Now that winter is over, we turn to surfing and the ocean. ROAM Original, Lines to Hawaii, will screen at the 2018 Mountainfilm in Telluride, Colorado, over Memorial Day weekend. It’s the story of ROAM Founding Contributors Travis Rice (@travisrice) and Ian Walsh (ian.walsh) sailing and surfing from Tahiti to Hawaii via the Line Islands.
But it’s not just fun and games. They took water samples every 100 miles, and 73 percent contained microplastics—a grim reminder of our impact on the planet. Watch the short film:
People always ask me what’s my favorite ski resort. It’s Jackson Hole, Wyo.. I love our Utah resorts but seriously, nothing compares to that cowboy mountain. I made the pilgrimage to Jackson Hole this March. I use my PSIA instructors’ Steeps Camp as my motivation but I don’t really need it. My roadtrips to Jackson are something I look forward to annually; and every year as I drive toward that monumental resort in the Tetons my heart races and I wonder what the snow will be like, whether I’m in shape and would Corbet’s be an option.
Corbet’s Couloir looked gnarly on this trip. In other words, not doable. The rumors swirled of this crazy competition a few weeks prior where men and women hucked themselves into this infamous couloir. These athletes had decimated the run, leaving nothing skiable for us amateurs; that was just fine by me.
February 1, 2018. Nearly 25 hardcore skiers and snowboarders (seven were women) amassed beneath Jackson Hole’s aerial tram for the start of an incredulous comp. They would be launching off a massive cornice into Corbet’s Couloir- a legendary shot most riders avoid. But these competitors wouldn’t ski it like most experts or even like most Freeride World Tour skiers. Each athlete had two runs to throw down for a winner-takes-all format for cash and crown. It was go big or go home time.
I’ll admit that I peek over the edge of Corbet’s on every trip; usually I spout some excuse like, “If we had better light,” or “the snow is hardpack” and then shimmy away. There are few days (and times in that day) when Corbet’s is perfect. But it does happen….and then I give it a shot. But to allow for optimal conditions for the first ever King and Queen of Corbet’s, Jackson wasn’t taking any chances. They cordoned off the chute for three days and prayed for snow. Only eight inches fell during that time and the wind buffed it to a stiff bouncy crud. Still, men and women backed up some 20 feet, then straight-ran off the lip.
Karl Fostvedt and 23-year old Caite Zeliff walked with $8k each and bragging rights for years.
P.S. To all of you men who might want to judge the difference between the men and the women- You try it then talk. The fact that there are women ready to charge off that top is HUGE regardless of tricks and style points. They hauled ass all the way to the bottom carrying as much speed as any of the competitors. Frankly, I’m surprised and stoked there were ladies stepping up to compete at all. I’ve skied into Corbet’s three times in my life and there’s no way I would and no way I would hit it like these brave babes.
If you know Jackson Hole, you know Corbet’s Couloir- the legendary, epic chute that earns bragging rights around the world. This spring, Cam McCaul and Casey Brown attempted the first-ever Mountain Bike descent of this beastly double black. // From TGR’s 2017 ski film Rogue Elements, presented by REI
Black Diamond Athlete Carlo Traversi writes, “the depth of your will can only be explored through experience.” And so he came up with the idea to do a triple 14 challenge—to climb a V14, 5.14, and a 14er in one day.
With new ascents, new feats of strengths and new discoveries constantly raising the bar, a climber’s perception of what’s possible is always shifting. But perhaps the greatest proponent behind the ever-evolving standards of what’s truly challenging lies within one simple act … that of giving it a darn good try.
Want to know why skiers and snowboarders flock to Whistler Blackcomb? The apres has its draw but, no, there’s a deeper connection. Magnetic, a 30-minute marketing endeavor by the Resort, focuses on that undeniable attraction; that hypnotic power of the area that keeps athletes coming back again and again.
Filmed entirely and solely at Whistler Blackcomb, the film will be the resort’s flagship piece of content for the 2017.18 winter season. The movie features athletes with connections to the Whistler area and filmed by local, high caliber talent.
Origin Design & Communications, a full-service, creative and marketing agency specializing in outdoor sports and tourism, created the concept with the award-winningoutdoor/adventure and commercial video producerJeff Thomas directing the project.
The film will be released free online this fall but here’s a peek at the trailer:
