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tearing it up this winter

This has been my longest drought since I started blogging and I apologize for not checking in. I like journaling out loud, but it’s been a challenging season and I haven’t felt like writing about it until now.

A slow starting winter was turning around a tiny bit with a sizable dump near the end of January. But, the ski season ended for me just as it was finally beginning. Skiing much too enthusiastically, I fell and tore my ACL along with a bucket handle tear of the meniscus. I chose for surgical repair right away.

Adding insult to injury the accident occurred at Deer Valley Ski Area (insert joke here).

I have a long history with “DV”. I worked in various lift operations positions on and off for a decade. This is where I learned to ski, fell in love with powder snow and discovered backcountry skiing. And surprisingly, found the friends who formed the rag tag crew that became Powderwhore Productions. I even had an office at one point, which I slept in for a season or two. Termination was inevitable though and finally came about after repeatedly building the perfect booter under Viking Lift. It was totally worth it.

Enough reminiscing for now. Back to the cold hard reality of a winter of recovery and being laid up while hopped up on goof balls. That’s sarcasm seeping out of my thumbs and smile.

I’ve broken 2 collar bones (one with a metal plate still in it), torn both ACL’s, cut my knee open on a rock (while wearing kneepads) along with many minor tweaks, sprains, tears, bumps and bruises while skiing through the years.

I see injuries as a blessing. They are not easy, but they force me to slow down, reevaluate and I’ve always come back stronger and more appreciative for my health and the opportunities I’ve had. This time however, I fell into a pretty deep hole that I’m slowly and cautiously climbing out of. My therapist calls it depression, but I like to call it my shadow. I’ve always had it and imagine I always will I just didn’t understand it’s power and purpose. Sometimes in order to change and rebuild it’s necessary to tear down.

So, I’ve been healing in body, mind and spirit for the past few months. Acupuncture to reduce swelling, yoga to increase strength and flexibility, eating for nutrition and well being, gym to increase strength and cardio, and stay sane.

I recently survived the fundamentals course at Gym Jones.

I went seeking further education on nutrition and injury prevention through increased fitness. Many thanks for the inspiration and knowledge to redefine myself.

I’m excited to start up a new training program with the help of the gym once my knee is ready.

Relationships can be more difficult with large chunks of time apart. Well, actually I think relationships are challenging no matter what. Being home lately I’ve been able to cultivate a relationship with the woman of my dreams. Thank you for travelling the road love.

I’ve never thought family was for me, but luckily I’m wrong about a lot of things and I’ve been adopted by these guys. We even managed to survive a harrowing week long “expedition” to San Diego. Full trip report to come.

Every moment is an adventure. Are we free enough and brave enough to engage it? I’m not sure what that means. Thanks for checking in if there is anybody out there still following this.

Running uphill in tights

“The devil will find things for idle hands (I think feet as well as any other body part could be substituted) to do”.

And so with one of the most snowless winters on record and very dangerous avalanche conditions in the backcountry it’s been very hard to stay entertained on skis. I’m not necessarily proud of it, but I’ve been lightening my gear and running uphill in tights. Training a little with some of the fastest guys around has been a quick education in pain and gain. Thanks to Jason and Andy Dorais and Jared Inyoue for dragging me around. Check out their blogs for some great adventures! This winter they put together a great little recreational race series at Brighton ski area. They just wrapped up the last race of the season, but they’ll be back next year. Visit Wasatch Citizen SkiMo Series site to check it out. Enjoy this video Jared put together.

Quite incredible how fast you can go uphill with a set-up that comes in under 10lbs. That’s the weight of my megawatt’s alone! The Alien boots from Scarpa are ridiculously light and yet they’ll turn a pair of pixy sticks.

So what is the allure? It’s about shedding as much weight as you can and pushing yourself to the melting point. Of course I’d rather be skiing powder, but when winter gives you lemons it’s time to wear fruit boots. It’s been funny to top out at Millicent lift and have Snowboarders unload and just stare with jaws dropped and then pass them on the way down.

