Salt Lake Shootout

This past week, two of our friends/athletes competed in the Salt Lake Shootout. It is a photography contest that pairs athletes with photographers. The photos they take are then judged in different categories for cash prizes. It’s no surprise to us that both Jason West and Andy Jacobsen were in some of the winning photos.

Photographer: Kevin Winzeler Athlete: Jason West. This photo of Jason won for best air and best in show.

photographer: Liam Doran athlete: Andy Jacobsen. Andy won best powder shot, as if anyone had a chance against a Powderwhore.

Way to go guys. Jason is heading North with us to British Columbia next week to do some hut skiing, and Andy will be going to Haines, AK again to get some big lines. They are both great guys and have put in a lot of time and work to get where they are. We are lucky to be able to shoot with them. Read more about the shootout here.

Alpine Meadows Freeskiing Telemark Comp 2010

We have some really different ideas for next years PW flick. I’m not going to give anything away just yet, but one of the concepts includes covering a telemark freeskiing competition. Alpine Meadows has great venue’s and tends to have good conditions so we decided to rally the PW crew and try to capture it. Jonah could cover this on his own with a little help, so I decided to throw myself back in the ring and compete after a 4 year hiatus. Conditions are still scary as hell here in the Wasatch so it was a good idea to get out of town for one of the greatest competition/parties in this little sport of ours. Here is a little recap and some photo’s that hopefully inspire others to come out next year, or maybe they will just embarrass some from coming back (I hope not).

Paul Kimbrough hitched a ride with us and had a great showing at the comp with a 4th place finish. He skied the most difficult line that nobody else would touch. Some say he deserved to be on the podium, but such are the ways of judged sports like this. Paul K (aka the dread pirate) ready to throw down at the show down.

Mandatory competitor meeting in Tahoe City the night before. The judges go over the guidelines and answer questions.

Megan Michelson’s mother gets the award for best host. Not only did she open up her home for gangs of smelly hippies to invade, she rented out two of the neighbors houses and fed over 30 of the competitors! Thanks Evans!!

The qualifier comprised of a handful or so jr men and jr women, 12 women and 37 men. Judges grade from 1-10 on 5 categories; Line you choose to ski, fluidity, agressiveness, control, form/technique.

The level of competition was stiff and so were the conditions. It hadn’t snowed in weeks and the area had seen really warm temps. The venue was thin and full of exposed rocks. Paul K gets in the zone.

Chris Erickson and William Cardamone took the train in from Aspen to demonstrate their telemark skills.

Some really solid skiing from the day one qualifier set the top men and women apart from the field.

Top 5 men in order-

Paul Kimbrough, J.T. Robinson, Chris Erickson, Ebon Mond, Will Cardamone

Top 3 women in order-

Megan Michelson, Kate Cardamone, Paige Brady

The day of the finals started out nice, but the weather moved in.

There was a final and super final run for the few who made the cut. I fell in a ‘no fall zone’ in the qualifier, so I spent the day filming and drinking with Jonah. We gathered some great footage, but didn’t get too many pics of the skiing action.

And the winner is………

The women’s field ended with Megan Michelson in 1st, Kate Cardamone 2nd and Paige Brady in 3rd.

The fella’s finished up with Chris Erickson as the top dawg, Will Cardamone in 2nd and  J.T. Robinson 3rd.

After all the butterflies and testosterone have been spent, the party begins. Free your heel, free your mind, free your clothing. The following pics speak for themselves.

Yes, it was a bit crazy!

The competition scene never fails to be an amazing gathering of committed individuals from ski towns far and wide. It was nice to catch up with some of the veterans and meet some rippers new to the scene. Looking forward to seeing everybody there next year!

Posted by NH

Paul Kimbrough

We met Paul back in 2007 in Bellingham at a PW07 showing.  His friend at the show told us we should film him, but we get that a lot. We should have listened! Instead, we told him to go compete in the freeski comps and prove himself first. Paul did just that and achieved third place in Alyeska and Alpine Meadows last year. He has been here the past week killin it in the Wasatch and with his hard work he should have a pretty solid segment in next years flick.

Paul likes ‘playfull’ lines which seems to mean plenty of airs.

