Dominique Perret, born 20 November 1962 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is a Swiss freeride skier, filmmaker and ski safety pioneer. He gained notoriety for skiing mountains that had been deemed "un-skiable" and was named the "best freeride skier of the century" at the 2000 Paris Board Awards.
Background
Perret was born into a family of skiers, growing up less than 500m from ski lift. Perret began skiing at age 2, spending the next fifteen years developing a technical skillset on skis following the Swiss development system.[1] His father was a Swiss Olympic skier and contemporary of Jean Vuarnet, the Olympic gold medalist ski racer.[2] Rather than following their footsteps into competition, Perret wanted to ski and have the freedom to practice his technique, innovating as a freeride skier. Soon he began sharing his exploits in the new medium of ski films.
After making the cliff ski jumping world record in 1985, he moved to Chamonix, and set up his own film production company. In his films, he would seek out new routes and locations for long and steep lines. He would go on to film a new ski film for the next 28 years, making his last film at age 50.[2] Despite the altitude and distance of some of his ski descents, including a descent from Mount Everest, Perret doesn't consider himself an extreme skier or ski mountaineer. Instead, Perret focused more on speed and snow quality for his descents, where "the voyage is important, to ski and experience where there is snow".[3]
International Snow Training Academy
After retiring from ski films, he turned his attention to ski safety. Looking back at his career, he counted thirty friends that had died in avalanches.[4] In 2014, after 75 skiers were killed in avalanches, Perret developed and launched the International Snow Training Academy (ISTA), a ski education platform to improve snow safety.[5][6][7] The organization promotes respect of nature and safety on the mountain to prevent avalanche casualties, and involves a certification program, inspired by PADI's dive certification.[8] The system standardizes awareness and aims to ensure backcountry enthusiasts focus on prevention of avalanches, alongside recovery.[9] The ISTA system for avalanche awareness is now implemented at resorts in Europe and North America.[10][11]
Perret-stroika 1991 (Uzbekistan, the first ski film shot in the former USSR)
C'est Tout Bon 1990 (Canada)
Highlights
2004: US magazine « Skiing » names him one of the 12 « stars » to change the sport.
2000: Dominique Perret named "best freeride skier of the century" in Paris by journalists and the skiing community at the Board Awards in Paris.[19]
1998: World record for vertical drop on skis, 120,000 m in 14 hours and 30 minutes (Mike Wiegele Heli Resort, Canada).
1996: Dominique Perret takes part in an expedition with Jean Troillet to ski the North Face of Mount Everest from the Tibetan side in alpine style, without sherpas or oxygen. After three months and three attempts at more than 8,000m descents, they ski from 8,500m.
1991: Dominique Perret sets a speed of 211.825 km/h at Portillo speed skiing track (Chile).
1990: World record for cliff jumping on skis (36.40 m).
