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:

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 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)

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…

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:

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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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!

“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.