Another Great Weekend Come and Gone

Today marks the end of another awesome weekend of skiing for me.  I was lucky enough to get another 4 day weekend to ski, hit some fresh pow, ski new terrain, drop a few cliffs, test out some new sticks, and get above and out of the nasty inversion in the valley.

Friday started out with a film day at Snowbasin.  The new PR Director, Jason, had scheduled a shoot with some local pro and up and coming riders. It was my first shoot with solely snowboarders, and I enjoyed the riding differences and opinions on terrain that they brought.  The plan was to show the early season riding promoting Snowbasin, and to send the video to Transworld Snowboarding Magazine. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side and we shot in a grey bird setting.  The footage turned out decent despite the lighting, but we're planning on getting a reshoot later on.  We'll use the reshoot footage to send to Transworld.

Saturday was great with Snowbasin finally opening up the John Paul lift.  I was so toked to finally get off the flat groomers and be able to ski the steeper terrain.  The snowpack was only about 12"-24" deep but it still allowed for some great riding.  After a short session I headed to Scout Steed's brithday bash up in Farmington Canyon.  Her two year birthday party was a sledding session high up in the mountains.  It was a lot of fun playing in the snow, eating chili, drinking wassel, and sitting by a fire with friends and family.  I built up a jump for the sled and ending up launching everyone, including myself, about 10 feet off the ground, which made for good laughs and heart pounding excitement.

Sunday brought in another full day of skiing followed by a good game of hockey.  Boy do I love my Sunday night hockey games.

And yesterday was spent skiing at Solitude.  I had good company and good snow which made for a great day.  I skied all over the mountain, enjoying all that there was to offer.  The snow was soft and deep enough in some places to hit some cliffs.  I finally dropped my first cliff of the season on a series of three 10 foot cliffs. 

Now after all of that, of course I'm in a great mood.  Here's to my last week of work. 
Sunday was

Thanksgiving Weekend

Talk about a busy extended weekend; the most over-hyped storm of the season, two Thanksgiving dinners, the Holy War, sliding on snow, and getting a new mattress.  Buy but it's been a good four days off of work, especially with the lifts now spinning. 

Trying to get my legs back in shape after sitting in an office for months on end has definitely not been easy, specifically because the only open runs at Snowbasin are pretty flat.  Not that fun.  But overall opening day was pretty awesome.  There was boot to knee deep powder covering the slopes.  Best opening I've ever experienced.

Saturday brought in the annual Holy War: BYU versus the University of Utah football game.  This year I spent the afternoon watching the game with Andy, Vanessa, and Andy's parents at Maggie McGee's Sports Bar.  I finally got lucky with the Maggie raffle and won the halftime prize; an awesome Utah bomber's wooly winter cap.  I was stoked to get it and sport the colors of my future alma mater as they ended up winning the game by blocking a gimme field goal as time expired.  Good times.

Even better than all this, I finally got a new mattress and box springs.  Andy and Vanessa bought a new bed and decided to give me theirs, which is in great condition.  I'm so stoked to have it and slept great last night.  Now getting it home from Salt Lake City to Layton was quite humorous and daunting.  I mean how many times do you see a Subaru driving by on the highway at 70 mph with a matterss and box springs tied to the top.

Here's some pictures to let you know how it was.

Opening day pow turns

Me at the end of opening day

 

Loading up the mattress on the Subaru

Andy tightening things up

How Shall This Winter Be??

Waking up to a beautiful white blanket of heaven's finest this morning brought a smile to m face.  Winter is finally here in a three part storm cycle that is sure to bring a couple of feet to the mountains.  And it's doing so in great fashion; just in time for the lifts to start turning this Thursday at Snowbasin.

And with that comes another year's worth of goals to shape up and guide the season.

