Maid of the Mist

Dawn-patrolled up Maid of the Mist yesterday with the infamous Kramer. 

Felt like it was still winter up in Hyalite. Good turns and a ton of laughs.

Pre-dawn skinning.

Dawn skinning.

Kramer verting. 

Kramer skinning.

The Maid.

Shredding:

RIP Rando Steve

"Steve “Randosteve” “Randomeo” “Randobewan Skinobee” “X-Steve” Romeo, 40, of Jackson was caught in avalanche March 7 on the north side of Waterfalls Canyon near Ranger Peak in Grand Teton National Park.  He was accompanied by fellow backcountry skier, Chris Onufer.  Neither survived." 
-Wikipedia

Rando's blog, Teton AT, has stoked me out so many times to just get up two hours before sunrise and get out into the mountains. Especially last winter. While everyone was complaining about the winter being a bummer, Steve was getting after it and the videos he would post on his blog encouraged me to shake off the bad vibe everyone was putting out and get into the mountains myself. We lost Steve to the mountains on March 7th, 2012.

If you are ever feeling a lack of motivation for skiing and boarding, I encourage you to go through the old posts of tetonat.com and let Steve's never ending stoke and love of being in the mountains inspire you.

Steve skiing Middle Teton:

TetonAT Videos: Middle Teton, Glacier Route from randosteve on Vimeo.

Mt Blackmore 2/23/13

Headed up Mt Blackmore yesterday with my buddy Nate and the incredible Gordie Howe.

ECTs in the very high 20s with 6 inches of fresh powder made for an awesome day. Lord Blackmore shut us down about 200 feet from the top with too much wind and some whiteout conditions. It was too bad because the North Face was calling. Great turns either way.

music by: Brick and Mortar

http://brmr.net/

Hollowtop

Rode my bike out to the T-Roots on Friday with Chris Bangs of Human Powered Mountaineers Inc.

Long day in the saddle with great weather.

Long and warm approach on Saturday.

Forgot the glob stopper for the April conditions in mid February.

On the approach. Summit underneath the bottom of the sun.

Number three of Chris's "Seven Summitts" project.

Ian, Chris and Sabego chillin at 10.604 feet.

Me on the summit.

Riding over the Madison River on our way back to Bozeman on Sunday.

Beehive

Deep day up in Beehive. 

Ian breaking trail with Gordie Howe and Sebago in towe.

 The igloo when I left it on Jan 4th.

Today. 

The roof sloughed a bit. Gordie tried to pull it the rest of the way down on us.

Sun came out between wind storms.

This little remote trigger sketched us out a bit. 

Ian ripping out of the trees.

Sebago had a great time.

The future of Splitboarding!?!

As a gear geek, I am always stoked at this time of year when the industry is showing off next years gear.

Spark R&D is getting some serious props from Jake Burton  with the new Tesla System while we have some bigger companies dropping new systems.

One new system is from K2. It's called the "Kwicker".


http://business.transworld.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/kwicker/k2snbd_kwicker2.jpg

I have some problems with the system (although I've never ridden it). It looks a bit heavy, requires that you purchase a K2 boot that works with the system and it doesn't have a highback. I don't know what to think. I'd love to try it out in some deep heavy snow.

In the words of Jake Burton:

"We're still always looking at step-ins, but you just can’t compromise the ride. That's just suicidal. Those bindings lift a lot more than you think they do. Our guys measure how much the heel cup comes off the board on a topside turn and it's unbelievable. It's very hard to replicate that with a step-in technology. They're a big kink in the middle of this very fluid connection. That's what people have constantly rejected over the years."  

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/snow-sports/snowboards/Whats-Next-for-Snowboarding-A-Conversation-With-Jake-Burton.html?page=3

XC skiing?

I hate cross country skiing. So I roll on metal edged skis rocking my tele boots, three pin bindings and a waxless area underfoot. 

Got to try out my buddy Nate's Karhu Catamount skis today. They were pretty awesome. Could use more sidecut. 

My hope is to get a set of Voile Vector BC skis for next season. We shall see.