If you find yourself available next weekend sign up for the classic Wasatch Powder Keg and help celebrate 10 years. There are categories for everybody on every type of gear.

best powder segment

Last year was infuckingcredible in the Wasatch Mountains! That is, if you like powder snow. And I do! In sharp and painful contrast to this season’s grim start, last winter delivered. I remember passing on days because it ONLY snowed 12-14 inches. Now we are begging for anything (and it looks like change is finally on it’s way).

Another “award winning” faceshot from last season. Photo by Andy Jacobsen.

Each year a panel of athletes, reporters, film makers and powder snow aficionados get to watch the video highlights from skiing’s production houses. They vote for their favorite segments and athletes in a variety of categories and the winners are announced in Aspen.

(click above to find out more)

This year Andy Jacobsen and I were nominated for the “Best Powder”! This is Powderwhore Productions second year in a row with a nomination for this category. We didn’t win, but as they say “it’s just great to be nominated”. We were up against some pretty stout competition.

BEST POWDER
Tobi Reindl, Paddy Graham, Thomas Hlawitschka, and Sven Kueenle – Nothing Else Matters (Legs of Steel)
Wiley Miller, Tanner Rainville, and Parker White – After Dark (Level 1 Productions)
Noah Howell and Andy Jacobsen – Breaking Trail (Powderwhore Productions)
James Heim, Chris Rubens, Mark Abma, Matty Richard, Sean Pettit, and Eric Hjorliefson – All.I.Can. (Sherpas Cinema)

Here’s a little re-edit for those who aren’t quite getting their fill this winter.

raise your voice

Help stop Talisker and the Canyons from putting a ski lift in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Concerned Wasatch Mountain residents please come join me at 3:15 on Tuesday 1/24 at the Salt Lake City and County Building (2001 S State). We’ll have a chance to voice our extreme disinterest in the Skilink project.

Click here for more info on the Save Our Canyons page.

Antarctica

Those who have compared our life to a dream are right… we are sleeping awake, and waking sleep.

-Michel de Montaigne-

I am living a dream. Few things in this life (dream) am I this certain of. I am living a dream and you cannot tell me otherwise. How do I know? Because, what you are about to see is too fantastical a journey to occur in the “real” world.

Only in a dream do 100 skiers from around the globe embark on a cruise ship to ski the Antarctic Peninsula.

We all dream; we do not understand our dreams, yet we act as if nothing strange goes on in our sleep minds, strange at least by comparison with the logical, purposeful doings of our minds when we are awake.

-Erich Fromm-

We departed from Ushuaia, Argentina and spent two beautifully calm and clear days at sea crossing the Drake Passage.

Here’s what happens when a boatload of skiers pray for snow.

We arrived in a land of blue and white and every shade in between.

The boat was a mixed bag of guides, newbies, veterans, hippies, punters, bros, powder hos, yuppies and euros. Chris Davenport and Andrew McLean have been down there multiple times and they made great tour guides.

Our first stop on land was to visit these little buggers.

Several hours were spent watching mating rituals, dips in the pool and rocks being gathered for nests.

I do enjoy what it sounds like when doves cry, but not when penguins mate.

And finally, after days and days of travel, we went to shore to draw edges through snow. I was there shooting video and snagged these photos on the side. Filming conditions were very difficult due to howling wind, blowing wind and some gusty breezes. I almost wore a hole through my lens cloth. We skied every day possible and had 1.5 sunny days with mixed skiing conditions. Somehow, though, I still managed to come home with over 32 gigs worth of footage to play with!

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

-Paul Valery-

Each morning was like being beamed off the Starship Enterprise. We were quickly launched from extreme comfort into the extreme. Phazers were not set to stun.

I was lucky to be with a great crew! Chris Davenport was in the leader roll and doubled as a stunt double for himself. Jim Harris put in the boot pack and took still photography. Matt Reardon was back from a broken leg last Spring, he rallied hard and kept us laughing. And Seth Wescott was the token split boarder and 2X Olympic Gold Medalist. We got along well, and why wouldn’t we? We were sliding on snow at the end of the earth!
Seth Wescott is wide awake, slashing the bottom of a very steep first run of the season.

