Although mild attempts at humor are ventured (and mostly eluded) there are serious declarations in this video that hate at the architecture of skiing. Zoloft ain't got nothing on the depression this vid sinks me into. Although I respect nearly all skiers for their athletic talents, their 'intellectual traditions' can sometimes leave something to gain. Sorry for the negative post, but positivity is hard in these heat scorched weeks of August. Enjoy for whatever reasons you want to enjoi.

Labels: backcountry skiing, idiots skiing

Comments:

 Anonymous
Yeah, stay home, leave the powder for us. Geez. Idjits.

# : August 11, 2009 2:03 PM

 

 Me
Storm days are the best days!!!...go home howley...these are our waves...

# : August 11, 2009 4:42 PM

 

 captain short shanks
Well I know they won't be shredding anything we are headed to in the Backcountry. My 5 tips for this crew are
1. Stay in the park
2. Stay in the park
3. Stay in the park
4. Stay in the park
5. Stay in the park

# : August 12, 2009 2:32 PM

 

 Anonymous
oh it wasn't so bad. sure they're park rats but that wallisch kid is pretty dope.

too many kids 2day just ain't got the appreciation / ability for puking pow days but that's just fine by me!

# : August 12, 2009 10:37 PM

 

 katie and karen
the whole 'ragging on park kids' because you ski backcountry and it's SOOOOO much cooler really is getting old and needs to stop.

why can't we all just get along?

P.S. this video was a complete joke...stop taking it so seriously. i've seen these kids out on pow days and they slay just as hard as anyone else.

# : August 16, 2009 5:03 PM

 

 Anonymous
That video is supposed to be funny and not taken seriously. ps- Tom Wallisch is skiing in Full Tilt Boots and kills it.

# : August 18, 2009 1:28 PM

 

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

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

 

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

The recent turbulent weather has pretty much cleared out, but we got to hike all day with these clouds hovering around tree line.  It made the already ridiculous views even better.  This shot is of my buddy Max near the bottom.  
Mountains this big look deceptively small.  From where this shot was taken there's still 4,000 feet to the summit.  As you can see it was smooth. It had snowed about 6 inches above 10,000 feet in the past week, and that helped to smooth the mountain out.  It was about as good as it gets, on June 8th....
My buddy Max nearing the halfway point.  This is where it starts to hurt, and the steepest and highest part is yet to come.  
And a couple hours later here's Max about to reach the summit, the crazy cloud show still going on far below.  The clouds never really went away throughout the day, they lingered making it feel like we were in an airplane almost.  
We left my car at 6 am, and I was on the summit just past 11 am.  We hung out til about 1 pm and decided that it was probably finally soft enough to be totally awesome skiing, and it was.  It was a little cool out that day, otherwise you generally want to be dropping in between eleven and noon this time of year.  Here's a shot of me skiing just below the summit.
And a few turns later, gaining some speed.  The top 4,000 feet of the Wintun Glacier drop in fall line off the summit of Mt. Shasta.  I think this is among the best pitches of skiing just about anywhere, and skiing it without stopping is really painful.  The mountain was smooth as glass, and the turns were easy and super fun.  
Last year when I skied this same route the lower half of the mountain was covered in the gnarliest sun-cups that I'd ever seen, this year it is smooth to tree line, and then the sun-cups aren't even that bad.  Here's a shot of Max milking the snow ribbons back to the car, a sure sign that the snow we do have is going fast.  
If you've never skied Mt. Shasta, I'd highly recommend it.  It doesn't really get much better than it is right now.  As of yesterday you could get one switchback from the actual Brewer Creek Trailhead, which really only adds about 15 minutes to your day.  The rest of the road will probably be melted out by the end of the week.  Mt Shasta rules, go ski it if you've got the time.

