I’ve known Scott since I moved back to Utah about 18 years ago, and knew of him before that through his photography.  As far as I know, Scott was the guy who invented the genre of skiing photography where you see a tight frame of a skier completely engulfed in a sea of raging powder, with perfectly lit up details and the person is calming looking through his/her goggles directly into the camera.  Photos like these are the embodiment of speed, action, details, nature and humanity all rolled into one, which is probably why Scott has had several hundred magazine cover shots.  And skiing is just one of many things that he shoots.  There’s a photo on his website of girls throwing snowballs at each other, that makes it look like such fun that I want to give it a try.

My personal photography style is best described as “Point & Chute” where I carry a small Point & Shoot camera set to full auto with the burst mode on, pull it out when things look interesting, fire off a bunch of shots and hope for the best.  This usually yields about a 1 in 1,000 ratio of good to crap, and from working with professional photographers, there’s no doubt that carefully setting up the shot is 90% of the game.  In that regard, I’m very psyched that Scott is teaching a clinic and willing to share some of his techniques.

The clinic is Feb 4-7 at Snowbird and for $1,250 includes food, lodging, ski tickets and the workshop, although there is also a locals deal available if you just want the workshop.  Contact Scott at scott@scottmarkewitz.com or book through Snowbird at 1.800.453.3000.  It should be fun.

Both venues are great fun and proceeds go to worthy causes.

I hope to see you there!
________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and rip the big lines with a pair of 2009/10 K2 Coomback Skis from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

Tour Du Suds studs gettin' down before they head up.

Team Catholic School Girls were back this year (they were all women this time), there was a nice bunny rabbit, a pedaling keg (my nemisis), Evil Knevil and even a Pro Wrestler.  The race starts at the Park City City Park (<— the real name of it) and rides mostly singletrack all the way to the top of the resort, which is about 3,000′ of elevation gain.  Riding a unicycle is a lot like riding a one-wheeled single-speed bike, so suffice it to say, my legs were smoked.

200' into the race and I've already been passed by most of the pack.

I put in my usual middle of the pack performance and had a great time doing it.  The first crux is to avoid being run over at the start as the unicycle gets up to its top speed of 8mph right away and never falters.

Keg Man making his move on me. His tap head could actually produce beer!

A nice day for a ride. Polly (my wife) is at the head of this hard charging peloton.

Although it doesn’t seem feasible, unicycles aren’t that much slower than an average Mountain Bike rider on the uphills as the faster you go, the easier it is to balance, so there is a lot of incentive to Go Dog Go.  On the flats or downhills… forget it.  Bikes are way faster.

Making my big move - too bad it was within 100' of the finish line.

But still, even though unicycles are a semi-pointless mode of transportation, they are fun, challenging and put all those beginner bike trails in a new perspective.

Super Woman and Bat Girl blow off steam at the end of the race by flying the world's tiniest kites. These things were about the size of my palm and were flown on cotton sewing thread. Very cool and colorful.

This is about the fifth year in a row that I have ridden the TDS on a unicycle and every year I keep hoping that another MUni rider will show up and challenge my dominance in the unicycle category, but so far victory is all mine, and, all in my mind.

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and stay balanced with a CamelBak Hydrobak Hydration Pack from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

What many readers don’t know is that there a history between StraightChuter.com and MildSnow.com that dates all the way back to January 2009 when MildSnow.com paid a visit to the harsh, unforgiving, remote, wild, desolate environs of Park City, Utah.  Fearing the burly Utah climate, MildSnow.com (MS) arrived ready to rumble in their Chevy F37500 Dualie Monster Truck with MaxTrax rubber all around, a six-pack gun rack and fully tanked up with premium AvGas. Unfortunately, they got stuck backing out of our driveway.

This is not all that uncommon.  While seemingly benign, the moderately steep, crumbling, slightly off-camber driveway has trapped countless friends, in-laws and even the infamous Two Buddha.  The penalty for going over the edge is a 45 degree slope which often avalanches during the winter.  You better be sure you can back out in steep, icy conditions, or else.

Apparently, MildSnow.com was not up for the challenge.

