The FIFTY

Great episode as always. Fun to see ones you've skied. I wish I could magically skip past the exit! It feels like you should be able to eek out some more vertical, but no... it's a net hike out.
Silvers a cool line for sure. It gets called out for making the fifty as a "roadside attraction". We could have a debate on Buff/Silver vs Torreys/Emperor - and certainly some others within site of I70. But Buffalo does really loom over the heart of summit co, and is so accessible to all those towns, so it certainly deserves the roadside attraction nod. But dropping the summit of a 14er (possibly) all the way to I70 is pretty damn cool too! 4 of the 5 Colorado "fiftys" are 14ers - Pyramid, N Maroon, Holy Cross, Wilson... Buff summit is actually sub 13k

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Originally Posted by tang

Great episode as always. Fun to see ones you've skied. I wish I could magically skip past the exit! It feels like you should be able to eek out some more vertical, but no... it's a net hike out.
Silvers a cool line for sure. It gets called out for making the fifty as a "roadside attraction". We could have a debate on Buff/Silver vs Torreys/Emperor - and certainly some others within site of I70. But Buffalo does really loom over the heart of summit co, and is so accessible to all those towns, so it certainly deserves the roadside attraction nod. But dropping the summit of a 14er (possibly) all the way to I70 is pretty damn cool too! 4 of the 5 Colorado "fiftys" are 14ers - Pyramid, N Maroon, Holy Cross, Wilson... Buff summit is actually sub 13k

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And variety was something they strived for in assembling 'The Fifty' so rather than include another 14er with an arguably less spectacular descent than those other four (don't get me wrong, I love Torreys and all of it's aspects and it is for sure a front range classic) they went with a line that has some different characteristics which still qualify it as a classic.

You can argue the lines they chose for The Fifty forever, but at the end of the day the list is what it is, it's arbitrary but with some set ideas of what they wanted to include, and I think they did a great job of that. It's been really fun to watch Cody show the differences between all these lines and what factors make them deserving of inclusion as a 'Classic.' That view from Buffalo alone makes it worthy.

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Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

Just a small point, but the silver couloir has never been referred to as Elvis. Elvis and Little Elvis are entirely different lines on your approach side. Sometimes the Silver is called the NE couloir. Thanks for not filming the exit turnoff so that I can have a few years' more laughing at folks who miss the turnoff back up to the TH.

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I had thought that Elvis was the one that people mistakenly ski, that kind of cliffs out except in big years (see link below). It isn't really an area that I'm that familiar with though.

I do think that my friend Andy's Beacon Guidebooks do the skiing public a favor by hopefully getting everyone on the same page. Hopefully if you say you need help in Elvis, SAR goes there, not maximum Elvis or Elvis crotch or whatever. (And yeah, GPS coordinates would hopefully eliminate any confusion, but still...)

CAIC report from 5/31/15: "A group of 6 backcountry riders (Riders 1 through 6) ascended Buffalo Mountain above the town of Silverthorne on the morning of May 31, 2015. The goal was to descend the Silver Couloir on the north side of the mountain. Upon reaching the top of the Silver Couloir around 11:30, the group decided that the current snowpack conditions had become too warm and wet to ride safely. The group decided to go a little further west and descend an area known as the Elvis Chutes."

^^^ thefrush - Yes, agree on the variety and certainly worthiness of Silver. Plus so damn visible and just beckons. Torreys is more of a quick glimpse @ 70 mph
What if they had filmed some of the discussions on coming up with the 50 book list... splice in some pics and vids of the peaks and lines... how damn cool would that series have been?!

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Originally Posted by tang

What if they had filmed some of the discussions on coming up with the 50 book list... splice in some pics and vids of the peaks and lines... how damn cool would that series have been?!

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Certainly not too late, interviews with authors and contributors would make a great bonus episode! Pretty cool to note that all of the contributors to the book are still alive. Go team!

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Originally Posted by goldenboy

I had thought that Elvis was the one that people mistakenly ski, that kind of cliffs out except in big years (see link below). It isn't really an area that I'm that familiar with though.

I do think that my friend Andy's Beacon Guidebooks do the skiing public a favor by hopefully getting everyone on the same page. Hopefully if you say you need help in Elvis, SAR goes there, not maximum Elvis or Elvis crotch or whatever. (And yeah, GPS coordinates would hopefully eliminate any confusion, but still...)

