Fissile Edit
On Friday four of us set off for Fissile from Whistler Peak to ski the Banana Chute and spend the night in the Himmelsbach Hut near Russet Lake. The good snow conditions and amazing light made for one memorable overnighter. Thanks to Shaun Gillis, Hans Christian Gulvik and Geoff Bate for the tour!
Check the video:
Back Slippin N’ Slidin
Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains are both officially open and I must say, the times are good! While it isn’t exactly the snow we lucked out with this time last year, there has still been plenty of the goods to go around!
With only one rest day in the last two weeks, my legs are beginning to feel comfortable hammering turns in the deep stuff once again. I woke to a foot of fresh snow on my deck this morning so we spent the day rallying in the trees as flakes continued to fall. Since opening I’ve been skinning up to the Horstman Hut on Blackcomb, or the Bump Room on Whistler Peak in search of more vertical and some deeper snow before our little storm hit last night. I even had my first turns down Ruby Bowl a couple days ago with Kye, Callum, and Tobin.
Here’s a really quick chop with the new GoPro from a couple tree runs on Whistler yesterday.
Skinning Up To Whistler Peak
Zoya and I decided to take advantage of the bright skies this morning and went for another day trip up Whistler Mountain, we called Turpin in Pemberton and he was down for an adventure and before we knew it we were driving towards the freshies. It had snowed a fair bit since Pierrot and I went so we were able to put our skins on earlier and ski out further at the end of the day. It’s always nice to have to work for your turns a bit because it makes it that much more special when the lifts do start spinning.
Y Couloir – Mt. Currie
Ski descent of Mt. Currie in Pemberton BC with Austin Ross, Ian “Cheddar” Watson, Jonas Delonge and Kye Petersen.
“Y Couloir” Mt Currie 03/24/10 from Austin Ross on Vimeo.
My best turns of the season. Day two at Cortina, Japan.
A little system blew through Cortina after our first day of riding so we decided to go back for seconds the next day. Our tracks had blown in for the most part but the freezing level rose and the traverse from the backside started to get noticeably heavier. After lunch in the gigantic hotel at the base we made our way back out and dropped off the frontside into the trees just out of visibility from the chair lifts. If we were caught skiing this are we would’ve most likely had our passes taken again. An infinite field of fresh, light snow through typical Japan trees with the added thrill of not being seen made for my most enjoyable day of the season so far. Japan has the goods, I will definitely be going back next year!
Cortina Resort Pow Poachers.
On the third day we hopped on a bus for half an hour to another resort called Cortina. When I arrived in the parking lot at the base of the hill the first thing I noticed was a massive hotel hovering high above the ski lifts. Skiing at this place was like something out of my dreams. Two chair lifts going straight up the mountain and a traverse at the top that you can drop in on either side. We spent the morning shooting in the trees off the backside of the resort. There were maybe two locals that ski’d this area, the rest of the people stuck to the groomers and mogul runs (this made for never ending powderific lines for our lucky group of foreigners).
Heading back East, far East that is.
Well, I just got the call that I’ll be heading back to Asia this season. This time around I’ll be skiing in Japan! Couldn’t be more excited to check out some new terrain and eat some authentic sushi, yummm.
Heli Drop on Blackcomb Peak Feb. 26
Thursday could’ve been one of my best days at Whistler/Blackcomb ever! First of all, it had snowed the last few days and on in the morning I woke to a flawless blue sky. Blue bird powder days are a rarity in Whistler and luckily I had plans to get out and shoot with photo legend Eric Berger and skier Chad Sayers.
We started the day with early lift access on the Peak chair where we made use of a head start on the public by skiing some great pockets of snow. We made our way to Harmony and got permission to do some hiking in Feltchers before the chair even opened. After our first run we lapped Harmony back to the top and milked our way back down to the chair being sure to shoot anything that looked good and fresh along the way.
