Coreshot

It is with a heavy heart that I report the passing of Bjarke Mogensen.  Bjarke and I were the original founders of Coreshot back in 2004.  Before that, he was a friend, and before that, he was an inspiration.  I can safely say that without his influence I would not be the skier and person I am today. Bjarke and I used to converse via message boards (initially Descender and TelemarkTips, later Powdermag, etc.) and even though we didn’t know each other outside of our e-personas, we knew that we’d be friends.  I may have been a bit starry-eyed from the start; he was a year older, already a semi-pro skier, and lived and skied in the Alps, frequenting places I only knew from ski movies.  Our relationship was purely e-based for a couple of seasons until the spring of 2003, when I flew to the Alps to ski with some (actual, real) friends as well as meet some of the people behind the online personas, including Bjarke.  At some point during that trip I was in La Grave and Bjarke was in nearby Serre Chevalier so we thought it would be nice to meet in the middle on the Col du Lautaret and do a ski tour.  It turned out that some of our actual friends and e-friends were the same people, and we all got along and had a great time.  When it was time for me to return to the US we started brainstorming a plan for the next winter. Fast-forward to winter 2004.  Bjarke had always wanted to travel and ski in the US and I wanted to explore more of Europe, so we came up with a plan where he’d join me in the US and we’d road-trip through the West for Jan-Feb, and I’d fly over to Europe and jump into his life for March and April.  We thought it would be nice to document our adventures and we collaborated with Mitch Weber of Telemarktips to publish them on his website.  It was during this road trip (specifically an off-night in Salt Lake City) that he whipped up the first version of my website.  For a while, if you wanted to find my “official” online presence it was www.bmskier.com/adamcu. Don’t bother clicking - it’s a dead link. 

Telemarktips has been down for a while so the online record of our travels has been lost, but last year Bjarke and I took a stroll down memory lane; he sent me the text we wrote during our adventures.  Unfortunately he never got around to finding the photos (long archived on a dusty hard drive somewhere) so I only have a tiny fraction of what we took, but reading back through our travels brings it all back in my head.  It was during this winter that we came up with the idea for a ski blog that he would host.  The two finalists for domain names were 321Dropping and Coreshot.  We eventually chose the latter. 

We met up again in 2005 for adventures in Italy and La Grave.  Unfortunately our paths diverged after that season – his skiing took a backseat to school and family but our friendship continued via running Coreshot, e-communication, and social media.  I don’t expect many people to actually read through this ancient history but it’s important to me to put it out there, along with the images I have left.  So here you have it – The Travels Of Adam and Bjarke - as written by both of us during the winter of 2004.  Unfortunately the last chapter is missing but you get the idea.

Part One - Baker to Tahoe via Mammoth

January 7.  "You should have been here last week!"  Bjarke arrived at Mt. Baker exactly one day after one of the best storm cycles in recent history had crapped out.  Even though there was nothing I could do about the pineapple express that was camping out on top of us, I still felt terrible since I had been sending him glowing reports of feet of new snow at remarkably cold (for Mt. Baker) temps for days on end.  So when he got in the car, I mentioned that it might be in our best interests to hit the road as soon as possible.  I don´t know who was more bummed, since I had been very excited to show off the playground I have called home for the past four winters.  He, on the other hand, had left La Grave at the start of one of their bigger storms of the past few years.  We arrived at my friends house in Bellingham (where I had been surfing for the past few weeks) around midnight and as I pointed out the "Couch of Champions", I checked the weather forecast: Grim.  It looks like we´ll be sleeping in tomorrow!

January 8.  It was just as well that the conditions were so poor because we both had to do some last-minute equipment tweaking.  So we spent the day wandering around Bellingham visiting ski shops,  looking for spare parts for boots and bindings, and just being guide-and-tourist.  Glacier Ski Shop allowed us to use their bench to mount up Bjarke´s tele Big Daddies, but nobody could scrounge up buckles for his alpine boots.  A quick stop at the local supermarket led to a convenient discovery: we both are omnivorous cheap food consumers.  10 boxes of macaroni and cheese, a few cans of tuna, some bread, tortillas, oatmeal, and some tomato sauce ought to cover us for a while.  Now it may seem unimportant that we both share similar eating habits (after all, this is supposed to be about skiing), but these are things that could lead to stress further on down the road.  Later on we visited Grant Gunderson, a photographer friend that was willing to let us use his media gold pass while we were around.  Another weather check yielded more bad news, but since Bjarke had travelled all the way from France to check out the area, we decided to head up anyways. 

January 9.  Over the past few years I´ve settled into a common skier´s morning ritual: as soon as I wake up, I call the snow report.  Sometimes the result is a sprint out the door into the car and up to the hill, breakfast be damned.  Other times I take my time, and every once in a while, I just go back to sleep.  I don´t remember exactly what the report had to say, but let me put it this way; if it had been any other day but Bjarke´s first ski day in North America, I would have gone back to sleep.  Bjarke was excited to see the differences between his normal ski routine and mine, so I explained how a normal day at Baker works.  The first (and last) thing Baker skiers deal with is a drive up Highway 542, which some have called the gnarliest road to a ski area in the US.  It´s about an hour and 10 minutes each way, depending on traffic and conditions, so it is important to have a complete musical selection to help pass the time (here´s a tip: if you´re moving fast, one disc of the Guns and Roses double live album will take you up, and the other will take you down.  Perfect!).  Another important thing to think about regarding the drive is the fact that it is miserable to sit in wet funky ski clothes during the drive down, so I told Bjarke to pack up a change of clothes.  Aside from the drive, the rest of the experience is more or less the same as anywhere else.  Once you´re there, go ski! 

Sure enough, the conditions were not that great.  It was way above freezing, and there was a pretty deep layer of saturated mank that threatened to rip legs off and take the fattest of skis down to un-retrievable depths.  However, the visibility was perfect.  So we had that going for us, which was nice.  Given the circumstances, I chose alpine gear, but due to the unresolved alpine boot buckle failure, Bjarke was forced to have his first day on tele gear of the season in some challenging conditions.  I didn´t feel to bad for him at first, because after all, he´s a professional!  But as we skied around and I pointed out the places that, given better conditions, we would be skiing (Shuksan Arm, Hemispheres, Table Mountain, Mt. Herman....) I decided it would me more fun if we were on the same page.  After lunch, I brought out my tele gear, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon playing around Chair 7 Extreme and just skiing around being silly.  It was a far cry from a 2150 meter La Grave descents that he is used to, but it was still skiing and the day ended with smiles all around.  Once we got home and checked the weather (still uninspiring), we decided that unless there was some sort of miracle, we should spend the next day in Vancouver looking for gear and cheap sushi. 

January 10.  The morning ski report effectively told us not to worry about skiing and to head to Vancouver, so after spending a very lazy morning watching ski movies and generally being lazy, Ross (one of our housemates), Bjarke and I piled into the Ramry and set off, passports in hand.  The first stop was Broadway, which might as well be called Ski Bum Street.  Gear stores are on every corner, and in between you can find great cheap food from all over the world.  The 65 dollar CDN sleeping bag was a good deal, but we felt like we had just gotten away with murder after we all stuffed ourselves with sushi and only had to pay 34 CDN total!  It was then that Bjarke mentioned that even though the skiing we experienced the day before was sub-par, he saw amazing potential in the terrain, and combined with the close proximity to such cheap sushi we should expect to see him here next winter!  Our Vancouver mission was not over yet though, because we had a line on a pair of Kneissl Flexons (Bjarke´s boot of choice) up in West Van and once we were there, we might as well check out the new Cove bike shop and The Raven.  When in Rome...do as the gear junkies do!

January 11. Waking up early we went to pick up an extremely sleepy Grant Gunderson and drove up to Mt. Baker. Once there we met up with another photographer, Carl Skoog - the one who took the pic of Adam that went up on the on the Patagonia website front. Knowing that the temperature had gone down considerably since our last day we guessed that the snow would have frozen up; which prompted the photographers to leave their gear behind and just go skiing for pleasure. Or whatever you`d call it when the conditions are not a pleasure to ski at all. A few brief moments of exploration was enough to convince us that we had better stay within the groomed terrain for the remainder of the day; something that even prompted us to try out the halfpipe (locally: "stunt ditch") and the park. Pretty uncommon for me but good fun, especially as Adam threw down some mad screaming jacksons from time to time - always a pleasure to watch as he does that trick better than most. Having managed to avoid major carnage in these conditions we eventually called it a day and sat around the lodge for a while before heading back to Bellingham and the couch.

January 12. Realizing that the snow in Mt. Baker was not going to get any better soon we decided to hit the road south. After fixing some stuff in town, among other things mounting up Adams new warranty Volkl Explosives, we loaded up the Ramry with all our gear and left Bellingham in the afternoon. Late evening we arrived in Hood River where we stayed for the night with some of Adam's surfing friends. We even got to stay in their yurt, a sweet experience and definitely better than roughing it in the car.

January 13. After a few pancakes and some viewing of various pictures we left Hood River and drove towards Mt. Hood. Having shot a few pictures of Mt. Hood in decent visibility we went on south on the 97 so that I could enjoy the view of the Cascade volcanoes along the way. Apart from some sweet views the day was fairly uneventful and we arrived in South Lake Tahoe at night after a straight 12-hour drive and stayed with some fellow internet ski geeks.

January 14. We left South Lake Tahoe at six in the morning (that`s pretty early for us really) and arrived at Mammoth after a quick stop for ghetto style breakfast, just in time to meet Mitch Weber and Tim from Telemarktips.com and get set up to ski for a few days. We went skiing and got the guided tour of the inbounds terrain, some of which looked like it had a lot of potential after a storm. Eventually we even got around to doing a bit of filming and shooting even though snow conditions like windblown chalky hardpack did not really inspire us to greatness. The skiing was mostly just shorter turn skiing in varying conditions and not dropping off stuff or highspeed cruising. At certain points we found a little billygoating-style stuff but mostly we skied the obvious lines off things, as in the runs that has names on  But hey, we had a bunch of fun as we pretty much always have and we are slowly beginning to get our telemarking dialed, something that at least I have been needing after suffering a blown knee last year and not having had a whole lot of freeheeled days since last spring.  After a chill afternoon at the couch-surfing spot of the day we went out for dinner with Mitch and Tim and a few other friends before heading on to and then watching a Cristian Pondella slideshow at the Mammoth Mountaineering shop; sweet pictures and a lot of cool people.

January 15. Having chilled out at home for a while in the morning we went to the mountain skied around Mammoth most of the day. At first we skied around chair 2 as that was the base of the Telemark Demo taking place, offering everybody a chance to get on a wide array of new skis, boots and bindings as well as free beginners lessons. Likely because of the demo there was a whole bunch of telemarkers out trying new stuff and just meeting other likeminded skiers, so we got to see a huge variety of skiers from beginners to a couple very strong ones. Fun stuff. Adam and I didn`t really poach the demo itself that hard ourselves. There was not really any new skis that I hadn`t tried earlier so I stayed on my own gear except for some groomer runs on a pair of borrowed Atomic TM.ex with Cobras as my Big Daddies did not really feel at home when pointing it on groomers with Adam. After having spent most of the day on his own setup Adam seemed to develop some sweet feelings for the pairs of K2 Hippie Stinx that he got to try out in the afternoon; they are basically a telemarkished version of the Seth Pistol. Fun ski with a great name that seemed to suit Adam pretty well. After having skied on our own and with a few locals for most of the day we met up with Mitch and Tim and did a bit of filming and still shooting with them before calling it a day. After skiing we sat around at the base lodge and talked about skiing and the related industry for a while. Then eventually we got to the task of doing an "official" Telemarktips.com interview about our road trip and future plans along with some gear-related questions that somehow snuck their way into the interview. Upon returning to our couch-surfing location we packed up and decided to leave for Tahoe and a change of scene and hopefully some even better snow. Also the dense population of telemarktips and powdermag posters at Kirkwood over the weekends suggested a good chance of meeting an even bigger bunch of internet-nerdy ski types which is pretty much always great fun. We arrived at South Lake Tahoe late night and camped out with Ben who also hosted us on the way down to Mammoth earlier.

South Lake Tahoe.... Jan. 16 to Jan 25....

When we got back to Ben´s place in South Lake we spent some time discussing ski options for the next few days.  Bjarke and I were both a bit tired from driving (gas pedal knee, a common road trip ailment specific to the right leg, was starting to rear its ugly head)  but Ben sold us on a corn-harvesting tour up to Mt. Ralston. 

The next day we packed up our touring gear, picked up Ben´s neighbour Tony, and set off.  

It was quite nice to get out on the skins again, especially since the weather was perfect and we would be seeing some great Sierra views.  Once we got into the rhythm of shuffle-pole-shuffle-pole, it did not take long to make the top of the ridge.  I have always found the uphill sections of a tour to be some of the most enjoyable because of the social aspect, and this one did not disappoint. Ben and I were able to piece together the complete lyrics to a few Spinal Tap songs, and we all got into the discussion of tele vs. AT (Bjarke and I were on our tele gear, Tony and Ben on Dynafit systems).  All that, coupled with a few seasons worth of Simpsons quotes and some awesome views, made the skinning fly by.

