for FDwear.com

TGR=PNWED

I'm working for a small ski company out of Tahoe City, California called Slant Skis (www.slantskis.com , www.facebook.com/slantskis ) sort of doing everything - web help, shop help, building skis, best time ever, blah blah. The skis are 100% handmade by Josh and myself using sustainable bamboo cores, an amazing wood/grass if you've ever gotten to ski it: a ton of pop and life in it, so much that it took me a bit to get used to but I love it. 2 year warranty, also warrantied with up to three mounts which is awesome. I can't say enough good stuff about the skis so you'll have to take my word for it! Two videos of the skis in the making:

Timelapse of the Blurs being made and

A Day in the Tahoe Snow Lab with Josh cooking up a pair of the Cornelious pow boards.

Long story short we're doing a preseason Pro-Form Sale with all of the skis 40-45% off... Probably the cheapest you'll see US hand-made skis. The sale goes through May only, so make up your mind fast! If you have any questions about the skis, techy questions, preferences, etc feel free to hit me up. Here is the link to the Pro Form: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...jca6AFz28/edit

And a look at the 2013 topsheet designs: http://photobucket.com/SlantSkis
** Read the Pro-Form carefully, because if you like one topsheet better than the others we can put it on another ski model for you for an extra $50, pretty dope.

Quick overview of the line:
You guys will love the Doses, the hard-charging big mountain pow board with early-rise tip, 121mm waist: http://slantskis.com/skis/dos.html
I've been rocking the 186 Cornelious, a super fun stable playful pow ski that does anything/everything. I've got dukes on them and couldn't be happier: http://slantskis.com/skis/cornelious.html
Camber Profile in front of my house's bear box:


The Ambush is the touring-oriented setup with bamboo sidewalls, everything designed to keep the weight low and shred high: http://slantskis.com/skis/ambush.html

Thanks for taking a look, fire away with questions/tech specs etc.

Going to run down this weekend to the Mt. Hood area for some snow with a buddy. One day will be Timberline I am sure however it would be nice to get some skinning in somewhere. Last time I was at Hood was I when the first year PM Gear skis were being demoed by a bunch of you kooks :)

Beers/nickel change given for any help towards answering:
1. Where is best to tour? Looking for probably 2-3k mellow'ish. I have Avy2 and glacier however my friend can barely spell splitboard.
2. Where can good camping be found with us arriving near 8pm-9pm'ish on Friday? Do not mind paying and having a bit of room to drink (and\or midget tossing).
3. Good books that have touring destinations in the area?

Muchas gracias.

So yesterday was my birthday (43). It caused me to take some time to do some reflection. The last 25 years have been good to me. I moved from New Mexico to Colorado and then to Utah. I met my wife, had three kids, managed to stay out of jail and have enough success that I can live a life of poverty in a town where poverty is higher standard than 99% of the world.

I have one constant in my life over that time. It is skiing. As I think to the highlights of this time, I can remember every turn of two or three runs. Two years ago I hit a chute, made three turns, dropped about a 14 foot cliff into a 4 foot wide zone, straight lined about 200 yards and then turned things out. That same year I was skiing with my two boys. My then 4 year old was in hip deep powder and his brother was in front of him. They were coming through an untouched run and both of them were making turns. Looking back up at them as the powder caught the morning light was like a perfect picture. I felt so damn lucky. (They usually don't turn at all which is a constant battle I fight.) This year I hiked out to a bowl and was expecting 12 inches of untracked. I dropped in and found bottomless turns. As I made my final turns into the spruce every turn was a face shoot. I am an adrenaline junky. I kayak, bike, have climbed most of the major peaks in the lower 48, ride my bikes religiously. Nothing gives me the satisfaction or the moments that are burned into my memory like skiing. My wife gives me grief that the only time she sees me smile is when I'm kayaking or skiing. It is sad that I am wound the way I am, but she is right and I am unbelievable shallow. Even kayaking has lost some of its luster with age and when the ability to push things put me at a level where the risk was too great. I am really lucky that at the age of 2 my parents threw me on the Mickey Mouse K2’s and had me grab hold of the rope tow. Maybe that is why I find myself visiting this site too much? I hope the next decades allow me to find other triggers. Until then I'll just keep holding it together enough to be able to enjoy the storms!

For those that are interested, way more pictures can be seen HERE.

This video is longer than my normal, but I hope you enjoy it anyway...




I'm sure you've all heard that this year's Colorado snowfall was one of the lowest in recorded history (for much of the state). Also, for much of the ski season I battled an odd blood disease whose symptoms came and went in waves.

But, all of this is no excuse to not take advantage of what you've been given. And that is just what the CUFSTers and I did. We had a great time despite the conditions.

As many of you know, I coach the Big Mountain and Backcountry Program for the University of Colorado Freestyle Ski Team (CUFST). I work pretty hard to make sure the students I work with get the most they can out of the program. The conditions and my illness this year made it challenging, but I work with some fantastic kids. Their positive attitudes and willingness to explore/learn/joke-around make my job really enjoyable.

The season can be divided into three distinct sections:

Early Season - Low snowfall and sketchy avalanche conditions
February - Pow
Late Season - Low snowfall and a fading snowpack (yes, March was "late season" this year)

Below is a little look at my season with CUFST through pictures. I divided it up into the three sections mentioned above. Like I said, it was amazing despite the snowfall.