CAIC report from 5/31/15: "A group of 6 backcountry riders (Riders 1 through 6) ascended Buffalo Mountain above the town of Silverthorne on the morning of May 31, 2015. The goal was to descend the Silver Couloir on the north side of the mountain. Upon reaching the top of the Silver Couloir around 11:30, the group decided that the current snowpack conditions had become too warm and wet to ride safely. The group decided to go a little further west and descend an area known as the Elvis Chutes."

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That guy got pushed off a cliff at the bottom of Maximum Elvis by his friend’s sluff. They thought that they were in the Silver (aka Elvis) but followed tracks into Maximum Elvis w/o a rope. His friends called SAR then hiked out and skied down the front side. Might wanna ski a little earlier in the day when it is almost June and 60F during the day.

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Originally Posted by thefrush

Certainly not too late, interviews with authors and contributors would make a great bonus episode! Pretty cool to note that all of the contributors to the book are still alive. Go team!

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Paging Cody Townsend to the courtesy bonus episode phone... Title: The 51st Classic Ski Descent of North America

He did interview the Authors for a bonus episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYxs1s89Dvo

Thx... somehow I missed. Watching (and procrastinating) now

Durr, thanks for the reminder davjr96!

Dang, I feel like Cody has been putting out banger episodes all season so far - great story telling, humility and humor - and getting a little too much criticism around here of late. Tough crowd.

I don't think so. Cody has opened up to the friendly banter and that's all it's really been. Sure some of us want to see more of certain aspects and some want others but we're all in this thread because we're already engaged and attached to the series. For me and probably some others, the photography aspect is interesting not only because it's a hobby or interest, but also because that aspect contains less unobtainium in our minds (even if that belief is wrong).

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

Yeah I see how there could be more depth but one more line could cover most of those questions. Hip Bag for cold insulation. PD leaves the camera exposed to cold and batteries die. Star photography time-lapse is set up a camera, open up aperture fully, connect a timer / shutter release device and let it go until it dies. Everything in cinematography / photography is really quite simple to learn, it's more the practice and experience that makes you good at it in the field, on the fly and when the situation is tough. Fucking up over and over, like I did and every camera person has, helps you make the mental checks to not do that again. What makes Bjarne a great cinematographer has nothing to do with cameras, technical aspects of using them, framing or anything, it's the ability to take out the camera when the situation is most gnarly and capture what is necessary. That's the art that no book or film or manual could ever teach, it's just doing it over and over and being really calm and composed in gnar.

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I really appreciated this episode, and Bjarne's take. I remember as I was getting into ski filming/photography scouring the web for any insight into what the pros were doing. And so often the information I found was just gratuitous gear whoring that gives the impression that if you're not hauling six bodies and a whole quiver of L glass into the mountains you're not doing it right. The production quality of the episodes is high, and it's so obviously because Bjarne can keep up on these big lines while also having the spare energy to frame shots, get stable footage, and not screw things up, not because he's got 100K in camera gear on his back. Really cool to hear his methodology. This episode made me want to get back into the habit of shooting skiing instead of just drawing it. So thanks!

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Originally Posted by powdork

I don't think so. Cody has opened up to the friendly banter and that's all it's really been. Sure some of us want to see more of certain aspects and some want others but we're all in this thread because we're already engaged and attached to the series. For me and probably some others, the photography aspect is interesting not only because it's a hobby or interest, but also because that aspect contains less unobtainium in our minds (even if that belief is wrong).

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Yeah I agree with this and a little bit of TahoeJ but mainly I know the banter, criticism or desire to see more comes because people have gotten really into this project...which is rad. It's definitely sparked something within the way content gets made in skiing and the audiences that consume that content.

The only thing that I don't think ever gets translated publicly is just how much fucking work it takes to make this whole project happen. Each one of these videos is hundreds of hours of work starting from the research and planning stages all the way to ending at post-production and publication. It's the busiest I've ever been in my life and I already have the experience of starting a business from scratch.

I wonder if you ever read Noah Howell's blog and think "damn that sounds a lot easier making videos".

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

Yeah I agree with this and a little bit of TahoeJ but mainly I know the banter, criticism or desire to see more comes because people have gotten really into this project...which is rad. It's definitely sparked something within the way content gets made in skiing and the audiences that consume that content.

The only thing that I don't think ever gets translated publicly is just how much fucking work it takes to make this whole project happen. Each one of these videos is hundreds of hours of work starting from the research and planning stages all the way to ending at post-production and publication. It's the busiest I've ever been in my life and I already have the experience of starting a business from scratch.

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Originally Posted by Blaster

I wonder if you ever read Noah Howell's blog and think "damn that sounds a lot easier making videos".

