POWDER Magazine's Photo Archives
All photos by Gary Winberg
How do you thank a band for rocking the house all night? Why you sneak back into their dressing room and drink their contract rider, of course.
Ok, maybe not. But with the night not nearly over, I realized this is exactly what we had done. Vancouver hip-hop band Sweatshop Union was still jammin’ on the balcony of Seattle’s Evo ski shop, I ducked back stage (which does day-time duty as my friends Ian and Ryan’s office) to find gin gone, the tonic waning, and the multiple cases of green bottled beer requested by the band empty. Good time to duck back into the party.
This was Friday night, and the occasion was the showing of MSP’s Push in possibly the most ski-centric metropolis in the U.S. About 1,000 people assembled in front of the Freemont Studios massive HD screen. (CLICK HERE FOR A REVIEW OF PUSH ) After the show, the over-21 crowd made the short stumble back to the Evo headquarters (evogear.com), where the merchandise had been stowed in a container parked out back, and Sweatshop Union had set up shot on the upper balcony.
Few cities get stoked for the ski season like Seattle. The show was packed with all kinds—from local college kids to film stars (such as Seattle-bred Ingrid Backstrom) to heavy hitters from Washington-based companies such as K2, Helly Hansen and POW gloves. But while this was the highlight of the week for the ski crowd, for the folks at Evo, it was just another night in the retail/party business. The shop hosted a wakeboard premiere on Thursday and a showing of the snowboard flick on Saturday. -Derek Taylor
All photos by Gabe Rogel.
This region is explosively entertaining. In one day at Termas de Chillan, Lynsey Dyer and Jess McMillan launched front flips off a cornice, photographer Gabe Rogel shot the best backcountry skiing of his life and we almost blew up our rental house...CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY.
"Another day, another shuttle and another Delta lady. Bye Re! New plane, new bags. :You guys like the Braves? Hotlanta here I come!" Plane change again. Where to now? "Hola! Hablas ingles? Anyone?" Awesome, another ski bag. "Sup bro, you’ve seen better days. Why all the gray bandanges?"Oh, you’re Suzanne’s bag! What? We’re going to Santiago!
"Touch down. Conveyer belt. Quit pulling on me Mister. Why’s the Misses in such a rush! I’m Re’s. Why you taking me through customs. Please, someone, help!” What’s that sign say? "Las Condes, Chile" Wait this can’t be right. Re and I were heading to Las Leñas, Argentina.
Curva 1…Curva 12…Curva 20. I’m going to puke. Check-in Hotel Valle Nevado. Nice ski runs. Up to the room. Ziiiiiip. Why are these people YELLING! I’m the hostage!! Quit pulling on my green tag, hey that’s my tag, where you going with that! Back in the shuttle van. Curva 20….Curva 12….Curva 1. Airport, another airport! Why am I at the airport? I thought I was going skiing. Take off, touch down. Mendoza? Where am I? Where’s Re? She’s never left me for 2 days straight before. Another dark room. Whose this guy? Van says "Talavera." More corners, we must be headed to the mountains. Air’s getting thin, I can’t breathe. Wow, those mountains are big! Las Leñas, the sign says Las Leñas! Re, Re! Where are you? We’re passing the hotels and into the ghetto. I see Re! She’s paying the Talavera guy. That’s a lot of cash Re! Why you staying in the gringo ghetto?
Ziiiiip. Socks, jacket, pants, fleece, long johns, Pieps, shovel, probe, poles, skis. Where you going Re? Skiing without me! I just got here. I feel so empty…"-Holly Walker
When I picked up POWDER’S Porter Fox and Dave Reddick, 4FRNT founder Matt Sterbenz and Tahoe ripper Jeff McKitterick from the airport last week, my first thought was how the hell we were gong to fit all their gear in my miniature kiwi wagon. Somehow we all crammed in and immediately headed to Temple Basin Club Field, stopping halfway to meet recently crowned NZ Freeski Open Big Mountain champ and Kiwi native Hamish Aclund and enjoy a round of New Zealand’s legendary meat pies.
After Lucy and the crew chugged up to the parking lot, we loaded the gear onto the Goods lift while Porter freakishly became obsessed with New Zealand’s alpine parrot known as a Kea. Once the gear was sent off on the dodgy lift, we tramped up a mountainside for over an hour to Temple’s lodge. At one point, my sorry ass had to grab onto Hamish’s backpack strap to maintain balance as I constantly slipped on my Wallaby boots resembling a first-time figure skater. Eventually we all made it intact, including our gear, and stared up at the towering moonlit peaks that we would call home for the next week. High-fives were thrown as the AK-style lines streaming down Temple’s surrounding white faces induced feelings of pure joy.
