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154 Search Results for "valdez"

  • Bomb Snow TV Goes to AK: Episo Bomb Snow TV Goes to AK: Episode 4 Shallower, Closer, Shorter

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      Words: The Bomb Snow 

       

      After a rowdy eviction party, we hit the road early on April 1st with Alaska segments from old MSP and TGR movies burned in our brains. With 2500 miles in front of us, we knew we were in for a long ride, but the prospects of skiing steep blower spines kept our spirits high. Loaded with five snowmobiles on an old rusty trailer, we were clueless as to the hardships that would be brought on by the rough roads of Northern Alberta and the Yukon.

       

      Bomb Snow TV Episode 4, the last of the season produced by the Bridger Brigade, is a brief account of our adventures to Alaska. From Montana, to Valdez, to Haines, and back to Montana, our journey was filled with highlights and disasters. We have gained a new understanding and appreciation for the Alaskan skiing journey. After 7 days and 6 nights in the truck, 4 blown trailer tires, and 2 broken trailer arms, our hardships were outweighed by a plane drop and an unreal 4 days spent on a glacier in Haines.

       

      Needless to say, the Alaskan experience was humbling. The sick terrain and incredible challenges have revamped our ambition toward skiing. With new determination and new goals, nothing will stop us from spending our Spring's in Alaska.

       

      Created By: The Bridger Brigade

      Directed and Produced by: Axel Peterson, Rob Raymond, Randy Evans, Henry Worobec

       

      Videography: Axel Peterson, Henry Worobec, Randy Evans, Rob Raymond, Tyler Morton, Mark Rainery

       

      Shredders: Randy Evans, Kyle Taylor, Henry Worobec, Axel Peterson, Rob Raymond, Mark Rainery, Tyler Morton

       

      Edited by: Axel Peterson and the Bridger Brigade

       

      Photography: Travis Andersen

       

      Special Thanks: Voke Tab, Caravan Skis, Smith Optics, Drake Olson @Fly Drake, Bill Buchbauer, Fort Seward Lodge, Mike @Mikes Bikes and Boards, The Radbots, Alaska Backcountry Outfitter, Tailgate Alaska, Alaska Brewing, Kyle Christenson and his piece of S***T trailer, Bozone Brewery, Beer and Pow, Tecnica Blizzard, Orage

    • 2 weeks ago
    • Views: 11
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  • Ski Paradise In Valdez - TGR B Ski Paradise In Valdez - TGR Bar Stories Episode 2

  • 92 Days In Valdez In Less Than 92 Days In Valdez In Less Than 2 Minutes - TGR Moments

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In this episode of Teton Gravity Research’s web series Moments, take a look at a stream of production snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory in Valdez. Each behind-the-scenes shot is 1 to 1 ½ seconds long and edited together to give a sense of what it was like filming The Dream Factory with Todd Ligare and Griffin Post in Alaska.

      Inspired by Cesar Kuriyama’s “1 Second Everyday – Age 30” video, Moments is a web series by Teton Gravity Research that pieces together snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory during the 2011-’12 season. Celebrate moments from locations such as Jackson, Anchorage, Valdez, the northern Chugach, Canada’s Powder Highway, and Pemberton, BC.

      Order The Dream Factory

      Watch More TGR Moments

    • 2 months ago
    • Views: 140
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  • 13 Days Along The Powder Highw 13 Days Along The Powder Highway In Less Than 2 Minutes - TGR Moments

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In this episode of Teton Gravity Research’s web series Moments, take a look at a stream of production snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory along the powder highway as the team heads to Alaska. Each behind-the-scenes shot is 1 to 1 ½ seconds long and edited together to give a sense of what it was like filming The Dream Factory along the way with Todd Ligare, Griffin Post, Chris Benchetler and Rory Bushfield.

      Inspired by Cesar Kuriyama’s “1 Second Everyday – Age 30” video, Moments is a web series by Teton Gravity Research that pieces together snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory during the 2011-’12 season. Celebrate moments from locations such as Jackson, Anchorage, Valdez, the northern Chugach, Canada’s Powder Highway, and Pemberton, BC.

      Order The Dream Factory

      Watch More TGR Moments

       

    • 2 months ago
    • Views: 56
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  • 14 Days In Anchorage In Less T 14 Days In Anchorage In Less Than 2 Minutes - TGR Moments

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In this episode of Teton Gravity Research’s web series Moments, take a look at a stream of production snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory in Anchorage, Alaska. Each behind-the-scenes shot is 1 to 1 ½ seconds long and edited together to give a sense of what it was like filming The Dream Factory in Anchorage with Cam Riley and Clayton Vila.

