ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT “Morning surf check above Le Grande Plage in Biarritz. After a morning dip, we could make it to the mountains for first chair and, with enough espresso, back to the beach for a sunset session.” Photo: Kade Krichko Picking up the backcountry baguette from the source in Bareges, France. Photo: Kade Krichko RIGHT TOP The connection between sea and mountain is undeniable in the southwestern corner of France, but few are blurring that line more than Franck Bernes-Heuga, who, with the help of his sponsor Zag Skis, has built a pair of float-ing skis to tow into Basque Country’s biggest winter swells—ski poles and all. Photo: Guillaume Arrieta RIGHT BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT “When it comes to open-water swimming, how cold is too cold? Members of Les Ours Blancs, a Biarritz-based swim club have been search-ing for the limit since 1929. Swim caps are recommended, as are flippers and a warm change of clothes. The only thing not permit-ted? Wetsuits, of course.” Photo: Kade Krichko Biarritz’s Port Vieux, where you’re bound to spot a polar plunger or two any day of the week. Photo: Kade Krichko BACK AT THE COAST, Biarritz’s Port Vieux was all but deserted. A salty wind bit through my softshell, as five figures cut through angry whitecaps just offshore. Wearing nothing but swim-suits and their signature orange bathing caps, Les Ours Blancs (the polar bears) have been swimming at this beach year-round since 1929. With dozens of active members, it’s one of the largest open-water swim clubs in the area, a testament to the seabound souls that call La Côte des Basque home. Emerging from the water, Maritxu Darrigrand walked calmy across the frozen sand. The 65-year-old would be the first to admit she’s at home in the ocean, but Darrigrand’s story has traveled full circle. Once a national surf champion, Darrigand moved to California in the 1970s and discovered the mountains shortly thereafter. After spells at Mammoth and Sun Valley, she was part of the original ski-bum crew that worked out of the Cliff Lodge at newly opened Snowbird in the mid-’70s before stowing away and sailing back to France. She lived a few more years in Chamonix (where she allegedly introduced the resort’s first monoski) before the sea called her back home, but the connection between sea and sky had been forged. In the early ’90s, she helped bring Quiksilver’s European headquarters to Europe, and eventually spearheaded the creation of the company’s women-focused brand, Roxy. As part of that initiative, she created the Quik Cup in 1993, a ski and snowboard competition based between Biarritz and the Pyrenean resort of La Mongie, two and a half hours east. It was a first-of-its kind event in southwestern France, and a chance for Darrigrand to combine her two passions on Basque soil. Skiing had its history in the region, but ever since Hollywood film crews brought surfboards to Biarritz in 1956, surfing has had its heart. Handfuls of French surf champions have come from La Côte des Basque over the decades, and wave riders worldwide descend on the area’s barreling beach breaks every year. But few if any have truly harnessed the two natural elements’ unparalleled proximity. While Darrigrand showed the way with her Quik Cup, Arrieta and a new generation took her blueprint and made it their life’s work. “One side of me is skis and a piolet, and the other a board and wetsuit,” Arrieta said. “There aren’t many doing it at the technical level we are doing it. People want to specialize on one side.” 074 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 1: Page 74
