Jacob Wester

It’s finally time - Return To The Why is after a long fall of touring, now playing on YouTube! Join @jacobwester , @matthiaswegeradventure and @wegerk1 as they are setting out to maximize a rare weather window last spring in Lyngen, while riding the steepest flanks of two of the area’s most prominent peaks. An all-night adventure where questions of reasons are pondered - and hopefully, partly - answered ✨ . Link in bio🔗 . Cinematography @vetlesevild @troublehaus @lukasterragnolo Additional cinematography @sofiawesters Edit & Grade - @sofiawesters Sound - @jacobwester . Supported by @rossignol @rossignolfreeride @dometic @lewaofsweden

🚨VIDEO TIME🚨 . #rossignolfreeride Hey everyone, thank you for waiting so patiently for the next episode! We finally finished it, and it’s now playing on the YouTube channel. As usual, click the link in my bio to watch the whole thing! . Btw - this one is slightly different from the rest, trying out some stuff. Let me know if you like it 🥰 . Filming by @sofiawesters @_42mm_ . Skiing by @mtvk69 @pete_star @kristineheyvik @trygglind @jacobwester . Thanks to @dometic @rossignolfreeride @lewaofsweden @xlyngen . #lyngen #rossignolfreeride #turnwild #dometic #xlyngen #freerideskiing #bigmountain #straightline

🚨New episode now playing!🚨 . Chamonix is truly the place that shaped me into the skier I am today. Where I’ve had some of the best skiing of my life. Is it an easy place to make a ski movie? Head over to my channel to find out 🫶🏻 . Link in bio! . Filming by @jakeholland.co.uk . Additional filming by @sofiawesters @_42mm_ @mengafpv @henslisage @ejderblick @jeremypancras . Skiing by @tom_grant_ and myself :) . With support from @rossignol , @dometic , @lewaofsweden . #rossignolfreeride #dometic #lewaofsweden #turnyourway #turnsteep #chamonix

Going through hard drives looking for archive footage for an upcoming project and it’s difficult not to get distracted with some of the POV clips from the past few years, like this one from central Norway in 2023. I had just personally discovered this part of the country after some springs of focusing more on the northern ranges, and just so happened to score some of the best February conditions seen in decades. I skied everything I looked at, in perfect snow, for weeks. . I’m also struck by how much more carelessly I behaved in the mountains compared to now, only three winters later. A reminder of how learning is a slow process that one first notices once enough time of training has passed. Ever since the accident, I’ve explored the possibility of my future self re-evaluating what sort of exposure I’m willing to ski above in loose snow. I’m quite certain I will think twice about certain line choices, and it will be interesting to see what being back in big terrain will be like on the inside. . Generally, life is good - bone healing has gone to plan and the sole remaining crutch is now mainly only needed in the morning. Time to get moving under a barbell soon. Enjoy life everyone . @rossignolfreeride @lookbindings @gopronordics #rossignolfreeride #itrustlook

Best thing about @aresessions is the people <33 So grateful for all the good times and all the new and old friends!

🚐Score-Mobile appreciation post 🚐 . A month of rehab in Stockholm has really made me appreciate life in the van, so heading north today to Åre for a week of good times! Still on crutches but in much less pain, leg is feeling a lot stronger so it’s time to take it out dancing I guess🫣🕺🏼 . Lots of fun happening this week with @redbullsweden and @jespertjader putting on one of my favorite comps Unrailistic (those of you in Sweden, tune into @sportbladet to listen to myself and lil bro @oscarwester hosting and guiding you throughout the contest), @aresessions delivering the night life entertainment, and if you’re in town, swing by @__oppet tomorrow night for the screening of @digit.jpeg ’s 5th full length film Fiveish + music by some good friends and myself 🫶🏻 . It’s truly astonishing how little this leg injury means to me when pondering all of the other possible outcomes. We’ll call it a draw. . Photos from a balmy March in Lyngen by @sofiawesters 📸 . @dometic @rossignol

