Dear Sports Enthusiast:
Para-Ski, LLC dba Ski Alpine Xperience and the Paraglider Network was founded in August of 2002 and is preparing for its third ski season. The name was chosen in recognition of the fulfillment of the founder’s dream to Para-Ski—that is to paraglide from a ski resort taking off with and landing on skis combining my then two favorite sports. Ski Alpine Xperience, SAX, specializes primarily in ski, hiking, cycling, learn-to-paraglide and pargliding and active travel to the Alps and Andes. SAX has its origins as far back as 1999 when the director founded the Thunderbird Student Ski Club. Although this club continues today SAX was created to allow the director to share his outdoor passions with a larger audience beyond the students or alumni of the leading Graduate Business School in Arizona. In fact the director learned to ski when he was 8 some 20 years ago. Even earlier; during 1997-1998 the director had the fortune to welcome and take care of 300 British guests while working as the resort director for a British Tour Operator in a major Colorado resort overseeing their complete vacation satisfaction and where he learned the sanctity of a vacation. Occasionally SAX organizes bareboat sailing holidays at exotic destinations worldwide. The modern company was founded to allow me to share my favorite passion, powder skiing and other outdoor sports I love with a larger audience beyond the community of Thunderbird the leading Graduate School in International Business. Also I feel that exposure to outdoor sports help one put life in perspective, appreciate life more and often realize what a special gift life is. Such a realization can help motivate participants to make the most of their lives.
Today It is our passion for the sport of skiing that unites us. It is our dedication to your complete satisfaction happiness and fun that will allow us to work together to create successful high-value and quality ski trips combined with excellent service for years to come.
Mini-Autobiography
Outdoor Sport Survey of the Director André Gupta
This is
not complete and my experience in hot springs and rock climbing have been
notably left out because I now prefer via ferrata as it is more objective and
safer and soaking is not an outdoor activity.
This is partial.
I learned to ski almost 20 years ago at Ski Liberty. Being from Fairfax, VA, I made countless daytrips to Roundtop, Liberty, Whitetail, and even the Laurel Highlands. As a teenager I took many weekend and long weekend trips to New York and New England. Sometimes after a snowstorm I played hooky and went for a day trip to Snowshoe or long weekend trip as as Quebec. As a teenager I discovered the West first going to race camp on Mont Hood (a childhood trip to Disneyland doesn’t count). I learned to ski powder in New England and on powder days in Western PA and West Virginia. Of course a few trips to Utah helped initiate me to the joys of powder skiing. As a boy scout I also spent my summers hiking and by 15 had both climbed Mont Washington and skied Tuckerman’s Ravine. One time at the top of hour-glass chute I tripped and slid down the entire headwall unscathed. My passion for skiing brought me to the Leysin American School in Switzerland where I joined the race team and practiced skiing several times per week. On off weekends I visited nearby resorts. It is hear that I climbed my first high peak the Dents du Midi 13,000 feet high. I also tried for the first time a tandem paraglider flight and then at the young age of 17 decided that one day I would learn this sport. I felt that taking off on skis flying and landing on skis was absolutely amazing. A dream (to Para-Ski) was born. During spring I completed the famous Chamonix-Zermatt ski touring route and skied the Vallee Blanche for the first time. (10 years later I would fly over the vallee blance taking off from nearby the traditional ski start, following the valley and then flying over the famous dru mountains.)
