Baffin Island

I ran across this great short movie from Jordan Manley over at TetonAT. It's impressive cinematography, capturing the massive scale very well. If you like the thoughts of exploration and remoteness, mixed in with some skiing you will probably like this.

Stuck wide open

Lets just say you knew of a place where the powder was deep, the people were few and the price was right. Two guys thought that sounded pretty nice decided to seize the moment and time a potential incoming storm just right. Packing was simple, requiring not much more than your average backcountry ski outing + 3 days worth of food and drink.

Logistical issues showed up early. Before the sleds were even loaded on the trailer, there was already an issue. A sticky throttle on one sled brought the excitement down a few notches. Upon pulling the start rope the sled lurched forward instantly. Some lube, cussing and generally banging on things under the hood seemed to fix the throttle. At least temporarily.

An hour later, the sleds were unloaded and crossed over state-line. Both sleds ran fast along the trail. Silence, deep snow and trail breaking meant the skiers were one step closer to their goal. The gear was dropped in the cozy accommodations and a thigh deep trail breaking session began. Once established, the same track was used over and over the next 3 days. Perfectly spaced old growth giants lent well to the knee to thigh deep untracked powder.

All that was left afterward was to fire up the sleds and rip back to the trucks. Easier said than done. One cannot truly know your ingenuity or MacGyverness until you are stranded 15 miles from nowhere in the middle of winter. That same sticky throttle reared its head and more swearing was directed at the engine compartment. When one guy was about to give up, the other stepped up and pulled a huge trick out of his ass. Who knew that a piece of p-cord duct taped to a throttle cables could control the speed of a snowmobile? Cheers to hanging it out on the line in the name of powder.

Throw your skins away!

I've found my new mode of transportation in the backcountry. In the year of 2011 I will no longer need to expend any energy to get to where I want to ski. I'll just crank like crazy contraption up, and have it push me to the top the hill. All that's left is to ski down, and then when I reach the bottom, I'll just......wait a minute. Maybe if you are a sucker for being steamrolled by this robotic demon you'd just leave it on and go that much faster. Leave it to the Canadians.

Greg Hill pushing for 2 million vertical feet (human powered)

Greg Hill, the superhuman leg and lung machine is pushing for his goal to achieve 2 million vertical feet skied & climbed in one year. He's got till the end of this year to rack up the last 100k vertical, that's only 10k a day. He's already done 1 million in a year, so it's no joke. Greg also set the record for climbing and skiing 50,000 vert in 24 hours. I can't fathom what he has been through, not even one bit. For me a 5000ft day is a pretty big accomplishment.

If you got 9 minutes to spare, watch the video below. It gives you a great sense for the backing and support that he has from his friends and family. Kudos to those that support people with serious skiing addictions. I like to think I take it pretty seriously, but at this point can't even hold a candle to him. GO GREG! Inspiring.........

2 Million With Greg Hill from FD Productions on Vimeo.

Missing Lolo Peak Skier found dead near peak

6/21 UPDATE : KPAX - Skier died in avalanche

A very sad and horrible reminder of how hostile a June ski outing in Montana can be. The details have not been disclosed. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this young gentlemen.

The weather was quite bad the past few days. This morning from the Missoula Valley one could see the snowline had dropped down to nearly 5500 feet. The Stuart Peak snotel shows that 10" of wet heavy snow fell since Tuesday the 15th of June. Temperatures were around 33 degrees, which would have made for a very wet heavy snowfall.

"A 38-year-old skier who had been missing in the Lolo Peak area since Tuesday was found dead high in the backcountry on Friday morning. Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin said the man's body was located by ground search crews near the top of Lolo Peak at 9:20 a.m., but had not yet been recovered.

"They located his skis first, and then found his body nearby," said McMeekin, who said the initial search crew did not speculate how the skier had died.

Search and rescue crews from Missoula County, together with a helicopter search crew from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, spent all day Thursday searching for the man, who was first reported missing on Wednesday night after he failed to show up at work......"

Some very important words

Early this last week a bitter cold air mass dropped into the Missoula Valley. Temperatures plummeted -15F without wind chill. Unfortunately there was no snow so we had to look elsewhere. The girls and I were homeward bound for several days which provided some time to introduce them to some ski movies. They have seen them before but this film actually held their attention for more than a few minutes and that saying a lot :-). They are learning new words every day. But these three words: Ski Pow Pow, well they make this dad proud.

Red Bull Project X - Shaun White's Secret Halfpipe

When people spend two months to build you your own half pipe you might be good. When helicopters drop 30 charges to set off avies and work snowcats all night for you, you might have something going. Shaun White has it good.This project involves shaping a private halfpipe in one of Silverton Mountains alpine basins. The scale of this thing is mind boggling.

For all the videos and background on this massive undertaking check out http://www.shaunwhite.com/projectx/?fbid=PeIKE4rsTtl#/docvideos/intro

Shelter from the Storm - a secret, illegal cabin in the backcountry of British Columbia

I stumbled across an excellent article on the Skiing Magazine website. Reading it gives you that warm feeling that only a backcountry skier knows. These guys have taken it to a whole new level. Pouring countless hours and passion into what looks like a one of a kind place (only its probably isn't).

Canadians seem to be able to call on on their "last frontiersmen" skills much better than we can down in the US. Or maybe it's the fact that they've got so much more undeveloped alpine ground to hide a place such as this.

At any rate, if you have 10 minutes, read this article and dream of the possiblities.

Shelter from the Storm

Ultimate Ski Bum Blow your Mind Contest - Powder Highway

This is probably one of the better edits and creative ski related segments I think I've seen. And damn, what an opportunity for somebody out there. From the Powder Highway website:

One lucky Ski Bum will win a 3 Month Journey along the Powder Highway and have Free Lift Tickets at all of the Resorts, 15 days of Heli and Cat Skiing, Accommodation and Transportation provided. This place has long been a haven for Ski Bums from around the world. We're sharing that adventure through the experiences of one person - the Ultimate Ski Bum. No agenda, no job, just snow, mountains and a road that links it all together.

The Powder Highway YouTube Channel

Lou Dawson reviews Stepping Up (2nd edition) on WildSnow.com

Recently Lou Dawson over at Wildsnow was kind enough to have a look at the book Sam Cox and I put together, Stepping Up (2nd Ed). We thought who better to review the book, but the man who has written six books on backcountry travel in the Colorado high country. The ski industry is always a great place for networking.

Lou had some great compliments about the book such as, " The amount of detail is stunning — obviously of biblical import for anyone aspiring to be a disciple of “The Ridge.” ". But he also had a point of critique which I can only agree with - "...overall lack of historical anecdotes about the individual routes...". This is certainly something we can work on in the future. Thanks for everyone's support on this project, it's been a lot of fun.

Follow this link to the review on WildSnow > http://www.wildsnow.com/1851/bridger-bowl-guidebook-stepping-up/

Massive crown in Gulmarg, India

Holy balls. I stumbled across this image which was taken at Gulmarg, India. From what I can tell they recently had a pretty big storm.

This puppy let'er rip. I couldn't find many details, only that it was a 18 foot crown! Not sure on whether it was natural or done under control work. But all I can say is, WTF?

Gulmarg came onto my petty little radar about a year ago. I think the Euros probably have been going there for quite a while longer.

If you haven't heard of Gulmarg before, here's a few links etc to get started. Myself? I'm doing some research and am thinking that this trip is in order, sometime in the near future. There is something really cool to me about traveling to a 3rd world setting and shredding some pow.

Who's in?

Info/beta

The Line of Control <<<< href="http://www.gulmarg.org/">Gulmarg.org

Ski Himalaya

Gulmarg facts

Lets go.........Matt, Steve and Nate I'm talking to you!

Yurtski yurt trip

This year myself and 3 other buddies reserved the Yurtski yurt up in the Swans for the third year in a row. It seems to becoming an annual tradition, one we all look forward to. The yurt sits at about 6900 feet and very close to great skiing. The peaks and ridges around yurt top out at 8100 feet with most runs being in the 800' vert range.

We have been pretty fortunate each year we've been on the snow conditions. In 2007, the snow was great too, check out this video from that year. The 2008-09 winter in W. Montana has been a bit hit or miss this year, but we timed this trip pretty good. After a long dry spell, we arrived at the yurt with sunny skies. They morphed into a pretty constant snowfall for the next 4 days, nothing huge but enough to soften things up.

Two of us got into the yurt at about noon the first day and wasted no time getting out to sample the goods. A friend of ours had the yurt for the previous 5 days, so he lined us out on where the good skiing was. He also had a keg of beer which we did our best to help lighten the load for the ride down.

The next 3 days were pretty fricking nice. Each morning we'd wake and cook damn good breakfasts (sorry Nate for having to cook on your birthday) and get right after it. Most of the ski time was spent off the backside in the dark north trees. The sun hardly touches this snow, so its always consistent. Avalanche danger was moderate, but the south slopes were very sun affected with a nasty crust on it.

I put together a little video from the trip. Bear with it, there is not a lot of variety just good mellow tree pow. Like I said we spent a lot of time in the trees where the snow was good and the visiblity managable. Enjoy


Dark Force from O.P.I. on Vimeo.

