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  1. #1
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    Tom Jungst/Montana

    Is Tom Jungst still skiing? He was one of the first guys doing freeski comps back in the early 90s.

  2. #2
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    He's still around.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by MT View Post
    He's still around.
    Just around or still ripping it?

  4. #4
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    Riding his trials motorbike, making stuff in his machine shop and sliding some turns.

  5. #5
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    Can't remember which movie but he laid down some sweet turns in the a-z chutes back in the 90's. Ripper

  6. #6
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    http://bozemandailychronicle.com/art...s/30coffee.txt

    If Tom Jungst wears his status as a legend loosely, perhaps it's because he has two teenage sons seeking out the same lines he pioneered in the Bridger Mountains in the 1970s and '80s.

    One of the original Bridger Ridge Rats, Jungst chose not to become a guide like so many of his friends, jet-setting around the world to the steep and deep. Instead, he settled in Bozeman and found new ways to enjoy the mountains, making a living as an engineer and teacher. At 50, Jungst is five knee surgeries down the line and likes to say that he's semi-retired after selling his business two years ago. Lest people think he's out to pasture, Jungst plans to appear in a forthcoming Greg Stump ski film this winter. He talked with the Chronicle about his surprising fame and the all-important choice to back away.


    On the bad knees

    I had all the cartilage removed from my lateral meniscus in both kneeds. I've had five surgeries. No ACLs, just cartilage. That goes way back to soccer, when I was kid, when I had a lot of cortisone shots in my knees. I had it every three weeks, right into the joint. It was numbing but it deteriorates the cartilage and when you're growing it's not good. I was 17, 18, 20, and I had a lot of that removed. Back then they would take out massive chunks of it. They said, oh you won't use this. Well, they didn't know that I would be doing this until I was 50.

    On what keeps him busy

    Raising kids. They are now 13 and 16, Sean and Allan. With kids, it was a challenge when they were young. But now it's really rewarding to see them ski well and safely. Allan had done all the avalanche training when he was young. Allan did all the Team Extreme stuff. He learned a lot.

    On becoming a snowbird

    Maybe surprisingly, I like to head out of Bozeman in mid-February and do a rock-climbing trip in Utah or Joshua Tree. The winters are actually feeling pretty long. I've discovered that flights out of here to Vegas or Salt Lake Š you can be somewhere warm and I get a little bike trip or climbing trip in. My wife, Laurie, and I try to get away.

    On Kristen Ulmer's Ski to Live

    I think they spend some time in the morning doing yoga and then it's a lot of visualization. It's kind of a Zen approach to skiing. For me, it's being in the mountains, it's not a competitive thing. I'm really comfortable in the mountains, but her approach is to bring out what she sees in me naturally. I've done this thing so long that I'm comfortable in really exposed places and backing off of things. One of the reasons that I'm still skiing is that I've backed off of peaks and ski descents and you always wonder. You look at a slope and you decide not to do it. Maybe it would have been just fine.

    On backing away from the big stuff

    I skied the Grand Teton exactly 10 years ago, but when I lost my good friend Alex (Lowe), I went through a lot of soul-searching, a couple years there where I didn't climb or ski big things that much. I ski a lot slower, more cautious now. Eight years ago, I backed off of that chute where Doug (Coombs) died (in April 2006 at La Grave, France). I looked at it and you know Š multiple cliff exposures and all I could think about was my kids. There are couloirs in that area Š one of them I skied and this French guide said, “Oh, 35 people have died in that couloir. You did it very nicely.” I said, 35 people died here? And he said, “Well, yeah, if you fall in this one place, you're going to fall 1,000 feet and hit this rock wall.” And that kind of stuff is very possible.

    On a return to the silver screen

    Young people, they'll recognize me on the ski hill, and then I'll say, “How in the world can you know who I am? You're 20 or 21 or 23 years old.” The answer is always: Well, our parents used to put on those videos right before we'd go skiing. I grew up watching your movies when I was little. It's flattering and then the other thing is that I'll end up on top of chutes and there will be three or four guys waiting for me and they'll want me to go first. Because one'll drop in and not make a turn and go straight down and launch off something. I was always much more into making my turns and tighter turns, pretty fast, but now, there's young, strong skiers and they just don't realize that I'm 50 years old.

    On having a following

    For quite a while, I loved having slide shows. I'd take my camera on every trip. But there was a time during the early '90s, when I realized that I would show a photo of a couloir in the Bridgers, or the Absarokas or the Crazies, kids would look at that and want to go do it. There are people who would say, “I've repeated everything you've done, except one descent.” I was like, you're kidding. So I started saying in my slideshows that this one took me seven years before I skied it. I would back off that many times before I skied it. Now, young people say, yeah, well, I just went up there and I just skied it. Who would have thought? I think there's a danger in people not realizing how much work was going into it. A lot of work, a lot of study.

    On one of Jungst's top 10 crashes

    It was at Bridger a couple weeks ago. I was coming down the Bears, and I'd skied the Bears and I was 10 feet from the groomer and I hit a rock that was the size of a table. Just six inches under the powder. Both tips caught and I went end over end over end. It almost knocked me out. I was really dazed. My binding didn't release, but it ripped the heel off my alpine touring heel and my leg was crooked underneath and I thought I had broken my leg, there was so much pressure on it. I asked this lady to undo my binding. She was just skiing along and saw this happen. My ski was coming out at this really weird angle. I said, “Please, I think my leg is broken.” She was staring at this boot in this crazy skewed angle and thought “Ooh, I'm not touching that.” So unbelievable. Conrad (Anker) skis up and says, “Wow, that could've been the rock that took Tom Jungst out.” I was like, “Ah, don't tell anybody that. It's on the groomer, you know.”