      Inspired by Cesar Kuriyama’s “1 Second Everyday – Age 30” video, Moments is a web series by Teton Gravity Research that pieces together snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory during the 2011-’12 season. Celebrate moments from locations such as Jackson, Anchorage, Valdez, the northern Chugach, Canada’s Powder Highway, and Pemberton, BC.

      Order The Dream Factory

      Watch More TGR Moments

    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 6
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  • Pontoon Peak – TGR Bar Stories Pontoon Peak – TGR Bar Stories Episode 1

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      Pull up a chair, crack a beer, sit back and listen to a Teton Gravity Research Bar Story. In this episode, learn about the historic first descent of Pontoon Peak in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. Located between Cordova and Valdez, Pontoon Peak is one of the prized ski descents in the range. While an iconic photo has lead many skiers to believe Trevor Petersen and Eric Pehota skied it first, let Jerry Hance and Michael Cozad tell you the real story.

      Bar Stories is a web series by Teton Gravity Research. With interview footage taken from TGR’s newest ski and snowboard movie, The Dream Factory, let the legends of skiing tell you how epic it really was.

      Order The Dream Factory

      Watch More TGR Videos

    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 9
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  • 75 Days In Jackson Hole In Les 75 Days In Jackson Hole In Less Than 2 Minutes - TGR Moments

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In this episode of Teton Gravity Research’s web series Moments, take a look at a stream of production snapshots from the filming of The Dream Factory in Jackson, Wyoming. Each behind-the-scenes shot is 1 to 1 ½ seconds long and edited together to give a sense of what it was like filming The Dream Factory in Jackson Hole. 

      Inspired by Cesar Kuriyama’s “1 Second Everyday – Age 30” video, Moments is a web series by Teton Gravity Research that pieces together snapshots from the filming of “The Dream Factory” during the 2011-’12 season. Celebrate moments from locations such as Jackson, Anchorage, Valdez, the northern Chugach, Canada’s Powder Highway, and Pemberton, BC.

      Order The Dream Factory

    • 3 months ago
    • Views: 472
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  • Valdez Heli-Skiing History - S Valdez Heli-Skiing History - Segment From The Dream Factory TGR Ski Movie

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In this scene from Teton Gravity Research’s newest film, The Dream Factory, take a look at the history of skiing in Valdez, Alaska, and see what it's like today.

      Follow the story of the heli-skiing boom from Doug Coombs and the Tsaina Lodge in the early 1990s to the big mountain rippers of today like Todd Ligare, Griffin Post and Ralph Backstrom, who continue the pioneering spirit of skiing in Alaska.

      Buy The Dream Factory

      Read More On The New Tsaina Lodge

      Read More On Valdez Heli-Ski Guides

    • 4 months ago
    • Views: 104
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  • News: Win A Trip To Ultima Thu News: Win A Trip To Ultima Thule Lodge In AK Through Protect Our Winters

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:



      PACIFIC PALISADES, CA –Protect Our Winters, the global climate change nonprofit and Alaska’s premier wilderness lodge, Ultima Thule, have launched the Jeremy Jones Ultima Thule Adventure, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for two to snowboard and adventure with pro snowboarder, Jeremy Jones in Alaska’s Wrangell/St. Elias mountains, hosted by the Ultima Thule Lodge.

      The all inclusive, four-day package includes being able to snowboard with Jeremy Jones, the star of Further, the snowboard adventure epic currently in theaters. Jones filmed some of the segments near Ultima Thule in the Wrangells and called the mountain range the “steepest, most unexplored terrain he’s ever seen.”

      Ultima Thule Lodge is a luxury wilderness adventure outpost located deep in the 13.2 million acre Wrangell St-Elias National Park; part of the largest protected land mass on earth. The Lodge sits 100 miles from the nearest road and is only accessible by bush plane. Remote, yet refined the Lodge was named in the “BEST PLACES TO VISIT” by National Geographic Traveler magazine.

      All-inclusive packages feature gourmet Alaskan fare, first-class bush lodging and highlight exclusive airplane safari adventures. The lodge also boasts a family of internationally acclaimed pilots and a small fleet of specialized bush aircraft that can land on and off the snow covered glaciers and alpine tundra.

      “We’re just thrilled that Ultima Thule came to us with this idea. With the stoke level of Further as high as it can be now, we’re so excited to bring it to life and offer an opportunity to the snow sports community to win this dream trip. 100% of every contribution will be directly placed towards our efforts to protect places like the Wrangells from climate change”, said Chris Steinkamp, Executive Director at Protect Our Winters.

