Big City Mountaineers has qualified for the Pepsi Refresh Project. Help them win $25,000 and send 50 under-resourced urban teens on week long wilderness trips. All you gotta do is vote here: http://www.refresheverything.com/bigcitymountaineers
Designed and Tested In Jackson Hole
Last Thursday, all of Backbone headed to SIA to check out the year’s hottest new gear, and I felt a little left out. Just as the huge crocodile tears were about to fall down my face when I realized no one was at the office to talk to, I got an email from a good friend and local superstar outdoor photographer, Gabe Rogel . He was shooting a Grand Targhee Resort cat skiing photo shoot the next day and needed skiers. I threw the idea out to my officemate Mike May and he informed me that if I showed up the next day and didn’t go cat skiing, he’d never speak to me again. SO, I went. Twist. My. Arm. The trip also gave me a much needed chance to test out some of my new Backbone gear.
Here is my stoked face on our way up…. first run excitement. Notice my BD Avalung snorkel at the ready.
Here is Gabe working hard with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort staffer, John Beal. John was lucky enough to get to test out the new Cloudveil 2010-11 RPK Jacket and Full Zip Hoodie. Turns out neon yellow looks even better when you are dropping cliffs.
More product testing… the powder skirt on the RPK came in reeeeaaal handy.
The view on the top of Grand Targhee is incredible… especially on a bluebird pow day. Check out the Tetons (and my new obsession-the Bandit Avalung Seth Morrison edition). It makes me look way more hard core than I am.
We closed out the day with a wolf moon rise on the top of the mountain. Pretty spectacular. Another tough day at the office.
Photos: Tristan Greszko
An Antarctic Ski Odyssey
In November 2009 Chris Davenport, Stian Hagen, and Andrea Binning ventured to the bottom of the world in search of the ski lines of their dreams. During their journey to the Antarctic Peninsula, the team discovered a new understanding of the beauty of ski mountaineering and of the depths of human connection to nature. This is their story shot by Jimmy Surette of Granite Films.
Australis: An Antarctic Ski Odyssey from Granite Films Jim Surette on Vimeo.
Black Diamond’s Trifecta
Penn’s been a busy man of late highlighting Black Diamond’s Power Series and Efficiency Series coming in Fall ‘10. Check out the super fun “Justice” named Gear of the Year in Outside Magazine, the fat and light “Drift” and the great go-to ski the “Aspect”.
The Salt Lake Tribune managed to stop Penn long enough to pull a quote from him as did the Deseret News (under his alias Penn Horton.)
SLC’s Big Budha
The ‘Big Budha’ from SLC’s Fox 13 is a staple of the OR Show. His coverage from the floor of the show is great, as long as you don’t mind the 4:45 a.m. wake up call. Kenji gets cut off, but Penn appears to be properly caffeinated for his segment, pimping the new BD Drift ski with typical aplomb, while Chris Hillyer from Teva is fired up for their fall MXT line.
Spyder visits ZG.
The crew at Spyder recently hit up Aspen Highlands and AJAX for some quality photo time with one of its new big mountain athletes, Chris Davenport, along with a few local rippers for the Spyder Boy’s line. Spyder has been hard at work over the past two months putting together a team of legit big mountain skiers, including Davenport and Stian Hagen. The duo just returned from a three week expedition skiing some of the biggest lines around the Antarctic Peninsula, all the while breaking in some Spyder gear. They will also be designing and testing a new backcountry influenced line of ski apparel in the near future.
Aspen photo shoot for Spyder Boy’s Collection. Photo: AspenSpin.com
The Spyder Slippery Suit out for nighttime run. Photo: Spyder
American Lindsey Vonn Takes 3 World Cup Races in Austria…Wearing Boa!
Originally posted on SkiRacing.com
Lindsey Vonn became the only racer in American history to win World Cup races three days straight on Sunday in Austria. Wait, there’s more…she did this wearing the Exos Wrist Brace featuring the Boa Lacing System!
Read the rest of her story Here.
2010 U.S. Ski Team member Lindsey Vonn wears the Exos Short Arm Fracture Brace (in Leopard) featuring the Boa Lacing System
Black Diamond Octane Pack Wins Outside China Gear of the Year!
Our Chinese is not so good, but certainly this is great news!
BD Octane Outside China GOY Winner!
Some other noteworthy coverage with the BD Contour Elliptic Shock trekking poles and the BD Fever glove and Icon headlamp!
You can take the boy out of Texas but…
Dax has either:
a) joined George Bush in Satan worship.
b) taken to color coordinating all his clothing and accessories
c) rooting for a certain UNDERDOG football team to win the National Championships tonight.
Laid Up but Not Laying Down
For all those who admittedly felt a pang of jealousy after reading Penn’s most recent post about ice climbing, Nordic skiing and playing ice hockey during lunch— I want to assure you that you’re not alone. As a member of Backbone Media’s injured employee list (which includes myself and Jonathan Georger), I have been unable to do much of anything athletic since Thanksgiving. In this post, however, I promise not mope or complain about my fractured leg, but instead will point out the advantages of being hurt. Maybe all you healthy people will even be a bit envious when you hear about all the cool things I’ve been up to.
Number 1: I’ve organized my itunes library. All you people with unlabeled tracks, missing cover art, and partially tagged music should be jealous. Although I’m sure you’ll tell me you’re too busy shredding pow and enjoying the sunshine to bother with such a lame activity, I nonetheless would like to assure you of the satisfaction I’ve gotten from a perfectly labeled and perfectly organized music collection.
Number 2: I’ve caught up with old friends and relatives. Free of the time suck of skiing all day, doing yoga, and exercising in general, I’ve been able to have lengthy conversations with my long-lost friends from college, see my grandpa, and even convince my aunt Lucy to come visit for Christmas (she came because this year I couldn’t disappear to the mountains the day after the holiday to go skiing). I’ve even reached out to my high school friends and have planned a very exciting girl’s trip to Vegas.
Number 3: I’ve learned how to swim better. As I grew up in land-locked Colorado and quit swim team after three months because I was too scrawny, I unfortunately never learned how to swim well. Now that the doctor has recommended swimming as one of the only physical endeavors I can enjoy in my current condition, I’m finally facing my deficiencies. My first visit to the pool, I’ll admit, was challenging. My one-piece was way too small (it was probably purchased in 8th grade) and I had forgotten (and didn’t even own) goggles. I didn’t seem to go anywhere when using a kickboard, and was lapped about a million times by the guy in the lane next to me. Despite these setbacks, I was pleased to discover that I did, in fact, enjoy swimming. I felt free in a way I never had before, and my body was thankful to be doing something that didn’t bang up my bones and joints like every other sport I usually participate in.
In sum, I hope I have convinced you that being injured doesn’t totally suck. There are lots of things you can do that aren’t a waste of time. Although, I’ll admit this post is a bit biased as I haven’t included the hours I’ve spent on the couch watching TV and movies (which, I might argue, is NOT a waste of time), I hope it will inspire you to make the most out of being laid up or unable to go outside for any reason. At the very least, maybe you will think twice before doing stupid things like going to Woodward and borrowing your friend’s gear that is two sizes too big (I know I will).
