Continue reading »]]>  

As Vermont began for a March Meltdown, Winter in California seemed like it was just getting started. Rumor was a big storm was approaching not long after Max Power and myself were to arrive in Mammoth Lakes.

Mt Morrison and Mt Laurel in the background looking really bare for this time of year.  Its been a long dry Winter in the Sierra, but as you can see the clouds started filling the desert sky.

Hot springs, scoping out dream lines in the mountains, some off-roading, consuming of beer and plenty of safety meetings were had in preparation.

We randomly decided to drive out to the Dana Plateau right before the storm was to start since neither one of us had been riding or climbing there before. Figured we would use our down time to explore some new territory.. The plan was to just climb/skin up V-bowl (bottom right) and get a closer look at the lines coming down, but we were quickly drawn toward the Cocaine Chute and kept going (big wide chute on left, that narrows toward top) .

I can’t wait to come back and play one Spring, fun looking lines every where I look.

Max Power coming down Cocaine Chute

And headed back down V-bowl with Mono-Lake in the background.

And here it comes.

It snowed 3-5 ft over 48 hours depending on elevation. This was down at the condo by the first morning.

Two full days of storm riding with constant refills .

We took a quick break and headed over to June to escape from all the powder starved Californians over at Mammoth.  Surprised to see some blue sky and much less wind.

But the Powder was just as nice!

This is what Mammoth looked like the next morning, which happened to be a Monday.  Bluebird, no tracks on the upper mountain and no wind… mmmmm!

We got the 2nd gondi to the top when it opened and couldn’t resist Climax after seeing it on the way up.. It was go time.

A few pov shots from the day here. Most the footage was washed out from the sun reflecting on the snow.  This is what I salvaged. Less then 2 mins.

Things looking good from chair 23.

Since our run down Climax followed by a long run down Monument were so good, we had to go back up for some left overs in the Paranoids, at this time we met up with our friend Greg who was happy to have the day off from work to enjoy some tasty powder.

Greg is somewhere in this picture.

Me splashing around in the pow pow..

Then ventured toward the Dragons back & tail, where it was also very good.

Greg getting deep out on the tail….

Heard about a couple slides that occurred the day before in the Sherwins, so we were a little concerned about the Punta Bardini chutes as well as we headed out there the day after the reported slides. The sun was quickly baking all the new snow adding weight to the already weak layers below, we used extreme caution. 

Max Power in the skinner with mammoth mtn in the background.

inside a log on the way up, maybe this was a warning.

After observing this pit and some really loud scary whoomfing noises in the low angle trees on the way up, we decided to stay away from the steeper Bardini Chutes and just traverse over to the tele-bowls and pick a safe line to head down and out.  The results in the pit were sort of sketch and we figured that there were multiple red flags to not go any further up.

Max Power dropping into the tele-bowls.

My turn.

Greg in the blue jacket.

The sun and wind worked the powder pretty good, but Max Power and myself needed some more exercise.  The forecast was suppose to clear up and be nice this day, so our original plan was to head out into the Mammoth Crest. On our way out we couldn’t see a thing as it was all socked in.  To our left at the time the Sherwins were not in the clouds at all, so we headed into that direction.

Until we neared the upper section and the clouds began to make their way over there also..

We hunkered down just below the ridge, hoping the clouds would pass.

The ridge began to clear after about 30 mins and we quickly headed up.

The way down was very variable, but we did find some nice snow that was protected from the wind.

Then it snowed again the night before we were leaving town. It only snowed about 6-10″ but we were hungry for some more and Mrs Max Power was in town and wanted to get a powder fix as well..

Mrs Max Power getting hers.

Max Power getting all NINJA in the shadows here.

Greg gets in on the action before going to work.

And a couple other shots from an awesome couple of weeks in the Eastern Sierra… Until next year my friends…

Continue reading »]]> After returning from my epic powder vacation in Japan, I figured that was it for riding powder this season. I thought I would come home, get caught up on work, taxes, est est. I was fine with the fact Winter was the suck in the States at this point since we just got 2 weeks of non stop pow riding that I was very thankful to get.  Low and behold we get back to the 802 right before the biggest storm of the season rolls in and dumps 40″ on the mountains in Northern VT. Could this be? am I dreaming? am I still in Japan? It wasn’t Japan, but it sure felt like it at times… Here is some of what we came home to.

A short pov edit put together of Evan Waldman enjoying some fun turns after the storms… Followed by some still pictures of the the powder slayage that will not disappoint.

This is what my front porch looked like, so I knew there would be much more up high.

Evan Waldman has been waiting for this all season, glad I got to share some deep turns with him.

Love shredding with these guys.

