“Skiing the high snowy mountains of Afghanistan would be a dream come true for many backcountry skiers, but as we all know, it is not possible as long as the fighting keeps going on in the country.” – Marko, Homeboy ski.

At the time Marko was writing this in the Autumn of 2009, Afghanistan had already seen a number of skiers on its slopes and was preparing the ground work to accept its first batch of foreign back country skiers. As with many things about Afghanistan, the public perception of the country is often very different to actual life on the ground.

Picture taken by Chad Dear, March 2010

Ever since the International forces ousted the Taliban regime in 2001, intrepid foreign workers have been heading to the slopes near Kabul for some escapism during the winter months and today a small group now regularly use the slopes of the Salang Pass for few runs each week. In the winter of 2009 the Bamian valley in Central Afghanistan has had its first injection of a US$1.5 million investment to boost its fledgling tourism industry. Local guides have been trained to show how the region, most famous for its giant standing Buddhas which were destroyed by the Taliban 9 years ago, can be a year round tourist attraction. Two American ski consultants spent last winter there and can confirm that the slopes of Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush range is one of the worlds finest backcountry ski areas. Already the prospect of ski tourism has attracted some media interest and it seems that against all odds Afghanistan can be a ski destination.

The development plan in Bamian is to first attract foreign workers from Kabul and wealthier Afghanis before trying to attract foreign tourists in 3-5 years time but Untamed Borders, a travel company from the UK, is already advertising places for Afghanistan’s first ski tour in March 2011.

Untamed Borders is a small niche travel company that organises guides and trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan. They want to use their experience, knowledge and long lasting relationships in Afghanistan to allow back country skiers a unique experience that will be as much a cultural exploration as a skiing trip. Their itinerary intends to allow the guests to follow the routes pioneered by the ex-pat workers in the Salang Pass and then to use the services of the newly trained local guides in the Bamian region. They will also encourage the skiers to bring extra second hand ski equipment to help stock the fledgling local ski rental business of Bamian.

Picture taken by Chad Dear, March 2010

It seems incredible that peaceful pockets can exist in Afghanistan. However, one of the things that has driven the violence in Afghanistan is the fact the country is made up of many different ethnic and religious groups who are often distrustful of each other. Bamian is the home of the Hazara. The Hazara are descendants of an army left as a garrison by Genghis Khan and have mongaloid, oriental faces. They are also Shia muslims in a country dominated by Sunnis. Over the years they have persecuted and neglected by various governments and it is only since the US and ISAF forces have been in the country that schools, hospitals and roads have been built here. This is why the security situation there is far removed from the Pashtun led insurgency you see on the news in the southern provinces.

Untamed Borders use guides that have worked in Afghanistan since 1997 and have a deep understanding of the risks involved in travel to the country and where it is possible to travel safely and why. They have many friends in all the places on the trip who give them up to the minute information on what is really going on.

The question still remains whether Afghanistan, a country with poor infrastructure, no ski lifts and possibly crucially, where alcohol is illegal, can really attract skiers from Europe and America that are used to their creature comforts. However, it is clear that it will not be for a lack of opportunity should the brave wish to make the trip.

Photo: www.FredrikEricsson.com

Ericsson and Cook travelled from Islamabad to Hushe via Skardu where the trek into Laila Peak base camp began. As reported the team found the deepest snow in the Gondogoro valley in at least 15 years. The team attempted a ski descent of Laila Peak but were turned back 300 meters from the summit by deep, unstable snow. However, Ericsson did enjoy a 1000 vertical meter descent on Laila’s pristine, 45-degree northwest face.
 
Following their attempt to ski Laila Peak, Ericsson and Cook and 18 porters took three days to cross the Gondogoro-la pass, swing through Concordia and arrive at K2 base camp.

Photo: www.FredrikEricsson.com

The team reports that conditions on K2 are favorable and will be heading up the Cesen Route tomorrow to Camp 1 for an early round of acclimatizion and to scope the route.
 
To learn more of the team’s adventure check out their Ski K2 blog at www.FredrikEricsson.com or Facebook site Fredrik Ericsson – Ski Mountaineering.

Basically I wrote down a story told by Aadne – it gives you some more background and also some overview on how a film group and professional riders work together in the mountains.

