YO YO YO!!!

 Its getting to be that time again and we are way ahead of ya! The new site is up with new pix and footie and of course, all the new gear for 2009!  You gotta ck out the new snowboard, our Twin with graphics done by HS team rider "The Culprit".

 Look for HS riders and skiiers in the latest ski/shred porn too! We are doing  a series of adds in partnership with Snowmass featuring HSFC riders, Tyler Wilcox, Casey Vandenbroek, and Jason Brown . Big ups to Dave Elkan,Vanessa, and Beth over there at Snowmass! All shots by our boi from the beginnning, Zack Ornitz and Tyler, the man with the super cam. Look for them in Powder, Freeskier, Snowboarding, Snowboarder, Outside magazines!!!

  thats it for today, well get back with more soon!

Its not much bigger than a 10 X 10 dance floor. You could've made two tiny turns if you tried. Its on the N.E. face of a small rise at the top in Indy Pass, and the construction Barrel was just sitting there on the side of the road. So.....since I had my gear in the car and there was no other resonable option, I started digging. I threw snow up hill and down hill to create some sort of run in and landing. Niether were sexy but it was better than gravel and scree.

 I piled up chunks of the sun baked, dirt crusted crud until there was just enough to get up on top of the barrel with virtualy no speed. It still required a hopping drop in, jumping from a rock three feet above the run in track to a 12" wide strip of snow about 8 feet long, and then a good two foot ollie off the bump to get there, but the stalls were forever and it had plenty of differnt bonk potential- with more speed it would've been super fun with spin tricks and fast plants all over the place.  Still, a riot for road side jibbing in August.

 Sadly, a day or two later, its just about gone.

 Ill be looking for another shot at endless winter in September for at least one day,  one turn, or a 5 min jibe session in the snow.

JF

9 am, Sunday July 6th, 2008. Robbie Limacher and myself were in the car charging up Indy Pass to shralp this fun box somone left up there last week. The plan was to get a quick lil shred session in then go long board town, maybe hit the skate park and then watch some surf vids in the afternoon. Well, plans changed when we got to the top and there was no fun box to be found. Either the owner or the Forrest Service kifed it and left only the drop in and some tracks to show that it had indeed been there.

  So now what? Well, we looked around at the options. Mtn. Boy was filled in but the run out was bare and that meant about as much of a hike out as it would be in. 4th of july bowl had a very sketchy strip down the east side to another long muddy walk down and out to the road. So the only option was the north side of the road, up to Blu Mountain and back down to the car from there. I judged it to be about a 30 minute hike up and about 5 minutes down, but hey, we were already up there with our gear, and we wanted to shralp in July, so we started hiking, wearing shorts and T-shirts.

  The hike was pretty easy. we had to cross over some wet, marshy high alpine meadows and then up some boulder fields to access the "Glacier" but once we got up there, it was worth it. we stood around with the camera for a minute and then took turns dropping in.

 The snow was soft and sun kissed, stained brown from dust and dirt blowing in from below. It was all waved out from the sun melt action but it was slippery and cold so it was A-OK with us. Then it started to rain. Just a little. The clouds blew in kinda fast and we had to make our desent right then. I went first and recorded Robbie coming around the cornice, that dropped about 40 ft to rockfield. He made turns past me and then he took the camera pack and went down to take a few shots of my line.

 Nothing was too impressive or gnarley, but hey, its July and we are shralping so WTF...right? We found a little rock to bonk and a couple spots smooth enough to butter some lil flat land tricks and then we were back at the bottom walking to the whip.

 All said, it took 2.5 hours from the time we left my house till we were driving off the top of the pass. Well worth the bragging rights of getting at least one day in July. I got three days in June, and 7 in May (plus ten days of surf!)and before that, well the season was still on so we were charging pretty regulary.

 As I said before in the past blog- Im trying to get at least one day, one run, every month this year. So- now, with August and September looming ahead and promising to be the most challenging, ill keep you all posted on weather or not 12 months is acheivable with out too much work or ambition.

 1.

JAF

Indy Pass.

    Early morning is best. Its been getting warm even at 13,000 ft. The snow is melting all day and night, so if you are trying to ski the pass, go for north facing aspects (really they are the only aspects with lots of snow) and try to have your first lap done by 930. If you go for a second, the avalanche danger increases after 10am and increses significatly after noon. There is one medium size wet slab slide in the Mts.Boy area-possibly skiier triggered, but most likley late day natural.  4th of July bowl (30-45 min from parking lot) is mostly junk, Mtn.Boy (45-60min) is good early, and Blue Mountain (60-80min) looks good for a first part of the day shred.  Snow shoes or skins are a good idea. Most areas are solid enough for hiking early in the day, but post-holing becomes an issue as the temps climb.

 Aspen Mtn:

    Earlier the better. Its warm by 11 and the snow goes from sorbet to wet junk in a hurry. Penetration gets to be an issue as the temps climb. I havnt seen any slides on the face, Mc Farlands, Little Annies, or Wine Tree areas. Wet slab slides are possible however.

 Snowmass Glacier terrain park:

  I havnt been over there yet. I imagine its good, Its only open from 9-noon on the weekends. Season pass is accepted or its like $20 for the day, or somthing.

  970-925-1220 for Ski Co information.

    Its late May and we are still riding. Two weeks ago two team members made summit and skiied lines down Mt. Hayden in early spring conditions and just this past weekend, another crew made an afternoon of running back country laps with sleds in the infamouse McFarlands bowl. Conditions were spring corn and sorbet but super fun. May 30th, Indy pass will open and there is riding to be done on Mtn.Boy and 4th of July bowl with in easy walking or touring distance. Two cars make this easy but hitch-hiking usually works too.

