[AK] Black & White

Wed, 26 May 2010 14:37:18 -0600

My mind has wandered back to Alaska frequently since my trip there this year. Reflecting on the trip, these images reappear more then the others. Black & white is simple, timeless and the strong contrast and the scale of features in Alaska are fossilized; dodged and burned into my memory.

I do remember a few colors - the greens of the northern lights, the loud reds of the Recco jersey’s and the oranges of the alpenglow on Python but this post is a daydream of black & white.

City of Rocks

Thu, 20 May 2010 20:35:23 -0600

A mere 45 minuets after returning home from the NW Huckfest, I hopped in my buddies truck and it was off to the City of Rocks. The City of Rocks is a series endless of rock spires, boulders and even a few multi-pitch routes nestled in southern Idaho.

Walking into the “inner city” the rock formations towered overhead, leaving us wide-eyed with high hopes as we marched through a maze of trails. The rock is sharp and abrasive which allows for some pretty wild smears and bloody crimpers and as for the routes in the city, many are bolted in old fashion form - long, sustained and run-out. Most 5.10’s feel like 5.11b and many of the first bolts are so high off the deck that a sprained ankle would be an optimal out-come for a fall taken before the protection.

The City has some of the most inspiring, proud, and mentally draining routes I’ve had the pleasure to climb. Just six hours from Bozeman MT, I have some high hopes of returning after some more training to get some redemption on a few routes.

Northwest Huckfest

Mon, 17 May 2010 00:04:58 -0600

Only one short year after the 186ft world record kayak drop - I teamed up with Tyler Bradt & Ian Garcia for their second annual Northwest Huckfest. Over a one week period the team ticked off more then a handful of big waterfalls across the Northwest racking up the most vertical feet dropped in a kayak in a one week span.

Starting from Missoula Montana we ventured West with high hopes of adventure. Ian & Tyler kicked off the trip by firing off “Punch Bowl” falls around midnight on the first night. No stranger to night kayaking both fired it off completely blind in the inky blackness of Eagle Creek wrapping up our shoot sometime after midnight.

The late night session of “Punch Bowl” set the pace for the trip and when the sun came up on day two, the boys fired off 85ft “Metlako” falls. Day after day and hit after hit we hiked into new trails with bigger and badder waterfalls until our entire group was hobbling through the grocery store aisles by the time it came to pick out something out for dinner.

Near the end of the trip we linked up with the Kiwi’s and Ian & Tyler made sure the New Zealanders started their trip out right. All-in-all the 2nd annual Northwest Huckfest was a blast, all the cameras stayed dry and I learned a lot about about the sport and even more about syphons.

To see more kayaking action check out the “Dream Result” video -

“Dream Result is the story of a group of friends who have undertaken a journey to explore the limits of possibility. The film includes the World Record Waterfall Descent of 186 ft Palouse Falls, expeditions into the wilderness of Northern Canada, big air freestyle on the flooded rivers of Quebec, and a quest for waterfalls throughout Chile and Scandinavia. Driven through the passions of nine of the sports top athletes and lifelong colleagues, they experience a year in the life of chasing their Dream Result.”

Tailgate Alaska 2010!

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:16:12 -0600

I’m trying to get back into the swing of things after two weeks of camping in Alaska on the Thompson Pass near Valdez. Big thanks to Spark R&D, Bomb Snow & TREW Outerwear that made the trip come together for me. Alaska was filled with extreme highs, heights and some low, lows.

After a 2600 mile journey, taken at a selfless pace; my friend Jeremiah blew his knee on a his second run of his trip, 3 knee surgeries in your mid-twenties is a tough thing to stomach. Another group of friends in the Murph’mobile had to spend a night roadside after hitting a deer wrecking the car and Erik lost a new GoPro camera to a mean tomahawk.

I got mine a little over a week into the trip when I lost $5,600 worth of camera gear when my gear tried to mate with snowmobile track. All of that aside, it was my first time ever in Alaska and we where camping in the Thompson Pass! The pass has some of the most addicting terrain I’ve had the opportunity to set a foot in and I was surrounded with good company.

After a long flight into Anchorage, a night our rental car in a Walmart parking lot, a 6 hour drive to the Thompson Pass straight to digging a snow cave till 1:00 am and another hour of shooting photos of the Northern Lights which made a late night appearance - my first morning in Valdez came early.

