The FIFTY

[raisingarizona13]

Theres old ski mountaineers and bold skimos. Not many old and bold skimos

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Skimo is neither.

[MakersTeleMark]

Skimo is an oxymoran.

[grinch]

Im old,and bold, but i couldnt be bothered typing it out, but u nu dat

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[Canada1]

Young men often take themselves and their recreating extremely seriously.

Why I stopped climbing. Why I never pushed my kids on my passion of kayaking. Death sucks.

[jackstraw]

most things around here were skied by some dude in leather boots and Tua skis in 1988 or something.

Exactly. Jon Day (Tom's bro) was knocking shit off in the Tetons back then in his leathers and nobody knew unless you knew him or a friend of his.

Hats of to Cody publishing his attempt and their wise decision to back off. He's doing it right.

[raisingarizona13]

Why I stopped climbing. Why I never pushed my kids on my passion of kayaking. Death sucks.

Word.

I somehow didn't die and got old. Don't get me wrong, I still push myself and have been trying new things but it's in a much more safe and mature Dad form.

I really did some dumb shit!

I always feel really good about saying no and going home or back to the area. It's a lot easier for me in the backyard playground to do that though. It's a place I've spent a shit ton of time in over the last 20 years. It's not hard to turn around when things aren't feeling right. It's going to still be there next time. I'd imagine it's a lot more challenging when you drive or fly somewhere, skin/climb for many hours/days to a remote location for a YouTube series that your sponsors are counting on. That's the part I feel watching these edits. Like........fuck man. Now they are going to have to do that all over again to accomplish the 50. That seems tough but I guess if that's all you do to "clock in" maybe it's not all that bad. I mean, it's better than pressing widgets 5 days a week under florescent white lights while hating your life

[Shred Baron]

Word.

I'd imagine it's a lot more challenging when you drive or fly somewhere, skin/climb for many hours/days to a remote location for a YouTube series that your sponsors are counting on.

See you’ve got that backwards. Cody flipped the script on them. Sponsors pay for content, Cody’s not successful attempt still created content. People are loving it too (myself included) which is getting interaction, which pumps it up on the algorithm I’m sure. So now he can go to sponsors and say he need more money to create more content to finish the line. Win win really. Kinda joking, bit there’s probably some truth to it.



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[Alkasquawlik]

I'd imagine it's a lot more challenging when you drive or fly somewhere, skin/climb for many hours/days to a remote location for a YouTube series that your sponsors are counting on. That's the part I feel watching these edits. Like........fuck man. Now they are going to have to do that all over again to accomplish the 50. That seems tough but I guess if that's all you do to "clock in" maybe it's not all that bad. I mean, it's better than pressing widgets 5 days a week under florescent white lights while hating your life

See you’ve got that backwards. Cody flipped the script on them. Sponsors pay for content, Cody’s not successful attempt still created content. People are loving it too (myself included) which is getting interaction, which pumps it up on the algorithm I’m sure. So now he can go to sponsors and say he need more money to create more content to finish the line. Win win really. Kinda joking, bit there’s probably some truth to it.

You're both right. Sometimes we're driving 1k miles, walking in super deep and know if we get skunked, it's gonna be a whole other year of this shit. I spent a ton of our first year budget getting to AK, budget which ended up coming out of my pocket to fund the whole thing, only to get skunked in AK. It took years of daily watching weather models, reading avy reports, communicating with PNH, communicating with other friends in the area, nearly pulling the trigger 3 or 4 times and then waiting for the most opportune time to hit it...from thousands of miles, and thousands of dollars away. That shit gets stressful. Plus, this last year, the weather and conditions were so shit, so warm and so wet for all of Feb and March and most of April, I started getting concerned we weren't even get an attempt to try the line and get content out of turning around. So yeah, it is hard to be making content.

But the other part is quietly true too. Content is king and as Jer Jones told me, "Milk this thing for as long as you can". So making turn-around content only to have to get funding to keep it going, well that indeed keeps me employed. But that's saying the quiet part out loud. Hell, being almost 40, with a family and a mortgage, and having done this pro skier thing for almost 20 years now, I gotta keep my career in my thoughts these days.

[davjr96]

The ultimate tease will be when the youtube series stops at exactly 50 episodes and then the project continues on without updates except the occasional insta summit selfie

[raisingarizona13]

Post deleted. I was drunk and I don't want to create any bad juju.

