Red Bull has put up yet another awesome video of Free Ride skiing in France. Certainly awesome and a good teaser of future Boloney ski projects.
Let this wet your appetite, because after myself and TK got back from Utah, I've already been in the editing bay getting together a quick hit edit from the trip. The summary? Lot's of sped up footage mixed with Tim killing it on the steeps of Uta.
The next month holds a lot of prime riding and skiing. What's on the agenda? VT, Maine, NY, maybe NH? It looks like we'll dodge the bullet and there may only be one slight warm up. Hopefully the powder keeps coming down good on the East Coast and a lot of core season shredding will go down. Will this year see some epic dumps in March? Let's hope the cold stays and El Nino keeps whipping up some moisture.
First week in March is of course the big out West trip. Tahoe right now is getting slammed with a mega storm that may produce 10 feet of snow over 9 days. That's what I call a POW day. Keep it up Ullr.
1.18.2010
Brighton Bests Utah (Magic Uta Pow)
In this installment of the SeenTK show, Brighton was heavily featured, with it's sick steeps and surprisingly abundant snow pack.
After another trek into the Big Cottonwood Canyon, two boloners headed off for their final day of riding during U2. Brighton is a place we were all blown away by last year, and we were both psyched to head back. Knowing the snow out here isn't epic this week, we figured Brighton wouldn't be as good as last year, but little did we know.
At first after a run up the Great Eastern Express, not to be confused with the Great Northern mud trail of killy, we thought we were in for it. The run under the lift and through the trails was icy and brutal. With a changed game plan, we moved farther right onto the hill and hit up the Morning Wood trees. Ah, the Brighton we remembered returned. Steep and snowy trees that seemed untouched even though they lacked fresh snow in two weeks. Rock drops, quick pow slashes, and terrifying steeps as far as our legs allowed us to go.
After several laps through there, we again moved on to greener pastures. This time, the Miley Cyrus express. The whole Miley "bowl" if that's even the right term, is a super craggy, steep, and gnarly area with acre upon acre of freeride terrain.
This was the real shock of Brighton. What we, well, at least I, thought would have been crusted over death steeps with gnarly exposure, turned out to be very edgeable snow, making for the best runs of the trip. Under the lift things looked rocked out and danger slick, but with Tim's enthusiasm we shot through lines that I thought wouldn't be doable with the snow there. Sure, I might have made some interesting rock slides, but skis and boards survived - as well as my joints and limbs - and the Miley zone was great.
Final mission of the day was the devastator itself: Rein's Run. In the morning that area was brutally hard and crusty. Something that steep is basically not didable in those conditions, but we had to see if it was as steep as remembered. Short answer, yes, nutso steep. In the final surprise of the day, the snow was perfect. Four or five turns and already dropping several hundred feet, snow sprayed up on every turn and the rocks were well covered. So good in fact we lapped it three times and as we descended lower to the Snake Express (or whatever it's called) we found plenty of little drops and surprise steeps.
Brighton has got to be one of the best hills in the world, and we were both psyched to take the bus through the Big Canyon and hit it up again.
1.16.2010
U2 (Boloney Blasts Back)
It's MLK weekend, and Tim and I are in SLC, well, Midvale, but same thing. Things are good and Utah is rocking.
Just like last year, we're hitting an identical weather pattern. Week or two with no snow, mega blue and sunny yesterday, slightly overcast and cloudy today. First order of business on Friday was of course, demolishing the continental breakfast at the Days Inn South. I might also add that Tim and myself were greeted as returning VIPs by the Bobby Sharp himself.
So after making a few waffles and drinking an uncomfortable amount of coffee, off to the UTA bus, next stop Snowbird. The Bird is in fact, the word. As usual it offered the most amazing steeps and lines around. Again, even without fresh snow, great runs and packed powder were abundant. The added bonus of Utah being sans fresh snow is the crowds are just not here. No wait on anything and enjoying the great sun made for an amazing day of near beers and cruising. With TK on the planks and myself on the board we cruised around all the favorite spots: Black Forest, Mineral Basin, and Peruvian. Even after riding this place last year, I am constantly blown away by just how terrifyingly steep nearly all the terrain is here.
Because no one hill is going to have "epic pow" this weekend, TK and I decided a exploration was critical. Today's mission was one of Solitude. Fun Fact about Utah: Never ask advice from morons that probably don't ski about where to go and where to ride. Solitude, what was claimed last year as a boring waste of time hill, turned out to be mega gnarly, easily on par with Snowbird or Brighton and quickly became of favorite.
Solitude had every kind of terrain imaginable: Steeps like the Bird, wide open cruisers like A Basin's main face, Craggy bowls like Jackson, trees like in the North East. The added bonus of Solitude is just that, no one is here. And because of that, snow, and I mean actual powder was everywhere. If you had told me it hadn't snowed here for two weeks I would call you a liar. All the terrain off the high lifts and within the woods was rip-able and full of stuff to push around. Enough good things can't be said about this place, so I'll just sum it up this way: next year I'll be going to Solitude first.
