2nd – 15th Annual Verbier X-Treme

It has been a crazy couple of days. My flight from the US was unexpectedly turned around and I arrived late to Verbier. Luckily, I had an hour to look at the face of the Bec De Rose the day before the competition.

The afternoon was filled with autographs signing.

The bib draw followed the autograph session.

It felt like had been awake for days when I finally crawled in bed at 11:00 p.m. My alarm went off at 5:30 the next morning. The day was not exactly what I was hoping for. The sky was cloudy and it was raining at the bottom of the mountain. It didn’t look like we would compete. Dutifully, all of the competitors loaded the lifts and headed to the top of the Mont Fort. As we approached the top, it looked less likely that we would compete because we could barely see the face of the Bec De Rosas.

Almost convinced that the competition would be postponed, all of the competitors headed inside the lodge for a coffee.

One hour later it was announced that there would be a window of blue sky from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It was hard to believe considering the wind was blowing hard and it was snowing out. Yet, the man predicting the weather from Chamonix (who also predicts weather for Everest expeditions) assured us that it would magically turn blue. With little hope, all of the girls started the hour hike to the top. I couldn’t believe it. As I crested over the ridge at the top, the sky almost instantly turned blue and the sun was bright. We would be skiing.

I was disappointed with my run. The line I had chosen was a winning line, but I skied with a lot of hesitation. I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the jet-lag, regardless I wasn’t charging down the mountain as I had hoped.

Waiting for Results with Julia Mancuso

The final results for the women: 1st – Ane Enderud, 2nd – Jess McMillan, 3rd – Julia Mancuso. It is the fourth year in a row that I have finished 2nd in Verbier. Not a bad record, but I would really like to win this event one year!

Overall Tour: 2nd - Jess McMillan, 1st - Ane Enderud, 3rd - Jacqlyn Passo

Bird Brain – Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Side Country

It is that time of year in Jackson, time to start exploring. The powder stashes have been blown up and the side country has been skied. It is that time of year when skiers go further, looking for new lines and undiscovered zones.

I didn’t have to go far to ski a line that I had never skied before. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was prepared for anything.

Entrance to Bird Brain

In years past, there has been enough snow to ski into the very tight entrance of Bird Brain. The team: Eric Seymour, Griffin Post, and Tanner Flanagan decided it would be safer to rope into the entrance. The exit of Brain Brain is a mandatory repel. We wanted to make sure that there was a safe anchor for the bottom rapel before all of us descended into the couloir.

Gearing Up - Entrance of Bird Brain

Eric Seymour dropped in first.

Eric Seymour Dropping In

Belay ON!

The snow was great in the couloir. We decided to keep Eric on belay until he found the second belay station. Or at least a safe rapel zone. The snow was sluffing hard and we didn’t want to watch Eric fall off the bottom cliff.

Eric Seymour Looking for a Safe Belay Station

Once Eric located a safe belay station, we all skied down to him. The turns in the couloir were really good! And there is nothing like heavy exposure and sluff to get your heart pounding.

Look Closely into Griff's Goggles and You Will See the Team

The second rapel was super fun!

Dropping Into the Second Rapel

Griffin Post Existing Bird Brain

At the bottom of the rapel there were some really nice powder turns.

Pow Turns!

I have to admit, “Bird Brain” is more of a novelty couloir. Even so, it is a testament to how diverse Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is. Depending on my mood, I can spend the day ripping slush or get out the ropes and go for a little adventure!

Bird Brain

Marker Flying V Gibson Guitar Auction – All Proceeds Go To ShaneMcConkey.org

Marker and Gibson have joined forces to make one of the coolest guitars in the world and to help raise money for ShaneMcConkey.org. All proceeds (every single cent) of the final auction price will go to ShaneMcConkey.org. The auction is currently live on-line at www.markerusa.com. Click here to bid: Marker Flying V Guitar

The auction will conclude next Friday, March 12, at 12:00 midnight Eastern Standard Time.

How do I bid? Click on the “Bid Now” button on the link above. You will be asked to set up a user name and password. Once you do this, it will work much like ebay. IMPORTANT for international bidders: the username and password form is in USA address format. To overcome this, simply place “NH” in the State field and leave the rest blank. This will allow you to register. If you have any problems registering, please reply to this email and I will help.

Can I see the guitar before the auction? If you live in Northern California, yes. The guitar will be displayed at Granite Chief ski shop starting later this week. It will also be only display the last night of the auction at Plaza Bar/Bar One in Squaw Valley.

What if I don’t play guitar? Doesn’t matter. It’s a collector’s piece. You can always donate it to a third party (like a music charity).

The final donation will be made through http://shanemcconkey.org

La Grave, France

Ski La Grave with Jess McMillan POV from Eric Seymour on Vimeo.

Nissan "Tram Face" on Silverado – I Was Out Hucked!

The Freeride World Tour tried for the second year in a row to hold the third stop of the tour on the Tram Face in Squaw Valley, California. It almost happened, but a small pocket of snow was triggered by someone from the media and the competition was immediately cancelled. The competition was moved from the Tram Face to Silverado. Silverado is an in-bounds venue. It is not what I would consider a FWT worthy venue, but it was the best venue for the competition due to the circumstances.

Silverado - Compeition Venue for the Nissan Tram Face Freeride World Tour

There are multiple reasons why Silverado is not worthy of being a Freeride World Tour venue. The two main reasons are that Silverado is too short and it does not have enough features to demonstrate creativity or variety in the lines competitors choose to ski. Essentially Silverado is a big air competition. Who ever can land the biggest air of the day, wins the competition.

Jaclyn Paaso definitely won the big air competition for the women. She most likely won for the men as well. She took the largest air of the day for all of the competitors. It was impressive.

Henrick Windstedt had the biggest and cleanest air for the men.

Awards Ceremony

I hucked myself into fifth place women. I skied really well putting together a line that included three airs: a 20ft, 30ft, and 15ft. It is not often that a line with three large airs would be a fifth place finish. The women skied exceptionally well. All of the women chose lines with huge airs and almost every single female stomped her line. It was a good day for women skiing.

The third stop really shook things up in the rankings for the overall of the Freeride World Tour. Jaclyn Paaso is now leading the tour followed by Ane Endrud and myself. The last stop of the tour will be held in Verbier on the notorious Bec de Rosses.