I last left off at Cody and I camping in Cooke City, just outside the northeast corner of Yellowstone. We reentered the Park the next day hoping to lock down a campsite at Slough Creek, the best spot in Yellowstone to camp. We lucked out because we didn't get there until 10:30 am, and as we later found out if you want a spot you need to be there by 8 am. Now that we were situated at a site, we had the next few days to discover what a great playground Yellowstone is and the majesty it holds.


Yellowstone National Park has a plethora of fantastic things to see. Cody and I tried to capture the beauty on camera, but I'm not sure that we did it justice.











Oh Yellowstone...

Labels: Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad, Road Trip, Yellowstone

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A simple fact of professional skiing is that the content you capture throughout the wintery months is usually relegated to top secret status until the Fall movie releases. So unfortunately a lot of the video and pictures I capture along the way I cannot share with the world. Which sucks in many ways because there is some cool stories along the way and I'd love to share them real time. But (and here's the big but) there is a time in the season when the movies are out, I've had a chance to see what film shots and photographs the content providers have used and then I can start to blast the interweb with unused videos, photos and stories from the winter's past. So now is the time folks. It is story time!

This particular adventure starts in frozen ski boots, perched high atop the Sierra's, with a blazing red sunset falling behind the horizon of the California coast. Jeremy Jones and I discussed lines, hikes and couloirs that were just off the beaten path. Mountains and faces that would tickle off the lips of only serious ski junkies while 99% of skiers flew, drove or skinned right on by. There was one particular couloir of this magnitude and character that I knew about from years past. I began to hype it up to him. "It's a pencil of snow amid thousands of feet of rock." "Shoots straight out of the river" "It's a hallway to heaven" Jeremy was easily convinced. We were off tomorrow.

Jeremy has a very particular laugh. It's a laugh that encompasses the fortune of happiness along with the challenge that accompanies the pleasure. When we pulled up to the bottom of this particular couloir, he laughed.



There wasn't much preparation in the ascent of the couloir. It was pretty much, cross the river, don't get your feet wet, skirt the talus, hike the couloir. No ropes, no crampons, no nothing. Just your own two feet. Well that is the way it was supposed to be. Jeremy had the secret weapon that made me feel like Minnesotan moose trying to ford a Floridian swamp. Jeremy floated atop the punchy crust of the talus with his Vertical Ascender snowshoes while I mercilessly sunk up to my crotch on every step. The frustration was boiling as hot as the sweat that pored off my body. I crunched down into a hollow abyss of snow while Jer's tracks sunk mere inches. Never in my life have I prayed so vigorously for hard snow. After an extra hour of struggle the pitch started to steepen and the frozen avalanche debris at the exit of the couloir began to harden enough to prevent my sinking. It was a welcomed grace.



Soon the major push was on. I chased Jeremy up the couloir as his mountain goat legs escalatored him to the top at a ridiculous pace.



After three hours of very straight forward but at times extremely difficult slogging (for myself, not Jer) we had made it.



And now it's time for the down. Although I'm really learning to love the up, in reality it's all about the down. I mean really people, if there was no down, we wouldn't go up. Oh and Jer and I wanted to ride this with a unique touch. As much as I love the guy and what he's done, we did not want this to be an McClean 168cm hopped turned descent. We wanted to ski this thing. Edge to edge, continually and fast. I think we accomplished that task, but why don't you check it out for yourself.

Flashing Hallways from Cody Townsend on Vimeo.

It's hard keeping your tips down the fall line in a 6 to 10 foot wide couloir with a solid 45 to 50 degree pitch. But man is it worth the challenge. A great day.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Jeremy Jones, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Ghost Ski Boots, Salomon Skis, Teton Gravity Research, TGR Lost and Found

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Now that I'm finally back in Santa Cruz after a fun-filled, activity-packed road trip loaded with adventure, I now have the chance to catch up on all that went down. I think it's fitting to pick up with our last stop, the TGR World Premiere in Jackson Hole, because I and everyone else that is chomping at the bit for the ski season to begin is super excited to check out anything that is ski related. Especially ski porn! Cody is a newbie to the TGR crew, so the two of us were really excited to join in on the legendary festivities that surround the premiere in Jackson.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Dash Longe, Elyse Saugstad, Seth Morrison, TGR World Premiere

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I think the gods misheard me.