Once at the summit, Ben and Tony pointed out some of the surrounding terrain feature of the Desolation Wilderness .  I grew up climbing in this area, but until now had never spent any time up here during the winter.  There was inexhaustable touring potential in every direction, which made me wonder why I had never come up here before!  One of the most impressive features of this area was the ease of access; it had only taken us two hours from the house to the top of the ridge, including driving and skinning.  The terrain we were about to ski did not disappoint, and the perfect corn covering it all made for some downhill bliss.  An open slope led to some brushy boulderfields, which took us to glades and eventually the car...which led us to Bob Dog Pizza down in Meyers.  Oh yeah!  There is nothing quite like a couple of good slices to recharge the body after a day in the backcountry, however there was a bit of a problem when the soda machine malfunctioned as I pushed the dispensing button, spraying orange soda all over me.  Thankfully, my Gore-Tex proved up to the task and except for some lingering stickyness, the rest of the pizza session was uneventful.   We spent the afternoon organizing gear and getting ready for the next couple of days, which would promise the arrival of ski buddies up for the weekend.

Sure enough, the next couple of days were full of good times with new and old friends.  On Saturday, our first run down off the Wall into Lower Cirque proved to be a major success, providing us with our first base-turns in cold snow of the tour.   Our tour guides showed us the goods, and we found even better snow way out towards the Palisades.  Everywhere we went we found fun terrain features and we enjoyed taking part in a Kirkwood tradition: the huck-to-flat.  Being the extremo mountain dude that he is, Bjarke took it upon himself to raise the bar and pulled off a sweet corked-270-to-late-spread-eagle off a 10 foot rock, landing hard on his side.  That, combined with a re-twanged knee he suffered at the end of the day, caused him to think about maybe taking it down a notch.  That night, after a good ol´ traditional ´Merican BBQ (complete with Radness in a Bottle, aka some cheap mezcal I brought back from a Mexico surf trip), he decided it would be best to take a couple of days off to make sure it was ok.  The rest of us were not about to sit around and wait for him to get better, so on Sunday we left him on the couch and set off for the ´Wood.  It turned into more of the same; exploring the mountain, finding fun lines, good snow, and smiles all around.  We ended up lapping Lower Cirque and Vista most of the day, alternating between old cold snow and sun-baked corn.

Unfortunately, not everyone survived the day unscathed.  When we returned to the house, we ran into a drugged-up Ben, who had spent the day hiking and skinning in the backcountry with some friends.  It seems he took the saying "I´d give my left nut to get some good skiing..." a bit too literally, because early in the day he suffered a testicular hematoma using the boys to self-arrest on a rock.  Fortunately, he was able to find the humor in his injury, which was good because the rest of us had a hard time hiding our amusement.  Later that evening  it donned on us that it was All-Cal weekend, which would mean the casinos would be crawling with college girls.  Since we were so close to casino-land, we might as well try to find some luck out there on the floor.  Arty50, Hardrider, Telenater, Kellie, and I left Bjarke to his painkillers and went out to Caesar´s.  We were unable to find the pajama party that was rumored to be somewhere in the area, so we settled on a cozy nook in the bottom of the casino where a rousing karaoke session was taking place.  Decency prohibits a complete report, but I will say this: Kellie is a pretty darn good Pat Benetar, and I could find no wingmen to assist when we were faced with the prospect of getting mauled by a pack of wild cougars.  Meow! 

With Ben out of action for what would turn into a few weeks, Bjarke nursing a sore knee, and my entire body feeling sore from a few too many hard flat landings, Monday and Tuesday turned into rest days.  Luckily, there was a very complete and varied selection of DVDs at our disposal, not to mention a fair amount of nofriendo games to keep us busy. 

Wednesday found us back at the ´Wood with Arty50 and Hardrider doing more of the same laps on Lower Cirque and Vista.  We were finally getting to know the lay of the land and were able to start doing some more fluid lines despite the snow, which was still pretty hard.  However, when Hardrider, Bjarke, and I were looking at one certain line we discovered that even though he´s fluent in english, there is still a bit lost in the translation.  Even though we were all looking at the same line- a small drop to a pocket snowfield to another drop through a groove in the rock and out- the ideas of how to best execute it were split along the Atlantic Ocean.  Much to everyone´s amusement, Bjarke took the "European" line and the end result is the shot that graced the cover of Telemarktips.com.  On Thursday we decided to mix it up a bit and added some Palisades laps to the usual Lower Cirque and Vista routine.  During a quick water break we ran into Max Mancini, Ty Dayberry, Lorenzo Worster, and Ben Dolenc, who were lapping the park on their way down to Mammoth.  They politely declined our offer of Palisades powder due to some previous commitments with cameras and rails, so we parted ways.  That afternoon we decided to do a bit of shooting ourselves and headed to the Vista ridge above Chair 4.  We had been looking at these rocks for a few days now and figured that even if the snow was hard, at least the landings were steep, which would minimize impact.  I got to be the guinea pig and discovered that with the exception of one small rock that took a p-tex tax on my skis, the landing was actually soft!  With that discovery it was game on, so Arty50, Hardrider, Bjarke, and I alternated shooter, spotters, and jumper for a few cycles.  We called it a wrap after the sun went behind the Cirque, and just as we were about to ski away we were intercepted by two members of the Kirkwood ski patrol.  It turns out they had been watching us standing around and repeatedly skating off the ridge the whole time, but much to our surprise instead of giving us any grief they congratulated us on finding the best LZ on the entire mountain and even (jokingly? if they were serious they are among the coolest patrollers I´ve ever met) offered up a tow-in with their snowmobile!  As it was late in the day, we declined and skied down to the waiting plate of nachos at Bub´s.

It seems that a lot of important discoveries, trends, and discussions are spawned during apres ski sessions.  Over this particular plate of nachos the four of us discussed a current style that has become so prevalent with young folks in places like Mammoth, Tahoe, and Colorado.  In movies and in person, we have seen people skiing hunched over in the "Monkey Steez" with baggy clothes, spiky goggle accessories, studded belts, and whatever they have hanging off of their belts flapping in the breeze (are they pieces of flair?  Does anyone really know what these are for or where they came from?).  We decided to do our own research and declared friday to be "Steez day." 

Friday dawned clear and cold, or so the weather report stated.  We got up at the crack of mid-morning and started rummaging around to see what sort of Steezy items we could ski with.  I ended up in a pair of Bjarke´s Norrøna bibs with the suspenders hanging down (he´s 6´4", I´m 5´10"), Arty50´s old Raiders Starter jacket, and I found a Grateful Dead (after all, that´s the hippy telemarker band of choice and I had to stay true to my roots, even though I was attempting to steeze.  In hindsight perhaps I should have found something with Blackalicious on it) handkercheif to have hanging out of my back pocket.  Bjarke decided upon an old XXL safety orange hunting jacket and my full face helmet to go along with a dish towel we scrounged up from under the sink.  Arty50 was perhaps the least steezily dressed of all, but in addition to another dish towel, he was able to round up an old gold chain for the "bling" factor that the rest of us were missing.  We brought along a Bell snowmobile helmet from the seventies just in case.

We met up with Hardrider in the parking lot and checked out his steez.  He had resurrected an old Helly Hansen jacket and since he couldn´t find any bigger pants, he decided to just ski with his normal ones completely unfastened around his waist and let them find their own sag over the course of the day.  We were all thoroughly impressed with his dedication to research when he pulled out a bath towel and stuck it in his belt for his piece of flair.  With that, we set out! 

At first we thought we would be ridiculed as Steez impostors, but as it turned out, nobody really gave us much attention.  Perhaps our outfits, coupled with our hunched-over, hands-down-low-and-ass-way-back style, were spot on and we just blended in with all the other Steezers.  A hypothesis is born: do the pieces of flair create lift or assist in spinning?  We spent the afternoon attempting to spin and jib various objects all over the mountain, but ended up getting tangled up and crashing a lot instead of looking cool.  We also noticed that we had to give extra attention to chair rides, because our pieces of flair kept on getting tangled in each other´s gear or the chair.  At some point Arty50 and Hardrider made the connection between youth and steez, so we headed over to a place on the mountain that just sucks in young kids: High School Air aka My First Huck, which is a looming 10 to 15 foot rock face with a small windlip above a very flat landing directly underneath Chair 4. 

With our little digital camera ready to document whatever radness we could create, we threw ourselves at this teenage testpiece as if our lives depended on it.  Bjarke, being the closest thing to a pro athlete among us, takes the most extreme line and the biggest air, much to the amusement of the crowd suspended above us.  I decided to try to stick onto a little pad halfway down and turn it into a double, but end up crashing at the bottom and bending my pole.   Hardrider repeats my line with much greater style and success, and Arty50, perhaps the smartest of all of us, skis around and shoots the whole adventure from below.  The comments and questions we had recieved from the chairs above us (What are the towels for?  Watch out for the big rock! Etcetera) prompted us to lap it and try it again.  This time, both Bjarke and Hardrider decide to take it from the top, but unfortunately Hardrider goes a bit too big and lands in the flats.  I guess they don´t call him Hardrider for nothing.  I wanted to redeem myself for my failure on the last run, but instead of doing it with better style, I do it in worse.  As I dropped onto the little pocket of snow I stepped on one of my skis with the other and am unable to stop.  Time stood still as I slid uncontrollably off the ramp into the chasm below.  When the snow cleared, I found myself straddling the windlip, half eaten by the rocks and half spit out.  Luckily, with the exception of an extremely bruised ego, I was unharmed.  Oh well.  At least I made some random strangers laugh and smile!

Even though we had started late in the day, we were all feeling the effects of a full day of Steezing.  All of our backs were sore from hunching over, and we had all taken our fair share of hits while attempting to jib.  We decided to end the research and call it a day, coveting vitamin I more than the usual nachos.   There is still much more work to be done on the subject of Steezing, but we will let younger, more rubbery skiers take it from here.  We will attempt to stick to what we do best, which is being relatively normal skiers that ski in clothes that are at least close to the right size.  And with a bit of snow in the forecast, some more friends coming up for the weekend, and plans for an early tour before riding the lifts, tomorrow should be a great day!

Waking up in the morning to overcast skies and a very light snowfall we decided to stick the the plan: Reports of good soft-snow stashes in the trees off the road towards Kirkwood had yesterday prompted the decision of starting the morning with a little workout.  Thus we left for an area called Waterhouse Peak with a bunch of other people; some of them Tahoe locals and a few weekend warriors.  After meeting up with a couple friends of friends at the trailhead we all started skinning our way up through the trees in the increasingly heavy snowfall; slowly but steadily making way through the lower part of refrozen suncrust.  The higher we got the thinner the layer of crust we walked on; and after a while we were skinning along on old but cold snow that by now had a nice layer of fresh snow being blown towards us by the wind as we made way.  Once at the top after having been walking in very good snow among the openly spaced trees in the upper part everybody knew that this would be good.  And I for sure knew that I was about to ski the best snow of my US trip so far; and I looked forward to it!  When everybody was ready we divided into smaller groups and skied off; weaving in and out of trees and flying off every little lip and bump we could find.  Adam and I spent a few minutes setting up a couple of pictures; but quickly decided to just forget about the camera and just enjoy the run.

Back at the trailhead we were a bunch of very happy people who quickly threw our skis into the cars and made our way up to Kirkwood where we by now expected conditions to be really good.  And we were not disappointed.  Immediately after our arrival we met up with a couple friends who had been skiing there all day and who told us stories of sweet lines and good landings.  They were right; conditions were good and everybody dove in with great pleasure; quickly changing from controlled backcountry mode into high-impact resort mode.  After a good week of hard landings and unforgiving outruns we were suddenly skiing considerably faster and flying off of stuff on impulse, very exciting but also exactly that: high impact skiing!  Halfway through the day Adam realized mid-outrun that a straightline he was attempting had a mandatory air in the middle of it, with a none-too-steep landing.  After a highspeed slam onto his back he managed to avoid starfishing and  stayed on his feet continuing down the hill in StarTrek mode (seeing mostly stars before his eyes) while yelling "Oooohh Sxxx!" to the amusement of those who had seconds before feared spending the rest of the day collecting Adam and his gear from all over the valley below.  By the time the lifts closed we were feeling pretty worked as we all met up for nachos at Bub's and shared stories of highs and lows (and bent skis) with the crews that had split to ski other lines than us.  Finally back at Ben's place everybody quickly wolfed down dinner and scattered around the house; noone even mentioning going out or just staying up late.

 Sunday, the day of rest.  Bjarke and I have been skiing hard for a few days now and it is definitely time for a break.  I don´t know about him, but I feel like I´ve been hit by a truck and I have nobody to blame but myself.  Huck-neck, sore back, quads and abs that resist any attempt to stand up... the list goes on and on.  By tomorrow we should be recharged enough to go for another tour.  We´ve been having a great time in South Lake Tahoe, skiing with old friends and making new ones for over a week now.  Even though the conditions are only getting better it´s time to think about where to head next.  Salt Lake City anyone?

