POWDER Magazine's Photo Archives
They say there are some amazing views surrounding the Gemstock Mountain and the town of Andermatt. And for about 20 minutes of a six day trip there, I actually got to see some. The rest of the time was pounding snow and complete whiteout. With no tree skiing on Gemstock, our skiing was limited to the Sonnepiste side of the mountain and a couple of steep couloirs where there was at least a little visibilty. It was a tough early seaosn in Central Switzerland, so entering the chutes meant side-stepping down a rocky entrance for about 40 feet. Once in, though, conditions were blower, and Utah-style refills prevailed for the entire trip. As soon as it clears, conditions will be the best they have been all year. Check out www.meteoschweiz.ch for weather, and to see some amazing skis local powder whores are skiing on, go to www.birdos.com. The tight crew here swore me to secrecy, so I'm off to Chamonix before anyone sees this. --Derek Taylor
Aspen/Snowmass Open Superpipe: Philippi Wins Pipe With Amplitude
On the final day of the inaugural Aspen/Snowmass Open, beautiful, sunny weather appeared again for the second day of the run making for a great day in the Superpipe.
After the two Semifinal heats in the morning, the Finals field of 10 was set take off in the pipe. With temperatures ranging around 40 degrees F and a glaring sun baking the left side of the 525-ft. long Superpipe, skiers were presented with a fast wall on the right and a soft, forgiving wall on the left. Despite the changing pipe conditions, skiers did not disappoint as they all boosted high out of the ditch and threw technical spins and even a few switch tricks near the bottom.
Leading the charge, though, was the high-flying Matt Philippi, who earned himself a 1st place finish in the inaugural event. Philippi's second of two runs saw him throw the highest 900 of the day, a huge alley-oop, a clean 1080, and a switch 540 to cap it off for the best pipe run of the day.
Philippi narrowly defeated the local boy, Peter Olenick, who ended up in 2nd place capping off a great weekend for him. Olenick's first run included a 900, 540, and 1080 in consecutive fashion. All his tricks were super clean and included stylie grabs, but he did not have as much amplitude as Philippi.
"It would have been nice to come out with two wins," said Olenick alluding to his Slopestyle victory the day before, "but I skied really well today and had fun."
The other skier matching Philippi's amplitude was 3rd place finisher, Brent Abrams. After barely making it into the Finals, Abrams excited the crowd with big airs and one of the best 1080s of the day at the bottom of the pipe.
An added highlight that generated the most excitement of the event was Scott Hibbert's double back flip attempt at the bottom of the pipe. Hibbert sketched out on the landing of his 2 nd trick up top in the pipe, so he proceeded to stir the crowd by skiing all the way down the pipe and attempting a double back flip but coming up short by decking the pipe with his chin—yes, his chin. He skied away though with a smile on his face as the thrilled crowd cheered in appreciation for his stimulating attempt. -John Stifter
Aspen/Snowmass Open: Olenick Wins Slopestyle
Unlike the cloudy, snowy conditions that caused the Winter X Games Slopestyle to be cancelled at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, CO, the Aspen/Snowmass Slopestyle hosted on the same course as the X Games was held under blue, sunny skies. The inaugural Aspen/Snowmass Open presented by Nissan is billed as a Slopestyle/Superpipe event open to amateurs, and skiers are able to ski on the exact same courses built for the X Games two weeks earlier.
Led by X Gamers Sammy Carlson, Derek Spong, and Aspen native Peter Olenick, the Aspen/Snowmass Slopestyle Finals event got off to a fast start from the first skier, 15-year-old Alex Godbout, who ended up earning a 3 rd place finish.
"This is definitely my best finish of the year," said Godbout, a native from Quebec.
And then another youngster, 15-year-old Wanaka, New Zealand native Jossi Wells, threw an impressive switch truck driver 540 off the 55-ft. Channel Gap and a switch mute 900 off the 65-ft. Last Chance Kicker to earn 2 nd place.
"I'm so stoked right now," said the miniature-framed Wells in his Kiwi accent. "This is so sweet to finish 2nd."
But the day belonged to Olenick of nearby Carbondale, CO. Peter earned himself his first podium of the short season with an impressive display of Slopestyle skills ranging from his hard-charging rail attempts up top with the 21-ft. flat-to-down and 4-ft. high flat rail and then the XChange box down low. The XChange box is a unique feature to the course as it offers to different options: a 14-ft up to 15-ft. gap to 14-ft. down or a 14-ft. up to 14-ft. flat to 14-ft. down. Olenick, like nearly every skier of the event, elected to hit the up to gap to down and executed it perfectly with a clean exit heading into the Last Chance Kicker.
"We had way better weather than the X Games, so it was nice to actually be able ski the course," said Olenick. "It was a sick comp."
Unfortunately, the experienced youngsters, Carlson and Spong, both crashed on the Last Chance Kicker leaving them off the podium.