Aadne Olsrud worked as a back-up guide for the Missing Link film group

The team of eight persons was filming for Missing link. The team consisted of following people: three riders, Fred Syversen, Dennis Risvol and Lars Fidjestøl; the head cameraman was Norwegian Peter Nyquist (quite famous in Norway) and his assistant Finnish Jani Johanssen (Btw. he is a great telemarker too!); and Jarkko Henttonen and Aadne Olsrud worked as guides. Helicopter pilot was a local guy called Mathias.

The mountain they had been sessioning is called Blåbærfjellet (”Blueberry Fell”). The accident happened on the mountain’s northeast face. One day earlier the riders had been warming up with mellower lines, and by the friday the 7th of May, the riders were ready for some harder lines. Aadne worked as a back-up guy for the filming crew, waiting with his snowmobile at the bottom of the mountain, ready to pick up riders and filmers and move them quickly to the new filming zones and/or pick up zones for the helicopter.

The conditions had been great for the whole area in early May: snow was good, the base was deep and the conditions had been stable for a while – perfect spring skiing conditions for Northern Norway.

Fred Syversen had eyed the line in question for days. And on Friday he lent Aadne’s binoculars and checked the line once more intensively and thoroughly for thirty minutes, then deciding, “calculated risk but I am ready for it”.

The accident scene – what happened right after Fred Syversen’s crash?

The line itself is something one would call “hairy”, “gnarly” or something similar in “skier’s jargon”…it is about 40-45 degrees steep, has three back to back mandatory airs, and is in Aadne’s own words “just wide enough for good turns – for a skier like Fred”. What makes it really hard though is the short distance between the cliff drops, by Fred’s own estimate there was enough space for maybe just one or two quick turns before hitting another eight to ten meter (around 30 feet) air.

When Fred crashed Aadne was waiting to carry cameraman Peter to another location on his sled. Aadne didn’t see the fall but hear shouting and saw a small avalanhe coming out of the chute.  Then he saw Fred lying at the bottom of the line and cameraman Peter running to him. Fred seemed to be able to move his hands and legs though. Aadne drove immediately to the waiting heli where they had a radio connection and heard Fred reporting, “I am OK“.

Aadne then tried to drive the sled up the hill to where Fred was lying. But the hill was so steep that he had to stop about 200 meters before Fred’s location. Fred then managed(!) to walk down the steep hill (with deep soft snow) to the waiting snowmobile. Aadne was just thinking to get the man to the helicopter and back to the base camp they had down in the valley. He also called an ambulance. It took only thirty minutes for the ambulance to arrive in the base lodge. (Scandinavian public health care system has its good sides)

The aftermath – analyzing and calculating figures of the Fred Syversen’s crazy tumble

When Aadne saw the video clip of the crash, he did some analyzing from the screen.  He wonders mostly Fred’s cat like ability to hit everything skis first. It is also evident that to take this much of abuse requires the physics of a high level athlete. We both agree that even a normal, relatively fit skier would probably had much more serious injuries. So it is not totally about the luck either!

As for trying to find someone or something to blame, Aadne simply refuses, “it was no ones fault“. In the chute/couloir the snow was probably a bit dryer and deeper than anybody thought causing more snow than expected to wash out in the air from the spindrift. Everything also happened very fast – a skier going at around 60 km / hour and the whole scene lasting only about 20-30 seconds.

There wasn’t just that much time to react once Fred was at speed. He took the calculated risk and this time it didn’t go as well as planned. The most important thing is that Fred is alive and skiing again soon, and that the whole team worked effortlessly together even in the sudden accident situation.

The fall itself is hard to grasp. Based on Aadne’s calculations the fall was about 250 meters of vertical and around 350-400 meters of distance.

PS. If you are interested in Tamokdalen as a skiing/riding or climbing location check out this cool facebook group The Northern Playground

Photos in the post by Aadne Olsrud, used by permission. Thanks Aadne – we look forward to ski with you in the future!

Fred Syversen goes big again and crashes hard

The man who did the accidental world record on cliff dropping two season ago, Fred Syversen, has the ability to  make some buzz. Fred  has the reputation to  go all or nothing every time he skis.

Check out this epic cartwheel crash in the video clip  below. This happened during a Missing Link film shoot in northern Norwegian location called Tamokdalen. The line in question and the fall is shown from 1:45 to the very end of the clip.

