Scufoneda Dolomiti
The Scufoneda telemark freeride festival here in the Italian Dolomites was really fun! Lots of fun telemark vibe and good people, good food, and sunshine. A small american crew represented, including Nick DeVore, photographer Gabe Rogel, Eben Mond and Josh Madsen from Telemark Skier. Nick won the telemark freeride contest off the Col Margherita in fine style.
We’re here for a few more days, and it’s snowing outside right now. Here’s to a powder day tomorrow!!
Luke Miller in front of the Gruppo Palle
La Scufoneda Festival
Mike Hattrup demonstrates how to build an emergency sled
Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. That’s what my dad used to say.
We head into the backcountry for the wildness and adventure of it all. No matter how well-planned out, you still never know exactly what you’ll find, from terrain to snow, weather, and even people. Most of the time it goes to plan, or at least goes right. But being prepared for when it goes wrong can make all the difference in the world between an adventure, an epic, a challenge, or a disaster.
Travel over snow is relatively easy when you’re on skis or skinning. But subtract your ability to ski or walk when you’re several miles deep in rough or new snow, and that simple task can become daunting. If someone gets hurt on your tour, knowing how to build an emergency sled will let you quickly adapt to the situation and move efficiently out to safety or care. Watch below as Mike Hattrup demonstrates how a couple small backcountry essentials can expedite an exit from a backcountry injury with a makeshift emergency sled:
deep pow days in austria
Hey guys
Finally we got some amazing snow in the south side of austria!
We got 80cm within 12h and another 40cm during the day, our tracks were nearly covered by new snow during each run!
Hell yeahhh, the last time I had such good pow conditions were in Mt. Baker 3 years ago.
The first half of the day we were only skiing for fun and believe me – we had fun!!!
In the afternoon our filmers finally arrived after a 5h drive and then we started shooting deeeeep pow runs in the wood.
The following day we had blue bird, but the other thing was, the conditions were really sketchy!!!
We decided to go back to the wood, it was to dangerous in the higher area – so much avalanches…..
After 2 days shooting amazing snow conditions it became warm again and we moved to a different area to get some good shots 
keep you updated
cheers
roman
here some shots
K2 & Kids
Every winter I get the chance to introduce middle school kids to backcountry skiing. The Community School 8th graders (in Sun Valley, ID, where I live) start their winter off with an Avalanche Awareness Class that culminates in 3 days of back-country skiing. During the first month of the course, the kids combine classroom work with beacon drills in our town “beacon park” or in the parking lot of the school. After a month of this, they get to take their new skills out of school for 3 day trip & do the “real” thing. This is where I come in…as a guide hired to be sure that they are making the correct decisions along the way. During our 3 days together, the kids call our local avalanche hotline & collect weather & hazard information. They then choose our ski destination & safe travel routes. Along the way, they use the skills they have learned to evaluate the hazard & look for signs of instability. They practice beacon searches on their skis. They have a yummy picnic & hot chocolate. And finally, at the end of this (red light/green light) evaluation process, they get to GO SKIING! And if we are lucky, as we usually are this first week of February, we get to ski great powder! Sweet! At last the reason for this class FINALLY becomes clear….skiing untracked powder RULES! It is so rewarding for me to see their ear to ear grins after their first run of perfect powder in the back country. These kids are stoked! Many of them are on AT gear, but each year there are more & more kids ripping it up on tele skis. And best of all, many of them are sporting K2s! Our local shops also rent K2s, so lots of kids get to put 2 & 2 together….K2s & killer skiing. These are our future fellow back country skiers & I am honored to be a part of introducing them to the goods!
FREERIDER GESUCHT!
Freude ist, den Powder im Gesicht zu spüren und als Erster die perfekte Line zu finden. Du bist ambitionierter Freerider und möchtest drei aufregende Freerider-Movie Drehtage als Hauptdarsteller erleben? Dann bewirb dich jetzt auf www.bmw-freeride-guide.at
BMW FREERIDE GUIDE – SEI DABEI.
K2 Dispatch: Monarch Mountain
With X Games and the SIA tradeshow behind us, the K2 crew assembled at Monarch Mountain, CO. Reggie and Zach Crist, Bryce Phillips, Luke Miller, and Shea Flynn, joined members of our K2 crew for a few days of filming and playing on the new skis from the 2010-11 K2 collection.
Tuesday at Monarch was awesome with blue sky and fresh snow buffing out the upper ridge lines. Monarch’s cat skiing area extends beyond the resort, offering above-alpine laps ranging from wide open and smooth steeps, to craggy chutes and trees.
