The FIFTY

[Supermoon]

Totally. Always more room for explosions and training montages...

[BFD]

Probably because Bjarne nor I, nor anyone I knew, had ever done anything like this before. We knew from the beginning that we'd be figuring it all out on the fly. How to capture the best story, the crucial moments and tie it all together to make a decent mini-film in one to at most three days of filming while at the same time not bogging down the mission at hand was hard to wrap our brains around at first. So we just went out there and started figuring it out, churning out the edits and figured out what wasn't working and what was working. We still feel like we have a lot of room to improve.

guess your not on University

[ACH]

Cody and Bjarne, you have entered the realm of mentoring through social media.
Whether you know it or not.

^^^
This...

Bjarne nor I, nor anyone I knew, had ever done anything like this before. We knew from the beginning that we'd be figuring it all out on the fly. How to capture the best story, the crucial moments and tie it all together to make a decent mini-film in one to at most three days of filming while at the same time not bogging down the mission at hand was hard to wrap our brains around at first. So we just went out there and started figuring it out, churning out the edits and figured out what wasn't working and what was working. We still feel like we have a lot of room to improve.

The whole series is really outstanding, keep doing what you are doing.
Educational, (hella) aspirational and entertaining.

[Abol98]

The only thing this series is missing is a TGR pro callout in some absolutely remote locale. "Hey are you Cody Townsend? I can't believe you're a pro..."

Preferably at the rally spot after a 20 hour day.

[Alkasquawlik]

guess your not on University

Nah, was trying for it this year but after three+ months of begging, pleading and negotiating with the Park's Service we weren't able to secure permits in time. So hopefully the next year or year after.

[Alkasquawlik]

Having skied the Grand as well as performing several other rappels in winter conditions, you really need to wear crampons to help control your descent. There are some ice bulges in the Stettner and having crampons on to gain purchase on the bulges helps you control the rappel. If you just have ski boots or keep your skis on, you could easily lose control of your rappel if your foot or skis slip when dropping over one of the bulges.

I'll like 3rd, 4th or 5th this statement. Plus beyond controlling the rappel you never know when you're going to have to down climb, which we ended up doing through the whole last rap because we were sick of rappelling and it felt safe enough to down climb. A lot of the time you don't know where the ends of your rope end up and if they're ten feet above the next anchor, you don't want to be having to put crampons on, while on rappel in the gun barrel of a couloir with overhead hazard. Unless I can see where I'm going and can leave my skis on knowing that the rappel is clean and the transition point is moderate, I always put crampons on for rappelling.

[Alkasquawlik]

So good. Jimmy can’t even remember how many times he’s skied The Grand? wow
He’s kinda an alpha male, you think?

If you mean Alpha Male like the kind that drinks Monster and yells at their kids for being pussies, not even in the slightest. I actually don't even know what you're getting at here. I'd say 99% of the people I go into the mountains with are from Alpha Males. Because to me, ego and hyper masculinity, things associated with this Alpha Male thing you speak of, usually do not make good skiers/alpinists/ski mountaineers, the usually make for quickly dead skiers/alpinists/ski mountaineers.

[BFD]

Nah, was trying for it this year but after three+ months of begging, pleading and negotiating with the Park's Service we weren't able to secure permits in time. So hopefully the next year or year after.

thank's for the response. I guess you need a special use permit due to the filming. Bummer kind of takes away the ability to just show up and get up. Good luck on the effort. Looking forward to more episodes. Also appears you hiked in to Meteorite. Something you don't see anymore. Well done.

[thefortrees]

Excellent episode on the Grand! Keep bringing the stoke and inspiring others.

[::: :::]

Cody, I watch these with my kid. We don't really know anything about climbing mountains, but, as skiers, we are stoked to follow along and see the tops of these hills with you. Very cool series!

[TahoeJ]

If you mean Alpha Male like the kind that drinks Monster and yells at their kids for being pussies, not even in the slightest. I actually don't even know what you're getting at here. I'd say 99% of the people I go into the mountains with are from Alpha Males. Because to me, ego and hyper masculinity, things associated with this Alpha Male thing you speak of, usually do not make good skiers/alpinists/ski mountaineers, the usually make for quickly dead skiers/alpinists/ski mountaineers.

Well, to be fair, I think he meant a real alpha male (confident and capable without needing to flex or show off) not the poser wannabe variety you describe. I laughed though! That guy definitely drives a black pickup truck with a monster sticker on the back window... and probably has a small penis.

[dschane]

Echoing -- the series is excellent on many counts, from entertainment to stoke to decision-making chatter to mountain high blather. And of course, the appearance of 22D's Lynx 2-pin telemark binding on Guidebook Guy was brilliant.

Cheers.