Vinman who builds some awesome skies. WhiteRoom skis, hand made right in Vermont. http://www.facebook.com/pages/WhiteRoom-Skis/135020483270876?sk=wall

Jim Deshler, Now you see him.

Now you don’t

Home sweet home!

Ashley Fay rippin it!

Dalton Harben lives, eats, & sleeps powder..

Andy Orowitz finds some nice trees.

This is going to be fun…

This also going to be fun..

Evan agrees

Dalton happy to be back in VT

Thanks for looking, now off to Mammoth Lakes, CA for my next adventure. The big question is, will the snow follow me there too?

Continue reading »]]> After seeing numerous pictures and video clips of skiing in Japan in recent years I have been dreaming of such a trip.. When Dalton Harben mentioned wanting to go I instantly said I am in, lets do it.. He wanted to ski nothing but powder and has heard all the stories of Japan and their consistent snowfall. Powder is pretty much all his knee allows him to ski these days after almost loosing his leg in a ski accident from a few years ago… We did what we had to do and we made it happen… It was a dream come true for the both of us.

The trip was everything we had hoped it would be and more.  I did get sick while there, but the snow was to good, I just dealt with it and snowboarded as much as possible during the day and rested up in the evening.  I got by and didn’t let it ruin my trip.  We spent the first leg in Hakuba where we stayed at Hakuba Powder Lodge.  Not the best located place depending on where you wanted to ski, but a great, clean place to stay with many like minded powder hounds.  Right off the bat we got two days of touring in with Damien from Steep Deep Japan.  Couldn’t thank him enough for picking us up and taking us to a fun backcountry location to tour, which we did 2 days in a row.  Our third day skiing and riding in Hakuba we headed to Hakuba Cortina Resort which just got a nice dumping of fresh snow.  I think it snowed every night we were in Japan by the way.. The resort was a really fun place to let the legs rest, ride the lift, and ski powder all day.. Everyday seems to be a powder day in Japan, at least it was for us..

Before we knew it we were off to the Northern Island of Hokkaido, which was a short flight from Tokyo.  We stayed in Niseko the entire time in Hokkaido at a little Japanese owned lodge called Lodge Kanon.. It was perfect! Walking distance to everywhere including the lift and the owner was really nice and fed us a lot of food every morning.  Niseko had a little more of a ski town vibe to it and it just snowed and snowed and snowed.  We had a lot of fun skiing in Niseko and found a lot of good snow, but a little crowded with tourists.  Since we rented a car we decided to venture away to a mountain called Rusutsu.  It was about a 35-40 min drive, but well worth it.  Not much for crowds and tourists, mostly Japanese learning to ski in lessons. They stick to the groomers, so the rest of the mountain is open to the handful of people looking to ski powder and trees.. This place was a dream, not sure I’ve been to a resort where I could ski in-bounds powder from open to close and have fresh tracks all day.  The trees are so nicely spaced and open, pretty much what we dream about here in Vermont.

It was really hard to leave Japan, as we were getting use to the routine of waking up every morning knowing we had another powder day ahead of us.  Unfortunately we had to travel back home. Before doing so we spent a day in the city of Narita after flying back to Tokyo.  We walked the streets, had some local eats, checked out some temples and really just took in some of the culture there, which was a great way to end our trip.. We both agree that we MUST go back, as it is a really special place..

Since I was sick I didn’t really have the motivation to tinker much with my camera, but I did manage to capture a clip here and there.  Below is a short video in no particular order of the trip followed by a bunch of still photos we took as well.. ENJOY!

Train hopping in Tokyo was extra fun with ski gear..

Hakuba Powder Lodge

Thank you to Damien for taking us out on his days off, including picking us up and dropping us off at HPL.

Snow blower

Me stoked even though I had Jet Lag, no sleep, and not much to eat.

Dalton on the skin track.

Some shots of Damien, our guide in Hakuba.

Think Dalton was having fun.

OK me too.

Dalton in the white room.. This is where we spent much of our time while in Japan..

Whats the van doing all the way down there?

Hakuba Cortina, Experts Onry!

The lodge/hotel at Hakuba Cortina resort… Such a fun mtn.

Mt. Fuji on our way back to Tokyo, before heading up to Hokkaido

First day on the Northern Island of Hokkaido. Grand Hirafu, Niseko

MMMMMM yum

Dalton approves as well.

No wonder why my hair is turing so white.

Think this is maybe the only time we saw a glimps of the sun and it didnt last long..

This pic reminds me of Mammoth wind buff and Juicy Fruit commercials.

Decided to make the drive to Rusutsu Resort to avoid some crowds and heard rumor that the powder doesnt suck.  The main lodge/hotel where we bought our tickets was a trip into story land. Not what we were expecting to be inside..

