Sam Cox and Tavis Campbell are co-author’s of Stepping Up. They have just put the finishing touches on the second edition, and it’s currently at the publisher.
Stepping Up – A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl was released in March 2005, and the first edition was entirely sold out by the end of March 2008. The book contains a foreword by Scot Schmidt, interview with Tom Jungst and closing by Dr. Robb Gaffney. Stepping Up received excellent reviews in Couloir Magazine and Outside Bozeman, it was also mentioned in Powder Magazine and The Ski Journal. For the second printing, we have increased the amount of images in both the photo insert and body of the book, as well as made revisions to accurately reflect changes that have taken place at Bridger since 2005. Areas of interest include The Ridge, High Traverse and Fingers. The book is 102 pages and contains 90 photos (including pictures of Scot Schmidt, Doug Coombs, Tom Jungst, Jim Conway and other local riders). We are expecting the book to be available at local retailers in 2 weeks, you can also order a copy on their website.
Here’s a couple photos from the book.
Megan Michelson has been making visits to the Wasatch to work on her segment in our upcoming flick. You’ve got to get up early to get the goods these days. Here is Megan’s “Ode to Dawn Patrol” and some photo’s of Megan from that day.
It’s 6:00 a.m. when we pull up to the trailhead in Little Cottonwood Canyon, the nearly-full moon still lingering in the sky. I throw on my down jacket and gloves and slowly peel myself out of the truck. Why didn’t we stop for coffee, I wonder? Nobody says anything; they just go about their movements—cramming cold feet into telemark boots, slapping skins onto skis, clicking on headlamps, shedding layers. Within minutes, I’m sliding along the skin track, set by some crazy fool up even earlier than us. For the next hour, I’m alone with my breath. Kick turn, glide, kick turn. The darkness no longer feels foreboding. By 7 a.m., we’re at the top of the peak, overloooking Utah’s Wasatch range. The lights of nearby Alta Ski Resort are just starting to come to life. Somewhere, down in the valley of Salt Lake City, somebody is making a pot of coffee. But not us. I add a layer of clothes, rip off my skins, and buckle my boots. The sun is just peaking out over the ridge, like an egg-over-easy spilling yolk onto toast. The first run—with creamy snow, virgin light, and shadows that dance across the valley like ballerinas—tastes even better than coffee. These photos from that day were taken by the one and only Jay Beyer, a photographer who’s sometimes the crazy fool setting the skin track even earlier than you. —Megan Michelson
Megan can be found blogging at thewinterlife.com when she’s not stealing salt and pepper, hearts and your line down the mountain.
For those of you who don’t know, every January all the outdoor industry companies come to Utah to show and sell their next years gear. Luckily we live in Utah so we attend the trade show. It’s not all just skiing and filming for Powderwhore, we have to actually have meetings and explain why certain companies should sponsor our shenanigans. With the recession on the top of everyones minds we were not sure how our meetings would go. After 2 days of selling ourselves we are pleased to say that we will be able to make another movie due to the generous help of our sponsors.
Below are the numbers from The Pact, we have grown by a minimum of 30% every year for the past 4 years. We feel so lucky to be able to do this as a living and are greatful for such a loyal fan base. We are looking forward to blowing your minds with our next movie.
The Pact Numbers
Tour= 8,000 +
DVDʼs= 6,300 to date (Viewed by 4 people on average)
Total Viewership= 33,200 + (30% growth from last year)
The Pact DVD Distribution-
Through a variety of outlets 6,300 copies have been distributed to date. Those outlets include: PW.com, VAS (largest video distributor, we are the only telemark title they carry), and retail shops. We estimate that each DVD is viewed by an average of 4 individuals.
The Pact Film Tour-
More than 50 cities have hosted screenings with over 8,000 in attendance. We personally organized and attended 30 shows throughout western ski towns. We also participate in many film festivals such as Livingno, Stubaier and the Sawtooth Film Festival. Our sponsors products were raffled and raised $53,888 for avalanche centers and non-profits.
College and Univ. Tour-
We have 31 Univ. Outdoor Programs showing The Pact on campus this winter. Our goal here is to reach a younger market as well as open new eyes to our product. The attendance for this program is not included in our current totals.
What do you do when conditions don’t allow for big lines or face shots? We decided to build a booter. Powderwhore is not afraid to try new things, so we spent about 30 min building up a pre-existing jump. The huck artists that day were Andy Jacobsen, Noah Howell, and JT Robinson. JT is new to the PW crew, but has been ripping for many years, check out what he’s been up to. I’m not going to lie to you and say we killed it that day, but for something we maybe do once every 4 winters or so it turned out better then could be expected.
JT doing his thing
JT soaring over superior
Noah throwing a front flip.
Noah will do anything to get a good shot, even cover himself in sap just to film from a tree.
Andy doing a little superman action.
All photos are compliments of the Sultan of Stills Jay Beyer
One of the longest sustained shots in the Wasatch, Little Pine Chute was 3200 Feet of booting horror and skiing bliss.
Little Pine Chute vid HERE.
Or on youtube here
Life is a constant reminder that things come to pass, not to stay. Over the Christmas Holidays Todd Stuart took the loss of his ‘home’ (backcountry yurt) in the same manner that I’ve seen him lead his whole life, with acceptance and gratitude. A large natural avalanche ‘jumped’ it’s ‘normal’ path and blasted Todd’s hut into ruins. Luckily he was not at home when it happened or he would have been crushed by the large timbers. Todd is one of the original PW crew who stared in PW05 and helped create one of my favorite segments we’ve ever assembled. It’s a classic that seems to have stuck with everyone who has viewed it.
I went out to help dig, drink and shoot some video of the wreckage.
Todd’s door, well tarp flap, has always been open to those who would trek far enough to find his ski haven.
We dried out some laundry and jacked up the roof so it wouldn’t cave in upon digging. Todd was able to locate almost all of his valuables except for his beacon which he rarely uses anyway. Luckily there is a guest hut 50 yards away that wasn’t damaged. Todd will be moving in there and waiting for spring to clean up the mess and either rebuild or move on. There has been talk of getting out of the rat race and relocating to a remote range. We will keep you updated.
As Todd always signs off-
PEACE, LOVE AND JOY!
Posted by NH
I Jonah Howell am the Meadow Skipper. What is meadow skipping? It’s a dedication to low angle, sheltered snow, where you are safer from agro AT skiers and avalanches. Why meadow skip? Hopefully the pictures below will explain why.
Here I am just keeping it real before I get buck wild on some fluffington.
The meadows aren’t steep, but usually deep.
Show me a couloir or big mountain line with snow like this.
Here’s some more Pow compliments of the meadows.
My sweet meadow embracing me with her billowy arms.
Funny how it’s still possible to fall on a slope that’s virtually flat.
This post is for all you skippers out there, let the other guys have there chutes and 30+ degree slopes we don’t need them anyways, we have our meadows.
All photos courtesy Jay Beyer
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