Devils Bedstead; North Face

Named one of the "Top 50 Classic Ski Decent in North America", the Devils Bedstead has been on my list of peaks to climb and ski ever since I saw a picture of its jagged profile and impossibly steep north face.  I had offhandedly attempted an ascent in May 2012 with my buddy Ralph Forgeon but we had trouble finding the correct route and were hit by a burly snow storm; forcing us to bail before we even reached the base of the face.  Every year since, I have told myself that I will "do it this spring," but things always came up with work or injuries.

When my friend Bob Molyenaux gave me a call last week asking if I would be interested in climbing this iconic peak I was taken by surprise because it was the exact thing that was on my mind, I just hadn't known who to persuade into the journey.  Without hesitation I was fully onboard.

Due to work on the tree farm, I had a very narrow window in which I could make the trip happen. The weather forecast was showing that Saturday-Monday would be ideal but that the days around them were storming. The storms always seem to last longer and start sooner here so I figured that that meant only Sunday would be good weather.  It was on.  Bob and I both called our resources for beta on the ascent.  I talked to Griffin Post, who has done the climb twice, and he gave us great info on how to navigate through the forest and find the base. Bob had done some great research and we both felt prepared with the maps and pictures that he had obtained.

We decided to do an early morning start rather than camp out the night before.  My alarm buzzed at 5AM and I was at Bob's place by 6.  The sunrise while driving over Trail Creek was incredible with its pink glow on the Bedstead.  Man it looked huge, and we were still miles away; what were we thinking?

We were loaded up with our much too heavy packs and walking down the Kane Creek Trail at 7:11, that was a good sign.  After the third creek crossing we walked a bit further and then veered off into the trees where it looked the most navigable.  At this point it was hard to tell if we were on the right course but we started following a game trail at some point; and the deer always know what they're doing.

We hiked for about 30-45 minutes minutes before hitting the snow line in the trees and attempting to walk on top of it, without much success. We then skinned through the trees for another 30 minutes or so.

Once we had arrived at the base, we could see that the storm from the past few days caused some wet slides but the climb itself actually didn't look nearly as intimidating as it did from afar.  We slid over to the couloir that had the most obvious route up it, slipped on the crampons, grabbed our axes, loaded up our skis once again, and had a quick snack.  

We climbed to what we could tell was the halfway point of the face and only 2.5 hours had gone by from the time we left the car.  This got us pretty hyped on how well we were doing. That would soon change.

The higher we climbed, the steeper and more wind affected the slope became.  We felt lucky to have a fresh 6" layer of snow to give us more purchase into the face, otherwise I would have been scared out of my mind.  One little slip of a foot and you would go for the scariest ride of your life.  But, we still had to deal with how steep the mountain was getting, we were definitely not setting any records anymore.

We got to a little flat perch about 500 vert ft. from the top and saw some people who had stopped there, they said it wasn't worth for them to get up that last little bit.  I was confused why they wouldn't just do it, but we soon found out their reasoning.  The cover was minimal over the rocks, the sluff was getting worse, and our purchase into the snow was not ideal.  Each step was only a few inches in front of the last, we were using our axes in one hand while clawing/punching with the other hand; progress was slow and painful. Every time I stopped I had to keep my legs calm by placing my knee against the slope; otherwise I would start to have the most wild thigh cramps and shakes.  I began to worry about making it back down the face, but we pressed on.  It took us about an hour to get up that 500 vert ft. section. But hey, we did it.  The top of the Bedstead is just as narrow as it looks, it's practically a tightrope walk with a couple thousand feet down on either side. Just enough room to lay your pack down and eat some lunch.

  
WrapCity, eh Bob?

You can barely see Baldy in the distance (center of frame)...

Feeling accomplished, we began the ski down.  At this point it was warming up significantly, any later and it might have been too warm.  There were sections of wet, then ice, then wet again.  The snow was strange but that didn't matter.  At the bottom, we traversed to a recent slide path that allowed us to ski down a little closer to the Kane Creek Trail.  We popped off the skis and boots and then down-hiked to the trail, it took about an hour from there to the car.

