Colin Lantz, head of La Sportiva’s winter sports business unit, just returned from Chamonix, France. Turns out they’re getting just as much snow as we are now. He was there with Steep Skiing Camps Worldwide which offers world class steep skiing to expert skiers.  Colin skied on La Sportiva’s new Hi5 skis (available next fall). We demo’ed them at the snow sports industry show in Jan. and fell in love with them.  At 135-105-125 with rockered tip, traditional camber, flat tail & weighing a mere 1600, 1700, 1800 gm = 3.5, 3.7, 4 lbs for 168, 178, 188 respectively – what’s not to love? Pair them with La Sportiva’s current ultra lightweight RT tech binding (175 gm=6 oz each so nearly half the weight of Dynafit TLT Speeds) for a super lightweight set up and you’ll love them too.  SSCW was founded by Doug (and Emily) Coombs- a 2-time World Extreme Skiing Champion and pioneer of steep adventure skiing both in AK’s Chugach Range and in the Alps.  Colin’s camp was led by Miles Smart of Smart Mountain Guides. He and Liz Smart worked along side Doug for many years and, now based full time in Chamonix, are Doug’s chosen successors for the Camps.  You can get a feel for this great camp and Chamonix’s Aiguille du Midi-Grand Envers terrain in this video provided by Colin.

This just in – the search is on for a missing skier last seen yesterday around 230pm on the High Campbell chair at Crystal Mtn. Resort.  Skier was seen in bounds where there was avalanche control work done but they’ve had 3ft in 3 days so many other hazards exist. The skier is known to be an experienced skier.  We’re hoping for a positive outcome asap today.  Remember with all this new snow, to ski with a partner and exercise good judgment. Live to ski another day.

It’s almost 8am and the winter storm continues.  14″ in the last 24 with NOAA (which did us right yesterday) calling for another 3-5″ this morning alone and another 12-24″ today.  Alpental was closed yesterday so it’s got 32″ of untouched powder.  But wait, that’s at the bottom:  there’s over 43″ in the last 72 hrs on top of Alpental.  And temps dropped slightly today.  Major deep powder advisory – Boarders: heads up as we saw many stuck in the flats yesterday and one boarder long dartted into the deep and after a few secs of no movement, we realized she was having a hard time so TNT headed over to help. Fortunately, she popped up but she said she was scared. TNT says to forget the snorkel, bring your scuba gear.  The only groomers you’ll find today (like yesterday) at Snoqualmie Pass will be on i-90 behind the DOT snowplow. But joking aside, remember it’s seriously deep out there -  remember to ride with a friend! Stay in bounds today and live to ski another day. See you out there.

Last day of Feb. 2011 turned out to be the biggest SNOW day of the season thus far. It was snowing an inch an hour for approx 30 hours straight up here on Snoqualmie Pass, WA. Below is a short look at today starting at the Summit East’s parking lot before heading to the Triple 60 chair at Summit Central for the steepest lift served found on the Pass for a Monday. Alpental opens tomorrow so I’m guessing there will be a lot of folks calling in sick.

Starting tomorrow, and continuing throughout the week (March 1-4, 2011), The North Face will be hosting an Action Sports-themed trivia campaign on its Facebook page. Each day, TNF will post questions and the first fan to answer correctly will win a Men’s Gonzo Jacket or Women’s Socializer Jacket from The North Face’s Fall 2011 line. (That’s almost a full year before it hits stores!) Want to know when to log on to Facebook? Sorry, we can’t tell you that! But be sure to check The North Face Facebook page each day throughout the day for your chance to win, cause you never know when that next question will post. Good luck!

BEFORE

AFTER

Taking a break from some knee to thigh deep powder skiing at Summit Central but will head out again for some night laps. Few skiers made it up today and for those who did, they’re stuck for awhile as i-90 closed around 11am today and remains closed in both directions from mile post 34 N. Bend to mp 105 Ellensburg. DOT is working to open eastbound lanes any minute now at 530pm and estimates westbound might open at 630pm. Here’re some pictures of the snow piling up this morning and it’s still coming down hard. Forecasters are calling for up to another 3ft by tomorrow. Check back for video later today.

pomPowdour

21″ in the last 24hrs since 8am yesterday and it’s still coming down at 830am today at the rate of 1″ per hour!!! Can you handle that? – maybe with a snorkel. Loving NOAA right now ’cause they were spot on with their forecast of 20″. The Snow Troopers are leaving now for Summit Central. Drive carefully. Live to ski another day.

Well here it is, the long overdue Alpental Vertfest vid (please note it’s a long one). The Alpental Vertfest is a backcountry fundraiser for the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. The NWAC telemetry and avalanche forecasts are a valuable tool in our daily mountain adventures. This year the Alpental Vertfest was a two day event bringing demos and clinics on day one, a movie fest on night one, and the BIG “Hurt Fest” race on Sunday.

Been working on Alpental’s Vertfest video for a few days now so in the mean time I wanted to share our bro Keith Mcdonald’s POV of a great day in the Alpental backcountry early last week on Febuary 8th. I happened to miss this day having spent it searching for a new side window for The Snow Troopers’ bus. which I shattered the night before… Turned out the window was 80 bucks installed and the POW was excellent as seen in the vid below. Thanks Keith for letting me ski some of my favorite lines through your contour’s POV.

The Traslin Brothers paid a visit or should a say won on a visit to Snoqualmie Pass this past weekend for the Alpental Vertfest – Hurtfest on Sunday. After the race on Sunday they did a far lap into Great Scott w/ some of Monika’s crew for good pow turns and good memories. After the backcountry lap it was time for the awards which Andy took first and Mike second. Once the awards wrapped up we were off to The Snow Troopers’ Hyak home base for wine, guitar, and lots of laughs (especially w/ those two cards). Late wake up on Monday (for the Traslin Bros), then my chance to show them our training grounds right in the backyard on Summit East (vid of our lap coming in a day or two). After climbing the 1,100′ right out the back door the Traslins really liked what Summit East had to offer us and as we took a break on top of East peak one of them said I should be able to hit Greg Hill’s 2 million vert mark with easy access like we have. Right after their Greg Hill comment the lift crew passed by on snowmobiles and I said, “maybe I could hit the 2 million mark if I handed my gps watch to them on the sleds for added daily vert.”

Getting back down to the pad, having completed a nice steep lap down East Peak to Hyak Face, Andy and Mike wanted me to share the video below of a trip last week to Mt. Pattison. I guess you could say this one of their many training “hills” for the uphill part of the race not to mention the downhill part. These guys fly on race day and this is why (Vertfest vid coming very soon). They just love to ski and the rest just happens . I must note on race day they ski on 160cm long by 65mm under foot skis… Wild, especially for the downhill side at Alpental! You can ask Jerad(one of our riders) about their speed because he had to BLAST downhill after them for some follow cam.

Live to ski another day,
TNT