Perhaps life is just that… a dream and a fear.
-Joseph Conrad-

I’ve never met anybody as confident and competent on the uphill and downhill as The Chris Davenport.

The classic skier with water and iceberg shot! Everything was steeper than it appeared from afar.

Some folks on the boat thought Seth and I were brothers. He is a very handsome man!

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.

-Gloria Steinem-
Chris takes a leap of imagination.

On our last day we found this incredible chute that dropped straight into a 500 foot pillar, then split in half and dumped onto the shore. Enjoy this sequence of Seth “gleaming the cube”.

Maybe my favorite snap of the trip. The only thing cooler would have been if an Orca Whale had swam by in the frame. We waited for a while to see if it would happen, but it didn’t. That was just being greedy.

A raw cut of Chris Davenport skiing one of the most incredible shots I’ve ever filmed!! It’s fun when you can get almost as excited about shooting something as you would from skiing it.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

-Carl Jung-

To visit such remote and harsh terrain during the day while slumbering and dining abord a luxury liner redefined contrast.

And here we find Jim Harris booting up from the watery abyss. I have done my best to do justice to the trip, but visit Jim’s trip report at TGR to behold mastery of the lens.

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
-Tupac Shakur-

Sometimes it takes more than a pinch, but a plunge to try and wake oneself from the dream.

Nothing happens unless first a dream.

- Carl Sandburg-
After six days of skiing we headed for home. My only complaints about the trip were that it was too short. And that cold salt water isn’t softer on the ass from 30ft. I’ve been many places to ski now and there are few areas with this insurmountable amount of steep skiable terrain within ‘easy’ (maybe not on the wallet) access. Plop this random unnamed mountain below in the lower 48 and it would be a national park and John Denver would have written a song about it. Here it’s just part of the everyday scenery you give a slight pause to while you’re loading up your burger on the back deck.

Our passage back was not nearly as gentle as the ride out! The boat rocked and rolled for two days as we battled through hurricane force winds at times. Thanks to Mike Sahlman for the great GoPro footage from the upper deck.

They made us go below shortly after this footage was captured. Some of us obeyed and some of us stayed and reenacted THIS scene from Forrest Gump.

Eternal thanks to Doug Stoup and Karyn Stanley at Ice Axe Expeditions for conjuring up this inconceivable adventure, and even more for pulling it off!

And now the dream threatens to become a nightmare of a season. The Wasatch just recorded one of the driest Decembers ever! However, a trip like that has kept me full until now.

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

- John Barrymore

Now wake up! Seals don’t wave goodbye.

Help support the dream and find the gear you need to achieve yours by clicking the banner below.

the chuting gallery-video

I have always been a slow reader, but I never imagined it would take me 13 years to finish a flimsy paperback.

‘Why would you want to ski that’? I remember thinking as Andrew Mclean was dryly presenting his steep rock lined descents at an REI slideshow. I was fresh out of the resort and diving into the glorious powder bowls of the Wasatch backcountry. It was exciting enough avoiding avalanches and exploring this new world. But something about the photo’s I saw and allure of these mysterious hidden lines struck me. I purchased a copy of the book and found myself thumbing through it fantasizing about lines. Kinda like I used to do with the Victoria’s Secret catalog. Only difference was these lines were real and attainable and sometimes just as pretty in real life.

The backcountry was a different place back in 1998 and big scary lines didn’t get skied until conditions were bomber. My skill level and confidence grew as I gained experience under the wings of seasoned veterans. We started ticking off the big classics like: S Superior, The Y, Stairs Gulch and Coalpit Gulch all in less than ideal snow conditions. Eventually the three star lines got the ‘check’ and I was content to let the others remain mysteries.

Fast forward a decade of skiing 100+ days a year in the BC. Many more of the Chuting Gallery lines had been skied in our search for new and interesting lines to film for Powderwhore Productions. I started getting out on some solo missions as well. In training for Denali I skied all the chutes in Wolverine Cirque in a day, ticking off 17 lines. King’s Peak went down in a day using lightweight leather boots and fish scale skis. And in a 14,000ft effort I linked up the “Super Coaster” by skiing Lone Peak’s NE Couloir, Coalpit Gulch, Twin Peaks East Face and Stairs Gulch in what was probably my favorite day on skis to this date.

