriend, Freya, who is Canadian, and I was able to learn about the different perspectives from her. I think they’re more aware of avalanche safety in North America and, in my opinion, they have more training than we do. But with that said, I don’t understand why they don’t always ski with their shovels, probes and beacons when they’re freeriding at or near a resort. Even if patrol checked the slope in the morning, conditions change throughout the day. It’s just a bit weird for me when I see videos of freeriders without a backpack. But all in all, I think the culture there is based more on avalanche safety. Europe and Switzerland could use more of that, especially for younger skiers.
Alex: That’s an interesting point about the images we see in films and online. A lot of people probably don’t realize that North American resorts control off-piste areas for avalanches, which is why - for better or worse - people often don’t ski with their equipment there. Is there anything you want to change about your safety practices going forward?
Forrest: My brother and I want to develop our snowpack knowledge, so we’re going to be working with some friends who are guides and who have done specialized training to learn more. On the one hand, it’s because of the incident, but it’s also just because we feel it’s important to have an even better understand of how the snowpack works.
“We really have to talk about the culture of blaming and criticizing people who made mistakes.
Alex: These are great points and really open up a larger conversation we can have as a community. After this experience, how would you like to see the freeride community evolve?
Forrest: We really have to talk about the culture of blaming and criticizing people who made mistakes. I think we should be thankful to people who share their stories because it allows us to learn and reflect. When I posted the video of what happened on Instagram, I received two messages from pro riders telling me it was great I had shared it. They also said they had had similar incidents - but they hadn’t posted anything or talked about it publicly. While they didn’t tell me explicitly why, I’m sure that with this blame-seeking culture, people are a bit scared of being upfront with the community and seeing how they’ll react. We need to be transparent and share these kinds of stories, especially for the younger generation that watches every freeride movie that comes out. There are some crazy scenes in those films, and yes, sometimes there is an avalanche, but it always ends well with the skier getting down, nothing happened, everyone is smiling… I think that’s a bit misleading. We need to show that avalanches are dangerous and that they can happen anytime and to anyone, regardless of their experience level. We’ve got to be transparent, especially for the young kids.
Online Snow Safety Workshop - Watch now ↗
Watch Forrest and Lake’s story in Aspects Ep. 01 ↗
Ep. 02
Landing Page Plain-Text
Aspects
Stories from avalanche terrain
Ep. 02: The Call
The mountains don’t care if you are a beginner or an expert; they act as a humbling teacher to us all. Regardless of your level, our community shares the same burning passion - and lessons we can all learn from.
After weeks of planning, prepping and training, it can be easy to fall into the mindset that executing the plan exactly as defined is the only path to success. But in wild spaces, surrendering your ego and embracing vulnerability can be the difference between coming home and a rescue.
Jérémie Heitz
“The main objective is to come back home - and it’s the main objective of every expedition.”
After years of physical training and planning for their record-breaking project, La Liste: Everything or Nothing, professional skiers Jérémie Heitz and Sam Anthamatten arrived in Pakistan to find sketchy avalanche conditions on one of their planned routes. As a team, they made the tough call for Jérémie not to ski his designated line, putting the expedition’s viability into question. The duo went back to the drawing board, resulting in them returning to a more diverse landscape with better conditions a full two years later.
What are the key safety takeaways?
When faced with high-stakes decisions, the ability to say “no” is essential. Changing plans to better suit the realities of the mountain is a success - even if you don’t ride that day. Practicing with your Basic 4 - beacon, probe, shovel, airbag - builds muscle memory and allows you to focus on the human-element of your avalanche safety protocol.
Dive deeper
Links to Blogs
Avalanche Training
Mammut Mountain School
Explore courses
Check out the full Avalanche Safety Collection ↗
The best choice for the worst case
Newsletter Plain-Text
Subject line: Can you say no?
Preheader: Pushing the limit isn’t linear; watch Ep. 02 of our stories from avalanche terrain
Aspects
Stories from avalanche terrain
Big mountain skiing might seem like another world, but the pressures and avalanche safety protocols are universal for all freeriders - regardless of the terrain. In Ep. 02, we explore one of the most challenging and taboo safety protocols of all: when to turn around.
Watch now
Ep. 02
Successful days in the mountains begin with great planning. What is a good idea one day though, might not be a smart choice on another. Follow pro riders Jérémie Heitz and Sam Anthamatten to Pakistan as part of their La Liste: Everything or Nothing project, to see how they navigate avalanche safety at 6,000 meters.
See their story
Jérémie Heitz
The ultimate goal I always have.. is to come back home safely.
Watch now
Avalanche Safety Collection
Journal Article Plain-Text
Heitz and Anthamatten on partnership and risk
Jérémie Heitz and Sam Anthamatten are known for pushing the envelope of what is possible. While their skiing is on another level, we wanted to learn about something we can all relate to: relationships, risk assessment and good times in the mountains.
After over a decade of competitive and expedition big mountain skiing, Jérémie Heitz and Sam Anthamatten know exactly how high the stakes are. On their groundbreaking project La Liste, which has spanned from skiing 4,000 meter summits in Switzerland to 6,000 meter peaks in Pakistan, they have faced challenging high-alpine snowpacks, remote wilderness rescues in Peru and the omnipresent question: What’s the limit? We chatted about the universal lessons they’ve learned about mountain travel and how they navigate their role as leaders in the big mountain skiing community.
How long did it take you to develop the partnership you have today?
Jérémie: It takes quite a bit. We’ve skied together 12 years now, and it's been a natural process. We met during our first competitions around 2010, and then we were both on the Freeride World Tour, we traveled together, are both from Switzerland… but most importantly, we had the same idea of skiing outside of competition. That’s hugely helpful in creating something together, not to mention he’s a great guy to hang out with. When I had the idea for La Liste, he was the perfect partner. There’s not many people around that I could do this with.
Sam: As Jérémie says, it really takes a long time. We’ve experienced so much together, and it’s really a partnership that you build - you can’t have it from one day to the next. When I’m out in the mountains with other people, I have to talk so much more. With Jérémie, we can look at each other and we know what the decision is going to be. Knowing you have someone who understands you and will support your decisions makes the mountains - which are already so difficult to predict - a much easier and more enjoyable playground. It’s really special.
“I respect that it’s harder to turn around if you don’t have as much time in the mountains as we do.”
How do you bring up insecurities about a line or project with each other?
Sam: The process is super straight forward. As soon as you see something you don’t like, you address it. There’s no tiptoeing around it, and that creates a really cool, open conversation environment. It helps you make the right decisions.
Jérémie: That doesn't always mean it’s fun though. For La Liste, when I made the decision to turn around on a line for example, it was a big deal. It was such a huge objective and I felt like I was going to regret it. But looking back, there was no question. I was being honest with myself about where I was that day. With that said, I was building off years of experience to make that decision. I think it would have been harder for someone younger to come to the same conclusion. Sometimes I think about how it would be if I only had weekends. I respect that it’s harder to turn around if you don’t have as much time in the mountains as we do. It’s easier for us to wait for conditions to improve.
What do you see as major red flags or danger factors in the mountains?
Jérémie: The human factor.
Sam: It’s tricky when you have a group that doesn’t know each other very well and they want to show off a bit. If the snow isn’t easy to predict and you’ve got this competitive energy going you might not see the avalanche dangers. With the focus on pushing yourself, it can get to the point that you don’t see a big mistake coming.
Jérémie: That’s something we have to think about when we’re filming and there are so many people involved. It can be a real balance.
Speaking of filming, can you tell us a bit more about the process of planning an expedition or larger-scale project?
Jérémie: If we’re looking at La Liste in Switzerland, for example, we went on multiple flights to check conditions on the 4,000-meter peaks we wanted to ski, and then really tracked the layers of snow we wanted to ride. The time window is super short, and we had to make sure we got the right conditions. It’s a different process for people who are going out for two days of weekend skiing, but no matter who you are, as soon as you leave the resort, you have to plan ahead. You need to check where you want to hike, where you want to ski... You want to use everything in your toolkit to make it’s a success and to ensure that you can actually ski that day. It’s a lot of effort, but we really like this kind of skiing. It’s why we quit competing. When you plan an expedition from the beginning, starting at home in front of your computer, and finally going for it and having a successful mission... it’s the best.
Sam: If we’re looking at La Liste in Pakistan, we’re talking about five months of planning to ski five lines.
Jérémie: Don’t tell them that, Sammy [laughs].
Sam: But it’s true! That’s the thing; the whole planning process isn’t random. We didn’t just say: “Let’s go to Pakistan.” It took us a year to decide after considering Nepal and India. You spend a lot of time studying and researching what is even possible.
“When you’re aware that you’re not in control of anything, you have to be humble.”
I’d bet a lot of people assume you are overflowing with confidence in the mountains; they might overlook that you do process risk for all of your projects. How do you think we develop an attitude of humility in the mountains while still being ambitious?
Sam: Being humble is really being critical of your decisions all day long. Not criticizing, but really looking at what are you doing.
Jérémie: When you’re aware that you’re not in control of anything, you have to be humble. You just have to make the right decision. You can be the best skier with all the right skills, but if you make the wrong decision, something’s going to happen. No matter your level, you have to be surrounded by people who have perspective and can give you advice. It’s also about being aware that something can happen every time you go.
One thing that’s dangerous for us as professionals is that we get used to doing things that are pushing the limits. You can get comfortable and might not pay as much attention. Yesterday, Sam and I were ice climbing, for example. The danger isn’t necessarily on the climb, but when you rappel down. Put your rope in wrong and it’s game over. Even if it’s something you do every day, you have to be aware. That forces you to be humble.
That reminds me of the story of Lynn Hill, one of the world’s most legendary climbers, forgetting to tie her rope. One of the tricky topics for professionals is how to share your stories, while not completely terrifying the younger generation and still giving them a realistic outlook on the sport. What are your thoughts on this?
Sam: We don’t want to tell the next generation not to do things, because we did the same things when we were young. We just went for it. But they should go out with all the tools that exist to keep them as safe as possible. When I started freeriding, I had an old wooden shovel, no beacon…
Jérémie: Wait - how old are you?
Sam: In freeriding today, everyone would say that’s stupid, but we all started somewhere.
Jérémie: I also don’t want to give people the impression that we’ve always been skiing in perfectly safe environments. But I see my younger brother, who has so many more tools and resources available than I did at that age, like guide education and courses with pro riders. I do think we’re going in the right direction, but there is more work to be done to make avalanche safety courses enjoyable and engaging for younger generations.
“It’s a bit boring to see everything go perfectly. Watching people trying, even if it’s not possible after all, that’s interesting.”
As part of Aspects Ep. 01 , I talked to Forrest Schorderet about the role of media in avalanche safety and freeride culture. Do you see a shift happening?
Jérémie: These days, I feel like it’s increasingly rare to see pure ski porn. There are a few studios still doing it, but people really want to feel like they are there with you, they want to see how you travelled to Pakistan and what the food was like. It wasn’t always clear to us that we should be this transparent, and it’s something we’ve had to discuss. When the first La Liste was released and you see me falling and loosing a ski, people really enjoyed it. That was what they talked about because it was relatable. It’s a bit boring to see everything go perfectly. Watching people trying, even if it’s not possible after all; that’s interesting.
Sam: Five years ago, we would have had another mindset. We wouldn’t have shown some of the images and stories you see in La Liste: Everything or Nothing. For me as a guide, seeing a line I skied slide after I got to the bottom… That’s not necessarily great for my name but at the end of the day, it’s the honest truth of what happened. And it’s good to talk about. We know people have been inspired by our style of skiing. Jérémie and I feel it’s important to show that it’s not easy and that if something does happen, the consequences can be very high.
Have you seen the safety culture change since you both started?
Sam: Freeriding has really evolved with all the gear and communication. We have more and more people going off-piste and fewer accidents per capita.
Jérémie: I agree. It’s really noticeable in how we talk about the sport. Having a better probe or shovel because the materials are evolving isn’t the main issue. When you use that equipment, it means an accident already happened. Back in the day, freeriding had a bit of a culture of showing off, but now it really is about education. People are more aware and we as professionals are really trying to step up in what images and ideas we put out there. There are more freeriders now, but if you ask everyone if they have a beacon, probe, shovel and airbag backpack, they do, and they do it because the culture and communication is there.
Your life might not seem comparable to the student or office worker who lives for the few precious weekends on the hill. Despite that, what would you say to someone who planned a trip but when the day arrives, conditions are terrible?
Sam: It’s not always obvious that you should say “no” but what we find helpful is having a plan B. Find something similar but in an environment that is safer and where you can still push yourself. You don’t want to spend the day pushing the limit in the high mountains when you’re scared.
Jérémie: I’d also say dealing with bad weather and poor conditions drove us to get into other sports. We started paragliding. Now, if we want to try something but see conditions aren’t great, we can fly down and go biking in the afternoon. It’s much easier when you have other activities to balance things out and don’t feel as fixated. At the end of the day, we can’t control the weather.
What would be your final piece of advice for the person who loves to ski but can’t get out as often as you two?
Jérémie: Ultimately, you make the final decision of what you’re going to do. But having someone else’s perspective will better inform your judgement. I really listen to that outside feedback and advice from guides and patrollers. Especially if you're travelling to an area, even if it’s just from the city, don’t be afraid to ask the people who live at the mountain what they think.
Sam: It’s a green flag when you don’t have to push too hard. When everything is going against you, then maybe it’s ok to say: “that was a cool day in the mountains but I’m going to take it easy.” There will be those days when everything is just perfectly aligned - the group dynamic, the avalanche bulletin - those are the days to really go for it and create some beautiful memories.
Online Snow Safety Workshop - Watch now ↗
Watch stories from avalanche terrain in Aspects Ep. 01 ↗