I though I would break every bone in my body, Fred Syversen admits

Norwegian magazine vg.no tells us a few details in their article about the accident:

The accident happened on friday the 7th of May while skiing a line Fred himself called “hairy”  - a narrow and steep chute including a “three stager” cliff drop. Before the first mandatory air the helicopter filming above sprayed so much snow around that Fred couldn’t see anything. “This is a line where falling is absolutely out of question. Therefore, the helicopter coming so near should never happen! It was a total whiteout. So, I fell anyway and now I am very lucky to have no further damage”, explains Syversen when watching the video of the fall first time.

Again, Fred survived with relatively few injuries – bruised shoulder and hand combined with some scratches on his face.

Fred says that the high speed might have saved him from more serious injuries. At speed the momentum goes more forward than just hard down. However, Fred still admits that he was afraid of breaking every bone in his body (Note: And we believe that!). In the end of the fall, entering the “runout” zone, Fred also had some good luck when avoiding the sharp rocks lurking in both sides of his path.

Fred Syversen looks forward for a quick recovery – another freeride competition in June?

After all Fred doesn’t blame the helicopter pilot for the accident. Everyone who was on the filming team has spoken out about what happened.

“What is happening (in the video) is that I try to stop desperately because of not seeing anything in the snow cloud. Eventually I realize that I just can’t stop and choose to take the downhill option…”

After landing the first drop Fred started a dramatic series  of  cartwheels for several hundred meters until he finally stopped. First Fred was afraid of dislocating his shoulder but a check in hospital excluded this. Fred is still out of skiing for a while to heal the shoulder and hand. But he looks forward to be back in a freeride camp in Stryn, Norway held on the 10th of June.

We hope fast recovery for Fred and wish all the luck in the future too. Seems like being a professional freerider requires quite a lot of it – and a built of a tank in addition!

Ski photo by Aadne Olsrud, other photos are screenshots from the video. Ps. I just chatted with Aadne. He was on the accident site and picked up Fred on his snowmobile after the fall and drove him to the heli. I’ll try to talk with him soon and ask some more questions!

The skiing (and snowboarding) was pretty good for the whole time in Andermatt. The cold weather guaranteed good snow all the way to the village and the lack of wind offered safe and stable off-piste conditions. Btw. this week the whole weather pattern for central Europe seems to turn much more spring-like. I guess we were pretty lucky with the weather!

1.st day – March 7

Not bad, first day of skiing and it has dumped some 30-40cm of new snow on the upper mountain. Travelling with the kids is always a hassle and this time it leads to that certain “no friends on a powder day”/”powder stress” situation. Waiting for Antti (AZ) I bump into Joonas Karhumaa at the middle station but the guy  is obvioysly too stoked to go ski the powder (and I am still waiting for AZ ). Then AZ calls that the lift line down there has grown significantly – I should wait for another half an hour or so. A bit confused I ponder weather to go skiing alone for a few runs. Suddenly couple of old ski friends appear (world is small indeed) and I make the quick decision to ski with them.

I manage to get some four great runs, before it is time to let my wife get her share of the powder. I skied two times the basic “B-Russi Run” and its sides and then the two couloirs to the Felsental side, “Gipfel” and the smaller one to the skiers left (the so called “Swedish/Finnish couloir”, not sure of the “official” name?).

2nd day, March 8

I have an afternoon turn and by that time everything near the slopes is tracked out. Time to hit another classic, the ”Giraffe” route.

Ooops –  the  high traverse to Giraffe over some 200 meters of exposure is quite unnerving at first. After all, last season I had  the first winter for 15(!) years of not going to ski any central European mountains. This definately feels here. But after the second run (we hit Giraffe twice that day) everything seems easier again, “I’ve done this before and it is nothing but a short, easy traverse” – this mantra seems to help…The skiing itself is nice, light and dry snow all the way to the exit couloir. The long traverse back to village near the river serves as some very welcomed exercise for us office rats. After that we even manage to go once more to the top for the five o’clock “alpenglow” run and ski empty Felsental in cold air (-20c!) while snow crystals sparkle in the air. Just beautiful.

3rd day, March 9

It gets a bit cloydy and two days of ski efforts feel  in the legs. I take it pretty easy. We ski the basic “Guspis” route to the picturesque (did I say that word?)  and ancient Hospental village.

After that I took some time to ski with my 5 old daughter and we went to the south side Nätschen resort.  For her the whole trip is an adventure. And to be honest Andermatt is not a real “kid’s/family resort”. She has never been on a chairlift before and got quite scared. We went to the middle station with Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn (a train), which was a nice option. But from there all the slopes and lifts seem quite steep and high for my daughter. After a hot chocolate and a bit of pondering I see people skiing down the nearby sledge route with kids – bingo.  We found just perfect route for her.  Back at the village we are both pretty stoked, for a 5 year old the mellow sledge track (of some 500m of vert) was a long and exiting enough run for sure!