Sending a 60ft front flip in the backcountry of Brighton!

Paul grew up in SLC so he’s no stranger to the pow.

Early morning slash on Toledo. Watch your sluff!

Continuing the slayage on Cardiac Ridge.

It’s rare to find somebody who has the complete tool bag. Paul can hike all day, safely assess avalanche stability, float styled out airs off a booter he built and nail the big lines. Best of all he’s a very humble team player.

Photos courtesy of Jay Beyer

The Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Grand Raffle. There can only be one winner and here he is.

Matt from Fort Collins

Matt had a Merry Christmas.




Matt is one lucky man. We’d like to thank our great sponsors for providing all the sweet gear.
Black Diamond (skis, bindings, backpack, shovel, probe, poles)
Mountain Hardwear (jacket and pants)
Ortovox (Beacon)

The Big LePowSki 2010

Glad to see this fun event coming back to the Wasatch Mtns! The basic idea is to come ski and learn from the ‘pros’ in a relaxed atmosphere (it’s at BRIGHT ‘ON’ after all).  I’ll be doing a ‘gorilla style’ filming class focusing on filming in the BC or resort with emphasis on going light with inexpensive gear, but still capturing a quality image.

Check out the website for more info on available classes/instructors/date’s/registration/cost.

http://www.ready2climb.com/wePages/content/The_BigLePowSki_Brighton/workshop.php

Spoiled

It’s pretty crazy here in the Wasatch right now. Not only is the Avalanche danger scary, but we just don’t have all that much snow. I know it’s pretty silly for me to be bitchin when the skiing is actually really fun, but it’s just not the Wasatch that we are used to.

Just a little rocky

I think this was Noah's only run that he didn't tag a rock

Noah on his way to go farm

Guess which turns are ours?

It was a beautiful day!

All photos courtesy of Jay Beyer.

2010 Alpine Meadows Telemark Freeskiing Competition

You are invited to come throw down at the show down! Alpine Meadows will be holding their annual Telemark Freeskiing Competition in a few weeks. Come test your skillz, meet and party with your fellow telewhackers.

There are few things that can compare to the atmosphere and energy of the freeskiing comps. PW actually sprung from the Alpine Meadows Tele Comp in the early 2000’s when I met Andy Jacobsen and Andy Rosenberg. We were all living in the SLC valley and getting into filming, but it took us meeting and competing in California to bring us together. Since then we have made many friends and almost every skier we film with has come from the competition series. These comps really aren’t about who wins, but providing an arena to push yourself, improve  your skills and meet others of a like mind. One of the coolest things is the support and camaraderie between competitors who are giving it there all for basically no $$ and no glory. Must be the love.

When the Andy’s and I were on the circuit there were usually 80-100 competitors. It seems like attendance has dropped off in the past few years and we don’t like to see that happen to such an important event in this small sport. PW has invited all our athlete’s to attend and try and spark some life back into one of the sport’s greatest events. If you have been toying with the idea of competing, Alp Meadows is a great venue to test it out. The terrain isn’t as rowdy and boney as Crested Butte and you don’t have to expend the coin to travel to AK. And as of right now they have a great snowpack.

Confirmed PW Crew and past results-

Megan Michelson-  1st place in Italy, 1st at Crested Butte, 1st in AK, 1st in Alpine Meadows, 2nd in AK

Will Cardamone- 11th at Crested Butte, 3rd Crested Butte, 8th Alpine Meadows, 2nd Crested Butte, 5th in AK

Chris Erickson-  9th place and Sickbird Award, 5th in Alpine Meadows, 8th overall in 2005

Jake Sakson-  1st in Juniors at Crested Butte, 3rd in AK, 4th in Crested Butte, 1st Alpine Meadows

Noah Howell-   10th Brighton, 8th Alpine Meadows, 9th Crested Butte

Paul Kimbrough- 3rd in Ak, 3rd Alpine Meadows, 13th Crested Butte,

Paige Brady- Two 2nd place finishes at Crested Butte, 2nd place Alpine Meadows, 1st place Alyeska

Andy Jacobsen-  Multiple top 5 finishes

Nick DeVore will be competing with the big boys at the Crested Butte Alpine Extremes. Go get em Nick!