1. Ski at least 45 days both frontcountry and backcountry
2. Ski at least 600,000 vertical feet
3. Ski the south face of Ben Lomond Peak
4. Drop S&S at J-Hole
5. Ski Superior 
6. Continue filming and putting edits together
7. Enter a big mountain competition or two
8. Call in sick to work at least twice for a 15 inch or more storm
9. Solo Willard Peak ice drainage and ski down into Liberty
10. More photos
11. Throw more 3's
12. Throw more front flips
13. Stop being a girl when it comes to back flips
14. Nail my line through the blond cliffs
15. The usual male skier dream

I think that rounds the potential season up.  I'm really stoked to ski a resort full-time for two consecutive seasons.  This will be the first time ever doing that and Basin has a lot of hits waiting to happen.  But I am also super excited that I managed to get a full season pass up to Grand Targhee for $250, so I will definitely be hitting that resort up a couple of times this year in addition to my six days up at Jackson Hole, which I couldn't find it in my heart to forgo this year. 

Now it's just time to keep the moment from Portillo going.......

Where Has The Time Gone

Once again, as if clockwork, having the stars align, and the seasons change, it appears as if I have disappeared.  Not necessarily, but I just haven't had much that I feel is exciting to post about.  But as we roll into winter and the lifts at my resort are about to start turning, it's time to get back to posting.

I have been thinking about goals for this ski season and am about finished with it.  I will definitely post those here in the next few days.  But for now here are two edits that I have completed for two of the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp first week campers.

The first completed goes to Ian Scobe.  This kid was a hilarious jokester and made this fun with his carefully executed comments.


Ian Scobie - Mad Ballin' from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.


The second edit out of the gates is for Matt Tilleard.  This Aussie was such a great guy and funny nontheless.  I love Aussie sarcasm.   Here ya go Matt, I love this song you recommended.


Matt Tilleard - Aussie Power from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo

So here's what I've been working on in all my free time for the past cople weeks.  Thank goodness it's FINALLY done.  I really enjoyed filming, being filmed, and editing this promo.  Another cool thing is a shortened version of the promo is going to be apart of the Powderwhore TELEvision movie tour.  The promo will play during the premovie pleasantries while everyone is arriving and getting their seats.

I've also been working on a new website for Free 2 Be Productions.  That'll be finished soon (hopefully).

Well here's the edit.  Enjoy.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Pics n Stuff O'Chile - It's about time I post this

Alright I know that it's been a little while since I posted anything.....ok more like a long while.  I've been working on a video promo for Nick and Kayo's Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp in between work trips, a Six Flags and Atlantic City day, skim boarding at Destin Beach in Florida, and setting up other business ventures.  It's been quite the busy 8 weeks; the time has flown by and been one big blur.  I'll be posting the camp promo video here next week, promise.  And there'll be more posts of additional edits that are in the works.

I just totaled my stats from Portillo and this is what I got:

Ski Days: 13 (out of 15 potential)
Vertical Footage: 155,770 feet

I already have a good jump on my ski days and vertical footage for the season.
For now here's some pics of me in Portillo courtesy of the talented Luke Lubchenco.

My absolute favorite

Yes I know the camera looks funny on my helmet

At work

First week powder goodness

First day of Roca Jack

More Roca Jack

Lake Run Slash

One last sweet lake run shot

Time to End........

As the snow turned to a hard, technical medium from the soft heavenly blanket of bliss with the raging winds of the upper Andes, the reality of our required departure and return to a world two weeks forgotten also blew in.  The two weeks of skiing, touring, yoga, hot tubbing, joking, bonding, and constant schenanigans were now soon to become memories and experiences of the past instead of the daily routine that had become life for two weeks. 

During that time everything else was forgotten and put aside. There were no worries of work, of bills, or of the summer heat.  There was just living, living in the moment.  All that mattered was skiing, fresh turns, food, partying, sleep, and avoiding falling prey to the next prank; life was good. 

The days were spent honing an upright tight stance and embracing speed, invoking the style and technique of Nick DeVore.  Both of my ski weeks started with a fresh dump of soft snow.  The fresh turns to be had each day came under the coaches' requirement of doing so with speed and fluidity.  My legs were pushed to new limits and given a pounding that I'm still recovering from.  

Both of the groups were awesome even though they differed on many levels.  The first group was mainly juniors (under 17) and just full of so much energy and laughter, which was truly contagious; I felt like got a little younger that week, and we all know that I don't need anymore excuses to act immature. It was constant joking and laughing.  Honestly just an epic combination of personalities, energy, and skiing.