After a quick snack we jumped in the helicopter and flew from the top of Emerald Chair to the Blackcomb Peak. After scoping our lines down an untracked Disease Ridge we landed on the highest possible point of Blackcomb Mountain. Our first turns out of the bird were amazing and before we knew it we were breaking trail through waist deep powder to ski our lines. We worked our way down Disease Ridge and followed the cornice to Lakeside Bowl. An eerie layer of light fog rolled through just as we finished up around 4pm and we ski’d out the Seventh Heaven road to the valley where it was time for a stretch and a brew. Thanks for an awesome day boys!
Here are some pictures I took throughout the day along with some pictures from Eric Berger. Check his site!
“China by Chauna” A Historical Adventure.
The next morning we hopped on a bus and drove a few hours to a village called Chunkor where we transferred our gear to six chauna’s (horse drawn sleighs). It was then that we started on our unsuspecting journey to Kanas Village.
One of our guides had found a stone pictograph the summer before that had an ancient drawing of a horse and a skier. This discovery dates skiing back three thousand years. The Beijing Museum is buying it from him this May. Our mission was to seek the place where skiing as we know it was invented and document the contrast between our modern styles and their age old tradition.
View from the bus
After two days of traveling by horse North through mountain passages we arrived at a farm called Axialbak. The only people there were a Mongolian family who were very welcoming despite the fact we arrived out of the cold, late at night. We all unrolled our foam pads and sleeping bags on their woven mats and it was lights out. As I fell asleep I wondered what kind of terrain we would find to ski the next day.
Our cook with the host family.
We spent two nights at the Mongolians cabin. During the day we would tour from their backyard into the hills and shoot in the light powder snow that blanketed the side of the mountain. We would follow them on their home made ski’s with horse hide skins into the hills and watch as they pointed it straight relying on one single pole as a rudder. Both groups had fun and it was apparent by the universal language of smiles and laughs.
We got back on the chaunas and continued on; we arrived in Kanas that evening. In Kanas we met with some locals and sessioned a snowy hill behind some of their houses. The sun was shining and having finally made it the whole 108 kms from Chunkor our spirits were high. That night Kanat, the head horseman, laid a soundtrack on a local string instrument.
Here’s a shot a snapped of a man making repairs to his shovel. I noticed that many of the tools around town were all hand made.
Here’s a picture of the typical house in Kanas. Many people used motorcycles in the snow, I didn’t see one snowmobile but I could imagine the look on their faces if someone road in on one. Priceless.
I met a young boy that got a blast from stepping on my skis with his shoes and sliding down a small hill in the village. I had Akbar our guide/translator ask him whether he had some ski’s at home that he could use if we went to a bigger hill and he said that he’d go get them if I came along. I followed him down a trail that led over the Kanas River bridge and down to his farm. He showed me around his animals and his two little twin sisters were following us around with toy whistles, they must have been about 3 or 4 years old.
China was an exercise for my mind, body and soul. I was born a skier and I’ll die a skier. To travel thousands of kilometers from my home mountains to pay respect to the birthplace of my sport, and my lifestyle was an honor and a privilege.
Huge thank you to Chris Patterson, Collin Witherill, Ilja Herb and Chris Anthony. What an amazing experience; I learned so much! Also, without the help of Akbar from Kashgar Mountain Adventures our trip would have been nowhere near as successful and smooth, cheers buddy! Big ups to Josh Haskins at Warren Miller! To everyone else that we came across along the way, thanks for the great food and hospitality.
Revelstoked! Jan. 13-16
Team trips to Revy from rossignol on Vimeo.
We arrived in Revelstoke on Monday night after skiing a full day at Valhalla. On Tuesday I took the day off skiing to stretch, play my guitar and work on some emails. By Wednesday I was ready to jump back on the S7′s and go shredding! After hearing the buzz for a couple of seasons, I was pumped to finally ski at Revelstoke. Mike, Sage and I went on a photo mission with Blake. We had to get creative because the light wasn’t ideal but it made for some fun shots with the flash kit.
