Thursday, April 1, 2010
Flight delay
I was supposed to spend the entire day in Newark, NJ yesterday on a layover on my way to Europe. Thankfully my flight got delayed so much that they had to reschedule. Spending the day choking on pow was way better than sitting in the airport. Here's a few clips from yesterday morning.
Flight Delay from Jeremy Benson on Vimeo.
Labels: Columbia Sportswear, Elan Boomerang, Jeremy Benson, Powder Skiing
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Refresher
While I heard it was pretty good today at the resorts I have no regrets about cruising down to Mt. Tallac to ski some high, north facing pow. High elevation snow was still good cold powder before our 6 inch refresher last night, which was icing on the cake. In the photo above my buddies scope their line before dropping in, with some really fun terrain in the background...
The terrain on Mt Tallac is second to no other mountain in the basin. Check out the rad lines in the background as we get ready to drop our next line. The short video below is from my best run of the day today. Its hard to see in the clip but the top three quarters of this line are exposed above a 150 foot cliff, blowing a turn or getting caught in your sluff are not an option... Best run of my day 3/9/10 from Jeremy Benson on Vimeo.
Needless to say, there is some great skiing out there, and judging from the snow that has just started falling, I'd say its looking to get even better.
Labels: backcountry skiing, Elan Skis, Jeremy Benson, Lake Tahoe, Powder Skiing
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Some low angle pow
Over the past couple days we've gotten a bit of new snow. Just enough to freshen things up a bit and make some of my favorite lines in the backcountry nice and fresh again. And everyone knows that I love to ski low angle pow. Today we headed out to one of my favorite zones and found exactly what we were looking for, fresh turns. We battled with some difficult visibility and waited for a while to get this "window". This short video clip is from one of the runs I took today, Sunday 2/7/10. HOTG. Notice, when I pull up in the middle, the freight train of sluff that flies by, good thing I wasn't in its way...
Labels: Bakcountry skiing, Columbia Sportswear, Dalbello skiboots, Elan Olympus, Elan Skis, Jeremy Benson, Powder Skiing
Miles ClarkI've always wanted to go ski that line. I didn't realize that it's that looonnnnggg! Badass.
DaveNice Benson! I want to get back out there this winter. Looks like you got it good and sluff-tastic. So, when are you going to learn some tricks?
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Yes, it is snowing that hard.
Its been snowing for days here in Lake Tahoe. The past couple of days have been epic to say the least. Today high winds and heavy snow kept most of the area's lift accesible terrain closed, but there were ample deep untracked powder turns available in the Lake Tahoe Backcountry. The skiing only improved throughout the day as the rate of snowfall and velocity of the winds increased. My new GoPro HD worked flawlessly, and I still can't believe that such a small camera can shoot HD video with such good color. Check out some of my clips from today. It was my first day skiing on some of next years Elan Olympus skis, and I'd have to say that I enjoyed them thoroughly. Sorry if the video is a little long, but hopefully you like Guns and Roses...
Labels: backcountry skiing, Elan Skis, GoPro HD, Jeremy Benson, Powder Skiing
DaveLuckily I like Guns and Roses! Sick pow skiing Benson! Almost as good as being there ... almost. Keep crushing it!!
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Monday, January 4, 2010
Change of plans
With reports of corn skiing from reputable sources on Castle peak, Sugar Bowl, Alpine Meadows, and Squaw Valley, my friend Chris and I headed into the Lake Tahoe backcountry with steep, smooth corn on our minds. Starting at 8 am today we headed up the South side of Jakes peak with the intention of accessing the ridge behind Jakes to ski Crag peak. The photo below is of our primary objective, Crag Peak...
After finding about an 8 inch thick layer of wet powder on just about everything south facing we changed our plan and decided to try and find some dry, cold powder. We stumbled upon this little north facing gem nestled in a cirque on the ridgeline that runs behind the Jakes ridge.
We sessioned this little but super fun zone for a couple runs each before heading back towards the lake and out of the desolation wilderness. Here's a super short video of my friend Chris Doyle shredding the walled in part of one of the cool little chutes in the zone we explored today. Lots of fun to be had in the Lake Tahoe BC right now with a corn cycle on the way. Nothing like Juneuary in California.
Labels: Chris Doyle, Jeremy Benson, Lake Tahoe Backcountry, Powder Skiing, Powder Snowboarding
unclepotatoheadNICE! your motivation is unmatched around these parts.
looks like there were some nice granite cliffs there too!
jt
GainesWhat fuels the deep burning passion within the loins of Jeremy Benson? What lightning energy lurks in the cockles of his heart? No man knows.... No Man Benson.
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Friday, January 1, 2010
Skiing at Alpine
The past couple weeks have been very kind to us. With numerous little storms hitting the area the conditions have been great and staying that way. While we could use a good ol' fashioned "big dump" I'm pretty sure that no one out there can really complain about the conditions lately. The skiing at Alpine Meadows has been phenomenal as I'm sure it has been everywhere else too. Here's an assortment of clips from the past couple of days. My GoPro helmet cam, coupled with my "chesty", has a great wide angle lens and really good color. I can't believe that a camera that small can capture all this video, and take a lickin'. I know that I've kneed mine into my chest a couple dozen times...
Labels: Alpine Meadows, Dalbello skiboots, Elan Boomerang, Jeremy Benson, Powder Skiing
Thursday, December 24, 2009
There's still Pow out there
It hasn't snowed in a few days and the east winds certainly had their way with much of our new snow. Its times like these that I head for a few zones that I know to be wind protected and holding good cold snow. Today my friend Chris Doyle and I went for a 6 hour backcountry tour and the footage you see here is from our last run of the day. Our first 2 runs were pretty darn good, but this was the least wind affected powder we skied, and it was really fun.
Labels: Dalbello skiboots, Elan Skis, Jeremy Benson, Lake Tahoe Backcountry, Powder Skiing
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
What a week it has been.
It has been a pretty incredible week in Lake Tahoe. With 2 consecutive 3 plus foot dumps the mountains around here have just been getting plastered. We've gone from icy groomers with very little open to full on mid season conditions, in places, in a matter of just a little over a week. Yesterday, not only did KT-22 spin for the first day of the season, but Alpine Meadows also managed to open the ridgetop hikes out to Beaver, Estelle, and Bernies bowls. The skiing was off the hook to say the least, and the uncrowded slopes and liftlines made for all day freshies for everyone in attendance. It felt pretty good to step into my Elan Boomerangs for the past few days and charge around the mountain on my big skis with little to no more fear of hitting tons of rocks. While I completely forgot to put on my helmet cam for just about every run, I managed to strap it on once for the short clip you see here. Those GoPro helmet cams are so small that sometimes you forget that you even have it with you.
Today we branched out in search of variety and some more pow for the skiing. We ventured up the street from my house and hiked up to Grouse Rock and into Ward Valley. With high ridge top winds and grey skies dominating for most of our tour we rethought our objectives for the day and focused on lower more sheltered slopes. Many of the natural avalanches that occured during the storm cycle are still very evident, especially on East/Northeast aspects. While nothing really seemed to be moving at the resort yesterday the evidence of natural slides was a little disconcerting especially with the weak layer down near the ground. Finding it a little hard to believe that all that new snow has bonded up tight we tentatively made some ski cuts, and then pretty much went for it.
The consistency of the snow has definitely changed a little overnight. It has become more dense and compacted as well as being wind affected in some areas, and sun crusted on south facing slopes. We decided to lap it up on an sheltered East/Northeast facing slope for optimum powder conditions. Here's my buddy, and unofficialsquaw Kick Ass Blaster, Mike Vaughan finding a nice pocket of fresh on his first turn.
And a few turns later opening it up by the spiny rocks that make up the features of this area.
After hours of hiking around and skiing more pow we were finally chased out of the woods by the dwindling daylight, not that we could see all that well today anyway. In any event, lines in the backcountry are at a super fun low-tide level with more features than usual. Now is a good time to get out and explore and find some great early season stashes for yourself. As far as we could tell, the snow is locked up tight just about everywhere, so go on out and get some. For more information on local avalanche conditions check out: http://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/
Labels: Alpine Meadows, backcountry skiing, Backcountry Tahoe, Elan Boomerang, Jeremy Benson, KT-22, Powder Skiing
Eric AsistinOh yess Benson...The view over to Alpine was quite nice from KT....Glad u got some too.
Porters TahoeNICE WORK BENSON!!!
Nicky B son, aka Turka LurkSick JB, nice line by the way too.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008
020608 Squaw Valley Update
Finally a little update about conditions at good ole Squaw. I would have posted something sooner but, well the snow has so freakin good that I have neglected my post responsibilities. But I digress, so today started out looking like it could be kinda overcast but all the early clouds dissipated and the sun peaked out making the early riding really good. Anything north facing stayed extremely good and once the sun cooked the southern exposed runs they softened up like a fine spring day. All in all it was a good day and Last chance is still in great shape, if you're up for the hike. A friend of mine joined me for the hike and we were very suprised at how good the snow was and how spring like it was. Should be a great weekend to go check out the 48straight event.
Labels: Powder Skiing, Powder Snowboarding, Snowboard, Squaw Valley, Winter
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Look Back & Slash!
There are lots of different tricks you can do while snowboarding and skiing. On a powder day, my most favorite thing to do, as it may be yours as well, is looking back at all that spray your slash has created! Every slash has it's own power and glory. Depending on the snow consistency, you can get various types of spray. Light & fluffy, thick & chunky or backlight and beautiful. Here's a few slashes I did yesterday that I'd like to share with you all. Yes I'm stuck behind the desk this morning on this beautiful bluebird day......GO OUT AND GET SOME!
Labels: Powder Skiing, Powder Snowboarding, Ski, Snowboard
Friday, February 1, 2008
February 1st 2008 SQUAW VALLEY
How many days can we keep talking about pow pow in Tahoe? Is that real question? I was lucky enough to reach the KT line this morning before to many others had arrived in the Valley which allowed me to relax and enjoy the thunderous sounds of explosions all around the mountain. I was surprised at how may bombs they were throwing this morning since it didn't seem like last night was such a large snow event. With a slightly late opening due to ongoing snow safety we all raced as usual to get on chairs and find our lines. As I rode up and started taking pictures I heard a familiar voice and as random squallyworld goes John Huston from our TC store was sitting next to me, its so hard to tell who people are when you're all bundled up. John was rocking the Armada ARG skis and sitting a few chairs behind us was Kyle from the Truckee store spending some time on the K2 Gyrator store demo. Being on the right equipment on a pow pow day is vital and you can always tell who is having more fun than the next guy mainly from know how to choose correctly from the quiver. Huston mentioned that the ARG's were perfect for todays snow conditions but to me they are still funny looking skis. So were started off on KT going towards the alternate chutes but opted for 75 chute instead. Next I hit up tower 16 followed by the sun chutes. And on a hunch me and a my buddy Brahma headed toward the Resort at Squaw Creek and amazingly nobody tracked much of it out. The snow was amazing and should be for days to come and another storm is lined up to hit us Saturday night!!
Labels: Armada Skis, K2 Snowboards, Lake Tahoe, Powder Skiing, Ski, Snowboard, Squaw Valley
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That doesn't look like Alpine?