I awoke in the snow cave to another Montana rider Aaron Robinson, who popped his head in. “Get up fellas!” - “It’s blue bird!” Spark R&D rider Erik Morrison and myself snapped into action ripping apart the rental car and bags trying to figure out what made the flight.

After a short, bluebird, powder panic attack we got our poop in a group and we where whisked off to the Valley of the Tusk with a group of old and newly found friends alike. The day that followed was something out of a dream for photographers, snowboarders and those with a love for the mountains.

My second day was spent at the base of ‘Bro-bowl’ shooting the Recco King of the Hill World Extreme Freeride Competition. Give a huge thanks to Nick Perata and Mark Sullivan for making the contest come together it was a snowboard contest that has been missed for over a decade - it was a huge undertaking and these guys pulled it off.

It was a day of mind blowing beauty coupled with the highest caliber of riding snowboarding has to offer. Jaw dropped, jet lagged and in a sea of mountains that where on a scale so large it was hard to comprehend, it felt like I was on the moon. Over the entire length of the trip I met a ton a great people people, made some new friends and I have more then a few good stories and these photos to show for it.

I’m still processing a lot of the trip, it was a snowboarding shell shock.

- Thanks Alaska

Wyoming Climbing Guide - Sneak Preview

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 19:04:25 -0700

It’s almost that time of year again when my room becomes even more cluttered - my rope, rack and assorted climbing gear intermingles with my snowboard pants, first layer, avvy beacon and snowboards.

Spring climbing is just around the corner and it’s an amazing time of year. If you get after it this time of year, you can get your turns in on the skis/snowboards and bang out a couple of climbing routes all in one day. The turns probably won’t be epic and the approach to the climbs will still be a little muddy, but when faced with a nice spring day off - these are some great options.

During the summer I climb as much as can around Bozeman to keep myself in some sort of climbing shape; for the real treat - my trips to Wyoming to climb for Wes Gooch, the author of the new climbing guide to the Jackson / Pinedale Wyoming areas.

On these trips I get the grand tour
hitting spots that Wes needs photos/info
on. Wes has been plugging away at his
new guide book, which has a super
intuitive layout and is loaded with great
beta and photos. I am anxiously awaiting
the book’s release so I can pick out and
send some of the great routes Wyoming
has to offer thanks to the great beta.

Wyoming is full of great climbing that
seems to be on a whole different scale
from other climbing that I have done.

Wes is also the creator of ClimbingWyoming.com which contains up-to-date content of the new guide as well as posts of new climbing areas and routes, providing a portal for climbers to communicate.

Sample Chapter Available for download at: Climbing Wyoming.com

Coming In Hot...

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 13:48:09 -0700

Lately temps around Bozeman Montana have rocketed into the high 40’s nuking pow stashes that have even a hint of southern exposure. In the times when we want to be hitting the big lines that we’ve eyed all year - we’ve been forced to yet again rack our creative minds and take our weather lemons and head for the juicer.

I got a call from Toy Soldier Productions about shooting a flaming feature last week and jumped on the chance since the backcountry scene has largely been on hold. The set of stairs had to go so we figured we might as well have some fun with it.

Once on the spot we met up with Al, a friend of Hjalmar that really made it happen. From obtaining a fire permit to saving the day when our fire fizzled out - Al sledded back to his hanger near by to syphon fuel out of his airplane to keep the shoot alive, this is some of what we came away with.

Montana Mid Season

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:51:08 -0700

Here is a look into some mid season riding from Montana. It’s that time of year when things are filling in and the riders are really throwing down. These photos cover only 2 days of shooting but things are just warming up in the media department. Schedules are coming together and productivity is in the air. It’s been a good two days and a long two days - Great light, good friends and a bunch of snowboarding.

Over these past few days I’ve had a chance to team up with a lot of friends that I haven’t got to hang out with much between summer and winter. These guys are by far my favorite to work with. When we’re at a spot everything goes down like clock work and this is tough to achieve in this industry - weather, avvy conditions, getting booted by cops and hangovers... all can come into play.

It’s quite a thing, multiple days of shoveling for a single jump, slipping run-ins, setting boot pack and watching the weather channel like a 70 year old man for one good day of light - and then trying to get time off from your day job. Everyone works super hard and dedicates so much time - the Montana scene has some soul.