Sage and I after a quick boot pack
Thursday however, was a different story altogether. We were still in the fog when we parked the trucks in the morning but by the time we were 2/3 of the way up the Stoke lift we hit sunshine. The sky was blue and mountain peaks pointed out above a thick sea of clouds. I snapped a lot of photos, here are some of my favourites:
Portrait of a snow ghost
Sage on the traverse to North Bowl
The sea of clouds
View into North Bowl
Check out this fracture
Valhalla Catskiing. Jan 11 & 12.
team Rossi @ Valhalla Powdercats from rossignol on Vimeo.
On Sunday morning our crew left the Best Western in Nelson and drove to Grand Junction to the Valhalla/Snowwater main office. From there we loaded an old school bus that had been painted blue and we drove for about 45 minutes before re-loading into the cat and heading up the Valhalla catskiing tenur.
Once we reached the summit of Huckleberry Bowl I knew we were going to be having an awesome couple of days. The terrain was the steepest I’d seen at a catskiing operation and there were features to play on everywhere. We ski’d a hot lap right off the bat and then headed back up to do it again. Throughout the day we shot on some pillow lines, jumps we had stepped out and even snapped some good ol fashioned pow slashes.
On Monday things began to heat up. Our crew split into two groups. Lindsay Dyer, Hopkins and I did some stills with Blake Jorgensen and Ian, Sage and Kye filmed with Crosland. Unfortunately Hopkins uncovered a stick while doing a turn and took it right in the butt. He went pale with shock and Paddy and Newell decided it would be best to make their way out with Mike so he could be checked at the clinic. By the time they made it back to the vehicles Mike felt well enough to drive home. I was glad to hear he had no major injuries and would be meeting us in Revelstoke later today.
The rest of us made the best of our last day at Valhalla. Kye did a couple memorable lines including a steep shelf to drop, a massive cliff and a good sized double. Ian chucked his meat off the biggest cliff he could find and stomped. Sage had an awesome straight line from the top and I scoped my own line from the bowl over. It was refreshing to get some variety in our lines since we’d been skiing trees and booters almost exclusively in the last week or so.
Whitewater Mountain @ Nelson BC. Jan 9 & 10.
One of the most gratifying things abour skiing to me is getting away from masses in the valley below and really getting a feel for sliding down the snow and exploring higher and further from the people around me. Every now and then I come across a ski area that makes me admire what it’s like to enjoy the basics of skiing. Whitewater Mountain or simply WH20 is one of these spots. There are no crowded lift lines, full parking lots, massive restaurants, or high speed quads. There are two rickety old two person chairs each ascending up either side of the valley from the main lodge, one of them accesses the southern aspect slope and the other the northern.
On Friday Sage, Ian, Kye and I shredded Whitewater all day in an effort to get our legs back under us and log some vertical. Aaron, one of our friends from Freeride Entertainment, showed us a few of his favourite runs and in the afternoon we even did a couple of road laps down the “Backside.” To cap off an awesome day we refuelled at the main lodge with sweet potatoe yam fries and a pint of Nelson’s own Faceplant beer.
On Saturday our crew ski’d Whitewater again, this time with Brian Ralph behind the camera lens and Eric Crosland on video. We re-visited the road lap zone and had a great time stepping out a few airs in the trees. If you’ve never been, I suggest you take a trip to the Kootenays and visit Whitewater for some good snow, quick laps and awesome food!
SnoH20 Lodge. Rossignol team shoot. Jan 5-8.
Rossi Team sessions at SnoH20 from rossignol on Vimeo.
On Monday morning Paddy Kaye picked me up in Pemberton as the snowflakes accumulated outside my door. It was the first real snow storm since the dreaded arctic outflow which caused a high pressure system in Whistler and left us with really cold temperatures and no precipitation. Fortunately luck was on our side as we had no problem driving over the Duffey Lake road (which closes when conditions are too dangerous for drivers).