      In addition to the Ultima Thule Lodge package, the winner will receive a Jones snowboard, Vans Cirro snowboard boots, Jeremy’s backcountry gear from Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd and $500 travel credit to Valdez, AK, where the adventure begins.

      To enter, donate $5 to Protect Our Winters at: http://www.protectourwinters.org/ultima_thule/


      To keep the chances of winning exciting, they are limiting the number of contributions at 5,000 total. The contest runs though February 15th, 2013.

      Ultima Thule Lodge: A remote paradise lies deep in the Alaskan Wilderness, accessible only by bush plane. Immersed in extreme nature, you will discover an outpost designed for adventure and enhanced by comfort, 100 miles from the nearest road. Three generations of family have called this pristine wilderness home and strive to protect and preserve it for the ones yet to come. For more information, visit: http:// www.ultimathulelodge.com & www.farfargnargnar.com

      Protect Our Winters (POW) is the environmental center point of the winter sports community, united together towards a common goal of reducing climate change's effects on our sport and mountain economies.  Founded in 2007, POW re-invests contributions in educational initiatives, activism and supporting community-based initiatives.  For more information, visit www.protectourwinters.org.  Stay in touch on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/protectourwinters.

    • Blog post
    • 5 months ago
    • Views: 239
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  • Ski Camping In Valdez - Behind Ski Camping In Valdez - Behind the Line Season 5 Episode 6

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      In Season 5 Episode 6 of Teton Gravity Research's web series Behind The Line, Ralph Backstrom, Todd Ligare, and Griffin Post take snowmachines deep into the crevasse riddled mountains surrounding Valdez, Alaska and set up camp for a couple of weeks. With the goal of hiking and descending some gnarly lines, the team encounters many challenges that may prevent them from completing their mission.

      Behind The Line is a series that features a unique line, jump, or session from the filming of Teton Gravity Research's 2012 ski and snowboard film, The Dream Factory. Watch as athletes take a look back at these insane moments and discuss them, providing an in-depth look Behind The Line of The Dream Factory.

      Watch More Episodes

      Order The Dream Factory

      Music:

      Tracks: “ Inception Beat ” & “ Fuzz Sound ”
      Music courtesy of: Jeff Cormack & Play Plus Record
      www.playplusrecord.com

      Artist: Kevin MacLeod
      Track: Prelude and Action
      www.incompetech.com

    • 5 months ago
    • Views: 94
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  • Todd Ligare - In Technicolor Todd Ligare - In Technicolor

  • Kenai Heli Launches This Seaso Kenai Heli Launches This Season

    • From: jeremybenson
    • Description:

       

      Kenai Heli BaseKenai Heli Ski's base in Seldovia, Alaska.

      If you’re planning a helicopter ski trip to Alaska this winter, you’ve got plenty of options. Haines, Cordova, Valdez, Girdwood, and … Seldovia? If Seldovia doesn’t ring a bell, that’s because there’s never been a reason for skiers to know about it, until now. This winter, however, this quiet fishing village will be the home of Alaska’s newest heli operation, Kenai Heli Ski.

      The Kenai Peninsula begins at the end of the Turnagin Arm, just past the town of Girdwood and Alyeska ski resort, about an hour drive from the state capitol of Anchorage. Other than a couple roads connecting to the coastal towns of Seward and Homer, and some easy access backcountry skiing off Turnagin Pass, the Kenai Peninsula is mostly a remote and rugged wilderness where the mountains meet the sea. Located on the southwestern end of the peninsula, the small town of Seldovia sits on the ocean in the heart of the Kenai Mountains.

      Similar to the home of Points North Heli in Cordova, the only way to access Seldovia is by plane or Alaska Marine Highway ferry. In order to get their guests to this remote location, Kenai Heli plans to fly them, via private charter, directly from the Anchorage airport to Seldovia. In the off chance that weather doesn’t permit air travel, guests will be driven to the town of Homer and brought to Seldovia by ferry.

      Unlike parts of the Chugach, where numerous heli operations are flying into the same zone, there are no other companies competing for tracks in the area. The next closest heli operation is over a hundred miles away in the town of Girdwood. Due to the area’s relatively difficult access, the mountains in the Kenai Heli fly-zone have seen little traffic in the past.

      “There has been some touring and sledding,” said Kenai Heli’s owner, Njord Rota, “but a majority of our over 300,000 acres remains unskied.”

      Exploration of their massive permit area will take place during their inaugural season, and guests flying with Kenai Heli will take part in it.

      “Since most of the peaks have yet to get hit, there will be quite a few first descents getting logged,” Rota said.

      Kenai Heli TerrainYou could shred here this season.