The second group was all adults and a good bunch of mountain rippers.  We had a blast hiking around and shredding pow.  And they all definitely knew how to have a good time both on the mountain and off. 

As I now depart my little bit of heaven and return to the grind, my muscles ache and my joints are pained a little.  Yet I smile with each little ache and pain. The soreness and the aches serve as a reminder; a reminder of the adventure had and the friendships made.  But it also serves as a reminder of the hard work and long days of cutting trees down after sitting in an office for nine hours a day to pull together the extra funds needed to make this trip possible, the late nights, the stresses of a financial commitment, the doubts and worries........and oh how it was worth it.

Rocking out hard at La Posada

Beautiful sunsets every day

Enjoying the sunset during my daily hot tub session with my mustache

Slackline session

Final dinner group shenanigans

Parting our ways at the airport.  I was bracing for the payback wet willey to follow.

Winding Down

As this great camp and experience is about to finish up in less than 30 hours, I can't help but think how great it has been. 

Check It Out

Check out the blog post on thewinterlife.com blog for some cool shots and a good write up of what's been going on.

"So Good When It Hits the Lips: 2 Days of Blue Skies and Powder at the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp"

First Day Out

Sweet sweet sweet day.  Did I mention how sweet today was.  We woke up to a good half foot plus of new snow.  Energy was running high and we couldn't believe that we're skiing pow on our first day out.  Nick and Kayo declared it to be a schralping session.   It was a care free day of lapping some light snow.  We did 23 laps and scored 15,840 vertical feet.

I did break the cam out and filmed a buch of the group taking laps.  We're going to surprise everyone with a short edit of themselves after the camp.  It's going to be hard for me to get it out before the camp concludes, but I'll get something out to each participant.  Here's a couple of shots for the day.  I'll have plenty more photos to share after I get back to the states.............I may try and delay that for a month or so...........

The scenery

 

Fun Chair shots with the GoPro

Chile!!!!!!!

First day in Portillo down and out.  I managed to get a shuttle before I even checked out of customs.  I did have to wait around for an hour for the driver and other scheduled riders to show but it was all good.  The two hour ride definitely felt just as long.  Since there was snow in the mountains and all throughout the pass from Portillo to Mendoza, the Chilean Carabineros (police) had deemed it too dangerous to drive and had the road closed off.  Luckily we had a Portillo sign in the van window so when the diver told the cop he should let us through because he is "an expert driver that runs this road every day and could do it in his sleep", the cop believed him and let just our vehicle pass. 

The road was definitely not scary, but merely slushy in most places, with the temperature being at or above freezing.  But since most don't grow up driving in snow and ice in Chile, it could be considered scary. 

With the road being closed I didn't have to deal with a huge rush of incoming skiers.   As I stood in the freezing lobby getting accustomed to my preferred season, all I could think about was getting some lunch and then skiing.  I clammered all my stuff over to my 15' by 6' room for 4 and tried to unpack with organization.  I finally gave up and just went to lunch. 

It wasn't until I had clicked into my skis and started to ski toward the lift that I experienced my truly excited state.  At that moment I just had the biggest smile push it's way out and I hadn't even made my first run yet; I was completely ecstatic. FINALLY.  It took so long for me to get to this point. 

The visibility was pretty bad as a storm was moving in and whatever light we did have was completely flat.  I got some nice "knock-off-the-rust" turns in some nice milky maritime powder.  It felt so good to be home but somewhat awkward and foreign at the same time. 

After skiing 7 laps, somewhat successfully dodging the just barely buried rocks, and notching 5,000 vertical feet, I called it a day.  As I walked in to the lobby after checking my skis and boots, I first saw Luke Lubchenco, and then the rest of the group.  Kayo Ogilby and Nick Devore, the coaches soon came up and introduced themselves as I chatted with Luke.  I can already tell that this is going to be a blast and a great learning session. 

We had a short introductory meeting and then proceeded to finally eat dinner at the ripe Chilean time of 8:30 pm.  We sat, ate, and joked around in the cafeteria while snow continued to fall.  Spirits and aspirations are high.  We'll be having a bluebird powder day in the morning. 

