TR: AK One a Day

Well, I'm in Alaska. Haines to be exact. I want to contribute to the stoke here, but I'm far to lazy to sit down at the end of a trip and compile photos and spend a long time posting a TR. So my plan is to post once a day, more or less, a couple photos. I won't be skiing everyday I'm here, but I'll throw in some other stuff if I think it's interesting.

I'm not sure how I tricked someone into sending me up here, much less for 3 weeks. I guess now is where I tell you this thread is partially spam. I got a new job recently, and I'm fortunate enough that this is one of the few amazing places it's taken me this season. If you told me back in the fall I'd be in AK for three week in the spring, I would've told you to F off. With that said, please check in to www.redbullskiing.com for more of what I'm up to here in AK, and surf around the rest of the site. There's some pretty dope videos. I've spammed them a bit, but generally only the stuff I feel the community here would care about. And feel free to leave comments there. I can take the heat and I'm always looking for constructive feedback.

Enough of that, on to AK.

Day 1: Woke up at 5:30am to make the ferry from Juneau to Haines. I gotta say, the Alaska Marine Highway ferry was pretty dope. It felt kinda run down, but I don't care about stuff like that. What I do care about is that they had a dopealicious breakfast and the $1.25 coffee had unlimited refills. I got cell service most of the 4 hour ride, and just sitting back or getting out on the deck to take in the scenery was enjoyable. All in all a great ride.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2244/...aba9e42e_o.jpg

Lots of character and characters in Haines. Weather was spotty yesterday, I don't think much flying went on. The made efforts at the end of the day to break through.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/...9a8093a7_o.jpg

Day 2: Headed up to Mile 33 to do beacon runs, safety briefings, and sign papers.

There's sick terrain up there somewhere:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/...bf6b99e1_o.jpg

Our guide, legend, Tom Burt.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/...f4ded8c7_o.jpg

First scheduled fly day is tomorrow. Could go either way with the weather.

:yourock:
strapping on my seatbelt for a fun ride

Tom Burt is the man!

aaaaand... bookmarked.

Go kill it, bossass.

Nice! Living the dream is a good thing. Git some.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karl Stall

Tom Burt is the man!

---

Stole the words right out of my mouth. TB is fucking Rad. Should be a killer trip.

I've got two friends headin' up there on Friday, Jamie. Probably the same outfit...Both attractive ladies, too. Slay it and then slay it.

added to favorites, yeehaw.

Ok, so the internet here makes me want to kill myself. It cuts in and out relentlessly. Stuff that usually takes twenty minutes takes an hour or more. If the signal would just stay steady, I could deal with the slowness. So the updates might be less frequent than one a day. Depends on how I'm feeling after getting my work done.

Anyway, first fly day. Awoke to cloudy skies. We rolled up to Mile 33 anyway. Lots of dudes up there. JP Auclair, Pep Fujas, Tim Durtschi. Some norwegians. TGR crew didn't fly today. We took one run up just to pop the proverbial cherry. I gotta say it didn't live up to what I though my first run in AK would be like, but conditions were really pretty not that great. Visability was really bad, and the snow in the run we did was not blower by any means. Still really fun, but basically just sinking in a couple of inches and going really fast. It was pretty buttery for the most part, but I didn't want to really let it go because I couldn't really see contours in the terrain very well. Hopefully stuff will go better tomorrow. We'll probably hold off doing too much until the visabiltiy really ramps up. Sorry, no action shots, couldn't see much anyway.

http://www.redbullskiing.com/news/akpeak.jpg

Full update here: http://www.redbullskiing.com/news/20...e-slow-roa.php

Full gallery here: http://www.redbullskiing.com/photos/...allery-one.php

Come on AK interweb...

3 weeks is a good stretch. Exercise some patience and hope everything aligns just right.

Which outfit you flyin with again?

This is promising

Heli flights in Alaska. I'm stuck in NH. Fuck it.

Sympathies are over. I want my money.:the_finge

3dit: smilerz

Made it up yesterday after some rain in the morning. The snow is not epic, but it sure is fun as hell. I got in a couple runs down some non-gnar stuff. Some gnar was got, however. Heli skiing is pretty fun.

I look at junk like this all day:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207532499

T Hall, sending it off the first cliff in a double line. 2nd run of the trip.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207532499

D Flahr, drops in on a tasty face. He stopped just above the rocks and cut over to exit. Basically he didn't have enough info to send it, so he shredded the top part and pick through the bottom. I sure as hell don't blame him.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207532499

T Hall, exit out of his first run. Just a good shot for some perspective on how big it is here. He's about 1500 vert into a run that we'd ultimately take down another 4 or 5k.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207532499

D Flahr dropping in on his first run (although he's been with TGR for 3 weeks prior up here). This is just before he sends it off a 30-40 footer. Hard to tell from probably a mile away.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207532499

Full update here

Full Gallery Here

Doesn't look too bad from here. Nice air shots!

Wow, will be following here and on the Red Bull site (good job on the content there if that has been you all year), props on taking advantage of a good opportunity and keep it coming. What is Tanner skiing in AK this year, the ARG or the JJ?

Impressive. Flahr is ripping on that face.

Yeah Jamie. Great to hear things are working out with the new gig. Thanks for the stoke.

More:

I like this pic first, to illustrate how unbelievably big stuff is here (if there's six points on this ridge, notice the lowest one, 4th from lookers right).
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207872844

This is the "zoomed" in shot. They still look like ants. T Hall dropping in, Tom Burt watching on.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207872844

Further down the same line:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207872844

Exiting that line:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207872844

If you look at the first pic, this is the sun sliver just lookers left of where T Hall started. Tom Burt, shredding.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207872844

More:

Dana Flahr, pillowy goodness:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207873516

T Hall, dropping in:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207873531

Getting on the spine:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1207873531

Well, as for me. I've been up in the bird three days (not full days due to light), skied two runs (neither of which were all that great), and watched all this shit go down often to get plucked off the barbie without even skiing down. So, don't go jealously hating on me too much. I'm def. not complaining, beats working at the coffee shop by miles.

Been down a few days. T Hall is hurt, which keeps me down too, unfortunately. Still a couple weeks for shit to go down. I'll get mine, eventually.

Check in here for the full update.

Here for the full gallery. (There's a sequence, sort of, of that sunny spine run. I recommend checking it out. Sickest, most fun looking run I've ever witnessed.)

Oh, and we've been working with dudes from Rocky Mountain Sherpas, who are filming us as a part of a sick looking avy education/documentary video they are making. Check out the teaser, unreal time lapses.

This thread is becoming the best thing I have seen all season. From my heart, thank you.

This thread is starting to show some potential.

WOOF. This looks like lots of fun.