Just a little POV teaser
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Riding in Alaska is a unique experience, snow creates formations that seem to be out of this world, and huge pillows, spires, flutes and spines create an alien playground. The skylines are riddled with endless peaks, huge glaciers separate drainages, and distances are hard to gauge. With no visual references like trees or structures, to evaluate size, it’s easy to mistake a 2000-foot face for something much smaller. Cliff airs that appear to be ten-foot rocks turn into 40-foot drops. Only When the helicopter flies towards the face to drop off a friend do you finally get perspective of the size.
The posse is comprised of a world-class production crew from TGR, photographers Flip McCririck, and Adam Clark, Athletes, Seth Morrison, Tanner Hall, Dana Flahr, and myself. Several Other riders have cycled through here already this year too, Erik Roner, Ian McIntosh, and still photographer Mark Fisher just wrapped up the first leg of filming here.
I rolled into town early and had a string of blue bird days with them; the first window the crew had seen the whole trip. Plugging in with the group halfway through their session supercharged my re-immersion into the terrain. We quickly stepped into big zones after a day of snow assessment.
The crew was on fire, charging fast, with mad enthusiasm. Snow Was deep. The deepest snow I’ve ever skied on AK’s steep fluted terrain. Face shots were unavoidable, and on top of the normal challenges vision was spotty, you were forced to plan wayyyy ahead.
Erik Roner ski base
For the last few years I have been super lucky to venture north in the spring to continue my winter adventure in Alaska. The plan was to head to Hanies for a two week session, then drive to Anchorage and ski in the Girdwood area for a week, then venture into the Tordrillo mountains for the final two weeks of our trip. Seemed like a great plan with several great areas to ski and explore… the mountains had other plans. The tordrillos sits in the southern arm of the Alaska Range which is home to several large volcanoes including Mt. Spur, and Mt Redoubt, which started erupting during the end of March. This closed down air traffic in the whole area and covered the mountains with a thick layer of ash. So lucky we initiated plan b… stay in Hanies, which is a true Alaska heli mecca. It has a deep history of big mountain riding that started when TGR first set foot here over ten years ago. Now every years top ski and snowboard pros, hardcore guides, and eager clients make the pilgrimage from all over the world to shred here.
Having a good tune on your gear is super important. More and more I appreciate having my skis running smooth. Regular buffing and waxing helps, but I like to turn my beat up skis into freshies mid way through the season by getting a full tune. I take my skis to the Alta Peruvian Lodge ski shop where they specialize in big mt and powder ski tune ups. They use Wintersteiger tuning equipment and a hands on approach to give personalized tunes without the “production line” style of some shops. Having a fresh tune makes you faster, which gets you to the goods sooner. Also its easier on your body if your gear slides smooth, less resistance under foot is less abuse on your joints. Having a good tune is important even if you just ski powder!
Hanging out in Canada is always fun, People are great, and the environment is amazing. Winter or summer the lush forests and great mountains provide a perfect setting for skiing and other activities. I was lucky to go on a dream road trip through bc in January and was equally excited to get to go back last week for the Red Bull cold rush contest. The comp was held at Retallack Cat skiing 2 hours from Nelson and was scheduled for three days with three different venue options.
The three categories of terrain were jumps, cliffs, and lines. The crew sculpted 6 different jumps of varying size all with powder landings for the first day and an amazing session went down. after each of us had our two judged runs we began sessioning the jumps, people were flying off the jumps like popcorn, Dane Tudor and I had a near collision when we both dropped in on two different jumps that had intersecting in-runs.
All the action was captured by Freeride entertainment’s film crew. Our two first hits were edited at the end of the day, and at night we all sat down, watched the footage and then judged each others runs. This was a difficult task, everyone had great runs, and our only judging guidlines were on a overall impression of each rider.
Day two was stormy so after some inspection of the next venue we went freeriding, ripping up Retallack’s steep tree runs that are heavily featured with pillows and airs everywhere. The next morning we awoke to patchy skies with big blue holes, and we mobilized quickly to get the “line” portion of the day underway. The mini golf zone had great snow, and was full of options. Everyone had sick runs, clouds came in and out and many holds were required before everyone got there two captured lines.
after a exciting morning we headed over to the last venue which was a heavily featured cliff zone with pillows and airs everywhere. we decide to wrap it up with one “comp” line and then took a few runs to cap off the day. we wrapped up the night with final judging, awards, and late night partying. Kye Petersen took the event and it was obvious to everyone before the results were even in that he was on top. Next to him on the podium was JP Auclair in second and myself in third. It was an amazing event, super fun session and I felt really lucky and honored to be a part of it. Many big thanks to Retallack and their crew, the Freeride Posse, and Red Bull for putting on the event. More photos and videos can be seen at newschoolers.com.
Red bull cold rush at Retallack lodge
Cold rush saftey breif
cold rush start gate
under the tent at the Red bull cold rush
getting some air durring the Jump session
dinner at Retallack lodge
The Wasatch has continued to get some great storms. Last week 22 inches fell in 24 hours in the cottonwood canyons refreshing the mountains. When the clouds broke people began shredding the backcountry, we did some filming,Local rippers from Alta cleaned up at the Junior freeskiing comp, and competitors began scoping lines getting ready for the US freeskiing nationals.