 Dropping into Santiago

Getting my visa

 


Our LARGE room for 4 people

First night storm sure to bring the goods in the morning

It's been a while.

As I sit here, finally relaxing without the weight of my carry-on bag, computer bag, and ski boots stuffed with energy bars and underwear on my shoulders, having walked from Terminal A to the end of Terminal E in the Atlanta airport to combat the soon to be pooling of blood in my legs as a result of the overnight flight to Santiago, I, one laugh at my current run-on sentence, and two, am still yet to feel the "excitement" of skiing high up in the Andes during summer.

Why is this I wonder? 

Maybe it's because I'm still feeling the drag of three straight weeks of tree work that mainly consisted of large tree removals with huge heavy trunks. Maybe it's the barely six hours of sleep I had last night holding my excitement at bay.  It could be the long duration of stress endured making sure that I stayed healthy enough to make the trip.  Or quite possibly, I'm just not excited to ski at all.

I'm sure it's not the last reason.

There are three hours remaining in my planned layover.  The people watching isn't as intense in the end of Terminal E, and is not enough to hold my enjoyment as the Georgia thunderstorm has ended.  As my thoughts wander and I think about the time leading up to this point of my summer, I must admit that this trip wouldn't be possible for me at this time in my life if it wasn't for Seth.  His desire to start a tree business and bring me in as a partner has lead to be the main source of income for this trip.  I am a little concerned about my conditioning as hockey hasn't been a frequent enough activity these past six weeks and with tree work disrupting my workout schedule.  A few times I did manage to hike up waterfall canyon and then run/jog down to simulate backcountry touring and the impact I would feel on my legs while skiing.  Hopefully that helped. 

I guess we'll see during these next two weeks.

My up at the waterfall getting ready to run down

Andy's "New" Office - Small Office Prank Repayment

I've been labeled a "One Upper", a habitual line crosser, and jokester. I never let a prank go without repayment, even the little ones.

When Andy, and a few others that are yet to get theirs, decided to saran wrap my desk (with industrial saran wrap) on April Fool's while I had been out for the day, I just smiled, laughed at the joke (it was good), and made no mention of prank repayment.  Here's what they did.

Then when Andy was out on vacation in Hawaii enjoying his time, not concentrating on work, I made my move. This is how it went down. And this wasn't full throttle on my part just to let you know.

Here's video followed by pics.

Andy's "New" Office from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

 

  

  

  

Spring Fling

The month of April always seems to bring some of the best storms of the year. I always look forward to this time of the year as coverage is usually good and the snowpack is pretty consolidated and safe.

This edit is up there for the level of fun had during editing.  It definitely isn't the best of skiing I've had all year, but the edit is fun to watch. 

Here's a little bit of the spring madness.


Spring Fling from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Time For Upgrades

Since I've really gotten into making short film edits and want the best quality I can get, I've started thinking about upgrades more and more.  The first thing to do, other than get better at editing and video capture, is to get a better broadcast channel.  I recently moved all of my videos over to Vimeo under a Plus account.  I have thoughts on a new camera to use next season and most importantly I need to upgrade my processing hub with a new iMac.  But since that'll be upwards of $2800, that'll have to wait. 

My channel link for Free 2 Be Productions, which will hopefully be an LLC by the end of the summer, is:
http://www.vimeo.com/free2be

So to show you the visual quality of Vimeo, here's a short edit I put together of ski buddy Ross sending it on a very fun line.  Ross is about 42 years old by the way.  Just another testiment of mind over matter.


Ross MacD Sending It from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Breakfast of Champions: Powder Before Work

I like most people, want to get each day of work off to a great start. I've always been told that you must start the day off right with a good breakfast. For some people it's Wheaties or Raisin Bran, maybe pancakes and eggs, or my favorites cream of wheat, grits, and bacon.

I had the opportunity to change things up the other day and I've never been more determined, happier, and successful in a single day of work. And I was a pleasant person to be around. Ah what did I change to get this way you ask?

I changed my breakfast. Introducing Alex's Breakfast of Champions: Powder Before Work

Yes I Hit 50!!

