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Welcome to the Porters Sports Blog. We will try to keep you up to date with our Lake Tahoe thoughts and also rants about other stuff too.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Party in the Park

Well I would say it was a pretty productive few days, it was hard work running around and shooting photos and video at the same time but I think it payed off. Check out the video of Eric Willett doing all sorts of Doubles and Chris's mad style. Click to photo to see more.

Chris Willett Breck 1


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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Chamonix is insane

I recently spent about three weeks in Europe skiing around and checking out the scene. I must admit that my mind was blown. I never really understood what Chamonix was all about until I experienced it for myself. Luckily I had a friend to show me around or I wouldn't have gotten into any of the cool lines that I did. Here's a few memorable moments and the photos that go with them.

Climbing to your line is often the most exciting part of the day. Using two ice axes at the same time does not seem ridiculous... In the photo below we're climbing 55 degree snow, exposed over a 100 plus foot cliff above a huge broken glacier... not your average climb, unless you're in Chamonix.

The mountains are huge and covered in glaciers. Steepness was redefined for me on this trip. Take the photo below for example. I'm skiing pow on a 45 degree face about halfway down the line, blowing a turn would result in a 1500 foot ragdoll. Falling is not an option pretty much anywhere in Chamonix. Once at the bottom of a line like this you have to ski through a massive cracked glacier and underneath the super huge hanging seracs that are all around.Moving through the mountains is a little different in Cham than other places. Sidestepping through rocks is one thing, sidestepping, sideslipping, rappelling, and climbing all over rocks pretty much every run is what you may get into. The photo below is of some pretty average manuevering, and don't fall....
Once again, falling is not an option. Dropping into a line like the Cosmiques without a rope, on "firm snow" (ice),with a little exposure beneath you is definitely an acquired taste. My buddy Dave really likes the way "you fall you die" skiing tastes...
Skiing with ropes and using them (not for rescue) is really fun. Adding the dimension of ropes into your skiing opens a lot of doors as to what is possible and accessible. Plus, ropes are heavy in your pack and it would suck to ski around with it all the time if you didn't use it... Dave raps into the fun zone next to the heart of the Rond, remember, rocks are vertical.
The scale of the mountains in Chamonix takes a little getting used to. Around Tahoe we ski 50 degrees for a hundred feet at a time, in Cham you ski 50 degrees for 2,000 feet and there 2 begschrunds at the bottom. If you get off on being scared while you're skiing, then Chamonix might be the place for you.
In any event, I had a great time and I'd highly recommend travelling to Europe to go skiing to anyone. Not only is the ski experience different but the culture and lifestyle is also very different. Smoking cigarettes, eating cheese and lots of chocolate is the norm, and somehow everyone is skinny, I could get used to that....

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Anonymous Anonymous
nightmare
 
Blogger unclepotatohead
sick dude. thats some steep stuff!
 
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Alyeska Resort, Alaska in April

The gorgeous view of Cook Inlet from Alyeska. In my opinion it's one of the best views if not THE best of any ski resort in the world. You've got the ocean (and in this picture it is at low tide) at one side of the valley, a resort at another, and the remaining area is surrounded by beautiful mountains and glaciers.

Being a sponsored athlete of my hometown resort, Alyeska, I was given the opportunity to head up to Alaska and get in the last throws of winter once I returned from France. I was pretty excited about this, Alyeska was on its way to breaking 800 inches of snowfall. In the beginning the weather was full of precipiation- snow on top and rain on the bottom. Something to be expected in April when the temps start to warm up, the base of the resort is at sea level after all. Nonetheless, as long as it was snowing up high the rain wasn't much of a factor. After a week the sun finally broke and I was able to work with local photographer, Simon Evans, to do some photos for Alyeska. Fortunately, the Resort was really helpful and willing to cater to our needs- access to closed terrain where we wouldn't be competing with the crowds. This ended up with us hiking up Center Ridge and dropping back into Glacier Bowl, thus skiing terrain that hasn't been open for at least the last 3 years. So lucky! It was sooo steep and the snow was sooo good, those few runs were definitely the highlight of my trip up north. Ohhh Alaska. The BEST place on earth to ski.

Scott Hillard, one of the Alyeska patrollers who assisted us while shooting, getting in a fun run after us. What a great job to have! And lots of thanks to the Alyeska Patrol!!!

The top of Chair 6

Christmas Chute and the North Face are right behind me

Cody is all smiles for plenty of reasons. He decided to stick around and get in some more great skiing after his film trip with MSP was over, which apparently was THE film trip of his life. Can't wait to see his segment with Henrik in next year's movie!

Alyeska's annual Slush Cup - with the sun comes the crowds!

Someone taking a digger. This particular pond crossing is 3/4ths gapers so it makes for a great show!

So many good reasons to bring out the cheesiness!

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Stuck in Amsterdam

I just made it home from an adventure in Europe. I originally left to go to Kamp K2 (which was awesome) for three days, but ended up staying for eleven because of the volcano. I had a layover in Amsterdam...and that's where I ended up for five days. It was amazing to get to see the city and enjoy a little extra time in Europe!



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Line Traveling Circus Season Finale

The Line Traveling Circus makes their way back to California to shred some spring park. 8 people divided into a subi and a VW hatch back covering over 2000 miles of the golden state. Great episode and a great season by the TC crew, nice job guys. I look forward to next years season and hopefully meeting up with the crew at Mt Hood over the summer. Enjoy the season finale and remember if you want to listen and download the TC theme music visit www.myspace.com/nickybfromtc

ENJOY!

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

BackFlip Contest

Timy BackFlips on Facebook is having a BackFlip contest for a Black Upton Sessions Jacket. Become a Fan and post your BackFlip Clip for a chance to win this sweet jacket!



http://www.facebook.com/pages/Timy-BackFlips/108135209218436?ref=ts

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Squaw Belmont Park Laps-Foy, Horgan, Drury

Check this edit out of Belmont Park laps at Squaw with John Foy, Alex Horgan, and Brendon Drury. The Go Pro head cam edit from a paint stick works out a pretty cool angle thanks to Alex Horgan the installer of this angle. You gotta love the spring days of mini shred and hot tubs. Peace!

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Blogger Nicky B
nice work fellas, that was a fun edit to watch
 
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