[bot.gee]

a little late to the party, but a +1 for garretvs a bit back...

at least for this viewer, it's pretty sweet to have two folks with very different styles and approaches putting out some pretty high quality, relatively in house, productions regarding the same objectives...

but, since this is the internet and so those who can't do nor teach, critique: i'm also hoping that wirth dials the need to scream "solo", "second descent", etc back a bit (those who care already know, and those who don't know already, will probably never care to the same degree as those who already know) and a vote for cody to tell a story or two from days gone by (not in every episode, but maybe shoot a bit more b-roll with some of the folks you're hanging out with and see if anything more sticks)

regardless, i'm enjoying getting to see what are seemingly both a man on a line of flight and another on a line of celebration, pass over the same snowy terrains...

[skiitsbetter]

It can be done as a day trip from the main highway in Canada or a more "casual" long weekend. It is on the 2nd highest mountain in the range. You can't see it from the road, but you can see it from other popular tours including a front row seat from another 50 Classic. There are lots of people spending winters in either Golden or Revelstoke with a chip on their shoulder. It's in the book. "Going for a look" doesn't require long drives, flights, weather windows, etc... Yet it has remained unrepeated all of this time. I think you're allowed to be stoked about the 2nd descent...

The "T" in the FACETS human factors acronym is that snow looks a whole lot different once it has a track on it... After the uncertainty of the first attempt, Michael went there, was successful and lived to tell the tale. From Tremper, 90% of slides are triggered by the first skier. It's a lot less uncertain now (not that the remaining 10% is anything you would bet your life on). Although I don't know what the weather was like between Michael's and Cody's success as far as wind and snow, he showed that it was possible. I think the whole project itself serves up enough danger, uncertainty, and suffering so I don't care about the ethics of 1st vs 2nd tracks, I just think it's Wirth mentioning.

I love that we have multiple people attempting this list, not as a competition, but because it adds to the story. Would be neat to see them all team up for a future classic.

[Alkasquawlik]

I like Wirth. He's young, insanely strong, motivated, and talented. It's a totally different approach and that's ok. Huge pushes day after day with an ultra athlete mindset. Reminds me of a young Kilian Jornet. Perhaps reckless, but most of the best mountaineers in history pushed past the line. Just hope he can stay safe long enough to grow wise. Will be very fun to watch him progress.

That said, I also love Cody and have the utmost respect for his approach to the mountains. It's what I hope to replicate in my own adventures. It doesn't have to be one or the other, just two insanely talented individuals doing awesome things in the mountains.

I appreciate this take and agree with you on both fronts. I personally have a philosophy in the mountains that's been crafted by the people I looked up to, my decades of being in the backcountry around the world, but most of all by the fact that I've lost 20+ friends, partners and heroes to this sport and have been personal witness to the pain it leaves behind. While I no doubt am impressed by the feats of the boldest out there, I'm honestly most impressed and inspired by people like Greg Hill who have played in big and dangerous mountains for 30 years, can tick off bold, dangerous mountains and lines here and there, but have prioritized staying alive and have managed to do so for a long time. That takes the most skill in my opinion. Anyone can disregard the signs and send it, staying alive for 30 years of backcountry skiing in big terrain takes true greatness imho. So for me, while I really want to do cool shit in the mountains, I also really want my son to not grow up fatherless. I know it’s not possible to mitigate all risks out there, but I do my best to minimize them as much as damn possible.

As far as Michael goes, I have a lot of respect for his talent, motivation and strength. Few people have what he has. It's fucking impressive really. What I've tried to talk to him about is mainly centered around making sure he stays alive long enough to capitalize on those talents and motivations. Now I have no doubt he's reading this (those Gen Z are very internet savvy) so what I'm about to say is nothing I haven't said to him personally. But the pace he's currently on is not sustainable. This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of many people throughout the industry that I've spoken to over the past year. I truly do not want him to not die in the mountains because the shit he's doing in running and his ability to move through mountains fast is very rare and could equate to accomplishing some pretty rad stuff. But there were a lot of signs that day on the Comstock that were very obvious that it was not a day to go ski big lines. The freezing level spiked from 1500m the day before, to 3000m on the day he solo’ed Comstock, something he doesn't mention in the video. Climbing under cornices on a day with that incredible level of warming is something you won’t get away with for very long. It’s why he mentioned in his blog, us discussing the Normalization of Deviance. You normalize ignoring the signs but being successful, eventually it’ll catch up to you and you won’t be so lucky. So ultimately, I hope he can take his skill, step the risk back a notch or two and learn from people like Greg Hill who have done incredible things and are still around to tell the tale.

