Here is a short one put together w/ some random clips from early March by Jon Knitter and myself. Enjoy! POW was really deep tonight on Snoqualmie Pass and will have a short clip up tomorrow of the low angle goods we farmed today. Live to Ski Another Day!

The same storm that dropped snow practically non-stop over Whistler also hit Washington’s Olympics and Northwest Cascades. As of yesterday a.m., there were reports of 24hr totals ranging from 14-20″ in those regions. According to the NW Avalanche Center (NWAC), storm totals over the past 36-48 hours averaged 24-36″ at Hurricane Ridge and other west slope Cascade resorts with the exception of Mt. Baker, the king of snow, which received a whopping 72″. Ka-POW!! Mt. Baker reported that snow cats now need to “dig out paths for some chair lifts and those chairs are normally 30 feet off the ground. Our huge Heather Meadows snow base of 236 inches is a great indicator of just how much snow coverage we have; that’s almost 20 feet of snow…just at the base lodge”. Yes, Mt. Baker still has the deepest snowpack of all the N. America resorts including Alaska (278″ at the top of Pan Dome chair).  Andrew Eckels was there and he tells us: “Baker was ridiculous today! Hard to beat getting faceshots under the lift every run after noon.” Meanwhile, TNT and Rob Bolton were going at it at Snoqualmie Pass – it was so good, that they skied until sundown. And you guessed it: more snow continues to fall with forecasts calling for up to another 18″ at Mt. Baker’s base area by Thurs. and about a foot at our WA Cascade Passes. But before you rush out, note that NWAC has issued a High avalanche danger warning (human triggered avalanches are very likely). So heed the warning, stay safe, be avi aware and live to ski another day.

Rob Boyd v. Pepi Strobl

Headed up to Whistler, B.C. last week for the Directors Cup Invitational Races benefiting the Right to Play charitable organization which I first learned about in Whistler at their party during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics (more on the org below). Old friends, Austrian World Cup racing legends Pepi Strobl and Kilian Albrecht were invited to fly in and help coach the participants during the races. Pepi (7 World Cup victories, 22 podium finishes, top Austrian World Cup racer in ‘97 – currently owns the Sport Strobl shops in Tirol, Austria) and Killian (2x Olympian, 2 World Cup silver medals – now a sports agent) were joined by our U.S. Ski Team friends from WA, 2x Olympian Scott Macartney and Paul McDonald.  A host of other ski legends such as Canada’s Rob Boyd (3x World Cup Champ & Winter Olympian), Ricky Lewen (Pro Tour Champ), etc. were there as well as some of the world’s greatest pro skiers: Canada’s Ashleigh McIvor (2010 Olympic’s Ski Cross Gold Medal), Anne Marie LeFrancois (Olympian, 2x Canadian Champ) and so many others. It was quite the list.

Pepi, KK (Event Co-Chair), Kilian, Sting

The non-stop action was accompanied by non-stop snow on the mountain – up to 33″ in the last 72hrs as of this a.m. Andy Traslin made the trip up to take Pepi and I ski touring yesterday but high avalanche danger warnings and high winds prevented us from venturing out into Whistler Blackcomb’s legendary backcountry. We’ll try to give it another go here later this week if conditions permit. B.C. has received a lot of snow and along with it, some avalanche fatalities (none in Whistler Blackcomb fortunately) so we’re mindful that out of bounds even has its boundaries: most recently, a skier was killed by an avalanche near Revelstoke in the Ghost Peak area south of the town on Sunday (our sympathies go out to family and friends).  One major plus about B.C. and particularly, Whistler Blackcomb: there’s massive in-bounds terrain here to explore (8,171 acres to be exact & >5,000 thigh burning ft of vertical, not to mention the best resort night life imo) so we’ll have plenty to do even if the backcountry’s off limits.

Andy Traslin in Ryders' poster @ Rendezvous Lodge, Blackcomb

Back to Right to Play – check it out: the charitable org aims to improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace. They accomplish their goals with the support of Julia Mancuso, Picabo Street and many other Olympic and World Cup skiers and elite athletes.  We love what they do and how they do it. You can learn more and get involved at www.righttoplay.com.