I hit my 50th day skiing for the season this past weekend.  I know that's not a lot by way of the Rockies standard, but for me working a desk job everyday and also doing tree work heavily during the fall and spring, this is a good personal accomplishment.  I'm pretty sure that I won't make my vertical footage goal, but this year I've started to really look at quality versus quantity and keeping myself healthy by not pushing too far after fatigue and exhaustion set it. 

Very "scrumtrulecent." That is all

Snowbasin Showboat Showdown

The Snowbasin Showboat Showdown went off Sunday and it went off HUGE. It was pretty fun to sit back and film the riders who came out and displayed their skill set to compete for prizes. I wish that I could have had a GoPro HD Hero on each rider and also have cameras at 2 or 3 other locations for an event like this.  That would have been a fun edit to put together.  I threw this one out quickly for Snowbasin. 

Easter Sunday Solo Tour

The week leading up to Easter Sunday has been a hard one for me personally.  Stress, irritation, frustration, and depression had worn me out.  Even the massive powder dump of April Fool's wasn't enough to shake me out of this funk.  I knew that I needed to get this issue off my mind and move on past it.  I decided that it was time for me to make my first solo backcountry tour. 

I determined that the necessity of staying safe, understanding conditions and snow factors, terrain assessment, being alone relying solely on myself, knowing that my beacon would only be good for a body recovery, and the physical demands of the area I was to ski, skin, and hike, was enough to be able to get over the past two weeks and to move on in life. 

I did choose wisely as I knew conditions were stabilized and would remain overall good for the day.  In the end, this tour proved to be what I needed in coming to terms with the external and internal issues that were affecting me: it was a definite success with lots of plan changes.  Solo touring has opened my eyes to a new realm and new understanding of myself and the snowpack. 

I definitely foresee more of this in the future.

Jackson WITH Jared - A Redemption Attempt

After missing out on the previous trip and seeing the video dedicated to him, Jared was very eager to experience Jackson in the same manner.  Here's how it all turned out; you be the judge on his redemption attempt.

Conner Larsen - Takin' It Easy

Came across a younger ripper in the park by the name of Conner Larsen while getting shots for the Icelantic Demo at Snowbasin's Retro Day. The kid is super steezey and showed us how he's uses the Icelantic Da'Nollie.  I put this together for him.  He did a pretty good job for his first time filming with someone he didn't know.

Snowbasin Retro Day

Snowbasin threw its first Retro Day.  It was an event filled with crazy costumes, rear entry boots, and Icelantic Skis.  I had a blast and thought my costume was pretty decent.  Here's how it went down:

Snowbain Snow Reports

Recently I've put together a few Snow Report edits for Snowbasin.  They were quick work edits in which I didn't spend a lot of time gathering footage and had a quick day or two turnaround on editting.  I'll have another edit on Snowbasin Retro Day coming later this week. Here's what I've done so far. 

Snow Report March 6, 2010


Snow Report March 14, 2010

Jackson Without Jared

Going to Jackson Hole for the last weekend in February has been the best decision of the 2009-10 season. As temperatures reached 55 degrees in Ogden and Salt Lake City, we ski untracked boot deep lines.

Since the resort was skied out, Trevor and I decided that it was time to go exploring a little further out of the gates than we've gone before. Cody Bowl's warm up lead us to go out to No Name and ski the face and down into the canyon. The next day we lapped tree runs in the Magical Forest, low angled, but fun albeit, and finished by skiing out Four Pines. The whole trip we only took 2 gondolas, 2 trams, and 1 chair ride. Every trip is different and awesome.

Something was different this trip; our group agenda changed from skiing the technical big lines that we usually ski to just finding and skiing good snow. Maybe it was the fact that Jared bailed out on the trip for a playoff hockey game in his league and wasn't there. Well Jackson without Jared was an amazing weekend and this video is dedicated to him to show him how much fun he missed.



My Nomads readying for Four Shadows

 

Trevor stoked for the first run after a short hike

Feeling "good" after a 4 hour drive on 4 hours of sleep

No Name looking sexy

A future goal for a future trip

All in all a good trip