Fish and Pow in Lofoten
Got to go to the Lofoten archipelago in Norway again this year. Can't count how many times I've been there now, but the place never stops to amaze me.
Don't think there is anywhere in the world where the skiing is as close to the ocean as in Lofoten. Peaks with 360 degrees ocean view and lines ending literarily on the shore is seally special. This is the islands of sontrasts, snow to water, white to blue, storm to sunshine (in minutes), beach to mountain, ski to surf.
Lofoten is a mountainous row of islands above the arctic circle, stretching far out into the Northern Sea off the Northern Norwegian coast. Traditionally it's all about fishing, as this is where the North Atlantic Cod gather to party every year. Now it's just as much about tourism, mostly by the kind that drive around in their campers to look at the scenery in the summer, but also an increasing number of climbers, surfers and in winter skiers and snowboarders find their way to this magic place.
Check out the Shred Television Shredisode from our stay in Lofoten:
Having a clothing sponsor with a back country ski wear line named after this place helps a lot when making excuses for going up there year after year. This time I teamed up with a big bunch of my fellow Norrona riders for a photo and video shoot, hung out at the Camp Lofoten back country ski event and then did a bit of guiding. Of course I made sure to have some spare time to catch a few waves in between, and watch some of Europe's best surfers who happened to be there enjoying Lofoten in their way, video.
Working on setting up my excuses for next year's trip to Lofoten now...
Ken Lucas wins Tailgate Alaska Snowkite Event
Words by Ken Lucas
I traveled up to the Valdez area for the 4th Annual Thompson Pass Snowkite Festival held in conjunction with the Tailgate Alaska event. We ended up with great conditions and amazing competitions: Kitercross, King of the Mountain (first one to the top using a kite), Sick Line, Big Air (glide) and Big Mt. Freestyle. I was super stoked to get 1st place in 2 events.
The Tailgate Alaska village/campground was a lot of fun with people camping in snowcaves, teepees, heated tents, and RVs. Using snowkites, we were able to access some of the premier mountains in the Chugach and ride untracked powder for hours. The highlight had to be the snowkiters putting on a Big Air/Freestyle session for all the Tailgate Alaska participants on the 500’ cliff band immediately adjacent to the village/campground.
Tailgate Alaska
Ascending Mt. Oddysey
Getting near the summit
Skiing down
Ascending with Tom already on ridge with his kite
Dropping
Annual Doug Coombs memorial party at Thompson Pass
In like a lion
A more relaxed kind of March Madness comes in from BackSide athlete Evan Stevens up at Valhalla Mountain Touring:
Well, March is almost over, and here is a video I made in the beginning of the month, but I have been WAY too busy skiing powder to remember to post this one on the blog. 3-4m snowpack right now, no persistent weak layers, cold fluff everywhere from summits to valleys. Enjoy the video!
Michael Aschaber at the "Ochsendaumen"
Last week Gregor Haas, my trusted mountain guide, and I sallied forth on a little ski tour in the Loferer Steinbergen. Just beneath the Ochsenhorn, there is a rocky spire known as the Ochsendaumen, which looks as if it was made for highlining.
Staying true to the motto "quick and clean", we wanted to ascend, set up the highline, complete the traverse, and then ride down the slope, which was covered in the finest powder.
A heavy backpack, weighing about 30 Kg, nearly brought us both to our knees, and our "quick“ approach turned out into an 8,5-hour long slog. Unfortunately, climbing the Ochsendaumen just couldn't be done in skiboots. So we returned to our tent, prepared our gourmet dinner, and dozed off as soon as we sat down.
Awakened by the sun the following morning, and still not fully recovered from the previous day, we decided to descend. Skiing down through the beautiful powder, however, made the strenuous ascent well worth it.
The Ochsendaumen is probably one of the most beautiful highline spots in our area. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Cold Smoke Continues in BC
A La Nina winter continues to bring deep, cold snow to the interior of BC. K2 BackSide athlete Evan Stevens has been busy ticking off new lines and deep descents in the Valhallas, and sending enough video to make anyone jealous. Check out this look at a new run called "Fireball" at his backcountry lodge, Valhalla Mountain Touring.
Nimbus Euro road trip continue
Hey Guys
After 2 weeks in beautiful Courmayeur, on the italian side of the Mont Blanc, we drove back last week with the 2 BMW X1 to Austria. We found some good lines at Courmayeur, unfortunately there was not a really good base, like everywhere in the alps... that means 2 pair of skis per rider were pretty much done after a few days filming. We also got a few Heli drop off´s and got a few shots of that. Thx again the locals from Courmayeur, who supported us. Delicious food, really good wine and awesome terrain, next to massiv mountains and glaciers.
Back at my home town in zillertal (austria) we found a few cool spots, with good base and a bit of powder. I also showed them the traditional food, beer and of course the most important thing "Schnaps" which they liked pretty much, hahhaha.
here a little edit and pics
for more news check out www.nimbusindependent.com and www.roman-rohrmoser.com
cheers
r
Behind the scenes edit: http://vimeo.com/20190834
Roman Dirscherl rippin' the Dolomites
Roman impressingly demonstrates what can be gained out of our way too early spring conditions!
No hike, no ride - but with a bit of work ...
... lines like this can be found!!
Nimbus EURO trip
Hey guys
I´m on the road with the Nimbus crew since 1 week . Munich, Zillervalley, Livigno....Right now we are in Italy, but probably driving back to austria soon. Found some good snow, but still pretty sharky! Looking forward to a big snow storm comin in.
check out some pics
more news on www.nimbusindependent.com
and www.roman-rohrmoser.com
cheers
roman
Deep Powder Video: Made in Japan!
The weather at home has been pretty dire in the two weeks since my return from Japan so I have been passing the time by editing some video that we collected while we were there. The POV footage is from my GoPro and big thanks go out to Ian Fohrman for the D300s footage!
A full blog post with over 70 photos can be found here.
Enjoy!
Garmont's new women's NTN boot: The Priestess
K2 Paybacks with NTN bindings.
During the 2009-10 ski season, I was disappointed to discover that none of the boot companies were making a women's NTN boot. See blog post. As promised, in 2010 Garmont released a women's specific NTN boot called the Priestess, which accommodates sizes 23-27.5.
After watching my husband ski the NTN's and work out some of the kinks (details below) last season, I garnered my new K2 Paybacks, NTN bindings, and Garmont's Priestess NTN boot size 25.0 and hit the slopes this year with a whole new setup. Previously I was on the K2 Dawn Patrols with Karhu's 7tm Power bindings and Garmont's Elektra women's boot size 24.5.
Garmont's Priestess.
I'm using the green power tubes in the NTN bindings with the tension set between 1 and 2 depending on the snow conditions (1 for powder and 2 for hard pack). As expected, the fit of this Garmont boot is narrower than their traditional telemark boot. After some boot tweaking: thermo-molding the liners and some ankle padding to fill in the volume added by the bigger size, I was surprised how easily I adjusted to the new system. I find the NTN system very responsive and the Priestess boot was easy to flex right out of the box. I'm also a ski patroller and NTN provides a greater level of stability while pulling a toboggan. In short, these bindings and the Priestess rock!
One main kink: the NTN bindings may accumulate ice and snow underfoot.
~ Amy Bauer (K2 Women's SW Regional Alliance Member)
