Stowe Waterfall 11/25

[allenataylor]

Good turns were had on nosedive and in the nosedive woods. There is still some open water here and there but the hard pack granular base (rain crust) was solid enough to keep you off the rocks. The powder on top of it then helped soften the ride. We also skied the open trails for a few runs. samthaman and I managed to collide while I was in the process of giving some young kids a wide birth. Soul_Skier (Wes) also had a severe pre-release issue with his bindings due to a completely wrong toe height. The open stuff was hard and very icy with tons of skier traffic. Backcountryben was also testing out his new killer AT rig. He had assembled a bunch of his dad's old AT gear including 2 buckle boots, narrow volkls, and some killer silverettas (the ones with the toe bail, and no brakes.

We then took a hike to the gondi side. Ben wasted Sam and I on the uphill with his light rig, Sam and I were on big volkls with NX21's and alpine boots, not exactly the rondo racing rig. We got up there and decided that it was time to scope the waterfall. We got down there and it was looking fairly good for some of the side hits. Ben opted not to huck on his ultra burly rig and hit went around hitting a small cliff in the woods. He was going to take photos but sam forgot to give him the camera battery. I got the battery and went for the skiers right hit. There was a sketchy approach of rain crust mixed with blue ice. I made it down to the pillow just above the takeoff with as I had hoped then jumped what was a 10-15 footer. The landing was great. Then Sam and Wes hit the skiers left dogleg which was in the 20-25 foot range. There was a wind drift right in the landing which made it hittable.

Wes got points for hucking on scarpa lasers but his jump was doomed from the takeoff. He took off wrong and got off axis, some awesome gaper flailing was involved but in the end he landed, lost a ski, and did a forward roll coming to a stop upside down with his head and upper body stuck in the snow and his feet in the air. It was one of the funner Wrecks I have ever seen. Sam then proceeded to stomp the s*it out of it.














































Note the shit eating grin:



Some random skinner took pics of me and said he would put them on flickr, so I will hopefully have some pictures too soon.

It was a sweet but short day.

It feels good to be hucking again. Stowe is in great shape right now, and its not even December yet.

Thia is all a lie, stowe is a complete fucking disaster, I hear its blowen up at Jay though, apparently they have 6' of pow right now. Everyone go to Jay, Stowe sucks.

Allen

P.S. Thia is all a lie, stowe is a complete fucking disaster, I hear its blowen up at Jay though, apparently they have 6' of pow right now. Everyone go to Jay, Stowe sucks.

[Sutter]

Looks good



sweet flying squirrel steeze

[Jim S]

What a gorgeous place to launch off of. That would be a dream huck come true: not the size but that frozen waterfall is heaven.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I can't believe there is enough snow in Stowe for BC and jumping the waterfall. NICE!

[samthaman]

in my defense that was my first real huck of the season and i had to pole forward to get going on that shitty lip. trying to sharpshoot the crest of the snowdrift landing was pretty intersting though, all the snow around it was a lot more shallow and could have hurt to land in.


soul, i totally won today

[mavrick]

What a gorgeous place to launch off of. That would be a dream huck come true: not the size but that frozen waterfall is heaven.

agreed. Having an air pic launching off that would be tits

[Core Shot]

Ahhh, to be young, carefree and heal easily.

What's the base depth? Only a foot or two of snowfall, so I guess it gets wind loaded in the LZ?

Sickness. Glad you all survived.

[jtran10]

Did you guys skin from the base or ski over and go from the top of the quad? If it doesn't rain too much I think I'm gonna ski something on the gondi side Tuesday morning and kinda want to know the best way up. I'm such a Stowe jong.


An another note, that looks pretty sick for November. Good work.

[samthaman]

Ahhh, to be young, carefree and heal easily.

What's the base depth? Only a foot or two of snowfall, so I guess it gets wind loaded in the LZ?

Sickness. Glad you all survived.

i hear this so much that i feel obligated to do this kind of thing now "while i still can". pretty good base depth but not quite ready for that type of huck. we had to land on the crest of a snowdrift in order to have enough snow to catch our bodies. so yeah wind loading

[snowswine]

Is it me or does that take-off look super sketchy. Good work but be careful, its soooo early.

[BenWA]

Good god, isn't it a little early to huck the Waterfall? The landing is probably as flat as it gets right now, and who knows what sharp, hard objects lurk a few inches below the snow on the landing. Not to be a party pooper, but really...not a good idea IMO.


"I don't...I don't recommend that to anyone!" -Ozzy Osbourne

[trainnvain]

Stowe was nice today (except for the fact my ticket got pulled after the first run, uggh).

[allenataylor]

For one the landing of the waterfall is always flat.

Secondly none of us would have hucked if ben hadn't probed the landing for us. Hucks at this time of year aren't totally reckless with the right preparation.

If we had hucked it without checking the landing it would have been much more dumb. If the landing is fine it doesn't matter what time of year it is.

[JTrue]

Soul_skier mumbles under his breath under the snow, "Fucking Naxos".

[samthaman]

For one the landing of the waterfall is always flat.

Secondly none of us would have hucked if ben hadn't probed the landing for us. Hucks at this time of year aren't totally reckless with the right preparation.

If we had hucked it without checking the landing it would have been much more dumb. If the landing is fine it doesn't matter what time of year it is.

no need to get defensive dude, i think it was a pretty legitimate concern.

backcountryben checked out the LZ's for us though ahead of time, and i always go up there in the fall and during early season hikes to check for sharp/large objects that would hurt to land on. Aside from shrubs and a few small rocks there is nothing to hit. None of us thought this was worth ruining the rest of the season over and consequently none of us would have hit it if we weren't totally happy about it. so yes it was kinda skechy, but there was a lot more pre-huck scouting than this TR initially implied.

[Lone Star]

this TR totally kicks ass.

[soul_skier]

I'm honestly embarrassed.



This is actually the first time I have ever fallen or lost a ski hucking the waterfall, and I'll be the first to admit that while the takeoff was a bit sketchy, I have nobody to blame but myself for my atrocious form in the air and the sloppy landing.

as for it being a sketchy hit this early in the season, we definitely had that concern, but when I had Ben start hiking up to our landing and he was sinking into his waist, those concerns seemed to drift away.

[skiingsamurai]

that one gets my vote for picture of the week

[Nobody Famous]

Excellent TR!

[BenWA]

For one the landing of the waterfall is always flat.

Secondly none of us would have hucked if ben hadn't probed the landing for us. Hucks at this time of year aren't totally reckless with the right preparation.

If we had hucked it without checking the landing it would have been much more dumb. If the landing is fine it doesn't matter what time of year it is.

I wasn't trying to be a crabby old fart about it, it's just that I need two hands to count the number of people I know who have seriously f'd themselves up on that thing--ranging from fractured thumbs to blown knees to compressed vertebrae--jumping when the conditions are less than ideal. It wouldn't be nice to have a bazillion rookies reading this TR walking away with the impression that it's necessarily okay to just go for it willy nilly without some note about how sketchy it can be.

Glad you guys were on top of scoping it out beforehand.

[pointedem]

wow that looks like it f'in hurt

[samthaman]

wow that looks like it f'in hurt

first case of huck-neck for the season, and a bruse on the chin from a knee -> chin. all in all no big deal though, cost of doing business for a stupid ass early season huck

[Phall]

i need to grow a pair this season

[squirrelmurphy]

damn dudes that landing does not look soft or forgiving. balls

[jepilot]

i need to grow a pair this season

I'm with ya, man.