After getting just slightly stuck, MS opted for the time-honored “giver more gas” approach which set the hook even farther.  Now, with two wheels dangling off the edge and the other two spinning on glazed ice, the real battle began.  The first ploy was to try to shovel the snow out from underneath the truck, but what Loo didn’t know was that while he was on the downhill side removing snow… I was on the uphill side adding more.  Utah sure gets a lot of snow, eh?  ;)  When that didn’t work, he tried cable winching himself out by using old-growth trees as anchors, which only succeeded in tearing them out by the roots. After the entire front yard had been denuded, it looked like the battle had been lost and we were going to have to light the F37500 on fire and push it over the edge.  Then, just as I was putting the rag into the gas tank and striking a match, destiny intervened in the form of an even bigger truck (there must be some sort of telepathy between the species).

MildSnow's CEO after his close call in the StraightChuter.com driveway.

The driveway now resembled the cover of Monster Truck Magazine with 14,000 pounds of howling steel, chrome and rubber all connected by winch cables and lit up with ten-thousand watts of halogen headlamps and accessory lighting.  Tires spun, traffic was stopped, commands were issued, teamwork was employed, and then finally, with a mighty heave, the MildSnow.com TAV lurched back from the abyss and landed on the main road.  Sigh.  The biggest fish always seem to get away right at the end.  After being revived by sloshing petrochemicals through his gills, MildSnow was able to drive off under his own power, aided slightly by an extra 25 pounds of traction from a tow hitch he had purloined from the savior truck (look for the hitch review on his website soon).

The scene of the battle royale featuring the new improvements.

Rumor has it that MildSnow is working on a new TAV concept car for this coming winter.  It hardly matters.  I don’t care if it is a 3wd Prius with dual Chariot carrier roof racks and Yokahama tires – it’s no match for the new & improved StraightChuter.com driveway which has consumed most of my summer.  Entailing half a truck-load of asphalt, 18 creosote infused railroad ties, chainsaws, 60 lag bolts, 150′ of  rebar and more backbreaking labor than you can shake a 2-man power auger at, it is ready for all challengers.

So bring it on MildSnow….  BRING IT ON!  Give it your best shot and let’s see if you can get stuck in this one.  Just try it.  I dare you.

___________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and go nuts at the Semi-Annual sale with up to 70% off at Backcountry.com! Click the banner below:

If you have never seen this, it is some amazing footage.

As far as I know, heliskiing on Everest is not currently being considered, but on a local Wasatch note, a chairlift up Flagstaff Mountain is and it would have a huge impact on the backcountry skiing here.  The Friends of Flagstaff have organized a meeting at the Salt Lake City REI tonight (Tuesday at 6:30 – free), and I’m giving a short presentation as part of an informative panel discussion with many of the people involved.  If you have a chance, please come by.

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and keep your moral bearings with a Suunto MCA-D Challenger Compass from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…
 

Craig Dostie in his element as he heeds his Life Calling of doinking with telebindings. This pair just needed a little extra loving from the #10 Channel Lock pliers.

Pow Mow is a totally rocking little area. If it was 10-degrees steeper overall it would be unbeatable.

This year was no different. We missed the first two days, which were epic powder snorkle fests and, predictably, the phatties ruled the roost.  As we were unloading a portion of the 200+ pairs of skis that were available, I was first amazed at how big, phat and heavy they all were, then dismayed to hear that these were actually the skinny schwagg that needed to be tested and the true fatties were under lock & key as they were all anyone wanted to ski on, but had been already thoroughly tested.  (After taskmaster Drew Pogge left on the third day, the fatties leaked back out.)

The 2009-10 version of skinny little wimpy skis. The big bouys were under lock & key.

Of all the ski tests I’ve been to, this one was by far and away the most fun as they allowed plenty of time for it (4-5 days), invited a cross-section of 40 plus people and held it at a resort which was very testing friendly with easy access and good terrain.  The knee-deep dump of Utah pow didn’t hurt either.

Jon Howard (left) and Adam Howard (right), who are unrelated, but partners (in a business sense) in Backcountry Magazine, which is based in Vermont.

Craig Dostie holding up a bit of history - an early copy of "Le Chronicle du Couloir" which was the forerunner to Couloir Magazine. Craig has all except the first three issues, and when I pondered whether anyone, anywhere might have them, he said "I doubt it. I was the publisher and even I didn't bother to keep them!" Craig put out an excellent magazine which inspired many people (including myself) and left an amazing legacy.