 
The day could not have been any more perfect, the sun was out, the wind was calm, the air was warm.  It came with its challenges, but this was definitely one of the most memorable skis I have ever done.  Stoked to have shared this with the Bobcat.

Endless Travels

For years I have wanted to have a rig that could take me anywhere and be totally sustainable on it's own.  A rig that could be parked in the middle of the mountains and still provide me an awesome base camp for skiing and exploring.  After years of looking at hundreds of different options, I finally decided to sell my 4Runner and make the leap to buy a Sprinter.

At first I was seriously looking into old short school busses and thought that would be the way to go, but in the end I went with the Sprinter because it is way more reliable as well as structurally sound to add framing and everything that I wanted to do.

Eventually I found a Sprinter at an alright price but it was way back in New Jersey.  Because I own a kids camp I can't really take any days off during the summer so I paid my parents to drive it across the US for me, you know, only 36 hours on the road.  It was an adventure for them and I'm very grateful that they could do that for me!

By this time, I only had 2.5 weeks until school started so I began working on the van right away.  It started as a tin can with a giant metal cage behind the seats and huge medical equipment racks bolted to the walls.  I removed all that stuff and then cut massive holes in the body; one for a big window I wanted in the side and another for a ceiling fan.

Here is a pic after I removed the original cage and all the junk:

Then I started framing the interior of the van.  The plan was to frame it with 1x4's to make a solid foundation so that I could treat the build more like a house.

Here you can see the framing on all except the ceiling.  I also built boxes around the wheel wells so I could build around them later on and also fill that space with insulation to keep road noise down and stay a little more warm:

And here I am just finishing framing it.  My parents were awesome and helped me out this late night:

Then, did spray foam insulation to the entire thing.  This is the way to go because it really fills in all the little holes and spaces throughout the body.  I wanted to keep this thing as bombproof as possible for the bitter cold days in the PNW.   Here it is after insulation and attaching the ceiling panels: 

Next I did the wall panels with 1x6 tongue and groove pine, stained:

Here are the cables coming in from the solar panel on the roof:

And here it is after finishing the walls and installing cork flooring.  The flooring only took about 4 or 5 hours: 

I had to make trips back and forth from school for the first 2 weeks because I couldn't finish everything in such a short time frame, but here is where I am at now with the set up.  

I have a nice and big bed with all of the gear you would ever want underneath.  I actually have pretty much everything I own under the bed:  2 bikes, Speedwing, Skis, Backpacking gear, Climbing gear, Skateboards, Slacklines, Tennis Racquet and other random stuff like extra shoes and helmets, etc. 

I have a kitchen cabinet under the window and am building a desk for that as well.  Also, I will install a dresser and small closet under the bed this week. It used to have a fridge but it broke so I'm waiting on that right now.   

I am living in this thing while I go to school and I just shower on campus and use the library when I

need internet.  Now that my brother is moving to town I will park in his driveway and share the shower and kitchen with him so that'll be pretty nice.  

This has been such an awesome project and I've had to get creative with the tiny living space, but it's all working out so far.  The real test will be this winter so stay tuned!

Before and After

Amazing Week at the Crystal FWQ

I was fortunate enough to get into the Freeride World Qualifiers this week at Crystal Mountain. I have been trying to get into these things for a couple years; the way the seed lists work with registration, I just couldn't ever get in.  Anyways, I was stoked to finally have this opportunity.  So, on February 2, I drove 11 hours to Tacoma, WA and stayed with my buddy Scott Smith.  The next morning I drove 2 hours up to Crystal for inspection day.

I was pretty nervous because this was my first comp, I was alone, and I had no idea what to expect.  After registration, I went up the gondola and over to what I thought was going to be the venue (they had two possible Day 1 venues).  I took a few runs over there and realized it was kinda weird that nobody was around, haha.  Finally, I found the correct venue and it was much better than what I was looking at earlier. 

The snow was a variable mix between ice, moguls, and about 2 inches of soft stuff (if you were lucky).  I started to wonder how I would ever choose my line, and I spent about 3 hours over there going over different options.  At around 1:30 I found a nice hit that got me really pumped.  It was a technical, ski width wide approach to a 35 ft cliff (I would take it to at least 55 ft).

