C2N — End Credits Theme
Dave Braun, Lou Bartlett, and I skied Iron Mountain's north couloir ten years ago. It remains for me the quintessential Southern California ski mountaineering adventure—the one I will always carry with me.
At the time I was working on a project with the Ski Channel. When I mentioned my plan to try to ski Iron Mountain, they told me to film everything. The project fell through, but the trip didn't. In fact, it exceeded my wildest expectations.
We came home with a massive amount of video. Scanning through the raw footage, it quickly became obvious that I had something very special. I became determined to turn the trip and the video footage into a short film, to share the adventure with as many people as possible.
Somewhere along that process, I started writing songs for the film. I had a genre in mind (Spaghetti Western), and also a feeling I distinctly remembered—the sense, as I was climbing Iron Mountain's south ridge, that I was facing an impossible challenge, that I was I was going to fail, utterly; that I was being broken.
Nevertheless we did reach the summit and we did ski Iron Mountain.
I am struck, today, by how bittersweet that trip has become in my memory. The music—and the film—perfectly captures it, I think. Life is an adventure. Share it, as best you can, with good friends and family, in good times and in bad.
"When I first moved to Los Angeles, it didn't take long for me to realize I'd lost my mind. Giving up a life in the mountains seemed like the worst mistake I'd ever made. But if I hadn't left home, none of this would have ever happened. I would have never met Bill, or Al, or Dan. I would have never met Dave or Lou. And I would have never been introduced to Iron Mountain. A lot of things would have never happened. But they did. I left the mountains only to find them again. In the process I also found good friends and even a family, all of us coming together to share a few adventures stolen along the way...on this great and ever-mysterious journey to nowhere." (The Couloir to Nowhere)
— April 13, 2020
Andy Lewicky is the author and creator of SierraDescents
Brad Brown April 14, 2020 at 7:20 pm
Andy with short hair, reminds me of my then anthem by David Crosby “Almost Cut My Hair” . When I graduated HS in ‘69 I didn’t get a haircut for a year. Then one day you wake up and, like Steve Jobs, you pick a simple style to free your mind for other things.
Always enjoyed your unique musical stylings, cool split screen use. Gotta say my fav was your rock licks featured on the December Bad Day at SJ (photographic rules) post. Would love a vid of you playing that. Again congrats on the C2N, a classic...the ascent to which is on my to do list this fall.
April, May, even June snow has happened on my watch in Big Bear. 4-16-12 enjoyed 16” at SS, 4-9-11 my son hit a foot or so, let season happens. Like you said, up high there should be a ton, more so in the SG. Thinking north side of MB may hold long enough to soften into a safe zone!?
Dan Conger April 15, 2020 at 5:12 pm
If you are a gamer, do you like the Red Dead series? When I played Redemption I thought, “OMG, this is home. This is Bishop! I grew up here!” Great games, and the San Gabriels are reminiscent of the game design as well.
Andy April 15, 2020 at 7:01 pm
I tried RDR2 but thought the interface was too clunky. I agree it was a gorgeous game, though. A western-themed game set in the Eastern Sierra would be amazing. :)