The Fifty: The Mountain Why Ft. Cody Townsend and Michelle Parker

For the past two years, Cody Townsend has been busy with a singular goal – complete all 50 ski descents in the infamous coffee table book The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America. He’s been busy ticking off these descents one by one, but one thing has proven to be a major crux. Chasing ephemeral conditions on lines that are hundreds of miles apart is a challenge. He even built the ultimate ski roadtrip rig in the form of a Go Fast Camper bolted to his Ford Ranger. But it’s Cody Townsend were talking about here, and he likes to do things the hard way – so that’s why he called up his longtime friend Michelle Parker to join him on a special mission to complete lines 28-30 that brought forth a whole new set of challenges and questions that reach far beyond skiing.

From Cody:

The goal was simple, ride bikes, loaded down with 100 pounds of climbing, skiing and camping equipment, over 1000 miles to ski three of The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America. A tiring adventure and a sufferfest of course, but in the context of an ongoing global pandemic, a nation divided by chaos and a populace on the brink, a simple adventure throws the simple act of adventure into question. Why purposely suffer? Why selfishly pursue adventure? Why go into the mountains at all? All questions that a month long adventure begins to throw into your mind. Starring Cody Townsend and Michelle Parker, "The Mountain Why" is a ski adventure unlike any normal escape to the wild.