Yesterday my friend, North Parker, and I woke up at 5am to ski a sick couloir on Hyndamn peak. With our skis and boots strapped to our packs, we started the 5mile approach to the base of the mountain. After crossing a river in the basin we scrambled our way to a small dwindling snow field, and started our 5000ft climb. About halfway up it became too steep to continue skinning, and we started an epic boot pack. The ski down was really fun and I’d like to ski it again in the winter, but the trek back to the car left us exhausted. All in all, it was a good time on one of Idaho’s most famous peaks.

The pictures below are from my cell phone, not the best quality but pretty good:

I’ve been physically back in Sun Valley for a few days now, but I think I’m mentally  still in Alaska. Even today as I got ready to ski at the resort, I put on my beacon and my avy-pack with out even thinking, then I remembered, and felt like a a dork as I walked back to the condo to take them off… Then, even though the mountain was empty and the snow was awesome, the skiing felt droll, nothing felt steep or exciting… Oh well, I’ll get back into the swing of things eventually…

Here are some Pictures form the last two days of the trip:

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So after a nice relaxing day after lying in bed yesterday, I finally got my broken body out of the yurt and into the mountains. We got an early start, but ended up waiting for avalanche debris to be cleared from the highway, then Josh remembered that he’d forgotten his boots/skis, so we finally got going around ten. We did a really mellow tour on a mountain called “Sun Burst.” The snow wasn’t super stable and it was a little crusty, so Corky Still and I ended up doing some sweet powder-8’s for the camera. Then the group mobbed (snow plowed) through the lower death crust to the cars.

On our way back to the yurt we stopped on the side of the road to play in the mud to get some sweet “lifestyle” shots. Having not acted like a 4-year-old in at least a week, I jumped on the opportunity:

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I’ve been in Alaska for three days now, the skiing has been good, but this morning we woke up to a foot of new snow up top. After a great breakfast, Jake Sakson, Paul Kimbrough (Who drove their modified ski-bum ambulance form Colorado) and I went to go shred Alyeska resort. We met up with the rest of the Tele Crew: Paige Brady, Corky Still, Candy Froerer, Dave Magoffin, etc… The snow got to be a little heavy down low but we still had a sick day! Comp Run tomorrow morning and we’re all super stoked to ski some AK mountain niceness.

Jake Sakson's ski-bum ambulance, it runs on grease!!!

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I’ve been having so much fun traveling and skiing, that I haven’t found the time or motivation to sit down and write. However, after driving through countless snow caused accidents on the California highway, and then having to entertaining myself in the Nevada hell-hole that is I-80, I’m taking a day off.

I can’t believe that this season is but a few months from coming to an end, and that the first comp in Revelstoke, BC was almost two months ago. Now over halfway through the comp season, the 2010 Telemark Big Mountain/Freeride Comp in Alpine Meadows, California is also already over. This last comp went smoothly even though the weather and snow conditions didn’t feel like cooperating. I did however, have a major break threw, in that I was finally able to stay on my feet, and not get lost for at least one comp run! Even though a hip-check/slide would put me into the 8th spot, I feel that my falling/getting lost streak is finally over! Hopefully I can finally “have one” at the next stop in Kirkwood and show those alpine skiers that a guy on tele-boards can SKI. With three comps down and three more to go, there is still a lot of skiing to be had.

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Josh Madsen from Telemark Skier Magazine also did a fantastic job covering the comp:
(if the video doesn’t open in a player click the transparent “facebook” I cant figure out why some videos load and some don’t)

Demo Days was a big hit this last Sunday (Dec 13), I was able to help/teach almost 25 people how to Telemark and we all had a great time. If you missed out on the action you can still demo all the killer gear at eaither Backwoods or The Elephants Pearch.

I’m in the best mood EVER!!! Want to know why? …Because today was the first day of my 09-10 ski season. It felt so good to finally get reacquainted with the snow, and I am so happy to be sliding down mountains again. I forgot that I would have to get used to my equipment again, but after a few runs i was quickly charging ahead at full speed. After skiing today, I have a feeling that the rest of this season is going to be truly epic!

With the skiing dreams really showing up in the last few months I have been so anxious to ski that I was thinking about driving all the way to the Breanu Sand Dunes to go sand skiing. When I awoke this morning to find snow pouring out of the clouds, I could hardly contain my excitement. I ran around the house waking up everyone, making sure that I wasn’t dreaming. After running outside and throwing some snowballs for Bailey, my dog, I went onto the Sun Valley website to check out the real time status of the snow on the mountain cams and the snow depth indicator read 9in! Update: it now reads 12inches one hour later

I hope that this fresh blanket is a tell tale sign of a big winter to come. I have a bet with some friends going on about how many inches we’re going to get here in Sun Valley. How many inches do you think we are going to get here in Sun Valley? Leave a comment on this post, and if you’re the closest at the end of the year you will win the prize!

This is also the first snow the New Gondola has experienced

Two weeks, two comps, and 3000 miles later, I’m finically back home in Sun Valley, Idaho. It all started with the Subaru U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships in Crested Butte, Colorado. In typical ski bum style, North Parker, Bryce Newcomb, and I all mobbed over to the Comp in my mothers Big Blue Van. We were greeted with a much need blanked of fresh snow, followed by an amazing blue bird sunny weekend. With these ideal conditions I had the most fun I’ve ever had at Crested Butte. North kept his Jr. title for the second year in a row, and Bryce and I both fell which caused us to place further back than what we wanted(I ended up in 36th). I also skied the most burly line I think I have ever skies and aired a 50-footer at the bottom of the Dead End Chute. I got to meet lots of the alpine athletes and make friends outside of the SV-Possy. Then we were on the road again headed back to Sun Valley. After I dropped Bryce and North off, I only had time to Unpack, do laundry, Repack and get some food, before I was on the road again headed to California for the first extreme Telemark comp at Alpine Meadows.

The Alpine Comp was another great competition, and it felt good to be back in the company of so many rippin’ Telemark Skiers. The First day I skied well but I had an unfortunate bobble upon landing the bottom cliff out of the “Key Hole,” but I redeemed my self second run, with the highest total run score for the whole comp, which put me into 3rd place, right behind Jake Sakson, and JT Robinson. The next day in the Finals I was hoping to bypass JT and Jake by skiing the “money-line” faster and better than I had done the day before. I ended up being too aggressive and I lost my balance as I dropped into the keyhole and I fell in the “NO-FALL Zone.” Obviously my scores suffered, but I with the great run the day before, I was able to pull off a 8th place finish.

Now it feel like have time to breath, but im back to training, Crested Butte is coming up in a few weeks…
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The Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships at Red Mountain Resort was my first big mountain competition of this season. In training I fell and when I self arrested I injured my wrist. I decided to take a more conservative line than I initially planned because I didn’t want to hurt my wrist any further and because the crash rattled me and shook me up a little. The event went well although I missed the cut to the finals by 0.8points! Even though I was cut, I feel good about the line I decided to ski and I stomped it. Also I feel that it is worth mentioning that this was an alpine skiing event and I beat over half the field on telemark equipment, and I’m happy about that… Hopefully I can heal up my wrist and come back strong and do well in my next comp at Crested Butte.