Ccoultershred

Frey Hut wiht SGT

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:15:11 -0600

During the sixth session at SGT we ventured out back of Catedral resort to the to visit the famous Frey hut. This place never lets me down! We stayed two nights. The crew was twelve deep. During our time at the hut we rode epic pow, drank and ate like Vikings pretty much have the time of our lives. We set in a steep skin track to the top right after arriving the first day. This skinner was our primary way to crush pow laps during the next two days. Some Austrians dudes showed up on the evening of the second day. They were tripping on how much we had tracked out the zone, hahah love that shit. This was one of the best hut trips I have ever had. Hope you enjoy the photos and a big thanks to the Crew of twelve making who all helped in making the trip a success.

Lenas with First Ascent

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:30:16 -0600

This season in Argentina I took advantage of the opportunity to venture north from Bariloche up to Las Lenas to ride with a few members of the First Ascent Team. The crew was stacked with talent, Lel Tone, Lynsey Dyer, Zach Crist, Reggie Crist, Brian Limoges, Will Wissman, Jose Beccara Varela and me the token boarder. Lucky for us it panned out to be the trip of a life time. I find when riding with Reggie Crist and Will Wissman you know your going to be getting the goods and capturing the moments. It’s my fifth season and fourth week in Argentina, gotta say it was one of the most all time experiences I have had down here. We had a few pre dawn starts, using the snow cat to get up high for some sun rise photos. I really get stoked to be up in the mountains during the early morning hours it makes me feel alive. One of the major highlights of this trip was a huge storm with minimal wind that left us with a meeter of blower pow. The first sunny day after the storm I got the best chair access run of my life so far.

SGT Session 1 & 2

Sat, 6 Aug 2011 17:12:39 -0600

Every year on Skylar’s birthday he likes to get out and crush the gnarly lines. We have a couloir out here named the birthday chute for the occasion. Of course Skylar hit it this year again. We started the day hitting some small spines and Zebra 1 Couloir. This was my first run on Zebra 1 and I gotta say it was every thing I was hoping it would be so much fun! It’s amazing to spend time in the mountains with my friend Skylar Holgate he is a really strong rider and has the mountain man skills we are all looking for in a backcountry partner.

Lone Peak

Wed, 11 May 2011 21:00:30 -0600

On May 11th 2011 Tony Pavlantos and I got to ride of the East face of Lone Peak in Utah’s Wasatch. Earlier in March we had done a camping trip to scope out the lines on the East face, and were excited to reap the rewards of our efforts. We started our day trip in the city of Alpine south of SLC Utah. We started walking at about 3:00 am around 5,500 feet elevation. The first 2,000 ft of hiking was in the dirt below snow-line, on mostly South facing terrain. We were happy to get the boards off our backs when we reached snow at about 7,500 ft. The skinning was nice on the frozen snow up a trail. About three quarters of the way up the mountain the sun began to light up the valley and surrounding mountains. Up in the alpine a few steep sections made you work for your traction on the firm snow. The last 800 feet was easy skinning on windblown powder. We were close to the top about 8:30 am and decided to save the summit for another day because the East face was warming and we wanted to ride it before the snow took on much more heat from the sun. We rode the lookers left couloir off the east face. It was steep and the snow was nice about 4 to 6 inches of pow. The new snow sluff was running fast on the melt freeze crust underneath. The snowpack here in the Wasatch is at 200% , way above normal for this time of year, and is providing some good times and experiences. Our whole Lone Peak Tour was 8 miles, 11 hours and over 6000 feet of hiking hitting 50 degree slope angles in the couloir.

Timpanogos East Ridge

Wed, 4 May 2011 12:02:03 -0600

Nic Van Dyken and I got to ride Mt. Timpanogos. This was my first time on Timp, Nic’s first time doing this line. We started hiking at 5:15 Am approximately 6,983 ft in elevation. We went up through the Primrose cirque. The snow was firm too sketchy to skin, so we booted up the first 2000 feet. It flattened out in a basin and we were able to skin for an hour or so. We put on our crampons for the East Ridge walk over to the Drop in at 11,588 ft. We hiked and skinned 4,600 ft up. We used the South East face to ride down into the Big Provo Cirque. We ran into a friend Jim Harris on the East Ridge. There was a breeze that day and the snow on the run was still a little frozen which added some excitement to the upper face with exposure below. After getting down the upper part of the mountain we had lunch with Jim and his group and then proceeded down valley enjoying nice soft turns. To exit we hiked over to Sundance, passing a few houses built really close to a few avalanche paths on the way. We rode down into the resort to hitch a ride back up to our car parked at the winter gate. The whole tour was about 8 miles and 5000 ft of hiking 6000 ft of turns. Thanks to Nic for all the photos and a great tour.