Cascade Gravity Research

Jan 21st & 22nd Seattle Snowmageddon

2012-01-23T04:27:00.000-08:00

After an interesting week getting to work the skiing was great!

Friday night we arrived at Crystal to rain and 34 degrees at the parking lot

The freezing level dropped Friday night and Saturday we awoke to 2 inches of fresh at the bottom and 6 inches of new at the summit. Saturday it dumped on Jim, Cassandra, Mike and myself as we skied with very low crowds for all the new snow.

We received more snow Saturday night and Sunday was great! The crowds were pretty huge but the lifts to the upper mountain shut down after we had been skiing green valley not letting anyone else up there. For over an hour we almost had the mountain to ourselves! Court, Jessie, Tamara and Paolo joined Jim, Cassandra, Mike and myself and we had a great day!

Jimmy enjoying all the fresh snow

Tamara, Courtney and Jessie next to Tamara's new rides first trip up to Crystal

CGR Welcomes 2012!

2012-01-17T15:49:00.000-08:00

A quick recap of the first 3 weekends in 2012:

New Years Eve at Crystal, fireworks amazing and had a great crew at the Snorting Elk including my parents Jim and Cassandra, Courtney and Myself and Mike and Jen Benson

New Years Day great snow both inbound and backcountry

January 7th Whistler BC had a great trip with some co-workers from Miliwalkee Alex Ribbons and Greg Tzanoukakis the trip was super fun with a couple late nights but still managed to get some skiing in.

January 15th Mt. Baker WA, they received 20 inches in 48 hours when we arrived and it was super cold powder in the sun!

Mike and My Tracks down Silver Basin on New Years Day

-Mike's tracks on the Right, mine on the left

Courtney and Jimmy New Years Eve

Fireworks at Crystal
The New Years Eve Crew(from Right to left): Mike, Court, Jim, Cassandra and Jen

Christmas Weekend 2011

2011-12-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Twas the day after Christmas, when all through the mountain
But a creature was stirring, bigger than a mouse.
The Hellbents were hung by the Gondola with care,
In hopes that St Powder soon would be there.

Great day after Xmas with some new snow and a great crew!

1st Whistler Trip of the 2011/12 Season

2011-12-21T16:45:00.001-08:00

The snow was not epic and Whistle/Blackcomb definatly need some more but a great trip with the fam. Got to demo the Salomon Rocker 2 as well and I never thought I would find a ski more fun than the K2 Hellbent.... but I did. Hopefully a pair of the Rocker 2 coming to CGR soon:)

Short film of Whistler on Sunday:

Sleigh Ride:

Sean, Caitlin, Jim and Cassandra in the lodge

Court and I in the lodge:

Court and Cassandra in the Lodge at First Tracks Breakfast

December 3rd 2011 1st Post of 2011/2012 Ski Season

2011-12-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

So we did not get a ton of skiing in this last weekend. We did however get moved into the room up at the Alpine Inn, getting ready for a great season and picked up a tree on the way down.

Some Pics from Skiing on Saturday. The coverage is pretty good for early season with most rocks to be found on top of High Cambell.

Sean and Caitlin
Courtney really excited for the first day of the season!
Hannah, Court and Caitlin
Caitlin cutting down her "Charlie Brown" Tree

Me and Court dragging our tree out
Caitlin and I holding our trees
The trees on top of the Xterras with Sean and I ready to head home
The Tree in our House

Xterra testing out the 4wd and in my case the electronic locking rear diff in 4wd low, not going to admit to getting stuck, but we didn't go any further:)

2010/2011 CGR Ski Movie, LaNina She Stole Courtney's Husband!

2011-11-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

It is that time of the year. Perhaps you went and saw the new Matchstick Productions or Warren Miller Ski Movies. Those are a good appetizer but now for the main course. The first ever full length Cascade Gravity Research Ski Movie!

Skiing in June and July! last CGR update for the 2010/2011 Season

2011-08-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

This has been an epic year for skiing and for CGR. We had an exceptionally long year starting the year off early and ending the season record setting late! CGR got a site make over and graduated from a blogspot.com to a .com, big shout out to Paolo on that one.