This year Jason Newell and Paddy Kaye combined forces with Jim Bolser and Bob Legasa at Peak Video Productions and brought their team to the Kootenays for some pictures, video, and sessions. This time around we’re lucky enough to be guests at Snowwater catskiing lodge just outside of Nelson, BC. Paddy and I arrived Monday evening just in time for dinner. Ian Mcintosh, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Kye Petersen and Mike Hopkins had pulled in a few hours earlier and were already settled in.
Rossignol team portrait. Photo: Bryan Ralph
Our first day started at 7:30am with a breakfast buffet in the main lodge. I had a hefty helping of my favourite breakfast foods along with a tall glass of juice. After eating we were introduced to our guides, and given a refresher on the use of our transievers to search for victims of an avalanche. Next we met Paul our pilot who showed us the proper protocol for moving safely around helicopters. The avalanche danger is extremely high around British Columbia right now so it is very important for us to listen to the guides and do our best to keep everyone in our group safe. The first ski day was a success! We did multiple heli drops and got some good footage and some darn good turns. To top it all off we had an amazing four course dinner.
At around midnight Patrick (the lodge owner) was kind enough to show us one of his favourite spots in the area, an old mine shaft. Our whole crew piled into the cat and we adventured down the snowy road. When the cat stopped we had to make our way through chest deep snow to the opening of the mine. Inside was spectacular. There were snow crystals everywhere! They grew from the floor and the ceiling; we had to walk through them like ninjas being careful not to knock any over. In the back of the cave we met bushy tailed pack rat that had an beautiful greay and white winter coat. This is not the kind of dirty rat you’d see in the city streets. This particular rat was living like a king deep in the forest. Check the video:
Mine Tour from rossignol on Vimeo.
Pow turn. Photo: Bryan Ralph
Our second day on snow we did laps of the low angle, low elevation tree runs in the snow cat. Unfortunately the temperature dropped in the early hours of the morning after a night of snowfall which made for some heavy turns. In the afternoon we built and shaped a big kicker next to the main lodge. Patrick (owner/operator of the lodge) towed us in on his sled complete with his scottish cap/wig. Despite having troubles keeping speed on the inrun we were able to each get some tricks in before our landing was completely bombed out. The giant flag pole was left over from the Expo in 83, we used it as a height-o-meter.
Mike Hopkins & Austin Ross. Photo: Bryan Ralph
My third and final day skiing at Snowwater Lodge was a day I will remember for years to come. Macintosh described it as a “full out huck fest,” I couldn’t have put it better myself. After a couple days of tree skiing we were all itching for something a little more, I guess it’s just in our nature. It wasn’t long before we found the perfect spot along the cat road to step out and build some jumps into the cut block. Kye, Mike and Sage found their own lips and stepped them out while Ian and I piled snow for our kicker that would send us through two trees, goal post style. Ian and I sent backflips first and both stomped with huge smiles on our face. We ski’d down the cut block and waited for our sled to take us up for more.
- Front flip! Photo: Bryan Ralph
I went back to the top and tossed a double back, but it’s the third jump of the afternoon that shook me up. Having already landed my double back flip clean I decided to try a new trick I’ve been visualizing. Essentially it would be a double cork 1080. I completed my first rotation clean but hit the tree mid way and got sent plummeting towards the snow without finishing my trick. When I landed I plugged myself in the deep snow and was left with only my feet sticking out. I struggled to free myself but couldn’t move anywhere, I was helpless. With snow lodged in my throat and my air supply running out I felt myself start to panic and reassured myself someone would come to my rescue. Just as I was about to pass out I felt snow moving above my face, it was the best sound in the world. Soon our guide Scott had my arm and pulled me from my snowy mold. Mike Hopkins said he couldn’t believe how big my eyes were as I cleared my airway and regained my senses. It was the closest I’ve ever been to being buried and I now know from experience how important it is to be aware of the snowpack at all times when playing in the mountains.
