(17 mins) Julien Roserens & Jules Guarneri, France. NZ Premiere.
The story of Super Saint-Bernard is intimately linked to blackcrows. The brand’s founders often crossed the border to enjoy its undeniable charms, thanks to its excellent off-piste possibilities and snow cover at the start and end of winter. But it was also the site of the first blackcrows ski tests, notably through the Alp & Ride event. So it was with great emotion that this new episode was produced.
Five blackcrows skiers, including co-founder Camille Jaccoux, set off to explore the memories of this small resort on the border between Switzerland and Italy. A place steeped in history, this documentary traces the resort from its beginnings in 1963 to its definitive closure in 2010. Carefree joys and poignant melancholy come together in interviews and archive footage, but there’s no trace of regret in this place, now untouched by human activity. The blackcrows skiers provide us with dazzling proof of this with beautiful powder images shot in this mythical freeskiing spot.
A relic of a world that was not yet super-connected or super-tracked, the Super Saint-Bernard station was born of a simple vision: to link the road from Bourg Saint-Bernard, at 1,932 metres, to the Col de Menouve, at 2,775 metres. Inaugurated in 1963, a year before the opening of the Grand Saint-Bernard tunnel, the station benefitted from this new crossing point between France and Italy. As such, it represented the first Swiss infrastructure for motorists arriving from Italy.
For 47 years, the small resort of Super Saint-Bernard became Le Super, delighting families on both sides of the border. Its small north-facing ski area was a gateway to numerous off-piste itineraries, making it a powder Eldorado for several generations of freeskiers. Unfortunately, despite its altitude and excellent snow conditions, the resort was too isolated and too small to modernise its facilities, and was forced to close in 2010. So long, Le Super, you remain a Super souvenir.