Freeride World Tour

The Freeride World Tour came to Squaw Valley today, there's been a bunch of hoopla about it this year as it's supposed to be help on the infamous, permanently closed Tram Face. Unfortunately, conditions on Tram Face aren't really "in" right now (the big debris pile at the bottom is the worse looking part), so Day 1 was held in Silverado, a worthy backup for sure (so many at Squaw!).

The skiing was so good this morning that I didn't make it over until towards the end of the women's run, just caught a handful of runs. Some pretty impressive skiing, but honestly nothing you wouldn't see on any given day at Squaw!



This drop off the cliff into the chute was the most impressive thing I saw:

Mica Trip Review

Great week of skiing, no down days, great weather, great snow, I skied 195k feet, tops in the group (although I really had nothing to do with that, I just skied ever run offered to me). Really enjoyed Mica, great operation, beautiful lodge, wonderful staff, fantastic food, and an amazing ski zone. Truly a tops in class operation, it's easy to see what all the hype is about. Even in a bad snow year, with little recent snow, we skied boot top powder or deeper all week, opened new zones, got some classic Mica tree and pillow lines, and saw a lot more of the alpine then most people get too. Many thanks to Scooter for putting the trip together and EA for inviting me along. Great group of guys too, it's really the people that make trips like this!

I still think the funniest thing was when EA got a phone call on the bus boys cell phone at the sushi restaurant in Kelowna (it was the owner calling to say hi since he wasn't in that evening).

Here's a few shots that EA got of your truly:

Mica Day 7

Final day, only able to ski until 1pm, so we decided to go for an 8am start to maximize our day. 4 decided not to ski today, so only 2 groups. I was with Pat, Mark, and Ryan skiing with Cliff. Still hunting for good snow, groups split up a bit find our lines. Cliff decided to open a final run, a run that hadn't been skied in 3 years (its fun when you see the guide really getting excited about a run :). More fantastic skiing, right up until then end!

Morning light

Some of our tracks from yesterday, including Rob, Me, EA, and Marc straight lining the top of a run

Tracks in the top of the run we opened to end the trip

And the view from the top of our last run as we headed back towards the lodge

Mica Day 6

Group 3 today with guide Rob, EA, Marc, Kevin, and myself. We spent some time taking some video today, skiing some great pillow lines. Guides are working hard to find us good, untracked snow and still doing a great job at it. Thankfully, this is our second totally bluebird day!

This is a run called Pillow Talk, Kevin and I skied down the right side to film EA and Marc

Great views from the alpine

Lunch through EA's goggles

"Interesting" staff at the lodge

No one told me there was dress up night!

Mica Day 5

Another great day mostly exploring the alpine. Skiing in group 1 with Cliff again, today with Will, Kevin, and Mark. It was COLD today, around 0 degrees F up at the top of the runs. Since some folks wanted to go in after lunch, we switched out groups and ended with Pat and Marc joining Kevin and myself. Skied 2 great runs to close out the day in the trees, awesome runs in classic steep Mica trees!

Cliff, Will, Kevin, and Mark

Mica Day 4

Firing on all cylinders today (massage last night made all the difference), legs feeling great, another day with great visibility. Today I was in group 3 with Stewart, Michael, and Ryan. Thanks to a longer run while the heli was getting fuel and our group being the only one to do Home Run at the end of the day, I took over sole lead in the vertical skied contest :) Also passed 100k today. Got some great steeper shots today, more amazing snow (now it just seems to be a given).

Michael in the steeps

Ryan's turn

And the views are just icing on the cake!

Mica Day 3

Better visibility let us get up into the alpine today, which was perfect for day 3, a bit easier on the legs then skiing the trees! Today I was in group 1 again, this time with Michael, Stewart, and Mark. Skiing was amazing as always, and big verticle today with long alpine runs!

The views are breath taking

And the peaks are beautiful

The snow is deep

And the tracks sure look pretty :)

End of day light is amazing

Mica Day 2

I've got a bunch of great video, but the Internet is too slow here to upload it. EA is going to do some editing once we return and I'll post what he comes up with. Today I was in group 1 with EA, Don, and Ryan. Explored in the trees mostly, more amazing skiing.

Cool light reflecting off the snow

Don ready to go!

Ryan enjoying the pow

EA getting after it in the steeps

Lead guide Cliff checking out the surface hoar layer again. You can really see the distinct layer in this pit (CTE 6)!

Mica Heli - Day 1

So far soooooo good! :) Flew into Seattle Sunday night, out to Winthrop on Monday and on to Kalowna. Yesterday into the lodge here at Mica, right on the Columbia river where the Rocky, Monashee, and Selkirk Mountains meet. A great day of skiing today with EA, Michael, and Kevin and our guide Rob. An A-Star sure makes an excellent ski lift!

Surface Hoar burried 50 cm deep, our biggest worry! Still plenty of great skiing!

Broken Glass Bowl and Tree Skiing

Well, it definitely got a lot warmer Friday through today and I was sure that the weekend warriors would have gotten to much of the near road untracked still left in the Mt Rose area, but it's my birthday, and SAC's report this AM said: "...very enjoyable unconsolidated snow surface conditions remain in wind sheltered areas on NW-N-NE aspects" so I headed out to check it out.

I first headed up Tamarack Peak and then back to Broken Glass bowl figuring it wouldn't be as skied out since it's a bit further back. Still a bunch of tracks, and the snow was "variable" up top to say the least. But as I got lower and into the trees I found that "very enjoyable" snow. So, I decided to do some mini laps as I worked my way back towards the car, skiing the nice snow in the trees, and found plenty of it to have some fun!

Getting into the trees at the bottom of Broken Glass Bowl the snow was GOOD!

Galena Falls, one of my favorite short summer hikes

More fun turns in the trees

And some more