Last season, Jones Snowboards team rider Mitch Toelderer was selected for the first annual Jones Adventure Grant. Mitch’s adventure took his crew to some remote parts of Albania where they found steep lines and deep snow. Check out their the trailer for their film “When the Mountains Were Wild” which documents their adventure. Mitch’s trip report can be found here.
“The country of Albania is located in Southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula in between the Adriatic and Ionic sea. Albania shares a southern border with Greece and a northern border with Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia. I had heard stories about the Albanian Alps a few years ago from my friend Martin `McFly´ Winkler, but I only started to look closer at the range last fall when searching for remote European mountains that were accessible without using a plane. From what few winter pictures I could find of the Albanian Alps, the peaks looked steep, reasonably sized and typically plastered with snow due to their location close to the sea. Pending a decent winter, I knew there would be amazing riding terrain in Albania and that’s exactly what we found.” – Mitch Toelderer