The idea to finish all the chutes and lines didn’t come about until I was hired on to mule camera gear up to Wolverine Cirque. A friend was shooting a TV pilot. The concept was a series highlighting iconic outdoor enthusiasts. Andrew Mclean was the featured character. During a break in the action I mentioned that I had just traversed “The Ribbon” on Devil’s Castle at Alta with Andy Jacobsen and BJ Brewer. Andrew asked how it was and said that he had never done that one. I was surprised. The assumption had always been that Andrew had ticked them all. And if Andrew hadn’t skied them all, had anybody completed the book? My obsessive compulsive mind couldn’t let go of this newly discovered project.

I started to look more closely at the book and I still had 40 or so to go. It seemed that a serious effort could knock off the remaining lines in a few seasons. Over the next two years I began hunting them out with willing partners and often solo. The Wasatch had hit and miss seasons, but I was able to keep tagging lines in good conditions. Then as the last few remained the project slowed and became quite difficult. Skiing steeps is so condition dependent and I wanted to do all the lines in relatively good snow, not just hacking down to say I did it. The only one that was very forced would be the Great White Icicle, which is a WI 3 ice climb that hasn’t been “in” for many years so I didn’t feel bad about that one.

The winter of 2011 came around and I had 4 remaining chutes. I worked around our filming schedule and knocked them all off except the NE Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn. This one had become a real son of a bitch! I’d tried it several times and chosen out due to too much snow, not enough snow and not enough balls. All decisions I’m fine with. I really began to wonder if I could get it this season as it began winding down.

I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story.

I had a great group of partners to ski with and “show me the ropes” on this project. Thanks to all the following twisted folks for helping me safely get down the mountain: Darrell Finlayson, Jonah Howell, Andrew McLean, Jay Beyer, Andy Rosenberg, Andy Jacobsen, Todd Stuart, Judson Widner, Pete Rude, Dylan Freed, Jeremy Larsen, Courtney Phillips, Kyle Erkilla and Sam Cox.

So, the answer still surfaces, “Why would you want to ski that”? A wise man I worked with once told me he’ll keep doing what he’s doing until he finds something more fun to do. I’m going to borrow that line for now.

Find the gear you need for your next adventure and help support my dreams when you shop Backcountry.com through the link below.

Perverse Traverse

per·verse (pr-vûrs, pûrvûrs)
adj.
1. Directed away from what is right or good; perverted.
2. Obstinately persisting in an error or fault; wrongly self-willed or stubborn.

Route is marked in red.

For 23 hours last week I unlocked the mysteries and misery of what I call the Perverse Traverse.

Over 27 miles I hiked, climbed, ran, fell, scrambled, slid and bushwhacked to the summits of the 4 sentinel peaks of the central Wasatch Mountains.

Over 18 thousand feet climbed and descended in a cross canyon effort to connect Lone Peak, North Thunder Mountain, Twin Peaks and Mount Olympus.

Training has been getting me out into the mountains this summer. Running for prescribed times with set goals may be good for the legs and lungs, but it doesn’t feed the beast inside. So after 2 months of controlled activity it was time to let the badger out of the cage.

I woke up at 3:30 am, packed the camelback with ice, and stocked up the food and pills i would need.

The idea was to go light and refuel in LCC and BCC.

Thank heaven for 7-11 being open at 4 in the morning. Coffee and a doughnut and a sausage biscuit were quickly scarfed down. I dropped off my Moto at the Mount Oly trailhead and sped off for corner canyon in Draper.

At 5 am on the dot I was underway. The city lights and small headlamp lit up the well marked trail and I played with the balance between going fast and going all day. After Jacob’s ladder I passed through the glowing eyes of a deer herd that didn’t seem too concerned with my trespassing. The sun and I were rising right on schedule.

