The FIFTY

[John_B]

Lol, pine martins are such assholes.

Be glad it was not a farrier or a badger.

And if there is a farrier around then usually there are a couple horses too and they are guaranteed to keep you up all night with their fidgeting.

[Alkasquawlik]

So Cody, now that it’s been a while, do you feel that after you did that Death Valley bike ride and the bike ride up to the PNW to ski, do you think you did any irreparable harm to your body? Or do you think it was good that now you know how that pain feels and you can avoid it, or do you have flashbacks? Even now, I sometimes go to that pain zone and I kind of like the flashbacks.

I definitely did long term harm from the PNW ride. Dealt with some serious digestive issues that had me in the ER once and through a battery of tests after it. Never really found anything but because of the stress I put on my body, I think I developed some intolerances / allergies from it that lead to one bout of anaphylaxis, a tube shoved down my throat and the inability to eat a variety of foods I used to be able to eat. The Death Valley ride did a couple weeks of harm but feel fully healed. My take away...stay off the bikes.

But for going into the pain cave again, yeah, still feels fine and unfortunately I still like to go there sometimes. I think I know how to temper it a little bit better and know there is some long term consequences if I push too hard, so that helps make it a little easier to pull back a little bit when necessary.

[plugboots]

Dang. That PNW ride was really off the charts.
Maybe some of my allergies, etc. may be from my pushing too hard in my past. Interesting.

[TahoeJ]

I definitely did long term harm from the PNW ride. Dealt with some serious digestive issues that had me in the ER once and through a battery of tests after it. Never really found anything but because of the stress I put on my body, I think I developed some intolerances / allergies from it that lead to one bout of anaphylaxis, a tube shoved down my throat and the inability to eat a variety of foods I used to be able to eat. The Death Valley ride did a couple weeks of harm but feel fully healed. My take away...stay off the bikes.

Could always be a coincidence as well. You're approaching 40 right? That's an extremely common age to start having issues with certain foods and digestive problems... same thing happened to me (I'm 42 now). For example, I can't drink whiskey or big IPA's anymore and they used to be my favorite. A few months ago I tried to cheat and had a single Old Fashioned and it messed me up for three days. Getting older sucks.

[Supermoon]

Elyse is lucky Cody only breaks out those sick dance moves deep in the backcountry

[SB]

So you are into traverses now?

[Alkasquawlik]

So you are into traverses now?

Multi-days through incredible wilderness, yes. Not going to be something I seek out regularly, but I do understand the appeal now. Single day traverses, still a hard no.

[bean]

But for going into the pain cave again, yeah, still feels fine and unfortunately I still like to go there sometimes. I think I know how to temper it a little bit better and know there is some long term consequences if I push too hard, so that helps make it a little easier to pull back a little bit when necessary.

Definitely one of the (few) advantages of age and experience. I used to be able to absolutely bury myself in my 20s, now that my age starts with a 4 I just can't. Consciously and subconsciously knowing my limits, and acting accordingly I suppose.

[ey_allen]

Just here to bump this thread for sad Cody in a sleeping bag. I'm anxiously awaiting the memes rolling in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWbfnPiKNYM

[::: :::]

The Combatant looked like pretty sketchy ski conditions. You three are assassins on skis. I was cringing at the sounds of those upper turns. And probably would have stopped at the bergshrund if I sank like that.
Not a world I can ever pretend to enter. But I do enjoy watching - you guys are amazing!

[::: :::]

[SB]

I pity the FOOL.

Mr. T

[yeahman]

Cody says in every photo he's seen the top looks skiable. To me the top of the couloir looks rocky and most likely unskiable in the photo on page 123 in the book. In the photo of page 121, it's hard to tell because it's so shaded. Obviously it looks skiable in the photo of Mark Synnott on page 122, assuming he's at the actual top. Is it possible it is not normally covered in neve, but just fills in enough to be skiable certain years? (Or gets "plastered" with sticky snow some years, as Bjarne says at one point.)

