Big Mountain Telemark Skier

Posts tagged “ski

FWT Revelstoke Update: Legs Want A Divorce

Yesterday, another weather day was called for the Freeskiing World Tour. Seeing as I didn’t make the cut and that the conditions here are phenomenal, I skied my legs into the ground. With 5,620 vertical feet, my one non-stoper at Revelstoke, kicked my butt yesterday morning, but I felt strong and ended up skiing till it was getting dark(4:15pm). Hopefully my legs are ready to give-er again, because the weather is supposed to move out and leave us with a blue bird day!

Be sure to check out the live webcast on the Freeskiing World Tour Website at 10am PST

My mother took a few pics today with our little point-and-shoot, and with a little editing some of them turned out pretty good:


From Sandals To Ski Boots

Still in my board shorts after a long day of surfing in Hanalei Bay, Kauai, I hopped on the red eye headed back to my home base in Sun Valley, Idaho. Ready for more summer, I walked out of the  Boise airport, and I was greeted outside by cold that cut straight to the bone. A shock to the system for sure, but it got me stoked on the season. I was back home for 48hrs which gave me time to say “hi” to my dad, unpack, re-pack, and mount up my new skis, before I hit the road again to spend some time with my Brother and ski with him in summit county. I did a quick stop in Salt Lake City to see some friends and I ended up taking a day to ski at Brighton with my good friend Dex Mills. After another day in the car, I grabbed my brother in Boulder, and we headed towards the snow. I had a great time skiing in Summit County, and spending his Thanksgiving break skiing with him. Now, with ten days in, I think my feet are finally accepting that they’re going to have to be in ski boots the next 5-6 months.


I’m in Kauai and Excited for SNOW?!

I’ve been in Kauai for a few days now, and I’ve been having a blast! The water is 75° if not warmer, and I’ve had a wonderful time beach-hopping on the North Shore the last few days. I even decided to go on an adventure and got lost in the jungle last night on the “Hunters Moon!” However, I feel like my excitement for this winter and falling snow cannot be tamed by this island paradise. I’ve been; watching ski movies in the morning before the day starts, checking out ski news online at night, and I even ran into my first ski coach, Jeff Mintz, yesterday while walking down the street! Small-World right?  Now I’m sitting here, looking at the snow stake webcam on top of Baldy, and I can’t believe that it snowed 9 inches last night!!! Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I’m stoked for this winter.

Hiking through the forrest on the way to the beach

Beginning of the Napali Coast

Hunter's Moon adventure

It snowed 9in last night (10-23)!!!


Trailer Time!!!

I’ve been getting really stoked for this next season: I’ve been having skiing dreams for weeks, I just found out that I’ll be skiing with Cross Sportswear, all of this years movies are looking sick!!! In addition to the movie I’m in, TSM’s “Hippies Punx & Misfits,” Im really looking forward to: Poor Boyz’ “Revolver,” Level 1′s “Eye Trip,” TGR’s “Deeper” fetering Jeremy Jones, Matchstick’s “The Way I See It” and Powder Whore’s “Tele-Vision.” In Case you haven’t seen the trailers, I’ve included them down below, hopefully you’ll get as pumped as I am:

Now that your stoked go check out Cross!


Free Heal Life 2 Preview

“Josh Madsen delves into where telemark skiing began in his follow up to “The Freeheel Life.” Taking you back to what dropping knees looked like in Morgedal, Norway in the 1860s to when it reemerged in the United States in the early 1970s. The scenery and skiing range from some of the first American telemark skiers, like Tom Carter and Doug Robinson, to their modern day protégés like Weston Deutschlander and Ty Dayberry. Get ready to sit back and enjoy some of today’s most progressive moves on freeheel gear, both on and off-piste. It is a journey through the lives of some of the sport’s Hippies, Punx, & Misfits that you won’t want to miss.

Shot on location in Norway, Utah, Alaska & California

Starring: Weston Deutschlander, Shaun Raskin, Ty Dayberry, Zeph Hallowell, Conor Davis, JT Robinson, Candy Froerer, Dan Ruppel, Josh Madsen, Cody Smith, and Alex Paul” -Telemark Skier Magazine

“The Freeheel Life 2: Hippies Punx & Misfits” Official Trailer from Telemark Skier Magazine on Vimeo.