I thought about entering Lone Peak Cirque and climbing up and out on a rock ramp. Fear of not knowing the route pushed me to wrap to the south. I lost the trail, but scrambled near the South Summit of LP and made the true summit at 8am. Not fast, but steady and right on pace for the day.

From here I ran down to the saddle between LP and Big Horn Peak and dropped into Upper Bells Canyon. I engaged the force and hopped like a highly trained Jedi across enormous fields of shifting granite. This was a highlight of the day. A gully led to the saddle gave access to Thunder Bowl. This was some slow going due to firm snow mixed in with the rocks. I haven’t done hardly any mixed terrain this Summer, mostly trail running, so this was a nice change. I wrapped around low in the bowl and climbed up to North Thunder Mountain and the top of Coalpit Headwall by 10 am. I rested for 5 minutes and took in the view of Lisa Falls.

The descent was way too easy for the first four thousand feet-it was like walking down an endless granite staircase. The gully from hell awaited! A bushwhack led to the stream full of downed timbers covered in moss. Trekking poles were a life saver. This gave way to slippery scary rock and waterfalls. Some were skirted, some downclimbed and some I slid down on my ass. Much more risky than I had thought and wanted. I wouldn’t do it again without a short section of rope.

It was great to be out of that gully! And good to see Jonah at the Great White Icicle pullout in LCC. Jonah didn’t believe the traverse was possible, but he was nice enough to humor me and help resupply. I had the first leg finished up in 7hrs and 15min, only 15min behind where I had hoped. Jonah drove me up the street to the Lisa Falls trail where I wolfed down a bagel sandwich and coffee and filled up the camelback. My clothes and shoes were soaked, so I dried out and put on fresh socks.

I was feeling great and was back on the trail at 12:30. Lisa Falls is a steep 5,000ft climb. For the lower 2/3 it’s really good hiking through the gully with plenty of nice little falls and good granite smearing to get around them. This photo is a series of 4 or 5 bathtub sized pools.

I took it easy on this section hoping not to overheat. The shitfest of loose rock made first gear easy to maintain for the upper 1500 feet. I topped out on the West Twin and took a 15 minute break on the East Twin. There was a very nice couple that needed several explanations before they understood where I had been and where I was trying to get to that day. “No, I didn’t camp anywhere” I kept telling them. Trying to show off I ran off Twin Peaks faster than may have been prudent. Showing up at the S-curves in Big Cottonwood at 5:30 I waited for my sister and started walking down canyon. She showed up a few minutes later and we drove to the Stairs Gulch Amphitheater. Total time thus far was 12:30 for the day. Dinner! Dinner!

Deborah and her husband asked, “Why are you doing this?” and I answered, “To see if I can.” There is much more to it than that and I’m working on a better answer. I’d like to get into it in a later blog post perhaps.

So far things had gone really well. I was within 1/2 hour of where I had hoped to be at this point. The run off Twin Peaks had tightened up my quads a bit, but after refueling they were ready for more.

I made a very bad call at this moment though. My headlamp had gone missing and it was 6:10 pm when I decided to continue. The thought was that I could make the ridge by sunset and finish up by using the city lights. I hadn’t traveled the ridge, but it looked ok from all the vantage points. Willing my body through some scrub oak as thick as my skull I gained a rotten ridge and tried to hurry upward. The sun was setting fast and the ridge got more rugged. Several sub peaks were surmounted and descended with very exposed vertical climbing. It got a bit desperate as I realized I couldn’t go back down the way I had come even if I wanted to. Then it got dark.

The next 5 hours became a tour of duty. It was a waste of time and energy to stay right on the ridge so I weaved back and forth bashing through scrub oak and contouring towards Widcat Ridge. Even with a headlamp this wouldn’t have been a winning battle and without one it was just stupidity. The trekking poles saved my ass, literally. My brand new running shorts didn’t survive, suffering tears on both cheeks. Feeling around with my poles, I was able to move forward slowly. Finally, I saw Wildcat and traversed around to the west to gain its ridge. I topped out and almost cried when I saw the actual Wildcat Ridge far far away to the North. It was now 11 pm and I was out of water. Morale was as low as I’ve experienced. Life is easy though, you make simple decisions based on what’s right in front of you. The options were to bivy for the night or to keep moving. Sleeping sounded wonderful, but not here. I needed to talk to someone and God wasn’t listening so I turned on the phone and called my girlfriend. Riley had monitored my progress via the Spot Tracker like a mother hen. She thought it would be a pleasant surprise to meet me at the finish with dinner and some ibuprofen. When she heard I was out of liquids and had no light she decided to start up Oly and meet me on the trail. This was great motivation for me to keep going.

