Backcountry Magazine, Backcountry Basecamp

 

 

Backcountry Magazine will be in Jackson this weekend Feb. 8-9th to conduct a Backcountry Basecamp.  I am stoked to be the cover image for their continued backcountry education program.  I encourage you to check out their clinics and demos through out the weekend.  The storm gods should be blanketing Jackson with fresh coats of snow all weekend long.  You can get more information on their webpage http://backcountrymagazine.com/stories/backcountry-basecamp-heads-jackson-hole/

Pow Sking

Although most parts of North America have been receiving less that normal amounts of snow the skiing in Jackson has been great!  Since the new year we have had consistent moderate snow fall that have done an excellent job of filling in the mountain.  Cold temperatures have kept the snow that's falling dry and light.  With a couple more storms on the horizon it looks like we will have good skiing for a while to come! I have been getting out with fellow Fischer Ski team mates Tim Swartz and Jeff Annetts to shoot photos and enjoy the great deep snow.   Get out there and enjoy it!!

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Fischer Skis Boot Advertisment

The Fischer Vacuum boots are so comfortable, that you can wear them not just on  the slopes but anywhere you want.  Whether  its golfing,  taking the dogs for a walk, playing kickball, or just at the beach, the boots just feel so good on your feet.  I use both the Vacuum Ranger 12 and Vacuum Pro Ranger 13.  The Ranger 12 is a great option for the person who likes to tour and utilizes a hike walk mode.  The Ranger Pro is a 130 flex race boot, modified for big mountain freeskiers.  I have never put on a pair of boots that my feet feel so comfortable in, yet still provide the top level performance I demand from my boots.  My recommendation would be to find your nearest Fischer dealer and check out the entire line of Vacuum boots.  I promise you will not be disappointed.  Here in Jackson stop by Jackson Hole Sports and check out the entire Vacuum boot line.

Jackson Hole Trail Map

Super stoked to score the cover shot of the 2013-2014 Jackson Hole Mountain Resort trail map cover.  I worked really hard last winter with photographer Eric Seymour on getting just the right shot with the tram in the background.  Super happy with how my Fischer Big Stix 122 performed, even on the groomers!  Come out to Jackson this winter and grab one for yourselves!

Cave Day 2013

Tyler, Cooper, Tim and Jeff in the Cave

Every year in Jackson, our crew of friends has several traditions that are cant miss.  From "Stoked to be Alive day", "To Pond skim day" to this one, "Cave Day".  Cave Day involves digging down more than 20 feet sometimes to find the tiny 3 foot wide entrance to "The Cave" The cave which sits near the start of the 4 Pines hike and the bottom of Breakneck was found over 10 years ago by Jeff Annetts in the summer while on a hike.  Since then I have been a part of Cave Days since I meet Jeff when I moved to Jackson.  We have a relatively good idea where the mouth is located by pacing off from a certain tree, while keeping your self in line with another.  The mouth being only a few feet wide, we start digging, and digging and digging.  Depending on snow fall for the year the mouth can be between 15-25 feet down.  After our hole is 6-10 feet down we start probing to see if we hit rock or can find the entrance.  This year it took us just over an hour of 4 of us digging to strike rock with our probe which is almost 10 feet long.  Within another hour we had found the entrance!  Our pacing was spot on.  

Tyler and Cooper move snow

Once inside the cave opens up into a vast room that you can stand and move around in.  Several other smaller rooms can be accessed by crawling on hands and knees through the darkness.  Once we made it into the cave and were able to push snow into the cave rather than moving it the 20 feet up, we made a circular slide similar to a toilet bowl, so you cloud slide feet or headfirst into the tiny cave entrance.  Additionally of course we built a jump to jump over the hole and the entrance to The Cave.  

Jeff Annetts flips the Cave

This year the crew was relatively small with several normal cave day crew members out of town on various filming missions, or on the injured list.  This year Tim Swartz, Jeff Annetts, Cooper Kalhlenberg and I were the only ones to rally.  Overall even though key members were absent it was a great day with friends digging holes in the snow, cause what adult male doesn't love digging holes, especially if they lead to a cool underground cave.  More pictures can be seen on my Facebook page.

Tyler working deep

The Slide

Recovering Tim's Ski

About 4 weeks ago my buddy and fellow Fischer Skis athlete Tim Swartz took a nasty fall in the Triple Cliff Zone of Cody Peak just outside the JHMR boundaries.  We were filming for an upcoming Fischer Team Video and Tim misjudged his line and took a nasty fall that left him a a baldly sprained ankle and LCL.  Also one of his skis became lodged mid cliff band.  We were able to see if but not get to it.  So yesterday was Tim's first day back on skis and we decided to bring climbing gear and repeal down to retrieve his ski.  Its been very warm in Jackson for the last week or so and some of the massive cornices that linger atop Cody Peak have been falling apart.  We set up a T anchor well back from the edge, and I was able to belay Tim down to retrieve his ski.  It was a fun adventure in 50 degree heat that winter has turned into in Jackson.  There are more pictures on my Facebook page.

Shred for Stevens Day

    One year ago today the ski industry lost 3 great people in an avalanche at Stevens Pass, Wa.  Chris Rudolph, Jim Jack and Johnny Brenan.  I never new Johnny, had meet Jim a handful of times at Freeski comps, but definitely considered Chris friend. I had skied, ridden downhill mtn bikes and of course drank PBR's with Chris many times.

     Today was a day to step put of your comfort zone, do something fun in the mountains, something you may not normally do with these three people on your minds.  Go out and have fun in the mountains, be safe, explore something new, keep the spirit alive.  This morning after getting cut from work, even though it was grey bird with storm clouds on the horizon, a group of us set out to ski St. Patty's Couloir in the Jackson Hole backcountry.  On the way we skied Once is Enough a steep cliffed run that last year our friend Sally Franklin took a fall in and suffered a traumatic brain injury.  This seemed like the proper thing to do.  Although the light was flat, the snow was great with powder top to bottom.  It was a great day celebrating our friends we lost one year ago today.  Of course we finished the day off the proper way, with a PBR.

    A great article was written in the New York Times chronicling the avalanche at Tunnel Creek, I definitely recommend giving it a read.

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=word-spreads

Stoked as Chris always was

Tim Swartz dropping into Once is Enough

At the Top of St. Patty's Couloir

Mid way down St. Patty's day

Dropping into the Womb

Tim Swartz exit's St. Patty's