Photo by Ryan Salm
Words by Ryan Salm & Rusty Reams
Rider – Rusty Reams
The Gate
In order to follow Rusty Reams around anywhere you need to be fast, enormously high on life and willing to be the center of the universe. This line was shot during the meat of the season on one of those few days when it wasn’t storming. Getting a bluebird, pow, big air shot with no competition after 6 days straight of huge snow dumps requires skill, speed, luck and being at the right place at the right time. For me and Rusty, we had all these going on when we opted to skip V-Rock due to strange wind buff and hit the Reverse Traverse as it opened. We skied a fast pointer on Light Towers when I heard Rusty yell, “The Gate!” We were shocked to see no one was lined up for it. The only issue was that it was too small. I quickly fumbled for my camera as the hoards of hot shots began to descend on our shot. I gave Rusty a thumbs up and the next thing I knew he was soaring over the entire feature.
“With the lines at Squaw paralleling the career of Limp Bizkit, by rising to prominence only to be quickly buried to the point of obscurity, one has to creatively look for their lines rather than reference the book.”
“When I spied this banana seat style kicker out in C2, I got hyped by its potential. It was sizable and looked like it would project you upward and outward like a quality rope swing. Now anyone that has any experience with rope swings knows that the bigger you go, the bigger it throws. This one threw me like a Brian Wilson fastball!” – Rusty Reams
The Line of the Week is 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