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by KillingCokes View Post
    Can't remember which movie but he laid down some sweet turns in the a-z chutes back in the 90's. Ripper
    He had a prominent role in I believe it was 'Groove', to Bjork no less.

    He tells the story of his pal shooting a buck with a bow from his hottub.

  8. #8
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    Nice, thank you

  9. #9
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    Thanks for posting that. He was a pretty chill but highly competent skier around Big Sky back in the day [80's...]
    Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
    And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
    It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
    and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

    Patterson Hood of the DBT's

  10. #10
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    Flashback time.
    BB RidgeKid, Allan, and Tom 8 years ago getting ready for the kid's first Ridge run at Bridger. Fun times back then. Not sure about Tom and Allan but my kid solidly kicks my ass skiing now.



  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale View Post
    There are people who would say, “I've repeated everything you've done, except one descent.” I was like, you're kidding. So I started saying in my slideshows that this one took me seven years before I skied it. I would back off that many times before I skied it. Now, young people say, yeah, well, I just went up there and I just skied it. Who would have thought? I think there's a danger in people not realizing how much work was going into it. A lot of work, a lot of study.
    Sometimes it's nice to quote older extreme skiers who are still alive on their philosophy as to why and how they are still alive.

    Tom Jungst: totally still alive.
    Do you by chance happen to own a large, yellowish, very flat cat?

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale View Post
    http://bozemandailychronicle.com/art...s/30coffee.txt
    So I started saying in my slideshows that this one took me seven years before I skied it. I would back off that many times before I skied it. Now, young people say, yeah, well, I just went up there and I just skied it. Who would have thought? I think there's a danger in people not realizing how much work was going into it. A lot of work, a lot of study.
    this sums up so much of how i feel about bc skiing today and the challenges ahead

  13. #13
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    I hope this gets read a lot. he certainly made a big influence on my life, especially the "back away when it's not right" part.

    doing ascents now, it's eye-opening to read how much research and how many attempts went into many of his ascents. would love to read more of his words on this if anyone knows where i could find more. . . prolly in Alpinist, (RIP and may it rise again).

    Groove Requiem was an amazing film. Still is. Tom charging down Challenger and A-Z. up onto wind lips and down the other side.

    always seems like the color was so brilliant on Stumpy's flicks. Bigger, brighter. amazing blue skies, crypticfantastic samples of Blade Runner dialogue, and in slomo, out of nowhere, Tom, Doug, Jimbo Morgan, or always crossed up Kevin Andrews, would be floating past that bright blue sky, Stumpy zooming in close.

    "the light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. and you have burned so very very brightly."
    scroll to "Buy DVD", very bottom of page http://bhandf.com/bhandf%202008/longform.htm I do not work for Bill, just dig his work.

    Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. (It) is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. . .There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so. . .people won't feel insecure around you. . . -Williamson

  14. #14
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    Great thread. Like Tom, I backed off Pan de Rideau once, because it didn't feel right. It's still there. I'm still here.

  15. #15
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    I am bumping this because Tom is the man...... and something tells me you might see him in Stumps new film "Legend of Ahhhs"

  16. #16
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    Jungst is the man. I'm sure you can name the run....

    Last edited by FreakofSnow; 11-04-2008 at 11:42 AM.

  17. #17
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    I'll take Hidden Gully for $1,000
    Buy the ticket...take the ride.

  18. #18
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    bridger bowl was my first western skiing experience, now that ive been other places, i can see why he stayed...

    ...nice article too
    Im the one whos gotta die, when its time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way i want to

  19. #19
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    Sick thread. Tom is the man. I got to ski pow with him last winter and I got to be a sherpa for him. That was sweet.
    I've got the key to the highway... I'm gonna leave here runnin', walkin's far too slow

  20. #20
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    Tom is the man- understatement! Been fortunate too to make turns on the Ridge with him. One of my favorite's was with him + Boon Lennon, comparing notes on new inventions.

  21. #21
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    So I've been away from Bridger way too long- but noticed tags at bottom? Same Bob Dog that used to/maybe still is dating Deanna? Most amazing snowboarding chick I've ever met! And Brad- that lived near BB and worked at Schnee's? Bringing back memories....

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by bisnibble View Post
    I am bumping this because Tom is the man...... and something tells me you might see him in Stumps new film "Legend of Ahhhs"
    Yes, Tom is the man, what a helluva guy. I was lucky to catch a PK chair with this bad-ass ripper today, what a pleasure to ride with such a mellow humble yet famous skier.

    When asked, Tom said it sounds like legend of ahhs could be awhile yet.

    Nice to see one of the pioneers pokin around the old playground...cheers Tom

  23. #23
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    Tom jungst = the man for sure. Story upon crazy story of sketchy first descents, etc. The man...
    I've got the key to the highway... I'm gonna leave here runnin', walkin's far too slow

  24. #24
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    Great read. Thanks

  25. #25
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    Great Thread. Wish I had something to contribute. This is why I am on TGR.

    JC

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