Friday Film Zen

September 24, 2010 11:47 am | Category: Skiing, WebiGNARs | 5 Comments | Permalink

Tired of static SPAM pictures that can only fudge the thrill of a true video? Well you’re in luck! To send you off into the weekend on a high note, we’ve got two short and sweet bona fide videos to share. Attain your Zen, and then head off into the backcountry refreshed! For the first, we’re going way back to Spring/Slackfest 2009 for a humorous schuss very late in the season. Allen put this first clip together, replete with perfectly timed cymbal crashes as the snow from Greg’s skis splashes against the rocks. Time Lapse Frame 1

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SPAM #2: Nunya Chute–Smuggler’s Notch, VT

By: Greg
September 22, 2010 8:52 am | Category: Skiing, SPAM | 4 Comments | Permalink

It is a busy time of the year around here on FIS. We’re finishing up our summer projects (both skiing and non-skiing related), we are starting a Gear Review series, winter weather is knocking on the door, and last but not least, our 2011 Ski Stoke Calendars are racing from the printer to our office as we speak (get yours today)! In the midst of all of this, I figure “what the krumholz”, let’s keep it going with round two in our SPAM Series.

This week we head back east to Vermont after starting off the SPAM Series in Little Cottonwood Canyon. This week’s amalgam features turn-earning, curmudgeonly Christian schussing a favorite chute of his in Smuggler’s Notch, VT (the land feature–NOT the ski resort). It was a super cold and wintry day, and both ski resorts in the area were shut down. We decided to head up the mountain under our own power and look for the powder. After earning vertical for about an hour (the rhyme/verse thing going on right now is really starting to freak me out–complete accident–I promise!), we arrived at the glorious chute seen below. Christian led the charge liquidating our earnings (or should I saw “powderating [‘powder eight-ing??!!’]” our earnings?). The leading shot from this amalgam showed up in our Trip Report “Only in Vermont!” but the entire amalgam has never been seen until today.
Nunya Chute Schussed by Christian
Continue reading SPAM #2: Nunya Chute–Smuggler’s Notch, VT


September Turns? Check! (PNW Content)

By: Sam
September 21, 2010 3:10 pm | Category: Quick Update, Skiing | 8 Comments | Permalink

Ben was in town last week on his month long road trip around the country. Though is trip was primarily a climbing and biking one, he wanted to make use of our easy year round access to snow and get some September turns. Allen and I were happy to help him out.

UPDATE – I just added some of my pictures at the bottom… -ben

We got up at 7am, cooked a big breakfast, and casually drove up to Artists Point. A short, mostly flat, hike yielded this:

Continue reading September Turns? Check! (PNW Content)


Dynafit Titan–Long Term Assessment

By: Sam
September 20, 2010 10:10 pm | Category: Gear Review | 17 Comments | Permalink

We’re launching a Gear Review section, and to kick it off, I’ve reviewed my Dynafit Titans. Let us know what you think of the review in the comments section.

I bought my Dynafit Titans last November in preparation for my trip to India. I needed a boot that could replace my Dalbello Krypton Pro’s for the resort and my Scarpa Spirit 3’s in the backcountry. By buying a two in one boot, I hoped that I’d get the versatility I had previously needed two boots for, out of one. I seriously considered Black Diamond Factors and Garmont Raidums, but settled on the Titans because of their blend of stiffness, swappable soles, cuff mobility, and weight. While many long-term questions remained in my mind about the Titans, they were getting great early reviews and didn’t already have a reputation for poor durability like the Factors. Though I thought the Raidiums would be great boots, their lack of a swapable sole was a deal breaker for me. It’s worth noting that Black Diamond’s reputation for poor durability came from the first generation of BD boots, and that in all likelihood they’re working to address it now.
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SPAM #1: Flagstaff Peak–LCC, UT

By: Greg
September 15, 2010 1:00 pm | Category: Skiing, SPAM | 4 Comments | Permalink

Time to start moving away from artsy-shmartzy summer camera swimming stuff, and get the boat directed toward winter. To this end, today we start the FIS SPAM (Single Photos AMalgamated) Series. To start off the series, we are revisiting Greg‘s trip to visit Porter in Utah in early January 2010. The shots that went into this amalgam were taken from near the summit of Flagstaff Peak after a busy day of skiing Days Fork. We started at around 8am from near the base of Alta, and headed up and over Flagstaff to the backside. After schussing powder all day (and not bringing nearly enough water), we made our way back to the summit of Flagstaff to return home. As we crested the ridge we were surprised to see an undercast creeping up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Most of Mt. Superior had already been engulfed, and although the weather posed no serious thread, we made haste of our transition from tour to ski in order to grab some shots of skiing into the beautiful weather phenomenon. Porter made short work of “getting the shot.”
Porter skis into the undercast
Continue reading SPAM #1: Flagstaff Peak–LCC, UT


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