TNT’s live on Steamboat TV18 this morning. He’s in their TV studio appearing as Mike Polucci’s guest on the Steamboat Today show to talk about The Snow Troopers. Click on the image below to watch Steamboat Today’s video of the show.

Steamboat TV18 is the winner of six RSN Arc Awards, including market-size wins for best morning show, best morning show host and best morning show set. Steamboat TV18 won its RSN awards in competition against some of the top nationally recognized, live, resort-area morning shows. The station is an affiliate of Outside Television, the broadcasting arm of the Outside magazine brand. Steamboat TV18 is the place to tune into for local weather, ski conditions, events, etc.
We’re digging Steamboat, Ski Town USA but we (and other CO ski resorts have so far with only a couple of inches) missed the big winter storm which is bearing down on greater Denver and on eastward dumping 6-24″. Thanks to Mike for having us on his show. Shout out to Kelly and Darrin at Fleischer Sports and to Clayton at Holiday Inn for taking care of us and making our stay in Steamboat so rad. We’ll be back for sure. Vivamus ski alum diem (that’s latin for “We live to ski another day” – translation provided by Darrin, the most well read ski town dude we’ve ever met.)

Not much to say about Mt. Baker except nothing like it in the lower 48… Here’s what Andrew had to say about yesterday at the KING of snow and wickedness.

Got out early enough to see the sun rise then shredded steep stable pow off Ptarmigan ridge and Table Mountain. Everybody was screaming and laughing after each run it was so good!

Congratulations to Dean Cummings on winning the 2012 Powder Award for Best Line at Powder magazine’s annual awards last week in Aspen. Dean, founder and owner of H2o Guides, is a big mountain steep skiing icon, Alaska heli-skiing pioneer and World Champion extreme skier. He won the award for his epic descent down Dragon’s Back Spine on Meteorite Mountain in AK’s Chugach Range (pictured left). Dean tells us that Meteorite Mountain was struck by a Meteorite in 1927 and created a ramp that is 50 degrees sustained for 2800 vertical feet. The spine had sections that were 60 degrees with high exposure. His award winning descent was one of two first descents he accomplished last spring. The other was down The Tusk Mountain also in AK’s Chugach Range – which Dean describes as the most committing line he’s ever skied. They are both featured in his new movie, The Steep Life. Watch as Dean talks to the Snow Troopers about his ski down The Tusk.

And take a look at the below clips of his first descents. He successfully completed them on the “Karen’cito” skis – from his own ski line, H2o Outdoor Gear – proving that the Karen’cito can excel in the most precision-demanding, extreme conditions. We’ll bring you more info about H2oG’s “Karen’cito” and other skis shortly so be sure to check back often.

We’d also like to congratulate Dean for being named Avalanche Educator of the Year at the Inaugural Avalaunch/Outdoor Retailer Winter Market Awards earlier this month. Dean is founder of the North American Outdoor Institute and lead architect of the American Mechanized Ski Guide Course. His award-winning avalanche safety curriculum has won two safety awards from the Alaska governor’s office.

Andrew Eckels and Jacob Mandell were playing hooky once again from Western Washington Univeristy last Thursday and Friday. In doing so, they were rewarded w/ a couple of sweet days of snow and one evening detour in the dark. Below are a few words from Andrew in regards to the two days of riding the Baker bc.

The first chute in the vid is off the east face of Barometer Mountain. The next three chutes are off the south face of Mt Herman. After Skiing the line off Barometer we climbed Slate Mountain and skied a chute off of its NW face. The line is over 3000 vertical ft. and the bottom half went from 6 inches on top of avi debri, to thick bramble to thicker forest. We ended up skiing out in the dark after making a wrong turn and getting cliffed out.

Our friend Christopher Madison sent this vid showing his version of January’s snopocalypse… Skiing epic pow and a rare ski of the Seattle streets. Below is what Christopher had to say about the storm:

Snopocalypse 2012 hits Seattle, and while most people stayed inside we rushed up to the pass to hit the mountains… but the pass was closed. So after waiting from 5:45am to 2:10pm the pass finally opened. Knowing we missed fresh tracks at Alpental, my riding partner Brian and I headed to Central to drop fresh tracks on the 360 chutes. It was also the first time I got to play with my Nordica Jah Loves I got off steep and cheap last year. With 140 under foot, those things slaughtered the pow, and great times were had.

After spending a few days in the mountains playing hooky and skiing new pow everyday, I still couldn’t get my itch scratched. It didn’t help to see snow everywhere when I came into Seattle either. So, of course, I had to get some street skiing in. So I spent that night hiking around and skiing the hills of Seattle. The perfect way to wrap up Snopocalypse 2012.

We spent some time at the Moment booth w/ founder and Ski.E.O, Casey Hakansson, this past Sunday going over the entire 2012/2013 line up. Here’s the first three which make up the “Jib Series”, the Jib, Team & Vice skis. All handmade in Reno, USA!

Next season, we’ll see 2 new entrants into the freeride AT ski binding market: Head/Tyrolia’s Adrenalin (which we’ll write about later) and Salomon’s new Guardian 16. We met with Hilary from Salomon who showed us the Guardian 16 (named for its DIN range of 7-16) – it features technologies that elevate access to fresh powder while maintaining Salomon’s freeride performance. The Guardian 16 will be available this fall in small and large with MSRP $550.

I would think by now most everyone living somewhat in the ski community has seen a snosk8 or two. If not, be sure to check out this short vid of a sport born in the Cascades 18 years ago that makes a small mountain BIG. Brian Wilson, who owns Anonymous Snowskater, hasn’t not strapped in since the early days and is one of the guys who have helped grow the sport to what it is now. The Snow Troopers website core is alpine touring and freeriding and I would have to say the snoskate community falls with in our core criteria from my many encounters of them slashin’ the deep slopes of Alpental to climbing deep into the mountains for summer turns. Super cool to have witness the progression of some of the best snowskaters in the world. SIC!

Owner of Anonymous Snowskater, Brian Wilson, making a BIG mountain HUGE!

The Snow Troopers caught up with Matthias Giraud, aka Super Frenchie, at the Go Pro booth today. This 28 yr old pro freeskier/B.A.S.E. Jumper lives in Portland (when not in Megeve, France) and loves to play in our Pacific NW snow. We got into talking about deep powder and he tells us why he thinks the Pacific NW and West coast have the best snow (1st video below).

Some of you might have already seen his Go Pro commercial where he escaped an avalanche by ski BASE jumping off the Aiguille Croche in Megeve, France - if you missed it, we’ve included it below.  Matthias plans to be in WA in March to ski with us.

Got a chance to spend some time with Marker’s head of marketing, Geoff Curtis, talking about the brand new “Duke” and the newly improved “Tour” bindings. They will be both available this Fall.