Full Disclosure: I found out about this camp on the TGR forum so I have used TGR forum names.
For some of us it was our first day out. For others, it was our 50th.
We came from all across the country and some from another continent.
We fought the arctic cold and our bad habits.
In the end, most of us walked away better skiers and we all left with new friends in far away places. I say most because some of us didn’t walk away at all, one required the assistance of crutches. Prost to you Gamma.
The camp started on Friday January 12 in single digit weather at Utah’s Snowbird resort. Our instructors for the next 3 days would be freeskiing legends Gordy Peifer, Brant Moles, and Chris Collins. As we were in a camp, there were few opportunities to pull out the camera and snap some action pics. Alas, the only action shots came on day 3.
The conditions on Friday were very nice. The better part of a foot of snow had fallen the day before and with the temps so cold, we had classic cold smoke. Most of the day was spent in Mineral Basin. Fog socked in the front side where visibility was nil. I can only compare it to the Jay Peak cloud those of us from the east know so very well. In Mineral Basin, the sun shone down and warmed the earth from down right frigid to a balmy very cold. Traversing to Bookends, my east coast acclimation started to come through. Along the sidestep, it quickly became step, gasp, step, gasp. But the traverse was well worth it. Knee deep pow and untouched lines. We followed Chris down a short chute we quickly learned to ski aggressively even when you were crapping your pants. Chris had us working on ensuring our hands were up and shoulders were square to where you wanted to go.
At the end of the day, we met up with the most energetic man I have ever met, Craig Gordon, for some basic avalanche training. This guy does not need any red bull. We learned the basics of how to use a beacon, probe and find buried skiers, and how to dig a snow pit. An enormous amount of information was exchanged. We retired to the Cliff Lodge for more avalanche awareness information where Craig assembled a top-notch presentation about the danger of avalanches and how to be more aware. If any of you ever get a chance to meet Craig or attend one of his sessions, I highly recommend it.
The final aspect of the evening was video analysis. Nothing like having your technique torn apart in front of 20 other folks. But how enlightening this session was. You could see not only what you were doing poorly, but other who were doing it right. If you are ever serious about getting progressing to a high level of skiing, video analysis is a must.
Saturday January 13.
Back at Snowbird where the temps were even colder today; -7 F at the top of the tram (without the wind). No new snow and now there was the weekend crowd with which to deal. The muscles were a little sorer and joints stiff. Riding with Brant in the morning, we learned drills to improve form and deal with variable conditions. We also traversed back to Bookends to find some fresh (which we did). The front side was again socked in fog and definitely felt colder than Mineral Basin. In the afternoon, Gordy took our group up to Baldy chutes, the Snowbird freeskiing venue. Here we learned the definition of the term “bony”. Those familiar with the Utah season know snowfall is down compared to the averages and there are many places with exposed rocks and stumps. Shooting quality video was a challenge as we played dodgerock down the slope. Conundrum took a rocksolid line (pun intended) right over some exposed slab to make the boys at the tuning shop earn their keep.
After some haggling with Gordy, DJ was able to procure the video of this session and once we figure out the youtube thing, will show you what it was like.
After the day was over, we retired back to the Cliff Lodge for more snacks and drinks (where did all the whisky go?) and some more video analysis. Later that night Brent (I think his name was Brent) a pro photographer, came in to give us a slide show. His pics were nothing short of amazing. You have seen some of these in Powder. Pics of Pierre hucking cliffs, Matt Collins launching into low altitude orbits, and countless locals doing stuff most of us mortals can only dream of doing. Unfortunately, no shots of Dogwonder dropping that epic 8 footer. Great job Brent.
Sunday January 14.
Today we changed venues to Alta and if you can believe it, it was even colder. -4 F in the parking lot and -12 at the top of the Collins lift. We mixed the groups up a bit today and DJ and I rode the morning with Stormday and The Dark Side. Getting to the Sugarloaf lift, the sun was rising and heated you up nicely. Even though it was the coldest day, it felt like the warmest. From the top of the Sugarloaf lift, we traversed over to Little Baldy and began to hike up to cut the practically pristine face. Most of the camp was together for this trip and we diced the **** out of the line. Even Gene decided to straightline it. Although he did it from the friendly confines of his keester.
Stuntcok getting real deep:
DJ:
Yours truly:
awesome
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