Snowboarder Trip 3/6/08

TAHOE BACKCOUNTRY

Wow! What a trip. We started out in the Tahoe backcountry with riders Markku Koski, Nate Farrell, Stacy Thomas, Ben Lynch and Forrest Shearer. On hand to document the ordeal was Snowboarder writer Tom Monterosso, photographer Aaron Dodds, photographer Terren Gomez, and Leeward filmers Chris Edmands, Jason Hogan and Kyle Schwartz. Also joining us was a good friend from VHoldr; Shawn Harstad.  The staff has been running around all year, so the three mile hike in wasn't much to them, but to the newbies it was a bit harsh. We had a beautiful camp around 8,000 feet overlooking Lake Tahoe and the weather was great. 

We found good powder on north aspects and everyone found a little something to do. Stacy, who'd been riding really well all season, found a nice pack-down drop and promptly tore her ACL. Shitty. What a bummer man. We had five more days to go with her and one new location. She was a great sport though and chilled around camp, cheering everyone on, until it was time to go. Koski, Lynch and Farrell all found good drops near camp while Forrest found a cliff a little higher up. Later everyone congregated around a Volcom Stone shaped rock jump and TORE IT UP!  T-Bird from the mag even got in on the session. Spins, one-footers, flips and straight airs were the topic of the sesh. By the time we were done it was dinner time so we headed back to camp.

Koski is no stranger to winter camping. In the Finnish army he had the most miserable camping experience of his life. So when he agreed to come out with us I was elated. He found comfort this time in a North Face tent and a -20 degree sleeping bag. Everyone slept well and dreamt of pow.

The next morning we headed west to a spot I saw through the trees the day prior. It was a little lower in elevation than where we were yesterday, but the snow was better. Again, everyone found something to make them smile. Especially T-Bird. I could hear him giggling through his pow turns from 2,000 feet away. Lynch tested his toe edge on a traverse across a cliff face to a sweet drop. Farrell, Forrest, and Koski all made nice pow turns. Shawn even got to follow cam a bit and I could hear him hooting and hollering as well.

The next morning we decided to ride out. Even Stacy, in her pained state, opted to ride rather than walk. Directly below camp we came to yet another virgin snowfield. Because it hadn't snowed in weeks, and the snowpack had ample time to settle, I asked the riders to all shred together for a shot. It worked out and we got to ride 2 miles to the road.

BISHOP BACKCOUNTRY

Normally, after three days in the woods, you get to go home and rest for a few days. Not this time. We all slept about five hours and headed to Bishop - the southern Sierras. Markku had to leave and Stacy returned home to heal. Next up: Erik Leines. For this trip we called him Ular, a name that's been in his family for some time. Ular has a long beard and a deep connection with the mountains. He was quite welcome on our crew. 

The first day was just a travel day. We encountered some rather lengthy lag and didn't get to the trailhead until 1:30pm. We had five miles to go and we all new we'd be setting up camp in the dark. Considering we were 2,000 feet higher than the last trip and already tired, everyone moved well. By headlamp we set up camp and toasted the night with a little wine. The gang awoke around sun-up and met for breakfast. Over yerba-mate and oatmeal we made a plan and went off to find pleasure in sliding sideways down a hill. Just up from camp we found a couple of cliffs that Ular and Farrell dropped. Forrest and Ben went off to build a jump and T-bird, again, giggled as he made pow turns. Dodds, somehow able to resist the pull of the pow, made sweet images. We did a little more searching after lunch, rode some fresh for fun, and retired to camp.

This night was a special one. Not only did I get to eat Cous-cous again, but we were treated to some real musical talent. Nate Farrell has a well known gift for voices and singing, so we weren't surprised when he busted into his new BANANA-CHIP-A-FARI song. Someone beat-boxed, and everyone moved. I haven't heard a group laugh like that EVER! Good times.

Day three was short. We had a long hike to a new zone in the morning that yielded long lines and some fun features. Ular, Forrest and Ben all picked some wind-packed lines above a lake while Nate dropped some cliffs and flipped a wind-lip. The wind at this new spot was unreal. Gusts up to 50 mph maybe, and gnarly blowing snow. It made walking difficult. On the way back to camp to pack up we hit a really cool natural double wind-lip. Nothing really lined up on it but it was fun to ride anyway. You know, I love these riders. Even if conditions aren't right they still shred. They love snowboarding, and it shows.

After packing up we went to the damn. Forrest and Ben had seen it on a previous trip and wanted to ride it, but we lost light. This time we made it there in time and Ben and Forrest both made easy work of it. It was great to get a cool jib shot in the backcountry, and a good ending to the trip. A four mile ride back to the car was the ender-ender and we slid right into the relaxation only a car seat could afford. Thanks guys.

Jeremy Jones and Ryland Bell explore new zone 2/14/08

After the super spine session we Joined Jeremy and Ryland Bell to check out a new zone near Tahoe. I'd looked at the place for 13 years, but had never ventured out there. We always use to think that it would be too tough to snowmobile to. It was a piece of cake on foot though. We had to race the sun to the pow and were able to get a few lines before it got too hot. Like a jackass I forgot my tripod plate, but was able to remedy the problem with some tape. Both guys got a few rad lines in before the heat wave. This was our only trip with Ryland and we hope to work with him again. He's got a taste for lines, big airs and just charges. Cool to see he and Jeremy ride together.

Trailer for My Own Two Feet is up!

Be sure to click on the videos link to view the trailer.

New updates coming soon!

We've been real busy filming, but now that the season is coming to a close we can get to work updating the site. We have at least five more trips to tell you about so keep checking back. Here is a list of what you can expect to see.

