Most of our crew bailed due to gnarly weather and then a huge wind event, scouring the slopes. We hung tight, enjoying the blue skies if nothing else. We were packed and ready to heli into the books, which is an epic ski zone that I have have been staring at and dreaming about ever since I first saw them. At the last minute our kiwi friends called to tell us they had hooked up a guy who would snowmobile us into the zone for a fraction of the price, we jumped on this oportuniy bailing on the heli ride. The man, Jeremy, packed our gear into his sle dtraile and spent the whole day shuttling us into the books one by one. The sled ride was amazing, a true alaskan adventure. About half way in, after hydroplaning across rivers and winder through the forest, over stumps and shrubs the throttle cable snapped, leaving us just about screwed. Luckily we were able to mcgiver it with some duct tape and lots of fussing around and make it to our base camp. Jeremy ended up using our jerry rig for the rest of the spring. To make a long story short, our trip was unreal, we skied tons of sweet lines, chilled out in the dome tent, feasted on king crab legs and Alaskan salmon and then on our last night after shredding pumpkin light lines the northern lights graced us with their powerful presence. The Aurora Borealis danced overhead all night, snaking across the sky, shifting through the whole color spectrum. Just when we thought we had seen the best of it, curtains of color dancing in the wind dropped right on us, We were on our backs half crying half laughing. It was an extremely powerful experience. I felt the spirit of our recently passed friends, Wallace Westfeldt, Jonny Nicoletta, Billy Poole, and my father, dancing with us, saying hello and good bye. It was worth spending a month in an RV for this short and memorable experience.
Following are some shots form our trip into the books and from Alaska
So far I have only heard myths about the dreaded periods of prolonged bad weather, I have been very lucky and only experienced short periods of cloud cover and storming. We just recently had the first two semi clear days in over a week and without hesitation got a lift from the first heli out and dropped onto some awesome lines. The rest of the days were spent booting up steep couliors and then skiing back down them. We got a bit skunked on the light but the skiing was off the hook. After booting up almost 2000 vert of 45+ degrees I dropped in and got “chugached,” taken out by my sluff and got a bit worked but snuck out to the left to finish the big line. Its dumping again and we are spending the day recuperating and getting stuff done at the Valdez library which is a very chill place. Following are some of my photo’s from the past week and then Jay Beyer’s shots.
This is just the backyard of Valdez Heli Ski Guides!
Bad Ass Eagles
Jay Beyer photo’s
Jay Beyer Photo’s
As we flew into Alaska the endless snowcaked mountains were glowing orange with the sunsetting, it was then that it hit me that I was about to spend two months exploring Alaska. An overwhelming felling of excitement rushed over me.
First of all I want to thank Alyeska resort and the ski patrol for opening some sick terrain for us to compete on. They put lots of time and energy into getting us competing on some permanently closed terrain that long time locals have only looked up at. In the Alaska big mountain style we were given no inspection run and had to choose our lines from the bottom and then go try an flash them, it must have been quit an intimidating and awesome first Alaska line for those who hadn’t skied in Alaska before. I dropped into my first run not knowing what to expect. The snow was great and I cruised to my first air which was a thin choke with a small cliff at the bottom. I pulled up and a huge sluff blasted down the shoot so I had to wait a bit for it to pass by. I aired out the choke and made a few turns before airing out into the apron, the light was flat and the snow was variable. After skiing the venue and watching everyone else I looked at the run in a new way. We were given a second run and I flashed it, making minimal turns and sending a series of three drops into the powder fields of glory. Unfortunately my new friend Ben Johnsen got himself into a cliffed out shoot and after hanging out for almost 10 minutes he pointed it and aired at least 100 feet, exploding upon impact and then going limp. The crowed was silent while he laid there limp waiting for help. He was helicoptered to the Hospital where he was worked on and is alive and doing well. The comp ended with that run and since there was 7 competitors left to ski they only counted our first run leaving me in 4 th place and 18 year old Jake Sakson in the lead. Jake blew everyones mind with a scary line, he cruised down the same cliffed out shoot that stumped Ben and then without hesitation aired into a small pocket and then jumped about 50 feet out. Jake is another product of Kayo Ogilby and the CRMS tele team.