Salt Lake City.... From arrival to OR  Jan 26 to Feb 2nd

On Sunday evening, after hearing reports of snowfall in Salt Lake City which ended the weeks of inversion, high pressure, and skier misery, we decided it was time to leave the Sierras and move on.  It was a hard decision to make since we had been having such a good time in Tahoe, but given the amount of abuse we had subjected ourselves to, well, we were excited to get some soft snow to play with.

Monday morning was a frenzy of packing.  Either we had become quite a bit more efficient with our space or we had lost a bunch of stuff, because all the way from Washington to Tahoe we had no extra space in the backseat of the Ramry, and now we could have put another person in there comfortably.  Checks of under the beds and behind the couches yielded no wayward gear, so we bid farewell to our hosts and started the drive up to Tahoe City, Truckee, and I-80.  After a few quick stops to say hi to old friends and pick up skins, we were able to get out of town and on to the open road (that "check engine" light that comes on is relatively ignorable, right?)  Bjarke commented how much the terrain along I-80 was like the western movies, complete with tumbleweeds crossing traffic.  The rest of Nevada was spent on the phone trying to line up a couch or floor to crash on for the next couple of days, and I finally had success with my friend Scott, a former classmate that had moved down to ski for the winter.  In the interest of diplomacy, I thought it would be prudent to stock up on some decent brews for our hosts, so we pulled over in Wendover to fill up the extra space in the backseat.  Scott had put in an order for "any microbrewed IPA", so we headed to the liquor store.  A quick sweep yielded little more than cheap domestics in cans,  Heinousken, and Corona, so I went up to the clerk to ask if they had anything else.

Me:  "Do you guys have any microbrews?"

Clerk:  "What´s a microbrew?" 

Me, stunned:  "You know, good beer that´s brewed in small batches, like Deschutes, Stone, Alaskan..."

Clerk:  "You mean imported beer?"

Me:  "Nevermind.  Is there a supermarket around here?"

We were able to find a supermarket, but the selections weren´t much better.  There were no IPAs to be found, but we did end up with a few cases of Natty Ice and a decent selection of Full Sails, Mendocinos, and New Belgians.  With the Ramry loaded down and Run-DMC providing the beats, we arrived in Sandy just before midnight.  Tomorrow we would ski Alta!

We woke up to a fresh dusting on the car and partly sunny skies.  Whee!  According to Scott it had been quite good the past couple of days, so we were pretty excited to git sum for ourselves.  Starting at Alta, we worked our way over to Snowbird and eventually found ourselves lapping Mineral Basin, which had just opened for the first time since the storm began.  These were the best conditions of the trip so far, with boot- to knee-deep snow and perfect visibility.  The Bookends provided some nice airs and super perfect landings, so we took it upon ourselves to personally bomb them out.  On a chair ride later on, Bjarke commented that "the past four runs had the 8 best hucks I´ve had here!"  I had to agree.  After Mineral Basin, we worked our way back to Alta and eventually to the Alta Lodge, where Scott worked.  We hung out for a while then decided to head down the canyon.  The reports for tomorrow looked like more of the same, so if we were going to ski, we´d need some rest.

Sure enough, Wednesday was more of the same.  We spent the entire day at Snowbird, lapping Mineral Basin and some other fun little lines that I remembered from the last time I was here a couple of years ago.  The snow was still soft, the light was still good, and all was well in the world.   We called it quits sometime around three-ish, and as we were packing up the car we realized that since Scott was going to be working and staying at the lodge, we were literally all dressed up with nowhere to go.  Oh well, better drive down the canyon and start making phone calls.  On our way down we passed some hitchhikers, but each one of them got the "sorry, we´re full" shrug.  Except for the last one, who seemed familiar.  It turned out to be Charlie Cannon, freeheel freeskier extraordinaire and fully capable of squeezing into the remaining space in the Ramry.  By the time we had made it to his car at the bottom of the canyon, we had figured out where we were staying that night!  Perfect!  The evening was spent playing guitars and drums, basically giving Bjarke a crash course in "groovy tele college house appreciation".  Don´t worry, he passed.

The next morning we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to check out the Backcountry Basecamp portion of the Outdoor Retailer show.  Officially, we would be there as guests of www.telemarktips.com.  Unofficially, we were just gear junkies wanting to check out the latest and greatest gear, and we knew we´d run into friends there too.  The day was spent trying out some new gear in great snow and doing some filming with Lorenzo, Max, and Taiga Young, who had rolled their RV up from Las Vegas the night before.  I don´t know if anything will make the cut, but Bjarke and I both put in some decent performances worthy of any crash section. 

As the event wound down we heard that there were some parties going on in the lodges.  Rumors of a bluegrass band and free food were enough to get us out of ski gear and into the lodge in record time.  We walked in, guest badges hanging proudly around our necks, and served ourselves some mighty helpings.  There we were, sitting down with old friends and new acquaintances, eating free food, drinking free beer, listening to bluegrass.  Ski-Bum paradise. Once the first party ended (well, later really - the staff kindly asked us what to do with the leftover beer that whoever hosted the party had allready paid for so we helped them get rid of that) we made our way to the neighbouring Molly's bar where Patagonia hosted a party with more free food and ample supplies of brews. As the food was eaten and the more sensible industry people left for Salt Lake we found ourselves still in the bar with the core Patagonia crowd who all stayed in a neighbouring montain lodge and thus didn't have to drive. And of course the Freeheel Storm tour who would be sleeping in their RV and thus also didn't need to face the drive down the mountain. Those left standing at this point took the party up a notch building plastic-cup sculptured blocking most of the bar and yet another notch when someone came across the "shot-ski", an oldstyle ski with a bunch of shotglasses attached to it. Almost without peer pressure everyone joined in (some more often than others...); even the bartender offered to go along (he didn't but then offered to pay the shots instead. We accepted!)  After a while the shotski was old news and we started searching for new stuff to do. Someone (we'll leave that name out..) mentioned the possibility of moving the party on to the lodge where the Patagonia crew was staying; and as some vodka, an ample supply of Redbull and some red wine materialized from the depth of some storage room we all agreed to that.  We ended up kicking back and talking amongst ourselves in a lounge, much to the dismay of an orn´ry inhabitant that let us know that Brighon "was not Park City".  Attempts at diplomacy were unsuccessful and we disbanded.  Unfortunately, we had been counting on crashing up there, and now we were stranded in the parking lot.  Thankfully, Max, Lorenzo, Taiga, and Stefan of the Freeheel Storm tour took pity on us and let us crash out in their already crowded RV.  It was a bit cramped, but it was better than sleeping in the Ramry!

Waking up early and really wanting to get out of the crowded RV we made our way down the morning in order to spend day at the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in Salt Lake City. We had several different reasons for going, among them a few planned meetings with various people discussing spancership, hoping to talk to industry people about product development issues, general gear fondling and drooling and the chance of getting to schmooze with real pro skiers and famous extremo people. And being the bums we are the consistent rumours of food and beer at various booths in the afternoons had us drooling already before getting there.

The maze of booths was quite the adventure to navigate, but we had days to figure it out.  We decided it was probably best to just walk up and down every aisle in order to not miss anything (and scope out potential free food and beer stashes).  Every once in a while we´d stop and check out a booth to check out some gear, and each time it was the same.  The exhibitor would approach us and start their schpiel as we fondled whatever they were showing.  Eventually they would ask us where we worked or who we were affiliated with.  "Umm... we´re just skiers."  Someone handed us a card good for free socks at one booth, so we checked it out (clean socks are a serious subject to anyone on the road).  After the exhibitor had spent fifteen minutes explaining the benefits of these particular socks, he asked me where I worked.  "Umm... I don´t work right now.  I´m on a roadtrip."  To which he replied, "oh, well, these socks are for retailers only, but I guess I can grab you a pair".  Sweet! 

The rest of the day was spent walking the aisles, running into old friends, and grabbing as many free samples of whatever we could grab.  It was exhausting work, and by the end we were as beat up as after any ski day, but due to an ample supply of spicy meatballs at the W.L. Gore booth, Powerbar samples, dried salmon at the Patagonia booth and beer everywhere we got through it. That night, we ended up at our friend Kenny´s place along with Luke and Stu, K2, Linken and TGP extremo dudes from CO.

Since the trade show was going on for a few days and "everyone" was in town, we decided to turn the next day into a ski day filming with TGP up at Alta.  Unfortunately, not everyone was clued in to what was going on, so when we got there gongs started going off.  Plans were made by the seat of the pants because nobody seemed to know exactly what was going on.  However, in the two runs I actually made, I had a lot of fun. In the mix up of the morning Bjarke was left waiting for the return of some more filmers, but as nobody showed he eventually ended up going exploring by himself.  In retrospect, he got a fuller Alta experience than I did as he went up with Ken and Regina of Telefair.com. Not being tied up with shooting they were able to be around when Devils Castle was opened up after the last storm; and apparantly being considerably faster at getting his skis on after the short bootpack Bjarke managed to secure a spot between the first few guys out on the traverse and got to ski an untracked line down the open upper part. Nice. As Ken and Regina left  he kept lapping the Castle and eventually bumped into the Professor and Lemon Boy and skied the rest of the day with them before hitting the Goldminers for rehydration (oh well, beer and nachos...)

Sunday dawned with bluebird skies so plans were made to go shoot with local photographer Beth Lockhart and Decker Jory at Alta. Unfortunately clouds moved in really fast as we made our way towards Rocky Point and once up the light was all gone and the temperature had gone down a lot, so we skied back Alta for  warming chocolate and to wait for better light. When that happened we changed tactics and fitted skins to walk up Grizzly Gulch towards some shorter shots we had seen earlier. Even though the sky was clearer now we were still dealing only with occasional holes in the clouds, so we ended up staying pretty low and mostly doing powder shots between the aspens. Eventually we packed up and drove down to the OR show in order to reach a few appointments and see if we could get any more free food.

As it was the last day of the OR show we planned on spending the entire day there; a few appointments had been pushed from yesterday. Also we had heard the rumour that there would be plenty of giveaways and cheap stuff when the show closed down in the afternoon as many exhibitors wouldn't want to pack up and ship more stuff than necessary. And finally Adam had to pick up new poles and backpacks from Indigo Equipment who during the OR had chosen to support him. 

SLC... from OR to Ouch!

After we left the OR show we headed over to Park City to visit Scott Ligare, a Park City local and extremo mountain kayaker (check him out in TGR´s kayak movies) that I met while surfing in Mexico.  On the way we stopped by Suede to check out Victor Wooten.  As a musician that has spent the past eight years playing with all sorts of stringed instruments, I can say without hesitation that Victor and his brother take playing bass and guitar to levels that I will never ever be able to comprehend.  Check him out if they come to a venue near you...  When the show was over we crawled to Scott´s place for the night. 

We awoke to a fair amount of new snow, but lingering fatigue and some mean egg sammiches kept us from hitting the mountain early.  Instead, Scott made some phone calls and we rounded up a posse of locals to show us around.  By the time we got up on the mountain the winds were howling, and as we sat on the slow Town Chair it became apparent that we were probably a bit underdressed.  We took some runs on groomers to try to warm up but instead just got colder, so decided to get up to Scott´s and Jupiter Bowls to hike around and warm up.  The remainder of the afternoon was spent lapping nice soft snow off of the Jupiter chair. 

By 1500 we were all somewhere between cooked and frozen so we decided to call it a day.  We headed back to Scott´s place, packed up our stuff, and raced back to SLC and the Black Diamond headquarters, where I was going to get my beat up old T-race boots re-buckled.  We made it just in time to catch Jordy and we both were able to get our boot issues finally dialed.  Thanks Jordy! 

After finishing up at BD we got back into the Ramry, only to realize that we had nowhere to go.  A few phonecalls later and I was able to round up some floorspace at the Andy´s, more friends from my competing days.  That night I got in touch with Carl Skoog, a photographer friend that had come to town for the OR show and was hanging around for a couple of extra days.  We made plans to go do some shooting at Brighton the next day.

Brighton is one of my favorite areas to ski around Salt Lake City due to the cool terrain, easily accessible BC options, and few crowds.  Plus, they have hosted a fair amount of USTSA freeskiing comps over the years so I have good memories (and one broken ski) associated with the place.  The one day we had spent at Brighton so far had been for the Backcountry Basecamp event, so we were excited to play around without dealing with the trade show.  There was a fair amount of fresh snow to be had so Carl, Bjarke, and I had plenty of fun making turns through the aspens and finding little rocks to jump off of.  At one point, Bjarke got so excited by the "deepest landings I´ve ever had!" that I started to worry that he might get a bit too extremo and perhaps repeat his Kirkwood Ttips cover crash.  When he started lining up a sizeable huck that had a very tight LZ, not to mention a bunch of trees and stumps in the takeoff, I thought I was going to witness the end.  Luckily, where judgement (at least in my eyes!) failed, skill prevailed and he nailed it perfectly.  We called it a day and ended up at Rocky Mountain Pizza Co´s all-you-can-eat dinner buffet and bluegrass session with a bunch of friends.  We all put in a good showing at the pizza buffet but we were kicking ourselves for not lining our pockets with plastic bags and getting breakfast and lunch for the next day. 