To register or gather more info visit Tough Guy Productions. See you at the start gate!

Hallelujah!

We’ve been whining and complaining about what a dry winter it has been. Last weeks storm changed things dramatically for those of us here in the Wasatch. Extremely dangerous avalanche conditions have existed, but we played it safe in tight mid elevation trees. We are so grateful to finally ski some classic light and fluffy pow and bank some of the deepest footage we’ve ever shot. Here is a little taste!

Winter Outdoor Retailer Show

Once a year the outdoor industry drops into Salt Lake City to show off their latest and greatest gear, drink and ski (not necessarily in that order). And Jonah and I go to beg for money, drink beer and check out the latest and greatest gear (not necessarily in that order).

The new line of Avalung packs from Black Diamond

In an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint we may be riding Street Stiders up the canyon next season.

The new T-race with walk mode, new liners and new buckles.

The cliched line, ‘I’d like to thank my sponsors for making this possible’ is actually true for us. We could not produce our projects without the help of our great partners. Since the beginning we have laid out one simple rule in seeking sponsors. That is, we will only sign on with companies who make gear we use, or have used. Our wish is to keep some sort of continuity and integrity with what you see our skiers use and the logo’s on our box. A few years ago a company offered us a large sum to become our presenting sponsor and bump off Black Diamond. The refusal was easy to make, nobody wanted to use their equipment. Luckily we have been able to team up with some of the industry leaders and also some small up and coming companies that want to support the telemark community.

We are proud to announce the following companies who have signed on to provide funds for 2010.

Presenting the film once again is-

Our Title Sponsors are-

The best part about the show is that Jake Sakson, Chris Erickson, Paige Brady and Will Cardamone came to help us ski the 80″ inches of snow that fell over the week! But that is next weeks blog.

Posted by NH

Avalanche in Days Fork

So, this has been one of the slowest starts to winter I can recall. Pretty frustrating if you’re committed to making a ski film from a production company named Powderwhore. Maybe we should have gone with something else that would have put less pressure to deliver the, all up in your grill, blower.

Snow has finally started to fall in ernest and lines are filling in! We headed out into Days Fork today to check things out.

The mountains were in and out of the clouds.

Paige Brady always seems to know the perfect time to visit the Wasatch.

Paige is so strong on the uphill and the downhill, it’s great to ski with someone so motivated.

The first line into Days brought smiles and washed away the fear that winter had abandoned us. Actually Paige is always smiling.

Andy Jacobsen quickly drops in with a little weather window.

Skiing Pow is #1 in his opinion

Paige followed and skied really well despite forgetting to lock down her free pivot bindings. Hate it when that happens.

I filmed from above and then cleaned up the leftovers

Tagged some rocks, lost some base, but skipped to safety! Notice the avalung is out, that will come into play shortly.

Here’s where things got interesting. We had put in 5 tracks on this NE facing slope without noticing any avalanche concerns. The slope was skied one at a time with everybody pulling up in safe zones. We wanted to move down the ridge to the next are so we skinned back up a sub ridge which was a very safe terrain feature. Andy Jacobsen was breaking trail and we were once again spread out working to ’safe’ zones (trees and below cliffs) while skinning. Jonah and Jay were going to wait below (that one’s for you Jay).  The ridge became too rocky to ascend so Andy cut out into the small bowl we had just skied. Paige and I waited and watched and Andy made the ridge without incident. I started out and crossed a thin rocky area when heard the slope ‘thud’,  and then watched it release in a big way. I yelled avalanche and tried to work back to the ridge, but it was clear I was too far out onto the slope which had fractured about 250ft above me. The avalung was easy to grab and place in my mouth, I bit down hard and swam. Right at that moment I was submerged, grazed some trees and surfaced roughly 300ft down from where I triggered it. I yelled ‘I’m OK’ and Jay came down to make sure. He was convinced I was jacked up having seen me strained through the trees. Nothing but a bruise on my elbow and the loss of both ski poles for making a poor call.

Looking back we should have just avoided that aspect for the day, our vision was clouded by the drought we’ve been having. No excuses though, rule #1 is don’t get caught and we failed. Got away lucky on this one.

Thanks again to Jay Beyer for documenting the day with the lens.

Posted by NH