I believe I was around 14 when it hit the newsstands. Actually I think I was on the john the first time I picked up a magazine which tickled with the vivacious structures of Playboy magazine, talked ubiquitously about booze, sports, cars, gadgets, toilet excretions and other seminal topics (yes, pun intended). It was called Maxim Magazine and I was one stoked 14 year-old. So stoked on this legal delight that I might have even muttered one late, lonely night, "God. I would give nearly anything to be between some Maxim girls."

Well then I turned 15 and realized Maxim magazine is for Jersey guidos, homophobic frat boys and prepubescent teens. So I stopped ever looking at that stupid magazine. That is until late last month when all of sudden the god that I prayed to that late, lonely night answered my prayer. But I think he misheard me or was a little literal with the interpretation of my plea. Sure I got sandwiched between some Maxim girls, but it was in the more printable, not physical, sense. What? Still don't get what the hell I'm talking about? Well, here is some evidence.









Yup. That's me. I am literally sandwiched between hundreds of Maxim girls doing a sweet mule kick. And in true Maxim Magazine fashion, they made sure to put a dumbshit quote on the picture. God that magazine sucks.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Ghost Ski Boots, Von Zipper

Comments:

 Anonymous
good use of "jersey guidos"
lol---

# : August 24, 2009 1:03 PM

 

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Recently I went to Whistler. The reason? I can't tell you why. But soon you shall know. Soon everyone in the world shall know. In the mean time, enjoy the photos and hypothesize.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Salomon Ghost Ski Boots, Salomon Skis, Whistler

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 Anonymous
hells yeahs!

# : August 18, 2009 11:24 PM

 

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FISHING THE RUSSIAN RIVER



Summer visits in Alaska consist of fishing, fishing, and, uh, more fishing. Cody and I happened to visit AK during the two slowest weeks of the whole season- meaning that we were in between runs. The Kings (Chinook Salmon) were done pretty much everywhere, so we were relegated to the Reds (Sockeye Salmon). We headed to the Russian River where we were hoping to catch the stragglers of the first run and and the pacesetters of the second run. And no, you can't see Russia across the way on the Russian River (thanks Palin). The picture with the Red I caught above is a Red from the 1st run, and since it was so late timing wise to catch 1st run Reds that is why it's not silver anymore and it's changing to red. Thus, the Red Jonathan caught seen in the picture below is a Red from the 2nd run.

Labels: alaska King salmon fishing, Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad

Comments:

 Chappy
Holy poo there Elyse....them is some nice lookin' fish!!

# : July 27, 2009 12:00 PM

 

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I believe it's the multitude of shared traits that makes backcountry fly-fishing and backcountry skiing so appealing to me. Both provide a healthy amount of solitude and silence. Both command respect of nature and reverence at its organic beauty. Both make you rely on yourself and breach that safety net of emergency hotlines, instant communication and rapid travel. Then in skiing and in fishing there is a surge of adrenaline and excitement in a peaceful and calm world. For me that adrenaline comes when I'm experiencing those moments of flight on a pair of skis or setting that hook as a monster brown trout just breached the surface water and attacked my floating fly.

I really don't know why I wrote what I just wrote. It really is a terrible introduction for a Trip Report. I guess it has to do with the fact that most people find it contradictory or even oxymoronic that a professional skier/thrill-seeker would be into such a calm and silent sport such as fly-fishing. I guess I just wanted to explain myself to myself. Cause sometimes even I think, "Why the hell do I like this fly-fishing thing so much?"

Anyways, I recently went on a backcountry fly-fishing trip with a few buddies deep into the Sierra wilds. Since your attention span is probably waning by now, here are some pictures and stats of the trip.

Days: 3
Nights: 2
Miles: 18.9
Pack Wgt: 52 lbs.
Trout Caught: Group: 100+ Me: 20+
Trout Eaten: 7
Lakes Fished: 5
Streams Fished: 2
Liquor Consumed: 9 pints of Jameson Irish Whiskey, 1 litre Milagro Tequila


What were all truly looking for.

