Alyeska World Comp

The second day was planned to start early to get our Super Final run done in morning before weather moved in.  We awoke to another beautiful day and had our brief athlete meeting before heading back up to the High Traverse to inspect the Slowboy Chutes on the Headwall, looker’s left of the Wedge.

The Slowboy Chutes

Having never skied the Slowboy’s before I didn’t really know what to expect, but I found a line I thought looked good.  I was planning on dropping in skiers left of the Headstone and then going through a little chute I found skiers right of the Headstone rock into Slowboy 2.  We booted back up the Headwall to get ready for our run.

The boys inspecting above the Headstone

Only three of the telemark girls made it into the Super Final run.  Lizet went first, skiing Slowboy 1.

Megan dropping in

Then Megan dropped into Slowboy 2 and skied the ridge between the two chutes.

Paige - photo: Jon Gurry

Then I dropped in above the Headstone, after making a few turns I realized I had pasted the Headstone rock I wanted to ski around, so I just continued fall line and found a little patch of rocks I could jump off.

Paige - photo: Jon Gurry

I continued through the debris and suncrusted snow to the finish.

Paige - photo: James Brady

Paige crossing the finish

I was very tired at the bottom of the run and excited to make it through the finish.

Me, my brother Mark, and my mom. My dad taking the photo

It was really cool to have the whole family out there watching the event!

Conor dealing with a bloody nose

When Conor Davis was skiing his second run (first; telemark, second; alpine) he buried his tip under the crust and then started tomahawking.  After he came to a rest he wasn’t moving so it was a little worrisome, but a patroller skied down to him and then he was able to slowly ski to the bottom of the venue.  It turned out he had a tip to the face and his nose was bleeding uncontrollably.  Luckily that was the worst of the crashes this year and most of the competitors escaped uninjured.

When everyone was done we skied a few more laps and then had the awards that night at the Sitzmark.

Lizet Christiansen 3rd, Paige Brady 1st, Megan Michaelson 2nd

I was really excited to find out I had won the title again on my home turf!!

Ryan Davis 3rd, Paul Kimbrough 1st, Jake Sakon 2nd

Final Results:

Alyeska World Comp

Well, the comp started out with a slight delay on Thursday due to poor visibility on the Headwall at Alyeska.  But by the time we all met at the base of Chair 4 at 11:00am the sky’s were clear and the competitors were psyched!  We found out then that we were going to be doing two runs that day and they wanted to start by 12:30pm.  We all got ready and headed up towards the High Traverse to do our final inspection of the Wedge from below before we started the boot pack up the Headwall.

Competitors inspecting the Wedge

Megan & Conor inspecting their line close-up from the camera view finder

I decided to ski a similar line to what I had done the year before which got me into some rocks lookers right of the Wedge with a small air out the bottom.

Day 1 venue - the Wedge

Luckily the telemark girls were running first so I didn’t have to wait at the top for too long and get really nervous.  When I started my run I had a couple powder turns and then I crossed a fracture line and was skiing the hard pack bed surface.  I found my entrance just above the Diving Board rock, skied through it clean and then skied down to the finish.

Competitors getting ready above the Wedge

All the telemark girls waited and watched the boys before we headed back up to hike the Headwall for our second run.  On our hike up we were able to see the junior boys ski the venue and completely dominate.  They were launching off the big cliff in the Wedge.  One hit the Diving Board rock, another front flipped off a cliff and they all stuck their landings like it was nothing.  Everyone was impressed.

Brooke and Lizet hiking the Headwall for round two

We all skied pretty similar lines the second time around but were a bit more tired.  I felt like I couldn’t complain though because Paul Kimbrough, Jake Sakson, and Conor Davis all skied in both the Telemark and the Alpine competitions, so they were headed up the Headwall for their forth time!

Mark Sanders and Corky Still announcing the comp

After our 2nd runs - Conor, Paul, Brooke, Candy, Paige, Megan, and Jake

It wasn’t until 7ish that we were all done and headed to the Sitzmark to grab some food before the meeting and results.

Results after Day 1:

View from top of Pastorial Peak

I headed out to Turnagain Pass with Najeeby and Eric hoping to ski Pastorial Peak.  We started the morning off with skiing down Sunburst before we continued up the valley.

Najeeby making the suncrust look good

The suncrust wasn’t the most inspiring, but still a good warm-up.

Najeeby and Eric skinning towards Tailor Pass

We continued up and over Tailor Pass toward Pastorial.

Najeeby and I approaching the summit ridge

The last bit to the summit of Pastorial

Najeeby and I on the summit!

Najeeby and Eric getting ready to ski!

Eric dropping in

Paige at the bottom of run 1

After an amazing decent to the valley floor with perfect snow we desided we had to do it agin.  So we skinned the whole way back up to the top for another killer run.  Then we skinned up over the pass and skied out.

tired Paige

I was a little tired after our 8 hour and 7,500′ day.