This next group of new friends we want to introduce were connected to us by Doug Meyer, Teton County Search and Rescue director. We had met Doug at a Superbowl party in JH of all places last month. When I learned of his occupation, I was blown away because a lot of my questions that had come to mind gazing into the mighty Tetons the past two days, now could be answered. During the Teton stories, Doug learned of our website, and told us about his son Carson Myer. Carson runs w/ a group of friends that are ALL wilderness first aid, CPR, and Avy 1 certified along w/ being sophomores at JH high school. Oh yeah, they are all BIG mountain skiers that capture their adventures on film under the name “Team Fardrift”. The team members are Carson Meyer age 15, Sam Schwartz age 16, Sawyer Thomas age 16, Shea Fischer age 15, Otto Wieters age 16, and Skyler Everitts age 16. Below is the first of many great vids I hope to bring to you from a very talented young group of friends.

Our hearts grew even heavier after hearing the news of Canadian skier, Nick Zoracic’s fatal crash earlier today during a World Cup ski cross race in Switzerland. The news came through as I was attending the annual Director’s Cup Invitational Races in Whistler with Nick’s former teammates, Ashleigh McIvor (ski cross’ 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2009 World Champion) and Christy Risler (World Cup Racer) -so naturally, this tragedy has been top of mind ever since. Clearly, he will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

I was very disturbed by the terrible news yesterday of the loss of two well know ski mountaineers of the Teton range, Chris Onufer and Steve Romeo. From what I heard about the incident: the two men were nearing the summit of Ranger Peak Wednesday when a soft 3′ slab released fracturing hundreds of feet wide taking the two down a 3,000 foot chute. The debris was apx 6′ deep and the two were found close to the surface. The authorities were notified by Chris’ father when he didn’t show up at the JH airport as scheduled to pick him up. Below is a pic that was provided by Grand Teton National Park showing the slide.

Chris Onufer was Jackson Hole’s tram maintenance manager and I didn’t get the honor to meet him last month as we toured the mountain with the JH marketing team, but I did notice how tight this hardcore team was (I guess like any small mountain town). I know he will be missed on every tram ride. Randosteve was “TetonAT.com” who I first met via the web when he shared my video of the climax slide at Hyak, WA back in January of 2009. From that day on I spent a lot of time checking out his amazing trip report videos. I was extremely stoked to have finally spent a few days in their zone last month and now understand why his site focused on the Tetons… First zone in the lower 48 that could make me leave the Cascades – even though it is small by square miles ratio to the Cascades, it sure is MIGHTY and sunny! If only I could have spent time with these awesome gents in person, but I am happy to have known them through their videos in the place they truly loved… The Tetons! R.I.P. my mountain brothers.

This video below is Steve’s last edit from a few weeks ago…

Andy and Mike Traslin were hitting one of my favorite zones. I spend time skiing Swift Creek when avalanche danger is high in the Mt. Baker ski area backcountry. However, don’t be fooled by this 400 to 500 foot zone because the further skiers’ right you go the steeper it gets w/ lots of terrain traps.

Attached are the Clydesdale results from this past Alpental Vertfest. The results were m.i.a. at the time of the awards ceremony, but have since been recovered. Now we are in high hopes this post finds the following 3 BIG bad boys, who all happened to be in the “race” division banging out 2 laps. Send us a message here or on facebook so we can get the prizes to you guys .

David Stonich 01:14:08:30
Lohr-Johnson 01:15:33:10
Kjartan Gilje 01:17:39:50

Here’s another picture I took on Sunday while skiing Hyak – it’s a view of Granite Mountain along WA’s i-90 at Exit 47 Denny Creek (just West of Snoqualmie Pass).

Below is a close up of the the big cornices along the ridge all the way up to the lookout tower at about 5600ft.  The arrow points to where the cornice has already begun to fall. Needless to say, you don’t want to be standing on top of the ridge line nor anywhere below it. Back in Jan. 2009, TNT hiked up there for some interesting skiing – take a look at that great adventure in the video below.

Pretty stoked to have some new members to the TST team. here’s our first edit “intern” Jasper Wesselman who is an Issaquah H.S. junior. Living only 40 minutes from the Summit at Snoqualmie it’s no wonder that Jasper and the solid young IHS slashers he rolls with call Alpental their home. Check out the short vid (using some clips you may have seen) and give a holler!