The boys hiked and shredded hard all week with Reddick capturing both the awesome display of skill from Sterbenz, McKitterick, and Hamish and sheer beauty that is New Zealand. Without giving too much of the upcoming magazine story away, the week was a big hit, despite Porter’s loss to McKitterick in a grueling, deuce-filled championship match of ping-pong. -John Stifter
Today’s Slopestyle event for the 2006 NZ Freeski Open was one of the most groundbreaking in recent memory. Sixteen year-old kiwi native Jossi Wells threw a switch 630 onto a gap to down box on the last feature of the super-rad slopestyle course. CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY...
Windells wrapped up Session 5 at Timberline Ski Area on Mt. Hood last week with big names and stoked campers. The week started with Sammy Carlson taking over the switch-up title on the 65-foot box in the Windells park. During Session 4 a camper claimed seven switch-ups, which knocked out the record of five set by Sammy, Tim Durtschi, and Tommy Ellingson. While the camper had no witnesses, plenty of people were around to see Sammy’s seven switch-ups with the additional 270 out.
A coaching staff stacked with pros spent the session teaching the campers new tricks and showing off their own style a bit in between. Tommy Ellingson was coaching for his fourth session of the summer and can be seen this September in Rage Film’s new movie, Corduroy. During the week he got his switch cork sevens dialed and was throwing switch tens. .
Also appearing in Corduroy this fall is coach Tim Durtschi. This was his last coaching gig for the summer and he wound up with the little guys. While his campers were off sliding down the dragon rail on their stomachs, Tim was practicing his new favorite trick, the nose wheelie.
Teton Gravity Research’s Dylan Hood was in the park coaching when he wasn’t throwing backside 540s on his snowboard. Line’s Brandon Becker was also coaching, but finished up his skiing for the summer and returned home to McCall, Idaho. For the rest of the summer he can be found playing pirates on the lake. .
The hefty list of guest pros in town included Tanner Hall, Pep Fujas, Sean Fields, Roxy’s Sally Butler, and Rossignol’s Taylor Felton. Eleven-year-old Salomon newcomer “Moo” Eakin tore it up at the mountain and on roller blades in the street course at Windells. .
Session 6 is well underway right now with Ellingson, Hood, and Austin Stevens coaching. Head Coach Travis Erdmann is bringing in Phil Belanger to coach Session 7. Campers attending Session 7 can expect to have a hip built into the pipe by the talented crew of diggers. Right now their pride and joy is the perfectly built 50-foot jump at the end of the park that campers, coaches, and pros have been sessioning late into the afternoon. Campers: don’t forget to get your digger dogs at the top of the park to support their daily trip to Volcano Cones. -Courtney Vermaas
As temperatures soared in California last week, it was clear we had to hit the Hotlum-Wintun ridge on 14,162-foot Mount Shasta.
It was game on when we left the Brewer Creek trailhead on the east side of the mountain at 7,200 feet and started hiking with heavily loaded packs. We broke out of the tree line at 8,000 feet to plainly see the entire route, in excess of a vertical mile, awaiting us. The skins went on at 8,500 feet, easing the strain on the back during the push to camp at 10,400 feet. There, we saw two other parties of two. All told, ten of us were on the route, which was a definite minority to dozens on the popular Avalanche Gulch route on the south face.
Sleep came and went before we put on the crampons and booted higher on the textured snow that firmed during the night. A beautiful sunrise and sprawling vistas served to distract us from our task. Before we knew it, it was time for our descent. The corn did have some corduroy type texture and the sun cups weren’t too bad. There was a runnel or two from 13,800 to 13,000 feet where the slope steepened and sun baked. Otherwise, the snow was surprisingly good and the 3,000 foot vertical descent back to camp was well worth the climb. When the skis finally came off, we had all logged descents in excess of 5,100 vertical feet. No better way to beat a heat wave in July. - Matt Tarka
Guest pros in town included Sammy Carlson and Kristi Leskinen. Charles and Vincent Gagnier were also around filming with Plehouse. K2 team rider Chris Benchetler just arrived for his first summer with Windells...CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY...
The arrival of over 30 ski and snowboard camps to Mt. Hood, Ore. marked the official start of summer skiing for 2006. Windells and Mt. Hood Summer Ski Camps are dominating the freestyle scene with their private parks and pro coaching staff…CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY