None More Blacker - Featuring Pukey (Teaser 2)

As None More Blacker looms on the horizon like a harbinger of death itself, another teaser has been released. This one features the rookie young blood of the group. Defined by sketchy style, questionable balance, and a love for rumplemintze and creamy beige, Pukey has been struggling to earn the team scarf. Will she succeed in her quest? Tune into None More Blacker to find out.

None More Blacker (A Teaser to Tantalize)

With the 09-08 season drawing down, and the majority of photography completed, that means only one thing: None More Blacker approaches.

Fresh out of the editing booth comes this Teaser from the darkest pits of despair. Be warned, once you look into the void, you might see the void looking back. Could it get any more blacker? No. The answer is of course, None More Blacker.

The Traveling Circus (Stuff to Watch)

Even though I'm no skiier, this stuff is awesome. Brought to us by Line skis and some of the meathead boys (Will Wesson and Andy Parry), the Traveling Circus is super low budget ski/travel/jib awesomeness. They MacGyver rails like no other and are dirt poor. Episode 5 just came out and you can catch the line here. This newest episode is pretty hilarious because they kill themselves well when they finally get into powder.

http://www.lineskis.com/stories/108

Check it out sucka!

Spring Time Sucks (Little More Season Left)

Well as we are now in the middle of March and the big trips (Jackson, Utah) are in the history books, we can now look forward to mushy skiing and clearance sales.

While the NY component of the Moguls is headed up to G305 on Friday, I will likely be attending last weekend festivities at Liberty - coming back as a returning hero after my big win.

Quick recap. Jackson Hole was amazing. It's only a few days since we've been back, but most of us are now reshaved (minus my chin steeze) and back to the grind (the bums lost Dong).

Jackson was a big gnarly mountain. The only thing I didn't like about it was I had to leave. As conditions kept improving while we were there, it was as if the mountain kept getting bigger, more interesting, and more challenging. So many spots on that hill could be turned into full day sessions. Whether they were cliff drops, tree runs, or steep slopes, endless terrain variety abounded. I'd pay 1200$ any day to have one powder run at the Hole, it is that good. Hell, even the traverses at Jackson are good. First mountain I've ever been on where you can be on a flat traverses on a board yet still be able to cruise to the next trail or across the mountain without ever stopping and having to push.

So let's enjoy Spring skiing, t-shirt riding, and goggle tans. Perhaps a trip to Mount Hood is in order for June, and a trip to Chile to ride South American style during the heat of the Summer.

Corbets Couloir (Someone hold me)

Late in the day on Friday we made a point of hopping a tram and shooting all the way up to scope out the epic Couloir of doom. Alright. It’s big. It’s really big. And wow, steep. Videos, pictures – anything online – don’t do it justice. It is insane. I was getting vertigo just trying to get near the drop-in to scope it out.

We heard from a few other guys that were up there that the couloir – from the storm and recent weird conditions – was gnarly than usual. Instead of just a two-story drop into a 55-degree pitch, it was probably closer to three stories with exposed ice/rock far more prevalent than usual.

Heading up (and for the last few weeks) we all teased the idea of dropping in with differing digress of seriousness. After looking at it though, it was just way too epic. Too late in the day after too many days of riding. Even if the conditions on the couloir were a little better, our shot legs wouldn’t have held that first epic drop and then it would have gotten very death inducing.

10+ Inches (Jackson Hole Day 5)

“First box on a pow day. How’s that feel?”

It’s 8:55 A.M. and the tram driver calls that out. Quite the cheer comes out of the 100 person packed out tramcar. Miserable weather for a few days and the promise of a true Jackson Hole pow day put a buzz and energy through the car that couldn’t be imagined. As a goof, the driver put on the MGMT song “Kids” because it is so brutally overplayed since T Rice’s segment in That’s It, That’s All, but quickly, everyone’s heads were bopping and the sight of deep untouched snow at 10,000 feet got everyone pumped.

Off the tram, the first wave of riders were like the troops landing on D-Day. This is what we’ve all trained for; this is what we’ve all waited for. Brown, Dong, and I clipped in, headed to the Rendezvous bowl in howling winds and dumping snow and pointed down.

For a moment we thought the snow didn’t stick. So high and so windy, the cusp of the bowl was icy and rocky. But 25 feet deeper into the bowl and consistently deep and untouched snow launched up on every turn. Perfection. The rock hard ice bumps of the last few days were gone and replaced with soft light snow.

Cheers and hollers went out and pure bliss oozed out. Dong became quite irritated by my supposed “5-year old” attitude, but we don’t all get epic pow days.

One run made the whole trip worth it. But down at the Sublette chair, it was only 9:30. A long day of riding was still available and pow was everywhere.. Soon, Tim and Dan caught up and the riding continued. Lots of snow, lots of powder slashes, and face shots galore. If there were 10 inches on the top, there must have been double that in some of the wind-pushed tree runs. Goodness.
The truth depth and possibility of this mountain truly came alive and opportunities abounded. Cliff drops, rock jumps, random kickers and tree stomps became the norm. Every feature was now doable and every run could be done faster and harder.

By 10-11, the top of the mountain started becoming clearer and clearer but the storm sat between 9000 and 7000 feet. Dropping from the higher chairs down into the bowls was like going into the great abyss. On the Cat tracks around the top of the bowls you would look down into a white nothingness. But we knew what was there. Yummy pow pow. Very nasty.

So turns out Jackson is epic. The only thing I want now is to come back, as fast as possible. With more pow and more time, so many more dangerous situations will present themselves. Till then.

So it Does Snow in Wyoming (Jackson Day 4)

After a night eating everything cute and furry and boozing at the Cowboy Bar, we all went to sleep to the sight of light light flurries. We awoke to what they were claiming was a max of three inches of the top. As breakfast ensued, snow began to fall again. And it didn't stop. The top was a brutal white out but the Gondy was running and got us into great stuff. While the morning still had some icy bumps, oh boy was there snow. Even the groomers had a nice layer of snow on the sides that made for some great power slashes.

Spirits rose quickly.

A few hard turns in actual snow made life, very, very good. Looking out, it was like the Tetons finally came alive. Everything we saw looked totally different with heavy snow coming down. So many things that were basically unrideable became totally doable and made for big smiles and great turns.

As an aside, it turns out owning a faux suede snowboarding jacket is not awesome when everything gets covered in snow. Powder Seen was out in full force as can be evidenced by photography.

While the Kelly's and the Brown Bear headed to town for some exploring, Dong and I went up and down the Thunder chair and the Gondy. Finding deep snow blown into the woods and epic turns and face shots.

The best turns of the trip thus far occurred and life became very very good. Apres was done at Casscades and we got a bit moist on spicy Margs. YUM YUM YUM.

Just as a note, some of the pics you'll see are from our trip out into Jackson last night. I will not be doing much organizing until I get back.