For college logically I went out West to Colorado Springs to pursue my favorite passion powder skiing. I continued powder skiing and started to climb many fourteeners when I couldn’t ski. In fact during December of my freshmen year I broke my collarbone after I fell on a powder covered rock after a powder covered rock knocked off my ski removing my balance. 17 days later, back home for the holidays and despite doctors orders I was skiing again even if at at Massanutten a small Virignia resort. I have no regrets as I had a phenomenal morning of powder skiing before the accident. I spent several summers traveling around South America where I eventually learned to paraglide in 1996 in Cuzco before hiking the Inca trail to Machu Pichu. During my numerous visits I became very familiar with Chile and Argentina including Portillo, Las Lenas, Termas de Chillan, La Parva, Pucon and later Chapelco. During my sophomore year I studied abroad in Mexico where I climbed several high volcanoes including Pico de Orizaba at 18,000 feet. I have since returned and am very familiar with the country from Baja all the way to the South Oaxaca. I spent spring studying in France where I had the fortune to ski powder in the Pyrenees and Alps. I spent my junior year at the London School of Economics where I joined the University of London ski team and won the Southern Cup ski race at Tignes. During February I skied in Verbier a resort I still greatly appreciate and have since visited. For spring break I went to Eastern Africa where I climbed Mont Kenya and Mont Kilimanjaro and then proceeded to teach myself to drive a Honda 125 motorcycle on the island of Zanzibar before returning to Nairobi to see the Masai. Before returning home I climbed and skied Mont Blanc completing the famous traversee royale which involves climbing Mont Blanc with touring skins, carrying the skis when necessary and then skiing down a different side (hence the word traverse). The French term is ski alpinisme. Although I was prepared to do this alone I met two Norwegians in the parking lot by the tramway up the Aiguille du Midi. We recognized each other because we all had skis attached to our rucksacks. Since I had been planning on going solo I had left my rope (extra weight) in my car. They decided they wanted to come so I suggested they get the rope and show up at the Cosmiques hut that evening if they wanted to join me. Just before dinner time (night was around 10 30PM in June) they did. Oddly enough we climbed separately on one of the steepest parts and did not rope up because we climbed at different speeds. Finally towards the Mont Maudit (a part of Mont Blanc) the altitude factor came into play (I acclimatize well) and they slowed down and we stayed together for the rest of the trip.
Upon my return to Colorado for my last year I and a friend I had met on Kilimanjaro decided to climb Aconcagua together with no guide. Departure was scheduled for Dec. 14. Oct. 17th I broke my ankle playing ice hockey. Determined to fulfill my dream upon removal of my cast on Dec. 1st I undertook an intensive physical therapy program and started walking, hiking and snowshoeing. I left on the 14th of December as planned. I took a horse to base camp to avoid stressing my still fragile ankle. This saved my ankle the stress of walking 10 miles. From base camp we moved higher and higher. On Christmas eves my partner and I made it to the top. Christmas was spent rejoicing over our feet. New Year’s I spent on the beach at Vina del Mar celebrating. Afterwards I went exploring Chile; first to the North on a motorcycle and then to the South visiting the fjords near Puerto Mont and completing a trek in the Torres del Paine national park.
While in London I had become familiar with the British Ski Tour Operators in fact went to Verbier with one. I decided I would like to work for one day in a ski resort as a representative taking care of their guests. So after graduating (with a major in International Political Economy and minor in Romance languages) I applied for a job as a resort manager with First Choice where I took care of over 300 guests during the winter ’97-’98. I really enjoyed my job specifically that I could share my passion of skiing and the mountains with others. Most importantly my clients were happy and appreciated my services. My job with First Choice taught me invaluable skills that would later help me form SAX. After the snow melted I went South this time to Brazil where I learned Portuguese in Rio and traveled up the coast to Salvador and then took a riverboat to Manaus. From there I went to Ecuador where I spent several months practicing paragliding and mtn. Climbing including the famous peaks of Chimborazo and Cotopaxi. In early ’98 I moved home for family reasons spending some time in Washington, D.C. before moving to Portland Oregon where I worked managing summer promotions while continuing paragliding and mtn. climbing.
It had been a long term project to go to business school and complete an MBA. My GMAT results were excellent and confirmed such an aptitude. Given my love for diverse cultures, travel, and aptitude I applied to Thunderbird near Phoenix, Arizona. I received a scholarship because of my language skills, international experience, undergrad scholastic record, and GMAT results and started in fall 1999. One of my first projects was to create the Thunderbird Ski and Snowboard Club. Over the course of my studies I led and organized several trips including a very successful trip to Mammoth Mtn. where over 55 people turned out for the Thanksgiving 2000 holiday.