Tomorrow's mission will continue the plan of Blasting Back the Cottonwood Canyons. We're off to Brighton to go through the awesome woods, down the death steeps of Rein's Run, and through the gnar gnar bowl off the Miley Chair. Check out all the pictures to the right.
Giddy'up.
Just like last year, we're hitting an identical weather pattern. Week or two with no snow, mega blue and sunny yesterday, slightly overcast and cloudy today. First order of business on Friday was of course, demolishing the continental breakfast at the Days Inn South. I might also add that Tim and myself were greeted as returning VIPs by the Bobby Sharp himself.
So after making a few waffles and drinking an uncomfortable amount of coffee, off to the UTA bus, next stop Snowbird. The Bird is in fact, the word. As usual it offered the most amazing steeps and lines around. Again, even without fresh snow, great runs and packed powder were abundant. The added bonus of Utah being sans fresh snow is the crowds are just not here. No wait on anything and enjoying the great sun made for an amazing day of near beers and cruising. With TK on the planks and myself on the board we cruised around all the favorite spots: Black Forest, Mineral Basin, and Peruvian. Even after riding this place last year, I am constantly blown away by just how terrifyingly steep nearly all the terrain is here.
Because no one hill is going to have "epic pow" this weekend, TK and I decided a exploration was critical. Today's mission was one of Solitude. Fun Fact about Utah: Never ask advice from morons that probably don't ski about where to go and where to ride. Solitude, what was claimed last year as a boring waste of time hill, turned out to be mega gnarly, easily on par with Snowbird or Brighton and quickly became of favorite.
Solitude had every kind of terrain imaginable: Steeps like the Bird, wide open cruisers like A Basin's main face, Craggy bowls like Jackson, trees like in the North East. The added bonus of Solitude is just that, no one is here. And because of that, snow, and I mean actual powder was everywhere. If you had told me it hadn't snowed here for two weeks I would call you a liar. All the terrain off the high lifts and within the woods was rip-able and full of stuff to push around. Enough good things can't be said about this place, so I'll just sum it up this way: next year I'll be going to Solitude first.
Tomorrow's mission will continue the plan of Blasting Back the Cottonwood Canyons. We're off to Brighton to go through the awesome woods, down the death steeps of Rein's Run, and through the gnar gnar bowl off the Miley Chair. Check out all the pictures to the right.
Giddy'up.
1.13.2010
Bri/DK Fest X Recap (Bolla, Woods, and Pow)
Enchanted Madness (I Fail as Survivor Man)
Before Christmas I shot up to the Catskills to do a mini Exit 20 tour. Lodging provided by the very comfortable Enchanted Valley Cleary Lodge. Some may perhaps remember the onesie-based antics that took place there last year around this time. Because this was a solo trip, I figured it might be fun to live blog my isolation evening in the woods of Cornwallisville. (well time-delayed live blog). The following are the uncut musings I jotted down while sequestered in the Enchanted Valley for what turned out to be a very exciting evening. Read below the fold for the uncut feed.
12.29.2009
Headwall Hiking (Round II)
After the fun had yesterday up on the headwall and the overall blown out status of both I and BP's legs, a 800 step hike straight up sounded like a perfect idea... twice. Conditions were worse than yesterday. Snow was crispy and harder and the light was much much flatter. But the hike path was ever more packed than yesterday. With a better choice of gear and hydration, we put our heads down and charged on up.
I hit the top line twice and found some good snow and easy turns. Cupid was convinced there was a way through the cliff line that would let us hit the good snow we came up there for. Sure enough after following the lines of a ski patroller who shot down, we found the line. After the second hike up we followed the line down and hit some of the best snow of the trip.
The lower mountain might have been a bit gnarly today, but sure enough, if you hiked for your turns, you could find some awesome stuff.
I hit the top line twice and found some good snow and easy turns. Cupid was convinced there was a way through the cliff line that would let us hit the good snow we came up there for. Sure enough after following the lines of a ski patroller who shot down, we found the line. After the second hike up we followed the line down and hit some of the best snow of the trip.
The lower mountain might have been a bit gnarly today, but sure enough, if you hiked for your turns, you could find some awesome stuff.
12.28.2009
Hiking for Pow (Jackson Christmas Day 3)
After a quick run down (read 35 minutes of riding) from the tram to the base, the conditions just weren't there. So we headed out to Apres Vous and found some decent cruisers that were still intact. Again though, cover pushed away quickly and it felt quite North East style.