Hello, world. So very nice to be in you, still👋🏻 . It’s been a little over three weeks since I found myself closer to leaving this realm than ever before. Such an unusual experience, for a modern human being, the very real, vicious fight for survival that I witnessed my body perform for over a minute on that mountain flank in northern Norway. Of all places to fight death. . First of all, I want to thank everyone that have written to me personally or have commented on my last post deeply, every single expression of love has meant so much to me and it’s impossible to describe how good it feels to know I’m surrounded by so many incredible people. To my friends in Tromsø - you know who you are - I can’t thank you enough for your support before my flight to Stockholm. The food, company, the car rides, I owe you forever. . It’s also just about 3 weeks since the legends at UNN Tromsø put my femur back together and woke my up with instructions to get active right away, so I’ve done my best at following those advice! Never would I have thought I’d be this active so close to such a big injury. . A lot of people ask me how I’ve been affected mentally from the avalanche, and I’m having a hard time imagining what such an effect would be like. So far, writing about the experience has made it stop replaying in my mind, and what I’ve been left with is an unfamiliar gratefulness, which pours over me at every sight of a friend, a sunrise, or a piece of music. It’s striking, how easily one’s mind can slip into forgetting how absolutely unique awareness is. A brush with death certainly snaps one’s attention right back into place. . My physical progress is constant but easier to measure in weeks rather than days. Small victories, like tying one’s own shoes, or loading the dishwasher, get celebrated daily. Another few weeks of bone-mending before ramping up the rehab and letting the body live a normal life in the summer. Van seats, saunas, dancefloors, hikes, all that makes life worth living 🫶🏻

So, lots to say at the moment. I was going to try to keep this short but I knew I wouldn’t succeed. Even with all the below words, I still have a lot more to talk about, so will follow up this post in the next few days. For now, this will have to do. . Last Friday started out as a promising ski day here in Lyngen. Woke up to fresh snow, newly deposited from a polar low pressure that more than made up for the past weeks of rain and wind. The forecast promised clearing skies in the evening, so together with @sofiawesters and @lovisa.rosengren , I made the call we should try to ski a west face in the sunset. . The clouds were stubborn but knowing it could clear at any moment, Lovisa and I quickly made our way to the summit, traveling through terrain on the same aspect and angle as our objective. Even though somewhat wind-loaded in places, we failed to find any red flags in the behavior of the snowpack. I was worried the top of the line could have seen some back-loading, but we could always assess it from the top, and turn back around, was my reasoning. This was a summit I have skied from many times before and even in poor visibility I felt confident to make a proper call once up there. . The sunset came and went, without a break in the fog covering the summit. Just below, a hint of pale yellow light indicated that if we did choose to ski down, we would most likely do so in decent visibility once past the edge of the fog. Trying to film it was out of the question, so we radioed down to Sofia telling her we were pulling the plug, but would still ski the face, because - well, adventure. We didn’t find any back-loading in the upper chutes, no reactions to quick ski cuts and hand pits, only a few inches of light, un-consolidated powder snow atop the old chalky layer from so many weeks of bad weather. So from safe spot to safe spot we skied, one at a time, linking slow turns and carefully watching the snow. . Continued in the comments ⬇️

Down days done right lately 🥰 . @sofiawesters photos

Tip-toeing around in some heavy terrain yesterday. Wasn’t quite sure what the sluff was going to do on this one so kept the speed down a bit and enjoyed some spine time, with hundred of meters of cliff exposure below it’s really not a place to get swept with the current. Still felt like a dream to finally make turns in this zone! . @rossignolfreeride @lookbindings @gopronordics #turnsteep #foreveryturn #rossignolfreeride #gopro13 #itrustlook

Lyngen - you have been a tough place to be lately. Storm after storm battering us with wind and rain, driving a skier mad from hunkering down in a camper van waiting for brief breaks in the clouds only to offer wind-scoured faces and rotten snow in all directions. But the rare moment you do decide to show off, well, there’s no one else in the world like you. . Today finally got to put tracks down the face I’ve been dreaming about since I first got here. Forever grateful for these moments ❤️ . @sofiawesters photos . @rossignolfreeride @lookbindings #foreveryturn #turnsteep #itrustlook #lyngen

The line that kept on giving - wild and scary up top (check a few reels back for that section!), then a serene cruise between the rock walls for what felt like ages. These days haven’t come easy this winter, but that makes the feeling even sweeter. Fingers crossed for more of this in the near future!🤞🏻 . @rossignolfreeride @lookbindings @gopronordics #rossignolfreeride #foreveryturn #turnsteep #turnwild #itrustlook