I made a point of skiing the phattest fatties I could get my boots into as well as reverse camber, elongated noses, pin tails, no sidecut, ultra long (195cm), boutique skis and mainstay manufacturers.  I stayed away from skis and brands I was familiar with as I ski those all the time. I thought I was doing pretty well to get 4-6 pairs in per day until I met Jamie, who was on her seventh pair by lunch-time and had racked up over 31 pairs in the last few days.  I don’t know what she ultimately liked best, but was impressed with her and many other people’s diligence.  Between this sort of enthusiasm and the volume of people, the published results should be very comprehensive.

Jamie pausing for 23 seconds to eat lunch before hopping on another pair of skis. Between the two of us, we tested over 50 pairs of skis. I did seven, and, uhmmm, she did the rest.

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and get some crowd pleasing Black Diamond Megawatt Skis on sale now at Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

The last leg of the fast & furious snowboard kiter-cross event.

The festival is a loose affair with a variety of freeriding, kiter-cross, cross-country, big air and rail riding competitions, as well as parties, a Best Girls talent search and  evening presentations.

Floating effortlessly over the Odgen valley.

As a self-taught kiter, I like going to festivals like this as I always learn a lot.  While I have no problem catching air, my landing sucess ratio is about 10%, so I tend to keep my skis on the snow as much as possible.  Over the weekend I heard this referred to as “mowing the lawn” (going back and forth over and over) which seems humourously appropriate.

Jacob Buzianis, the man behind (literally in this photo) Best Kites in Utah. After setting up the demo kites, helping people get started and giving tips, he goes out and places in the top three of any of the events he enters, which is the sure sign of being a Super Ambassador for the sport. Nice job Jacob.

As one of the main sponsors, Best Kites had a quiver of demo kits available.  The technology on these beasties is impressive and in the right hands there is no limit to where riders can go – upwind, downwind or extended flights.

Since riders discovered the kiting potential at Pow Mow a few years ago, the resort has fully embraced the idea by dedicating a chunk of their property exclusively to kiting and offering lessons and rentals through the Best Snowkite Center.  Maybe they can teach me how to actually land standing up instead of on my head…

Closing in on the first mark of the men's kiter-cross snowboard division.

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and fly high with a Best Kiteboarding Yarga Kite on sale now for as little as $400 at Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

Photos courtesy of Jay Beyer – http://jaybeyer.com

The start, and my moment of glory near the front of the pack. It didn't last long.

As an organizer, the race reminded me of a high-stakes version of the dominoes tip-over game where you set everything up, hope for the best, then when the starting gun goes off, there is not much to do aside from stand back and pray that everything/everybody falls in place accordingly.  The years when the avalanche danger was considerable to high were nerve wracking, and the year that we ran it through the moguls which unfortunately iced-over during the night and almost took out the entire pack were especially memorable.  The ideal is to create a race which is fair, safe and challenging, of which any two variables are easy to achieve, but hitting all three is incredibly difficult.

Casually sniffing around the edges of the Pain Cave, before deciding not to go in.

I’ve always thought that American racers can compete with the best of the Europeans once they/we learned all the tricks of the trade, got the right gear and started to train for racing, and that prediction is starting to come true.  It use to be that if you had the right gear (Dynafit bindings, racing skis and F1 boots), you were guaranteed a podium finish.  Now the majority of the serious racers all have it.  Six years ago, if you were behind on a climb but knew the tricks to a 40 second de-skinning transition, you could regain lost ground.  Now you will be losing time if you can’t transition in 30 seconds or less.  Training in the past entailed a good touring base plus abstaining from excessive beer drinking the night before the race, whereas now people actually train and the results are obvious and impressive.  People are getting consistently faster, which is great to see.

For my part, I ate shit, which was kind of a relief.  I saw Steve Cook, aka Silver Steve at the finish line who is the top medalist in US history for disabled Nordic Skiing, who asked me “Did you visit the Pain Cave?”  The Pain Cave is where you have to go if you really want to win, but when you are looking at the difference between 9th, 10th or 11th place, just looking at the entrance to the cave is fine.  I had a fun time trading places with Chris Covenington from Alta and Eric from Jackson Hole, and didn’t suffer any lung damage as a result, so my race was a success.

Chris Covenington (behind me) kept passing me on the downhills, so I tried to take his eye out with a skin tip loop. It didn't work.

