TeleVision
Ratings Guide:."G": Suitable
for the entire family. "PG": may not be considered
appropriate for the kids and/or may not be safe for work.
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....Newest...
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Powderwhore Productions
2008 trailer:
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August, 2008-- Professionally, I am once
again stoked to witness the progression of the the Powderwhores,
as Noah Howell and crew continue to further refine their skills
in the filmmaker's craft. Those now abundant skills are on full
display in this awesome trailer for "The Pact," their
fourth full-length telemark feature film.
On a personal level,
I really love this little preview for the way it speaks directly
to an issue that I've been giving a lot of thought to in recent
months: The dream versus reality, and how fortunate we are when
the dream becomes the reality. When this happens, the even more
fortunate among us recognize that we do indeed make a pact, a
pact with ourselves.
In exchange for
total acceptance of that over which we sometimes have little
or no control-- the awe inspiring, overriding forces of nature
and an occasionally related feeling of helplessness in the face
of destiny-- we are given the power to experience amazing and
intense moments of unparalleled beauty and grace. Moments of
soul-fueling transcendent reality, far above and beyond the too
often mundane world of our everyday lives. No Faustian bargain,
this is simply a pact of necessity in the well-lived life of
the dedicated telemark and backcountry skier.
Myself, I've recently
decided to re-up. To celebrate, I think I'll sit back with a
cold bevy and enjoy this latest show from the boys one more time.
Anyone care to join me?
--Mitch |
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caRecently...
Denial
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June, 2008-- As they say, denial is
not just a river in Africa, and as it turns out, it's also a
pretty solid late season strategy. Turns are where you find 'em,
and first you make sure to get the low hanging fruit, the last
of the local stuff. Then you just keep moving...
This video was shot
on a recent local day here in So Cal. Big Tim and I saddled up
the bikes and pedaled up washed out Highway 2 for some turns
on the north side of our old friend, Mt. Baden-Powell.
The Sierra beckons
and denial still rules the day, lots of turns and fun times in
the mountains remain ahead. Life is good. |
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A Conversation
With Steve Barnett
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May, 2008-- Earlier
this month, at the invitation of Karhu's Charlie Lozner and Graham
Gephart, I had the pleasure of joining a few other folks for
some XCD-style touring in Washington's North Cascades. XCD-style
as in skinny skis, three-pin bindings and old leather Snowpine's
disguised to look like Excursions. Okay, not really, they actually
were Excursions, but they felt like...
Wait, that's for
Part Two. I've got a better way to begin this report.
In a van on our
way up to the trailhead on the first morning I rode shotgun with
Steve Barnett (left), Powder magazine's Matt Hansen (right) and
Justin Nyberg from Outside (in the way-back). Published in 1978,
Steve Barnett's book "Cross-Country Downhill" played
a huge role in re-introducing the world to freeheel skiing. It
is a book filled with tips for the "wilderness skier,"
but it was the ten pages of photos illustrating the sequence
of movements in the tele turn that were the sensation, for even
back in 1978, as Barnett was already noting, "telemarking
is such fun that some people become fanatics about it and try
to use it everywhere."
"What exactly
does XCD stand for," I asked later that day while skinning
up, and Steve said, "cross-country downhill, of course."
Get it? X-country? Well, I didn't, and it was just one of what
would be many little reminders that I was way out of my comfort
zone on this trip. "Yes, Karhu jumped on that pretty fast
after the book came out," Barnett continued with a laugh.
Leaving aside the
fact that Barnett turned out to be a great guy, a fascinating
character with a lot to say, and a terrific touring partner,
what better way to begin an XCD-style trip report than with a
chat with the man himself? And, no less, filmed in a van on our
way up the North Cascades Highway! |
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Size Matters
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Looking back through
the years, and to our lives as telemark and backcountry skiers,
I would guess that many, if not most of us, have one person to
whom we can point to as having had the most influence on our
approach to the sport. For Big Tim and me, that one person is
Bob Mazarei. BT has known him since Junior High, and Tim was
there at the beginning, a long time ago, when Bob won the door
prize at a So Cal Warren Miller show: a Mountain High season
pass. It was a fortuitous start to Bob's lifelong, life changing,
love affair with the telemark turn.