Congrats though goes out to the local Olenick and his aggressive, charging approach to the course, and the two foreign 15-year-olds, Godbout and Wells. -John Stifter
Podium:
Peter Olenick
Jossi Wells
Alex Godbout
What do you do after you've tracked out the mountain? If you're a Scando in Engelberg, you party like a rock star. What started as an impromtu party four years ago when a couple of Swedes living in the Hotel Eden commandered the stereo and started jamming heavy metal tunes, has turned into an annual tradition. Hundreds of people packed into the Swedish embassy in Engelberg--also known as the Eden Bar--on Saturday night. While several vets claim this night was tame compared to past years, it was a raucus affair nonetheless. Jack and Cokes were being doled out in pairs, leather pants and big hair were the fashion du jour, and if you didn't come dressed to rock you were tagged by a Shapie tatoo artist. After tearing up the Eden for five hours, the party moved down the street to the CC Bar and continued well into the morning. If you're wondering who devoured the foot of powder that fell on Titlis last week, chances are this motley crew had something to do with it. - Derek Taylor
Late last month Simon Evans and I hit Turnagain Pass. A strong low pressure was building and weather forecast was calling for substantial snow over the next couple days. On the way to the pass, with snow starting to fall and visibility limited we decided to keep it mellow and ski some tree shots. Temperatures remain on the cool side, so even low elevation snow is light and blower. We found light, deep snow and good visibility in the trees. Another rewarding day in the southcentral AK backcountry. -Jason Scheben
It was all business at the 2006 Snowsports Industry Tradeshow in Las Vegas this week. In between very important meetings, Powder staffers managed to set aside time for bull rides, keggers and blackjack.
In the lobby of the convention center, David Reddick, Powder's photo editor, displayed the year's best ski photography. On Tuesday evening Aspen/Snowmass threw down with kegs of Budweiser while their Polaroid toting ski bunnies made sure everyone had evidence of a good time in Sin City. Not surprisingly, a large mob of industry peeps came by to check out the impressive display.
Tired, hungover and reeking of Vegas, the crew headed to Aspen for the POWDER VIDEO AWARDS Saturday night. Check back Sunday for complete results and photos from the event.
Complete results for the nighttime Big Air invitational at the 2006 Jeep U.S. Freeskiing Open: 1st Place
TJ Schiller
2nd Place
Charles Gagnier
3rd Place
Andreas Haveit
4th Place
Sammy Carlson
*Hall & Burke win Superpipe, Schiller claims Big Air for second consecutive year with switch 1440
Vail, CO—The Jeep U.S. Freeskiing Open, the largest and most respected contest in freeskiing, completed competition in Vail, Colorado, yesterday with the men’s and women’s Halfpipe competition and the exciting nighttime Big Air invitational, coming on the heels of Friday’s Slopestyle finals. The largest cash prize of the contest, $10,000, went to TJ Schiller of Vernon, BC for his first place finish in the nighttime Big Air invitational. Schiller beat out last year’s Slopestyle winner Charles Gagnier with a huge switch 1440—the first ever seen at the Open. Tanner Hall of Park City, UT took first in men’s Halfpipe, claiming the $7,000 prize, while Sarah Burke of Whistler, B.C. placed first in the women’s division carrying a $2,500 prize.
On Friday the 13th Clint Butler, Triston Buchanan, and I headed for Turnagain Pass. Finally things have calmed down here and conditions are shaping up nicely. Girdwood and Turnagain Pass has received substantial snow in the last couple weeks. With a couple clear days for snow to settle, minimal wind, and consistent temps it was time to go BIG!
The avalanche report has been consistent the last few days--the weak layer is near the bottom of the snowpack, so the recommendation is to avoid aspects with shallow snowpack and find deeper, more stable snow. In the Turnagain area, south facing aspects were holding a deeper snowpack--exactly what I wanted to hear!
Our plan was to ski my favorite shot in the pass- "The Shower Curtain" (hippies have a different name for it). It's a south facing aspect with uninterrupted spines at a sustained 45-50 degree pitch for approximately 2,500' vert. From the parking area it takes about 2hr 45 min to summit for a descent you'd be stoked to get even on a epic heli day. The skiing was incredible!The combination of good weather, new snow, and a healing snowpack made Friday the 13th arguably the best day in Turnagain Pass this season. -Jason Scheben
For more shots, check out Ian Coble Imaging at iancoble.com.
"In the last 3 weeks Southcentral Alaska has experienced an unusual warm spell. Due to the snow line hovering around 1,800', lower mountain skiing has been marginal to say the least.
Last week Clint Butler, Josh Hegna and I headed north for some higher elevation skiing at Hatcher's Pass. This area was experiencing the warm weather but not as much rain as the southern region. There was definitely evidence of snow loss but because it hadn't really frozen again we found creamy, quality turns considering.
The next attempt was to give Alyeska a shot. Simon Evans and I hit the resort on Christmas Eve. A couple of weeks ago the Girdwood area was served 6" of rain in 24 hours with winds exceeding 80 mph at 3,200'. Because the majority of our skiing is close to sea level, it created serious concerns. You can only imagine what this temperature change did to the avalanche activity. Alyeska Resort and Turnagain Pass experienced several natural and skier triggered slides ripping to the ground. The resort turned out to be pretty good skiing up high.
Today I saw a positive turn in regards to a healing snowpack and low elevation snow accumulation. Simon Evans and I decided to do some storm skiing at Turnagain Pass. The last couple days temps have dropped slightly- enough to bring substantial wet snow at the base of Turnagain Pass- (1,000'). Approximately 18" of new snow fell in the last few days at Turnagain Pass and Alyeska's higher elevations. We found some good pow turns in the trees. Dark days are getting lighter and hopefully rain is turning to snow." -Jason Scheben
Colin lives in Les Terrasses, France, a small village 1,500 feet above La Grave and spends a large portion of his time near his favorite peak, La Meije. Here's a sampling of his photography.
Photos from Steamboat's epic November.
Photos by Larry Pierce