It snowed a few inches over night and continued to snow and blow all day but the visibility was good enough to have the finals on the North Face. My line started with an extremely steep face ending with cliffs and then I cut right across a thin “hand rail” ribbon of snow and then doubled out into the open. When I drop into big lines or competition runs something takes over and I surprise myself, I lined up my next air, not planing on going that big and next thing I know I was flying through the air going way bigger than planned, luckily I landed and went pretty big of my next cliff and safely into the finish arch. I was stoked on my run and so were the judges because it put me into first going into the superfinals. I skied the same run and ended up going even bigger, it was awesome, I had so much fun. My two fast runs were enough to win the World Championships. I felt great after the comp and was relieved to be finished. It was difficult to give it my all and risk an injury before a two month trip in Alaska but everything worked out pretty well. I finaly beat the raining champion, Dylan Crossman who has swept all telemark comps in the past and helped push my skiing to higher levels. Jake Sakson ended up in third Place and Will Cardamone in fifth place. Megan Michalson won for the women and Kate Cardamone took third.
I am now in Valdez with the Powder Whores waiting for the weather to become nice so we can heli ski and film. I will be in AK for the next two months skiing big lines and hanging out with good friends, Life is good!!!
Check back for trip updates and photos.
Jay Beyer Photo
Jay Beyer Photo
Panorama of Alyeska and turnigan arm
I really wanted to ski this!! It’s right behind the resort.
This also looks nice!
18 year old Jake Sakson from CRMS scaring all of us and i’m sure himself, Jake skied great and gave me a run for my money!
In full Telepalooza spirit, arrrr!!
Here’s the venue, pretty rad!!
While inspecting lines for the comp I was definitely nervous, the conditions were really bad. The snow was pretty much ice chunks and rotten. Just in time, a storm rolled in and dumped a few feet, the first day of the comp was postponed due to extreme snow falling from the sky all day long, so we just skied powder all day, it was so much fun but maybe not the best idea right before a comp, my legs were pretty sore and tired. There was no inspection the next day and the comp was on. The weather rolled in and out all day causing for lots of waiting and freezing. I was lucky to be the 8th guy to ski but had to wait for over two hours at the top of my run before being sent during a small break in the weather. I was cold and not too stoked by the time I finally skied but everything went well, my line was sweet and I sent a pretty big cliff into deep pow and then made fresh turns down the rest of my run, the conditions were amazing. I ended up in seventh place after day one and was really please with that. Check out this shot of me airing off this shark fin looking feature.
The weather was beautiful for the finals and the snow was still good. I couldn’t decide what line to ski but finally made up my mind, and apparently it was a good decision. After the finals I was sitting in third place, amongst some of the best alpine skiers. I stomped my line and was able to make some sketchy tele turns going about 50 mph. Here are some shots of my first line and me mocking into the finish.
I dropped into my superfinals run, made some turns through the upper moguls and then cut left, droping my first air, I stomped it and hit my second air and droped my knee to make a turn and shut some speed down and there was no tension from my binding, it felt like my binding had gone into walk mode or just broken, so with little time to react I aired my last clif and straightlined toward the finish, I was going super fast and almost exploded multiple times but some how held it together and turned enough to make it through the finish line and as I crossed into the finish my ski took off and my binding was left on my boot and I didnt fall. I was super fired up as was the crowd. Unfortunately this out of control run bumped me back to 6th place, but oh well, I survived and was thrilled to get 6th place. My childhood friend and ski partner Mark Welgos has been on fire this winter and dominated the comp with a victory. Emily Teague also from Aspen won for the women.
My broken binding, notice the bent toe piece.
Welgos ripping his way to a victory!!
And here is Ryan Zernis under the coffee table after the after party!!! It reminds me of the witch in the Wizard of OZ after the house falls on her.
Mt. Foraker in the distance on the right and Denlai to left of that and then the Ruth Gorge, nearly 360 degree view form the north summit of Denali.
My Elbow is felling better, I got an X ray and the bone is pretty much all healed. I have been skiing around for the past few weeks with no poles, trying not to fall. I am up in Jackson right now for a freeskiing competition, I was pretty nervous but my confidence has come back in the past few days. I went Cat skiing with Cloudveil on my first day here and skied some deep pow, here are some shots from Gabe Rogel.
We headed over to Targee the next day and sent some cliffs, I was not really felling it. Jk Threw a massive 80 ft back flip, it was so beautiful and inspiring. I hit a cool cliff but I wasn’t really into just hucking, I like skiing lines with airs in them. It was a beautiful day with the Grand Teton looming in the background.
Conditions deteriorated and the snow became bullet proof. It was looking sketchy for the comp but I had a cool line picked out. Then it proceeded to puke and we woke up on comp day with 2 fresh feet, only the women were ran and we skied blower pow all day. Its looking good for tomorrow and I’m really psyched to ski my line.
I am getting super into panoramas, check out this view from the top of the Hoghlands Bowl!!
This was taken on my first time up the bowl after surgery, it felt so good to get outside, especially to a place like this.