      Kenai Heli is the only operation in Alaska offering guaranteed vertical, 100,000 feet in a week with unlimited vertical after that. Anyone who’s skied in Alaska knows that it’s a roll of the dice: it could be the best week of your life, you could get shut down completely, or something in between. Up in AK, mother nature is calling the shots, but Kenai Heli hopes to have an ace in the hole.

      “We’ve got two snowcats and lots of terrain with great tree skiing right outside our base of operations,” Rota said. “When conditions keep the aircraft grounded, we fire up the snowcats and go tree skiing. We think so highly of our tree skiing terrain that we’ve got one of the best refund policies in the industry.”

      Kenai Heli’s all-inclusive weeks run $8,495, comparable to similar operations. So, if you’re planning to head to AK this winter, you’ve got plenty of options, and Kenai Heli is certainly worth a look.
      Check out www.kenaiheliski.com for more information.

      Compare Cat-Skiing Ops

      Compare Heli-Skiing Ops


    • Blog post
    • 6 months ago
    • Views: 126
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  • Video: This Is Valdez - Ralph Video: This Is Valdez - Ralph Backstrom's GoPro Edit

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      Snowboarder Ralph Backstrom slays it in our newest film, The Dream Factory.

      The above video clip is an edit Backstrom made from his GoPro footage.

      Read what he has to say:

      "I, Ralph Backstrom, had the pleasure of spending 2 months in Valdez, Alaska last winter filming with Teton Gravity Research for their film The Dream Factory. Snowboarding steep and deep pow [and capturing it on film] was the main focus of the trip, and helicopters, snowmobiles, and hiking were the means used to shred as much powder as possible. Shooting guns, snowmobile glacier travel, hiking spines, and winter camping seemed to take up the rest of the time."

      "This was shot exclusively on the GoPro Hero 2. I know the Hero 3 is all the rage these days, but the 2 is still a damn good camera! Some was shot in 1080/30fps, some in 720/60fps. The heli port time lapse was 1 shot/2 secs, and I did the pan in FCP. The winter camping lapse at the end was also a 2 sec interval, but the pan came by chance when I shot it, due to the snow around my mount melting."

      Filmed and edited by Ralph Backstrom (@ralphbackstrom on Twitter/Instagram)

      Music: Default, by Django Django from their album Django Django

    • Blog post
    • 6 months ago
    • Views: 164
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  • Interview: Chris Davenport On Interview: Chris Davenport On 50 Classic Ski Descents Of North America Book

    • From: SamPetri
    • Description:

      Terminal Cancer Couloir in NevadaA skier drops in to Terminal Cancer Couloir in Nevada, one of the lines featured in the book 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America.

      Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America is a large-format compilation book of iconic and aesthetic ski descents from Alaska to Baffin Island, from Tuckerman’s Ravine in New Hampshire to eight states in the western U.S. and the three western provinces of Canada.

      Created by ski mountaineers Chris Davenport, Art Burrows and Penn Newhard, 50 Classic Ski Descents taps into the local knowledge of contributors such as Andrew McLean, Glen Plake, Lowell Skoog, Chic Scott and Ptor Spricenieks with first person descriptions of their favorite ski descents and insightful perspectives on ski mountaineering past, present and future.

      TetonGravity.com recently sat down with co-author and pioneering skier Chris Davenport in Aspen, Colorado, and flipped through the pages to see what it’s all about. We found it is one of the best hit lists out there, as no one skier has descended them all. As they say, game on!

      On Top Of Polar Star Couloir on Baffin IslandA crew stands on top of Polar Star Couloir on Baffin Island and gets ready for a classic descent.

      Sam Petri: Tell me about how this book came together.

      Chris Davenport: Penn Newhard, myself and Art Burrows, we were talking about it for a couple of years, but we really started working on it in January of 2010 - getting the framework, building the list of the 50 classics. You know, what were the mountains going to be? Who were we going to get images from? Who were we going to talk to? We really wanted to have a lot of contributors. 

      Nobody has skied all of these mountains.  There is not one person who has skied all 50 of these. So we really need to rely on the expertise of some of North America’s most well known skiers.  These people right here.  They represent not only a huge amount of history in the sport of skiing and ski mountaineering, but they also represent all the different regions, so we kind of started building this list. Like, who were the people we want to include in the book?  Who has great stories to tell? Who has got great images we can use?  So we went through building that list, talking to people, doing the legwork, and then by April or May we really had everything we needed to sit down and start building the book. 