I worked back up out of upper Heugh’s Canyon and finally onto Wildcat Ridge. I’ve scrambled this a few times in the light and it’s pretty fun. In the dark after 17hrs of travel it’s just plain scary. I kept getting forced off the ridge and then had to climb back up. I was whooped, but I never got lazy. I double checked all the holds that counted and moved carefully. When I was close enough to see the summit my eyes tried to deceive my mind. There appeared to be a laser show on top of Mount Oly. I knew it wasn’t really there, but it was cool to watch. Then I heard a sweet siren calling, “Noah, Noah!” This wasn’t my imagination, but my wonderful woman calling out my name. The summit trail finally appeared and to my surprise I was able to blast up and summit that final bastard just after 1am. I climbed down a few hundred feet and met up with my savior. She had salty food and water and Asia the dog. We had a picnic by the city lights. She told me I was an idiot and I agreed.

We slowly walked off using the wonderful invention known as the headlamp. I think I was loopy and kept commenting on how nice the trail was and that trails were such a great idea. After 23hrs I limped back into the valley as a cripple.

The next morning I crawled to the bathroom and back to bed and didn’t do much more than that. Sleep was interrupted by nightmares of high speed descents on loose rocky trail. It was 3 full days before I was walking normally again. I had wanted to push myself and in the end that is what happened even though it was much further than I had planned or thought I wanted. I’m not sure how traumatic an event must be for one to suffer PTSD, but I may have a mild case.

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hidden peak challenge 2011

Coach Courtney and I warming up on game day. He told me that, “Pain is your legs gift to you and suffering is what you give them in return.” I have no idea what that means.

I’m slow on foot. I’ve never been fast. My legs will carry me all day, up and down and all around the mountains at a moderate pace. I’m able to maintain that level of fitness through ski touring in the winter and random acts of activity in the summer. But, I lack a certain gear called speed. This summer I’m trying hard to remedy that.

Why faster? The more climbing up in a day = more skiing down.

If you want wisdom seek the wise. If you want wealth seek the rich. If you want fast seek Courtney Phillips. I know a lot of people who move fast in the mountains, but not like Courtney. Mount Olympus car to car in 1:30, South Ridge of Superior in 40mins. He’s got ‘that’ gear. He’s had years of experience as a pro cyclist, so he knows the ins and outs of building a training schedule and sticking to it. Who better to help? And when I offered to pay and he declined any compensation, I knew I had the right man for the job and my budget.

My specific desire is to increase my speed on climbs of 3-5K feet. Around here that’s about as high and far as you can go without topping out. Over a long lunch Coach Courtney and I talked about how to get ‘there’. The goal is longer term for the ski season, but he wanted a short term test piece. I chose the Hidden Peak Challenge. It’s a run from the bottom to the top of the Snowbird tram following Chip’s Run. It’s a 6K with nearly 3K of vertical gain. Hidden Peak and I have a history. I run the route several times a summer and entered the race several years ago, so we had some past results to work off of. Not great results, In 2007 I finished 23rd overall at 1:06 and change.

I’ve never liked running, but we started building a base 2 months ago by averaging 7+ hrs a week on the trails. Training consisted of intervals on steep trails, working on quick steps other days and recovery runs on the flats. And once a week we destroyed the quads in the gym or on the track. The deepest corner of the pain cave was found doing 50 deep squats as fast as possible followed by 1/4mile sprint and repeat three more times. Courtney is quite the motivational speaker whether he know it or not. Here are a few of the gems I received in texts or emails over the training period.
“Pour your guts into a bucket!”
“Run like you’re being chased by guys with swords!”
and
“If you throw up or pass out then you’ve done good.”
I’ve yet to “do good”, but I’ve come really close on several occasions. I have foamed at the mouth and yelled “NO” out loud when my legs wanted to stop before it was time. I strictly kept to the prescribed routine and I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. It’s clicked and I actually enjoy running now, I can feel like a runner at times.

