A Ghee Gallery
By: Pete O'Brien | Friday, May 16, 2008
A Ghee Gallery
Photos by Pete O'Brien
1 picture = 1000 words
Natural Terrain Park
By: Pete O'Brien | Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Natural Terrain Park
Story and Photos by Pete O'Brien
The TGR crew is posted up in Driggs, Idaho to do a park session hosted by Grand Targhee. The features we came to hit are huge and look unique but since it has been dumping most of the time we are still on a mid winter filming schedule, getting up early to hit powder lines.
Not only has Targhee built some awesome jumps, but they have allowed us to use sleds to access them and a heli to shoot from. The base is super deep so any snow we get has kept us on the natural terrain while the park features get put on hold, which is perfect for us.
Driggs is a cool place to hang and I prefer the Idaho side of the Pass because of the quality of snow and the insane panoramics for shots. The people are friendly too.
We have hit the park features a bit but everyone is praying for more snow and keeping this epic winter alive. Check it out.
Pete
Fresh Milk
By: Pete O'Brien | Monday, May 12, 2008
Fresh Milk
Story and Photos by Pete O’Brien
Dylan Hood and Wiley Miller have been milking the end of this epic winter to it’s last drop. From Wiley’s 1st hit fakie 900 to Dylan’s 150+ foot 720, the boys have a hit list and are having a blast chipping away at it with plenty of freeriding in between.
On one of the backcountry jumps we built, Dylan guinea pigged and ended up smashing through the top of a 20 foot tall pine tree while he was upside down. He shook it off and on the next attempt took a different angle, stomping a rodeo 720 in knee deep powder.
Wiley’s Dad also made an appearance during the heart of our trip and got to witness some crazy stuff go down in person, including a fakie 540 that Wiley hit virtually landing on his fingers because he held the tailgrab so long.
This is the part of the season where we build kicker projects that are so big you could live inside them. Check it out.
Pete
Influence
By: Pete O'Brien | Sunday, May 04, 2008
Influence
Story and Photos by Pete O’Brien
It’s been a few years since audiences for TGR’s High Life witnessed Jamie Pierre and Dan Gardiner’s film segment. Since then Jamie set a world record cliff drop and put a first descent in the Cathedrals near Haines among other things.
When Jamie called everyone out to “just try” in High Life people got excited, offended, inspired and appalled all at the same time. Either way viewers had an opinion and it was entertaining. Which is exactly why we shot it.
This season Jamie held his airs sub 100’, got a little more tech and tried to show the audiences that he can ski, even though everyone that knows him already knew that.
It’s amazing to see what has happened since that High Life segment. It seems alot harder to get those same hits in the backcountry before anyone else does, even with early ups and sleds. Some of the gnarliest lines out there are getting tattooed before 9 am.
Like it or not, you’ll get a taste of Jamie’s skiing in TGR’s Under the Influence next September. Check it out.
Pete
Liquid Crunch
By: Pete O'Brien | Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Liquid Crunch
Photos by Chris Collins, Jenn Berg and Pete O’Brien
Anytime there’s a freeride day of sledding there’s a buzz of anticipation while we’re unloading in the parking lot. Usually it’s everyone wondering who’s sled is going to be getting dragged out at the end of the day.
After a typical liquid lunch we bumped into this little wheelie cornice and decided to session it. When I rode up the cornice the tranny must have fractured so on my way back down the roll over, there was nothing but air. With no time to pin it back up or bail, I was stuck surfing a 500 pound couch into a nosedive. Luckily the snow was “soft” and the sled was OK.
The next morning while I was walking around the house like Frankenstein I got a call from Sage. He was leaving for AK the next day and had a follow cam shot in mind. The air was about 50 feet and the landing was about 6 feet tall. It should have been called G’s Gap because of the compression after the landing. Sage stuck it a bunch of times with enough momentum to carry him way up the other side of the gully he was landing in.
Breakfast of Champs
By: Pete O'Brien | Sunday, March 23, 2008
Breakfast of Champs
By Pete O’Brien
The hardest part of doing a sunrise tour is getting out of bed at 2:30 am. Once you’re up, the darkness and cold temps don’t seem to matter much. Breaking trail for 7 hours with heavy equipment sounds difficult but when you start to see the tops of surrounding peaks get hit with 1st light it makes everything you did to get there worth it.
Here are some shots from a recent tour we did. Sorry there’s no action, I opted to just bring my Point and Shoot in order to lighten the load a bit.
Fun DOO
By: Pete O'Brien | Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Fun DOO
Photos by Pete O’Brien & Jenn Berg
Here are some shots from our latest backcountry picnic.
Fresh Shots
By: Pete O'Brien | Monday, March 03, 2008
Here are a few shots from today. Everyone had a great day and we all walked away with more shots in the can. We can't wait for another.
Juicy Fruit
By: Pete O'Brien | Sunday, March 02, 2008
Juicy Fruit
By Pete O’Brien
It used to be all about doing donkey kick backscratchers off cornices. Now spins and flips are thrown in but the vibe has always stayed the same.
A few days ago a huge crew of freeskiers converged on the same summit, all looking to ski similar lines. One by one each rider picked their line, rolled down the ridge, and skied it. By the end there were tracks everywhere and Jamie Pierre was left standing next to me looking at a line that hadn’t been tracked because it was apparently too gnarly to ski. There’s a good chance it had never been skied before. With all eyes on Pierre, Jamie plopped a school bus sized cornice onto a small patch of powder and off a 60’ air out, all in one strait line. As he stomped and rode away, a booming roar from the crowd below echoed through the canyon.
Kicking it French Style
By: Pete O'Brien | Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kicking it French Style
By Pete O’Brien
This is the time of year that we dream about all summer long. Warm breezes that kick up a cold smoke and long strings of bluebird days where the snow somehow stays cold and dry. Even though it feels like a day at the beach you can still get faceshots.
Rebates
By: Pete O'Brien | Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Rebates
By Pete O’Brien
The word Rebate gets thrown around occasionally while we’re out there on the hill. Whether it’s the perfect face that never saw any light with good snow, or a backcountry line that gets highmarked, it’s what keeps us coming back for more.
Picture Perfect
By: Pete O'Brien | Sunday, January 27, 2008
Picture Perfect
Story and Photos by Pete O’Brien
By now we’ve settled into a routine of getting up, dressed, racing the light to get as many shots as possible, eating dinner and resting for the next round. Watching the weather forecast helps but we don’t know if the light is good until we get out there. We got out today with no plan but ended up finding some good snow and Chris and Dylan took full advantage. Check it out.
Pete
January Light
By: Pete O'Brien | Thursday, January 24, 2008
January light
By Chris Collins
The light gets sick this time of year. Shorter days mean lower angles of the sun: 3:00 p.m. evening light. We’re on our way out by 4:30 at the latest. Headlights help, but the temps have been dropping. No one wants to get stuck alone out here on a –30 night. Hmm…I bet Dylan’s Yamaha would burn for a couple hours if we needed to get warm!