It has been an epic year and one last video helps wrap it all up. Incase you are wondering what will happen to all of these vidoes there will be an official CGR Ski Movie coming out, "La Nina She Stole Courtney's Husband" The movie isn't 100 % complete but will have a premier with the date coming soon! oh yeah that's right skiing in Hawain floral shirt

Spring Skiing turns into Summer Skiing!!!

2011-07-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

In case you are wondering if the ski season had ended I can happily report it has not!

View from Sunrise on Mt. Rainier, open at the same time as Crystal!

Court sporting her ski outfit she was determined to embarrass me if she had to ski in July!
Court showing how she feels about skiing on July 2nd
Not something you see everyday from the Crystal Mnt parking lot... a waterfall
lacking snow at the base
But no shortage of snow or crazy dressed people at the top!
Court and I
Yes she won, she was slightly embarrassing to be seen with
Caitlin and Courtney
In the Gondola riding down at the end of the day, no skiing at this point to the base
Still Snow!!
But disappearing finally
The day after skiing got to go out to the beach house for some fun Wake-surfing! the crew Sunday and Monday. not too often you get to ski and wake-surf in the same weekend

Spring Skiing... well kind of : still end of May!

2011-06-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Me, Mike and Sean at the top of Green Valley Chair. The weather was shitty but the snow was good!

Sean, Jim, Sean again, and court at the top
Caitlin, Cassandra and Jim
Sean Alphin and Jim Alphin at the top of the hill
Caitlin, Paolo and Amanda on the lift

Mike skiing off a cliff that wasnt there a week ago!

Paolo struggling to carry skis! :)

1st Weekend of Spring Season!!! April 22+23rd

2011-04-23T19:38:00.001-07:00

Enjoy the latest Cascade Gravity Research post! It was the first weekend of the new Spring Season up at Crystal Mountain!

Courtney and Tamara at the top of the King in Southback!

The group at the top of the King in South Back!!

April 16+17th Bikini Downhill and SnowSkating!

2011-04-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Check out this special CGR update with the Bikini Downhill on Daturday and Snowskating Saturday night there was a lot going on. Me and Mike also got up at 4:30am Saturday morning and went Skinning up East Peak getting to the summit around 8am!

Map of Me and Mike crazy trip up East Peak and back down

Saturday's crew in the Snorting Elk after Bikini Downhill pre SnowSkate

Heading down after the Bikini Downhill

And a great short movie starts with about a minute of skiing then the everything goes to hell when we start trying to SnowSkate... enjoy

Skiing in April!

2011-04-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

April is well under way and I am happy to report that when we left this afternoon it was still dumping up at Crystal!

The cold and hot temperatures and significant snow fall have had their impact on the mountain however..... check out these pictures we took at Bear Pits! it looks like a completely different run!

That whole hill side used to have trees scattered all over it
Now they are all piled up at the bottom
Pretty incredible what Mother Nature can do... thanks for the new ski run!

Enjoy the latest CGR Ski Movie highlights include Sean and Kevin jumping a cliff in North

I asked Courtney to pick the music for this video and this is what she picked:

March 18th & 19th

2011-03-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

I had to study a lot this weekend and in fact had to study the entire following weekend:( Still I did make a couple good turns in the morning of the 18th and 19th and I love Jim Alphin's powder turns!

Skiing March 12th & 13th 2011

2011-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend of skiing the snow was incredible and there was plenty of un-tracked you just had to know where to find it!
don't take very many "artistic" photos if you will however couldn't resist taking these photos of the shadows coming in off the ridge down the bowl
enjoy the video great skiing and incredible song!

The Powder Finally Arrived!!! March Madness!!!

2011-03-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

So January was for the most part a disappointment for those skiers in the Pacific Northwest, we had to be pretty creative to find good snow. February was more of the same but not March!!

We have been having our own March Madness up at the mountain with all of the snow that has been falling!!!

