The trip of a lifetime begins
I got the call at 8 am. Groggily I listened to filmer, Chris Edmands, “ It’s a go, Jeremy is in the air scoping a camp.”
I rolled over on my friend Lucks’ couch and groaned, “I’ll be down there in 20.” My hangover was pushing in, and I hadn’t slept much.
We had all been in Haines for 3 days waiting for the right weather window to fly into Glacier Bay for a month of winter camping. It was here, I was stoked!!! I threw my last few things in a bag and headed to the hanger to meet the crew.
The weather was off and on with big puffy clouds rolling through. As the day wore on, it was down to photographer Seth Lightcap and myself sitting alone on the runway. The planes had been grounded for over an hour and it was getting late. I started to wonder if the weather would break long enough for us to make it out. It did, but barely, we flew out through squalls and low clouds, missing much of the usually spectacular views.
We made it!!! We were 65 miles from Haines and about 30 miles from Elfin Cove, where I grew up commercial fishing. If something went down out here we were about a day away from any sort of serious help. This was it, we were Deeper.
Mt. Bertha, and Mt. Crillon, two of the massive peaks that make up the Fairweather range, loomed overhead. The only separation, the most disgusting spine faces on earth. An hour later as the sun left the high saddle where we camped, I took some time to soak it all in, we were in paradise. Later we would name it “The Spinal Institute.”
Hoping for better visibility
Glacial downpour
The Carrol Glacier, it's BIG!!!
A Glimpse at Mt. Fairweather
Glacier Bay
"The Spinal Institute"
Soaking it in
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- Just after takeoff
Busy Weekend
Last Tuesday was a good day, I spent it riding powder. That night I arrived home to find an email with an invitation to The Nissan Tram Face 2010 stop of the Freeride World Tour. Stoked doesn’t capture the excitement I felt. The opportunity to ride a face that gnarley on home turf is too good to miss.
However, it was a tough call, I had already payed and signed up for the final stop of The North Face Masters of snowboarding in Kirkwood scheduled for the same days. I was in 2nd place for the tour and feeling good. I decided Tram Face would be my top priority, and if at all possible I would ride the Kirkwood comp.
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I drove down to Kirkwood Thursday morning, and scoped the qualifying venue. Then back to Squaw by 5pm for the Tram Face athlete meeting. A 5 AM wake up on Friday to drive the 2 hours back to Kirkwood, for qualifyers only to learn I was prequalified for the Finals set for Sunday (the same day Tram Face was scheduled). Back to Squaw by 4:30 for the bib draw, I drew bib 10 giving me a pretty early start.
Saturday was a nice break from driving I rode Squaw. Good times, the snow was deep and wet.
Sunday, up at the crack, to Squaw ready to make some history. Just two minutes before the first athlete dropped, a photographer looking for a better shot sympathetically triggered a big avalanche. Cancelled for the day.
Panic back to Kirkwood. With time as an issue I only scoped my line from the top. Had a butt check, but felt good about my line. I can’t complain about getting to ride a permanently closed area with a foot of windbuffed powder.
The competition was fierce, the lines were legit and my buddy Ralph came out in third place, Stoked! Stayed for the awards then back to North Lake.
Yesterday, Monday March 1st up at 5 AM at squaw by 6 AM to load the tram for our inspection run. The snow was looking deep and fast, and the tide was pretty high on the venue. A 2 run format, best run counts, was a cool way to judge the comp. I was especially happy with the format when I crashed my last air leaving me in last place after run one.
I decided I needed redemption, and to change up the top of my run. I had always wanted to jump off the roof of one of the tram buildings, and there was an amazing natural hip right below that landing, too fun to miss. My second run felt good, stomped the roof drop, did a backside three of the hip, and slogged out the landing of my bottom air. It was enough to put me in third. I am so F@$#ing stoked!!!!
Next stop, Verbier.
TNF Masters Crystal Mountain
Crystal mountain, WOW!!! What a place, a secluded Gem hiding in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Peak after peak stretching out with spines, cliffs, and chutes…. “Dropping”. Fun times with great friends. It has been an amazing week.
This is my 6th contest with the North Face Masters tour, and I have to admit it was the best. Showed up to blue skies, and some lingering freshies. Day one of the comp, the usual hardpack, perfect for separating the men from the boys. Day two weather day, 2-3 inches of wet fresh with some light rain and snow, but soft and shreddable. Killer shred crew, roll into a zone and taking no prisoners. Finally day three….. EPIC!!!! Best venue yet, blizzard conditions with a foot plus of fresh snow. Stoked!!!!
Driving up to Washington I had a feeling the competition would be stiff. Sure enough the amazing terrain has given birth to some amazing riders. We all tried our hardest, but the two top spots went to Crystal mountain locals. Way to hold it down boys.
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Tight Trees
Grey skies came in early on day two of Oxbow: Back to Powder, so the organizers opted to have us hit their “wood jibs”. These consisted of a bunch of rails, with plastic tops and metal coping made of wood. Feeling that I had come all this way, even I hit a few. I hadn’t hit a rail in at least 3 years, and have never enjoyed them.
Luckily, after 3 runs through the park, we were given the go ahead to take off and see what we could find. Christoph Weber and I opted for some long thin avalanche chutes through thick woods we had seen the day before. The snow was deep, and the trees turned out to be THICK!!!
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