Our Aussie friend Jeremy with his surf style…Real nice guy, who we invited to tag along since he was riding solo.

Some sidecountry from the resort..

MMMM all you can eat BBQ in 60min… Lamb, Pork, Chicken, Veggies, Rice…Ready GO!

Me in my happy place…

Yuk more faceshots….

I was really sick and really happy at the same time….

4pm and still getting the goods inbounds. I  LOVE this mtn….

From our window at Lodge Kanon

Had to stop and check out this view on our way back to the airport..

Back around Tokyo doing the tourist thing before flying back to the states.

MMMM noodles…

Pickled snake anyone?

Really glad we got to check this area out in Narita.  Had a blast walking the local streets and the temples were pretty awesome.

Continue reading »]]> After keeping busy in snow less California in late Dec and early Jan I was ready to be reunited with some Winter weather. Who would of thought I had to go back to the Eastcoast to do that? Even though Vermont isn’t having the best of seasons like much of the country, it was something to work with for sure… I was actually surprised on how good of a base there actually was at higher elevations. There were not many big storms coming through. A couple short rain events created some crust layers, but that wasn’t going to scare me off.. We received a fair amount of consistent smaller storms producing a couple inches here and there and with some help of the wind things were not as bad as many may have thought.. Sometimes you just have to go up for yourself to find out what its like, you might just be in for a treat even though there is no snow just a couple miles down the road. As I get ready to head out to Japan for my next adventure this Winter, I look back on the few weeks I spent in Vermont and I am happy with what I achieved. I made the best of it and leaving with a smile on my face.

Starting off with a fun solo run I did using my gopro..

Dalton Harben putting the new Worth Skis to the test. If you haven’t demoed a pair yet, you should..




Evan Waldman, long time powder skier in these parts knows right where to look for some left overs.

And he knows how to use the trees to help with face shots..

Dalton

Evan


Andy getting his share..

Jim Deshler ripping some pow while doing some limbo.

Couldn’t just let these nice lines just go to waste before some rain. Another shot of Jim Deshler.

Dalton diggin in…

A couple of me that Dalton took with his camera.

Another pov I did with a fun follow cam of Dalton..

Continue reading »]]> When my friend Greg Vautour asked if I wanted to go paragliding on his day off, it didn’t take me long to come up with an answer. He called up his friend Kari Castle, a World Champion Pilot and the next thing I knew we were headed to Bishop, CA to meet up with her. She is a terrific teacher and really fun to hang out with.. It takes a lot of ground practice and work before your feet even leave the ground. Location is Little Flynn in Bishop California.

Here are some shots from ground practice and one of Greg’s flights. The pov video at the end is one of my flights..

Continue reading »]]> Mammoth Mtn puts a lot of pride and work into their parks and Mammoth breeds some of the best park riders there are. I am not a huge jibbing fan, but what some of these guys and gals can do is pretty amazing. There were kids as young as 7 throwing down just as good as some of the big boys. Their park crews dial there jumps in very nice. With the lack of snow here I am very very impressed on how well the this event turned out. Anyway I decided to take a few pictures since the riding else where on the mountain is just getting boring with no fresh snow. Enjoy!

Continue reading »]]> With the lack of snow in the Sierras, Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park has been open. I took advantage of the nice weather and decided a short backpack in the park would be a great way to start off the New Year. And a good way to cure my hangover from NYE. I was blown away by the views from up there and could not have found a better place to set up camp. With Half Dome in my face right on the other side of the valley, I got many many shots of it. You could also see pretty far into Yosemite Valley.

Slideshow with more pics, or click one of the above pics to go to the gallery.

Continue reading »]]> Mammoth has had a real slow start to Winter this season…REAL SLOW… Its the end of December and there is no natural snow to ski/ride on.  The snowmakers at the mountain have done a great job however getting terrain open for the holiday crowds.  I’ve found that the best time to make some turns has been the first hour of being open.  No lift lines, no crowds on the trail and fresh corduroy.  Hopefully mother nature will get on board soon.  All eyes on the middle of the month for Winter to hopefully make its way to the Sierra.  Until then, keep doing your snow dance and take what you can get.  Here is a short bootcam clip enjoying some early morning groomers before the crowds.

Continue reading »]]> I have lots to be thankful for, my loving family, good friends, my dog, my job, the roof over my head, the food in my belly and snow under my feet. Hope everyone had a good, safe Thanksgiving.

Before this years feast with my parents I was happy to meet up with some friends and make some turns up at Smugglers’ Notch Resort. It was a great way to start off the day and work up my appetite.