Labels: Backcountry, backcountry skiing, Cody Townsend, fishing

Comments:

 ben-day-ho
looks so fun!!!!!!!!!! love this time of year!!

# : July 3, 2009 12:26 PM

 

 Anonymous
kelly says u rock cody :)

# : July 3, 2009 1:00 PM

 

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Last week I headed down to Mammoth Mountain Resort for Salomon's Jib Academy. Even though I'm not known for having any park skills, Salomon wanted to bring their A Team to hang with all the young guns. Abma, Townsend, Ruebens, Douglas, Dumont, Carlson, Turski, and Gagnier were a few of the top dogs on hand to show their skills and enjoy the great spring skiing the Southern Sierras have to offer.
Right before Cody and I arrived a storm had come through with a ridiculous amount of wind to buff everything out. For those of us who prefer to spend more time skiing lines than lapping the park, Mammoth luckily offers it all and we had hit it just right. With a little hiking it was no problem reaching all of the goods. However, I did take the time to check out all the young kids and their unbelievable park skills- pretty amazing to say the least!
This was the last ski trip of the winter season for me- what a great way to end things! Good snow, sunny California weather, good vibes and great teammates all made for a really fun time.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad, mammoth, Salomon Jib Academy, Salomon Skis

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Tracks are like your signature on the mountain. They're the mark that reflects your interpretation of a mountain. But only for a moment can you reflect upon them, because soon they will be wiped away by snow, wind or other skiers. And soon, you'll have another blank canvas to design.

Here are some of my interpretations from this past week. Cheers.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Jackson Hole, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Skis

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Hey all,

I tweaked my ankle early in the morning on the day of the big comp, so I couldn't be there personally to shoot. However, local photo dude Josh Anderson came through for me with some shots of the venue and riding. Check out the slideshow below, and pray we get a weather window for a day two on the big rock pile. In the words of Cody Townsend, who currently sits in fourth, "The Tram Face will separate the men from the boys!"

Labels: Cody Townsend, Freeride World Tour, Squaw Valley, tram face

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Check it out!

Cody Townsend grew up in a surf town (Santa Cruz) and speaks 2.5 languages (Spanish, some French). It took him seven years to graduate from college (linguistics, UC-Santa Cruz), which is pretty fast considering his avowed preference for skiing over schooling in wintertime (or otherwise perhaps).

And somehow this linguist surfer who also blogs has also established himself as a big mountain skier of increasing renown. His first major victory in the contest realm came last winter, out of a pack of 160-some male skiers, at Mammoth for a Freeride World Tour Qualifier (which, confusing as it is, is not to be confused with the Freeskiing World Tour). Just recently, in a tour-de-Alps by plush bus for the Swatch O'Neill Big Mountain Pro contest, 25-year-old Townsend added win No. 2.

The victory came with a check of $10,000, a sum Townsend described this way: "Park kids win that kind of money everyday—but not us. I'm stoked." Townsend was back stateside yesterday, in Jackson, Wyo., when we caught up him by phone.

CODY TOWNSEND: "Taking a much needed day off today. But I'm here trying to shoot with TGR, so hopefully we'll get a good dump and get after it."

So this contest victory—congrats. "It's in its third year and I've been fortunate to participate in all three because it's pretty much the dream event for any skier or snowboarder."

How's it work? "We met up in the Alps, jumped on a super nice bus, and basically traveled around looking for snow and faces. If it's feasible, we'll heli up to stuff. If not, we'll hike to it. And, it's rider judged, so that's pretty ideal: They film everything and then at the end of the week we all watch the footage and have the voting session right there. And then we have a big party."

"My first year—my very first big mountain comp—I got second, and last year I came fourth. This year I managed to win it."

bigmountainpro.com

Innsbruck lies some 2,100 meters below this Day 3 perch. "Lower down I set off a wet slide that's probably the biggest avalanche I've ever seen. It started as a point release in warmer snow, but it ended up taking away about half the face," says Townsend.

How many riders on the bus? "This year was smaller—12 riders, six skiers and six snowboarders. Last year we had tons and tons of people. But this year they cut it down; they had trouble housing all the people, especially all the media."