When we got back to the Andy´s place we heard rumors that there was serious snowfall predicted for the area overnight.  Sure enough, the next morning the reports were of foot-plus accumulation in Little Cottonwood!  A few quick phone calls and we decided to go touring with Carl, in the White Pine area just below Snowbird.

By the time we got up there a skintrack had already been put in (thank you to the dawn patrollers...breaking trail must have been quite a chore) so we gained elevation quickly.  It took us over an hour to get to our first destination (I believe it is called Pink Pine, but I´m not sure), by which time we were really bummed about our lack of pizza thievery the night before.  There is only one thing that will stop an ascent faster than an unsticky skin, and that is lack of food.  Luckily, I remembered that I had stuffed a bag of gorp into my backpack the night before, so I knew I would be ok.  I was all about to horde it for myself when Bjarke looked up, his eagle eyes homing in on the flash of multicolored M&M´s.  Oh well, I was really planning on sharing... really!

Now we were fueled up and ready to descend.  We checked out the snow and decided it would be best to stay in the trees until the angle got shallower, taking extra caution to keep everyone in sight while we descended.  As I dropped in I couldn´t help but laugh at how ridiculously deep the snow was.  It was almost too deep, and I had to revert to making some backseat-bandit P-turns to keep my 180 Explosives from sinking.  Bjarke followed, and left one of the deepest trenches I´ve ever seen behind him when he came over to join me.  Carl decided to just put away the camera and enjoy the ride, and we leapfrogged from safe zone to safe zone laughing all the way. 

Bjarke and Carl

Bjarke and Carl on the 2nd lap

Bjarke, happy in trenchtown

We eventually reached the bottom skin track and decided to do another lap up to the White Pine area.  Another up, another incredibly deep down, and another great day of touring came to a close.  That evening, on the recommendation of our hosts, we checked out La Puente.  A La Puente word of warning- watch out for the Large Combo. 

I woke up early the next morning and checked some reports.  The skies were blue, so I called up Beth Lockhart, another SLC photographer, and we met up at Alta to do some more shooting.  Conditions were perfect, so while Beth worked the cameras, Bjarke and I skied around.  We hit a few nice lines and some nice airs, but unfortunately Bjarke had to call it early after he landed a small air on a hidden rock and twanged his knee.  He retired to the Goldminer´s Daughter to rest up while Beth and I continued along.  We hiked up above the Catherine´s area towards Wolverine Cirque, where I got a huge surprise.  I heard someone calling out my name, and it turned out to be Kellie, my friend from Kirkwood and Baker, who was here for the weekend with a bunch of other Kirkwood/South Lake Tahoe friends.  We ended the day exploring the Home Run area, and eventually made our way to GMD where we met up with Bjarke and a bunch of other internet ski people.  Bjarke was worried that he may have done something a bit more serious  to his knee than just a little twang, so he decided to take a couple of days off and see what happened, but more urgently, we had to figure out exactly what we were going to do that evening.  There was a big party planned  for the evening and we hoped to be there, but before putting in our appearance we thought it would be better to soak in the hot tub at the Best Western in Sandy, where Kellie and the rest of the Kirkwood people were staying.  For some reason (it was probably the Natty Ice), I thought it would be a good idea to go back up to LCC and do a moonlight tour.  Even more amazing was the fact that I managed to persuade Kellie to leave the hot tub that we were all soaking in and join me!  But full moons only come around a few times a winter, and conditions for a moonlight tour are even more rare, so we donned our funky ski clothes and cruised back up to the trailhead.  By the time we got back we were pretty well exhausted and the party was winding down, so we just waited for everyone to return.  Unfortunately, by the time everyone else returned, it was way too late for Bjarke and I to drive back to our pre-planned couches, so we ended up just sleeping in the Ramry.  It was a low point, but we wouldn´t be true dirtbags on a roadtrip without at least one night of sleeping in the car.  I suppose we could have begged and grovelled for some floor in the already cramped hotel room or just poached a linen closet or something, but we figured this would at least give us dirtbag credibility. 

Amazingly enough we were both well-rested and relatively functional the next morning, but Bjarke´s leg was quite stiff and he was determined to take some rest days.  After we poached the wonderful breakfast at the hotel I planned on dropping Bjarke off at Kenny´s place and then heading up to Snowbasin with Kellie and the rest of the internet geeks (I can say thay because I am one of them, and if you are reading this you probably are too), but when we got there we ended up getting sidetracked by another breakfast and the arrival of our friend Sam Cox from Montana, who was in town to do a bit of magazine work with his friends from the french Skieur magazine.  Instead of heading to Snowbasin, we ended up practicing our "urban assault steez" on a super ghetto kicker/wallride on we built in the backyard.  It was probably better that I didn´t go skiing, considering I had all been going strong for a while and I needed the rest.  The rest of the day was spent between ski movies, the Silver Bullet, and a mean Jambalaya.  We also found a new use for the bottle of Radness, recipe to follow and you won´t be disappointed!  As the day progressed the weather turned increasingly nasty, and by the next morning there was almost a foot of snow on the ground.  It was going to be another one of those ridiculously deep Utah days!  Even though it was fixing to be a great day, Bjarke wanted to play it safe and decided to stay home.  As he was not going to be using them, he gave me the opportunity to take his Rottefella-mounted Big Daddies for a spin.  With that, the rest of us (Sam, Kenny, Jen, and I) headed up to Snowbird.

I can sum up the day in one word:  DEEP.  It was almost too deep, and too light.  I hate it when that happens!  Unfortunately, it was a weekend and everyone else thought  it would be a good idea to ski too, so the area was pretty crowded.  But don´t worry, we made do.  ;) 

When we got back to Kenny´s place we tried to hide our excitement from Bjarke, but it didn´t work.  Sam went out to pick up his Skieur friend Xavier Leonti from the airport, and when they got back we all headed back to La Puente and treated ourselves to some amazing Mexican ribs.  Some La Puente advice: get the ribs!

I had planned on taking it relatively easy the next day, but when Kellie called and told me she was going to stick around and not go back to the Bay Area until that evening I had to ski.  We headed up to Alta and had fun exploring the inbounds terrain.  Eagles Nest and High Rustler were consistenly good but when Devil´s Castle opened, it was game on!  For better or for worse (better because we had fun skiing together, but worse because it I hurt now...) we ran into Xavier and Sam, and the afternoon turned into a high speed huckfest with all of us feeding off of each other.  It peaked sometime arund 1430 when Sam and I both couldn´t say no to the biggest rock up there.  You know the first big cliffband up there, about 1/4th of the way out the traverse?  Don´t jump off of that one unless you really like flat landings.  The Green Bibs  now have a hole in the butt from the heel throw and walk lever of my left boot.  Yeah, that didn´t feel good.  I called it a day a few runs later and went up to Jonie´s to wait for Kellie to finish skiing.  I was halfway through a plate of nachos by the time she showed up and when we finished it off, I took her to the airport.  (Sidenote Nacho Report:  so far nothing even comes close to the quality of nachos at Bub´s in Kirkwood, but Jonie´s is better than GMD.)

When I got back to Kenny´s place Bjarke and I discussed our options.  We could stick around but Bjarke´s leg was not getting any better and he wasn´t going to be skiing for at least a few more days.  We decided that we might as well start heading back to Bellingham and Mt. Baker, and hopefully he would be well enough to ski by the time we got there.  The next morning we packed up all of our gear, said goodbye to SLC, and headed up to Hood River to visit Lance and Heidi, the friends that we stayed with on the first night of the trip.

Leaving SLC and heading home

Europe.... the adventure continues

March 2nd and 3rd, 2004:  I was flying out of Seattle in mid-afternoon, so I spent the morning packing, organizing, re-packing, pacing around the house, and once I was done with that, sitting around waiting to get on the shuttle to take me to Sea-Tac.  Waiting around to get on the road is always the hardest part of a trip, but once you're actually travelling, then all is fine.  So once I said goodbye to Bellingham and got on the bus, the travelling part went by smoothly.  The only problems came while  I was waiting around in Heathrow, when I realized that the exchange rate was so completely not in my favor that I couldn't afford to eat anything.  But once I got on the next plane and arrived in Lyon (one hour late...but that was fine since Iwas able get an extra hour of sleep), I had forgotten how hungry I was.  Bjarke picked me up and we were off to Serre Chevalier, where we would spend the next few days.  At about 1030pm we arrived at his friend Gunnar's place, which was also home to Swedish skier P.A. and snowboarders Johan and Erik.  Instead of going right to sleep I got to get caught up on the latest ski-porn offerings from Swedish Posse and Free Radicals.  Good stuff, and a nice teaser to what I hoped the next seven weeks would be like.

March 4th:  My first full day in France!  Luckily I was not suffering from any jet lag, so we all got up and got ready to ski.  The procedure here is pretty much the same as in the States, and I assume everywhere else: you wake up, check conditions, call friends, and go!  There wasn't any new snow so there was no real rush, so we took some time to mount up my Volkl Explosivs with some Fritschi Freerides, since most of the skiers in Bjarke's crew are fixed-heelers of some sort.  Once that was done, Bjarke and I met up with Gunnar and Christian and hit the slopes. 

Now don't take this the wrong way, but the snow did not really inspire me to greatness, nor did the new AT setup I was using.  Somehow the combination of new gear, new areas, funky snow, and being shown around by Scando-extremo mountain dudes made most of my turns about as solid as a sponge, when everyone else was rock-solid.  However, this didn't stop anyone else from going big right off the bat, and I knew I was in for something special when Bjarke mentioned that our first run might involve some billy-goating in some trees above some cliffs.  Sure enough, we ended up being a rather exposed cliff-and-tree-skiing/climbing adventure (no-fall zone #1 for the year) that led us to some old pow stashed below the cliffs.  Ok, I guess that's the European experience!  After that, we went around to some other areas of Serre Chevalier so I could get an overview of the terrain, which can be summed up in one word: vast.  Eventually we found ourselves on top of a ridge with some nice couloirs that looked like they held some decent snow.  The first one was nice and wide and the snow was as good as we had hoped, so we decided to make another lap and work our way down the ridge.  The next couloir was a bit more serious, and involved my second no-fall zone of the day.  A couple turns in nice creamy pow led to a narrow rocky ridge above a very painful-or-fatal-if-you-fell cliff that we had to downclimb to enter the couloir.  Then, once we all got into the couloir, we still had to downclimb the top section before we could get to the skiable part.  Sweet!  There is nothing quite like downclimbing what might be class 5 rock and snow with gloves and skis on to make you  focus.  It wasn't all bad; I pulled off my first "double-switch" (behind the back and moving down instead of up) mantle ever and only put a few superficial dings in the skis.  It was mid-downclimb that I started accepting the damage I was doing to my gear.  Skis are cheap, and no matter how much I wanted to keep my ski bases intact, I'd much rather sacrifice them than me so I should get used to that evil "cccrrruscchhhh" sound that p-tex and steel make when they meet rock.  Once we were in the couloir we got more of the same buffed creamy snow, and since everyone was having a good time we went for one more.  This one had an easy entrance but a mandatory air-to-straightline or downclimb-over-rocks exit.  By the end of the day I had skied the three gnarliest, most exposed lines I had skied since the last time I was in Europe! 

Bjarke in Serre Chevalier - this was before our trip and one of the images that got me excited to ski with him.

The fun didn't stop when the lifts closed, as there was a large apres-ski event scheduled for the evening.  After we cleaned up and ate dinner, we went out to the bar where it seemed every Scandinavian in the valley was hanging out.  Even though my grasp of Norwegian and Swedish languages is, for the most part, non-existant, I was able to test out some pickup lines I had learned a few years back.  End of story.

March 5th:  Seeing as how most of us trickled back to the apartment around three or four in the morning, nobody was in the mood to go skiing.  Bjarke, Gunnar, and I spent most of the morning (or what was left of it; we woke up just shy of noon) trying to figure out what happened the previous night, then took the bus down to Briancon to check up on emails, change money, shop, etc.  The rest of the day was rather uneventful until about 8pm, when met up with the Norwegian tele-lass I managed to successfully communicate with the night before.  End of story.

March 6th.  It had snowed most of the night and we hoped there would be some decent accumulations up high, but it wasn't until 1145 that I actually made it to a chairlift.  Bjarke had to give a friend a ride to the Grenoble airport so he couldn't ski, and it seemed that everyone else was either laying low or already up on the mountain.  Luckily my new friend was willing to give a tour of the area, so, tele gear in hand, we set out to find some of the goods. 

