The Lore

Raised on the slopes above Lac de Montriond, Abi treats the Cascade d'Ardent as a personal launch ramp and considers a landing 'soft' if she only bounces twice. Holds the unofficial record for most consecutive splashdowns in the lake. Judges every descent a success if there's a cold Mutzig waiting at the bottom.

A meticulous Morzine local who triple-checks his harness, studies the Portes du Soleil wind charts, and always knows exactly which gondola line to avoid. Glides like he's reading a map — because he usually is.

📍 Col de la Joux Verte (1,760 m)

The infamous launch pass between Montriond and Avoriaz. 824 m of climbing for cyclists; one rogue thermal for marmots. Where it all began.

📍 Lac de Montriond

Third-largest lake in Haute-Savoie, formed by a landslide off Pointe de Nantaux. Abi's preferred water-landing venue. The trout have stopped reacting.

📍 Cascade d'Ardent (30 m)

A footbridge-spanned waterfall at 1,072 m. The updraft here will flip a canopy in seconds. Do not deploy near the falls. Abi deploys near the falls.

📍 Les Lindarets — the Goat Village

A hamlet at 1,460 m overrun by free-roaming goats. The goats have witnessed everything and will tell you nothing.

📍 Pointe de Nyon (2,019 m)

Cable-car-served peak with serious off-piste. Luke's favourite altitude for a 'sensible, well-planned' descent into the Dranse valley.

📍 Chamossière (2,002 m)

Lift-accessed powder above Morzine. A respectable jump-off, if you don't mind an audience of advanced skiers pretending not to look up.

📍 Le Pléney (1,554 m)

The gondola straight out of Morzine town. Luke's home crag and the site of the famous tangled-canopy crash-landing of '24.

📍 Avoriaz (1,800 m)

The car-free clifftop resort. Excellent for dramatic entrances; terrible for discreet ones.

🐿️ They're giant squirrels

Marmots are the genus Marmota — the largest members of the squirrel family (Sciuridae). Around fifteen species live across the mountains and steppes of the Northern Hemisphere. Yes, that big fluffy thing on the rock is technically a squirrel.

🇺🇸 The groundhog is a marmot

The North-American groundhog (a.k.a. woodchuck) is Marmota monax — a bona-fide marmot. So every February 2nd, when Punxsutawney Phil predicts the weather on Groundhog Day, that's a marmot doing meteorology. Our Alpine star is its cousin, Marmota marmota.

🏔️ Alpine marmots, born in the Alps

Marmota marmota is native to the French Alps and lives roughly between 800 and 3,200 m. They dig extensive burrow systems and live in family colonies — exactly the terrain on our map, minus the parachutes.

📣 The famous whistle

Marmots are nicknamed 'whistle pigs' for their piercing alarm whistle. A sentinel stands guard and lets rip a sharp call when an eagle or fox appears, sending the colony diving for the burrows. (It is not, despite our branding, a rip-cord signal.)

😴 Half the year asleep

Alpine marmots hibernate for around six months. Curled up underground, heart rate and body temperature plummet to ride out the winter on stored fat. They emerge in spring lean, grumpy, and — as far as science confirms — entirely earthbound.

📖 Where the name comes from

'Marmot' comes from the French marmotte, likely tracing back through Romansh murmont to the Vulgar Latin mus montis — 'mountain mouse'. A fittingly Alpine pedigree for our airborne squadron.

🍺 And what do they drink?

Mutzig, obviously — the strong Alsace lager first brewed in 1810 at the Brasserie Mutzig in Mutzig, France. Abi swears by it. (Real marmots drink mountain water. Ours have... preferences.)