Early Season:
The early season snowpack was thin...(Photo by Mike Bibeau)


but we found some pockets of soft snow...(Photo by Mike Bibeau)


(Photo by Mike Bibeau)


and even a few things to jump off. (Photo by Mike Bibeau)


We searched day and night for the soft snow... (Photo by Mike Bibeau)


(Photo by Mike Bibeau)


and had a very unique experience.

Everyone had a great time. (Photo by Mike Bibeau)



February:
February arrived with a furious set of storms for Colorado. As snow starved as we were, we definitely took advantage. For much of the month I didn't have a camera, so most of the season's best snow went undocumented. In any case, here's the best of what I got.

(Photo by Alex Kessock)


Pow makes me smile. (Photo by Alex Kessock)


We got a few soft and smooth cliff landings.


There were some pillows.


Faceplant.


There were some beautiful sunny days in between storms. (Photo by Andrew Lussie)


(Photo by Andrew Lussie)




Late Season:
We entered March really excited about the potential snowfall for the rest of the season. But, as it turns out, it was the driest March on record. Not to worry, we just adjusted our game plan and went into more of a ski-mountaineering mode instead of a powder mode. I got to teach the kids I coach about the planning and preparation required for ski mountaineering. Much of the ski mountaineering we did was fairly mild, due to the minimal amount of snow that fell and the lack of glacial terrain in Colorado. We did however get on some pretty sweet lines. We enjoyed ourselves.

Rope work and arresting training...












Approaches:


We had hoped to be skinning here.


A little more snow on the access road than we had hoped.














We had to deal with a good bit of mixed snow/rock/dirt/ice.



Summits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhU3z...e_gdata_player

Ouch

Made my day. :fmicon:

Fuck the haters!

http://www.newschoolers.com/ns/conte...esident+Obama/

Last Tuesday afternoon/evening dookey67 and I did a dusk patrol recon mission on some Carson Pass patches.

dookey67 on the approach:

(We passed on this huck-to-flat and looked for better options higher up.)

We did find some better choices. Here I am looking for the smoothest available line...

...and it opened up nicely...


dookey67 finds a boulder and tree giant slalom course...




...more to come...

No joke, FD founder David Lesh recently spent two days driving in the presidential motorcade and meeting with president Obama to discuss how FD's recent guerrilla marketing tactics could be applied to his reelection campaign. The White House just released the photos, which can be seen on Lesh's blog (embedded below):




Big thanks to Claire and Javon for making this happen, helps to have well connected friends!

On Tuesday we woke up early, met at JW Marriott (where Obama was staying) and got our briefing for the following two days. We then car pooled to DIA with Secret Service, picked up 15 vans, and begun to assemble the presidential motorcade.



This is the van I drove all day.



We assembled the motorcade and drove to Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, CO.



At Buckley Air Force Base, Secret Service went through all the vans, checked for explosives, outfitted them with radios and lights, etc.



The president's custom GM made "Beasts" are flown in to wherever he travels beforehand.



We got to go inside the Beast that president Obama rode in to his inauguration speech, and got full tours from Secret Service. We also got the low down on Obama's (and other former presidents) personal lives, very entertaining.



40 motorcycle cops arrive at Buckley Air Force Base to help close streets, highways, and provide an escort for the motorcade.



I was constantly acting like Secret Service, I can't help myself.



Obama's Air Force One lands at Buckley Air Force Base, after a brief weather hold.



Obama gets into Marine 1 helicopter and gets a 4 helicopter escort up to Boulder for his speech at CU.



SWAT arrives, we finalize the motorcade and roll out.



We drive to City Park in downtown Denver, with full police blockades everywhere we go. No stopping, no matter what.



Rush hour on I-25, not a car in sight. Gotta love that!



We arrive at City Park and Secret Service begins securing the park for the president's arrival.





Marine 1 and 4 other helicopters arrive. Obama is rushed from the helicopter to our motorcade. Our motorcade leaves City Park, I am 4 cars behind the president. We have our path to his hotel completely blocked for miles in all directions, and drive the wrong way down streets, directly to his hotel without stopping.



We drop off Obama at the JW Marriott. After a long day (6am-midnight), we drive back to Boulder.



The next morning, Claire and I drove back to Denver to meet the president.



Hanging out with Secret Service and the Beast.



I of course continued to act like Secret Service.



We meet with the president to discuss FD in regards to guerrilla marketing tactics for his upcoming campaign.



Finishing our discussion, he said "Good luck running your company!" and I immediately replied "Good luck running the world!". He and Secret Service laughed. Then time for a few quick photos.



The motorcade pulls out of the Marriott and Obama is off to give another speech in Iowa later that day.



Our two days of presidential activities were over, back to Boulder!

Amazon just listed my prints for sale: My prints on Amazon
So I am offering a 10% off sell for TGR maggots. Just use the promo code: TGR10OFF

Attached Thumbnails

 

Heading down to New Zealand for the season? What are your plans/where are ya headed?

Maybe the last edit of the 2012 season for us, but I thought this was a decent one. It was a pretty short winter here but still plenty of fun and some great skiing. Nice to see it finally get somewhat stable after that last snowfall. There is still some snow up in them hills so other adventures may follow, although the desert has been nice.

No joke, FD founder David Lesh recently spent two days driving in the presidential motorcade and meeting with president Obama to discuss how FD's recent guerrilla marketing tactics could be applied to his reelection campaign. The White House just released the photos, which can be seen on Lesh's blog-

http://www.newschoolers.com/ns/conte...esident+Obama/

Taking advantage of what was left of the snow in central CO in early May. One of my favorite ski tours thus far, enjoy!

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport...&cpgm=tripuser