Crystal Mountain with Rainier in the Background from the top of East Peak

Sean and I at the top of East Peak you can see Crystal in the background

another pick of us at the summit!
A split boarder who we met at the top
Pick of some of East Peak, the side we skied down
We hiked with my SPOT locator on and it tracked us on the skin up and partially down

Court and I riding up High Cambell chair for 9 inches of fresh powder on Sat morning

Tamara about to ski down the bottom of Silver Basin in Southback country after hiking Court's South
Courtney about to do the same
Court on her trail in South skiing a "Courtney South"

Mr. Sean Keely skinning up East Peak with Eastern WA in the background

Bullion Basin below with Crystal in the background and Rainier behind that

Crystal Mountain from the top of East Peak

President's Day Weekend 2011

2011-02-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

I was able to get four days of skiing in this weekend and it was great!

Friday had the best snow, Saturday and Sunday had the best sun and the clouds didn't start to roll in until Sunday afternoon. Monday was mostly cloudy but after going skiing in South Backcountry over 10 times with hiking past Three Way peak 4 of those in the last three days I was ready for a few groomers and an early trip home.

Enjoy some pictures from the weekend and a short compilation video.

Caitlin skiing down Chicken's Head with tracks to the left of her

Caitlin and Sean in front of the rock you have to ski behind in order to get to Chicken's Head and Gunbarrel by crossing over and going into eastern WA for a moment
Sean and Caitlin just passed Three Way Peak starting to hike up Speed Control
Mike standing at the bottom of the drainage. Directly behind him you can see Gunbarrel where me and him had just skied down completely untracked! We also arrived at the top of Gunbarrel moments before a group of skinners who had just spent twice as long to get there and way more effort and then we stole their turns...... but I'm sure they where ok with it:)
A short video with the highlights from the weekend

Skiing Sunday January 28th 2011

2011-02-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Check out the first video I put together with subtitles and let me know what you think. The snow was really bad but not horrible if you worked for it and where willing to hike a bit!

1st Real Edited Ski Video w/ music!!!!!!!! Entire 2010/11 season so far in 7 minutes!

2011-01-25T04:44:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank all of those involved in the video and in order of most screen time:

Sean Keely

Adam Lang

Mike Benson

Scott Chaffee

Jesse Pingeon

Courtney Chaffee

Matt Chapman

Jim Alphin

I was able to make this video on the way up to and back from Alaska. We got to ski one of my favorite resorts, Aleyeska for me and Court's THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

3........ 2........ 1....... ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The blog formatting will not let me fit the whole video width in the space allowed so click below for the best view of the movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_e0Wf2C-Yo

Shugga Suit debut : SEAHAWKS WIN in first round of playoffs!

2011-01-08T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Seahawks winning the first round of the payoffs was great in many ways especially the fact that there where not nearly as many people up at the mountain due to everyone being at the game!!!!!!!!!

More importantly Courtney debut her new One piece Ski outfit a North Face Shugga suit!

Adam skiing between CMAC and Queens Run

Sean, Adam and I skiing down the front side of Chair 6

Sean skiing down the Powder Bowl left side chutes

Sean and I skiing down from Avalanche Basin's ridge into the bottom of Silver Basin

Courtney looking good in the One Piece North Face Shugga Suit!!!!

Paolo Mottola going off the jump

Amanda Mottola going off the jump

Adam then Sean then Mr. Alphin catching some air on Lucky Shot

Crystal gets a Gondola!

2011-01-07T04:21:00.001-08:00

The view going up the new Gondola heading up towards the top

The Mottolas skiing down "downhill"

Helmet Cam!!!!!! Fun Pow!

2010-12-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

Helmet Cam debut!

Last Wednesday the 22nd my mom got me a helmet cam for my birthday.... way to go mom!

It is really fun to use and other than the half hour I forgot I had it on in the lift line on Rainier Express last Sunday I can take it off easily between videos and not look like a tool.

Here is myself and Mike dropping in on the other side of Banana Shoots towards the Green Valley Chair.

Skiing the bottom of Avalanche basin

Sean and I skiing the top of Brand X area in North Backcountry

Courtney skiing down the bottom of Avalanche Basin on her Hellbents!

Jesse Pingeon's CGR debut

Lindsey Pingeon aka Jesse's wife ripping it down Queens run in her CGR debut. They are both snowboarders but we try not to hold that against them too much.