Big Mountain Pro Footage—Day 2, Run 2:

"The format was also a little different this year. They wanted a little more backcountry freestyle, so they took us to some smaller faces and actually built some features and that added a trick element to it. And that's pretty cool, because there's only a few times that's ever happened in a comp format."

Freeride World Tour vs. Freeskiing World Tour—please explain the confusion; er, difference. "Yeah, totally confusing. The sad part of it is people really are very confused about it all. I can't explain it, I've got my own theories, but I wouldn't want to say 'em. But I would say it'd be better for the sport overall to get rid of that confusion."

bigmountainpro.com

An interview with Townsend outside a hut in Austria's Defereggental Valley. "The contest was on the local news every night," says Townsend. "That was cool. But that's Europe in general too. They care about these kinds of things."

Your hometown is Santa Cruz and you also went to college there. But your home mountain has always been Squaw and nowadays you live two minutes from the base of KT-22. Split personality? "I was a weekend warrior 'til I was 16 years old, and then I moved up there at that point full time, ski racing with the Squaw Valley team for years. But I've always grown up freeskiing, ripping around, and eventually to chasing around McConkey and JT Holmes. We were always like two chairs behind them, just following them. Finally they turned around one day and said, 'Who are you guys?' And then we just started skiing with 'em. So skiing has always been a passion."

Surfing? "I grew up surfing in Santa Cruz, and I just finished up school at UC-Santa Cruz, so surfing is part of what I do there. But surfing's not as important to me as skiing. Skiing was my first love, but I don't know if I could go a year without surfing... Growing up I definitely weirded out my friends, always leaving every weekend to go skiing."

Linguistics? "Kind of an odd degree, yes. But UC-Santa Cruz has one of the top linguistics departments in the country, so it was a great experience. I went into the degree not knowing much about it, but part of it was learning foreign lauguages—that's what I was interested in in the first place. It did take awhile; seven year program. I'd go summer and fall, and take as many credits as I was allowed."

bigmountainpro.com

"You're looking at the cheapest pow skiing in the world—three euros a run," says Townsend. "The last folks on have to pile in the bucket there. I rode in it once and it was sketchy and uncomfortable. So I did what I could to not ride in it again."

Any other linguists on the Freeride/Freeskiing World Tours? "One hundred percent guaranteed not. I do know John Symms knows how to speak Spanish."

Are you simultaneously pursusing a linguistics career now? "Maybe in the future, but in no way, shape or form am I thinking that way now. I want to keep skiing as long and hard as I can. Maybe someday that can be an interesting field for me, but school for me was like plan B; back up."

Have you befriended the Sierra chapter of swift, silent & deep? "A little bit. There's definitely a small little clique of hardcore riders here and you hear nothing about them. There's crazy peaks here, and these guys are out skiing 'em, but it's under-the-radar in general. Those guys just go out and kill it and you never hear about it. There's more less-visable ripping skiers in Tahoe and the Sierras than any other place. Every region has their guys, the Andrew McLeans or Davenports or Dawsons, but around [Tahoe/southern Sierras] you just never hear about some of these people who are out doing equivelent things. And they've been doing it for years."

bigmountainpro.com

"The worst part about this one—it was pretty high avalanche danger. I drew to drop in first, but I was seeing naturals all around. So I thought I might be touching one off here. But the snow was great and actually this run helped me secure the win."

"I'm not totally clued in to that scene. But I've been riding a lot more with Jeremy Jones this year and doing some camping and hiking with him. I've done tons of sledding before, but this year I'm getting off the sled and exploring more on foot. And I'm getting more and more into that. Still, my focus, and simply because it's super fun to me, is skiing fast and going for big airs. But the adventuring side, that's becoming a new fun thing and I can definitely see more of doing it in the future."

What is in your future? "Contests and films; a jam packed year. I'll be in Jackson for the next week-and-a-half and then I'll jam back to Squaw for the big Tram Face comp, and then either I'm going to Tignes, France, for the third stop of the Freeride World Tour, or I'll keep filming... But I'm definitely going to the Verbier Extremes in Switzerland, March 20-29."

Labels: Cody Townsend, ESPN, EXPN, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Skis

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I won!!!

