For the last 2 winters, Derek Weiss, founder and head of Piton Productions has been working on a revolutionary way to shoot skiing. Last week I finally had the chance to get out and see the remote controlled helicopter unit at work.
Check out this collaboration with PW and Piton Productions. I hope you get as excited as we are about the possibilities that next winter brings.

Wolverine Cirque Skiing from piton productions on Vimeo.
I operated the camera a few times while Derek flew the bird. I felt like a little kid playing with some bad ass remote control toys. It was also great watching Derek get so excited about his work (pro bono).

Capturing skiing in the backcountry is no easy task and the Heli-cam takes perfect conditions and there is tons of room for operator (2 of them) error, but when it comes together the result is like nothing I’ve ever seen.

It’s been one of the best winters ever, here in the backyard of PW headquarters. It won’t seem to quit so why should we. Here is a trip report from a few weeks ago when Darrell and I headed out to ski some chutes in Hogum Fork, up LCC. Our plan was to start later in the day, ski the Snapdragon, camp overnight, ski the Sliver in the morning and then ski out Hogum. It was a good melt/freeze cycle and we found some great corn on some interesting Wasatch lines. Warning this is a really long post with lots of pics and partial nudity.

Crossing the bridge at White Pine.

The Snapdragon was our first objective. We made fair time into the upper cirque. This really is one of the most amazing spots in the wasatch. I think the reason is that it doesn’t feel like you are in Utah, more of a Euro feel.

We booted up to the ridge via the open snow slope lookers left of the chute.

I was baking as we traversed the ridge.

Looking in from the top. Gulp!

Darrell prepares for the rappel. We brought some deadman anchors, but digging around we found a great big rock that would take a sling.

Double gulp!

For some reason rappelling isn’t like skiing, I’m happy not going first.

Safe and sound.

OK, my turn.

This is the first year in my skiing that I’ve done tons of rappelling and I’m really starting to enjoy it.

Not many folks go this far out of the way for a short ski, this is Darrell’s second time down the Snapdragon.

Skiing was fine, a little on the soft side.

Mad steep skiing skills displayed by Mr. Finlayson.

DF with Thunder Ridge in the background.

Just happy to be here, as long as I don’t get stabbed with these pointy handled poles.

I know, I know, this is a long trip report. Now might be a good time to take a break, grab a snack or something. That’s what we did. We set up camp amoung a rare group of pines. Darrell is a firm believer that water does melt faster when you watch it.

Here I’m taking mental inventory of my pack to see if I brought toilet paper.

The joy of spring touring. Trench foot was narrowly avoided.

Well rested and with dry feet, we woke up early and skied down to start up the Sliver.

This is looking down the Sliver. Darrell is catching up because he had to make some “dirty snow”. Always seems to happen when there is a long booter or skin track to put in.

You may recognize this as the “rock-on” symbol, which is most commonly associated with the music scene. It means the same thing in skiing.

This was my favorite pic from the outing. That’s the NW couloir of the Pfieferhorn in the background with Darrell popping out of the Sliver.

Standing on top, I almost felt like making some dirty snow myself.

Age before beauty. Darrell does his best Mark Holbrook impression.

Yes, this is on purpose. I thought I would throw a sick spread eagle in between my turns. I must say i nailed it. Next time I’ll get a grab in.

A bit more controlled.

The apron was high quality corn skiing. In fact the ski out to the creek was one of the best I’ve had.

High water made it tricky to find a crossing, but we cut down this log with our whippets and tight walked our way across. Don’t believe everything you read.

Hitchhiker myth #34- Showing some skin will increase your chances of getting a ride back up canyon to get your car.

It may have taken you as long to read/browse through this as it did for us to accomplish it? Congrats to us all.

Posted by Noah