I've known Bob for
nearly twenty years, and it was a chance remark he made riding
up Chair Two while visiting us at Mammoth one spring, not long
after he had chucked it all and moved to Verbier, that changed
my own life forever.
"Today is my
100th day of skiing this season," Bob said casually.
"Wow, 100 days,"
I marveled to myself. Silently my thought process continued:
"I live in the mountains and ski out my back door. I probably
have 60 days right now, I could do that some year... get 100
days in a single season."
The next year I
tallied 115. And while this goal I got from Bob was certainly
inspiring in and of itself, there's more to the story. You see,
Bob's main approach to skiing has never really just been about
being a hardcore gnarly ski dude (although his resume includes
many climbs and ski descents from above 4,000 meters) or about
attaining lofty personal goals. It's been about good times in
the mountains, skiing hard and playing hard, traveling and meeting
people, friendships and memories, a passionate sort of lifestyle
most notable for being heavy on what the French call "Joie
de Vivre," a cheerful and hearty "joy of living."
More than anything else, this attitude, this idea of telemark
and backcountry skiing as part of a positive way of life, is
what Bob passed along to Tim and to me, and no doubt to many
others as well.
And so it is that
today we have this "Size Matters" video to share with
you. For as long as I known him, Mazarei has been mounting up
and skiing tele on alpine racing DH boards. It seems like the
more we turned to short and fat, the more Bob chose to ski the
long and narrow. He's got his reasons, and he has written a long
and interesting story about his history of telemarking on downhill
race skis that we will have on Telemarktips very soon, but to
me this DH board thing has always just seemed like an extension
of Bob's basic approach to just about everything.
Watching Bob throw
those long boards around while skiing with his usual style and
grace has always been fun. What a remarkable thing it is to finally
see it on the screen. Whether his DH rig of the day consists
of T-Races with three pins, or the production model NTN boots
and bindings he's using in this video, Bob tears it up. And yet
to me, the really great thing about "Size Matters"
is the way in which it captures the pure, passionate Joie
de Vivre that Bob Mazarei brings to his skiing, his countless
friendships. and... well... to living every day.
For us, this is
what it is all about, and we have Bob to thank for showing us
the way.
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Favorite
Things
Friends and family,
fresh powder, and "silver white winters that melt into springs...
these are a few my favorite things." It's pretty magical
when it all comes together, as it did last Monday morning here
in Mammoth.
This was one of
those days when you want to make sure your skis are waxed and
ready the night before. And of course you want to crack it early.
Big Tim rolled into town just in time to catch one of the first
gondola cars to the top with me, while my 14 year-old step-son
J.T. (making his TeleVision debut here) was already aboard one
ahead of us. Six or seven laps later, through "snowflakes
that stayed on my nose and eyelashes," we hooked up with
Chris Lohman and John Brodie for a little more.
In late summer when
I'm missing winter and feeling sad, I'll put a little Coltrane
on and this will be the day I'll remember, and then I won't feel
so bad...
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TeleVision
rating: "G"......Length: 04:17
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Everyone
Has To Get Away
Everyone has
to get away, and play, play, play, everyone has to get away.
Indeed.
Diggin' in that
garden, didn't it feel good, didn't it feel good? Laughin' with
a few friends, didn't it feel good?
Oh yeah. Found some
thunder. Two feet of light powder at Snowbasin, or two inches
of solid crust in the backcountry, we've been diggin' in that
garden. This and that for happiness. What luck, what luck, what
luck!
Get away, get
away, everyone has to get away and play play play, everyone has
to get away.
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TeleVision
rating: "G"......Length: 04:41
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...o
Capturing
The Essence of Icefall Lodge
Three accomplished
professional photographers and a talented videographer visit
British Columbia's newest backcountry lodge in this latest TeleVision
offering from Scott Rulander's Hot Shot Productions of Sandpoint,
Idaho. Their mission: to capture the essence of a visit to Icefall
Lodge.
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Untitled
It's a pretty dream,
most of the time. Here is an untitled video from our little tour
up Mill D on Friday. BT and I ditched the last day of the OR
show here in Utah, trading the jingle-jangle for the dream. It
was a nice day.