Labels: Cody Townsend, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Skis

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Departure: Reno, NV. Destination: St. Anton, Austria for the 2009 edition of the Swatch/O'neill Big Mountain Pro.

So any Day Ø usually involves a fair bit of travel. With that travel usually comes TSA water-bottle hassles, sore knees from airplane seats designed for 10 year-old midgets and the dreaded lethargy of jet-lag.

On this edition of Day Ø, I flew into Munich, Germany to catch a ride to St. Anton. With I few hours to kill I decided to head off to the European version of SIA; ISPO.



There I scoped the whole new Salomon line. Well not the whole line, just the stuff I'm interested in.



And zen it was off to ze mountains through ze tunnels!



ZE WARP SPEED!!!



NIEN! Ze Warp Speed is not allowed in ze mozer-land of Osteriech!



And then we arrived..

Labels: Big Mountain Pro, Cody Townsend, Salomon Apparel

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So I recently was fortunate enough to get invited on a backcountry excursion with Jeremy Jones and an extremely experienced two-feet powered snowboard crew. Loaded up with 70 pound packs filled with essential winter camping gear, dehydrated food and our shred sticks, we set off to a location on the southern edge of Lake Tahoe. The snow wasn't epic, but at least it wasn't sliding like the rest of North America. The camping was fun and interesting. Being a beginner winter camper I learned a lot and am looking forward to the next excursion. Here's some pics. Ciao.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Jeremy Jones, Lake Tahoe Hiking

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So as most of you know the Tahoe season started a little slow this year. Thank the snow gods it's know here but as of three weeks ago the slopes of Squaw resembled the hills of some godforsaken place that never gets snow but still has mountains. Anyways, with most of the North American forecast looking bleak, Cody and I decided to book a last minute flight to my home state of Alaska to slice and dice some powder like the Turkey I cooked for Thanksgiving. The snow was amazing, the skies were frigid cold and the powder was deep and often sprayed us in the face. Here are some pics from the early winter subarctic.

Elyse

Labels: Alaska, Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad, Lake Tahoe

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This zone is in a double super extra super duper secret area 51 and today we just discovered it like Colombus discovered America. Well, yeah you know, we're claiming we discovered it even though people have probably been here for a very long time. I'm sure a Prius has probably even made it up the paved road to this area that I will know name The Codiferius Cliffs of Townsendia. So yeah, here's a cool face and we're gonna ski it.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Lake Tahoe

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Check it, ya heard?

This edit should be titled, "4 and a Half Days", not cause it's a cheesy romantic-comedy with Hugh Grant, but because all this footy only came from about 4 and 1/2 days. Duly note that!


Cody Townsend- Self-Edit 07/08 from Cody Townsend on Vimeo.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Salomon Apparel, Salomon Skis, Skiing

Comments:

 Rom
SO SICK!

# : December 12, 2008 9:46 AM

 

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Here's Jonny! (ehem, Cody)

Labels: Big Mountain, Cody Townsend, Freeride World Tour, FWT, Shred-Sticking, Sqauw Valley

Comments:

 Anonymous
Whoa -- 4 posts in one day? I think you guys need some snow. :-}

# : November 28, 2008 11:29 PM

 

 Anonymous
yeah, this is killing us. I've now skied all my new gear at least 10 times down my carpeted stairs.

# : November 29, 2008 11:55 PM

 

 Rom
sick interview cody

# : December 1, 2008 11:15 AM

 

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On Saturday Night Warren Miller premiered its newest movie, Children of Winter at the Events Center in downtown Reno. The movie was pretty good, especially the last segment, I thought. In any event, there were quite a few Porters Team riders there representing their sponsors. Nate Holland, Michelle Parker, JT Holmes, Cody Townsend, and me, Jeremy Benson, were all there to sign posters and bro down like nobody's business. Lots of other well known athletes from this area were in attendance with the likes of Ingrid Backstrom, Daron Rahlves, Brad Holmes, Erik Roner, Jessica Sobolowski, and Kevin Quinn all taking care of business as well. Free posters and stickers were gobbled up by the masses and a good time was had by all. Here's a shot of me signing posters, weird.