That night I went over my line again and again.  Go from the flag and rip over two little spines making nice, quick turns; then maneuver onto the cliff and send a slow backflip; then go fast through some trees and into the finish.  I had it in my mind, I just needed to keep calm and remember... "Full Wingspan."

I nailed my run and was really happy with myself.  I didn't even care if I got into finals because I really didn't expect that; being my first competition and all.  Turns out, I ended up in 1st place that day.  I was so stoked.

The picture above shows the Day 2 venue, Silver King.  I picked out an awesome line and was pretty happy about it.  I was going to go down the narrow chute to lookers left and send it over three cliffs with no tricks; just ski fast, go big, and make it look fun!  Unfortunately, I got freaked out by all the flips and spins people were throwing and I thought I should change my run to stay in 1st place; bad idea.  I changed my line as I hiked up, rookie mistake.  I was going to throw a 360 and a backflip; I wanted to do something really entertaining.  But then I thought maybe I should go back to the original plan.  My head was all over the place.

I dropped in and just went blank, what was I doing out here?!  I skied the little chute and hit one 25 footer and had no idea where to go.  I just skied down from there.  Needless to say, I was bummed.  I was the last one to ski that day and everyone was still so excited and supportive.  We all shredded down the mountain in a big mob. 

I ended up in 7th place overall and I am still kicking myself for blowing it, but what really matters is that I had one of the best times skiing in my entire life.  

Going to this competition, I wasn't sure about the whole thing.  But by the end of it all, I am itching to get to another one.  The ridiculously talented and genuinely nice athletes are what makes these things fun.  I met some amazing people this week and I can't wait to shred with them again.

That is what the FWQ is all about: skiing fun mountains with the best of friends, going big, and making incredible memories.

Here are the final Men's and Women's Results:

Welcome to the Team

I am excited to announce my new sponsorship on the Discrete Headwear team.  It is a true honor to be on the same team as some of the most talented and inspirational athletes in the industry.  I cannot wait to get my season started and new plans are underway.  My brother, Michael, and I are getting ready to film a wild season and create a unique, professional short film at the end of the season. 

Keep an eye out for clips throughout the season.  And for now, check out a cool little video Michael just put together HERE

A Long Summer

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have written.  My summer has been one wild ride, and up until now I have been distracted by my injuries and the recovery process.  Rehab is still a large part of my life, and I have a ways to go until I am 100%, but I cannot wait for this winter.  I am confident that I will be able to shred harder than ever and my motivation is pushing me to work extremely hard everyday.

For those who don't know what happened to me, I was in a couple serious accidents.  The first happened on April 26.  I was filming a longboarding segment for a company called Jase Boards.  It was a simple segment and I crashed doing a simple trick.  I did not have a helmet on at the time (I always wear helmets) and I got off balance and flipped 180º straight to the back of my head.  I cannot remember any of this, but the kid I was filming with took me to the hospital in Logan, UT and from there I was transported to a neurosurgeon Ogden.  I suffered from basal and temporal skull fractures, a serious concussion, and a traumatic brain injury.  This happened right before finals week so I missed every single final, but the professors all excused me and I passed every class.  weeeooooo!! 

I had a long first week in and out of the ER, but after about 6 weeks I was feeling really good.  So I decided that it would be fine for me to do some speedflights with my brother (who I taught how to fly during my recovery).  We flew 5 times over a couple days, and then on June 8th we hiked Lookout Mountain behind our house with our good friends Andrew McKean, Will Burks, Miles Daisher, Sean Chuma, and Marco Poko.  Once again, I do not remember any of this; the info is all from talking to those who were there.  I was flying Will's Bobcat 15, which I did not like to fly because it was super "rolly" and I was not used to how it flew.  After taking off I decided to crank some big turns and since I was not used to the wing, I made way too big of a turn and dropped over 100ft and then got "locked-in" the next turn.  This slammed me into the mountain really, really, hard.  I have no idea how fast I was going, but it had to have been a terrible sight.  I hit the mountain only about 1,000 vertical feet below the launch site.  