CGR International Trip! Whistler/ Blackcomb

2010-12-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

Sean peaking over the trail map sign
Taking a stop at a bench on the top of the Heavenly chair

Courtney and Caitlin posing with a Santa Snowboarder

Was pretty great how all of our skis couldn't fit in the locker at the hotel we where at

Me riding a fallen tree on Saturday

Caitlin, Courtney, and Sean skiing down from the 45 minute hike we made into Whistler's backcountry!

Sean and myself skiing down the second section of the run after the hike into Whistler's backcountry, best skiing of the trip!

I hate the Pineapple Express

2010-12-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

So this weekend we had a warm front move in so we had to get all skiing out of the way on Saturday before it started raining Sat night!... thats right raining at the mountain!

We still had some fun as you can see, just had to work for all the turns!

Hmmmm turns in Southback but chair 6 is closed = lots of work!

Cassandra skiing down the powder

Sean skiing off chair1, creative spot to find fresh snow!

Me skiing first, then Paolo his CGR debut! fresh from skiing in Colorado Paolo shows off his newly acquired skills on the skis!

Caitlin skiing down the powder

Big Jimmy skiing the powder on his skinny skis

Adam really sacrificed himself for this video and unfortunately being the first video of the day I hadn't quite dialed in the zoom yet. He managed to land somersault and loose both his hat and goggles

The snow turned thicker as the temps kept rising through the day

Sean skiing off this little stump, then Mike Benson with his CGR premier jumping after

Mike then Sean skiing in Southback after a lot of hiking

December skiing! Apple Cup Weekend - Tree cutting!

2010-12-06T04:41:00.001-08:00

So we went out Christmas tree hunting this year with Tyler and Aubrey. It was very eventful as we went down a new road.... the road less traveled if you will and almost ended up dying a few times.

Oh strange how did that bad ass Xterra end up behind them?

Jen Lang after the Apple Cup finished
Adam, same jump.... different day

Sean, " "
Adam and Sean following me into South Back Country past Three Way peak and up Joe's bad ass shoulder.
Nice first run of the day

Great video of the snow conditions in South Back in fact I would say the lead for best video of the season so far.

Sorry Adam only caught the second half.

Tyler taking down the tree

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-29T06:14:00.001-08:00

Great second weekend up at the mountain!

And a winter miracle happened, Courtney carried her own skis for the first time ever!

Adm starting the jump

Sean finishing the jump
Courtney carrying her own skis..... in case you didn't believe it the first time
Me and Sean hitting the slope behind Forest Queens

Slope above Downhill

Nice turns!

Heli skiing?

Powder!

nice little mini air

great conditions for second week

Sean and Adam's interpretation of the Powder 8's..... Aspen Extreem?

The SEASON PREMIER CGR post for the 2010/2011

2010-11-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a long summer, for many of us too long! Welcome back to the World's BEST ski blog Cascade Gravity Research!

While there was not a lot of snow up at Crystal on this opening weekend (in reality I would hardly say there was enough to be open) we got to slide down the mountain with two planks beneath us and it felt great!!!!!!!!!!!

Courtney Excited for the First Day!

Courtney not as excited after she rtealized what lifts where actually open on the sign behind her

Court skiing down Queens on 9 year old skis with over 300+ days on them. hitting rocks without worry!

Me, Sean, and Adam hitting up the first powder stash of the season... Love Adam going off the rock on old school 195 skiiny skis enjoy the landing!

Skiing/Climbing June 27th!!!! Sunrise Mt. Rainier & Chinook Pass

2010-06-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Map of where we hiked then skied on Sunday this is the first hike me and Mike Benson went on at Sunrise on Mount Rainier

The second hike we went up on Sunday, this one is off hwy 410 at Chinook pass
Mikes youtube skills with my runs on Sunday

A great video Mike put together of my ski runs on Sunday

The view of Rainier from Burroughs Mountain
Mike at the top of the first hill we climbed, you can see directly above him is Burroughs Mnt that we hiked and skied from here
Sunday morning at Sunrise visitors center geared up and ready to go.... damn the hellbents are heavy!
Mike getting ready to ski down to Chinook pass
Me standing on the top of Burroughs Mnt before skiing down