1)  A week long trip with Snowboarder magazine and riders Ben Lynch, Forrest Shearer, Marrku Koski, Nate Farrell, Erik Leines and Stacy Thomas. Wild shenanigans!

2) Three days in a snow cave, and the quarterpipe of death with Nate Farrell and Ben Lynch. You fall - you die!  

    Waterfall shredding with Nate and Joey Papazian. You thought riding in the rain got you wet. See how soaked these guys get making turns under 1,200 feet of cascading water.

3) A trek up the highest peak in the lower 48 states with Erik Leines, Chad Otterstrom, Forrest Shearer, Josh Dirksen, Ben Lynch, and Lucas Debari. Natural wind-lips, quarterpipes, chutes, rock jibs, and a Japanese mountaineering team.

4) SUPERPARK! Snowboarder invited us to attend the event. We camped at the base of the run and hiked everything we wanted to film. It was the easiest camping of the year. Bean-bags and burgers!

5) Airblaster weekend. These guys are awesome. Jed Anderson, Eric Messier, Forrest Shearer, Ben Lynch, and Tim Eddy joined the Airblaster execs. for three days car camping. We had eight tents and six obstacles in camp. Someone even board-slid a tent! More shenanigans!

6) Three days with the pioneers of High Sierra snowboarding. Jim Zellers and Tom Burt took us to a wild place where the couliors were over 45 degrees and stretched for 1,500 feet. Not only were the descents big and scary but so were the marmots.

Mammoth: Ritter/Banner Jan 15th - 19th

After Secret Lake Thanyne and Josh wanted some pow. Having lived in the Sierras for 13 years I knew that we could find somw down south. We started off in Mammoth and headed northwest - on foot. We were joined by Shayne Pospisil  and Joey Papazian. It took us some time to gear up in the parking lot and we didn't hit the trail until 11am - way too late to make it to our goal. We were a crew of seven. Three of us on split-boards and four on snowshoes. Shoes are always a little slower than splits but the guys made up for it by charging. After a few hours we decided that we would not make it the 7.5 miles to our planned camp and would have to stop for the night. The guys picked a beautiful spot with a great view of the Ritter range. Spirits were high with the prospect of fresh pow and a possible visit by a good friend. We just didn't know when he was coming and we hoped he could find us.

In the morning we traversed a slope only to find our way blocked by a cliff - littered 2,ooo foot sun-baked/now icy slope. To get to where we needed to go we HAD to go down. I was feeling a mutiny brewing as the thought of not being able to get back out was on everyones minds. We're not mountaineers - we're snowboarders! Billy-goating is only for a few brave souls and no one was feeling up to the job. We had pretty much decided to abort plan A when tom came ripping through the trees in ski mode. Tom Burt is a great guy with a lifetime of mountain knowledge and a "get it while it's good" attitude. He took one look down the face and said "what's the problem?" He had only a day and a half to get some and he wasn't going to settle. With renewed confidence the gus followed Tom down the face and into base camp for the next three nights.

The line into the lake was a great morning wake up. One thousand feet of climbing to pow! The only problem was that the line traversed directly over a raging river, and in a couple of places falling was not an option. This was fine for a few of us but for some it was GRIP-DEEZ and the Weekly Top Forty! Definitely an adventure. What awaited us was well worth the risk though. The lake was surrounded by powder. Endless featured lines in the trees, thousand foot long chutes, and roley-poley nuglets perfect for jumping. Josh and Thayne stayed in the trees for two days, Tom and Joey rode lines and Shayne, with a knack for finding good light and jumps, got in the air.

We had a ton of fun on this trip and we owe our thanks to Tom. Had he not shown up when he did we might have not made it to pow. Even though he had to leave early his spirit stayed with us for the rest of the trip. Everyone made it out alive and well, with a lot of new-found experience. All told we travelled 27 miles in search of powder in new places. We dropped a lot of dollars in effort and were rewarded with a jackpot of fun. Thanks guys - Edmands

JONES GREASES THE TB SUPER SPINES

We just spent a couple of days on the north shore of Tahoe with Jeremy Jones, Stacy Thomas and Dave Downing. We got a lot of great snow but had to do a little window shopping to make things work, and boy did things work out. Stacy charges. She'd mach into huge arching turns, top to bottom, and even throw in a couple of drops to top it off. Definitely one of the fastest and smoothest pow riders we've seen. Dave has the best style on snow. When you watch him ride you realize that his upper body doesn't move at all - just his legs. I'm sure that when he was born he yelled "dropping!" 'cause it just looks so natural. Throw Jeremy in the mix and you have entire mountains torn up in a matter of hours - and we'd move on for more. The "more" in this case was the TB Super Spines, first ridden ten years ago by Tom Burt in TB-7. To the best of our knowledge it hadn't seen a repeat until this day. Jones asked Downing for his opinion on the line and Dave simply said "looks like some gnarly Jeremy Jones shit, but I guess that's what you're into...I'm not riding that!" After some careful analysis, and Downing's vote of confidence, Jones went to the top.

I remember Tom's line. Everyone remembers Tom's line. It's amazing to me that snow can stick to a line so steep. Even more amazing is that snowboarders can stick to it. Yet, even more amazing is that Jeremy aired at the top, surfed across, dropped to the lower spine and tail pressed it to scrub speed, and coming in just a bit short of terminal velocity - flew off the ramp and rode it out. NUTS, NUTS, NUTS!

"If I had seen it from the bottom first, I wouldn't have done it" - Jones

"That was the gnarliest thing I've ever seen...it looked like an alien coming down it" - Downing

Rain day update

Global Warming or just the way things go? Who knows. Thayne and Jimi Tomer do what people who truly love to snowboard do - ride in the rain. Here they find something that would normally get passed up on a blue bird day.