On the evening we enjoy a decent sauna with friends who have rented a flat from Swedish owners, and eat some mexican food in good company. One could get used to that kind of life.  

4th day, March 10

We decide to take another easy day with  the kids. After some research we found out that the nearby Sedrun resort has a long(ish) t-bar lift and a “kid’s world” with snow tubing etc. Splendid for the kids and our younger daughter (2 years old) appears to be a real daredevil on the snowtube run. Not to anyone’s suprise the father is the most scared on the (damn uncontrollable!) snowtube ride.

5th day. March 11

Low visibility. I took some nice Birdos Skis ”Early birds“  191cm for a test ride. The misty condition doesn’t allow these skis to shine. Low visibility keeps you going slow and according to Dan of Birdos Skis these are “built for speed”. However, we found some nice powder and a window of good visibility while doing a variation of “little Giraffe” (going along the ridge from the top and then heading to the skier’s right). I will try to write a longer review of the skis in a week or so.

6th day, March 12

Nice dusting (some 10-15cm at the top of the mountain) of new snow. The air is cold and still and the snow is just like cold smoke. There is not that much of it but the base remains quite good, so you ski on a soft pillow with very light crystals on top of it. Kind of “hero snow” where the snow is even but here and there you end up feeling the rezrozen chunks under the snow. We do some shooting at “Giraffe”. Couple of the shots even look ok IMHO. Sauna and few beers on the evening close up the very good day nicely. 

Oh and how could I forgot: Glen Plake sighting on a main street. He drove slowly by in a car taped with Elan/Dalbello logos. I guess the man knows where to find the good snow, heh.   

7th day, March 13

I go to ski “Giraffe” with Ulla (Antti’s wife) but we end up backing up from the high traverse. Increasing wind and lots of traffic has rounded out the track that leads over the exposure and some 30% of the track’s width has also disappeared. Not that big of a deal for skis but as a snowboarder Ulla should have walked over it on snowboard boots (she had no crampons with her) - pretty wise move to hesitate if you ask me. Then we just hit the “little” version where the snow is already a bit tracked out and getting more like crud due to sun & wind. I go up once more and ski the Felsental where are still some good pockets of snow but the lower part is just like a giant mogul run – manageable but not (that) enjoyable…

My wife and Antti do a wiser move and hike to the ridge of Chastelhorn where they score some 400m vert of almost untouched powder. Good for them.

8th day, March 14

Antti and Ulla and their son, Alvar head back home and we decide to do another Sedrun day again. Sun shines and kids enjoy, I don’t complain, after all.

From the train I spot dozens of nice ski touring routes and tens of groups going up. Not a bad thing to do for a sunday activity.  Well, some day again…(when the kids are a bit older?). The concept of using a train as a “lift” for touring trips is pretty cool to me. I guess many locals just buy the train ticket and go up to Oberalppass where you can e.g. hike up to Rossbodenstock (2836m). Using the train lets you get a nice advantage: with about 800 meters to hike up, you get some 1500 meters to ski down.

In the evening I try to do some serious stretching. Even by just skiing half days I am pretty exhausted. Besides skiing I’ve carried the kids the whole week with a traditional Swiss sledge around the village and up the little hill near the down station.

In the evening it starst to snow quite heavily.

9th day, March 15

New snow but bad visibility. There is some 30cm of new snow on the top of the Gemsstock and only a few people. I follow a Swedish group skiing with an Italian mountain guide. The skiing is “interesting” as the guide states, and I can’t but admire the guy’s steady short turns through the mist and how he seem to not mind the  lurking moguls underneath the soft snow at all. Not that easy when you don’t see for five meters ahead of you.

Skiing down the village offers some better options. And by one o’clock in the afternoon I even find some new routes down (from Geissgrat t-bar lift). It is my last ski day of the trip and damn I want some powder – so I just follow up (Swedish) groups and try to politely ask if they don’t mind me skiing with them. To my suprise they don’t and I get some nice turns here and there although the tiny trees on the lower mountain are quite tight and the routes not that straightforward. (Be aware of the sudden gullys/ravines out there if you are ever going to ski in that area!).  