Most residents have a heavily sarcastic “Montana sucks, tell your friends” attitude. Doing something for the simple love of it is getting harder to come by, especially in this economy but even in “hard times” the Montana scene can go unfazed. Snowboarding here has never been about getting big sponsorship checks from Target. It’s about spending time in the mountains and taking our minds off the rent, electricity and anything else that cuts into snowboarding time. Here we seem to float in a sea of our own, unaffected by the mainstream tide. It’s great, it’s pure and Red Bull doesn’t build our jumps, Tyrel does. If you want to see what Montana is up to - Come Find Us.

This year I have had a chance to team up with Toy Soldier Productions who has been filming hard for their Fall 2010 release of “Come Find Us”. Which features dedicated riders from around Montana. Toy Soldier Productions is not a clicky group of riders with a couple filmers. It’s a statewide, group effort of filmers, photographers and riders (with help from some core sponsors) searching for hidden talent and building a showcase of talent for Montana - but the showcase is really just for the Montana folk. Everyone else can -

ScrubFest 2010

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:09:35 -0700

This year I was able to attend ScrubFest 2010 in Togwotee, Wyoming thanks to Spark R&D splitboard bindings. ScrubFest is a gathering of dedicated split boarders that have seen a different and very fulfilling way to get fresh, un-tracked turns without the use of helicopters or snowmobiles.

My travels to ScrubFest logged some memorable experiences from a Radio Ron awareness breakfast with John and Tripp from Trew gear to dinner with Jeremy Jones, Johan Olofsson, Willie McMillon, Will Ritter and Chris Edmands. This was my first time doing any serious splitboarding and it was eye opening - laying a line through 3,600 vertical feet of untracked powder through spaced trees was a quality of riding that I had never experienced. The freedom to ride anywhere and the adventurous, uncertainty of backcountry riding, as well as having to learn how to access snowpack and avalanche conditions for myself is something that I have really been looking for in my turns as well as my photos.

Another thing I noticed about the splitboard community is the lack of ‘powder panic’. Don’t get me wrong the first morning I was up at 4:30am trying to round everything I would possibly need for a long day in the backcountry but - I didn’t have to stand my ground in a packed lift line watching out for someone trying to snake ‘my chair’, nor at the end of the day did I have some powder jock claiming he just rode the sickest line of his life and his turns where so epic, gnarly... Everyone on a splitboard can get quality turns, with only a small handful of people for miles it’s easy to keep the turns deep.

This year Scrub Fest was made possible thanks to:

-Jeramie Prine
-Spark R&D
-Bomb Snow
-TREW Gear
-Venture Snowboards
-Splitboarding.com
-Pieps Avalanche Beacons
-Voile-USA
-Sentury Snowboards

Northern Bridgers - Spot Check

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:17:07 -0700

On Tuesday morning my friend Shane and I loaded up his roommates old Chevy pick-up with our boards and Shane’s sled. A quick stop to check transmission fluid and top off the gas tank whose gauge was broken and we were on our way down some Bozeman back roads to Bridger due to the fact that we had neither headlights or taillights in the Chevy. We rolled into our Fairy Lake parking spot in style with a sled that cost more then the truck and tires like pencil erasers. We were greeted by a toothless sled head clan that blurted out - “How’d da old Chevy due on those hills”. Shane sounding pretty stoked - “We only had to back-up and take 4 runs at it!”

We hopped on the sled and after I learned how NOT to double on a sled we rolled into a few different zones in the Northern Bridgers. Due to considerable avalanche danger we stuck to trees and smaller pockets of good snow. Touring around we were able to see just how the Northern Bridgers are filling in this February and make a plan of attack for the next big dump of snow.

S.I.A. 2010 / Transworld Rider’s Poll Awards

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:52:54 -0700

“Denver is Banana’s!” read Lib Tech stickers and they didn’t lie...

True S.I.A. 2010 did not top the drunken chaos of years past when it was held in Las Vegas but from what I’ve heard it ran a lot smoother. Employee’s made their booth’s in somewhat of a timely fashion and most where able to sneak in showers for at least the first two days.

Companies throughout the snow industry packed the downtown Denver convention center. Here snowboard dirt bags turned business men where meshed together in the biggest schmooze-fest known to the snow business. Every company staked their plots and from there it’s off to the races - ping pong, 30ft drop in’s, dj’s mc’s, flirtatious skull candy girls, casino’s, Pamela Anderson... it’s all fair game at S.I.A. This blog is a sneak peak at some 2011 gear but also covers different marketing campaigns, design trends, art and most heavily the scene.

Also last week in Denver the Transworld Snowboarding Magazine held the 11th Annual TWS Rider Poll Awards. The spectacle took place at the Fillmore Auditorium and was kicked off by co-hosts Eddie Wall and GT

The results are in! >>> See the Photos (not suitable for young viewers )

Special Thanks to:

Mom & Dad - Everything
Will Ritter - Endless Opportunities
Spark R&D - Footing my bill
Bomb Snow - Keeping me fed/laughing
Ryan Boyes @ Volcom for hooking it up!
World Boards - Local Gear
Chris & Brock - Tequila, Twister, Relax’n

National Geographic Adventure

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:59:10 -0700

This is National Geographic Adventure Magazine’s last online adventure gallery all available for download here: >>> http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure-travel/wallpaper

Surprisingly on December 4th 2009, National Geographic Adventure Magazine posted a statement to the world that read “Good Bye for Now”, announcing the magazine is stopping production. The January 2010 issue is on the shelves and for now will be the last issue. The editors of the magazine did state, “Adventure isn't gone for good. Keep an eye out for special newsstand editions, books, and on the web.”
National Geographic Adventure will be missed and in it’s absence leaves a large void in ‘quality’ adventure sports magazines.

To read more on the statement posted on Dec. 4th 2009 visit: http://ngadventure.typepad.com/blog/

Climbing in Kalymnos Island, Greece Photo: Lukasz Warzecha

Hiking the Tatra Mountains, Poland Photo: Karol Majowski

Surfing Costa Rica Photo: Kris Kerr

Kayaking the Cheoah River, North Carolina Richard McAnulty

Rafts on the Yulong River in Yangshuo, China Photo: Jon Bratt

Rappelling in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Photo: Casey Crocker

Kiteboarding in Los Roques, Venezuela Photo: Alexander Nesbitt

Parasailing off Oceanside, Oregon Photo: Bob Reed

Hiking Bishops Peak, California Photo: Elizabeth Anderson

Climbing in Cordoba, Argentina Photo: Jeremias Gonzalez

Climbing Mont Blanc, the Alps Photo: ncd226 Drosu

Photo: Noam Chen

Climbing Yogyakarta, Indonesia Photo: Regy Kurniawan

Snowboarding in Montana Photo: Reid Morth Rider: Tyrel Thornton

A hikers view from Lion's Head, South Africa Photo: Robbie Christian

Twenty-Two Below

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:06:49 -0700

These are some of my coldest photos taken to date. Subzero temps and windchill ratings reaching
-40 F could not keep everyone indoors this past week and here is the evidence. These photos are from a backcountry skin into *Hylite Canyon and a car - slash factory session on some Bozeman back roads. This blog features: Levi Moch, Shane Stalling, Jeremiah Favara, Phil Weiss & Tyrel Thornton.

>>>See the Photos

*Sadly on December 10th 2009, the climbing community lost a great. The legendary climber Guy Lacelle was killed while ice climbing in Hylite Canyon by an avalanche triggered above his climb. >>>See the full article at climbing.com

Montana Preseason

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:24:50 -0700

This blog is a preview of how winter is shaping up around SW Montana. Featuring riders: Shane Stalling, Kyle Miller, Kevin Fischer, Phil Weiss, Collin Collins, Dan Darling & Moose Mansion’s Todd Kirby, Jonny Durst, Shay Lee, Jim Katsilometes, and Carson Wiser.

The weather has been good to SW Montana this year; with a couple early storms back in October and a puking the night of November 11th that, in the morning, left Bozeman blanketed with almost 2 ft of of snow.

The riding has been full force ever since; amazing snow conditions and the addition of the Banshee Bungee the urban possibilities are opening up. Spots are getting a second look and so far this year the Bozeman police have been fairly shred friendly. If my friends and I didn’t have snowboarding most of us would probably spend the long winter nights getting drunk in bars... - thanks to the people that help keep kids hooked on shred.

The resorts have yet to open and a lot of good riding has gone down - I can’t wait to see how the rest of winter 2010 unfolds - Subscribe Via RSS and stay tuned.

>>>See the Photos

Wild Wood Rail Jam

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:30:10 -0700

Words: Shane Stalling Video: Jonny Durst

This past weekend was the 3rd annual Wildwood Rail Jam just outside of Helena, Montana at the Great Divide Ski Area. For those of you who don’t know, this ski area has all sorts of crazy features set up in the middle of the woods, including a 30 stair-set handrail you may have seen in Nc productions “Almost Dead”.