      It’s sort of like running a marathon, the first mile you are like, “Oh my god am I ever going to finish this?  This is already hard.”  So the first 10 pages it was like, “holy shit, are we ever going to get through this thing?” We bit off a lot and the more conversations we had with people, the more we realized how much was really out there.  Certainly, I pride myself on knowing a lot about great places to ski.  That’s what I do, but you know, for instance, the Polar Star couloir in Baffin Island, I didn’t really known much about that and we started talking to people like Andrew McClain and Hilary O’Neill and they were just like, “This is just the most incredible line on the east coast.”

      Skiing Polar Star CouloirSkiing Polar Star Couloir.

      SP: What were the criteria for a classic? What defines a classic?

      CD: Yeah, that’s a good question.  I think the main thing that defines it is it has got to just grab your eye.  You have to look at this and just go, “Wow, oh my gosh, look at that line.” It really has to jump off the page at you.

      I think there has to be history to it. I think it’s got to be aesthetic. You know, most importantly for me was the aesthetics.  Take Tuckerman’s Ravine, for example. I mean, it’s a super aesthetic glacial cirque with an incredible amount of history and it’s really popular. A lot of people go up there.  Huntington Ravine as well.  But then there are other ones like Baffin Island.  This couloir has only been skied like half a dozen times, but it’s just in a super striking part of the world. We wanted things that were going to be inspirational or aspirational, where people would go, “Wow, I wonder if I could ever do that?” And things like Tuckerman’s, where people are up there every week in the spring.  It was a nice blend of things.  We didn’t want it to be super exclusive, you know like, “The Gnarliest 50 Descents On The Continent.”   We wanted it to be a good collection – a variety, I guess you’d say.  So we got the east, and then we get to right outside Aspen.  I wrote this story, “Breaking The Glass Ceiling.” I wrote this one because we skied the second decent of the east face here on Pyramid, and this is probably the most classic line in all of Colorado. 

      SP: Daaaaamnnn.

      CD: It had only been skied once and it was in 1978.  It sat there for 28 years. 

      SP: Who skied it first?

      CD: Chris Landry.  We went up there and it hadn’t been repeated.  This line over here had been skied, but nobody had gone off the summit, down the Landry line. So we did the second decent and once we did it and word got out that we just did the second decent, people flocked and were like that’s the glass ceiling.  It broke and people came down and started doing it, so here is a story that I wrote about that experience and why this face is unique.  It is pretty burley climbing.

      University Peak in AlaskaUniversity Peak in Alaska, "probably the most burley peak in the whole book," Davenport says.

      Climbing University Peak in AlaskaClimbing University Peak.

      SP: Were there any lines that you guys argued about being a classic?

      CD: I would say there wasn’t any argument, but there was definitely deliberation about things like, “Do we put this in there?”  We originally had like 70 mountains that we needed to chop the list down to 50.  There was deliberation because there were ones we didn’t have good photos of and there were ones we just didn’t know that much about.   This peak is super badass, University, probably the most burley peak in the whole book.  It has only been skied twice.  7,000 vert.  It’s ones like this we were like, “We have to put this in there.”  Even if hardly anyone is ever going to get to do this, it is so rowdy and so awesome, we’ve got to put it in there.  And some expeditionary kind of stuff in Alaska. Pontoon peak in the Valdez area is a super classic peak.

      Pontoon Peak in the Chugach MountainsPontoon Peak in Alaska's Chugach Range.

      SP: I’ve been up there.  Last year I camped up there, sort of near Pontoon. I just went and skinned around for 10 days, just outside of Point’s North Heli’s zone.  Yeah, Kevin Quinn is the man. 

      CD: Yeah, he knows a ton of people.

      SP: Pontoon is badass.

      CD: You’re right.  And this is a super classic photo of Meteorite in Valdez.  This is the first decent.  This is a really good story.  Eric Pehota writes about Trevor Peterson missing out on the first decent because he got wasted the night before.  They couldn’t find him and these guys Scott Markewitz, Eric Pehota and Kirk Jensen, they got it.  Trevor was left behind. 

      SP: Ha, that’s funny. So you put heli lines in here, too?

      CD: Yeah, because, I mean, the mountains don’t care how you access them.  Like I said, the aesthetics and the beauty of it all is open to anybody.  And yeah, there are some things that are accessed by helicopters and there are some things that certainly are only human powered access, and we felt like those were both valid ways of going skiing.  We are not trying to say like, “Oh, heli-skiing is bad or you have to be a ski mountaineer to be able to do these things.”  There are plenty of classic lines out there that you can walk up, and there are some you can fly to.  And yeah, we talked about that.  Do we include things that have heli-skiing or not?  That’s just the way it is in Valdez. There is heli-skiing there.  And you can’t just say we’re not going to put that in there just because it’s mechanized.  But that was definitely a discussion, for sure.  Yeah, we wanted a good variety.  We wanted this book to appeal not just a hardcore, but also the beginner, the guy that is just getting into it, and to have it be really inspirational.  We wanted people to have this book and have it be their hit list.

