Butt Puckered Fun!

After several failed attempts at skiing this secret little zone yesterday we finally got it in relatively good snow conditions.  My buddy Adam Ruscitto and I sledded out to this zone that I stumbled across this past summer while mountain biking.  The face is steep and scary!  The pitch ranges from 45 - 50 degrees and the upper 100ft or so was wind hammered and bulletproof.  Once we made it past the ice section the snow was soft and edge able.  The conditions were definitely not ideal, but they were good enough.  It was a memorable day and I even got to hand the camera over to Adam to take photos of me.

The Face and the damage!

Me getting a little air time!

Surfing Sluff!

Adam Getting through the ice and making a nice turn!

Adam pointing through the wave spine!

Timy Dutton Wins The Kirkwood Freeskiing Competition!

Local Squaw Valley kid Timy Dutton wins his first ever big mountain freeskiing competition in a decisive way. I've watched Timy progress as a skier for the 8 years that I've been skiing Squaw and he is definitely on top of his game right now. Look for him to continue to make a name for himself in the ever changing ski industry. Keep up the solid work Timy. So stoked for you buddy!

Timy logging some air time in the Ruby's

Watch Timy Make the first day of the Cirque Venue look Easy!

Skiing 101, How to not stick a really easy cliff!

So a couple of weeks ago I rented a 500mm lens in hopes that I would be able to shoot the Freeride World Tour Tram Face Competition. Unfortunately, the organization made in what my opinion was a bad judgement call and decided to not hold the competition even though the condition were almost as good as they get on the Tram Face.

Since the lens cost me a good bit of money I decided to try and post up around Squaw and capture some of the shredding that happens around Squaw on a regular basis. To my surprise I I captured quite a bit of piss poor skiing in really good conditions. The 3 photos below are the worst of the worst. We call this kid the Sniper! I don't know his name, but I've seen him around Squaw and I don't really like him. He seems to think he is one of the best skiers at Squaw and he's definitely not. He talks too much and needs to learn how to land his airs on his feet. It was actually rewarding for me to catch this bozo totally flailing off an easy 10ft air.

Sniper Backseat and getting ready to roll the windows frantically up and down!

Sniper thinking to himself oh shit I suck!

Wow just all over the place!

Sorry for the negative post, but I kind of found it funny and fitting because this kid really is a true D-Bag.

Squallywood Clinic March 7th 2009

So yesterday was truly epic and memorable.  My day started early, I mean really early.  Myself and two others successfully made a dawn patrol ski descent that had been calling out to me for many years.  After three days of shooting photos and watching my friends and others enjoying one glorious powder day after the other, I finally had to put down the camera for a run that I will never forget!

Once our dawn patrol mission was complete I was fortunate enough to get a 7:30am tram load up to Squaw Valley USA's Silverado Zone.  Silverado had been closed to the public since receiving 6-8ft of fresh powder.  So you can imagine the condition were pretty darn pristine and I was able to capture some great images of Kyle Oneal, Greg Lyndsey, & Mike Wilson.

The rest of my day was spent with Robb Gaffney & the Squallywood Clinic crew.  We couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect day to hold the clinic.  This year we had three skiers in the clinic named Jim Sloves ("the veteran"), Tom Hicks, and Bill Brougher.  Dwayne Kubischta our very talented Cinematographer shot video of the days events and I captured still shots.  We even got a guest appearance from Mike Wilson who wowed us with 2 monster back flips off cliffs.  The clinic was a great success once again and I'd really like to thank the crew for the memories

Look very closely!

Gregger getting whitewater!

Kyle getting ready to stomp!

Mike Wilson doing what he does!

Squallywood Clinic 2009 Slideshow