In any case, interesting episode. On that day, in those conditions, you definitely skied what was skiable, which is all you can do.

[TripleT]

Interesting episode indeed. Some of the setup moments felt a bit contrived but damn they are providing some awesome memes - https://www.instagram.com/p/CnS4oukr...d=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

As Cody said on his IG post, Bjarne did an awesome job with the filming on this one.

My question is - if they had brought proper gear to climb the upper rock crux, would they have felt compelled to do it?. That would inform the “did I check it off” argument for me personally…

[Supermoon]

My question is - if they had brought proper gear to climb the upper rock crux, would they have felt compelled to do it?. That would inform the “did I check it off” argument for me personally…

Meh. This is Cody’s list, so it’s his rules. If he think he did it, then who’s to argue.

What bums me out is seeing the real world implications of climate change happening in the series. There’s now two last descents and one “doesn’t go anymore” just in the last three or four years. That sucks.

[Maximus Farcisimus]

Good summary of what we've seen in the Coast Mountains the last few years.

Heat dome the previous summer (in general) did so much damage to the glaciers.
It was somewhat obscured by the big early season snowfall that followed. Glacier loss has become even more evident this year, with a record dry fall.
Mid-end of May woulda been our biggest snowpack out there with the 2 big mid-May storms so ya most likely got it in its deepest point, even though it didn't go from the top.

It's depressing to see the alpine change so much, but motivating to go get after it before many 'classics' are gone.

Ski it while ya got it, cause in another 5-10 yrs glaciated terrain is gonna be that much more difficult to navigate and ski.

[bean]

My question is - if they had brought proper gear to climb the upper rock crux, would they have felt compelled to do it?. That would inform the “did I check it off” argument for me personally…

My peanut-gallery opinion: this is a ski project, not a summit project. He skied the line to the best extent possible. Climbing up and down on rocks isn't skiing.

When they got dropped off in gorgeous conditions I expected they'd head straight for the line instead of hanging out, setting up camp, and spending a night risking weather shutting them down.

[LHutz Esq]

I would love to see Cody do “another 50” book. With input from all the guests and locals he spoke to during this project- What are the classic descents of North America now? It will never be definitive but it would give us all fun stuff to argue about over beers.

It wasn’t the not topping out that made this one (some word I can’t nail down right now because I still enjoyed it but not as much as I hoped) for me- it was the heli. This is one of the closest lines to me so I was really looking forward to it. Having been in that area I totally get the why of the heli- but we missed the classic sufferfest we have come to know and love.

Lots of folks fly into those mountains to ski (maybe not exactly there but close enough) The 50 project always seemed different.

Still my favorite YouTube content by very far.

[gramboh]

How does Gerbolet on nearby Mt Shand compare to the Combatant? Always stuck out in my mind as super impressive from the time Kye Petersen and Johnny Foon skied it in this movie (starts around 7:30 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13eU0qTq0M

[Alkasquawlik]

To answer most of the questions in here.

1. If we had a rock rack with pitons and lead rope we may have tried to pass through. But it was also rock that was that super slick glacier polish granite and little ice so could've been still quite hairy scary. The only reason to pass through would be to investigate if we could ski above the point we did ski and then rap back through. The question of whether it was 'done' is more in the question of not knowing. If we could pass through just to rap back through again, it definitely feels done. If we could link up a few turns, then rap, then ski again...then it might not feel as done. But all in all, I ain't going back for that line regardless. It's just not worth it. Sure it's beautiful but there are a lot of great couloirs, even better couloirs that don't either require a long flight in or mega-bushwhack multi-week sufferfest to get in.
2. We got dropped off at about 6:00pm, not too much of a safety window to get it done before it went pitch black.
3. I think Kye and Johnny's line was radder than Combatant.
4. Lhutz--you and me both. It probably felt like a bit of a let down because it was a let down for me personally. I just felt like it all wasn't worth it. The drive to the middle of nowhere, the lack of any real challenge and the fact that it is most likely is deteriorating a ton and a teeny tiny part of that reason it's fading away is because of the travel it takes to get there.
5. Something like that may or may not be in the works...