Wednesday’s highlight came when we were nearly closing up shop on a solid day of shooting. Bryce scouts out a solid 35 ft rock, with a marginal landing. From the bottom we were unsure on the outcome, but before we could debate his air selection, he rolls out a perfect laid out back and shuts up the peanut gallery.
We closed out the day by rolling down to the Crist brothers’ party on wheels; a F450 truck pulling a state-of-the-art Airstream trailer. With the help of First Ascent and Airstream, the Crists modified the rig to serve as the ultimate ski-base on wheels. Space to sleep four, a roll-out PA, hatchback ski-garage complete with full tuning station, the whole setup drew a crowd at Monarch, so we kicked up the tunes and celebrated a solid day in Colorado.
Next up we’ll have 2009 X Games Slopestyle Champion Anna Segal, Sean Decker, Shea Flynn, and one of the youngest groms on the K2 team, Birk Irving ripping the park at Monarch.
Roman 1st edit helmet cam_contour hd
here the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjUKVIMVXVU&feature=fvsr
Japan – confirming the myth
Just came home from a great couple of weeks in Japan. Having never been to this place much written about and pictured in the ski media in the later years I wanted to go over there myself to experience it and see if the snow was as deep as I’d been told.
That did not take very long:
Hokkaido, the northern of the major Japanese Islands, gets huge amounts of snow, making resorts such as most famous Niseko a 100% bet for powder, at least in December and January when the average number of dry days are about zero. My skis were lost in transition and I feared I’d be riding on rental gear the first day. Luckily, or actually because of some years experience of air travel with ski gear, I had carried the boots in my hand all the way from Scandinavia and actually found a kind local who would lend me his Hellbents on one of the deepest powder days I have ever experienced – probably just another average ski day for him though.
Following my friend and maker of Signatures, a pure Niseko back country pow movie, Nick Waggoner, on the first run lap beside the bottom lift the myth was confirmed. Immediately everything that I had heard about the Japanese powder was recognized as indisputable truths, as I unconciously opened my mouth to let out a scream of joy and had my instantly filled with snow. I have skied a lot of good snow, and some really deep powder in my life, but nothing like this. It is not about faceshots, but air shots. The stream of snow over your head is constant, except for the valuable, short moments when you are lucky enough to pop over the surface for a breath of air and adjusting your direction between the trees.
Obviously it is not always exactly like that, even in Niseko, as the snow quickly settles after a day on the ground, but it definitely stayed soft. After cruising the hill and the slackcountry for some days, we were lucky enough to get on a cat and into some really fun minigolf terrain with lots of stuff to take air off of and even some short pillow lines. Lots of flat landings, yes, but who cares when it is bottomless?
Japan is awesome, that was concluded already on the first run as told, but also the food – sushi especially, the toilets – with heated seats and more, and the onsens – hotsprings, are part of making your ski trip to Japan unforgettable. The terrain on Hokkaido is in general quite mellow though, at least that where the ski areas are located, and our trip had another purpose; to check out the Japan Alps on the main Island and make an article obout the skiing there for Norrona Magazine. This is to be published at the start of next season. I can tell you now that we did not find the same kind of snow, but nevertheless the trip there was maybe even more memorable. Check the Norrona Blog for more about that.
Face to face with the Japan Alps. photo: JM Øvervoll / Norrøna Magazine
- See you on the mountain!
Torkel “Torky” Karoliussen, K2 Adventure Team telemarker
Gipfeltour Hochpustertal
Wer kennt das nicht. Man träumt und fährt um diese Jahreszeit von 50 cm Powder mit witzigen tree-runs im dichten Schneefall, um manchmal noch den ersten blue bird Tag mitzunehmen, von dem man noch mehrere Tage zehrt. Die Realität sieht momentan anders aus was den Schnee betrifft und ich ertappe mich faul zu werden. Also greife ich kurz entschlossen zum Hörer und melde mich bei meinem Kumpel und Weltklasse-Mountainbiker Roland Stauder in Niederdorf/Sexten zum Beine vertreten an.
