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Gavan is National Ambassador for Jigsaw, the national charity for Youth Mental Health. Jigsaw is committed to delivering a significant change in the way Ireland responds to, supports and thinks about youth mental health. If you are inspired by Gavan’s story and are able to support Jigsaw’s vision for change, please donate today.

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@divekirbymorgan 17C SLS helmets, getting the boat ready to go offshore in Norway for a few weeks of diving at the civilised depth of 52m working mid water doing a repair job. #satdiving #saturationdiving #commercialdiving 📸: @stucowie1
Just a guy trying to get his sports on #splitboarding 📸: @sharon_and_lee
Got into via lottery @tordesgeants , 330km with 25,000m of vert, non stop with 150hr cut off, September 8th. Super excited and intimidated by this one, especially since I’m working as a sat diver and how that is the worst possible job in the world for this sort of endurance where regularly I’ll have to climb above 3,000m altitude, but not using it as excuse and plan to get the job done, I’ve enlisted the help of Paul Tierney, all Ireland Hurling winner with Cork turned elite ultra runner and coach who has placed top 25 the last 2 years @paulmissinglink
Last day #Splitboarding at @solmountainlodge and what a week it has been, not gonna lie it’s been hard on the body travelling and then banging out multiple days upto 2,000m of climbing but I’ll be back in Chamonix soon and might have a little rest there or not! So stoked to be back in the mountains this year!
Ripping back to the lodge for more intense feeding, such a great week so far at @solmountainlodge deep in the Monashee Mountains if BC, this last minute spot came up and I jumped at it while the weather is warm and dry in the alps, so great to hang out with friends Lee and Sharon who introduced me to the backcountry world in 2009
Another great day in the Alpine in the Monashee Mountains, summited and skied NE face of Mt Fosthall with @_instagrahame & @sharon_and_lee
Meandering around the Monashee Mountains in British Columbia
A 3am alarm yesterday made me think twice about what I had ahead of me. Myself and Pica started at the trail head at 4.20am to go check out the Mont Oreb North Face, a longish approach from the village of Buet with nearly 1500m of ascent to get to the summit at 2700m along icy skin tracks and sun hammered snow in places made for combat splitboard skinning with some boot packing to get through some dodgy sections. . At the summit mid morning I peaked over the cornices leading to the North Face and immediately thought no f**king way I’m going down there. Of course It didn’t phase Pica, he is probably the greatest living steep snowboarder of our generation, a Chamonix native and high mountain guide he is carrying on the tradition of safely and stylishly skiing some of the steepest faces imaginable. A big advantage snowboarders have over skiers in this realm is the ability to have 2 ice axes to self arrest and edge yourself down sections of bad snow. Jillian Jornet recently skied a huge face in Norway and adopted this technique from snowboarding. . Pica had to push me to make the first section across a very steep slope under a giant cornice, he down climbed and set up an anchor so I could make myself safe after he belayed me from an anchor up top. I was absolutely shitting myself but once I could see the steepness ease on the slopes below I felt better. I made very few turns on the top slope. Once we got 2/3rds of the way down we traversed and hiked to the top of another Couloir and got first tracks back to the valley floor, of course the ski out was a nightmare down a ravine we had to down climb sections and do more combat snowboarding with poles out. But that’s all part of the fun for me as I love to suffer 😂 . Most stuff is steep and gnarly here, accessing lines is hard and requires excellent alpinist skills, still not sure if I like it yet but willing to try more and get trained by the best is also handy! Thanks @picaherry for the great day.
Nice to enjoy the fruits of ones labour, been a busy 6 weeks so far here in Chamonix and with plenty of training and acclimatisation I ended up really enjoying that one... of course couldn’t have done it without my guide/partner/mentor/friend @picaherry Winter ascent ‘Mallory-Porter’ 1530m⬆️ AD+ III ✅
Well I’ve stared at this thing long enough... suppose I better climb it. Tomorrow’s fun shit objective - Winter ascent of the ‘Mallory-Porter’ a formidable North Face here in Chamonix with @picaherry . 1530m ⬆️ AD+ III (2310m 3842m)
‘Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are cathedrals where I practice my religion’ ~ Anatoli Boukreev
😎🥳🥐🏂🏔⛏
I love boot packing, I love snowboarding, I love Chamonix and maybe soon I love these steep as fuck couloirs @picaherry takes me to... great days training today in the back yard playground with the Yoda of the steeps & @mauphaantjens
Full day out with @picaherry absolute legend of steep snowboarding, getting into some classic lines. Started at Helbronner but snow conditions were a little wind affected, then boosted back to the Midi to ski Cosmique Couloir followed by a full run to the valley floor.
‘It’s hard to really explain it. The danger and exhilaration of having so much irresponsibility at your finger tips. The immediate access to everything sinister and everything holy at once. You’re not forced to decide which direction to choose. It understands your weakness and tells you what you need to hear. You either live like a king or everything goes black. Either way there’s not much you can do. Take a dip.’ ~ @davidedemasi thanks @lornecameron for the action shots 🤙

Gavan Hennigan is an Irish Extreme Environment Athlete who hails from Galway... Read More