I break stuff; A Sitski TR

[SitSki13]

photo alert.

This is a semi TR from my last couple days in Steamboat, there's no epicness but I wanted to let the maggots know what was happening.

I've been in CO the last week or so, staying in Steamboat with some friends, getting ready for the X-Games and taking part in the first backcountry powder comp for disabled skiers.

I flew down from Calgary, via The Vegas and very nearly decided to stay when I was greeted by:





Happy endings are the best kind.

Got into Steamboat and picked up the BRO 192 Pat had sent up for me, I was stoked to get on it and get used to the feel of things on a BRO again as I'm going to be using them in the monoskier-x next week. After all the debate about what type of binding would be best, I ended up just putting one of my Marker Comp 30s on and hoping for the best.



I'm not saying there's many gapers in Steamboat but:



So I managed a decent day's skiing on my first day in the boat and tried preparing for the monoskier-x as best as I could by skiing wildly out of control as fast as I could nd hitting anything that looked like a jump. I pretty much always ski and ride lifts by myself, which is cool because I avoid the same old questions; "how do you stop that thing?" or "do you play basketball?".



I was killing it until I landed a jump a little too much in the back seat and bent the BRO, two days per ski, Splat is gonna kill me.





I was bummed because this literally happened at about 3:30pm on the day before the powdercat trip to Soda Mountain and it was the only BRO I had with me.

But then FedEx delivered a nice long box of morale with 3 new 192s and a pair of 195s, sa-weet!







I'll be racing on the 195 for the x-games, as long as I dont break them both in training, and strapped on a 192 for the powdercat trip.

This is the first year of a freeskiing powder comp for disabled skiers, it was a pretty informal set-up and thoroughly chilled the whole time. Pretty sweet that something like this is even happening and hopefully it'll grow in the coming years and get a bit more badass along the way too.

We headed out to Soda Mountain with the guys from Steamboat Powder Cats and it turned into the definition of a bluebird day.









There wasn't a shit load of powder to be slayed, maybe about a boot's depth of soft stuff and some windslab or surface hoar in different places, but still enough to provide substantive levels of stoke.

Unfortunately the guy I gave my camera to seems to be the worst photographer in the world, so most of the pics are crap but, we had a journalist and photographer with us from SKIING mag who were doing a story on the event to be featured in one of the editions next season some time. I was a complete slut all day trying to get some good shots and I think they got some pretty sweet pictures, but I cant post anything online at all until after the feature has been published.

("Change for a nickel" was mentioned A LOT, here's hoping he uses it in the article.)

So you guys get crappy pictures:

Top of the hill, ready for first run of the day:



Bottom of the hill, following the first trip to the white room of the day:



Loading and unloading the cat via the plank, good times:







Very few action shots until the feature comes out but some skiing shots:








(yeah, that sucked)



















The pictures dont tell the story well at all, apart from not getting any decent shots of any powder skiing or face shots, they dont show the huge level of stoke from just letting rip in the backcountry with a couple other sitski's and other disabled skiers. Think you're core? Try skiing blind:



contd...

[SitSki13]

...contd.

All day I had been a slut, working with the two pro photographers to get some good shots that could be in the feature. I now have a far deeper understanding and respect for all the amazing action shots you see in mags and stuff, trying to understand exactly where some guy wants you to go and actually doing it was harder than I thought it'd be. I screwed up a few times by simply turning at the wrong spot, or wiping out completely and ruining the shot.

On the last descent I hit a small windlip in the hope of getting some good shots.



It was pathetically small so I just hit is as fast as I could and launched a few feet. The photographers got a couple sweet pics of this, at least one of which should be in the SKIING article hopefully. I cant show the pro shots because I dont have them.

Landing:





Getting spat back out by the rebound being set too high on my shock absorber:











I hadn't set the rebound on my shock absorber properly, so when I landed the shock compressed then launched me another 15 or 20ft where I stopped.

And where I realized that the force of the rebound had ripped the seat off the frame of the sitski:





I couldn't ski back down to the cat so had to get the tobogan down, again:





The carnage:



I think I can get it fixed, the bolts just ripped through the fiberglass of the seat bucket, so I'm heading out to get it fixed right now and heading down to Aspen tomorrow.

So yeah, I break things, a lot.

[gh444]

nice. can't wait to see the article!

[ian9139]

good stuff!

[Howie]

...contd.

Awesome photo. Saw a dude on a Sitski at the resort today. It looks rather fun.
Great report aswell. Keep it up

[kidwoo]

Things is replaceable.

Memorable days in the snow are what's precious. Hope it's not too much of a headache to get your chair up and running again.

Looks like a really fun day.


Just out of curiosity, what are you using for a shock? It looks like a moto damper?

[RootSkier]

Sweet. Glad to see you back in action. Good luck this winter!

[Horu]

As much as skiing in the PNW feels like being blind a lot of the time, being actually blind=extreme.

[montanaskier]

good luck in A$pen...

[str8line]

Cool TR!

Fucking awesome that you are launching airs like that. Damn, you are hard on equipment! It's very interesting and inspiring to see you and others on sitski's going for it.

[f2f]

cool to see you going bigger and bigger! mind over matter!

good luck at the X-Games.

[the_teo]

Hell yeah dude! Sweet!

[single]

FKNA!

That was sick! Thanks for sharing, and let us know when the mag comes out.

Good luck at the games.

[hop]

This thread = FKNA

Photoslut tip: Get a brighter jacket!

[mmmm...pow!]

Badass! I'm digging the slogan on the back of your chair. Just wondering if those bindings are set to release or if you crank them all the way up.

[Lone Star]

have you ever considered the exciting career opportunities in product testing? keep killin it

[mikefut]

Nice stoke. Can't wait to see you rip it at the XGames

[iscariot]

GGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

Looks like a sweet day! Quit breaking things or you're gonna have to compete winter-x with outriggers and a crazy carpet

"Always A Happy Ending" Priceless.

[XtrPickels]

Andy, I say this with complete honesty and certainly not over stating anything:

You are the fucking man.

This TR does not suck.

[skiingsamurai]

fuh
kin
ey

sick dood, way to get after it

and +++ karma to splat for hooking you up

[JimmyCarter]

FKNAwesome.

Splat's gonna have to set aside half of next year's stock for you at this rate.

[splat]

Well, at least you didn't break the ski. Those were all carbons.
Plus there's always...................................bungee cords for hold-down emergencies.

Way to get down after it, Andy.
Can't wait to hear the x-games report.
You Rock.

FKNA!

[springsproject]

that was cool!

[NorthernSpotted...]

Badass! I'm digging the slogan on the back of your chair.

x2

And even if the photography isn't the best, the shots of you airing, landing, submarining, and getting spat back out are sick. Way to kill it.

[Yukonrider]

I dunno, I think this is one of the better TRs of the season.