Nach 2 Stunden Fahrt sammle ich Roli in Niederdorf ein und wir steuern unseren Ausgangspunkt zum ersten Gipfel, den 2840m hohen Dürrenstein an. Es ist knusprig kalt und keine Wolke am Himmel. 1400hm Aufstieg liegen vor uns und Roli geht es wie immer sehr gemütlich im Plaudertempo an, welches bei Normals schnell zur Schnappatmung führt. Es geht in einem schattigen Tal mit lichtem Baumbestand die ersten 600hm mäßig bergan. Die Szenerie wechselt schon bald in hochalpines Gelände. Somit wird es auch steiler und ich merke wie die Hangabtriebskraft immer mehr an meinem Rucksack zieht. Zum Glück habe ich den schwereren Coomba im Auto gelassen und auf meine Allzweckwaffe Mt. Baker vertraut. Roli (wieso hab ich dem nicht den schweren Ski gegeben?!), der hier bekannt ist wie Hansi Hinterseer in Kitzbühel muss bei fast jedem überholten Tourengeher einen kurzen Plausch halten. Gut für mich, ich kann mir wieder einige Meter Luft verschaffen.
Die letzten 400hm legt man in einem gewaltigen Kar zurück. Leider hat eine riesige Nassschneelawine vor einigen Tagen das gesamte Kar durchspült, was die Abfahrtsmöglichkeiten sehr einschränkt.
In Gipfelnähe eröffnen sich dem geschulten Auge des Geländeskifahrers viele interessante Möglichkeiten von kurzen, steilen und zum Teil noch nie befahrenen Rinnen. Ich beschließe kurzerhand nochmals hierher kommen zu müssen um diese Aufgabe mit meinen Amigos anzugehen. Oben am Gipfel angelangt blickt man in die imposanten Bergkulissen der Drei Zinnen und der Trofana.
Roli eröffnet mir gleich das Programm für den Nachmittag und zeigt auf einen gegenüberliegenden Gipfel mit dem allseits beliebten Namen Rosskopf mit 2560m. Damit sich meine Anreise auch wirklich gelohnt hat, will ich dem Gastgeber seinen Wunsch nicht ausschlagen. Wobei das nur die halbe Wahrheit ist, denn ich will mich nicht schon nach einem Aufstieg geschlagen geben.
Nach kurzer Gipfelrast erfolgt die Abfahrt entlang der Aufstiegsspur. In den nordseitigen Hangausrichtungen findet man sogar etwas uralt Powder und einige Schwünge lang kann man es ordentlich paffen lassen. Mit dem erreichen der Baumgrenze geht es im kupiertem Gelände wieder zurück zum Auto. Damit die Systeme erst gar nicht wieder herunterfahren können, geht es sofort mit Skischuhen ins Auto (nicht empfehlenswert, aber möglich) und wir steuern ins nächste Seitental zum neuen Ausgangspunkt.
Mittlerweile ist es kurz nach 13 Uhr und es ist schon fast frühlingshaft warm geworden. Wir stellen das Auto auf etwa 1300m Seehöhe ab, um die ersten 600hm im mäßig steilen Wald zurückzulegen. Wir gelangen an ein Hochplateau mit einem typischen Südtiroler Gasthaus und mir schwebt mittlerweile eine Radlermass auf der Sonnenterasse vor. Roland zieht aber stoisch daran vorbei und doziert über die Möglichkeiten des Höhentrainings auf der angrenzenden Skatingloipe. Die lebende Langlauflegende Ole Einar Björndalen, der um die Ecke wohnt holt sich hier seinen letzten Schliff. Bei mir ist mittlerweile fast Schluss mit lustig und ich laufe schon auf Notstrom. Aber ich wollte es ja nicht anders.
Die letzten 300hm steigt man auf einer riesigen schiefen Ebene zum Gipfel auf. Der Schnee ist brutal windgepresst und harschig, was eine ambitionierte und wenig genussvolle Abfahrt erahnen lässt. Oben angekommen bin ich einmal mehr dem besonderen Charme der Dolomiten erlegen. Solch bizarre Felsformationen findet man eben nur hier.
Ich lasse den Blick schweifen und entdecke in allen Blickrichtungen spektakuläre Lines die offensichtlich auch mit schweren Freerideplanken zu erreichen sind. Kurzhand vereinbare ich mit Roli nochmals ein Guiding im Frühjahr. Man müsse nur noch den Rücktransport von den jeweiligen Routen mit einem Geländewagen organisieren. Das sollte aber nicht das Problem sein.
Kranjska Gora – BMW X1 Live Tour, powered by K2
Hey,
just got home from Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
Mike Hauser (Factory Am Team), Roman Rohrmoser (Backside Pro Team), Alex Walch (K2 Snowboard Teamrider) and myself (Dani) went there for this weekend. The BMW X1 Live Tour had a stop in Kranjska Gora, so we went there to ski a bit and do some action + interviews for TV crews.
People had the chance to go there, register, do a testdrive with the X1, and test K2 Skis.
We had a fun weekend in Slovenia!
