Dear friends and partners, Thank you for your contributions to the foundation. We are extremely grateful and moved by your support. Thanks to you we have had the opportunity to start up and create a solid ground for what we want to accomplish. Since the start in fall 2016 we have mainly focused on establishing a structure and getting the administration in place, but we are also happy to report that we have made a number of activations and participated in several events during the winter. Our major activations have been: Giving two young women the opportunity to develop as skiers and learn more about safety by participating in Shades of Winter Camp in Engelberg. Supporting a thesis on increased avalanche safety written by Gustav Scherrer at Umeå Universitet. The support for Gustav was both monetary and in mentorship form and we now see great potential for further development. Developing a product, through a partnership, that will be launched this fall and will be available in stores through out Sweden. Beyond this, we have had a many exciting meetings covering everything from future partnerships to interesting discussions with people who share our goal. We are incredibly grateful for everyone who gets in touch, shows their support, and comes with ideas. This foundation had not been possible if it were not for you! We will now take a short break during the summer and plan for next season. Enjoy the sun and we look forward to see you in the fall! /MM Rapaport Hargin Foundation through Mattias, Helena, Andrea, Arthur, Jesper, Petter, Mervi, Anna, Marcus, and Henrik

First of all, we would like to aim a big thank you to all the great people that made it possible for us to start the MM Rapaport Hargin Foundation in memory of our loved Matilda. Our friends, family, and all the people out there that have donated and support the foundation, THANK YOU! Our first initiative as a foundation was to send two motivated women to Shades of Winter’s Freeride Camp in Engelberg, and we are so happy we did! The camp was filled with safety awareness, inspiration, and a whole lot of skiing. Back from the camp, we took to opportunity to ask our MM Rapaport Hargin participants, Emilia and Nicky, and the founder of the camp Sandra Lahnsteiner about their experience: Hi Sandra! We understand that the camp was a success! Please describe it from your perspective. The camp was simply amazing! 15 girls from 8 nations: Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, UK, Andorra, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland The lack of snow was no problem at all, we rocked the snow, the girls were super motivated and ready for the new challenges, we skied the couloir in Steinfeld multiple times, jumped any rock between 30cm and 1m in there, skied lookers left of the glacier T-Bar, and had a safety session every day: Day 1: Basics about beacon, shovel, probe as well as avi reports, local information, daily routines and approaches, beacon checks and confidence in leading on and requesting your riding buddies to know at least as much as they learned Day 2: Full afternoon spent with beacon search, probing, shovelling and decision making. Day 3: RECCO & airbags along with tons of questions All girls told us they feel confident to share their new knowledge for backcountry safety and also, as they now know how to use the equipment, feel confident in making calls and requesting the same from the others they ski with. The group was amazing – so many interesting characters, tons of “WOW”-background stories and a spirit and love that was touchable. Matilda was present every minute. We talked a lot about her, shared memories, answered questions. The inspiration was all over. Emilia and Nicky please briefly describe your experience of the camp. E: A friendly, fun and forgiving environment for pushing ski technique and knowledge about avalanche safety further. The hotel, dinners and activities are bonus topping. N: In 4 words: It was a blast! What were the highlights? E: Of course skiing! The coaches gives you feedback, are positive, hard rocking and cheering. When you see how they perform, tackles bumps, cliffs or tricky parts it is much easier to imitate and try yourself. N: I felt a big connection with this shades of winter camp. It is really special to ski with female pro athletes! It was nice to hear all the stories from the girls attending. And yes you could feel some emotions going on. Because of Matilda. Being in Engelberg and missing her. She definitely was a connection. How […]