On  “that one last run” down the Geissgrat I scare myself pretty good. I ski some chopped up moguls/crud and air between two moguls. Landing backseated to the second mogul it shoots me accidentaly to the air again - to a sudden steeper patch (almost a drop). I ended up dropping some 2-3meters and flying away some 7-8 meters, sideways and to my ski heels / butt. I land like a wet rag, luckily the snow is soft. Humbled, I ski down to the village.

My wife only rides for an hour and a half after that (she didn’t like the low visibility and riding solo), so we got plenty of time to do some shopping and drink the last after ski beers in the Spycher bar. We also meet Joonas and it appears that I’ve skied with his wife Mariella in the afternoon – I am glad that I tried to be polite at least…

I didn’t get to ski with Joonas (as I hoped for) because he was competing in FWT qualifications in Nendaz. Too bad Joonas fell and didn’t scored too well. But as he told me “I won the best trick competition and got myself a fancy watch!”. (He did a big 360 of a cliff).

10th day, March 16

Thirteen hours of travelling with two small kids and LOTS of stuff. I won’t tell you more of that. In Helsinki I find out that my ski bag is left in Zürich, great. (note: it came back yesterday, so I don’t have to buy a new pair of Armada JJ’s. The skis I just love by the way)

[View with PicLens]

With not much new snow previously and couple of sunny days we’ve been doing some exploring around Whitewater. The area has kept its promises. Here’s a quick few photos from the nearby backcountry from couple days ago. With the bluebird weather we decided to get up to the Ymir Peak/Mountain (I’ve heard it been called both) in the Whitewater backcountry since we hadn’t been there before. It’s the prominent peak next to the ski area, always dominating the scenery on a day with good visibility, and a bit of a must-do for anyone in the area for longer.

Ymir Peak in the dusk, seen from the Whitewater parking lot

The ascent follows the right flank of the peak through snow-covered trees (not seen in the photo above). It is steep enough that I wouldn’t want to do it in any kind of unstable snow conditions.

Going up

(click for a big panorama)
And then we were on the top, panorama from the peak to east

With the last big snowfall having been some time ago already the normal routes that ascend to the Ymir bowl back to the resort were all more or less tracked out, but the run down from the saddle next to the peak to the east facing bowl had been left completely untouched and the snow looked great. The lower angle pow has been the name of the game for us during the last couple of weeks, can’t complain since big turns in perfect hero snow make us happy.

Laura on the upper half of the run

Christmas trees!

Skinning back up to get a saddle for another run down to the ski area and our car, our tracks barely visible behind with Ymir Mountain

Juho is spending the season in USA and BC, Canada, and posts updates from there regularly. Here are the previous posts from the season:
A Season around USA and Canada – Here we go..
Touring at Kootenay Pass
Rogers Pass & Whitewater backcountry

Check back for more trip reports!

February 4th. The life is smiling with a couple of really good ski days behind us. Before that we had a week of pretty bad snow, rain on the mountain is not good for skiing. Now we finally had a good dump of snow, no idea about the official numbers, but definitely enough for some nice skiing. Not feeling the crust underneath and there would’ve been enough faceshots to share with my neighbors, no complaints. Life has been good otherwise also, I could move to this place. There’s some new snow in the forecast for tomorrow and the day over, but I think I’m going to concentrate on skiing and leave the camera at home. It’s such a heavy, big thing and the thought of falling on it does not appeal to me, so I find myself taking it a bit slower with the camera in my backpack. Next week should be warm so I’m probably going to visit the beach. Have to go and throw a stone into the Pacific Ocean while I’m in the hood. Here’s some photos from the last few days.

Kaisa

Kalle

Kirsti, Denmark’s gift to freeskiing

Me

7th February. What a great day. Nearly a week of continuous snowfall and then today the sun finally came out. Yesterday we had maybe the deepest powder I’ve ever skied in my life, I managed to ski into a tree since I couldn’t see anything after getting my goggles covered by snow after a faceshot. I quickly swiped the goggles clean while skiing and the first thing I see is a tree in front of me. Nothing serious happened though and the skiing continued. One thing is clear now, Ville is tougher than a Japanese tree.

The snow had settled quite a bit during the last night and was great for skiing. Not the most perfect faceshot-blower-powder, but damn fun to ski. During the afternoon the clouds went away and we moved to the sunny side of the hill to hunt for this trip’s first sunny powder photos. We got couple good photos out of it, with Kalle getting the best photos of the day and me being on the other side of the lens for a change. A very nice day indeed. Tomorrow, if the weather allows we’ll go and check some of the bigger lines on Happo. There rain and high freezing levels forecasted for Tuesday but luckily we should have more snow on Wednesday. So no big catastrophe.