So, the 11:00 A.M. daily plan went into effect: Beers at the summit of the Gondy. Because of the crazy inversion here, the -4 at the base was actually closer to 25 at the summit. Unbelivable sun too made for an amazing chill session. Shockingly enough, I got antsy. I kept glancing behind the Gondy building where the hike up for the headwall is. A long packed out trail stretching up through the trees and climbing some 1000 feet to the top of Casper peak. Cupid was content will chilling so I grabbed the board, stripped off a few layers, and started the hike.
Initially, I thought I might only hike up a few dozen feet and take a quick pow turn in the untracked, but easily accessible area. As I started trudging up it though, the packed out trail - due to skiers boots - made for an easier hike. It was like a stairmaster from hell, and the altitude didn't make it any easier, but all and all, it was doable. With my head down, I just kept plodding away. In minutes, silence and the bowl opened up more and more. Great powder could be seen and now I realized how I was really up there. Perhaps an avalanche beacon would have been a good idea... Don't worry, I'm sure I could count on Cupid sitting at the bar to save me.
Eventually I saw a higher pitch and thought I might make it to there. After a few instances of this I figured I climbed several hundred vertical feet, and was continuing to make good progress. Finally though, I called it quits once another super steep pitch started. I saw a good area that still had a lot of snow and few tracks and shimmied over to strap in. Now, I noticed just how far I climbed and how gnarly the terrain got. It also dawned on me that I had no idea which way to go down, and no idea where the cliffs were.
As Ski Patrol famously told us, "Taste Death, Live Life." So, with that attitude, I dropped in and make some sick pow turns if I do say so myself. Then, I realized I was now in it, and was standing in front of a mondo cliff. Now, I knew I really should have figured out where the safe line is, and had no choice but to unstrap myself and hike up a bit and then over. The precipice I creeped across got gnarly and gnarly and I had to traverse over some 100-200 feet. Finally, I saw what looked like a rideable way down. Though, it was definitely the gnarliest chute I've ever considered going down.
Back into the board, pointing the nose down and making a few jump turns, I launched down the chute and somehow popped out on the otherside. Finally I had a view of the top of the gondola where I started the hike and make some slow turns through the lower bowl. Success.
Once Justin got off of work for his ski break, we made a beeline for the hike up Casper we did yesterday. Today though, the waist high we trudged through was packed where we stepped from yesterday and access was way easier. The Re-Session was on and many fun rock hits were had.
All and all, a great day of pow and fun on what everyone else bitched about as an awful day of hardpack.
So, the 11:00 A.M. daily plan went into effect: Beers at the summit of the Gondy. Because of the crazy inversion here, the -4 at the base was actually closer to 25 at the summit. Unbelivable sun too made for an amazing chill session. Shockingly enough, I got antsy. I kept glancing behind the Gondy building where the hike up for the headwall is. A long packed out trail stretching up through the trees and climbing some 1000 feet to the top of Casper peak. Cupid was content will chilling so I grabbed the board, stripped off a few layers, and started the hike.
Initially, I thought I might only hike up a few dozen feet and take a quick pow turn in the untracked, but easily accessible area. As I started trudging up it though, the packed out trail - due to skiers boots - made for an easier hike. It was like a stairmaster from hell, and the altitude didn't make it any easier, but all and all, it was doable. With my head down, I just kept plodding away. In minutes, silence and the bowl opened up more and more. Great powder could be seen and now I realized how I was really up there. Perhaps an avalanche beacon would have been a good idea... Don't worry, I'm sure I could count on Cupid sitting at the bar to save me.
Eventually I saw a higher pitch and thought I might make it to there. After a few instances of this I figured I climbed several hundred vertical feet, and was continuing to make good progress. Finally though, I called it quits once another super steep pitch started. I saw a good area that still had a lot of snow and few tracks and shimmied over to strap in. Now, I noticed just how far I climbed and how gnarly the terrain got. It also dawned on me that I had no idea which way to go down, and no idea where the cliffs were.
As Ski Patrol famously told us, "Taste Death, Live Life." So, with that attitude, I dropped in and make some sick pow turns if I do say so myself. Then, I realized I was now in it, and was standing in front of a mondo cliff. Now, I knew I really should have figured out where the safe line is, and had no choice but to unstrap myself and hike up a bit and then over. The precipice I creeped across got gnarly and gnarly and I had to traverse over some 100-200 feet. Finally, I saw what looked like a rideable way down. Though, it was definitely the gnarliest chute I've ever considered going down.
Back into the board, pointing the nose down and making a few jump turns, I launched down the chute and somehow popped out on the otherside. Finally I had a view of the top of the gondola where I started the hike and make some slow turns through the lower bowl. Success.
Once Justin got off of work for his ski break, we made a beeline for the hike up Casper we did yesterday. Today though, the waist high we trudged through was packed where we stepped from yesterday and access was way easier. The Re-Session was on and many fun rock hits were had.
All and all, a great day of pow and fun on what everyone else bitched about as an awful day of hardpack.
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