      SP: We’ll, it’s cool that no one has done all of them yet. 

      CD: Yeah, I’ve skied like 25 or 24 of them.  That’s a lot.  Maybe someday somebody will be like, “You know what? We’re going to do a project to ski the 50 classics that these guys wrote about.”

      Get Your Book And Get Out There

      The Skillet on Mount MoranThe Skillet on Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park.

    • Blog post
    • 6 months ago
    • Views: 348
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  • The Dream Factory Now Availabl The Dream Factory Now Available On iTunes

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
    • Description:

      The Dream Factory now on iTunes

      Teton Gravity Research's newest ski and snowboard film, The Dream Factory, is now available on iTunes.

      Get The Dream Factory On iTunes Now

      For the past 16 years, Teton Gravity Research has made the pilgrimage to America’s last frontier, Alaska: The Dream Factory. Throughout history, Alaska has been a place of dreams. From the early gold rush days, to the rise of commercial fishing, to the explosion of the ski and snowboard freeride movement, people have left everything to follow their dreams and journey to this foreign, mystical land. Like the frontiersmen before them, the pioneers of the freeride movement like Doug Coombs, Eric Pehota, and Trevor Petersen made the dream of skiing in Alaska a reality.

      Follow TGR's modern day athletes on this cinematic voyage through Alaska's awe-inspiring expanse, rich history, and colorful characters. Watch as the TGR crew ventures from AK training grounds Jackson Hole, WY, and Pemberton, BC, and delves deep into the Alaskan way of life during a record snowfall year in AK, skiing terrain most of us only dream about.

      On Location: Jackson Hole, WY / Valdez, AK / Haines, AK / Anchorage, AK / Whittier, AK / Northern Chugach, AK / Valdez Heli Ski Guides / Alyeska Resort / SEABA Heli / Alaska Heli Skiing / Girdwood, AK / Pemberton, BC

      See Tour Dates

      Buy DVD And Blu-Ray Disks

      Get The Soundtrack

      Go To The Dream Factory Film Page



      Get The Dream Factory on iTunes

    • Blog post
    • 7 months ago
    • Views: 167
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  • Endless Winter - Skiing 108 Mo Endless Winter - Skiing 108 Months In A Row And Counting

    • From: brennanlagasse
    • Description:

      Like all good things it began with a simple dream: to make a ski season a ski year. As much as I’ve always enjoyed the change of seasons a little sign framed by skis in a friend's house has always stuck with me - “Summer’s a Bummer.” It’s really not, but to a skier summer means something unique. It means ski season is over.

      Skiers love to party on the final day of ski resort operations, but I was never all that thrilled to celebrate the end of another season. In the high alpine I knew there was snow in to be slayed in May, June and July regardless of what the resorts had to do to remain profitable. In reality, depending on where skiers find themselves during those late spring and summer months, the skiing can be more than just good. Come August, September, and for most locales even October, snow is a scarce resource. But I figured, why not try and link 12 months together and ski for a whole year? While most of my friends were “over it” come May I just couldn’t lie to myself. I wanted to keep skiing. When I posed the idea to link turns in every month of the 2003-2004 season to my girlfriend at the time, she was fired up. I was too.

      Climbing Mount Whitney in 2004Jillian asking herself why we have to cross another waterfall on Mt. Whitney, Eastern Sierra, California. Late Spring 2004.

      That initial season we made the most of early season snowfall in the Sierra Nevada during November, and went out of our way to make turns in the lean months of August and September. Maybe it was a little ridiculous to drive all the way to Mt. Hood that October because we couldn’t find any snow in the Sierra, but we got it done anyway, and when we linked our first 12 months together the feeling of accomplishment was beyond what we thought it’d be. It wasn’t that big of a deal at all, really, but to us we had achieved our goal to turn the ski season into a ski year. We were stoked!

      Early Season at Kirkwood 2008Even with grass poking out, early season skiing can be pretty good if you take caution and know where to go. Kirkwood, California. November 2008.

      When the lean months showed up once again in the summer of 2005 it would’ve been pretty easy to leave the streak at 20. It was July, after all. Regardless of how we tried to rationalize that ending the streak was okay neither one of us really wanted to stop. So we didn’t. We kept going and it became our thing, something we looked forward to doing together, something that ultimately would help us develop a relationship in the mountains, with snow, that’s taken us to more random places than we ever thought was possible.

      Jillian Slaying JakesJillian lays it down in the winter, so it's all relative come summer and fall. Lake Tahoe Backcountry, California. Winter 2011.