As a confession, on the eve of the race I was debating not doing it as I wasn’t prepared, we had visitors and I had other pressing commitments.  Plus, I knew I was going to get my ass waxed.  But, I’m glad I did as the energy of the event itself is excellent and just being part of it is really what it is all about – thanks Chad, Emily, Mark & G!  Details on the race and info for next year can be found at www.wasatchpowderkeg.com

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and get a free pass to the Pain Cave with a pair of Dynafit TLT Vertical Race Ti Bindings on sale now at Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

At the time, I was still kind of into resort skiing and was up at Alta on a nice day with my wife (now ex-wife) when the Patrol opened the gates to Baldy Chutes.  It was late in the season and I was amp’d to get up there, so I punched out the booter approach and waited at the top of what I think is called “Perla’s” on the trailmap.  While waiting for the wifey, a bunch of skiers passed me and headed over to Baldy Chute, so I decided that this untracked line would be good enough and waited for my wife.  And waited.  And waited.

By the time she showed up (all of about five minutes later, but I never said I was a patient person), I was ready to go.  The line had a micro cornice on it and I had tossed a snowball down on the landing to see if it was soft, which it appeared to be.  Once Chris-The-Ex showed up, I slid off the cornice, expecting to land on a little soft ridge of snow.

Instead of a soft ridge, it was firm and I immediately fell backwards.  At this point I was still pissed off about waiting, so I didn’t panic too much, but suddenly, I realized I was airborne and accelerating really, really fast.

I was trying to spot my landing, but hit on my side, which kicked me up in the air even higher, and not only that, now I was cartwheeling.  I still wasn’t panicked by the time I hit again, but this time it was like the turbocharger had kicked in – now I was waaaaay off the ground cartwheeling completely out of control.

I saw the landing coming, but again landed on my side/head, and now picked up even more speed and altitude.  At some point, rocks, trees and sky all blended together and I realized I was either going to break my back or die.

The next time I hit…  I landed upright with both my skis on at a complete stop!  It was 100% pure luck. I had covered about 500′ of vertical distance hitting only four times and only lost my sunglasses.

Since it was a warm sunny day in the spring, there were a group of people hanging around at the top of the then Germania chair, who gave me a round of applause.  A minute or so later, a lone ski patroller came out the traverse (I had stopped about five feet above it) and asked if I was alright.  I said I was, to which he said “You are really lucky, you know that?” 

It was for sure, pure luck that I wasn’t hurt and more than anything in my skiing life before, changed the way I ski.  Nowadays I’m much more conservative, don’t huck cliffs, try to get falls under control immediately, and of course, never, ever wait for my ex-wife.
________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and get a noggin protectin’ Smith Variant Brim Helmet from Backcountry.com! Click on the photo below…

I was involved with the PowderKeg as the Course Setter & Technical Director and one of my favorite aspects of the race was working with Butch Adams (Race Director) and Colleen Nipkow (Queen of Everything). It was a great event and brought people in from all over the U.S. and different parts of the world.

Not only were the Euro racers ungodly fast, they were also a blast to hang around with afterwards.

The course went through various iterations with each year being slightly different than the last. The original course started at Alta, crossed through the backcountry into Solitude, then climbed back out and finished at Brighton. In subsequent years it started and finished at Alta, as much for logistical simplicity as anything else.

For me, the event was always a nail-biter as our policy was that we definitely hold a race and not cancel it, which is easier said than done when the avalanche danger was shooting all over the board with either too much snow, too much warming, or glaze ice conditions. Racers always rallied with the last second changes and aside from a few cuts and bruises, we never had a serious injury. (wheesh!)

Dylan Freed helping set up the PKeg on a typical prerace day.

Setting the course and holding the race took a small army of volunteers, or which we had a core group of about 60. I may be biased, but having attended World Cup events in Europe and many races in the U.S., the PowderKeg was very well run, thanks to Jen Logan (Volunteer Coordinator), Colleen Nipkow and all of the people who helped out. Thanks again everyone!

I would usually start marking the course a few days in advance, and of course, that is when it would start snowing, so I would end up recruiting help to redo it over and over right up to the last second. The race started right at sunrise to help clear people out of Alta before it opened, and my favorite moment of the event was standing at the top of a distant checkpoint with a group of volunteers and hearing over the radio that the race had begun. At this point it was like watching a domino maze topple in front of you as there wasn’t much you could do to change the outcome once it started. The year that the start went through a field of ice moguls and almost wiped out half the field was memorable, but everyone survived and made it to the finish.

A huge thanks goes out to Black Diamond for hosting it for so many years and for Patagonia’s continued support! There were some mighty fine memories.

________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and get some world dominating Scarpa F1 Race Boots from Backcountry.com! Click on the photo below…