We headed out on the sleds and hit some lines, pillows, and some kickers. Then went up to snowbird to watch and cheer on the competitors shredding on the classic venues, “silver fox” and “north baldy”.
caution! landings in progress,
tracks go off in this direction...
Oakley, Chopo, Tyler
the trenches at snowbird
Powder Paradise
Utah tends to deliver good snow consistently and this year has been no exception. Storm patterns tend to come in strong, dousing the Wasatch with light dry powder for several days in a row, then like clockwork clouds part and brilliant blue sky burst out. This combo of regular snow followed by nice light is one of the things that makes filming in Utah so productive.
Last week during the storm cycle Alta and Snowbird resorts were buried in snow making the storm riding unbelievable. Skiing in a storm is one of my favorite experiences. The mountain becomes dark, feathery flakes pour down making each run slightly deeper than the last. Last week it was snowing so hard at times that the canyon road closed for avalanche control. People who were already skiing reaped the benefits of a “country club” morning. This rare treat allows a limited few to have access to the mountain while others wait at the bottom of the canyon for hours.
After a healthy dose of freeriding the weather forecasted three days of sun. We decided to spend the upcoming days hitting some of the local backcountry spots using our snowmobiles. Just as predicted, an early morning start revealed bluebird skies. As we arrived at the zone, my excitement began to grow. Pillow lines, corniced ridges, cliff bands and rollers were all blanketed in deep fresh snow.
Often when we go out filming it is efficient to have several athletes skiing, but on this day I was solo, which kept me motivated to keep hiking, and hitting lines. The day turned into a super fun, productive session that ended after hitting 12 lines including a very large step down gap as the last rays of light flickered on the jumps lip.
self portrait in front of in-run
Photo by Pete O’Brien
Photo by Pete O’Brien
Photo by Pete O’Brien
The following day Wiley Miller, another TGR athlete, joined us as we prepared a large natural gap in a different sled zone. This gap jump is unique because it is created by a big knob of land in the middle of a north facing bowl. The terrain creates a perfect in-run hill that leads right into a natural take off ramp, over a wind ridge, and onto a landing.
After a build day we arrived on the scene early Saturday morning to begin jumping. we weren’t the only ones… hoards of sledneckers eager to eat up some of the recent powder were pulling into the parking lot like it was a grateful dead concert. We headed up the trail, roped off our in-run and landing so that collisions wouldn’t occur, and began launching. The air was big, and lofty, sending us 20-25 feet off the deck and about 80 feet to the gaps landing. We had several crashes caused from launching too far over the landing but both of us got good tricks on film. Including a double back flip Japan from Wiley, and I landed a nice cork seven-twenty tail grab.
Riding out down the long trail paved in woop-dee-doo bumps of snow I reflected back on the week of shredding. Storm skiing sessions, turning into bluebird days, pillows, cliffs, and Jumps… Perfect Utah good times!
The “North American Alps” are not found in Colorado, or Wyoming, or even Montana. They are nestled in northern Washington between the Seattle metro area, and the small towns of Mazama, Winthrop, and Twisp. Highway 20 bridges these areas during the warm months, but In the winter the road is closed Isolating the local communities. this insulation sets the vibe for the experience here. People are nice and welcoming, the pace is slow, and the mountains are immense. huge vertical walls of rock make up some peaks, others are massive rocky mountains carved with huge chutes. Below the terrain is heavily featured with pillows, cliffs, rollers, ice falls, and glades of trees.
A unique thing about the tree skiing at NCHS is that large portions of the forest are populated with larch trees that loose there needles in the fall and end up, looking dead. The feeling of skiing through a ghost Forrest is a little erie, minimal shadows are made, and you can easily look ahead through the skeletons.
double jump... natural style...
Seth Morrison pillow tap
Todd Jones getting lowered into a camera angle
360, photo Todd Jones
big walls at NCHS
shredding a Coolie... Photo by Todd Jones
Wow, January flew by, and some good things happened! For one we got a new president! It feels real good, and exciting to have a new vibe here in this great country. I never lost any patriotism, cause this place is great. but I defiantly was a little embarrassed by our previous leader and his decisions. so it feels real good to have hope and a new light shining down.
I had a great session up in BC, tons of pow good times, basically I love Canada. We wrapped up our Canadian trip with a Party showcasing Rossignol’s new Skis and graphics. Rossignol hired seven artists to design art based off the theme of the seven artistic sins. AKA the SAS series. Its really cool that companies are getting creative, working art into this artistic sport.
the S7
the S6
the S5
the S3
the S1 by Squindo
Powder Magazine also held their annual video award show in Aspen Colorado. The awards are held at the same time as the Xgames which provided some good entertainment. A highlight of the events, was the snomobile kicker session full of backflips and huge airs. Also hanging out on the starting gate of the slopestyle course watching the boys practice was awesome.
Powder Awards
