After 8 painful down days in Haines I flew up to meet the Atomic boys in Valdez to test out my luck somewhere else. The crew is Loris and Nico Falquet, Erik Gauy and the new addition to Team Atomic Chris Benchetler. Flying into Valdez, excitment was at an all time high. The Chugach was crystal clear. All I want to do is ski now, but time is limited. It's a quick shop around at 4pm looking for north facing aspects where the snow is best. It's a challenge cause Valdez had a wind event last week that ripped and damaged most of the snow. So the search is on for the goods with a few other film crews hustling to get it. Other notable skiers here are Mike Douglas and Mark Abma. And the snowboard dream team of Jeremy Jones and Travis Rice are out there slaying it. Atomic brought in a new pow ski to the mix that we've been working on and it's killing it. So nice to be on a ski that works for you and makes it easier especially up here. Every little bit helps. ha,ha,ha I don't always feel comfortable looking down on big AK runs until I hit the run out on the glacier. But that energy is what keeps me going. Our program starts late in the day around 8pm. It is the glory hour and the time to line up the run of the day. Pink and golden light illuminates these mountains in the most spectacular way. Skiing AK lines in this light watching the sun go down and looking over the water is incredible. I skied a pillow line the other day that ruled over all runs I've ever done. Still feeling the buzz! Now off to look for more.

4/15/08 Haines, Alaska / Rage Films Trip / Day 5 Another day of……..waiting. Nothing in the can for 5 days. This is the part of an Alaskan heli trip that becomes painful. You can see what I’m looking at below. The routine is wake up around 4:30-5am and take a look outside. See it’s cloudy so go back to sleep and wake up at 6am. Still cloudy, sleep till 8. It turns into a relentless waiting game. Nothing to really do when you’re matched up against mother nature. Just ride it out. Or is there? My approach is to will it blue, but passive at best. Some take another approach and try to “drink it blue”. Unfortunately that hasn’t worked either. The more down days strung up, the further you reach for that blue bird day. I’m still holding out and staying focused by looking at ski pics and videos. Other ways we’ve kept busy are riding sleds, shooting guns, flying RC aircraft, soft gun wars, pool games, darts, beacon searches, walking around town, going to the market, talking with the local Haines characters and mostly eating big meals of fish and steak. Whatever I can do to stay sane and outlast these stormy days. The blue skies will come back, just a matter of when. Putting time in is the best way to look at it. When the moment comes I’ll be ready to feast on fresh spines, pillows, steep ramps and big lines. But that moment has a limit. The count down is on. My plan is to leave Haines Friday 4/18 and head to Valdez, AK for 5 days. The mission there is more of the same, to ski pow, but with my Atomic teammates for a company film we’re doing. Our sport of skiing has a lot of different disciplines that demand most of our time and focus to be good at. The shared passion for skiing pow brings us together to share some turns. I’m hooking up with other pros on Atomic from alpine racing, jibbing and free riding to capture good times away from our usual routine. This will be a fun opportunity to hang, ski and trade stories with. We already shot Ski Cross at XGames this year so that’s covered. What I want now is to fly down some mountains on my Big Daddy’s here in AK. Bring on the sun.



(My AK photo gallery is a look into the pro skier’s world, when were not skiing.)



Here's a few samples....

Shooting Guns!

Eating Meat!

Lots of Meat!

Testing Snow