Ultimately, this line is done and checked off for me not because of any rules to top out, to ski every skiable inch or do it in some sort of collectively judged style. It's done for me because it just wasn't that cool. It was one of the first lines I skied away from and truly questioned stopping this entire project. The whole strike mission left a sour taste in my mouth. It felt like the most selfish part of this entire project, it felt like I was just making episodes and cranking out content for a hungry audience. It just sort of all felt stupid considering the context of everything.

Oh and lastly, I do think it possibly still could be done from the top. It would need a miracle June snowstorm of the wettest, warmest plaster and about three feet of it. But even then, with old photos showing that the top was once rocky, the firn would prop up that spring snow to make the upper sections skiable. The firn in old photos used to extend past the choke, from what we saw, the rocks that were popping out at our high point were super slick, barely frozen in, blocky granite pieces that had been under firn for a very very very long time. Weirdly, it's easier for new snow to stick to ice than it is glacier polished super steep granite. So again, it would need a miracle in my mind to be skiable from the top and who knows, someone could be in the right place at the right time. But that ain't gonna be me because that is far too big of a travel and time investment to keep going up there to see if it fills in.

One last thing, we were skiing about 12 inches of blower pow on the firn itself. It was blue tinged and has icy and hard of snow I've ever skied.

[MakersTeleMark]

I'd say, regardless of the line and the style, that was one hellava heli ride. That alone is a life memory to be so up there in those fabled peaks.

[LHutz Esq]

There was a documentary about some folks that tried to follow the legendary Mundys route when they explored the area in the 20s I think. They tried to used period correct gear and it turned into a shit show. They were def no Townsend/Salen/McNutt for sure. Looked like an epic undertaking no matter what gear you chose. Not 1/50th of a bigger project

Every flight to/from YVR we pass over those mountains and it turns me into a little kid - tracing imaginary lines down all the amazing faces out the window. It is just so endless and amazing!

[t.odd]

appreciate the reflection and thoughts, Cody. It's easy to see why places like that tend to attract multi week trips for groups, given it's location and access. Stunning place though to spend any amount of time in.

[nortonwhis]

As someone from the coast, that winter was pretty wild. It was still nuking good cold pow at WB in mid May. I distinctly remember snow in the valley in May, so I don't think the Waddington range would have got hit with that plastering snow in May, or definitely not as much as i would normally have expected. Not that i'm arguing about climate change, its huge and so incredibly noticeable around here. Even the ski resort has changed so drastically since I moved here.

edit to add. It was a huge snow year though in the high alpine at WB and surrounds so now I think about it its definitely surprising to see it not in good shape

[ey_allen]

Ultimately, this line is done and checked off for me not because of any rules to top out, to ski every skiable inch or do it in some sort of collectively judged style. It's done for me because it just wasn't that cool. It was one of the first lines I skied away from and truly questioned stopping this entire project. The whole strike mission left a sour taste in my mouth. It felt like the most selfish part of this entire project, it felt like I was just making episodes and cranking out content for a hungry audience. It just sort of all felt stupid considering the context of everything.

Well I for one am part of that hungry audience specifically because The Fifty is not some churned out ski-bro content. There are plenty of other channels on YouTube where I can get that fix. Thats not a criticism of this episode, more so a statement that I'll keep watching even if the episodes aren't on a set schedule. I'd hate to see you all get burned out trying to feed the beast.

What I appreciate most is the thoughtful approach to the mountains and these lines, the discussions around safety, and the willingness to turn around. It feels much more realistic than the highly edited and polished content typically produced but with real objectives on the line. I don't get that from other channels so I'd happily wait weeks, months, or years between episodes if thats what it takes for your crew to be happy with the product and how it is made.