Castles In The Sky

Taylor Steele's latest film "Castles In The Sky" shows in Vancouver at the end of June. Looks like a good one.

AK - The Backside

Most of our time & energy was focussed on the giant wall our camp stared at. However there was a considerable amount of worthy terrain on the other side of our camp that was out of view. Jones had scoped this terrain pretty well on his flight in and had some decent photos on his camera. The access was through a fairly long couloir that emptied out onto a playground of powder filled ridges and gullies. Jones dubbed it "Cameraman Couloir." Getting 8 riders and cameramen down the couloir safely would prove to be challenging, but we all made it. I was glad to be the second one through while there was still lots of soft snow left in it. After getting some on slope shots beneath the couloir it was time to figure out how to get back up to our camp. Originally we thought we might be able to make our way back the way we came down, but this proved unfeasible. There was the option of touring out to the Brady Glacier and back up to camp on our track from the previous day at the east end of the wall, but this was a long way. There was another option of climbing a chute that would put us just above camp to the north. It would be a slog too, but shorter than going out to the Brady and back. That was the way we ended up taking. We would drop back down this chute one more time (and climb out) to get a shot with Josh, but we left many lines unridden in this zone.

The crew makes their way up to the entrance.

"Cameraman Couloir" from the bottom.

Happy cameraman gets a few turns.

Jones makes his way back up for another pow shot.

What goes down must go up. The bottom of the climb home.

And the top.

Alaskan Beard

I took a photo of myself each day during the AK mission. Thankfully there's no way to record smell.

AK Again.

After shooting footage for the "Deeper" project in B.C. during February & March, it was time to once again meet in Alaska in April. The initial crew consisted of riders Jeremy Jones, Ryland Bell, Josh Dirksen, Lucas Debari, our guide Tom Burt, cameramen Chris Edmands and myself, photogs G.V.D. and Seth Lightcap. We all arrived in Haines eager to get onto the snow ASAP. Luckily we were able to fly into Glacier Bay National Park sooner than later. We had a zone in mind in the Fairweather Range that we'd seen from last year's first camp. That zone proved to be a little too challenging, but Jones found what we were looking for not far from there. The day after getting in and set up we were greeted with our first snowfall. A foot and a half of fresh blanketed our new world before it cleared up for six days with bomber snow stability. We slowly explored our surroundings and figured out what we wanted to accomplish and what to stay away from. Before long the crew was getting after it. The boys all stepped up their games by climbing and riding lines on a level they'd never before been to.

Haines - a good place to wait for high pressure.

Our pilot Drake Olsen & our mountain of gear.

If you're ever in Haines and need a ride into the mountains... www.flydrake.com

Drake's farewell flyby after getting us in.

An we're in! At this point we're just trying to get our heads around where we are and what we're going to do.

The coastal clouds were always a challenge.

Hoping for some clearing.

Camp wave.

Edmands getting used to the neighborhood.

Ryland's glacier style.

Our little village.

Going up to the camp lines.

Room with a view.

Tom Burt. Yeah ISM!

The glaciers were in constant motion and always had to be considered.

Jeremy & Ryland's "warmup" lines. Check Jones' pics from the slope here.

Objectives.

More to come...

AK Splitboard Camp

I just spent 3 weeks in Alaska working on the Deeper project. We stepped it up a level from last year's mission. Here's a couple images from our camp.

Not a bad location. More to come...

Darren Proctor Memorial Avalanche Olympics

This past weekend a group of friends and family of Darren Proctor gathered in Whistler to commemorate his passing 10 years ago. Part 1 was the Avalanche Olympics on Tricouni Mountain Saturday morning. This consisted of timed beacon searches run in 3 man heats. The top 3 made it to the final where they each had to find 2 beacons. Winner take all - $500. The weather threatened for a while, but in the end the clouds parted and gave us some love. Thanks Proctor!

Akasha checks in. Stu photo.

Kevin, Mel & Darren getting busy at the grill with Cam.

Vanessa Stark digging for cash! Stu photo.


The finalists - Abby, Dave B & Helen. Stu photo.

Stu tabulating.

Fastest of the day - Abby! Stu photo.

After catching the end of the Grillers game (they won) everyone met down at Whistler Creek to spread Darren's remaining ashes. Then it was off to Creekbread for eats and awards.

C.S.M.

A drink for our brother Prox.

Creekbread Mob.

BJ and Age.

Chris Miron & Dave B.

Steve Sherlock of course.

Wes, Seb & Tosh in the house.

Stu & Abby.

It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since Proctor passed on. Great to see everyone. Thanks to Stu for spearheading the 1st annual Avalanche Olympics. The plan is to make it an annual event in December. Watch for it next season.

Surf & Snow

Scott Rowley just cruised through Pemberton on his way to Revelstoke from Vancouver Island. He's been bouncing back and forth between surf and snow all season, scoring wherever he goes.

We did a quick tour off the Duffey on a day that didn't hold much promise and found good snow in this little corner of the zone. I got to try out Jonaven's new Jones splitboard "The Solution" and can say it's definitely a nice ride. Here's a little clip of my first turns on Jones' new product.

Tantalus

Just spent 3 days in the Tantalus Range. We got a lift from Black Tusk Helicopters out of Squamish on a Thursday morning. The views from above the Rumbling Glacier were nothing short of spectacular. I could see from Mount Currie to Mount Baker. Jeremy Jones joined Jonaven to tag lines above the Squamish Valley for the "Deeper" project. The weather couldn't have been better for snow camping and touring. Sunny skies and not much wind. The east facing slopes we wanted to film demanded early morning starts so we could be done with them before the sun heated up too much. Skinning across a glacier in the dark with a headlamp was definitely a new experience for me. It was surreal to be so close to Highway 99 (full cell service) and be in the middle of some serious gnar at the same time. I've been driving past the Tantalus on Highway 99 for my entire life. To finally spend some time up there was very satisfying.

Home for 3 days.

Mt. Tantalus and the Rumbling Glacier.

Snow pits & test slopes on Day 1.

Jonaven and the Rumbling Glacier.

Jonaven climbing to his bivy spot around the corner. He spent the night on top of his line so he could ride it at sunrise.

Camp with Garibaldi in the distance.

Jones climbed right up this line in about 30 minutes. He then slayed it in about 1 minute.

Mikey Nixon was along for the excursion. Big smiles.

The clouds rolled in Saturday afternoon.

Ten minutes later we were in Squamish swatting mosquitoes.