After years and plenty of podium time in the Freeski and Freeride world circuits, Backcountry.com athlete Griffin Post spent this past season getting some well-deserved movie-star time in Jackson, Alaska, and elsewhere. Check out Griffin’s Misfits-accompanied season teaser edit, and get stoked for him on the silver screen when the leaves start falling later this year.
You could say Greg Hill is a numbers guy. The Canadian ski mountaineer just vanquished the ridiculously daunting goal of ski-touring 2-million feet of vertical in a single year. For you visual learners, that’s the equivalent of 36 trips up and down Mt. Everest. Now, consider the fact that Greg was only counting the feet on his way uphill, and you have a new appreciation for this man’s dedication. We recently got a chance to talk to Greg post 2-Mill, and the dude is in high spirits. We recommend you read the whole interview–Greg’s stoke is contagious.
What motivated you to get up every morning? Well, I like adventure, and pushing myself–I guess that’s really the goal of life: to live life to the fullest. And that was my goal for the year–to do the most backcountry skiing ever–and that’s exactly what it was. Read More …
Zen and the Art of Managing Powder Panic
By: JGW | December 30th, 20104 Comments »
Every region of the skiing world has its own particular form of this terrible ailment or morning malaise … a rapacious brooding that turns happy citizens into gorilla-chest-pounding, car-horn-honking, Ben-Hur-on-the-traverse fiends. This sanctimonious demon’s name: powder-induced panic. Let me elucidate a specific example …
Salt Lake City’s proximity to habit-forming ski terrain is, like almost anything during this merry-go-round around the Sun, both a boon and bane. Yes, friends, just like Peter Parker’s uncle once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” If you haven’t experienced how empowering 24 inches of Wasatch-density awesomeness can be, then maybe it’s time you took a trip.
But let’s not forget what Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Salt Lake is within short driving distance of more than ten ski and riding resorts—and the greater-Wasatch-front sprawl boasts more than 2 million citizens. Consider the cumulated monster cloud of psychic anxiety that collects over this salty front each morning fresh snow has fallen … it’s like Ray’s incarnation of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to the Nth degree. Seriously, people WILL lose their shit.
Allow me to offer some suggestions to help you harness this power (and be responsible) without letting it overcome you: Read More …
Tags: resorts, skiing, snowboarding
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