Since the upper mountain was still socked in, we stayed lower in the Danska Skogen, a patch of trees that held some nice chutes and a few new centimeters of Baker-esque snow.  After a few runs there, we checked out some other trees and chutes that yielded more of the same.  After about an hour of bashing through the trees, the skies cleared enough to venture into the alpine areas, where we were rewarded with some nice buckle-deep cream on top of a slightly crunchy but forgiving base.  The terrain and snow allowed us to let the skis run, and we worked our way down a ridge, enjoying fresh lines on every run.  Eventually the clouds started to come back in and the light got flat, so we headed down the mountain and called it a day.  Everyone was expecting the weather to bring some more new snow, so the evening was spent getting gear ready for a potential pow day.

March 7th.  Pardon the cliche, but I literally missed the bus in the morning.  Bjarke, Gunnar, and the rest of the crew took off before I was ready to go but gave me directions to where I was supposed to meet them.  I was hoping that my finely-tuned, BA-equipped geographer training was working that morning because I only sort of understood where to go.  As luck would have it, I never needed to use my skills because as I was walking out the door, I was picked up by Jenny and Karin, two Swedish girls I had met the other day.  I piled in to their Saab and we rocked out to Iron Maiden on the way to the hill (there I was being guided around by Swedish ripper chicks that listen to Iron Maiden...have  I mentioned how much this place kicks ass?).  When we got up to the area where I was supposed to somehow meet up with Bjarke and the rest of his crew I decided that I might as well take some runs with the girls while I was waiting, as there was no sense in standing around.  It sounded like this was the sort of area where we'd all meet up eventually anyways.  In the past, Bjarke had mentioned that Serre Chevalier had some of the best tree skiing anywhere he'd ever been, and about three turns into my first run with the girls I had to agree.  Bluebird, not-epic-deep but still great snow that was untracked covering a slope that had pitch of maybe 35 degrees, peppered with trees that screamed "big fast GS turns!" and a few little drops thrown in for good measure.  Maybe it was the sun and the snow, or the company, but I have never skied through trees with such speed and confidence as I did on that run.  Ok, I take that back.  The next run was even better because I knew where I was going and didn't have to stop every once in a while to make sure I was going the right way!  On our way up the chair we decided to check out another area that looked equally promising.  The Yret face had been described to me by Bjarke a few days earlier as a sort of "show-off" area since there were a lot of rocks and chutes right under the chair.  He also mentioned that it was one of the rockiest slopes around, home to the type of rocks that look like piles of broken glass waiting to rip your bases, clothing, and flesh to shreds.  Sure enough, we had to do some serious "belightasafeather" skiing through thin snow, hoping to avoid the most obvious patches of disaster.  Our efforts were largely futile, as most of our turns on the first third of the slope were greeted by that "cccrrruschhh" sound that I had become so familar with (it reminded me of Utah in a way).  On the way down, my guides told me that once we were below the first third or so of the slope, the rocks would not be an issue.  Once I got to where it looked safe, I took off and burned the bottom of the slope in about four big turns, thinking to myself "Wow! This is great snow!  I hope I don't hit anything, because if I do I will end up doing some serious high speed starfishing."   But my guides were correct and we all made it down intact.  We were about to do another lap when we met up with Bjarke, Gunnar, and the rest of the boys.  Apparently they had spent the morning skiing an area that had not been skied at all this season, even though the approach was neither a challenge nor a secret.  Two of the crew (Gunnar and Johan, a snowboarder) each had two of the worst coreshots I have ever seen for their efforts, but our now super-sized posse pushed on.  Everywhere we went we were treated to wide open slopes covered in creamy smooth snow and amazingly enough, I managed to avoid hitting any more rocks for a while.  Bjarke in particular was in the mood for some more adventurous stuff, so when most of the crew went for a lunch break, Gunnar and I joined him in hiking up the Cucumelle, towards a line called Skægget, named after our friend Ragnar's beard.  It seems that just about every line around here is guarded by bands of rocks that require some finesse to pass, but once we sidestepped below them, the rest of the run was perfect.  Proud of laying down some fine lines in exciting terrain, we went to the restaurant, where we met up with another bunch of Swedish and Norwegian girls.  After the break, we ended the day with a run down the Montagnol valley, which is like a Spanky's Ladder/Blackcomb Glacier on steriods.  All in all, it was a great day of skiing, and whatever was wrong with the AT setup (or most likely me) was no longer an issue.

That afternoon I was informed that there was another very large Scandinavian ski bum house party planned for the evening that was not to be missed (among other things, "skandalar befaras!", or scandals expected! was printed on the flyer), and it would be in all of our best interests to show up.  Seeing as how it was mostly just the standard mix of skiers and alcohol,  it wasn't much different than some other ragers I've been to, but I don't think I've ever been to a party in a ski town that had such a nice M/F ratio.  Again, I was the only North American in the sea of Scandinavians and my ability to communicate was limited, but I was able to hold my own and represent for the folks back home.  Scandalous indeed!

March 8th. 

Most of us were able to peel ourselves off of whatever horizontal surfaces we ended up on and make it to the hill by noon, but apparently our Danish companion ended up M.I.A. last night, or at least I.A. somewhere else.  Anyways, Gunnar, Johan, P.A., and I spent the afternoon searching for the goods, first trying the alpine areas and finally ending up lapping the trees in the Frejus area.  When we made it back to the house Bjarke was still unaccounted for, but he eventually sauntered in with a large grin on his face, so apparently he had found a scandalous situation to call his own.   That evening, Bjarke and I planned on heading over to La Grave to visit some other friends and get a change of scenery, but upon hearing reports that the Col du Lautaret was closed, we ended up sticking around Serre Chevalier.

March 9th.  I'm finally getting into the swing of things here, and even though the names of certain places still elude me or I've learned and forgotten them already, I am beginning to know where to go as conditions change.  This morning Gunnar and I decided to leave our Danish companion to whatever he was up to and head up to Monetier to sample some of what we thought would be decent snow in the trees.  We ran into Bjarke on our way out the door (there was that big grin again) and made plans to meet up with him later on.  A short bus ride, two chairlifts, and a traverse took us to the same ridge that we had been spending most of our time on.  The Tabuc ridge seems to have the best variety, longest vertical, and often the best snow.  It was no problem choosing between the trees or the couloirs that we had done on day one, since it seems that nobody but the Scandinavian Connection ever goes here.  Plus, there is plenty of terrain to play with and whatever we didn't do now could safely wait for the next run.  After a couple of laps we picked up Bjarke and just continued the now standard-issue routine of a few long runs, then a coffee/lunch break, then a few more lines, then back to the ranch.  Amazingly, there was another party planned for tonight, which surprised me seeing as now many people still hadn't recovered from the one a few nights ago, but when we got there it was pretty dead.  It seems nobody was in a party mood so the night ended pretty unspectacularly.  Which is probably a good thing, since I think everyone could use a bit of sleep.

March 10th.  Today was pretty cool, since I got to ski with some folks I hadn't skied with or seen since the last time I was in Europe.  Bjarke's good friend (and my host for my La Grave stay last year) Tobias Liljeroth and his fiance Shara came over from La Grave with our buddy Jurkki, a Finnish La Grave transplant.  The three of them joined Bjarke, Gunnar and I at the base of Monetier.  The six of us found our way the couloirs, trees, and excitement of the Tabuc ridge, lapping the goodness and having a great time catching up.   As the day progressed we noticed that the clouds and winds were increasing, which meant a storm was coming.  The winds got so bad by the end of the day that it became quite painful to ski into the wind, which seemed to be coming from whatever direction we wanted to go at the time.  Another interesting development was that, even though we were all on big fat skis (Jurkki's Stockli DP's had the narrowest waist at 91mm), we ended up spending a lot of time carving huge GS turns on the buffed-out piste.  Jurkki and Tobias were particularly amused since, living in La Grave, they never get the chance to ski groomers.  A trip to Briancon to stock up on food, a mega pasta feed, and the Real Madrid/Munich football game capped a very nice day, and since it had started snowing in town sometime during the afternoon, we were all excited by the prospects of a powder day tomorrow.

March 11th.  Powder!  In a moment of optimism, I picked up my tele gear for the first time in a couple of days, figuring/hoping that the conditions would be good enough.  I was a bit nervous as there was only a little bit of snow on the ground when we walked to the bus, but looking up at the nicely covered mountains towering above us gave all of us hope.  Sure enough, when we got up to the Tabuc ridge, we were met by snow that had accumulated to almost knee deep in places.  We still hit bottom every once in a while, and that "cccrrrrrruschhhh" never totally went away, but it didn't matter.  The snow we got to ski once we dropped into the couloirs and the trees was fast and sluffy, making for exciting skiing.  After two runs down to the bottom we decided to mix it up a bit and took the chair up to the Yret face (the one with rocks at every turn for the first third...).  Bjarke is quite proud of me since I no longer balk at patches of rocks in the way; thanks to him, I'm learning quite fast which patches are most important to avoid (the solid ones that rip you apart) and which patches are for walking or skiing on to get to the goods (the loose shale-esque ones that don't do anything but sound bad).  At this point I didn't care about walking and skiing over the rocks since all I really wanted to do was let the Hippy Stinx run in the best snow since I've been here.  The run was as fast and as good as we had hoped, but once I got to the piste at the bottom I noticed a loose feeling in one of my bindings.  Looking down at them when we got to the lift, I noticed that I had somehow snapped one of the rods connecting the spring to the toeplate.  Hmm... time to download, bus back to the ranch, and switch out to the AT gear.  Now I am paying for being an idiot and breaking the most important rule of tele skiing, which is BRING SPARE PARTS!!!!  I don't think finding UTB rods and springs in Europe will be easy.

It took about an hour of bussing and cussing to get back to Monetier, where I ran into Gunnar, who was sitting at the restaurant with a bag of ice on his leg.  Apparently he had attempted to straightline most of the Yret face but blew up spectacularly (nobody actually saw the crash but the Morse-code tracks and gear left all over the snow suggested we missed out on a show) in some rollers at the bottom, starfishing for what looked like over 30 or 40 meters -slightly uphill for the last 15 or so- and ended up sprawled out on the piste.  After hearing the story, I went back up the Yret face to check out a little cliff I had been eyeing since I got here.  Bjarke, Christian, and everyone else I had started the day were nowhere to be found (a line down the Skægget suggested that at least one of them had hiked the Cucumelle) so lapping the Yret would probably be the best way to find someone.  Sure enough, after one run I did end up meeting snowboarder Andreas, and skiers Elizabeth and Anton, Swedish folks that I had met earlier.  We took a run down the Montagnol valley, back up to the Yret, then finished the day skiing some of the trees on the frontside down to the bus.  And today is Thursday, which means crazy Scando-scandal apres ski fiestas. 

March 12th.  Ughh.... I don't know about the rest of the crew, but if every Thursday is like the past two, then... I don't know where I am going with this, but I will say that a good time was had by all.  The weather had turned from the usual bluebird and it looked like it was pretty stormy up high, so most of us took the day off to recuperate while the snow piled up on the mountain.  Bjarke spent most of the day hanging out with his lady friend, and it took me about three hours of waffling over what to do about my current ski situation.  Given that most of the crew here was alpining, and that the terrain almost always called for the biggest ski you could find, I was leaning towards taking what was left of my UTB's off my Hippy Stinx and putting the Freerides on them.  Or I could just leave the skis as-is and just wait for parts to arrive, or I could put some of Bjarke's Rottefella R8's or old Look alpine binders on... but by the time I had quit waffling and made up my mind all the shops were closed so I did nothing.  And now I'm back to waffling.  While I'm on the subject of alpine vs. AT vs. tele, let me mention that even though we are riding lifts most of the time, the majority of the skiing we are doing is about as "backcountry" as you can get.  Most of it is uncontrolled and unpatrolled, and much of the time there are consequences if you bail in the wrong place or at the wrong time.  Snow-wise, you never know what you are going to get, which is why most people go for the security of full-on alpine setups over the you-never-know factor of tele (and to a lesser extent, AT) gear. 

Anyways, it was snowing in town all day long, and when those that had gone skiing came back they brought favorable reports with them.  A forecast check indicated the snow would continue, so we (amazingly) went to sleep early.

March 13th.  We cursed ourselves and everyone else by over-hyping this storm.  Somehow, the storm gods noticed our excitement and turned off the cold sometime in the middle of the night.  If I was back home I'd say we got Pineapple Expressed, but it doesn't matter.  As Bjarke and I hiked to the chair we noticed the trees on the lower half of the mountain were awfully green, and as we uploaded we both noted that our breakfast porridge probably had a lower moisture content than the snow we were seeing.  And if it had been snowing all day and all night, where was the thick blanket of fresh?  How come we could still see all the old tracks and twigs and rocks?  Our first run down the Danska Skogen was disappointingly crunchy and dense (even for Mt. Baker standards), and once we got out of the trees and onto the piste we were greeted by a few cm's of sticky snow that yanked our skis out from under us with every other turn.  Given the conditions, I was surprised we lasted an hour before we called it a day.  Once we got down from the mountain and out of  our soggy ski gear we took full advantage of the rest of the day; Bjarke walked the streets of Briancon with his lady friend and I spent a few hours playing guitar with the house band at the apres-ski bar.  The jam session went well, and with a few more hours of practice I think I'll be ready to join them on stage next Thursday.  Well, we're all planning on me playing with them no matter what.  Yeah, I'm a rock star!