Lars

Lars

Kaisa

Kaisa

Kalle

Ville (that’s me), photo by Kalle Karikoski

Ville, photo by Kalle Karikoski

Ville, photo by Kalle Kariskoski

Towards home we go

Pikkis Hiking, “mini Lapland”

This is nothing compared to trip reports from Hakuba or Rogers Pass or Sochi but, well…skiing is skiing and even a small vertical of powder turns and some fresh air beats the office for sure!

Here in Southern Finland we are enjoying almost all time snow conditions. Last time we had so much snow was back in the late 1980s and actually this is first ordinary winter after some seven years of frustrated waiting (at least for those of us stuck here in the flatlands with nine-to-five jobs and families or other responsibilities).

For jibbers I guess urban environment offers all kind of fun challenges at the moment but we took the old school way and just did some turns. And tried to use all the minimal vertical we had in an effective way!

Pikkis having his white moment…

Me, milkin’ all the vertical meters

Pikkis working his Hellbents

Guess who’s an old mogul skier?

Well, by our standard this is A LOT of snow…

We did couple of days at the nearby ski resorts and got to hit Rogers Pass during a bluebird day, something that is supposed to be a rare occurrence over there during the midwinter. But since the area just loves to gather all the clouds to annoy the skitourers we had to endure through one foggy graybird day first. We chose to go to a treeskiing area named Hourglass, even though we knew we wouldn’t be able to spot our run down before riding it. Of course on the ride down there was less snow than expected and we ended up navigating through the cliffbands and from a gully to another.

Laura skinning through the old-growth forest to the Hourglass

.. and riding down after getting through the cliffs

All the good touring at Rogers Pass is accessed straight from the highway. The problem is that the highway needs to be protected from avalanches, and it lurks through some steep, very avalanche prone mountains. The control work is done by the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery using three specifically modified 105mm  howitzers. These designed to blast mountains to release the avalanches preemptively so that traffic is not caught in one unexpectedly.

It is unfortunate that the mountains that get regularly blasted by these howitzers are the same ones that the skitourers would like to ski. Because of that, there’s a permit system in place at Rogers Pass. Before touring at any of the areas near the pass it is necessary to stop at the Glacier National Park Discovery Center to check which areas are open and to get a free permit. Preventing getting shrapnel from a 105mm howitzer in your brain is a pretty good idea. It could kinda hurt. Unfortunately, during the two days that we skied at the pass most of the areas were closed, and brain damage (other than from alcohol consumption) and a hefty fine wasn’t in our plans. We’ll be back in the spring, at latest.

The second day with the bluebird skies still provided though.

Next day the fog is still really thick down in the valley, but after 45 minutes of skinning we get to see the blue sky. Hoorray! Emerging from the fog into the sunshine is always neat

Coming from the trees and the shadowy valley into the alpine. First we were going to hit Balu Pass, the easy sightseeing tour that is recommended for first-timers in the neighborhood, but since the weather was great plans were changed and we chose to skin up to the Bruins area instead..

Someone had got an early start and was already riding down from the Video Peak, the snow was great as it was the first bluebird day after the last storm cycle

(click for bigger panorama photo)
1200 vertical meters (3900ft) later, up on the ridge that leads to Ursus Minor.  There was a nice looking chute down from the ridge with two ass-wiggling, euro style tight turns tracks in it. Respecting our European roots we chose to ride down the same thing.

Laura starting the 1200m descent down

Looking up at our tracks, snow was excellent. yum yum.

Then comes the low angle pow, and a lot of it!

If you want to see something else than snowboarding then please convince Laura to switch equipment. How about a monoski?

With the weather turning into worse with grey skies and fog and our time at the nearly-free vacation house ending back to south and Nelson it was. During the drive back we hit a traffic jam at Creston, a 4000 people town in the middle of nowhere.. I don’t know the last time a traffic jam here has happened, maybe a hundred or so years ago when someone couldn’t get his horse to pull a cart on the main street? So this is what we call a once in a lifetime experience. In the end it turned out that the olympic torch is passing through and the city center is partly closed for traffic.

Laura continues our extreme, gravity-defying efforts when we take a quick stop at Kootenay Lake

The elegant white boats, the deep blue lake and the gorgeous white mountains pale in comparison to our shiny & sexy dark green Subaru. 9500 km without a carwash. And be glad there is no sound associated with photos.