In Jan. 2001 I moved to the Geneva campus of Thunderbird to finish my international MBA. I graduated in August of 2001. By then I had become familiar with wonderful mountain huts across the Alps making very remote areas accessible by eliminating the need for a heavy backpack as the huts had everything—a cook, bar, bunk beds with sheets, and food. I also started to fall in love with the paragliding opportunities and many simple huts located by the landing zones. I felt the lifestyle was very convenient as there were cafes by many landing zones something unseen in the US. Christmas 2001 I completed another dream born in spring 2000 when a sister of a Hungarian grad student told me about the possibility of flying over Monaco. I will never forget Dec 25th, 2001 when I went paragliding and climbed in thermals to 5,000 feet over the sea and Monte-Carlo and then landed on the beach next to the town. The winter 2002 was an okay year snow-wise. Snow arrived late but once it started it fell deep. One day I decided to Para-Ski. I went with a friend and for the first time ever took off with skis from Mont Joly and landed below near St. Gervais by Mont-Blanc completing a dream born 10 years prior during high school in Leysin. During winter I experienced many amazing powder days. I really liked the freedom of skiing in the alps. During Spring 2001 I discovered cross-country skiing. Previously I had considered it to be a boring slow sport not at all likely to please me-a confessed adrenaline junkie. I started and found indeed the sport to be too slow. Also many skiers were passing me even 60 year old women--damaging my ego—moreover they seemed to be ice skating on snow. I inquired and learned that there was indeed a similar but different sport skate skiing. After several sessions I must confess that this sport is an amazing cardiovascular workout similar to running, skating or rollerblading on snow. Fit skate skiers can complete 50km in a day and easily ski as fast as 20km per hour. In the Alps there even exist hut-to-hut cross-country ski routes that can be completed on skate or classic cross-country skis.
During the summer of 2001 I discovered a new sport that I am still courting. Along the Alps exist many cliffs outfitted with ladders and pitons which make very steep faces accessible to modestly fit hikers. Hikers progress wearing harnesses and clip in on the safety cable which lines the route. The cable has segments every few feet so in case you fall you are secured and won’t go far. Via Ferrata routes permit a safe access to steep cliffs and a similar adrenaline and physical experience as rock climbing without the subjective danger of misplaced protection. I dream of completing the via ferrata of the Brenta in the Dolomites-a four day itinerary which crosses the scenery of the movie Cliff Hanger and involves spending several nights in high mountain huts. I still did not forget paragliding and completed many interesting goals including climbing up and flying down the Bisherhorn (in Valais, Switzerland 13,500ft) and the Grand Paradis (14,000ft in Piedmont, Italy). I also flew off a sub mountain of Mont Blanc, the Mont Blanc du Tacul and flew over the Aiguille Rouges and le brevent ski area above Chamonix. Just before going home I completed a breath-taking flight –the little tour around the Lake D’Annecy- a circuit of about 15 miles which goes around the most beautiful lake in France. In late August I went home and founded Para-Ski, LLC. I returned to France where I pursued a graduate degree in Sports and Leisure Management at the University of Savoie which taught me a great deal about the history of skiing in the Alps, and ski and avalanche risk and law.
SAX is now preparing for its third season. Each fall I look forward to the first heavy snowfalls which come sometimes as soon as October. For I know the deep snow and powder mean that happiness has come again. Three years in a row I have found excellent powder at Serre-Chevalier in January. In fact I spent several New Years’ Yves there at an amazing outdoor party in the medieval village of Monetier-les-Bains where fire-breathers entertain a crowd of mulled wine drinkers . Now I divide my time between my company, my passion and my family. .
Several years have taught me that ski lifts are there to make beautiful mountains more accessible. When at 23000 feet there is so little life you appreciate it more you realize it is a rare gift. The air is so thin that no plants grow. But one need not travel to the ends of the earth or go so high. In just one day in winter you can see what would take several days to hike in summer. Each lift presents a new winter landscape, a new valley where most signs of life are buried by several feet of snow. Visiting remote desolate areas where there is little life other than fellow humans helps create a new outlook on life. The beauty of the region only adds to this new outlook. As an added bonus the powder skiing in the Alps is often excellent. Because most Europeans are scared of skiing on non-groomed terrain or venturing off runs that are marked with poles most of the terrain between these marked runs and lift accessed out-of-bounds bowls, faces and chutes remain untracked for days after the storm. In fact it is normally the weather that will end the powder skiing (e.g. wind, high altitude rain, etc.) before it gets tracked. The exception are the resorts famous for out-of-bounds skiing where hundreds of ski bums track out the powder in a few hours and ironically making these places the least likely where you are to find powder in the Alps. Even though my favorite resort remains Serre-Chevalier the SAX alpine office is in Albertville because it is more central to most ski resorts and near lake Annecy and its turquoise waters. Although I no longer paraglide the lake is beautiful seen by sailboat, bicycle, or kayak however I hope one day that I will feel comfortable and happy flying again and relive the dream and experience the beauty of the lake that only being 6000 feet over can reveal. In the meantime I look forward winter again because rocks and things that can hurt on impact are all covered and am wishing once again for endless winter and will be flying less. Powder skiing has been, is and always will be my favorite experience.