Photo Archives
On Saturday, February 17th Alyeska Resort opened The Headwall for the first time this season. Taking Chair 6 and booting for a short 25 minutes awards 1,000+ vertical of above tree-line, big mountain skiing. The Headwall has it all, from big open ramps, to chutes, cliffs and smooth run-outs. It's above the highest lift and rarely opens, so the stoke was very high this weekend! Simon Evans, Clint Butler, and I decided on a couple laps. A storm brought 12 inches of dense snow a few days ago which made for some consistent, smooth skiing and perfect landings. -Jason Scheben
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“How can you not eat an entire Snickers? I could eat an entire Snickers even if it was three-feet long.”
So began our mini-southwest Colorado Powder Tour. After covering four straight weekends of competition, we headed south from Honda Ski Tour stop #2 in Breckenridge, CO for an indefinite amount of time with the goal of getting deep in the mountains of southwest Colorado via snow machines. In short, we were hungry to get the hell away from a halfpipe or a terrain park for a while.
I met up with a few skiers from Montana and other homeless vagabonds for our first sled-ski stop in Crested Butte, CO. We sledded back into the Irwin Lodge drainage north of Crested Butte and found a fun zone comprised of speckled rocks and a sizeable cliff band. The rays of the dayball (sun) made for quality gt’s (goggle tan’s), but not for ideal snow conditions. Nevertheless, it felt great to be deep in the backcountry surrounded by 12-14,000-ft. peaks.
After Crested Butte, the untouched San Juan’s have acted as our home the last week. Pouring over a bunch of topos of the area, we’ve explored drainages, gullies, and bowls in this rich mining region of Silverton, Red Mountain Pass, Molar Pass, and even near Wolf Creek Pass to the east.
Like nearly everywhere around the West (or so it appears on The Weather Channel), the snow has finally arrived and we plan on taking advantage after nearly 18 inches have fallen in this sweet San Juan range. And Snickers continue to be consumed deep in this boundless set of snow-capped mountains. - John Stifter
The largest all-female freesking competition in the world went down last weekend in Park City, Utah. Over 70 ams and 13 pros took over the mountain to compete in the second annual Queen’s Cup Open—an event like no other. Rather than focusing on making the podium, competitors at this event were out to have fun, meet new people, and learn tricks in an encouraging environment. And of course with so many girls in one place, what would the weekend be without dance parties and practicing for American Idol auditions. READ THE FULL STORY...
All photos by Simon Evans
On January 30th Chugach Powder Guides located in Girdwood, Alaska opened their 2007 season with the new owner of Alyeska Resort, John Byrne. A consistent high pressure resulted in many quality heli days for his groups. They were able to explore a variety of CPG’s vast areas the Chugach Range has to offer in Girdwood, including the Tordillo Mountains in the Alaska Range. Snowpack had time to settle and heal and layers were bonded nicely, which resulted in some big, steep descents. On The morning of February 6th I received a call from Dave McReynolds with good news- there was a seat available in the heli with the “Byrne Crew”. I quickly geared up and was at the CPG hanger by 8:45 am- STOKED! I was very impressed with CPG- they run a highy organized, safe, and professional heli operation. One real advantage to flying with CPG is their “no fly days” are spent ripping deep pow at Alyeska Resort- which we took full advantage of. The weather was perfect for flying. Our first run was mellow, then we quickly stepped it up. I was blown away by our pilot who demonstrated some amazing skills with technical LZ’s. He was calm and always in control. We ended the day in an area called “Spine Cell Research”- a zone named appropriately by TGR. The Girdwood area is having a record snow year, so this is the season to come heli with CPG and ski Alyeska! --Jason Scheben