Matthias Giraud Dedicates World's First Ski BASE of Mont Blanc du Tacul to the Late Tof Henry

Matthais Giraud is known for his list of firsts: Shooting GoPro's first viral video. Completing the first ski BASE jump off the Alps Trilogy, Mt. Hood, Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey, Dome de Gouter, and the first ski BASE jump done at night. Giraud has done it all.

In an ironic way, Mont Blanc du Tacul is "just another first" for Giraud, but it is anything but "just another" line. This journey was done to honor Giraud's late friend and freeskiing legend Tof Henry. Watch below, keep reading for more about Giraud's incredible accomplishment.

VIDEO: World's First Ski BASE Jump of Mont Blanc du Tacul, Matthias Giraud

Giraud has been ski BASE jumping for 16 years. He started out, as is the case with many who push the limits in skiing, as a professional skier. "I moved to the United States [from France] in 2004," Matthias explains. "I did the U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships in Crested Butte."

Giraud was going to school at Fort Lewis in Colorado. He did a couple years of the tour, but he wanted more. Ski BASE was always the goal. "For me, ski BASE jumping is just XXL skiing. Ski BASE is to skiing what big-wave surfing is to surfing."

Giraud was also fortunate enough to train with the "old-school guys", and to have the BASE jumping legends as advisors. People like Shane McConkey and Eric Roner.

While BASE jumping may be the "wow factor" of big mountain ski BASE lines, Giraud doesn't see BASE as the most important part of a line. "Some skiers don't treat [BASE] like skiing. They think it is just BASE jumping. But if you do a 100-foot ramp to a cliff, that's more BASE jumping than skiing. What I really seek is when you get to ski a full line with the jump at the end. It's the trifecta of mountaineering, steep skiing, and base jumping."

"This combination of a multidisciplinary approach to the mountains is what makes it interesting. The jump seems like the highlight of the descent because it's the end, the crux. You jump off, you fly away, but in many ways, it's only a small part of the journey."

The mountaineering part of each line, or the part that comes even before the cameras are switched on, is often the most difficult part of the journey. Giraud sometimes climbs solo, sometimes with a group, but always with heavy gear on his back. Sometimes, he is roped in. Other times, he wears a harness. When he goes solo, not only is he responsible for getting the gear up the mountain, but also getting it back down.

Giraud laughs, remembering a particularly vigorous solo adventure. For his BASE jump, all of his gear was still attached. "I was jumping with cramp-ons, skins, poles, everything. It was pretty tedious.

The last part of the trifecta, of course, is skiing itself. In Giraud's mind, no one skied big lines better than Tof Henry. Henry hailed from Chamonix, the same area as Giraud. He was known for pushing limits, skiing big lines, and having an infectious, positive outlook on freeride skiing.

On October 11th, 38-year-old Tof Henry passed while skiing a northeast-facing line on 8,179-foot Puntiagudo Volcano in the Los Lagos Region of Chile.

"Even though Tof and I were from the same area, we didn't meet until around 2019. But we had followed each other for a long time on social media. We always had a lot of big mutual respect," says Giraud. "He loved air sports. He was a paraglider and speed flyer as well. He got into this later on. I came from racing, so I really value fast, solid skiers. Tof was the embodiment of that."

"When we met finally in person, he was like, 'dude, let's do something together.' We just clicked instantly. He had heard that I was heading up Aiguille du Midi to go look at the Mont Blanc du Tacul. He knew I was looking at the line for a long time."

Henry had skied the line before, in perfect conditions, with speed. He later told Giraud, "I don't have a parachute, but I'm so tempted to keep going fast and jump off that thing."

"We talked about it for a long time," explains Giraud. "And then after there was a jump on Mont Blanc in 2019, Tof was really, really stoked on it."

"Tof was always very positive about ski BASE jumping. He really enjoyed the level of commitment from ski BASE jumping, and I really enjoyed his level of commitment as a skier. We always had this mutual connection for going in a fully engaged but solid mode at the same time, around 2022, 2023."

The two started to make a plan to ski BASE together, but tragedy struck. Giraud's voice chokes up telling the story. "Tof died a few months after that. He's definitely one of the figures of Chamonix. He was a respected name in the valley."

"I know it was the right thing to dedicate the Mont Blanc du Tacul jump to him. His name lives on within the realm of big lines in the Chamonix area."

With the plan in place, and Tof in his mind, Giraud still had obstacles to overcome. Having the gear, the face to inspire a descent, and the inner strength to pull it off are some factors in one's control. Having stable snow conditions, stable wind conditions, and manageable visibility are equally important factors outside of one's control.

Giraud admits, "I love the challenge of putting this big puzzle together. A lot of the time, it takes a long time. Mont Blanc, for the summit, took eight years. The last one we did took eleven or twelve years."

"The last few years, all of May has been getting a low pressure and just dumping snow at altitude. Sure enough, this year again, I blocked the first three weeks of June just in case, and all of May just snowed like three 4ft, 5ft at altitude."

"I kept looking and the conditions were prime. And at the end of June, some guys skied the face in perfect powder with big slough everywhere." It was time to do the line. Giraud flew back. The snow ended up being very dense and heavy. "I had to piece my way down because the slough was so heavy, you would grab your skis very quickly."

Instead of backing down, Giraud did a big ski cut when he dropped into the face. He pieced his way down. He did the jump, opened his parachute. The low air density and thinner air at altitude makes for a high impact when the parachute inflates. But Giraud has never been one to prioritize comfort.

"I had to get a really fast and efficient parachute opening, which comes at the detriment of comfort. The comfortable opening was not optional."

With the memory of Tof Henry beside him, Giraud floated down to safety. "Coming back up from the Tacul jump, I had to climb back up to the cable car to go back to town. As I crossed the path, exactly where we had crossed almost exactly a year before, the first thing I thought was, 'oh, man, that's the last place I saw Tof.'"

This line involved trial and error. Patience. Bravery. His journey involved the stories, lessons, and guidance from those who came before. They will not be forgotten.

Related: Cold Smoke- A True Story About Love, Loss, and Skiing.

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