It’s that time of year again: the colors are changing, mornings are a little bit nippier, and ski magazines are sending out their annual buyer’s guides en masse. With that, winter has once again sunk its grasp into our collective souls and concocted emotions of powder-lust to fill our every waking moment. But alas, the snow has yet to fall and slopes are still replete with the foliage of many an off-season winter destination; mossy logs in British Columbia to the alpine sagebrush in Southern Idaho to the rugged beauty of yellowed aspens in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. With the change in season marks a change for many in hobby, nay, obsession.

For me, I begin to feel that itch. It is an itch that has patiently hibernated since the last time my feet were stuffed in plastic ski boots and found their way into the sky to commune with the wings of birds. As August wanes and September rushes in with all of its lustrous glory, I find myself looking to scratch that burgeoning itch and immerse myself in all that speed and weightlessness which skiing so dutifully affords us. In the absence of snow and ski equipment, I have forsaken my fear of impact and asphalt – the most dangerous of duos if you ask me – to pick up my shorty skatedeck and Sporting Sails to go find some gravity-based excitement.  With a home base in Snowmass Village, there is no lack of elevation to impede this process.

As you’ll see in the following video, I took quite a digger, and it really made me appreciate being prepared for a mission like this.  Having a helmet on for this mission, or any of the paddleboard/raft/bike/skate missions I find myself getting into, is super important; when you have crazy friends, crazy things tend to happen.  Wear a domepiece.  I think I also came away with a better understanding of that seasonal itch and what might be healthy ways to scratch it without disaster.  Jamie helped me film and Ed helped drive, so with the following video I hope to spread the word of helmet safety, but you can bet your bottom that I’ll be back out there sessioning the hill as more and more vacationers make their exodus and the roads clear up.

Product Review:  POC Receptor + multi-sport helmet (find it at Backcountry.com)

Kris & Friends in Chamonix

It’s been a big year for Tecnica/Blizzard with the introduction of alpine touring ski boots and ‘Flipcore’ skis in the Freemountain line.  In the video, Kris shows off the advantages of having Vibram-sole Tecnica AT boots as he and his buddies rope up and scramble down a rock face to find some pristine powder.  Once in the couloir, you can see Kris (in the green outerwear) put his Blizzard Bonafides to work where you can see him schmearing turns down Cunningham Couloir’s finest white gold.  Watch, enjoy, repeat as necessary.

Cunningham Couloir from kris thomas on Vimeo.

Blizzard Bonafide

Tecnica Cochise

Rockin our new Tees

In my recent travels to Idaho for a friend’s bachelor party, I managed to be sleeping each time we happened to pass within proximity of my hometown of Ketchum. With 2,000 miles under our belts upon returning to Aspen, its no surprise that my road-weariness cast me into dreamland whenever my hands weren’t gripping the steering wheel. As is, my dad – the only person in Idaho who I would have figured to see during my visit – was also on his own Odyssey to a little backwoods town 80 miles off the paved highway.

Yellowpine, Idaho, in recent years, has played host to a gathering of harmonica enthusiasts, my dad being one of them. His quiver of Hohner harmonicas in tow, my dad makes the trek with his two huskys in a well-travelled Ford Explorer with enough snacks, clothes and car-camping gear to easily carry him months into the surrounding Frank Church Wilderness. A couple of years ago, our dog Lobo was bitten by a rattler (we suppose), with the remote setting proving too long a distance from help and an antivenom, sealing his early demise. As luck would have it for our little family of ski bums, I was arriving for my annual visit just as my dad pulled in from his most emotionally excruciating and physically painful slog home. Lobo, the best dog a boy ever owned, didn’t survive the trip. I hugged his white furred body, wrapping my arms around his bloated midsection – a sign of the venom’s ghastly work – and said my goodbyes to a good friend. We buried him with our other family pets, tucked away under a stand of pine.

As grief should never impede the process of finding joy through journey, my dad has continued his participation in the event, even so far as to design the event t-shirts for this year’s festival. The passing of the original artist made available the opportunity for my dad to place his stamp on a festival that will be forever intertwined with Idaho and our family.

For information on the annual Yellowpine Harmonica Fest, visit:

www.harmonicacontest.com

August has arrived, and with it the weather has only continued to spike higher, the sun’s rays seeming so much stronger and threatening heat stroke and sunburn.  The rafting business is in full swing, and people are flocking to rivers and waterholes wherever they can escape the heat wave.  While the rest of the freeskiing world is down in South America yukking it up on pisco sours and Chilean and Argentine powder, I found myself gorging myself on gourmet food and grasping both hands ’round cans of beer.  The last eight days of my life included driving upwards of two-thousand miles through the Rocky Mountain west and rafting 175 miles down the Lower Fork of Idaho’s Salmon River into the confluence with the Snake River.  A group of six from Aspen rallied Ed’s big red van up to Boise, ID to meet up with the other six in our crew for some mountain beach debauchery.  Forget the strippers, we brought glow sticks, fireworks, and a potato cannon to launch Idaho’s famous spuds, much to the delight of the booze hounds on the trip.  With enough beer to fill almost every cooler on the rafts, we were prepared for a trip almost double in length.  So, we did as any good bachelor party would do and got to drinking.  With class II and III rapids in a pool-drop succession each day, there was some great rafting with some 70F degree water for swimming between wave trains.  Add in a ducky and two paddleboards, and you can bet there was some awesome floating being had.

I’m working on editing some video footage from the trip, but here are some photos to drool over in the mean time.

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