A woman and the sea - The Taft School

ored one second while living here—it feels like home.”
And he wants a simple life style. The locals are of all
ages and include sheep farmers, extreme skiers, and yearround
mountain guides. “A passionate group of people,”
Samuels says. With skis or snowboards on his feet about
150 days per year, he also enjoys climbing, running, and
other outdoor sports.
The La Grave ski area he loves is no average ski resort.
The online magazine First Tracks!! decribes it as “the
most extreme lift-served terrain…and an unlimited scope
to do whatever the hell you want to without anybody to
tell you otherwise...whether it kills you or not.” With a
vertical drop of 7,054 ft., it’s not a blue or green trail.
Samuels likes skiing in challenging terrain, doing alpine
climbing, and solo climbs and descents anywhere in the world,
not just in his beloved Alps. Recent trip destinations this past
year include Norway for randonnée skiing (alpine ski touring)
above the Arctic Circle in May, skiing and climbing in the
San Juan and Grand Teton mountains in July, and an August
ski-mountaineering trip to Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego
mountains—not your average fare. He likes the responsibility
for self and freedom that his genre of work and skiing
requires. “The life I’ve chosen has its built-in risks, but I’m
not choosing it because it is risky.”
Ascents and descents
The biggest challenges for Samuels have not been the steep
slopes of mountains around the world—it was “sharing his
love and falling in love,” with his Norwegian fiancée Siri
Hofseth, a world-class skier and ex-policewoman from Oslo.
Colin met Siri in 1999, when she moved to La Grave to live.
They shared a love for the mountains, and she was often a
model in his photo shoots. “My whole life had led up to meet-
20 Taft Bulletin Fall 2005