My dad was watching from the backyard and he saw the crash happen.  After seeing this, he called me and said, "hey somebody crashed, did you see them?!"  I responded, "yeah, it was me. I need a helicopter."  Somehow I was calm on the phone, but the pain must have been unbelievable.  I was in shock.

Miles and Will flew and landed side-hill by me like the true professionals that they are, and Andrew ran down to me.  911 was called and the Ketchum and Hailey fire departments arrived at the base of the mountain along with the Wood River Backcountry Rescue team.  I was still 2,000 vertical feet above the rescue teams and the rescue helicopter was 6 hours out.  The rescue teams had to make a decision and that was to hike up and then rappel me down with a series of ropes.

Long story short, it took 10 hours to get me off the mountain and to the life-flight helicopter.  I was flown the St Alphonsus hospital in Boise for emergency surgery on my leg.  I had broken my right femur, sprained both my ankles, tore my PCL in my right knee, hit my head again (with an unhealed skull fracture), broke a finger, and smashed my face really good.  The surgeons put a 2 foot long aluminum rod through my hip and down to my knee to hold my femur in place.

After surgery, I was released from the hospital the next day and the rod allowed me to walk with crutches.  The healing process was pretty painful and frustrating, but after only 4 weeks I was on my bike.  I got too excited and rode 20 miles in under an hour for 3 days straight.  This ended up slowing down my ability to rehab because I got tendonitis in my right knee from doing too much too soon.

Anyways, I am back at school and rehabbing every single day.  I can mountain bike really hard now which is a true lifesaver, but my hip pops out a lot so that is something I am really concentrating on right now.

I cannot wait for winter and I am so excited to start filming.  I plan on doing a series of short films about my travels skiing and flying.  My next post should be more on the happy side because I hope to be shredding soon!  I want to thank everyone who has supported me along my path of recovery, you are all amazing and inspiring people.

To WATCH the VIDEO of my RESCUE that Fox New did.  CLICK HERE

On The Road to Becoming a Ski Bum

This upcoming winter I don't want to be held down to ski one resort with a season pass so I am going to travel and chase storms as much as I can.  I haven't decided if I will take any classes yet, but if I do, it will only be a few.  Of course I want to save money, so I built this sleeping platform in the back of my 4runner so I don't have to buy a hotel.  I hope to stay on friends' couches most of the time, but when that isn't possible I have this awesome set up.  It took about 5 hours to finish and I love it.  I like that I made it able to fold up in the back really easily.  

DEEP

Brandon Schmidt and I knew that Snow Basin had gotten some snow, maybe a few inches, so we were stoked to wake up and get out of the house by 7:45.  As we pulled up to the mountain, we could see that it was absolutely dumping.  First thing we did was head straight towards the Tram, we knew that we could hike into some good snow no matter how deep it was.

When we got to the top, somebody called out to me, "where's all the good stuff man?"  I looked over to see a guy in all blue and I replied, "well, with the new snow, all the steeps are closed but you can follow us, we are going to ski over here."  A group of 4 guys followed me to the top of a little chute, and being from the flats of Colorado, they were psyched.  After an awesome first run, we all decided to shred together for another lap.  From the top of the tram once again, we hiked to "No Name Peak."  Brandon and I had never been up there, but after only 5 minutes of hiking, we were at the top of a perfect field of pow.  I dropped in first and was surprised at how deep the snow had gotten, almost waste deep already.  Everyone was yelling and charging the entire way down, I knew today was going to be big.  

After that amazing run, I introduced myself to the guys we were with.  Jay just moved to Salt Lake, Jacob just moved to Ogden, and two of the other guys Jacob #2 and Dean (or something like that) were visiting from Colorado.  They suggested we go to "Strawberry," another section of the mountain, and that turned out to be the best idea ever.  We got over there to find absolutely no one in sight.  We had the mountain to ourselves.  Then it got even more incredible, we found the cache where all of the wind was dropping ridiculous amounts of snow on.  Literally, I was chocking on snow as white waves of powder curled over me.  At some points, the snow was at least to my chest deep.  The day continued to be one of the best days of my life.  We didn't stop to eat or even go to the bathroom all day.  On the last run to the car (parked on the side of the road), I had Brandon take a picture of me so that we could remember how deep the snow was that day.