      Whether it was living out of a Subaru Outback in Glacier, Washington, to take advantage of deep early season storms, or skiing into the crater of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, on our first visit (we didn’t know it was illegal), the streak we started back in November 2003 slowly evolved from extending one ski season, to maintaining a run of consecutive months of skiing, to at the core planning as many diverse adventures as we could that revolved around the simplicity of sliding on snow.

      Late season skiing, August 2005Every summer/fall there's at least one ski mission when we laugh at ourselves. August 2005.

      When September 2006 rolled around we used our streak as an excuse to check out other sides of the great Mt. Shasta that we hadn’t yet visited. We did the same that October. We would have never made trips like that otherwise, but because of the streak we dreamt of new places to visit where we could find snow to ski. What ultimately ended up happening is that mentality translated into our winter routine. We didn’t plan for that to happen, but it did. We started looking for off-the-beaten places to ski in our Sierra Nevada backyard, shared our first heli-run in Alaska together, which morphed into looking for more unique places to check out around the world.  In 2007 we got married and enjoyed our honeymoon in the Kullu Valley of the Indian Himalaya where 20,000-plus foot peaks filled our vantage on every ski tour. In 2010 we made it to the High Atlas Mountains and locked into a full-on powder day in Africa.  In February 2012 we took a trip to Japan and skied some of the lightest, deepest powder of our lives. It was our 100th consecutive month of turns together.

      Brenna Lagasse climbing to ski Shasta 2006Dreadlocks, heavy alpine boots, and a long way until snow. So many memories ... Mt. Shasta, California. September, 2006

      Last week, the first cold storm system of the fall impacted the Sierra. There wasn’t much punch to the storm at all, but after all these the years of seeking out snow we were able to find a little gulley in the Eastern Sierra that had blown in just enough new snow to allow for a few turns.

      Skiing in JapanOur 100th month in a row was one of the deepest of our lives. Hakuba, Japan. February 2012. Skier: Brennan Lagasse. Photo Credit: Zach Paley.

      Nine years in a row. 108 straight months. “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”


      Skiing in to Crater LakeIgnorance is sometimes bliss. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. Spring 2005.

      First Heli Ride in AlaskaA token couple shot after getting out of our first heli ride. Valdez, Alaska. March 2004.

      Himalaya HoneymoonJillian on a break in India. I almost forgot she used to splitboard. Kullu Valley, Indian Himalaya. April 2008.

      What started as a goal to make it happen for a year has turned into something pretty special for Jillian and I. On the surface, I think it’s easy to look at this as simply extending a streak, but I realize while we still desire to keep the streak alive it’s really not about number of months at all - it’s about the adventures. It’s about seeking out new people in new places and experiencing the uniqueness that comes when skiing moves beyond a recreational capacity, and it becomes part of your identity.

      So far, in this October there were maybe a handful of hours where new snow was skiable in the Sierra. Would we have made the effort to get down there without wanting to continue our string of months in a row? It doesn’t matter. For a brief slice of time we hiked up, clicked in, skied down just like we’ve done hundreds of times before. Whatever the motivation was to make it down there and whatever motivates you in the mountains, the most important thing is to ask “Why not?” Why not make a trip to the far off destination you’ve always wanted to visit this season, why not ski that random peak in your local backcountry that no one else seems to care about but you stare at each season and wonder what it’d be like to shred? Why not try and ski 100- or 200-plus days this year? We should all celebrate every little weird, creative, special thing that comes with being a skier - even something as random as skiing for 108 and months in a row. Why not?

      Sierra Nevada 2012Nine years, 108 months in a row. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2012.

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  • JP Auclair sends it in the Chu JP Auclair sends it in the Chugach 2001 by Flip McCririck

    • From: TetonGravityResearch
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      JP Auclair sends it in the Chugach 2001 by Flip McCririck
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  • Taking Flight With Theo – Earl Taking Flight With Theo – Early Days At The Rendezvous

    • From: SamPetri
    • Description:

      Theo Meiners on the heli pad

      On Sept. 20, 2012, legendary ski guide Theo Meiners, pictured above, died in a fall at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska, during the International Snow Science Workshop. He was 59 years old. Theo was the owner and operator of Alaska Rendezvous Heli Ski Guides in Valdez, Alaska. Below is a story about a trip that ski photographer Flip McCririck took with JP Auclair and Kent Kreitler during its first season in operation.

      Photos by Flip McCririck

      It was rugged at first — just a seemingly random roadhouse on the side of the Richardson Highway in Valdez, Alaska, with a helicopter parked out back. It was 2001, the first season Theo Meiners’ Alaska Rendezvous Heli-Ski Guides operation was open for business. He had four guides, a handful of clients and an endless sea of mountains to explore.

