West Baldy

This past weekend some friends and I took a professional videographer up West Baldy to try to nab some footage of Southern California backcountry skiing for a Ski Channel project.

After staring at West Baldy’s impressive west face from Iron Mountain two weeks ago, we really had no choice but to ski it. The skiing was sublime: silky smooth spring corn, baked to perfection by SoCal sunshine.

The day was clear and beautiful, with especially fine views of the L.A. basin and the Pacific Ocean beyond. Having a pro along to capture everything we did was fantastic. I think SierraDescents needs to get a professional cinematographer on staff ASAP! We spent the whole day up there, including staying for the sunset to catch shots of us skiing off toward the lights of the city below. Super cool!

Posted in Skiing | 5 Comments

The Couloir to Nowhere

I first saw it in January 2008. My friend Bill Henry and I were climbing Mount Baden-Powell for a modest day tour in Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains. As we stood atop Baden-Powell and looked across the deep chasm to our south, we noticed a pencil-thin couloir shooting down an unknown peak several miles away. The line looked steep, remote, and desperate—maybe skiable, maybe not…(more)

Posted in Skiing | 19 Comments

Telluride: Top To Bottom

I’d been thinking about getting this shot ever since I first bought my Contour helmet cam: a continous clip skiing Telluride from the top of the Revelation chairlift, elevation 12,570′, all the way down to the Gondola station in the Town of Telluride, elevation 8,750′. Getting the shot proved trickier than expected, thanks to the weather and the many quirks of the Contour, but I love the result (more…)

Posted in video | 4 Comments