WE WERE HERE WITH ONLY THE “NECESSITIES”—A COUPLE OF BASEBALL MITTS, A FURRY COMPANION, A DISCO BALL, SOME TENTS AND A STASH OF FOOD— AND THE TEAM WE BUILT TO GET THE JOB DONE. TOP TO BOTTOM “The kitchen tent in full effect with our cook and team manager Justin Sweeny. One day Justin asked me what the word ‘sauté’ meant and I had a good laugh. He succeeded at keeping us well-fed and learned a term that I’m sure will help him in his future kitchen exploits.” Photo: Michelle Parker Staying charged up while camping in the backcountry is a full-time endeavor. Photo: Michelle Parker WHILE I LOVE being able to work from the Sierra sur-rounding my Lake Tahoe home, there’s only one destination on my mind every single season: Alaska. And I’m not alone. It has a mystical, uncharted allure that skiers and snowboard-ers the world over can relate to. Over the course of my 20 years of skiing professionally, I’ve been to the Final Frontier a number of times. I’ve failed miserably at getting film-worthy shots, I’ve been taken out by my sluff; I’ve gotten lost in my line. I’ve also learned from each of those experiences, eventually garnering the skill set required to ski Alaskan lines with confidence and precision. At this point in my ongoing development, I seek more from these experiences. This year I wanted to combine all of the skills I had acquired and put them to use without the ease of a helicopter, instead relying on a ski plane to get us in and our own two feet to get us up. Continuum , our human-powered film project, represented a chance for an even greater challenge. Getting dropped off on top is only half (or arguably less) of that challenge, and I was eager to experience the whole thing. Taking the lead on this expedition—my fifth human-powered trip to Alaska—I was in charge of building my dream team. I landed on Robin Van Gyn and Elena Hight, two talented snowboard athletes and extremely close friends—people I have spent years with in the mountains. I also knew we needed a few of the best cinematographers who can keep it light. I tapped my partner, Aaron Blatt, to be the photographer. Ben Hoiness was our lead guide, and Shane Treat—someone I call upon for all of my big human-powered missions—signed on as our base camp manager. Oh, and we brought Shane’s dog, Ama, for cuddles. Our scout flight was dismal. Weeks of planning hadn’t prepared us for Alaska’s weird winter and the sorry state of the Alaska Range. Wind-stripped mountains held few spines and lots of rock. Travis Rice had kindly provided the beta for our trip, dropping a few pins on Google Earth, but he couldn’t control the weather. We flew northwest for rumored powder stashes and eventually found an elevated zone off the Dall Glacier. With views of Mt. Russell in the distance, this would be our new home for the foreseeable future. 068 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 17, Issue 2: Page 68