March powdah

This last week has been filled with some highs and lows. But mostly highs, especially today's 16" of fresh March powder. Mid last week I got a call from some friends that were headed to Alaska Rendezvous Lodge outside of Valdez, Alaska. Turns out a couple that was going with them cancelled, thus losing their very $ deposit. It looked like I might be able to "use" their lost deposit. I scrambled at the chance, looking at last minute flights etc. I had even contemplated renting a car in Anchorage and driving the 5 hours to Valdez and then possibly sleeping in the car, existing on bar food-- all just to keep it $omewhat reasonable. Well, in the end I realized that I was not a doctor or dentist, only a lowly fireman that should probably just stick with the local Montana backcountry, at least until I win the lottery. Enter today...

Storm warnings had been issued and we finalized the logistics for the day. I met up with a buddy in the Bitterroot and we headed south. White curtains pushed hard against the peaks surrounding the valley. Huge flakes dropped out of the sky and we made slow time going up the pass. Did I say huge? We contemplated parking out on the highway, the lot was looking a little too deep. But alas, a quick bit of courage showed us the way and we unloaded the sleds. Finally, winter was back. It seemed like it had been too long.

Off the backside, we delightfully devoured deep deliciousness. Upon parking the sleds there was about 8" new. The skies continued to dump all day long, with the wind helping to fill in our skintrack on each run. By the time we got back to the truck, 8 more big ones had stacked up. Sixteen inches of March powder followed by Bitterroot Brewing IPA, come on. Does winter need to end?

**Slideshow, if you don't have Flash you may only see a white box below

I need to go here some day

The Don Sheldon Mountain house in Denali National Park looks unreal. I stumbled on a great trip report from last year on the TGR site. This place looks endless, but a spot that you need need to have some serious skills. I'm dreaming about one day in the future..........

Here's some basic info that I scraped up. There's not a whole out there on it, but I'll be putting this one in the back pocket.

Don Sheldon Amphitheater—a 25-square-mile icefield fed by a half dozen glaciers. The reservable Don Sheldon Mountain House that’s perched on a narrow ridge between glaciers. Most of all, when the frequent fog and clouds clear for a time, the southern flank of Denali presides over all and you’re closer than most people ever get.The tiny, one-room Mountain House is reservable by calling Roberta Sheldon at Alaska Retreat but is often booked solid a year in advance.

Check out a lot more great pictures in this thread: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Some great pictures >> http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118171

2nd edition: Stepping Up - A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl

Here we are nearly 10 years after I thought about putting this book together. We now have an updated version of Stepping Up. It's hard to believe that the book will be out on the shelves in about a week. We had thought that we might not do the 2nd edition for a few more years. But things change, and I made a decision in December to rally. I spent some long days and nights at the computer in order to get it out this winter.


Stepping Up – A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl was released in March 2005, and the first edition was entirely sold out by the end of March 2008. The book contains a foreword by Scot Schmidt, interview with Tom Jungst and closing by Dr. Robb Gaffney. Stepping Up received excellent reviews in Couloir Magazine and Outside Bozeman, it was also mentioned in Powder Magazine and The Ski Journal.

For the second printing, we have increased the amount if images in both the photo insert and body of the book, as well as made revisions to accurately reflect changes that have taken place at Bridger since 2005. Areas of interest are the Fingers, High Traverse and The Ridge. The book is 102 pages and contains 90 quality images (including pictures of Scot Schmidt, Doug Coombs, Tom Jungst, Jim Conway and other local riders). We are expecting the book to be available at local retailers in 2 weeks, you can also order a copy on our website: http://www.stepping-up.net. If you have any specific questions, please drop us a line, stepping-up@hotmail.com.

Whistler Pillow lines

This is some quality pillow action. A few unbelievable lines being absolutely worked over in Whistler. You can find more over at Salomon Freeski. Mark Abma and Mike Douglas ripping it up..............be patient it takes a while to load.

One of the best POV (point of view) ski segments yet

In my opinion this is some of the best (minus the youtube distortion) pov footage I've seen. This could seriously be what heaven is like. The terrain in this POV footage is unbelievable. While some pillows, especially those to the north, like in Canada can sometime be a bit tight and dicey. This stuff is perfect, room to let'em run. Sage Cattabriga-Alosa makes it look easy.

Pay close attention to the 1:40 to 1:50 mark, that is what dream pillows are made of.


Sage ripping North Cascades Heli


Totally unrelated, but hilarious. A buddys dad took this picture over near Butte, Montana. I guess the fella said the sled is for sale, $8000, he may even throw in the trailer.





*rode 14 miles tonight