[powdork]

Nah, was trying for it this year but after three+ months of begging, pleading and negotiating with the Park's Service we weren't able to secure permits in time. So hopefully the next year or year after.

That's weird I would have assumed you could just go. What is the rationalization for requiring a permit? Or is there some motorized transport involved, or was it for something like drone permit? A video production within the park permit?

[MakersTeleMark]

That's weird I would have assumed you could just go. What is the rationalization for requiring a permit? Or is there some motorized transport involved, or was it for something like drone permit? A video production within the park permit?

Operating a commercial project on public lands requires a permit. Complete endeavors have been quashed after the fact because of this lack of foresight.

[TahoeJ]

That's weird I would have assumed you could just go. What is the rationalization for requiring a permit? Or is there some motorized transport involved, or was it for something like drone permit? A video production within the park permit?

Regardless of filming, I don’t think it’s all that unusual. Don’t you need a permit for Whitney for example? Frank just referenced that in the Eastern Sierra thread recently, I believe (or maybe it was Facebook).

[powdork]

Regardless of filming, I don’t think it’s all that unusual. Don’t you need a permit for Whitney for example? Frank just referenced that in the Eastern Sierra thread recently, I believe (or maybe it was Facebook).

Yes but that's because of the massive volume of people that would otherwise inundate the highest peak in the lower 48.

[powdork]

Operating a commercial project on public lands requires a permit. Complete endeavors have been quashed after the fact because of this lack of foresight.

Davenport Syndrome?

[MakersTeleMark]

Davenport Syndrome?

Yep.

[Alkasquawlik]

That's weird I would have assumed you could just go. What is the rationalization for requiring a permit? Or is there some motorized transport involved, or was it for something like drone permit? A video production within the park permit?

Well technically my production company I started for this project doesn't need a permit. I was labelled by Grand Teton National Park as a "personal project" and not a "commercial project". For any sort of commercial filming the Parks Service requires a permit and a lengthy, loopholed and personal discretion filled approval process. The law is about the most gray-area law I've found being that the judgement and application of punishment is up to regional managers of the Parks.
But due to some production partnering within the project for University, we need permits but Wrangell St. Elias National Park was denying us. There were other factors in pulling the plug on an attempt this year too but ultimately it came to the threat of federal prosecution and not getting permits for it.

[plugboots]

Well, to be fair, I think he meant a real alpha male (confident and capable without needing to flex or show off) not the poser wannabe variety you describe. I laughed though! That guy definitely drives a black pickup truck with a monster sticker on the back window... and probably has a small penis.

This is what I meant. I’ve watched a lot of interviews with him, and he seems so secure and humble.
Edit to add, I met Arthur Miller a long time ago, and we had a nice conversation, and he struck me as being the ultimate alpha male.

[Buster Highmen]

There were other factors in pulling the plug on an attempt this year too but ultimately it came to the threat of federal prosecution and not getting permits for it.

I hear the threat of federal prosecution is all the rage this year!

[powdork]

There were other factors in pulling the plug on an attempt this year too but ultimately it came to the threat of federal prosecution and not getting permits for it.

Can't you just get some of the new ground penetrating radar skis and say you're looking for oil?

[goldenboy]

Well technically my production company I started for this project doesn't need a permit. I was labelled by Grand Teton National Park as a "personal project" and not a "commercial project".

I was wondering how all this was working, especially remembering Dav's 14er movie that he couldn't release due to the Wilderness area footage. Sounds like the least fun part of your project, by far. Hope you're able to make some progress with it.

[Alkasquawlik]

I was wondering how all this was working, especially remembering Dav's 14er movie that he couldn't release due to the Wilderness area footage. Sounds like the least fun part of your project, by far. Hope you're able to make some progress with it.

It is by far the least fun part of this project. The difference between Dav's project and mine first and foremost is "Red Bull" at the front. Throw that name in front of an Forest Service officer and they'll immediately knee jerk to denying you any sort of permission. But for me, I've tried to put out that this is a personal project, all the footage is owned by me and distributed on personal channels, it is no different than any other person putting GoPro footage up on their own YouTube channel...which doesn't need permits. Where it gets sticky is the sponsor logos upfront. But my argument for that is they're funding me being able to do this and are not selling anything directly from the films, they're just supporting me personally. I mean, if I was a rich kid with a trust fund, I wouldn't need their support and the episodes would be exactly the same. It's just I'm not a rich kid so I need support financially to do this. So yeah, that's where I've been able to get permission from the National Parks...but man, it's still a giant pain in the ass. If I somehow get busted for something out of my control, I may need to rally the troops, get some petitions signed and some statements though, could help. Fingers crossed!

[doebedoe]

I'm only signing a petition if it mandates it is for an attempted first descent on ski blades.