Okay, Now I’m Done For The Season

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:

Hyndman May 17, 10

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Kjell Ellefson Comeback

My good friend and fellow telemark skier, Kjell Ellefson, put out a self edit last night. He was out of commission last season due an injury, but I think it’s safe to say that he was back this year charging harder than ever! Personally, I think that he is one of the most talented and progressive telemark skiers out there today. Please watch the video below to see what I’m talking about:

Kjell Ellefson Self Edit 09-10 from Kjell Ellefson on Vimeo.


Skiing Over Time To Learn To Fly

My ski season is over, but that doesn’t mean that the adventures have stopped. The past week I’ve been accompanying, and joining my little brother with his senior project, Learning to Paraglide in Santa Barbara! We’ve been flying for four days now, and we have already gotten our P1 (beginner) licenses! So far we have 35 flights on the training hill, and things are getting easier and easier.

Check out my little Bro’s first flight below, and follow his Sr. project blog at: www.tdparagliding.blogspot.com


Jumping Up & Down The Latter

I just got done with the 14th annual Extreme Freeskiing Telemark Championships in Crested Butte, CO. The comp went really well I qualified in 3rd place on Headwall, and after three runs on Sock-it-to-me/Little-Hourglass I jumped from 3rd to 2nd to 5th.  Although I would have liked to stay in the top three, I’m perfectly content with a 5th place finish at nationals (still in the $$$ too)! Tomorrow morning I’m driving over to Salt Lake to catch the awards for my fix-heeled friends at the FWT world champ awards, stash my car, and then catch a plane up to Alaska!

Check Out Telemark Skier’s Video for the CB comp:

Day 1 Highlights US Telemark Extremes 2010 from Telemark Skier Magazine on Vimeo.

Also make sure you SUBSCRIBE to my feed to get all the new updates!


Wave Skiing!?!

I finially decided to take a day off yesterday and just relax. I was looking for some video from the 2010 Mavericks surf contest that took place just over a week ago, and while I was searching around, I came a cross a video produced by SalomonFreeskiTV that wowed me. Let me know what you think…


Comp Update… Finally!

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.

Also make sure you SUBSCRIBE to my feed to get all the new updates!

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)


Skiing My Butt Off!

I just tallied up all of the hours I’ve spent skiing so far this year, and I was shocked to see that I have skied over 150 hours already!!! I got an early start on my ski season this year with a two and a half week trip to Summit County, CO. Now I’m back home in Sun Valley, I’m feeling stronger than ever, and I’m antsy for winter to show up. Snow is in forecast this weekend but Sun Valley isn’t waiting. They have put snowmaking efforts on full throttle, and new terrain is opening every few days…

Snow Making Nov-Dec 09

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[img alt="" src="http://www.conordavis.com/wp-content/flagallery/snow-making-nov-dec-09/thumbs/thumbs_5.jpg"]Whales!!!
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Help Me Win This Ski Design Contest

New Schoolers and Icelantic are having a “Design the 6th Sense” top sheet design contest. I’m hoping to win the contest but I need your votes to help me win! So far i have two designs in the contest (click on a pair of skis to vote for them):

one with all (skis) _____Feel The Energy

Please vote for both of my ski designs…
Thanks,

-Conor


Early Season Update & Video

My trip to Colorado for some early season shredding is almost at an end. So far I have skied 10 days (about 45 hours) at two resorts. Snow is in the forecast and I’m so excited for an epic winter to start!

I’ve mostly been working on switch tele-skiing, tele-nose butters, and carving on this trip check out the video:


Reacquainted With An Old Friend

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!


First Snow of the Season Revs up my Pre-season Stoke

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

snowstake_full

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!

rrlodge_full
This is also the first snow the New Gondola has experienced


Redoubt Volcano Shuts Down My Telepalooza Experience

Hey guys, it sounds like AK isn’t going to Happen for me flights are backed up form 3 days of cancellations and i cant get up there in time for Telepalooza, if your in my same boat i have a proposal for you…

there is a Tele-race this weekend in Sun Valley (april 4th), its a fun DRESS-UP day, dual GS “race,” tandem Challenge(two people on one pair of teleskis), telemark Parade, BBQ… the works!!!

my mom has offered her house for a place to crash to anyone who wants to drive on over to SV and make the best out of a crappy situation… its not Telepalooza but its still a great time! give me a shout 208-721-8084


3000 miles later…

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…
Click here to see my Videos


Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships 2009

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.


