Plank Of The Year!

Make way for the big man!

Giant of a man Guy Chambers was born into a skiing family, so loved watching and ultimately got hooked on mono-skiing as seen in the alternative French extreme ski films Apocalypse.

It was in the in the late 1970’s at Val d'Isere, France, that six-foot six-inch Harrow School boy got to try mono-skiing and loved it, particularly when aping his heroes' ridiculous jumps because when he attempted their slow motion, huge G-force-arcing turns - all ended with grenade-like snow bombs.

That did not put off Guy because mono skiing looked so graceful, so powerful and akin to monoski waterskiing and  dad duly played his part and joined them, renting 4 mono-skis for a morning and their group kept them for a week of total fun. “No tuition and no idea what we were doing but it was new and cool,” said Guy. 

Mark you - both dad’s egos were dented and agreed “this mono thing will never catch on” but a persistent 12 year-old Guy kept going and just like riding a bike it suddenly became second nature to stay upright and sway effortlessly down the mountain.

From then on if conditions were spring slush or deep powder a mono rental was the order of the day. Within a few of years Guy had his own 200cm board and 12 years on he was lucky enough through work  (*yes it was indeed work) to be invited to the famous Mike Weigelas Heli Ski resort in Canada’s British Columbia, home of huge snowfalls. 

Mike Wiegele resort, Canada

The heli guides initially thought Guy was mad and his massive plank would slow their groups, but his long mono proved to be faster and more agile than all with two skis.  And after a day of skiing glaciers in the high alpine Bugaboos Guy was accepted and even celebrated by his heli compatriots.  

Fifteen more years of annual heli skiing with the same 200cm Rossi plank Guy always had the last laugh over all other skiing guests as he found his mono-ski was effortless in deep powder, unlike skis, where your legs can be screaming after a dozen or so turms.

Now 45 years later Guy has just returned from aother springtime powder fest heli ski trip on the Alaska/British Columbia border and his original board with extra superglue in the Salomon bindings, he performed like a gazelle sweeping through savanna - only it was 80 cm of fresh powder. All he needed was the all in one dayglow one piece  to complete the full rewinding of the clock.  But that feeling of carving on one ski through natures ultimate playground is undeniably the best feeling on snow. 

Fashion runs in cycles and it is time for the two plankers to try the serene style of mono again. Get it and you may well be hooked ! 

Facts - the first known monoski was invented in the late 1950s by Dennis Phillips at Hyak, Washington using a single water ski and bear trap bindings and popularized in the 1970s and '80s by monoskiers like Mike Doyle. The mono  is similar to a snowboard in that both feet are attached to one wide board. Unlike snowboarders, however, monoskiers ride with their feet parallel and facing directly forward, toward the tip of the board. They use the same hard plastic boots, bindings, and poles used by skiers. Because of their width, monoskis are most commonly used for skiing in deep powder snow. While the mono was never as popular in North America as it was in Europe and experienced a decline with the rise of snowboarding in the late 1980’s, the monoski has been enjoying a revival which began five years back due to an infusion of new technology and new techniques such as twin tips, carvings, fat boards and monoboard, especially in Chamonix, France, and Mammoth Mountain, USA.

• So fans should keep logging in to read more of Guy’s plank adventures.
• *Guy has recently retired from running the major ski PR firm, Black Diamond.