Unfortunately the last installment is missing so you can’t read about my triumphant rendition of “It Must’ve Been Love” sung in every key at the bar, or the story of the Finnish Ballgrabber, my kidnapping by/invite to the all-girl party in La Grave, or any of the rest of the ridiculousness that we got up to in late March/early April.  Those stories will live on in the memories of those who experienced them.  Maybe it’s for the best!

Here are a few of images from the Dolomites and La Grave from the spring of 2005.  They are by Carl Skoog, who featured prominently in the US portion of the 2004 writing and passed away shortly after these images were taken.  

L-R: Bjarke, Gunnar, me, Tato, Nacho, Edu, Tato. No we did not actually piss on the church. 

Walking in the Dolomites

L-R Nacho, Edu, me, Bjarke

L-R Tato, Gunnar, Nacho, Edu, me, Bjarke

Bjarke contemplating Alastair’s broken wrist in La Grave.

Bjarke, Gunnar, and I walk through La Grave.

Adam Ü checks in with his season edit for 2013 - 2014.  With a cinematography budget that would make Travis Rice jealous, this edit is chock full of the most progressive skiing you've ever seen, complete with cutting edge tricks off of massive cliffs, first descents of ridiculous Alaskan spine walls, insane urban jibbery....

Oh wait, we were thinking of someone else.  This is another all-POV meadow-skipper.  Oh well.

(Written by Adam)

For the past three years I've spent a good portion of the month of January in Japan, and every year I've experienced the best snow of my life.  Last year we brought filmmaker John Trousdale of Animas Media/The Ski Channel to document our experience in Myoko and this is what he came up with.  I hope you enjoy!

More info and an article about the trip HERE

(Written by Gomez)

September 18, 2013:

We arrived in Bariloche the day before.  The "pinche puelche" (fuckin' wind) shut us down at Volcan Villarica in Pucon for the last couple of days.  Crossing the pass to Argentina Volcan Lanin, the tallest volcano in the Lakes Region, greeted us and marked the transition zone between the lush temperate forests of Chile and the vast, dry steppes of Argentine Patagonia.  Our first day at Cerro Catedral was a stellar bluebird day with afternoon spring corn skiing.  Despite the lower mountain lacking snow there was certainly no shortage on the upper slopes.

September 19, 2013:

A greybird day settled in this morning and the forecast called for afternoon snow showers.  Unexpectedly that evening while toasting Ullr with Fernet libations snow began to fall all the way to the lake level.  I'd been told Bariloche was particularly cold this winter and to receive snow all the way into town and coat the shores of Nahuel Huapi I knew we were in for a late season treat.

September 20, 2013:

ULLR delivers!!!!  The upper mountain of Cerro Catedral received between 20-30 cm of especially dry Patagonian powder.  All the surrounding mountains also got a healthy covering.  The last storm of the 2013 South American winter came at a very opportune time for me and my compadres.  Once we got to Catedral we headed directly for the top of the Nubes lift which was closed all morning.  I love it when this lift is closed on powder mornings.  It means you can get several 20 minute hikes in before the masses shralp one of Catedral's premier faces.  We took full advantage of their slow opening and only had to share this terrain with a handful of other hikers.  When the lift finally opened at 2 pm we'd already skied our favorite lines untouched.

September 21, 2013:

We road tripped around Lago Nahuel Huapi to the small, boutique ski center Cerro Bayo, outside the village of Villa la Angostura.  Wanting to skip the weekend crowds and unruly lift cues at Catedral, Cerro Bayo is a great escape from the madness.  About an hour and fifteen minutes from Bariloche, Cerro Bayo is a small center with incredible views of Lago Nahuel Huapi and its hidden bays and densely forested peninsulas.  This was the first year Cerro Bayo installed gondolas both at the base of the mountain and one all the way to the summit.  Yesterday the summit gondola was closed and there were only a handful of tracks on its face when we arrived.  Honestly I was a bigger fan of the hike to the summit as it preserved Bayo's best terrain for those who wanted to earn it, but today I was grateful for being able to take multiple rides and still have untracked playgrounds just a short tour from the ridge line.  The touring possibilities at Cerro Bayo abound.  A pair of skins can take you to great places like the Black Box which is about an hour and a half tour from the top.  I decided to stay closer and milk the Bayo slack country skiing an untouched face multiple times while only requiring a 15 minute tour back into the resort. What a great day to welcome spring in the Andes!!

September 22, 2013:

Cat-Skiing at Baguales.  Argentina's newest cat-ski operation at Baguales Mountain Reserve is a privately owned 14,000 hectare (Yes that is 34,500 acres) snowy playground. The name Baguales is an Argentine word for a wild cow that roams the hills and grasslands of Patagonia.  Located deep in the Patagonian Andes about an hour and a half south of Bariloche we navigated a few significant river crossings in 4x4 trucks before arriving at Baguales' summer lodge, a very sophisticated lodge complete with pool table and 4 very comfortable bedrooms.  From here we continued a short way in the trucks before switching to snow machines for the last couple of kilometers to Baguales' very sophisticated mountain refugio.  We were greeted here with excellent coffee, fresh croissants and raspberry jam while Pao, the Ullr inspired bearded guide, gave our safety briefing and day's mission.  The mountain refugio also has 4 very comfortable bedrooms where guests can base themselves for multiple day adventures.  The new piston bully  snowcat toured our group of 10 throughout the mountain preserve.  While many of the runs were not exceptionally long the amount of skiing our group did satiated all our powder desires.  Being able to cover so much ground and ski such a variety of terrain makes Baguales an ideal snowcat operation.  Still relishing the last storm of the winter's gift we tracked a wide range of Baguales' snow playground.  We made it back to the refugio in the late afternoon spring glow and were treated with delicious apres snacks and of course cold beer!!!! It was a pleasure seeing Baguales' owner Hubert's powder smile and the pride he has in his mountain reserve.  In the next couple of days he planned to ski tour to other areas of the reserve in order to get in shape for a Chile volcano mission and talking with him and seeing the vast terrain with my own eyes the possibilities are exceptional and the future very bright for Baguales.

September 23, 2013:

Mission Mallin Alto- While Baguales epitomized sophisticated mountain living and modeled after the more civilized Canadian mountain lodges, Mallin Alto was a true gaucho rustic snow experience.  Mallin Alto is a project in the making and like Baguales  it encompasses a vast amount of Patagonian terrain with a multitude of connecting ridges accessing various pitches and mountain aspects .  Project director Kao D's grandfather homesteaded the lower valley which serves as the gateway to this mountain playground.  The access road winds through river beds, cattle pasture, piercing spire rock outcroppings and up into the dense forest of old growth where the dirt road turned to snow and we swapped the truck for a 4 wheeler with snow-cat treads.  Climbing through the forest, squirreling around between mud and snow we arrived at the geometric dome that serves as Kao's mountain base camp.  The dome reminded me much of the yurt trips I've taken around Idaho and Montana.  Equipped with an antique wood cooking stove and a wrap around deck it was not hard for Kao to convince Craig and I to spend the night, especially when he presented us with a few cold Quilmes upon our arrival.  We set out in early afternoon on the snow quad and still found dry powder on the South facing slopes.  Epic views of Tronador, the highest peak in the region, and into the Chilean distance the perfectly conical Volcan Osorno.  We crossed paths with a lone zorro, a Patagonian fox, as it wandered the vast, empty snow dunes while we explored future routes and descents.  All epic adventures involve a little misadventure and on our last run the snow quad shat the bed and we had to slap on the skins and walk out under the star filled Patagonian sky.  It is a memory I will not forget soon, the sky illuminated with a gazillion stars, the Southern cross acting as the ever present compass, and the vastness of these mountains highlighted by the glow of the milky way.  Those first beers at the geodome tasted extra delicious and Kao prepared us a homemade pasta sauce that filled our bellies to hearts content.

September 24, 2013:

Mission Mallin Alto - We only got a few turns in today with the snow quad being down.  Nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the rays on this gorgeous bluebird day on Mallin Alto's deck.  Not a bad place to be broke down with a stockpile of Quilmes cervezas.  Kao's cousin was planning on meeting us at 5pm with the truck in the valley so there was no rush to leave.  The second quad did not have snow treads but had no problems getting us out.  On the way down we scared up large deer or ciervo, the first one I've seen in the wild here in Argentina.  A few condors soared above us enjoying their afternoon thermals.  Kao's project here at Mallin Alto has a ton of potential and another option in the 42nd parallel.

September 25, 2013:

Road Trip Bariloche to Esquel on the Ruta 40.  After a solid night of celebrating at the Mannush Brewery in Bariloche and a few too many late night fernet & cokes we set off south down the Ruta 40 to the city of Esquel and our next ski destination La Hoya.  The road south from Bariloche could not get more scenic. Glimpses of the legendary Frey Cirque and its granite spired towers followed us as we passed several pristine lakes and mountain passes into the hippy town of El Bolson.  We stopped for a little hair of the dog at the El Bolson Cerveceria, one of the most prominent Patagonian breweries.  Bolson's dramatic peaks made a sharp contrast with the deep blue sky.  Continuing south you enter the endless wind swept steppes reminiscent of Highway 50 in Nevada.  Out of this vastness you enter the valley where Esquel sits and the base for the community run La Hoya ski center.

September 26, 2013:

La Hoya - Poor Man's Las Lenas!!! Where else on earth do lift tickets cost less than $20USD or more precisely $16.11 with Argentina's blue market exchange rate.  La Hoya is one of my favorite South American ski destinations.  It is one of those throwback ski centers, with an empty dirt parking lot, a base area with buildings that have 'character' and a friendly staff happy to see the gringo snow traveler.  Its simplicity is one of its greatest charms and coming from Bridger Bowl I have a great respect for mountains run by their community and not some large corporation who doesn't know jack about running a ski area.  La Hoya is all about function and a circuit of 3 lifts brings you to the upper ridges.  Like Alta, La Hoya is set up far better for skiers who can traverse easily to the best terrain on the mountain and drop a serious of couloirs and rock features giving them 1800 vertical feet and a solid 38 degree pitch to the base area.  Other options include 20 minute hikes to further bowls and steep faces that just seem to keep continuing around every ridge line and open even longer descents to the access road.  Today the snow remained a little hard throughout the day and although it didn't soften enough to come around to corn skiing, there was certainly pockets of chalky wind groomed powder.  And who cares I am skiing on September 26th in Patagonia!!!

September 27th, 2013:

My last day of the 2013 South American ski season and coincidently my mama's birthday.  I love paying tribute to my mom skiing on her September birthday.  Not only that but a front moved in the night before and flakes were falling during the evening all the way down to Esquel.  We awoke to a cloudless bluebird day and while not much snow accumulated enough fell to fill troughs and provide hallways of super dry powder for my final day on the slopes.  The 2013 season far surpassed 2012 where conditions were not as kind and late season turns like this were absent.  For me La Hoya is all about the short hikes to the outlying bowls.  The panoramic views into Los Alerces National Park and the jagged divide of high mountain peaks separating Argentina from Chile go on forever.  I truly love this place and can't wait to return in 2014.  We skied until 3 before hightailing back to Bariloche, cruising the empty stretches of Ruta 40 and rolling into the outskirts of Bariloche on fumes, prepared for another misadventure and unworried because we knew we'd be stuck on one of the most beautiful roads I've ever driven.

-Thank you all for the great adventures, memories, and friendships. -A huge thanks to Ben Nobel at Mystery Ranch, Dan Abrams at Flylow, and Andy Wenberg at BCA for gearing me up and being an ambassador for your awesome brands. -To Craig Ross and Gonzalo Osores Soler for your loyalty and continued commitment to making CASA Argentina the best snow trips available in Patagonia. -To my new friends at Baguales Mountain Reserve and Mallin Alto.  I wish you continued success and admire your vision for creating these snow playgrounds. -To travel mate and CASA guest Dillon Johnson for skipping out on his return flight home and extending his work sabbatical. Patagonia is way more fun than the courtroom. -Thank you Snowbrains and Coreshot for publishing my adventures and giving the snow community a glimpse into my life journey.

Buena Onda Compadres,

(Written by Gomez)

Condor Classic Trip Report: August 18-24, 2013

August 18, 2013 – Bluebird day at Portillo.  No wind, deep blue skies and super fun spring snow with a mixture of south facing chalk and north facing corn.  We worked the Roca Jack and Cara-Cara slingshot lifts in the am and after a mandatory stop at Tio Bob’s moved over to the Condor slingshot for a couple of lake runs in the afternoon.  Portillo is definitely one of the most spectacularly located ski resorts in the Andes.

The Roca Jack - Portillo 8-18-13:

Portillo Ladies at Tio Bob's 8-18-13 :

August 19, 2013 – Bluebird day at Ski Arpa.  Today we headed back up into the Valley of the Harp and Ski Arpa.  The guides were kind enough to save our CASA group freshies in Avalanchas and El Cirque to end our day.  Ratoneras and Tony’s Bowl were variable but if you found the right variableness the snow was soft and spongy.  Once again the CASA group celebrated the day with an epic Arpa après session!!!