Some scrambeling down a sketchy ridge in ski pants!.... it was steeper than it looks
We had a little fun on the way down and tested out the new lift kit on a mild offroad trail
Mike scrambeling up the rocks
rock outcrop
Mike heading down the ridge
Chinook Pass on hwy 410 from where we hiked climbed to
The ridge we partially scrambeled up after dropping off the skis and packs
view down from the ridge..... falling would have been very very bad
Peak right above Tipso lake but from the East
The parking lot on hwy 410 where we parked from where we started skiing in the afternoon
Burroughs Mnt where we first skied in the morning
Check out the slide fracture line close by on Rainier
The hillside to the left of the ranger cabin is the first hill we hiked that morning
The trail sight to Mount Freemont, usually at chest level
Wonderland Trail sign
View of parking lot from ridge line... dont fall zone
You can see our tracks down Burrough Mnt in the morning
View looking East from the top of the ridge, you can see hwy 410 heading to Yakima

Mike skiing down from the first hill

Mike Skiing down from Burroughs

Mike skiing down the second part of Burroughs

Closing Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!

2010-04-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

As sad as closing weekend is at least Bikini downhill could lift ones spirits. It was a great year and skiing every weekend but two (one to go skiing in Alaska, one to go skiing in Canada) I ended up with 45 days! It was a great year and I am already stoked for next year!

Courtney on her last day at Crystal
Sean, Caitlin and Courtney carrying out the stuff from emptying out the room at the Alpine Inn
The crowd at the base on the last day
The bar at the top of the King in the South Back Country, great way to end an hour hike
Me on the last day at the top of the King

NEW SMITH Z BEND POLES!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

So smith stopped making ski poles back in high school (2001) since then anyone who has them treats them like gold. I had a pair of yellow Z bends I loved but broke one, then I bought a grey pair... and broke one of those. For the past few years I have been rocking one yellow smith pole and one grey smith pole.... NO MORE! Courtney, the greatest wife in the world, found a pair of BRAND NEW smith poles on craigslist in Chicago. I now have brand new Smith Z bend Poles!!!! Still have the tags on them from 1996 and all!!!!

Second to Last Weekend..... Ahhhhhhhh!

2010-04-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, the Snow was great, the weather was great, one problem only one more weekend left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Standing next to this rock in Southback...... All the sudden I felt very small
Paolo made his first trip ever out to Southback, he swears it will be his last
First run out Southback Saturday morning my line on the left
Mike Benson jumping off a cliff in Northback

Me skiing down a nice ridge in South

Skiing down a great line!

Easter Weekend, April Powder!

2010-04-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a great April Skiing day, there was 17 inches of untouched fresh snow on chair 6 and in the backcountry...... however the crowds where insane as well

You can see my line directly between the single tree on the left and the group of trees to the right of that, the three people skiing in the middle are Courtney, Caitlin and Cassandra

First Sean skiing Avalanche Basin then Caitlin right after

Mike Benson Skiing down Silver basin with a nice little cliff drop in the middle

Seam skiing down Silver Basin under Threeway peak

Me skiing down threeway completely tired after breaking trail

Dirt Bag Ball Weekend!!!

2010-03-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

The biggest party of the year happened this weekend, the Crystal Mnt. Dirt Bag Ball!

This years theme, "anything goes.... but clothes"

enjoy the pictures of our crew......

Me, Sean and Mike skiing down behind Green Valley chair

me on my new k2 hellbents

Sean skiing down a spine on his k2 hellbents

Caitlin skiing

Courtney skiing

Me on my new skis

Court and Caitlin skiing under the Threeway peak saddle

Mike Benson off of eagles peak

Sean off the top of Gunbarrel new area! way past Threeway peak!

Me skiing down the new Gunbarrel main chute

Spring skiing!

2010-03-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday it was warm sunny and fun skiing! I tried to demo the Hellbents, but my boots wouldn't fit. So Sean demod the skis... then bought them... jealous much! I was, but I demod some smaller boots that afternoon so I could fit in Sean's new hellbent skis and it was incredible!!!!!!!!!! gonna order mine on Monday!

View of the top of the summit house and rainier express from the top of highcambell.