Essentially, Michael and I are skiing the same lines but with different philosophies and guess what, there is plenty of space for us both to do our thing in the mountains in our own ways.

[The SnowShow]

He has some amazing videos of running along the sketchy as fuck Maroon Bells traverse. In an instant, any of those crumbling rocks/ledges could move and he’s in a free fall down 3,000’. Seems super risky.

[muted reborn]

Essentially, Michael and I are skiing the same lines but with different philosophies and guess what, there is plenty of space for us both to do our thing in the mountains in our own ways.

Only space for one winner and one loser, IMO

[goldenboy]

Dude is all of what? 20? 21? It's a rare thing that someone is making great mountain decisions at that age. I know I can look back at some things from that age and on the one hand, they were "accomplishments" because I got er done, but looking back with hindsight they weren't necessarily good decisions, and not ones I would make today. It's a fine line sometimes. Hope his mental game is on a fast track to catch up to his physical game.

[twat]

This thing is so out of my imagination and i am alot in the mountains. My biggest push was 6000 in one go. And this was a great success and on top of my game. And almost 40years old.
When i was 20, i was sleeping in, searching drugs and being late on powdays.

So Wirth does what he can. I can't. My respect and all the best.

I am watching cody because i like the style of the show and his(your) way presenting it.
I watch joi(hardly) and job (rarly)and sometimes click on it.

I would never miss a fifty!!!!!

[yeahman]

Only got about two or three minutes into Wirth's video before clicking away. Didn't like the production style, the choice of music, the way he narrated (painstakingly slowly) while not looking at the camera...pretty much everything. Maybe I'll go back to it later. I prefer Cody and Bjarne's style, that's a big part of why I watch The Fifty.

[NBABUCKS1]

the way he narrated (painstakingly slowly) .

if you aren't watching youtube at ≥1.5x you're wasting your time.

[Supermoon]

if you aren't watching youtube at ≥1.5x you're wasting your time.

No way. Maybe for like podcast type stuff, but good creators should know how to pace their videos. That’s why The Fifty is so good. The editing is tight, there’s no extra fluff, it’s engaging throughout.

Good content is so much more than just grabbing rad footage and throwing it onto the internet.

[plugboots]

No way. Maybe for like podcast type stuff, but good creators should know how to pace their videos. That’s why The Fifty is so good. The editing is tight, there’s no extra fluff, it’s engaging throughout.

Good content is so much more than just grabbing rad footage and throwing it onto the internet.

Oh, you would love fly fishing videos. There’s like 2-3 that are barely any good, all of the rest are a guy who can’t cast, walking around next to a stream for a half an hour. Oh, and when he accidentally catches something he immediately says, “Oh, that’s a big one.”

[Supermoon]

Oh, you would love fly fishing videos. There’s like 2-3 that are barely any good, all of the rest are a guy who can’t cast, walking around next to a stream for a half an hour. Oh, and when he accidentally catches something he immediately says, “Oh, that’s a big one.”

Yeah fuck that. Almost as bad as the fake “epic” fishing videos that are just five minutes of slow mo close ups of stripping line and pulling on waders

[plugboots]

Yeah fuck that. Almost as bad as the fake “epic” fishing videos that are just five minutes of slow mo close ups of stripping line and pulling on waders

Right?
They always seem to start in the dark in some truck or SUV with the phone/camera on the dash filming the guy driving to some quick Mart to buy gross food. I’m like “what the fuck is going on here?” Click.

[John_B]

Oh, you would love fly fishing videos. There’s like 2-3 that are barely any good, all of the rest are a guy who can’t cast, walking around next to a stream for a half an hour. Oh, and when he accidentally catches something he immediately says, “Oh, that’s a big one.”

That's close enough to a regular day of fishing for myself. Why the hell would I ever want to watch some other idiot do that?

[rod9301]

No question that the fifty videos are excellent, and i thought the the wirth video was subpar.

Good skiing in both though

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