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I've looked at it with envy for years now. Ha. Funny story though, when I was researching the shit out of this project long before I announced it, I would frequently find myself on Noah's blog. He would state it was a classic but never go further on his quiet goal to ski all the classics. I just thought like I always thought of Noah, he sure gets after it on a lot of cool lines. When I was finally totally committed to the project in the fall of 2019, one of the first people I told outside of my inner circle was Dav, for obvious reasons. About a month later he calls and says, "Did you know Noah is trying to do the same thing?!?!" I didn't but then it suddenly made sense as to why I kept coming across his blog and getting great beta from it. Although I've told him this story personally already, gotta say it again, thanks Noah!

PW05 is one of the most influential ski films to me. Noah & Jonah rock.

The Fifty is on that list too. [emoji6]

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

I've looked at it with envy for years now. Ha. Funny story though, when I was researching the shit out of this project long before I announced it, I would frequently find myself on Noah's blog. He would state it was a classic but never go further on his quiet goal to ski all the classics. I just thought like I always thought of Noah, he sure gets after it on a lot of cool lines. When I was finally totally committed to the project in the fall of 2019, one of the first people I told outside of my inner circle was Dav, for obvious reasons. About a month later he calls and says, "Did you know Noah is trying to do the same thing?!?!" I didn't but then it suddenly made sense as to why I kept coming across his blog and getting great beta from it. Although I've told him this story personally already, gotta say it again, thanks Noah!

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You guys need to check off one of the crux lines together. Like Robson? That would be awesome.

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

You guys need to check off one of the crux lines together. Like Robson? That would be awesome.

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We've been trying to link up for a line we both haven't done since year 1 to tell his story, just hasn't happened for a variety of reasons.

^^ I know he started a while ago, how many does he have left?

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

^^ I know he started a while ago, how many does he have left?

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His blog says 30, but I don’t know how caught up it is

The sufferfest team is back together!!!

Although there is plenty of stoke brewing on Youtube, I thought I would bring it over here too. Keep your calendar clear for 12/29...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmXhDHQah18

Mt. St. Elias, Mira Face, Second Ascent, and First Ski Descent of Mountain. In late April, the Colorado team of Doug Byerly, Lome Glick, Andy Ward, and I were flown to 7,000 feet on the Columbus Icefield at the base of Mt. St. Elias. Despite much chiding from our legendary bush pilot, Paul Claus, about our freeheel gear (don’t expect to visit Alaska with tele skis and get respect from anyone), it was our intention to climb the peak and make the first ski descent. Our plan was to ascend via a much-neglected, north-facing 1916 surveyers’ route on the west end of St. Elias and establish camp at their high point of 13,500 feet. We would then finish the climb via a steep, 1000-meter headwall on the south face that had seen only one previous ascent (we dubbed the impressive headwall “The Mira Face” after Czechoslovakian first ascensionist Miroslav Smid, killed climbing in Yosemite just a few months after summiting St. Elias in 1995), and follow a two-mile long ridge to the summit.
Between bad weather days, hazardous glacier terrain, and an earthquake that triggered massive avalanches and serac fall, we finally found ourselves drinking, playing cards, and slandering each other for many days in our moldy tent at high camp. We threw an offering of herbs and chocolate to the winds and asked Mother Mountain to please let us pass.
After a necessary descent for more food and fuel, we were back at high camp the morning of May 8, which dawned clear and calm. We cramponed for six hours up 45-to 50-degree snow and ice to the long, broad west ridge, which leads to the 18,008-foot summit. We summited, exhausted and with wooden toes. Concerned about our feet, our stay was brief and we anxiously clipped on the boards.
From the summit, bulletproof sastrugi on the ridge required pumpy, gorilla-stance survival turns. Drained from the altitude, I had doubts about skiing the Mira Face with its icy, 55- degree entrance, huge exposure and tight choke through a cliff band halfway down. But after a few hundred feet of intense turns, the snow sweetened to a soft suncrust, the angle relaxed, and we carved turns, grinning in the evening sun, all the way home.
James Bracken"

20 years ago on old tele gear. Not a go-pro or a facebook in sight...

Enjoyed this week's Blister. Talking about Alex skiing down Whitney. So scary to watch. Thinking how I am a better skier than him...which is amazing to even contemplate.

