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:
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 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…
Because of these financial hard times companies are cutting costs wherever they can, and unfortunately athlete sponsorship is one of these “unneeded” expenditures. Because I am usually the youngest/newest person skiing for a specific company, in most cases I have been the first to be dropped down to a lower sponsor bracket. With corporate sponsorship at an all time low, I am looking for private sponsors to help keep my dream alive. If you would like to help please contact me: 208-721-8084.
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
The 2009 Baldy Bash was a blast! The competition consisted of coming up with, and singing a team theme song loudly to everyone in the Lodge, a Photo-op Scavenger hunt all over the Mountain, and finally costumes were judged as well. Needless to say our amazing team (YMCA): Riley Berman, Lily Debray, Lynsey Dyer, Madi DuPont, Allegra Gordan, and Conor Davis(me), won the days events. I cannot wait for Baldy Bash 2010.
“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.
Conor Davis|Big Mountain Telemark Skier and Ambassador
I honestly cannot remember a time in my life before snow or skiing. My first memories seem to be mental recordings of me sliding past the snow banks of our driveway on little plastic skis from the local drugstore. I remember the hours I spent in our backyard, playing in the snow, never feeling wet or cold. My mother would always have to drag my brother and me back into the house, away from the jumble of backyard ski runs and jumps we made. Skiing has always been a way for me to connect with the world around me, a way to live in the moment. When I’m skiing I’m free.
Photo: Chris Holmquist
My First Time Skiing
I believe that my skiing career started when I was old enough to stand(2-ish), when my ambitious father pushed me, down the driveway on cheap little plastic skis. As I became skilled enough to make my way down the slopes of the “bunny hill,” i was retrofitted with “edgy-wedgies” and “racer-chasers.” Soon i joined the early stage of ski team, which was more like a super cool after school daycare, where i got to ski with all my friends. As time progressed, my friends and I became alpine racers on the A-team. We would head to the mountain almost every day after school to run gates and occasionally free-ski. By the time my first year in high school came around, I was pretty bored of the monotonous routine of training for alpine races, so I made a radical shift and I joined the Cross-Country/Nordic ski team. I had always been a great endurance athlete, and I was a varsity cross-country runner my first year in high school. I stuck with the Nordic team for two years, until an unfortunate health issue forced me to quit. However, the Nordic team instilled a life long passion of the outdoor-fitness, and made me want to lead and active outdoor lifestyle. After Nordic team, I knew that I wanted to continue to downhill ski, but I wanted something new and exciting, something unique, and I took up telemark skiing.
My father has always been a Telemark skier; he is from an era of leather boots, three-pin bindings, and big long wooden skinny skis. He was the major influence in my decision to lose half my binding and free my heel. Telemarking came very naturally and quickly to me, I had some difficulty letting my knee drop at first, but I slowly felt more and more comfortable. I fell in love with the fluidity and beautiful style of the “tele-turn.”
-I haven’t gotten back in my alpine boots since…
“We got a young ripper here named Conor Davis. Conor is super passionate about Telemark skiing. He has been one of our youngest racers for years. He represents the total youth movement: rails, high speed and has been competing in the Big Mt Comps for a couple of years. Did I mention he is a fitness freak. Remember the days…” -Danny Walton
Goals for the Sport
I want to tear down the traditional views of telemark skiing. With ever-evolving gear and technology, there are more possibilities to push the sport than ever before. I strive to ski faster, go bigger, get in the park and invent new tele-tricks, and ski better than my alpine companions, and have an amazing time doing it.
This was my first freeskiing competition of my 2008 winter season. I had a lot of fun and I placed well considering I was the only competitor on telemark equipment. The snow was amazing, but the visibility went to zero soon after the competition started, so finding my line was a bit difficult.