It’s been a while since the last big dump in Nelson but we get some really good turns exploring the backcountry near the Whitewater ski area. Today we did a small loop around and I got the camera out a couple of times to try and take photos in the variable mix of sun and clouds.

Osmo enjoying the rewards of the first uphill part of the tour

Osmo a bit further down in the weird light

Coming back up through the burned forest

Osmo exiting a fun chute on the second run

.. and laying the euro style carve a bit further down.

That’s it for now, it looks like there’ll be some snowfall from tomorrow on so expect to hear back from us soon.

I should start by telling something about myself. I am Ville Eskonen, 26 year old young man, born and raised in the dark and melancholic East-Finland. The last 7 years I have held the fort in Rovaniemi, in Lappland, North-Finland. Skiing has drawn me since I was a young school kid. My skiing career began at Koli, a small ski area in East-Finland, where I spent as much time as I could. The money from each summers job I spent solely on a bus trip to Verbier. After high school and the mandatory Finnish army service I had to decide where to move to and Rovaniemi seemed like a good spot, close to the skiing in Northern Sweden and Norway, and a nice small ski hill next to the city.

After six and a half years I just finished my studies in Rovaniemi, a time period bit longer than expected since skiing took priority in the winter. During the last couple seasons I’ve gotten more and more interested in ski photography. At the moment my situation is that I quit my Rovaniemi job and left my rental apartment. Which in turn left me practically as a homeless, unemployed bum, ready to leave my tracks on untouched powder fields. Free your mind and your ass will follow, or how did it go..

Last winter I spent two months in Hakuba, Japan. The winter was the warmest one in 40 years and nearly each week from the end of January till the beginning of March brought one rainfall all the way to the elevation of 3000 metres. Still we got a lot of pristine powder turns each week, too. After the trip I worked through the facts myself and decided that I must experience the place again during a normal winter. And after this realization I bought plane tickets and booked accommodation for this winter. This time I will spend three months in Japan, and after that I’ll be doing some spring skiing in Northern Sweden and Norway, maybe a bit in Finland too. I will try to write and upload photos from these travels couple of times a week.

Burning legs and some damn good skiing (9th January)

Here we are, at the destination and couple days of skiing behind us. The trip was a lot of fun, a long flight  followed by 4 hours in 4 different trains. I can’t imagine anything more enjoyable, especially when you have three months worth of luggage, skis and other equipment to carry.  Yep, when we were finally there I was pretty fed up already. Oh well, some instant noodles to eat, couple hours of sleep and on to the skiing.

Good snow (skier: Kalle)

(skier: Kirstine)

The snowpack is unbelievably good compared to last year. Far up I’ve heard there’s 6 metres (19 feet) of snow at best. We haven’t done any skitouring yet since the runs from the lifts have been pretty damn good also. You have to be lazy enough not to go touring if you can get faceshots when skiing straight from the lifts.

Today we were skiing with Kirsti and couple other local friends. Before noon we had some really good treeskiing, and in the afternoon we got to drop one bigger line on the north face of Happo. A little less than thousand vertical meters (3000 feet) of good powder, no complaints. No photos from this line since there was no light in the shade and the wind was blowing hard enough that the camera stayed in the backpack. Here’s some photos from before noon though.

Sun and deep pow (skier: Kirstine)

Minigolf line (skier: Matt)

I’m a bit bummed that I spent the whole December working and didn’t get to ski that much. Now it’s gonna take me couple of weeks before my legs get used to this again.  At least at the moment my muscles don’t like the thought of tomorrow’s coming day of skiing. So the evening program will include some extreme stretching, stretching the unstretchable. Even the thought hurts. That’s what you get from being poor, have to work and no chance to just ski all the time.

Happo One south side in the morning sun

It looks like there will be a big dump coming next Wednesday. Before that there’s a chance to ski the bigger lines, so I have to go and do some stretching now.

Endless powder (10th – 23rd January)

Here are some of Ville’s photos between 10th and 23rd January from Japan. Ville’s greetings from this period are easily summarized: The snow is deep and the skiing is great. The full text (in Finnish) and rest of the photos can be found in Ville’s blog. From now on the whole texts (in English) and photos will be published regularly on homeboyski.com, so keep checking.