CASA Guide Alex Taran chalkin' it at Ski Arpa 8-19-13:

CASA guide Theresa 'Tree' Clinton finding the right variableness at Ski Arpa 8-19-13:

The most interesting man at Arpa - Kevin O'Connell in his glory - Keep Skiing My Friends!!!:

August 21, 2013 - Storming at Nevados de Chillan.  Most of the mountain operations were shut down today, so our group went for a walk up the mountain and some untracked in the Chuecos bowls. This rogue full moon storm was the perfect refresher as the slopes here were getting pretty firm and icy the last couple of days.  Fortunately the storm came in without substantial wind and started warm and finished cold leaving the mountain draped in a velvety snow blanket.

August 22, 2013 – Bluebird at Nevados de Chillan. Today our group reaped the benefits of the past day’s rogue storm.  About 6 inches of velvety Andean pow covered the mountain and while there were the occasional scratchy turns particularly on north facing slopes most of the mountain skied powtastically!!!!  We spent the day lapping the Pirigallo Valley and finished with a final lap in the playful and lunaresque Tres Marias.

Stoked!!! CASA guest Lindsay Cooper:

CASA guide Theresa 'Tree' Clinton getting some velvet freshness - Nevados de Chillan 8-22-13:

Paul Farley laying it down - Pirigallo Valley - Nevados de Chillan - 8-22-13:

August 23, 2013 – Bluebird at Nevados de Chillan.  We spent the morning gobbling up powder pitches in Tres Marias while allowing the ridges to warm up for our afternoon adventure in the Nevados backcountry.  Our group laid the only tracks down Valle Hermoso and this west facing valley softened perfectly for our late afternoon descent.  One of my favorite valleys to ski in the Andes!!!!

Lindsay Cooper making it look pretty - Tres Marias - 8-23-13:

Blair Banker having some fun in Tres Marias 8-23-13:

Cat Hulford laying down some freshies in Nevados de Chillan backcountry 8-23-13:

Blair Banker charging the Nevados de Chillan Backcountry 8-23-13 :

August 24, 2013 – Bluebird at Nevados de Chillan.  Our normally scheduled departure day got delayed in order to attend to more powder business.  This time we headed direct for the Nevados backcountry and one of my favorite circuits; Aquas Calientes & Valle Hermoso.  Our drop into Aquas Calientes was the best snow of the week, even days after the full moon storm.  This south facing gem was velvety smooth.  We toured back up to Valle Hermoso for our final descent of the trip and skied another untracked face and exited with a final ski past the steaming fume roles.

Blair Banker sending it in Nevados de Chillan Backcountry 8-24-13:

Paul Farley surfing the Nevados de Chillan backcountry:

Hopefully another storm will be rolling in this week. We are headed off next to Tres Valles, Nevados de Chillan, Corralco & Villarica, and plan on heading to Argentina around September 16th.

-Gomez

I've had a killer season in WA and should be posting up a season re-cap here really soon. However, my grad school research has kept me plenty busy. For example, we've been working building force sensors that are designed to be mounted under the bindings of a snowboard.  

We just launched a crowd-funding campaign to help fund my thesis research into Terrain Park Safety. 

Please visit our campaign here:  Terrain Park Research

You can also learn more about our lab on our website: http://depts.washington.edu/abl/ssrf and on Facebook.

Donations of any amount will help and if you're not able to donate, at least spreading the word is a huge help.

You can see more about what our goals are and how you can help in the video below:

(Written by Francesco)

I was a bit skeptical when I first saw the Volkl Katana vWerks at ISPO. This shocking ski won the ISPO award, but at first sight it seemed to be more a toy than a big mountain ripper. The ultra-thin sidewalls, albeit in sexy carbon, did not inspire a lot of durability confidence. Plus I've had previous dull experiences with ultra-light carbon skis which simply had not enough mass to decently manage any sort of hard or complex snow. Buzz at Volkl's stand was intense, but equally intense was the bottom noise "I will certainly delaminate these in a few turns..."

The ISPO Jury, though, released a strong series of sentences about this CarboKatana:

"The Völkl Katana V-Werks revolutionizes the freeride ski market. The developers of this ski managed to significantly reduce the weight to an unprecedented extent - an incredible achievement when comparing it to other freeride skis of the same length and width. In addition, the completely innovative and very well-engineered 3D construction with super thin carbon flanks that simultaneously reduce the gyrating mass provide a previously unimaginable performance for both ascents and descents. The full carbon jacket with the extremely light woodcore offers the torsional stiffness and precision of freeride skis designed for absolute experts. However, the Katana V-Werks is also a very pleasing and almost forgiving ski due to its very precise rocker construction, its dampening and the woodcore that reaches evenly from tip to tail. The result: exceptional precision and adaptability that supports turns of any speed and offers maximum fun on the mountain." (quoted from Wolfgang Pohl, DSLV, Garmisch-Partenkirchen - GER).

So... when at the Verbier Xtreme demo days I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on a 184 CarboKatana, I simply could not resist. The turf was decent for a demo day: stashes of hard snow, spots with transforming spring corn in sunny faces, hidden pow bowls.. Almost a bit of everything. First, let me tell you that I am an happy user of the regular 184 Katana. I believe this metalized green beauty is - along with the Blizzard Cochise - the perfect Verbier daily driver for any day without new snow. It's perfectly locked to hard snow, turns in an almost effortless way (remember, it's NOT the demanding 191!) and once you're on them a ski day has no crud crust or rotten snow limit. When you look at the carboKatana, it's pretty hard to believe that they have the same dimensions, shape and camber of the classic green katana: you immediately note the almost non-existant carbon flanks and the impressive sound of the superthin tip and tail when hittin the snow. You click in the bindings, and immediately realize the lack of weight of the extremities. No swing effort at all. OK will these grip dencently hard snow and effectively slice the crud and the corn? I could not believe it, but the answer is pretty simple. Yes.

In spite of being so light, the tip of the carboKatana works perfectly. As in the metalized green version, the minimal front and rear rocker locks the Katana to hard snow, while allowing a very easy turn initiation and design. In spite of being so minimal, front blades slice pretty efficiently pow and corn. If you look at the ski, it's clear how all of the driving mass is under your foot. What makes a huge difference vs most of previous dull full carbon skis is the torsional stiffness. It might be because of the 3D profile, it might be because of the type of carbon layering and wood core used in central section of the ski... the flanks and edges of the CarboKatana have an amazing resistance to torsion.

Time runs fast when on the CarboKatana, and the two hours I was given expired pretty soon. But I had enough time for a few final considerations:

-The CarboKatana's are a lot of fun. In regular snow, whatever hard or soft or corn, they roll and slice. And the skier is always happy and asking for more.

-The CarboKatana requires a well tempered leg. It's easy, but carbon construction transfers all the contact stress to the leg of the driver. It's demanding.

-The CarboKatana is not fun in bumps when visibility is not perfect. The tails and tips are not made to absorb, and if you do not drive perfectly them you get tired very soon.

-The CarboKatana is a light ski that - as all light skis - will suffer the lack of critical mass in heavy rotten chop. But it's much better of many other superlight carbon skis I've tried.

If I was 20-30 and very rich (cost will gravitate around 1k or more), the CarboKatana would be a go. Being 51, on a diet and on a budget, the advantage of the CarboKatana over a classic metal Katana is likely to be restricted to a few defined spots: skinning (dunno the weight, but likely to be 15-20% less of the metal version), and apres-ski where the carbon must have a clear cut magnetic effect performance.

(Written by Gomez)

I am finally coming to grips with my cultural hangover and return to the U.S. from Japan.  A few weeks of 3% sake powder, bountiful sashimi, heated toilet seats and daily hot water baths will change one's perspective on life.

I started my journey on the island of Honshu and was immediately humbled by the size and complexity of terrain in the Japan Alps.  I can see why Nagano was an excellent choice for the winter Olympics, these resorts are big!!!!! Tsugaike Kogen ski area boasts a tram that travels more than 4000 meters in length.

I truly believe some of the best snow I've ever skied was on the island of Hokkaido.  Big flakes of super fluff seemed to fall daily.  Roadside snowbanks towered above. Enchanted forests of white plastered birches and heavily loaded spruces providing the perfect powder haven.

In addition to skiing in some of the lightest, driest snow of my life I was just as mesmerized by the culture of Japan.

-Gomez

  M. David Johnson

Owner/Operator CASA Tours

[email protected]

+ 1 406 570 8292

(Written by Jeff)

February Storming

Skiing around Stevens Pass with Kristin Campbell, Rob Kilcup and Erik Einwalter during a deep storm cycle.  Good times were had by all.

(Written by Francesco)

Gear geeks like me do not care about Christmas or their birthday. They just care about ISPO (if they live in old Yurp) or SIA if Yanks. The 2013 ISPO was predicted to be the great battle of the AT bindings vs the sidecountry boots... and so it was, but I also got some very interesting details that you might appreciate as well.

You already know everything about the new Dynafit Beast 16, which was widely covered by press releases and pictures, so let me just tell my frank opinion. Too big, too heavy, too pricey. As a small tiny old skier I do not need 16 DIN and more than half a kilo for an AT binding. But of course I am very interested in toe elasticity.. and then it comes the new Trab binding. You Coreshot readers were among the first, two ISPO ago, to see the proto version of the Trab, and now it is finally here: elastic toe and a very intriguing, innovative heel unit which works in the most intuitive (and maybe efficient too..) way. Unfortunately, and here comes the devil, this binding needs a dedicated device in the heel of the boot. Not something you can simply screw like for the Dynafit Beast, but something that should be included when molding the boot. So for the next winter there will be only one Trab binding-compatible boot, an amended version (I believe) of the Scarpa Rush. I would have liked more a Maestrale RS, but only time will tell about this marriage..

The new Fritschi Zenith was on display even though at a very primordial prototype status, likely done with a 3D printer or something like that. This notwithstanding, the project is very exciting: light (half a kilo), elastic in the toe, simple.... and promised to be cheap. Want to try asap, but hey, Fritschi, do not rise me too much over the ski like with your old Freerides... We do not want and need that.

  The Italian ATK factory is gaining a lot of momentum in the Southern Alps. I have friends who are thrilled and true believers in them. As they are made near by the Ferrari car factory, their newest 12 DIN release was in an elegant and flamboyant Ferrari red. Very attractive, the only bias being the still "ouch" front stopper. ATK displayed also a novel and very intriguing new NTN-compatable telemark binding. Every telemarker knows how much we need new blood in the tele arena, so ATK is most welcome.

  Walking on ice is always a nightmare. Vibram introduced a new concept sole named Ice Three, and anyone could try it walking over a huge ice cube. Very convincing. Now we need it on ski boot soles, maybe as an aftermarket option...

Apart from bindings and boots, the ISPO 2013 big buzz was the new superlight and superthin Volkl Katana. You cannot believe how thin these sticks are, hope the pic can render it... Of course big boys in the hall were claiming "I can destroy these in a second.." but - again - only time will tell.

    And now, the battle of boots. Well, it was a memorable ISPO. Major new concepts, and to be honest all of the boots I am going to present you were among the very best my feet can remember. If you need a new do-it-all boot, it will be a very difficult choice.

  New concepts: The two-piece Dalbello Panterra tongue is an engineering masterpiece, no doubt. It works as a tongue where a tongue is most needed, and it works as an overlap where an overlap is most needed. My only concern is why Dalbello is using it in one of their few boots with a large internal last volume and no Intuition liners...

  New details: The new Sportiva Spectre is a fireworks of innovative issues that might change the way we think about tongue boots. Kudos to Nicola Viniero and all the Sportiva team. The tongue can be inserted in three different positions, so to serve different feet. The upper tongue has been cut to better serve your bones (BTW, I know many people who is cutting this way their tongues in other types of boots), and some triangular holes have been designed to increase stiffness where needed. The buckles can stay open to better slip into the boot, and the micrometric regulations are among the finest one can imagine... and not surprisingly they were patented. Now the question everyone has in mind: OK they're the lightest 4 buckle, will have a competitive price, there's some carbon inside the nylon... but how do they flex and ski? Room temperature at ISPO was too high to grab any decent idea, we need to wait.

A true breakthrough was introduced by K2. They used to have their own boot line (and some were on display), but K2 re-entered the boot market with a sort of Colombo's egg: Just plug a tech insert into classic alpine soles, you do not need and want swappable AT vs alpine soles. Pros: there is no room for weakness due to screws in the system, and a rockered sole is needed only when walking on flat... something skiers do not look for. Cons: this alpine-ISO certified sole will never have a grip similar to AT solutions.

Another breakthrough is the walk/ski system developed for the Scarpa Freedom: a metal feel and a soundly click that have no rivals. The Freedom comes in a pebax plus carbon and a PU version. Again, the hot ISPO halls are the wrong place to test the pebax flex, but the PU gave me the best "locked foot" feel of the day. And the Freedom has the best walk of this brand new "sidecountry" or "do it all" boot category. Can't wait to ski the freedom.

Finally, walking through the show catwalks is always exciting. You can meet friends, pros, hot scandinettes, and legends. And sometimes legends have a mohawk...

(Written by Francesco)

I've always been waiting for reports about durability and performance of the gear I like most. A 50-day check might make sense: It's about two winter seasons for some weekend warriors, about one season for a gear geek like me, and half/third of a season for die hard ski bums. I've used this stuff in the Alps and in the Tierra del Fuego, and here is how they worked and survived. They'll certainly work more and maybe will reach a 100-day second check, time will tell. Please consider just one caveat: as any gear geek, I probably take much more daily care of my stuff than the average warrior.

Scarpa Maestrale RS:

I skied the mango pebax maestrale for one winter, and was truly happy with them when skiing sticks up to 2 kilos or - say - 100 in the middle. When I was so lucky to receive exactly one year ago these RS proto from Scarpa I could not imagine, even in my wildest dreams, how good they can be in driving 2.5 kg and/or 120-something sticks (Renegades, Automatics, Sideseth, Shiro, even Katanas on soft snow). Grilamid (+ the other mysterious stuff added by Scarpa) is truly another world compared to pebax. And what about durability? This nylon seems to be more resistant to abrasion than other plastics like polyolephins used by other brands with fantasy names and heavy mesmerizing colours to cover the scratches. I did not feel any significant failure in the flex, buckles and walk/ski devices after 50 days of intense use. My only (minor) issue has been the loose of a spoiler screw, and I was so lucky to find it inside the boot when I realized it. The Vibram sole looks almost like new, with minor consumption in the toe section that is notoriously slim in this new generation of AT boots in order to reduce weight and improve uphill mobility with tech bindings. Notably, the last one has been quite a snowy winter and I did not walk a lot on rocks. The Intuition liner is also still OK, even though I had to use a thicker sock after some 40 or so days of use.

Rab Stretch Neoshell:

Yes I sweat like a pig. Any sort of 3L membrane jacket makes me soaked as soon as I walk or ski uphill for more than a few minutes. When I read of the Neoshell concept (which trades a bit of waterproof in favor of a huge step forward in breathability), I was immediately interested and decided to get the first Neoshell jacket on the market in Fall 2011. I never had before anything from Rab. The jacket is tight, but fits well on me even when I wear my big PIEPS beacon on the chest. I immediately realized that Rab is a strong Neoshell believer when noticed the absence of ventilation zips. The first test was easy and sort of shocking. If I keep a mobile phone in the membrane pocket of a classic 3L jacket, walk and sweat, the phone gets covered by humidity in minutes. This is why serious 3L jackets must have a net pocket for mobile phones. Keep the mobile in the membrane pocket of the Neoshell, and it's never covered by humid. Wow. Said simple, Neoshell works, I sweat much less. What about the tradeoffs? I've got rain and snow in these 50 days of use, and the membrane worked well, never a serious leakage. I've got some strong wind too, and the Neoshell did not protect as a Windstopper or 3L would have been, but I have never been seriously suffering of wind chill so far. As you see from the pics, the jacket is still fully waterproof, zips are OK and I haven't seen any delamination. Finger crossed, I'd like to report another positive report after 50 more days of use.

(Written by Francesco)

  The year after hitting the Arctic Polar Circle in the north of Iceland, Marco and I felt the call of the deep south. We've never been to South America before, and being lovers of the extremities, we decided upon the last civilized spot in the Austral world. 

Day by day, we were consumed with love for Ushuaia, a little and fierce version of San Francisco facing the Beagle Channel and, down there, Antarctica.

Looks like people move here to stay away from something and contemplate the big empty. The large windows in our Hostaria were made for this, and every morning we could not leave our eyes from the first rays of light coming from the Atlantic Ocean.

Yes, we were there to ski. On our very first day, we had the gift of powder and the road to the Cerro Castor left us breathless.

The lift system at the Cerro Castor is pretty new, but so far seems to attract only racers training for the new World Cup series and beginners who want to stay on the marked lifts. In other words, no competition or pressure for tracking.

The way back to the lower lift included intense tree skiing. The Austral Beech is an elegant, tall tree that we'll remember for a long while, along with the millions of mistletoe.

Being side by side with extremo World Cup racers has some funny facets. The new generation of GS and Super G skis they must use next winter, might (maybe) save their knees (as claimed by regulators), but look someway dumb. 

And hey, who said that Dynafit bindings are not made to be used in icy slalom slopes? Marco ruled the waves.

    In addition to Cerro Castor, also the Glaciar Martial above Ushuaia had an old, tweeky chairlift. We skied it on a hot day and the snow was like sopa and polenta, but hey, who cares.

        No doubt that Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego deserve to be visited in winter. The light is low and this is the season when you really feel to be at the end of the World.

          Tierra del Fuego topo is almost non existent, but climbing/touring/skiing possibilities are limitless. A young Mountain Guide should spend here a couple of winters and make what John Falkiner and others have made in Verbier years ago. 

              And yes, there were other reasons to leave our hearts in Ushuaia. Centolla, Cordero, Malbec, Quilmes. The best food, wine and beer you can dream of. By the way we're Italian, so we know a bit about good...

(Written by Adam)

My 11/12 season has come to a close but it will go down as one of the most memorable I've had in a long time. 

It started out a bit slow for me; Baker got hammered early on but I was unable to partake in the Thanksgiving feast and by the time I had moved in to my house in December someone had turned the faucet off.  December was a bit dry but Japanuary 2.0 delivered enough pow to make up for it.  

February was also a bit slow but March was near epic, with 260 inches of pow falling over the course of the month. 

And then came April, which was a mix of pow laps on the Arm followed by spring skiing in the sunshine, Metalmücil concerts and recording sessions, and then just like that came a quick flight from the drippy Northwest to the South Pacific to start my whale-chasing summer.

Big thanks for a successful season go to Grant Gunderson, K.C. Deane, Bill Ross/Dancing Snow, Mt. Baker Ski Area, and my bandmates in Metalmücil.

Along with support from these guys! 

See you next season!

(Written by Jeff)

Over 3' fell in 48 hours this weekend at Steven's Pass. The weekend before, we skied waist deep pow during while the snow piled up at inches per hour. 

However, our community got a little darker after we lost Jim Jack, Chris Rudolph, and John Brenan last sunday. I happened to run into Chris the day before he passed. He was as happy and friendly as ever. I'm sorry I didn't get to know him better. Jim's memorial this weekend was packed, standing room only. Laughter overtook tears as stories were told of Jim's life and how his positivity influenced thousands of people all over the globe.

Will Gadd recently wrote an excellent op-ed, reflecting on the friends he's lost in the: "No single day in the mountains is worth dying for, so it must be the sum of the days that is worth that risk... How will I ever 'accept' this level of carnage, year after year?"

How/why do I accept it? I've seen people die in the mountains. It fucks you up. It took me two years to return to a run where I was doing chest compressions on a guy who didn't make it. How do I wrap my head around seeing a friend in the lift line one day and the following day he's dead? Maybe it's a delusion that I'll be safe on the days I choose to go out. For me, there's a fundamental conflict of interest because most of the time, the answers I'm looking for lie in their origin, en las montanas.

Kristin and I made this edit the night before they passed. We've had mixed feelings about putting it out in the public domain, but I know JJ, CR, and JB wouldn't want any stoke to be held back on account of what happened.

En memorium.

Our new zone.

Getting hammered.

(Written by Francesco)

Yes you already know the colors of the topsheets and have read a lot on how hot the Wailer 99 and the Hoji are, but there is still something that for any given reason has not been covered enough in the SIA and ISPO immediate reports.   No one has reported yet how elegant is the shell buckle system of the Garmont Cosmos, a lightweight (1450g) grilamid 4-buckle. With cabrio design, the shell buckles usually terribly hamper the opening of the tongue. No more with the Cosmos, which also has a very interesting walk mode with almost no attrition.

Vibram has presented the novel twinside technology for ski boots soles. Better grip while walking, and significantly improved drive of the skis. Much more to follow in a separate coreshot report.

As usual, the Norrona stand and show was an irresistible splash of catchy colors and blonde smiling scandinettes... The new matte colors are very nice too. They have nothing yet out in neoshell, but I still have hope.

You have already read bytes and bytes on how cool the Dynafit Vulcan is. Hoji is almost made shy (and not only green-eyed) by all the hype. What not many have already noted is the presence of special inserts in the sole. However, it seems that this particular item is covered by a Plake-Dalbello patent since it was first used in the Virus. Time will tell...

This Schoeller nano sphere fabric is super cool, and keep your jacket free from ketchup. Too bad not so many boutiques use it.

The Polartec Neoshell is a great step forward. I'm using a Neoshell jacket this winter and so far I'm deeply impressed by how much better it breathes and how water/snow resistant it is. After a 6-month durability test I'll certainly write a review for Coreshot.

Two hot news in Dalbello. The Sherpa is the new version of the Virus, finally with micrometric buckles and greatly improved (ie tightened) internal volumes. The walk is at the Maestrale and TLT5 level, too. The Lupo is a Krypton with a walking mode. Still proto, but very interesting.

The Salomon moldable lower shell is intriguing. Will it work well as the Fischer Vacuum? Time will tell.

The big hole in the new freeride Atomic boot series is eye-catching. Strange not so many have reported about. Will it work? It certainly worth a try.

Also, Atomic showed some innovative chassis with different flex for their alpine race boots. Keep Hoji away from them or a new Frankenboot will soon be generated...

Finally, the new Rottefella NTN freedom binding. A supersexy toy in black and pink, light and still with brakes. Can't wait to try them, but the black screen below the black binding made so difficult to make decent pics....

(Written by Jeff)

Frost lines the Gortex front of my shell; the zippers, hood liner, everything. The air leaving my lungs instantly condenses and freezes to anything it touches in the -28°C temperatures.  We hope we know our bodies and our limits at these temperatures well enough.  We are choosing smaller objectives, keeping us close to the warmth of the Sorcerer Lodge.

Sorcerer Lodge, 2012 from Jeff Campbell on Vimeo.

Ski touring at these temperatures adds a sense of urgency to everything. At changeovers, the cold creeps into any sweat-drenched article of clothing. Getting moving again is a higher priority than refueling and hydrating. After our second day, we stop preparing lunches (everything freezes) and only pack GU.  Putting our skins in our coats while skiing is the only way to keep them sticky and ski straps are the only way to force them to stick. The sun peeks out for one afternoon and we feel solar powered. This short weather window allows us views of Mt MacDonald on Rogers Pass and as far away as Banff.

Skier: Jeff Campbell Photo: Kristin Campbell

To be fair, it’s not at all miserable. Temperatures that low preserve blower powder for weeks. Four days after the last storm we’re still treated to face shots for thousands of feet. The terrain out the front door of the lodge provides gladded trees and pillow lines as big or small as we want. The trees shelter the snow from the mild winds and hold blower stashes.

At night we hydrate and dine on the fine meals each team prepares one night out of the week. It’s basically a catered trip. Jenga, banana-grams, dance parties, and sauna sessions all tighten the already close-group of 19 friends.

               Photo: Kristin Campbell

We quickly fall into the hut routine. Wake up for the weather. Pack your gear. Breakfast. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Dry your gear. Dinner. Sauna. Relax. Sleep. Then we rinse and repeat.

          Photo: Kristin Campbell

One evening, a kicker session provides entertainment until Paul takes a knee to his face. Lacy, our resident E.R. nurse, patches him up with glue and a tampon in each nostril. The second to last day, Ben dislocates his kneecap on another kicker 10 minutes uphill from the lodge. The remoteness of this place suddenly settles in. Dave, a Mt Baker "Troller" organizes an otherwise frantic crew and we rally. Ben reduces his knee by himself then continues to instruct us on how to assemble the antiquated rescue sled. He’s tough as nails. We haul him back within an hour and we shudder to think what the rescue would have involved had that happened downhill of the lodge.

Skier: Colin Ferris Photo: Kristin Campbell

The end of the week comes far too quickly. All the remaining alcohol is promptly consumed the last night. Mere acquaintances have become close friends in only 7 days.  More importantly, over the week our minds have been reset; defragmented. Hesitantly, we return to civilization. The “Phantom rings” of our phones just stopped 3 days ago. We purposely wait an extra day to turn them back on, clinging desperately to the last semblance of simplicity in our lives.  Kristin and I resolve to not let that sense of simplicity leave us as we return to the busy metropolis of Seattle.

Skier: Colin Ferris Photo: Kristin Campbell

Now, reflecting on the trip, biking to the lab every morning allows me short window pretending I’m plodding up the skinner to the next 1000m of face shots. It’s all just training for the next trip.

Photo: Kristin Campbell

Photo: Kristin Campbell

Photo: Kristin Campbell

Photo: Kristin Campbell

Mt Iconoclast Photo: Kristin Campbell

More photos and info can be found at: Jeff and Kristin Campbell.

Special shout out to Cloudveilfor making this trip possible for us.

Also thanks to Moment Skis, BernUnlimited, and Discrete Headwear