  There is a rumor going around that Ajax will open for a couple days of Summer riding on June 14th. The word around the camp fire is- if there is enough snow (wich I say there will be, theres a lot) and since the gondola is opening anyway, they are going to run the Ajax express lift and have summer skiing for the first time in a decade. We are crossing our fingers for lift access again- but not holding our breath. Word from a  Ski-Co insider tells me its very possible, but wouldnt comment on the liklyhood. So we are watching and waiting for the word.

   Then, of course, there is the Snowmass "Glacier" wich is basically a huge pile of snow plowed up from the half pipe and terrain features on the Coney Glade lift that is built into jibs and hits from early June to July 4th-ish.  That is ALWAYS a good time and tickets are cheap-or your season pass works fine.

  Then, there is hiking to Montezuma basin at Castle peak. Its usually ridable till Late August and then the scree field starts poking its bones out all over so you gotta be care full not to get snatched and thrashed.

  September- well, its yet for this rider see where we can get in some turns, but usually in October A-basin will open the "stripe of death". Its a 1000 vertical feet of 100 yd wide green terrain with about 2000 waldos all ripping at the same time. -Its fun, scary and necessary.

 November all lifts will open again and we are back in season- so can we make it 12 months straight of shralping???? Ill keep you posted.

 -JAF

Ok, its May 1rst and its still snowing.  We were up sledding last weekend in 50 degree sunshine on the back side of Ajax goin tward richmond ridge and I thought fo sho I would not be needing my sled till end of May when Id stash it for the summer. But now, I wake up to 3 inches of fresh blower here on the valley floor and my sled is 3000 feet up on top of the mountain- im so stoopid! So, early tomorrow I will hike my ass up the mountain (2 + hours), fire up my sled, re-attach the sway arm that came undone last weekend 15 miles back on the ridge, and shred some more gnar before I board a plane to Mex for some gnarley surf on Sunday. 
 

  There is still so much snow to shred its kinda ridiculous. I love it though- Ill get some turns in for everone who cant this weekend.

 Mahalo- 

Damn it came quick. Its not quite time to quit, but its getting very close to the closing dayz of Aspen ski areas. Highlands and Buttermil are supposed to close next weekend!! Rumor has it, Highlands will stay open weekends for a bit but i just dont know for sure.

   Today we woke up to a new foot of spring snow. Pretty awsome for March 31rst I must say. March was no where near as wet as it usually is, in fact it was downright hot some dayzz, but today feels like late January, except its above 20 degrees outside :) 
   Anybody who doesnt already know, there will be a hige party at the base of highlands next sunday. its a bash with beer, boobs and crazy costumes. It probably one of the biggest events for the local ski/.shred population of the valley, and everybody whos anybody will be there. The ZG grill want to break the record for most Coronas sold in a day. I will help them. 

   Not to worry too much about skiing though- Aspen and Snowmass will be open two more weeks and then after that its all BC aaccess to whoever has the will and means to get out there- which I do. My Polaris indy trail 500 , also known as the "Green Hornet 2" is already- has been for the whole season. So, im not sweating it.

 Anyway, take care and ski as much as you can the enxt few weeks. Summer is coming quick and soon the 09’ season will be upon us.

 -1

     Many of our friends got up on sunday and went to church. Mass at the local St. Marys or up to the Sundeck for a non-demoniational service. But not me. Not us. We went to our church.....the back country of Aspen. While all the Barneys and Waldos were dodging eachother and weaving in and out of hard packed groomer runs, our crew was charging fresh untouched pow-pow. Happy Easter to us.
   It was my normal shred crew from Aspen, sans a few faces who were other wise indesposed. Dios Long, Selig Haarklow, Robbie Thorton, his dad and my self.
      Robbies dad is one of the oldest school shred in Aspen. He was ripping Aspen Highland on crude snowboards back in the early eighties, when most of us were still in diapers. Hes got the total carver-shred style too, with positive angles on his front AND back foot and never rides flat. Its edge to edge to edge to edge to edge, carving turnes back and forth. Big ones and little ones.
  We met up near Mcfarlands bowl around 11am and made laps on Losheens and Mcfarlands for about 3 hours. Using a couple high powered snow-machines to taxi 3 riders at a time up the mountain. We were the only souls on that particular section of mountain that day and It was about as close to GOD as I could get. Perfect. The snow was creamy on top and firmer underneath. Just the right mixture so you could actually stand on your board and shred rather than leaning so far in the back seat that your one leg cramps up (which is how we rode most of the year due to unbeleivable deep pow. even on my 168 Empire!).
  The sky was cloudless and Colorado blue, and the sun was bright and intense. It couldnt have been a better way to celebrate Easter, at least for us. I said a little prayer, and made thanks for my health and my privlilage to ride this terrain in these conditions, and then hit it again. Pretty lucky Id say.

   After all the great riding we did, we went to Snowmass for a FREE Kymani Marley show. IT was awsome. All the local heads were there, many I havnt seen all winter- it was nice catching up with them and there was nothing but love coming from them. Alot of HS gear around too- I was almost embarrased by how many HS logos were shamelessly plastered on skis, boards, tables, people and pets. Pretty cool though-

   Then to finish the night, a little dinner and drinks at La Cantina back in Aspen with all the heads from the show. It was a great way to celebrate a holiday like Easter. enjoying friends, snow, drinks and sun. We are very lucky to live this way-

Well thats about it.....just a rambling note about our weekend at HS. Hope yours was most excellent as well.

 Peace and love to all yall!

- 1