Straight Truckin'


The last few days are a blur.  I started at home in Breckenridge on January 28th and drove to Salt lake City for a quick one day mission with Absinthe.  I then drove to Tahoe for a 3 day camping/splitboarding trip with Jeremy Jones and the "Deeper" crew, but snow conditions and deteriorating weather lead to a no go, so I turned around after another quick one day mission with the crew.  Now, five days later, I've landed in Silverton, Colorado for some heli-boarding with the North Face Crew.  I look forward to driving home for a one day reset this weekend and then back to Utah to link up with a DC crew for another few days of shooting.  I guess the saying goes something like this, "you can sleep when you dead".  For now I'll just be truckin' along!

Brain Farm and WY

Going out with the Brain Farm dudes is a crazy experience to say the least. Watching filmer Gabe langlois zip out over a canyon 100' off the ground was pretty intense, let alone the riding of Travis Rice, Mark Carter and Kyle Calncy. But Gabe (along with the entire crew) is a true pro and it didn't even seem to faze him a bit. I can't wait to see the shots he got this day. You know they're gonna be sick!

The twilight Zone...AKA...The yellowstone Club

Legends past, present and future. Carter, Rice, Warren Miller, Justin Timberlake, Scott Schmidt from left to right. Thats what the Yellowstone Club is all about though. Well sorta, but you sure do feel kind of special just hanging around there. I mean the first person we met when we arrived at the "Warren Miller" Lodge at the Yellowstone Club was indeed Warren Miller. It was weird for sure, but so dope at the same time. And talk shit if you want, this man changed the face of "snow sports". Believe me when I say we (the industry as a whole) probably wouldn't be making and basing our winters around making snowboard/ski movies if this man hadn't done what he did for so long. Seriously things would be way different and I have much respect for him. And to have Scott Schmidt guide us around the mountain was a little unreal. I mean he also changed snow sports forever. I mean do you remember the iconic black and yellow North Face suit he was famous for wearing dropping 100' cliffs in back in the early 90's? Straight up amazing, and again much respect. Or maybe it was the insanely meticulous customer service, complimentary what ever you want or whole mountain to yourself mentality of this place. With sick terrain I might ad too. Either way this was probably one of the raddest two and a half days of my life and I will definitely be back sooner than later. If you ever have a chance to, visit this place, DO NOT turn it down. You will forever regret it. Probably the biggest challenge you will face is re-adjusting to normal life after you leave.

Get well soon KP!

I'm not good with words when it comes to situations like these, but I wanted to post this photo of Kevin Pearce from the Copper Pipe earlier this winter. He has one of the best McTwists in the game, and is easily one of the nicest most humble dudes in snowboarding. I....I mean...WE are all pulling for your complete and speedy recovery. Get well soon, and all the best to the Pearce Family...

A Day at Monarch

Yesterday I made a good last minute decision. I headed over to Monarch Ski Area with Pashley, Pashley's better half Erin and Gary Wyman. Having driven past this place hundreds of times and never stopping in, it was nice to finally check it off the "to do" list. We showed up to Bluebird skies, an almost empty parking lot and tons of fresh snow to track up. I have to say this place is pretty darn sweet. From the road you might not think too much of it. Probably what I have been telling myself for years, but man am I glad I finally stopped in. Like Wolf Creek it gets a lot of snow, however I have to say that there are more sustained pitches than Wolf Creek, less flats, the lifts are shorter and therefor you can make many more runs on a better pitch. There was also a lot of varied terrain for popping ollies over trees and rocks, and there was hardly any one else out on the slopes to compete for the freshest of lines with. All in all I had a blast and look forward to making it back down that way soon! A big thanks goes out to Greg Ralph in the Marketing Department for taking very good care of us! Enjoy some pic....

Headed out of Breckenridge early, but hey it's only a two hour drive, so not that early


Gary didn't want me to take a photo of his long underwear but I did anyways


Breakfast at Lodge and Spa


The drive down


First chair ride at Monarch



Frosty trees are good


Pash, getting barreled


The other chair we rode a lot of


Some of the backcountry options that exist


BOOOOM! Pashley


Wyman


Sick custom Civic!


More frosty tress


gettin artsy I guess


The top


The end


Just a few days in paradise....

So, if you read my previous post from Monday I was heading back up to the Bonnie Bell Cabin for a few days of snow, beer, whisky and shredding. Well the shredding didn't really happen as much as I would have liked but that'll come soon enough. The real goal was to test our new snowcat (which passed with flying colors) drink some whiskey, watch the snow fall, and maybe even get some turns in. So stoked on the new cat. Well it was actually built in 1964, but its new to us, and it absolutely kills it, especially since we got it for free. It rallied up the steep road with supplies and about 7 or so people no problem, and it had to break trail, in the dark, in a snow storm. SO STOKED! The next day we ventured out a bit but only to find avalanches everywhere. We managed to kick a few off our self's too. Mostly small slides in the sense that they weren't traveling very far, but some of them sporting 4-5' crowns, so in the same respect, the mountains demanded respect. Finally, by Wednesday the skies cleared, and everyone eventually trickled back to society. Skylar and I decided to stay an extra day to take care of some repairs on the cat as well as the cabin. I managed to take a late afternoon solo tour to make some turns. Its nice to pick a line from your living room, skin to it, and shred down back to your living room. This will never get old. Dusk fell, and more whiskey was consumed. Sleep, then breakfast, and then work on getting Skylar's sled working which had some frozen fuel lines. Even with a nice sunny day, things happen slowly at 12,000 feet. Finally after damn near pulling 1/2 the sled apart, standing it up on its side, shaking it, we got it started. It too was time for us to head back to civilization. Leaving this place is the hardest thing to do. I can't describe what this place means to me. I feel very, very lucky to own such a property. I Can't really describe it, so until next time, enjoy some video and more photos and stay tuned for more.....


The beast from 1964



Check some footage of the cat in action...



So cold even the Wolf wants in.



Love this f'n place...



Cup-O-Joe



Home....home on the range



Misty right?



Sunset



Breakfast....

The view from breakfast