Back flip! Photo: Bryan Ralph
After the landings were all ski’d out at this area we headed down the cat track to a jump that Sage had scoped and set up the day before. The jump was shaped perfectly and made for a great session before the end of our trip. All sorts of tricks were thrown. Sage had some very clean cork 3 tail grabs, Ian floated his back flips, Hopkins spun cork 7s and a couple of awesome flatspins, Kye was the only one to hit it switch and stomped 5′s and 9′s, I tossed a couple flatspins and a d spin for good measure. Kye and Sage had some great tree taps to spins (getting all ”T Rice”) and Ian even bonked the tree and did a lincoln loop out!
Tappin Trees. Photo: Bryan Ralph
An avalanche had blocked the access road to the lodge so we were forced to ride the heli out to the road (much to my delight). It was awesome to get a better view of the surrounding area before saying goodbye to the Snowwater lodge.
Thanks to Pat and Mariah, the rest of the staff at Snowwater including Johnny the chef, Alex the bartender, Paul the pilot and our guides Scott and Sean. Despite the dangerous snowpack I still had a great time skiing some new terrain and sessioning with some best bros. Anyone interested in visiting Snowwater should visit their website at www.snowwater.com
Sage Cattabriga-Alosa & Austin Ross. Photo: Bryan Ralph
Blue bird day on the Blackcomb Glacier. Blow Hole session.
This high pressure system left us with another clear day here in beautiful Whistler British Columbia. Callum, Kye, myself and photographer Bruce Rowles made our way up the Seventh Heaven access road as soon as we got up the the hill.
Black Tusk in the distance.
Seventh Heaven Chair. Callum and Kye hoofing it.
Almost there.
Green Lake from the our rest point.
Self portrait from the summit. Time for the oatmeal bar and water break.
We scoped our first shot from the ridge up from the Horstman Hut. Callum and I ski’d the Stupids and continued to traverse to the top of the Showcase T Bar. From there we had a short boot pack to the top of the ridge where we dropped in for our first fresh tracks of the day.
Callum up top. This is what we worked for, yeah bud.
The view into the Blackcomb Glacier from the top of the Showcase T Bar.
Here’s a look back at our traverse track. Check out how rad the line in the sun to the left is! That’s going to get hit. Look a little closer and you can see the crevasses in the ski out.
I got Callum to snap a shot of me before he dropped in. Thanks bro, nice turns!
Here’s the KPDC checking out his line.
Here’s the spine jump we hit in the Blowhole. Had a few good turns, a straight air and a flat spin 450 before skiing the road out. Check back to see Bruce’s action shots.
Top of the T Bar. Check out Callum, Kye and I in the shadows. Thought this was an interesting shot. There was some great light today but we’ll definately have to show up a bit earlier next time to take full advantage of it.
Here’s a snap shot of the full moon from the grocery store parking lot in Nesters before our trek home to Pemberton for the evening. Now it’s time to rinse/dry/repeat. Rinse of the sweat, dry out our ski boots and repeat it all again tomorrow morning! Bless.
Beauty day for a walk. Husumi, December 10.
The cloud layer hovered around mid mountain today keeping everyone in the valley trapped in the fog. The rest of us that were lucky enough to be in the alpine were blessed with some breathtaking views and great snow. Matty Richard, Brett Crabtree, Maxim Arsenault and I boot packed from the top of Jersey Cream chair up the Seventh Heaven road to the Blackcomb Peak. Our mission today was Husumi.
The cat road.
Acadian, Matty Richard.
The North face of Fissile. Can’t wait.
Whistler Mountain from Blackcomb.
Top of the first climb. Max and I traversed to the Blow Hole while Brett and Matty had some nice turns on the bomb tram.
Matty on his way to traverse to our final boot pack. There were a lot of open crevasses, everyone had to be aware of their line.
Blackomb Glacier.
Corona Bowl.
The final traverse to Husumi was the most consequential part of the day. The opening was a small mandatory air and there was no crashing, otherwise you’d be deep in the glacier. Check out these crevasses.
The view in from the top of our line. Spirits are high as we all drop in. Definately well worth the work for some awesome pow pow.
Here’s the view from the bottom, seconds after we ski’d. Time to race the rescue road and get some food!
Sublime day boys! Thanks for the vibe session.
Baldface Lodge, Nelson BC
Baldface Lodge is a magical catskiing operation nestled in the heart of British Columbia’s Kootenay mountain range. After a ten minute heli ride from Nelson, BC and an elevation gain of 6700 feet, I arrived at the lodge. The energy level was high as our crew aticipated the next week’s powder extravaganza (we had heard you can shred lines all day and never hit another set of tracks). On hand shooting some epic stills was the one and only Bryn Hughes. Check out the “Photographers” links to visit his website. I can remember barely sleeping the first night as I imagined floating through the old growth trees in a cloud of the cold white stuff.
With the January snow light and fluffy and the weather on our side all week long, Mike Hopkins and I took full advantage of what Baldface had to offer.
Our hoots and hollers could be heard echoeing through the forest all afternoon as we played games of cat and mouse in front of the lens.
Soul riding amongst the trees gives me unrivalled feelings of peace. No matter what may be going on in the world, a seemingly endless maze of BC foilage keeps me smiling inside and out. However, there are some times I crave a boost of adrenaline that can only be satisfied by hurling my bones off the side of a cliff. Luckily Baldface has the best of both worlds.
When it comes to catching some good ol’ fashioned air time sometimes it’s fun to step out a take off for maximum pop. These jumps are perfect for doing the “grab” and “tweak.”
One of my many valuable lessons learned on this trip. If it gets tight, you better have your hand up front. No one likes a branch in the mouth!
One afternoon Rossignol Team Manager and all around Guru Paddy Kaye decided we should build a jump. Luckily for us our buddy from the Lodge used his cat skills to push a pile of snow on top of the heli pad. From there we continued to park a Suzuki with tracks on it under the jump. Hey, may as well make things a little more interesting right? The result was a good vibe session with some fun tricks.
After the sun sets and we fill up on a hearty meal it’s hard not to throw the sticks back on and get busy with some jibbing. With the help of some keen lodge workers, Mike and I set up a jump over the Lodge’s sauna. We got the session started with some 180s and 360s over the roof. The landing on the back was deep and things started to heat up. After a few hand drags it was time to call it quits for the night, after all we had to wake the next day early and do it all again. Tough stuff…
I’d like to send a huuuge shout out to everyone at Baldface Lodge! Thanks for making my stay so memorable. Also a big thanks to Paddy Kaye and Jason Newell at Rossignol, Bryn Hughes for his artistic endeavours and Mike Hopkins for being a bro brah. To those of you who haven’t been yet I suggest you get on it. Check out www.baldface.net to book your stay. Hopefully I’ll see you there for some turns this winter!
Austin Ross
Check out this video clip from a US TV Network that did a profile on Austin for their show. The host is none other than the “original hot dog,” Bob Legasa. Hope you like it! Thanks to Peak Video.
Mt. Baker, Washington
This past January I had the opportunity to join Dana Flahr on a road trip down to Mt. Baker, Washington which is about a three and a half hour drive from my house in Pemberton. Dana, myself and TGR filmer Rick Johnson piled into Dana’s F150 and headed for the US border. We stayed with our good friends from Whistler, Sheldon and Taylor. Sheldon has an awesome trailer half an hour from the mountain and was gracious enough to introduce us to his home away from home and an amazing powder resource known as Mt. Baker. The first day we linked up with the one and only Grant Gunderson who’s shot just about every picture you’ve seen published at Baker. Armed with a grin on his face and his camera around his neck he proceeded to show us to his favourite spots to get face shots.
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After a quick boot pack off the main road at the resort we made our way to a great pillow run in the trees. I decided to stop for a minute and slip out a take off so I could try some tricks into the powder. A couple cork 540s and some soft switch landings made for an awesome session.
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After we finished up that run we ski’d back down to the road where our buddies van was parked and drove up to do it again! NOFX’s “Punk In Drublic” pumped from the stereo system as we bounced around the inside of the van awaiting the next drop off. Skiing is fun!
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