Laura in Montana Snowbowl some time after New Year

Arrived to Nelson at night, woke up at the hostel to blue skies and a beautiful day with some new snow on the ground. Head straight to the nearest sports shop that sells maps and guidebooks and a drive to Kootenay pass for some quick afternoon touring. Its one of the spots here for easy access, straight from the road quick laps with possibilities for longer tours also. At the parking lot we meet Ray, who was just returning to car from touring but he still offered to show us around and offer some local tips. Thanks Ray! We do one quick lap from the Cornice Ridge in the fading sun and the south facing aspect offers great snow. Ray tells us more about the nearby Ripple Ridge cabin that I had already read about and we decide to head there the next day instead of paying to stay at the hostel.

Skinning up, looking back at our tracks from the previous day on the other side of the pass.

Uphill, uphill

Preparing for the run down on top of some small, unnamed peak after leaving our stuff at the cabin

Some of our tracks

Quiet day in the backcountry – until we got back to the cabin. Two school classes; 15 teenagers and their 3 teachers were building snow caves next to the cabin to spend the night in them and using the cabin’s wood stove as a central for melting water and drying clothes. It was a part of their school course, I wish I had had stuff like that at school. Fortunately got tired early from all the digging and went sleep in the caves even before our sleeping time.. The cabin, which could’ve slept 6 (or more in a squeeze), was left for me and Laura.

Next couple days the sky was cloudy and sun wasn’t really peeking through, we just slept in and did a lazy lap or two.

The Ripple Ridge cabin

Yum yum, breakfast!

Melting water in the evening

Eventually we ran out of food (if you can call it that) and headed back to Nelson. Here’s Laura
riding down to the car, carrying a yoga mat, an essential item on every hut tour..

Kootenay pass is a fun spot, the runs are not long (at least by European standards) but sweet and very easy to access.. The pass sits at pretty high elevation (1774m) which should keep the snow nice and dry. Now we are in Nelson, managed to rent an apartment and even got season passes at Whitewater. Just let it snow.

First day at Whitewater

The annoying thing at the moment in Montana is that there’s enough snow accumulated on the logging roads so that getting up with our little Subaru is hard, but still there’s not enough at the same altitude to ski. Here’s where our original plan for that Tuesday met its “turning point and how we ended up skinning on XC trails instead:

“Yep, can’t really get up here and even if we do the car will be snowed in during the next couple of hours” – leads to shoveling a platform to turn the car around..

I was able to get a taste of some sled skiing with couple of locals last weekend, getting towed to the spot American style (total of 5 guys + 1 dog hiding in the cat cutter)

A bit more snow up here…

Visibility was bad up high and I didn’t manage any real action photos but here’s a happy dog and a happy skier at the end of the run.

A week ago at Mt Baker was a bit different. We knew that they had got a nice base already and as the next storm rolled in to the Pacific Northwest we had a quick look at the snow report (80inches / 200cm base) and Google maps (only 560miles / 900km drive to Bellingham!) and we were already on our way.

The next morning we liked what we saw on our way up to the resort, pretty tall snowbanks for this time of the year:

We liked the looks of these trees too:

Laura and 21st of November:

What you really can’t see from the admittedly grainy and crappy photos is the thick snowpack that the area already has. With enough new snow each night during our stay to cover the old tracks we had great 3 days of riding at Baker. I’m more used to the smaller European resorts where things don’t get tracked out in the first 20 minutes after the opening though, but that wasn’t a problem after getting used to it. Unfortunately the visibility was bad the whole time so we didn’t have a chance to see the Baker backcountry. On 23rd it looked like the freezing levels would shoot up for the rest of the week and so we made the tactical move of saving some money and heading first to Seattle and then back to Missoula. Thanks to Bill for the couch space!

And finally, here’s what we’re using to avoid paying for an internet connection at the moment. A steel kitchen sieve ($5), a usb wlan dongle ($25) and Petzl Vasak crampons ($150) combined boost the signal and receiving strength of the cheap WLAN dongle, creating a high gain antenna that’ll enable you to use the nearby open wireless network. PS: Use of ice crampons as weight not obligatory, can be substituted by a cheaper item (e.g. a rock). But you’re not hardcore enough for those crampons anyway and they are probably one of the least used items in your house, so that’s a perfectly fine use for them, just admit it. I did.  (also notice the use of ice axe as decoration)

We’ll report back in two weeks at latest! There’s some areas opening in Montana this weekend and a storm is lining up to hit the eastern part of the state, so we might head there and have a look. Enjoy the snow everyone, now is the time to start your season if you haven’t already..