Last year, Andreas Fransson and JP Auclair set out to film a project they called Apogée, which means the highest point in something’s development. The project was cut short, a year ago yesterday, when the both Fransson and Auclair died in an avalanche on Monte San Lorenzo on the Chilean/Argentine border.
Yesterday, exactly one year after their deaths, close friend Bjarne Salén, of Endless Flow Films, released a 15-minute cut of the film, with footage of Auclair and Fransson carving powdery steeps in Chamonix, France and Narvik, Norway, as well as shots from their final expedition to South America.
In the film, Auclair and Fransson talk of life and death, of risk and reward in the mountains. It captures their skill and humor; their mountaineering savvy and skiing grace; their humility and passion. Above all, it celebrates the impact both had on the skiing.
In the wake of Andreas’s death, his family has founded Safe Passions, a nonprofit supporting mountain education for youth and young adults. To honor JP’s legacy, Alpine Initiatives, a nonprofit he founded, has launched The Auclair Fund. Find out more about these organizations at andreasfransson.se and auclairfund.org.
Apogée – Memorial film for Andreas Fransson and JP Auclair from Bjarne Salén on Vimeo.
I looked for a film with Andreas, could not find anything. Just the thing he skied in S America on that bizarre looking face in 2012 or 2013.