Icefall Lodge

The Tele Girls take a 15 minute heli ride outside of Golden, BC to backcountry ski out of the Icefall Lodge for a week. Martha Burly, Paige Brady, Shaun Raskin, and Candy Froerer with photographer Re Wikstrom have a great time skiing powder, jumping off cliffs, playing around on the pillow lines, and exploring some new terrain.

Beyond the gates of Jackson Hole

I finally got to ski the backcountry off of Jackson Hole.  After skiing a Granite lap in the morning we headed back up the tram  and went out the south gate towards Cody Peak.

Dropping into the "Double A Chute" in Granite Canyon

It was a pretty short boot pack before we we on the top of Once is Enough.

Starring in at "Once is Enough"

After looking down in it for a while and contemplating the VW Bus size chunk of snow just waiting to rip down, we decided to keep heading up to the top of Cody Peak to check out Twice is Nice.  It looked pretty good with a nice and easy entrance, though the crux was apparently around the bend so we couldn’t see it from the top.

Matt Kaso making some tele turns down "Twice is Nice"

Me, cautiously dropping in

I was a little nervous dropping in not knowing what lie ahead, and skiing with a bunch of guys that are very good skiers.  But when I finally got around the bend, what I thought was just going to be a narrow crux turned out to be a lot rockier and icier than I was hoping.  I carefully maneuvered through it and was excited to open it up down bellow.

Cody Peak

Once is Enough is the couloir on lookers left and Twice is Nice is the “S” shaped couloir on lookers right.  We hiked up another short bootpack to ski the Tenderloin back down before we started the traverse back to the resort.

hiking up to ski "The Tenderloin"

The Keyhole

Paige, Kate, Megan

Women:

1. Megan Michelson
2. Kate Cardamone
3. Paige Brady

Men:

1. Chris Erickson
2. Will Cardamone
3. JT Robinson

Brooke and I

I drove through the night from Jackson to Tahoe with Corky and Brooke and arrived in the hot Tahoe sun Monday morning.  Extremely tried from the long drive, all we wanted to do was buy some flip-flops and hang out by the lake.  But I guess it isn’t the season yet, no one had them.  So we unpacked the car and realized Brooke’s boots were nowhere to be found.  Luckily a friend had an extra pair she could barrow for the week.

skinning up

On Tuesday, a few days before the comp, we decided to go on a backcountry ski out of Emerald Bay.

Corky and Matt looking at lines

We climbed a peak behind Tallac, it was sweet.

Me, Brooke, and Lizet on the top

Corky "not so" Still killing it on the way down

Six hours later we arrived back at the car, I mean our limo was there to pick us up!

Lizet, me, and Brooke

Skinny up Garnet Canyon, starring at the Middle Teton

The morning began with waking up at 3:50am.  After meeting friends, we were skinning from the trailhead in Teton National Park by 5:20am.  It was completely clear out which made for lots of stars and really cold temperatures.  We followed the light of our headlamps through a nicely set skin track amongst the dense forest.  We then crossed frozen Bradley Lake and started gaining elevation.  It was around 7:30 and we were high in Garnet Canyon starring at the Middle Teton when the sun finally hit!

Corky

Sun finally hits the top of the Middle Teton

We continued to skin up and around the south side of the Middle as we were headed towards the Southwest Couloir.   When our group arrived at the saddle between the South and the Middle Tetons we bumped into two guys getting out of their tent after a long, cold night.  They skied it the day before and said it was good and the snow was really stable.  We were even more psyched, said goodbye, and headed to the base of the couloir.

Corky, Evan, and Dana

Paige

We were luckily able to poach the bootpack the guys set the day before for parts of the way up.  This made the ascent much easier, as they said they’d had chest deep post holing.  When we reached the top of the couloir there was a short scramble to the top.  The summit was tiny, but the views were amazing as we were starring right at the Grand.

The Grand through Dana's eye's

The Grand

Me, Dana, and Evan

We hiked back down the short distance to the top of the couloir where we could put our skis on and start the decent.

getting ready to ski!

Just a few turns in we had to negotiate a narrow rock section at one of the chokes.

Me, Dana, and Evan

There was one other tight sections that was a little thin, but after that we could open it up and let’em rip!  It was perfect pow that was just starting to get a little heavy from the sun, but super fun!!

Dana

Paige

Corky

We continued our decent passing a couple wet slides lower down in Garnet Canyon wear the sun was really starting to heat things up and affect the snow.  The last rolling section before the parking lot was now full of groups of people nordic skiing, walking, going on short ski tours.  A little different than when we left eight and a half hours ago.

Dana and I

All and all it was an amazing trip and we couldn’t have asked for any better weather!

The girls on the heli pad

Here is an interview Re Wikstrom did with The Ski Journal about our recent trip to the Icefall Lodge out of Golden, BC.
Check it out!