Skiing

It’s been a sunny spring in the greater Tahoe area, but there’s always at least one late season blast to throw things out of whack. That blast came in over … Read More

Want to fly around the world in 60 seconds?  This time lapse taken from the International Space Station lets you do just that.  Take a deep breath, sit back, and enjoy as your mind is melted traveling around the earth at speeds in excess of 17,000 mph!

A little about the video:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.

And a little bit more – thanks Red Neck!!

This gorgeous video was made by science teacher James Drake using images downloaded from The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. This is a great online resource with basically all of the images taken from orbit, categorized into a searchable database by region and date. He used a free program called VirtualDub to create the final edit.

The second volcano on my list of exotic volcanoes that I hope to ski is Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano. Named in 1894 after the sitting president of the US, Grover Cleveland, … Read More

Gulmarg, India No matter how you do it-as a ski bum-or a weekend warrior-skiing is an expensive sport. With most major lift tickets in the U.S. going for close to … Read More

Music meister and trombone toting Trevor Thompson has been out to get it in Cham, skiing big lines and getting his Ice Tool workout in.  If you haven’t been to Chamonix, you should probably book now!

The first two months in Chamonix have blown my mind. The skiing has been great, the food fantastic, and the stoke high. Living here has changed the way I see the mountains. For instance, without facing the risk of losing my pass, my life-long paranoia of hopping over railings and ducking under ropes has been cured completely. The European logic is simple, as long as you lower the safety bar on the chairlift, you can go anywhere in the mountains you’d like. Makes sense to me! After a couple weeks of warmer weather, winter is on its way back so keep your eyes out for some more videos proving that life in the Alps doesn’t suck!

- Trevor Thompson

Here is a rad little edit from Nate Fillnow showing what conditions were like yesterday at Alta. He hits up most of the classic lines and the snow looks pretty damn good. How is it at your home hill these days?

If you haven’t seen this yet, you need too. If you’ve seen it, you know it’s worth watching again. The word inspiration works, but for Shane, something else should be invented.

Visit the Shane McConkey Foundation page to keep the inspiration growing.

This thing is crazy. Part car, part giant screw, the 1926 Armstead Snow Motor Vehicle is an oddity in snow transportation. While similar to modern snow cats with track steering, the Armstead rides on two grooved cylinders that propels the machine through snow. Although the video portrays the machine as more of a work horse than a recreational vehicle, we’d like to think it could have been used for some quick laps.  Where’d this thing go? We want one!

You think he’s lost a step…I think not.

It’s not too often you get a sleeper pow day at Squaw these days, with season pass sales through the roof and an obsessively dedicated Bay Area crowd, but today was definitely a sleeper pow day.  The line at KT at 9 o’clock was barely past the diamond in the lift line, there were still untracked landings in Granite at noon, and Silverado has untracked pow turns well into the afternoon. 

While conditions weren’t bottomless (and there were some icy death moguls in places to be sure), they were super fun.  With the last snow int he forecast for the next two weeks, today’s sleeper pow day was a nice treat as we send it into Juneuary.