Skier: Chuck Patterson
The Line of the Week
Photo’s by Ryan Salm
Words by Chuck Patterson & Miles Clark
Skiers – Chuck Patterson & Miles Clark
Location – Donner Summit
Donner Summit Showdown
You wanna get a photo published? Huh, do ya? Then you go to Donner. The place is a virtual smorgasbord of aesthetic scenery that can give even the most jaded photographer a raging hard on. Oh, and the skiers will like it, too. There’s nothing like going out to shoot on a perfect day with two generations of bad asses. You want to know the difference between new school and old school? Miles is wearing a 30 pound gladiator helmet to protect his beautiful face while chuck doesn’t even need touring bindings to attack the backcountry. He throws super fat skins, uncut over his entire alpine setup and side steps the whole way!
Skier: Miles Clark
Chuck Patterson: “There’s nothing like skiing in the backcountry days after a storm where you can still find miles of untracked terrain just a short hike off the beaten path. Just like a surf trip; it’s about the adventure of finding the goods, scouting your own creative lines and throwing down with old friends.
It’s been about 5 years with about 20 days under my belt since the last time I was here and it feels like yesterday.”
“Miles, just fresh out of the ER for kissing his knees and redesigning his face; was pumped for a change of scenery and a little more pain. LOL
After 45 minutes of hiking, we scored a couple fun smokey lines off a North East facing ridge and worked our way South, scouring every cliff band for anything “huckable”.
Like two kids in a candy store; Miles and I competed for “lens time” pushing each other off anything that promoted flight.
We ended the day sending it off a solid Granite exposure where Miles uped the anti, throwing a backflip into a deep butter landing.
Content and tired; we ascended to the truck and called it a day.
Miles Clark: “For me, the most interesting aspect of Donner is the fact that it’s different every time I go there. During this past visit there was so much snow that we had to completely readjust our mindsets to accommodate the extremely high snow levels and emergence of many new ski zones. My mental map of Donner was highly altered and without the use of hard or even soft drugs. To be totally honest, this was the most fun I’ve ever had at Donner because it was like an entirely new adventure. And the perfect duff blower snow didn’t hurt.”
“No, I mean it really didn’t hurt. I don’t think I landed a single goddamn thing this day and I definitely under-rotated that flip Chuck is referring to and got a chance to acutely test the snowpack with my newly broken face. Tips in, head in. It’s a tried and true formula. ”
The Line of the Week will be a weekly photo piece by Ryan Salm featuring some of Tahoe’s finest athletes doing whatever we deem rad. We will be using the term “Line” loosely to describe anything resembling chutes, big airs, pointers or any general madness. All images are the property and copyright of Ryan Salm Photography. For more of Ryan’s work, check out http://ryansalmphotography.photoshelter.com
