Our MSP crew nailed 7 big days in AK.  4,000 foot vertical runs on Princep to mini golf in Birthday Bowl to a straight line in the Pit Bull Couli.  We scored!  Dav and Henrik threw down, I constantly battled the pucker factor run after run.  IT's good to be scared.  It doesn't get any more real feeling on skis than on top of lines like, Dirty Needle, Tomahawk, Princep, Storm Trooper, Triple Shot, White Out, Pit Bull, FiftyFifty, Crap Shoot and Porky Spines.  Big game hunting.  All time in AK!!!
This trip was made possible by Red Bull, Atomic, Spyder and Oakley.  Thanks to Alaska Heliskiing's Sean Dog and crew and especially our guides Seth and Ted for taking us to the goods!

 I've got to share a little more on White Out.  Dustin saw this from the heli.  We liked it, but flew by looking for other options.  Nothing stuck out like it so we went back to sit down on the barbie angle (an opposing peak) and took some time checking it out.  Both Henrik and I were unsure of the spine being wide enough to ski from our angle so we wanted to get a look from the air before committing to it.  We had two options.  In the air we got a good look and decided it was begging to be skied.  Now who gets it?  We both wanted it so it came down to a good old fashion rock, paper, scissors.  It went two rounds and I won with paper. I needed one more fly by for a last look to get every move in my head.  On top I was first up.  I could only see about 200 feet down then it rolled over.  Dropping into these runs blind, where you can't see all the way down due to the pitch of the slope sucks the confidence right out of me. Fortunately trusting the vision in my head I went where I needed to go. It was the deepest pow sloughing like mad.  I lost sight for a couple seconds due to all the snow flying over my head, so gave it the name White Out.  It was all time and I have a killer pov run to relive that feeling.

 Dav dropping one before dropping in on Triple Shot.  "Behind"...behind the scenes.

It was like 50 degrees out there on our first run.  It felt like we were anywhere but in the mountains.  Snow was letting loose all over the place around the black rocks heating up and I was sweating just hanging out.  We decided to bumped back to the ice cap and find colder temps and praying for better snow.  In the front range it was too warm and there was a layer of crust under 5 inches of fresh.  That's tough to ski plus when you get on bigger runs those conditions aren't very friendly.  We went deep into the glacier and found the goods.  I skied the lightest and deepest pow ever.  It was snow you dream about. Epic AK Blower pow that hits you in the chest and whites out the world.  The three of us were all smiles after that one.  It was a good start off the couch after a 4 day break.  Up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and ready for more.

 The last 4 days of stormy weather kept us off snow here in Haines.  It sucks sitting around all clagged in with thick clouds, but there is a reward when it breaks.  Our photog Hank deVre flew up from Tahoe on Wednesday to join the crew.  We're stoked to have a complete team now since its' cheaper for all of us splitting the cost on the house, van, gas, food and heli 7 ways now.  ha,ha,ha...nahhh... the real reason is slapping high five's with Hank after we both nail it.  Getting stills is important to all of us for our sponsors.  The bonus to slaying stills is exposure in the mags, posters, billboards and those company catalogs!  Powder Mag will run a story on this trip so we need Hank.  When Hank is ready he yells "On it!" and that's just what went down here.  I got a chance to catch the man in action on our first run shooting Henrik in the white room.

First day in Haines we were on snow and slappig high fives.  Skiing with two other Red Bull athletes Chris Davenport Aspen, Co and Henrik Winstedt Are,Sweden. My first film line of the trip put a good lump in my throat.  A roll over into blower pow on the entry spine into an open face with a tight double option exit to escape the sluff and then another 1,500 vert of big DH turns to the glacier floor.  Chalk it up....West face of Tomahawk.  Good times so far. Atomic Atlas owns it up here. check the AK 2009 gallery

 The spring conditions lately have made for some real nice days on the hill skiing fast groomers and Sugar Bowl's ski cross track.  Sugar Bowl hosted 2 FIS Ski Cross events 3/28-29.  I was unfortunately out of town in CO for a NASTAR appearance, but the guys who showed up had a good time.  John Teller won day one and Errol Kerr placed 2nd then the following day they switch it up.  

April 1st Jason Hale (snowboarder) and I put on a ski/boarder cross clinic.  We had a small turn out due to two days notice, but great conditions.  Fast snow in the morning and spring conditions later that day.  The 4 man start gate was loaded and dropped for skiers and boarders to battle it out and the trash talk was flying.  Out of the start is a good straight shot with table top jumps and rollers into a bank turn.  Then it dropped into Tunnel 41 where you could pop a little hip jump into a turn.  That was a fun floaty one where you had to switch it up in air to land on the left ski.  A few tight bank turns then it opened up to a long right footed turn into a step up to some mellow rollers on the bottom.  Next year we hope to get it going much earlier in the season and put more terrain and flow into it.  Best come check it out!  For a first go it still delivered good times by all.  Check my Sugar Bowl video gallery for a run with Syra 10yrs old and her dad David. click here

Mother nature turned around and gave us cold temps and a few inches Friday morning.  Shaun Carrie, head free ride coach at Sugar Bowl, Jeremiah and I decided to hike the 10 minutes up Donner from Judah chair and go for a ski down Bubbles.  Conditions were solid frozen spring snow with a few inches of fresh or "dust on crust". We had clear blue skies though and it was a beautiful day.  Hard to beat an adventure run like this even if it wasn't the knee deep day I've been dreaming about.  I've had my sights set on skiing this all season.  Since the conditions were less than ideal we took it slow and picked our way down.  Check my view on the V.I.O. pov camera. Shaun took a tricky run down a slot to the left of me and Jeremiah went for the tightest chute navigating a less than 190cm wide slot filled with rocks, trees and ice.  
Here's a pic of the day we should have skied it back in early March.  You can see all the lines the SugarBowl/Donner posse ripped.