Wow this is getting ridiculous. The snow has been falling for a week. We have been out shooting storm footy for the Warren miller film. Squaw has been great. Sessioned mainline pocket with Daron Rahlves and Jamie Burge early. They were really killing it, stomping everything. A couple of local kids pulled up on us and one of them boosted off the skiers right cornice airing over all the rock. I decided to take the same line. Since he showed me the straight air I threw the 70’s continental back flip. It was large. Much larger than I thought. I got to my feet but I was over rotated and slapped it to my back. I was pissed so I went back up and did it again. This time I set a lot less rotation and put it on my feet perfectly but I just sunk in deep, my skis grabbed and it pulled me over. Pissed me off. The back flip is a no brainer for me. I figured out that my skis were center mounted. Lame. The mark is too far forward. I would have done it again but the public was hacking the pocket and we had to move onto Silverado. More on that after of this Fabolous here:
We hit Silverado and teed up a cliff with a sharky takeoff. Daron hit it first. He super g’d into it and pre jumped the takeoff about ten feet back. It was classic. When he landed he slapped back but skied away in a cloud. He had so much forward motion when he hit it because of the speed he took I figured if I backed off a bit I might have better shot of sticking it. I skied up to the take off and cowboyed the rocks in a forward position, knees up. When I landed the opposite happened. I dug in and fell forward again. Pissed me off. Then the clouds came in and we were hosed. We did some tight shots against some rocks. It was a fun day. I really enjoyed skiing with Daron and Jamie. Daron is a sick skier, Super G world champ, Downhill champ, won the Hannenkahm, also won the X games in Ski Cross. Daron has been doing a bunch a filming since he stopped racing and he works his ass off on it with enthusiasm. I think he is determined to go down as the best skier ever. He may take a medal in the skicross in Vancouver then I will no longer be able to say I am the only skier to have medals in the X games and the Olympics. Damn it. Jamie has been killing it for years. Jumping over trains etc. Here is a little Bush:
Daron took off the last few days to race in his signature race the Silver Belt Banzai at Sugar Bowl . We have been filming in the meantime around Alpine Meadows. We got out to a cool area called Munchkins 2 the other day. It was a little scary with the new snow and avy danger etc. but after I made five turns and it was stable I felt a lot better. We had a guy with us who was local and dug a pit to assess the snow but still it is always stressful. You know when you are having a discussion over the radio that sounds like this it is a bit freaky:
Siig: so what’s your exit strategy?
Me: I am thinking if the slope starts to go I am going to cut right out into those rocks. Over
Siig: I don’t that is a good idea because to could get drag down across the rocks and into the chute below. Over
Me: 10-4. Jesse what do think?
Jesse: I think if it goes you should head for the left side spine and try to grab a tree.
Me: Ok, that sounds good. Siig, I am going to try to go left and grab a tree if I get in trouble. (Over)
Siig: 10-4, just know that after the chute it opens up considerably if you have to straightline out of there.
Me: 10-4.
Siig: cameras ready: 3-2-1
It turned out to be stable and we stayed out there for three hours getting shots. We skied out to the road and got picked up by Mike Vale in his pick up full of snow and cold beers. We had been on the hill since 6am and that beer tasted great.
G love and special sauce:
We hit alpine again with blower powder and a skier named Errol Kerr. A Squaw Valley native, Errol’s dad was from Jamaica and Errol has decided to ski for Jamaica in the Olympics in Ski cross in 2010. He is one of the three top American skiercross racers but the US team decided to only fund Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves so Errol went on his own. He is an awesome skier on and off the course and I expect to him medal as well. We got into Estelle bowl which is a rad area skiers left of the summit skier’s chair at Alpine. Of course we were shooting tight shots in the trees but I could tell the skiing there is rowdy. The public were barreling down on us all day. Sometimes filming is not glamorous, but the movies are rad.
Burning spear;
I saw those guys in montego bay once. Late night, like three in the morning. Some guy accused us of stealing his weed and pulled a knife out. Scary. That was when we were with the Real World/ road Rules crew.
Here is some Rage against machine:
Bode Miller:
Where do I begin. This guy just steps in more s$@# that anyone I know. This time he actually pissed me off which is hard to do especially since I love Bode. This time he tried to say that his competitors skied like wussies when he lost to them at the World championships in France last week. Totally unacceptable. I understand that he thought the courses where built so tough that you had to ski defensively, but to talk smack about the guys who beat you is only acceptable in a judged sport like moguls if your name is Jonny Moseley.
Here is some rage against the machine.
Did you guys see that Red Bull Skyscrapers: They gave 100k to a guy who did a 20 foot air. They should have consulted us on how to build an urban jump. It is a lot harder than it looks and the Icer guys paid their dues. I think red bull did not sponsor the Icer because they thought it was weak.