Labels: Children of Winter, Cody Townsend, Jeremy Benson, JT Holmes, Michelle Parker, Nate Holland, porters team, Reno, Warren Miller

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The Verbier Extreme is widely regarded as the most prestigious Big Mountain freeskiing competition in the world. In 2008, it almost became the deadliest after a massive avalanche swept the Bec des Rosses during the competition inspection. Watch Kaj Zackrisson, Cody Townsend, and Elyse Saugstad narrowly escape with their lives, then regain their composure to challenge for the world title.

Labels: Cody Townsend, Elyse Saugstad, Free Skiing

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Since as far back as I can remember, the dream of an endless winter has plagued my brain. This year was my first chance to finally capitalize on that fantasy. With my college degree almost out of the way (finally), the financial backing of rad sponsors and nothing but snow to chase, I headed down to Chile in the middle of July. The first two weeks was spent with a special few from my Salomon team: the undisputed backcountry style master Mark Amba, the big mountain slayer Kaj Zackrisson, and the 13 year veteran of the World Cup mogul tour. We were down in Chile to test a new ski from Salomon that came straight from a meeting with the athletes last September (rad). Upon arrival to Santiago, Chile we met up and headed down to a never skied, little known valley of the Andes in central Chile. There we met up with a crew of French skiers who’ve been chasing the endless winter for 12 years straight and run a little snowmobile skiing operation in Argentina. For this trip they sleded their snowmachines over the Andes from Argentina to meet up with us in a little ranch on the Chilean side. Considering this was a work trip, I wasn’t expecting much in the terms of high quality skiing. Holy Snowballs was I wrong. The skiing ended up being completely amazing. Tons of buttery pow in one of the most spectacular mountain environments I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t the steepest or gnarliest, but damn it was fun skiing. A playground of cliffs, windlips, spines and terrain. It was all capitalized in my mind by a line I’ve been dreaming of for years. The mountain presented me with a line where I was able to hit a 10 to 30 footer, backflip a windlip, side-hit gap a huge boulder, slash two waves-like windlips and rock hit out the bottom. So fun. Yet after that, the Salomon team left me and headed back to their respective summer lives. I on the other hand had other plans.

I decided to stay in South America for the next month. After the crew departed in Santiago I waited out a storm and hopped on a bus to Las Lenas, Argentina to meet up with my best shredder buddies from Squaw Valley, Greg Lindsay and George Hjelte. After two long and brutal bus rides, I arrived in Malargue, Argentina to find that George had chased a chica to Santiago and Greg was waiting for me ready to shred. The next day was met by high winds and a closed Marte. But the day after that, the 3000’ sustained vertical face that triumphs the mountain of Las Lenas was open and ready to shred. With I’d say no more than 12 other people skiing that day, Greg and I lapped more than 20,000’ feet of 45º untracked pow. It’s pretty much the closest you can get to heli-skiing with chairlift access. From their, we met back up with George and chased a storm to Bariloche, Argentina. We got some damn fun shredding in, partied with fellow Porters teammate Michelle Parker, ate some good beef, drank some good wine and all in all had a Argentinian good time.

After one more departure of friends that send Greg and George back to the US of A. I headed back up to Lenas to meet up with girlfriend, World Champ and fellow Porters teammate Elyse Saugstad. Upon arrival we sat through a storm that dumped nearly 10 feet of snow in one day(!!!!) and waited for it to go blue. Soon it did and didn’t cloud up for another 7 days. We spent every day skiing some of the best chairlift accessed faces we’ve ever skied, hiked to peaks over 13,000’ feet and generally came home so exhausted that walking around the house was a tough task. After beating our legs up from tons of 3000 foot runs, burning our lungs up with high altitude hikes and one close call that nearly left yours truly dead (it involved tumbling a 55º couloir over serious exposure) we decided to head to the vineyards of Mendoza, sample some wine, eat some of the best steaks in the world and catch a bus to our flight home.

Looking back, I’d have to say that this ended up being the single best ski vacation of my life. Nearly two months of summer time shredding, hanging with and meeting great friends and flat out skipping the brutal heat and summer doldrums with some summer powder. It was the sauce!

Labels: Argentina, backcountry skiing, Chile, Cody Townsend, Kaj Zackrisson, Las Lenas, Mark Amba, Salomon Skis, South America

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