      Rolling into the Rendezvous in a rented RV in late May was Kent Kreitler, JP Auclair, cinematographer Ben Mullen and then Freeze Magazine photo editor Flip McCririck. They were in search of the magical, mystical “Hatchetland” — a zone made famous in Standard Films’ snowboard movies.

      It was the crew’s last-ditch effort to finish their segments for Matchstick Productions’ “Ski Movie 2: High Society” and for Poor Boys Productions’ “Royalty.” It was late in the season, conditions were questionable and budgets were blown. But they heard Theo could take them where they wanted to go.

      “We were throwing all caution to the wind,” Flip McCririck said. “We were trying to save their segments. There wasn’t that much snow in Alaska that year and we were kind of bummed, to be honest. We weren’t that stoked. But then we met up with Mr. Stoke himself, and everything changed.”

      An extremely excited Theo Meiners welcomed the crew with open arms and a grand smile. Though he had limited resources on his recently purchased land, he set them up and they got down to work. In the big mountain arena, the making of movies is often at odds with risk management. Theo hammered the message of sticking to protocol, making a set of rules and using them, McCririck said. This, along with his stoked ease in the mountains created headspace for the team, critical for the making of compelling imagery. Theo’s method and style of delivery is at the root of how most crews now work and play in big mountain terrain. 

      “We totally and completely crushed it. The images appeared in Freeze and the next year, the Kreitler shot appeared on the cover of Warren Miller’s SnoWorld. It wouldn’t have been possible with out Theo. Theo saved the day.”

      McCririck’s images were some of the first to come out of The Rendezvous and keyed skiers in on the fact that there was a new heli operation in Valdez.

      As the Rendezvous has evolved over the years, it has became less of a place for film crews and ski movies and more of a place where anyone who loves to ride powder can come and have the best day of their life. When Theo passed away, he was in the middle of expanding his lodge for the coming season to accommodate all the skiers and snowboarders who now come every season. Currently the Rendezvous crew, including his son Aidan and daughter Ali, are in Valdez helping finish the expansion and to ready the lodge for winter.

      “Sad times up here at 45 mile,” Aidan Meiners said. “We are working hard moving forward with my dad's vision for the Rendezvous, gives us something to do while we grieve."

      Theo Meiners made it happen for so many and in his passing, it seems like the whole ski world is grieving. His unbridled passion and his stoke for a life in the mountains will stay with us forever. He is deeply missed.

      Please enjoy these photos from the first season at the Rendezvous and be sure to make your way up there — it will be the best riding of your life.

      Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides office by Flip McCririckThe Alaska Rendezvous Heli-Ski Guides office.

      Theo's House, aka The Billy Club, at The Rendezvous photo by Flip McCririckTheo's house, also known as "The Billy Club" is perhaps the raddest ski pad on the planet. Inside are maps, guns, skis, and plenty of New Castle in the fridge.

      Theo Meiners helping drag a wire wheel at The Rendezvous photo by Flip McCririckWhen Theo first bought the property it was full of random stuff like wire wheels. Here, Tom Hodge uses his snowcat to help pull one out of the way. Early on, Theo used them as tables.

      The Meiners Hanging Out Inside The Billy Club at The ARG photo by Flip McCririckTheo hanging out during what looks like a down day.

      JP Auclair and Theo Meiners at The Rendezvous by Flip McCririckJP Auclair and Theo.

      Theo Meiners in the heliUp, up and away.

      Theo Meiners, Kent Kreitler and JP Auclair by Flip McCririckTheo, Kent Kreitler and JP Auclair.

      Theo Meiners in the ChugachTheo probes the snowpack.

      JP Auclair sends it in the Chugach 2001 by Flip McCririckJP Auclair sends it.

      Kent Kreitler skis The Tongue Kent Kreitler skis The Tongue - this shot made the cover of SnoWorld.

      Kent Kreitler skis the chugach by Flip McCririck Can you find Kent Kreitler in this photo?

      The old Wind River Mountain Lodge signIt could have just stayed the Wind River Mountain Lodge, but Theo brought the helis, and for that we are all thankful! Thanks Theo!

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  • The old Wind River Mountain Lo The old Wind River Mountain Lodge sign

    • From: SamPetri
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      The old Wind River Mountain Lodge sign
    • 7 months ago
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  • Kent Kreitler skis the chugach Kent Kreitler skis the chugach by Flip McCririck

    • From: SamPetri
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      Kent Kreitler skis the chugach by Flip McCririck
    • 7 months ago
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