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A Southern
Alberta Day
It's our turns and
the unique culture of telemark and backcountry skiing that binds
us all together, no matter what corner of the world we might
occupy. Year in and year out, these sort of "slice in time
and place" videos are always among our favorites, and this
one is no exception.
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TeleCube
From the makers
of "The Pinhead Hunter" comes "TeleCube,"
a finalist in the NET Telemark Film Festival and a favorite of
the Telemarktips crew.
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n..pc
.Still Rollin'
In the wake of our
close call on the mountain a couple of weeks back, we've spent
a lot of time skiing and hanging out with family and friends,
enjoying the simple and familiar pleasures that have always kept
us coming back for more. We've had cold sunny days on the groomers
to warm the heart, and a few stormy powder days to stoke the
fire in the belly... in short, life goes on, with a hard lesson
or two learned, and more appreciation than ever for the finest
things in life: close family, old friends, and the greatest sport
in the world.
Yeah, we're still
rollin'...
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captioTeleVision
rating: "G"....... Running time: 02:21
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EJ's Back
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From the beginning,
EJ Poplawski said that one day he would be back telemark skiing,
and true to his word, that day has come. As many of you know,
EJ lost a leg above the knee as a result of a horrific crash
into a tree while competing in the finals of the US Extreme Freeskiing
Telemark Championship comp at Crested Butte in 2006. In the aftermath,
the telemark skiing community stood up reached out to EJ with
an impressive display of love and support. Since that time EJ
has gone on with his life, building his contracting business
back up and finding new things to do, as well as looking forward
to returning to the snow to get some turns tele style. Recently
EJ reached that latter goal, and the Powderwhores were there
with him to record the moment. It's our great pleasure to share
with all of you this inspiring video of EJ's first day back. |
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It's been a long
time...
It's
been a long time since I rock-and-rolled
It's been a long time since I did the Stroll
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back, let me get it back
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Happy Place
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We found this in our
mail the other day, and popped it into the computer right away.
Recognizing a few of the names at the beginning as friends from
the tele comps, we were expecting some fine stokage... we were
not disappointed. |
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x
October
Derek Weiss, known
as "trackhead" on our Forum, has been making and posting
videos which we have enjoyed and admired for a long time. Derek's
High Definition videos inspired us to begin offering HD videos
of our own, and last year we had the pleasure of reviewing
his and
Piton Production's excellent feature film Teton Skiing--Legends
of the Fall Line. So we were really stoked last summer when
Derek said he would work with us this year and let us host his
videos here on TeleVision. October is the first video
to come out of our new collaboration , and here is Derek's note:
The following
is footage from October 8th to November 6th. A few early season
October storms had us skiing some legit pow in October. But when
the storms fizzled out, most went back to climbing and skiing
in the perfect fall weather. The skiing remained, and is still
fun on high, north facing aspects, but we're ready for more.
So this video is more about the month of October than it is about
skiing.
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Anonymous Perspectives...
it's plural now...
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We named him Mr. Anonymous
a couple of years ago when his cool first-person "anonymous
perspective" videos started showing up at the Telemarktips
World Headquarters without any indication who had sent them,
not on the box and not in his short films. Apparently he likes
it this way, and the latest even came with a return address headed
"Mr. Anonymous." You gotta love it... and we love to
bring you the stoke he shares, especially as the final countdown
to the heart of the ski season begins. |
October Snow
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October 9,
2007-- The
backcountry is always stunningly gorgeous with a fresh 4 to 6",
it's especially awesome when that 4 to 6 falls during the first
week of October, as happened to us in Mammoth last Friday.
We rounded up an
NNN light touring setup for Urmas, I broke out some Karhu 10th
Mountains, and we headed up to the hill, expecting some kick
and glide but secretly hoping for more. We got more. Much more.
It wasn't easy skiing,
and on Saturday, although it was a Bluebird day, the snow definitely
wasn't as deep on Lake Mary ridge as it had been on the north
side of a little hill known as Woolly Peak the day before, but
Urmas and I both agreed when it was over that we had experienced
two of the finest days to start a season in recent memory.
And the backcountry
never looked more beautiful.... |
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An early season
backcountry tip from Urmas...