That got me thinking about something else. How terrible a climber I am. I feel like my appreciation for Free Solo is really limited by my lack of detailed understanding of what he is doing. Like my wife is a way better climber than me and the movie just blew her away, she has watched it a dozen times. I know just enough to know that the punchlines are going over my head so I feel like I'm missing out on the grit of the movie. I'd enjoy it more if I'd never climbed and felt like I could relate because I would have no idea how hard it is.

As always, great work.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by uglymoney

I feel like my appreciation for Free Solo is really limited by my lack of detailed understanding of what he is doing.

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That's probably even more pronounced for The Alpinist. If you haven't seen it, watch it. But I bet a lot of people have no idea how far out there that stuff he was doing was.

I forgot who said it, but the quote was something like "People who have no idea how to climb thing Honnold is insane, people who have some idea how to climb think he's got it, and people who know exactly what he is doing think he's insane." Same might kinda be true for the fifty project ;)

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Originally Posted by Supermoon

His blog says 30, but I don’t know how caught up it is

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numbered on youtube, last one was 35/50

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Originally Posted by m17504

20 years ago on old tele gear. Not a go-pro or a facebook in sight...[/FONT]

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so Cody is skiing lines based on a book describing previously skied lines, and you're just now noticing that Cody's lines aren't first descents? good job.


where's your cut&paste from?
seems like the first descenders had no problem re-counting their efforts and achievements using the publishing technology available at the time.

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Originally Posted by TG

so Cody is skiing lines based on a book describing previously skied lines, and you're just now noticing that Cody's lines aren't first descents? good job.


where's your cut&paste from?
seems like the first descenders had no problem re-counting their efforts and achievements using the publishing technology available at the time.

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c&p is from american alpine journal.

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Originally Posted by BFD

c&p is from american alpine journal.

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I think you forgot to switch accounts

My apologies, TG.
I viewed the preview for Codys episode and had a flashback a late night bivy in Argentina when James B. mentioned very casual the he once ski St. Elias. The preview of Codys trip made me remember that and research the posted that offended you.
Apologies again for posting the reference of the objective by the old guys.
Pretty rad to try something like that ever.
Cheers from Girdwood

^^ I very much enjoyed reading that account and felt it's relevance to be obvious. Thanks for sharing! I'm excited to see how things went for Cody and crew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl-UU92jzrg

Almost gave me a heart attack at 13:53 there, Alka.

That first turn at the top didn't look all that fun... but the lower section certainly did. And yeah, I thought you were going to eat shit big time at 13:53. Nice recovery.

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

That first turn at the top didn't look all that fun... but the lower section certainly did. And yeah, I thought you were going to eat shit big time at 13:53. Nice recovery.

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Yeah the top and bottom were sketchy for two entirely different reasons. Frozen punch crust turns on 55 degree entrance was sucky...hence why the others got on rope. The bottom was probably the sketchiest thing I did on snow all year, just way too carried away with the fun we were having and ripping fast in good snow only to hit frozen debris had my thinking about my tech bindings, lower limbs and the long walk outta there. A tomahawk there would've been a bad thing. One of my better recoveries ever.

That shoe string rappel tho! Jim have to convince you to take the shoe string?

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

Yeah the top and bottom were sketchy for two entirely different reasons. Frozen punch crust turns on 55 degree entrance was sucky...hence why the others got on rope. The bottom was probably the sketchiest thing I did on snow all year, just way too carried away with the fun we were having and ripping fast in good snow only to hit frozen debris had my thinking about my tech bindings, lower limbs and the long walk outta there. A tomahawk there would've been a bad thing. One of my better recoveries ever.

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At 13:53 my sphincter reacted!

Nice save, great line and super crew. Any plans to knock off anything big with the two of them in the future?

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Originally Posted by OrangeCSkier

That shoe string rappel tho! Jim have to convince you to take the shoe string?

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It was the opposite actually. It's 5.6mm Sterling tech cord that Mark Smiley turned me on to. It's pretty much a rap line only and I wouldn't use it for anything else. Oh and gotta be super careful on the rocks, one little nick and bye bye.

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

It was the opposite actually. It's 5.6mm Sterling tech cord that Mark Smiley turned me on to. It's pretty much a rap line only and I wouldn't use it for anything else. Oh and gotta be super careful on the rocks, one little nick and bye bye.

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Did you ever get your kidney function checked out?

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Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

It was the opposite actually. It's 5.6mm Sterling tech cord that Mark Smiley turned me on to. It's pretty much a rap line only and I wouldn't use it for anything else. Oh and gotta be super careful on the rocks, one little nick and bye bye.

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How did you manage to get enough friction on something so small? Super munter, or is there a belay/rappel device that works?


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