The race was held this past weekend and here is a recap. It was a gorgeous fall morning with the first snow of the season coating the upper peaks. Thanks to Jonah for shooting photo’s

My dad made it out to support the effort. “You should be committed” he said at the start.

And maybe he’s right, but at least I’m not alone. I think the weather kept some folks away, but there were just over 80 competitors.

There was a fast paced bunch of 20 or so that broke off right from the start. I knew better than to try and follow.

My race was to go steady at 85% for the first half and then go full steam. I settled in and passed many of the initial group that was struggling to recover from the speedy start.

I had 2 goals for the race; run the entire course without walking and finish under 1hr. Here is the first place finisher (with arm warmers) on his way to crushing the course in 44mins. Second place time was 51mins.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day in the mountains. My mind didn’t wonder much during the race. I focused on staying right on the doorstep to the house of pain. I did have a few moments of thinking how grateful I was for the simple ability to run free (minus the $25 entry fee).

I felt really good for the first half of the race. Winding onto the final switchbacks I was going hard on the inside, but hardly going on the outside.

My form fell apart and when I came into view of Coach and my family they wondered if I was hurt. Jonah said, “No that’s just what he looks like when he runs.” And it’s true, I’m not graceful or smooth. This is good news and bad news. It doesn’t come naturally for me, but that’s where my greatest improvement can now come.

I found a surprising burst of speed and sprinted through the finish.

As you can see by the clock, it was going to be close.

I felt good despite the temporary pain.

So phase one of project ‘faster’ complete. I finished one second over the hour mark and ran the entire course knocking 6mins off my previous time. Without the snow and slush I believe the 1 sec wouldn’t be painfully hanging there. I don’t really like competitions, my stomach gets upset and my mind races. This was a great event though. It’s a group race, but the challenge is a personal one with the mountain. There were 9 faster that day and they gave me a piece of etched glass for being 3rd in my age grouping.

Thanks to my beautiful Woman for her support and working around the training schedule. And thanks to Coach for laying out a program to follow.

We celebrated with horrible music, good food and a great beer under the Octoberfest tent!

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summer update

Busy in the editing booth finishing up the new movie “Breaking Trail” from Powderwhore Productions.

Great poster art from our friend Sean Quill. Top two photo’s are of myself taken by brother Jonah and the snowboarder is Forrest Shearer shot by Andy Jacobsen. It was nice to shoot our own photo’s this season and have the unrestricted rights to do with them as we please. We even sold some to ski magazines and outdoor companies. We’ll have the trailer out in the next week or so and it’s the finest one yet, if I do say so myself.

Powderwhore Sam Cox seen here skiing out of harm’s way (photo BJ Brewer).

Smooth Sam has taken the helm over at Coreshot. We just did an INTERVIEW which has some depth on the history of PW and the people and things that have influenced my path on skis.

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ice axe expeditions-spitsbergen video

When Andrew and I made plans for Spitsbergen last spring, the idea was to kite and ski outside of town and see what we could find. This sounded like a great enough trip in itself. Shortly after we had decided on this plan, Doug Stoup a friend of Andrew’s from Ice Axe Expeditions threw out the invitation to jump on the boat he chartered to sail and ski fjords in the same area. I believe in luck, karma and Jesus, but I’m not sure who to thank for this one. This seemed too good to be true! Sure, we might as well since we were going to be in the neighborhood.

Andrew guided clients and I shot video during the trip for our upcoming Powderwhore Production. Here is a highlight video I put together as a thanks to Doug and Ice Axe Expeditions. Doug’s help and hospitality went way above and beyond what was asked. He put us up in his storage unit for 9 days, provided sleds and food for the land based exploration and helped us out with logistics and beta. The least we could do was put together a promo vid from the incredible trip. Enjoy!

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