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October 6, 2007-- There are a lot of things to watch out for when
heading into the backcountry early in the season. Here's a quick
tip from Urmas that will eventually end up in the Lessons &
Tips section of the site. In the meantime, we thought this little
minute and a half clip would make a nice preview of the footage
we shot yesterday and today. This, after a surprisingly solid
little early October snowstorm swept through Mammoth, leaving
us grinning from ear to ear. |
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PW07-- The Trailer
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September 6, 2007-- In a recent video interview here on Telemarktips, Noah Howell said
that this third film from Utah-based Powderwhore Productions
would have a little different look and feel than their previous
two films. A slow start to winter in the Wasatch encouraged the
Powderwhore crew to head north. Watching this awesome new trailer
for PW07, the main result would seem to be insanely gorgeous,
big line, Alaska-style footage to complement the usual deep and
delectable powder stokage... chock full of memorable images,
for us this little preview is a mesmerising telemark thrill ride,
a perfect antidote to late summer, both a reminder and a promise
of more good times to come very soon... |
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Summer Reverie
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For telemark and backcountry
skiers in the Northern Hemi, the dog days of summer are upon
us. Fortunately we have our memories of incredibly fun times
on the snow to get us through, as well as expectations of awesome
days to come in the season ahead.
Lying on the beach at home,
I kick the sand flies off my assorted cuts and scrapes from the
latest epic mountain bike crash, then close my eyes and let my
thoughts drift back to our final ski trip of the year, a July
excursion to Hidden Valley on Mt. Shasta... this is my summer
reverie. |
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A little piece
of heaven...
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For the backcountry skier
looking to extend the season on into summer, Saddlebag Lake at
Tioga Pass has always been a little piece of heaven. As the years
have gone by it has become something more to me, a sort of Neverland,
where I can go to escape the city blues. A place where my cell
phone doesn't work and where the most important decisions to
be made each day are which boat across the lake to catch, and
what line to ski. Adult responsibilities just don't exist; the
"real" world does not intrude.
After nearly two decades
of this, Saddlebag feels like home, a summer skiing universe
of our own. A little piece of heaven, where the corn is smooth,
the smiles are huge, and the stoke runs deep. It's always good
to get home, and to share home, especially when home is Neverland.
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captioTeleVision
rating: "G"....... Running time: 05:20n
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The Prescription
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The prescription for
relief from the end of ski season season blues:
Hike to top of ridge across
from Mt. Dana, overlooking Ellery Lake.
Hang out in the sun, enjoy
the view. For best results this should be done with a good friend
or two.
Eventually ski down one
of several shots back to the road below. Walk or hitchhike the
short distance back to your starting point.
Repeat as needed, or until
complete relief is obtained.
Contraindications: None
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captioTeleVision
rating: "G"....... Running time: 02:28n
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The Bridge
.Oh what wonders await, on the other side of the
bridge....
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captioTeleVision
rating: "G"....... Running time: 05:14n
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O"It was like a dream..."
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When my son JT was just
4 we went snorkeling one evening out around Bird Rock, right
across the street from our old place near Laguna's Main Beach.
As luck would have it, we had an awesome dive, easily the most
memorable in 40 years of snorkeling and scuba diving, from Hawaii
to Tahiti, and back to here in Cali... As I held his hand and
led him around the tiny bay, we saw little leopard sharks, an
octopus, walls of schooling anchovies with barracudas darting
through, taking their evening meal, and pelicans wheeling around
overhead with the setting sun turning everything to gold. It
was an amazing experience, one where everything came together
to create the ultimate dive, and when it was over and we were
back on the beach, eyes as big as saucers, JT's first words were
"it was like a dream." And so it was. Years later we
still call it the "like a dream dive."
Last week's series of backcountry
ski days, with both older and newer friends, were similarly awesome,
and much needed. From the "now it can be told department:"
After the terrible and sad events of last spring, a couple of
which hit home pretty hard, by May all I wanted to do was go
sailing, take my kids and their friends to the beach, and forget
all about the mountains and snow for awhile, even though it's
usually my favorite time to ski bc. That's never happened before,
and it was really disturbing. Fortunately my ski stoke began
to return before the snow started to fly in the fall, but I was
still wondering if it would hold into the late spring and early
summer....