Labels: backcountry skiing, Jeremy Benson, MT Shasta

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

Just got back from three days of adventuring down on the East side of the Sierra.  We found incredible corn on south facing slopes and really weird wind affected snow conditions everywhere else.  The low elevation snowpack is incredibly thin down there and access is like it normally is in May right now.  There is more snow from Mammoth north, but we took advantage of the easy access and headed out past the Buttermilks for day one in the Humphries Basin.  This first shot is of Andrew, Jon, and Oscar hiking past Mt. Locke. 
Our first objective was the summit of Basin Mt.  At 13, 200 and a few feet it was about 5,000 vert from the car.  We skied a line on the south side that was hero corn.  Here's Jon looking small in front of Mt. Humphries.As we booted up a couloir on Mt. Humphries after our first run we got a good look back at our run off of Basin.We booted up a couloir on Mt. Humphries and got up to 13,000 feet for the 2nd time that day.  It allowed us to get into another basin underneath Mt. Locke and peak 13,112.  It was really cool to check out some new terrain.The next day we headed down to Tioga Pass which is still closed.  We hiked up to the plateau from the Power plant road and went for our favorite go to corn lap in the sierra.  Here's a shot of the crew chillin on the plateau at 12,000 feet with Mt. Dana in the background.  The skiing conditions are great down there right now, with some snow on the way hopefully I can get back down there to get some lines in pow...   Happy spring, pray for snow.

Labels: backcountry skiing, Dana Plateau, East side, Jeremy Benson

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

I'm not sure how many days in a row I've gotten to ski bottomless pow, but this latest powder fix has completely erased any memory of not skiing pow.  It has been deep and getting deeper, with more on the way.  Get yours while it lasts.  The last several days at Alpine have been off the hook, but since the wind and storm were keeping many lifts from running today we decided that human power was the best way to enjoy the deep.  Here's a short helmet cam clip from some backcountry laps we took today.  It was storming hard and every run was better than the previous.  Avalanche danger is currently rated as "considerable", and we certainly considered it before every faceshot we got.  Be careful out there, its supposed to snow a lot more in the next couple days.  

Labels: Avalanche, backcountry skiing, Jeremy Benson, Powder

Comments:

 Chappy
Nice work Benson...

# : February 16, 2009 10:27 AM

 

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

Weatherman Joe topping out on the Coke Chute, high above Mono Lake and Lee Vining
Skiing the Kidney Lake Chute, only 2,000 feet to go...  
Mono Lake making for yet another scenic backdrop while we're walking on rocks, linking the snow patches together.

Labels: backcountry skiing, Jeremy Benson, Mono Lake, Tioga Pass, Weather

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

Labels: backcountry skiing, Emerald Bay, Jakes, Jeremy Benson, Lynn Kennen

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

This is what it looked like in the backcountry today, seriously!

When I was fixing a flat tire on my mountain bike last friday I had no idea the dumping that we were in for.  The weather looked promising at the time, but at no point did it mention that we'd have 4 feet of new snow in three days.  The fresh 40+ inch layer of superlight fluff has turned my dreams into a reality and I've gotten face shots for the past three days.  It looks like Alpine Meadows will be open top to bottom starting Friday, and people who skied at Squaw today said that it was "pretty freaking good".  I've been taking full advantage of the hiking opportunities and getting fresh lines down pretty much whatever I want thanks to my Marker Dukes, while trying not to get too deep into the snow.  We did get plastered,  but its pretty much all the snow we've got, so pay attention and be careful out there.  There are snow snakes aplenty out there right now, so stay light on your feet and keep your tips up.  Significant settling has occurred over the past several days, so the bottom has become more difficult to find, but not that difficult.  Looks like there is more on the way, so get ready to shred pow until you can't even stand up.  For information on avalanche conditions check out www.sierraavalanchecenter.org.  Have fun, and see you out there.

Labels: Alpine Meadows, Avalanche, backcountry skiing, Elan Skis, Jeremy Benson, Ski, Squaw Valley

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home

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

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<$BlogBacklinkTitle$>  
<$BlogBacklinkSnippet$>

<$I18NPostedByBacklinkAuthor$> @ <$BlogBacklinkDateTime$>

---

Create a Link

<< Home