Sphere /29
Norrøna ambassador Armin Beeli shows off his hometown in the Swiss Alps.
INSPIRED BY THE NORRØNA outerwear collection /29, Norrøna’s Swiss ambassador Armin Beeli had an idea: Why not draw a circle with a radius of 29 km around his hometown of Sagogn, then bicycle or ski to the most interesting places inside that circle between September and April? Why travel to distant horizons when the best of everything is so near?
ARMIN, who is soon to be a forestry supervisor, spends most of his time around Flims-Laax – an area that’s also called the “White Arena”. Just minutes from his home, it has become one of the most famous ski areas in the Alps.
The ski lifts of Flims-Laax reach to a height of almost 3,000 metres above sea level, including the T-bar lifts on Vorab Glacier. The huge machines transport guests both summer and winter. At 3,000 metres, the ski park rocks with activity, while farther down the mountain, bikers on fat knobby tires carve up the mountain-bike trails. It’s a freerider’s paradise!
Up in the heights, the manic Armin is a familiar sight in his Norrøna gear. Heading to the next deep-powder slope, he slices through the park where the Norwegian Whiteout ambassador, Danny Larsen, has just ground a rail and Simon Dumont is dropping in to the half-pipe.
SWITZERLAND is known for its fine mountain cheese, luscious chocolates and precisely ticking clocks. Less well known is the fact that the Swiss have four national languages. In addition to German, French and Italian there is Romansh, which is spoken by a small minority in the eastern canton of Graubünden – where Armin lives. It's a Latin language that is said to bear some resemblance to the Old Norse from which Norrøna takes its name. "Va bu datti bu,” is Armin Beeli’s Romansh motto. It means, roughly: “Nothing is impossible.” Those words seem highly appropriate while the photos for this article are being shot, given that the famed powdery snow of Flims-Laax has not yet fully arrived.
"No reason to hold back," Armin thinks as he launches a massive backflip from his favourite rocky outcrop. He lands with a jolt on his ancestral ground.
After several minutes of silent reflection and agony, his first words are:
"Cool jump!"
The result, however, is an injured back and leg, which make it impossible to continue skiing. Only eight days later he is back in action, soaring in the gondola to Crap Sogn Gion.
ARMIN STOOD ON SKIS for the first time at the age of three. His father, a ski instructor, put a bell on the little daredevil’s cap so it would be easier to find him. As a competitive skier, Armin eventually developed a distinctive technique that he exploits for speed and control on the mountainside.
On a bicycle, meanwhile, Armin has speed, strength technical skill and endurance.
The cheese makers at San Martin, a summertime pasture some distance from the busy trails, know Armin well. To indulge his love of mountain cheese, he visits them again and again.
"I love every kind of cheese there is," says Armin, “from fondue to the local speciality, called Pizokels.”
While taking a bite of the freshly sliced mountain cheese, he adds:
"Quei chaschiel a rassa!”
Which means: “This cheese has class!”
As does Armin’s own mountainous playground: Sphere /29.
Text: Bigna Buchli
Photo: Stefan Schlumpf