Well, it did, and while
driving south the other day I was thinking about how just like
that dive with JT, everything had come together on this trip:
Good snow, great weather, spectacular scenery and fine company,
all combining to create what were for me, the ultimate in ski
days... you know, like in a dream.... a dream you never want
to end.
Here's Cate on day four,
a tour for turns in Red Cone Bowl on the Mammoth Crest.
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On
A Monday Powder
Day-- Spring Style
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There is always something
special about a Monday powder day at any ski area, but especially
at a weekend warrior oriented, non-destination ski resort like
Mammoth.... and even more so in spring, when pow days are more
like icing on the proverbial cake.
We busted a move early
and got out in time to wait for the rope to drop on the backside
of three, along with a few other enthusiastic folks. Then, while
waiting for the top to open we spun laps off the lower gondola,
hoping to be in a car (rather than in the long line at the mid-station)
when the top opened... and that was about the way it worked out...
we passed right though the mid-station not long after the loading
for the top began.
We also hooked up with
Urmas for a run, that's him in the blue jacket, then Tim and
I skied down toward the closed for the season Chair 14 area,
and we hiked up "Hemlock."
The snow was fine and the
sunshine sweet on this sensational Monday powder day-- spring
style..... |
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On
A Couple of Days
in Jackson Hole
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Jim Lyall sent this in
a couple of weeks before Christmas... Big Tim and I were on the
road, and as sometimes happens during prime time, Jim's email
and his sweet stokage got lost in the shuffle... while cleaning
up the other day I found his message which read simply:
"I thought you might
like some mellow skiing."
Indeed we do Jim.... so,
better late than never... |
captionTeleVision rating: "G",
Running time: 08:19
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Note: Use the original,
higher quality Mpeg4 if you have Quicktime Player |
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On
Fooling Around
On The Hill...
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It started out serious
enough... a few weeks back Urmas and I went out to do some follow
shots for the series of instructional videos we have been working
on... it was a beautiful sunny day and the skiing was really
fun... the temptation to just play was too strong. Before long
we were goofing around like kids.... One minute Urmas was skiing
high, then he was skiing low... it was one of those days when
anything goes...
Tele rules! That's all
there is to it... |
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A Few From The TeleVision
Archive...
A Week On The
NTN-- Day 5
Mammoth Pass
backcountry, 3/3/07
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On Day 5 we decided to
take Mammoth Mountain's gondola to the top and head out of the
ski area and down to Mammoth Pass. After days of stormy weather
the sunshine and warmer temperatures were welcome. It was also
perfect conditions to test the NTN for icing and snow buildup
issues (more on this in our wrap-up next week).
As mentioned in our last
writeup below, our friend Lee has been a guide and avalanche
course instructor in the Sierra for many years. Not surprisingly,
Lee was very interested in the new Barryvox "Pulse"
transceivers we recently received for testing and review from
Mammut. So we skied down to McLeod Lake
and set up a single burial scenario to give Lee a chance to check
out the Pulse and to get his feedback. |
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As he says himself in the
video, Lee was "blown away" by the ease of use and
accuracy of the Pulse. After we finished filming the scenario,
Lee expressed some reservations about the way the search had
gone down. He was concerned about the fact that he had found
the buried backpack and transceiver on the very first probe attempt,
and he was worried that it might seem unrealistic or contrived
to our viewers. We pointed out to him that he had done the same
thing on a couple of warmup searches, and we also recalled how
much trouble he had had earlier in finding the same buried pack
in roughly the same spot by simply probing. Without the beacon
he had probed well more than a dozen times, even becoming a little
exasperated along the way by his lack of success. We feel that
the single burial scenario depicted in this video accurately
reflects the real-world performance an experienced transceiver
user can expect from the Pulse. In Lee's specific case, this
was the kind of speed and precision search he was able to pull
off after little more than an hour of practice. The video speaks
for itself but suffice it to say, we were all very impressed.
Oh, and we got some nice
turns in on this tour as well. As a bonus, we made it out of
the backcountry in time to make a 6:15 dinner reservation (barely)
with Dan-o Cruz, his wife Lori, and a few other friends. It was
a very good day out on the pass. |
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