The Best Christmas Present EVER!!!

This morning I woke up and I was ecstatic that mother nature gave us over two feet of fresh light fluffy snow for Christmas! There was so much snow in fact, that I couldn’t find my car when I went out side to look for it! Anyway, after standing in line for 2.5hrs with my friend Chris Tatsuno, the ski patrol finally declared the lower portion of the mountain open at 11:00. The scene was awesome, people were hootin’ and hollering and laughing and there was a vibe of an old resort, where everyone is in a great mood and having a blast. Chris and I stormed down for first tracks on Exhibition, passing about 50-60 poeple, and we continued charging down the whole morning. We ended up getting eleven runs in on the Exhibition chair before the top opened at 2:00. By the time the top opened the mountain had already tired out most of its morning skiers, and we had to many untracked lined to choose from the rest of the day. During a quick water break, Chris and I met up with Lynsey Dyer and Sven Kueenle and we skied until the mountain closed at 4:00. This was probably one of the days I’ve ever had at Sun Valley resort, and it was the best present I’ve ever received for Christmas


Dude where’s my Car?

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Lift Line


Megawatts=best powder ski ever!!! I love these skis


Chris and I are loving life!


Dumping at Silverstar!!!

“Powder Day!!!” These were the only words I could think of when I awoke to a beautiful white blanket of 15in/38cm of fresh snow this morning(12/13/08). It was great to finally ski on some “good” coverage, as snow has been scarce this early season and conditions have been dismal at best. In addition to the newly fallen blessing, Sliverstar resort open their backside, which is where the majority of black and double black diamonds are located, which meant even more fun for me. This powder day was just what I needed, my legs were burning, my heart was pumping, and I was having a blast. However, in my overly ecstatic state of mind, I didn’t heed to the signs clearly stating “Caution: Unmarked Hazards Exist,” and I ended up introducing my thigh to a very mean tree stump. Ultimately the wicked stump left me with quite a large bruise; thankfully I suffered no major damage. Other then my little incident I had an amazing day.


My 08/09 Season Blasts Off At Revelstoke

I went to Revelstoke Mountain resort for opening day on Nov. 27, 2008. The mountain opened with 80cm, which is awesome compared to other mountains in the American Northwest. Revelstoke Is an amazing mountain, there isn’t too much for one learn on, but the intermediate, and advanced terrain is impressive. I had a great time and I can’t wait to see what this mountain is like with some real snow on it. I had an amazing first day skiing, but it seems that no matter how much I train, my legs turn to flab within the first couple of hours or so each season. Nevertheless, it was great to finally get some vert in; I managed to get about 31095ft in the 5hrs I skied. I’m ecstatic that ski season is upon us once again, see you out there…


Why do I Telemark???

Besides the cliché half-binding/half-brained hippy statement: “because the turn looks and feels so sweet dude,” I telemark because it is a key to unlock the hidden treasures of the mountains and because it allows access the backcountry. Telemarking allows me to enjoy mountains, and express myself better than I could do with tradition alpine skiing. “Then why don’t you just A.T.” you might ask? We all know that A.T. means “Almost Telemark.” I feel that A.T. doesn’t allow the seamless and fluid movement through the mountains, that telemarking does. I believe that A.T. is a great way for beginners to experience touring, but why not loose that clunky heelpiece?

To me, telemarking is like using handwritten calligraphy instead of type: it’s more technically challenging, it boasts additional style, and it contains an individual flair unique to each artisan… Plus it just looks cooler. Duh!!!


Haig Glacier


Summer Jib Sesh… DNA rail jam

As you can imagine, I was surprised to see posters up around town for a ski competition on August 18th this summer. Sure enough on August 18th, The DNA Evolution Tour set up their mobile rail park outside PK’s ski and sports for a summer jib-sesh. It was super fun to break out my ski equipment on one of the hottest summer days. The event was great, there was lots of music and it drew in a pretty good-sized spectator crowd. I had a great time, and I got a lot of respect from the other competitors for competing on tele-gear. I think I even invented some telemark specific rail slides, like my “tele-stance slide” which got a lot cheers from the spectators. At the end of the day, I even qualified for The DNA Evolution Tour Finals in Las Vegas, unfortunately I won’t be able to attend main event this year…