Sean getting a little spring time air
Jim Allphin and Sean looking down from the top of Powder Bowl

Sean on hit new hellbents

Sean jumping

Another Scott..... good name.... pulling a nice 360

Matt on Telemark skis jumping!

Me on Sean's Hellbents... these skis are insane!

POWDER!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

The weekend of the 12th-14 was crazy! I took work off on Friday and me and Courtney came up to ski 9 inches of fresh snow! Then skied with Sean on Saturday and my parents on Sunday. Was and awesome weekend and good to remember what it feels like to ski in deep snow!

Jim and Cassandra in the South Backcountry on the top of the boxcar

Courtney and Cassandra
The stash I found in Northback right before we hit it! Videos below

The crazy line going to the Northback chair

Sean on his new K2 skis!

Matt snowboarding in North Backcountry

Sean skiing down the untouched Northback

Kirsten and Matt skiing

Sean dropping a little cliff in North

Matt Cliff

powder

more powder, kirsten and matt

Me rolling in the snow..... but he recovers:)

Sun and Slush

2010-03-09T05:40:00.000-08:00

We had our first true Spring Skiing day on Saturday, 40 degrees at the Mountain made the snow soft and slushy by afternoon!

local crystal mountain residents

sunny day!
The group via reflection in Sean's googles try to excuse the fact they are Smiths
Couple pics of Mount Rainer from the Top of the King at 7012 feet

group pic

Sean skiing Powder bowl early in the monring when it was still cold and dry

Whistler and the 2010 Olympics!!

2010-03-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Sean on Salomon Skis, sure does look happy!

Caitlin sporting the team USA face sticker
Powder at Whistler

We skied McConkey's run in tribute, we love you Shane!

Courtney hitting up some of the powder!
Courtney and Caitllin at the Olympics
Me and Court surrounded by Canadians
Pretty wet, pretty foggy, but lots of fun

The Men's Skiing event

Fire and Ice show Whistler Village

The fire and ice skiing

Me skiing McConkey's Run

Sunny Skiing

2010-02-21T20:05:00.001-08:00

Me Climbing up Threeway

The Ridge on Threeway
My line skiing down Threeway on the left
Looking back at the Threeway exit chute
Crystal Mnt Valley
The King, the Throne, and the Queen
Looking back at the ridges behind Threeway
Group picture on The Ridge
Trail up Threeway
Sean watering the trees
Picture off the Boxcar
Sean and Chris hiking up

Everyone skiing down Threeway Peak

Me and Chris Threeway Peak Saturday

First time ever Touring!!!

2010-02-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

So here is the map from google earth and our route is shown from my GPS. Unfortunately this doesn't show what the landscape looks like in the winter with 90+ inches of snow on it. Check out how our path actually crossed the Pacific Crest Trail(aka. famous trail, spans from Mexico to Canada) for a minute.

Saturday Sean and I decided we wanted to finally use our Randene touring bindings and Skins. We started from the top of the Quicksilver chair and headed out to Dog Leg Mountain, we skied up to SuperBowl and then up to the top of Dog Leg Peak. The skiing down was great awesome practically bottomless powder. When we got up to the top of Dog Leg Peak I got out of my skis and sunk right up to my waist in snow, super deep!

Skiing down Dog Leg Chute

Skiing down the backside of the King in South Backcountry

Becky and John

Sean Skiing Dog Leg

Sean skiing bottom of Dog Leg

Superbowl weekend, great skiing

2010-02-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

I hear there was a football game this weekend but all that meant was there were less people on the hill!

Mike Benson skiing down the Boxcar in South backcountry

A "Blitz " not involving the Saints and Colts

Me skiing sweet snow off of Eagles Peak

Me and Sean skiing to Green Valley Chair

Matt Skiing pretty awesome snow conditions

Sunday, Tamara's CGR Premier

2010-02-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

Courtney and Tamara skiing North Backcountry

Courtney skiing the trees

Tamara skiing the trees

Me skiing down to green valley chair lift

Jen's perfect ski day

2010-01-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

So it hasn't snowed in about a week but the snow that was out there was real good if you found it. Jen Lang made it up which was awesome and here is her shout out plus everybody else's to Adam Lang, who unfortunately couldn't make it up today.

Me skiing down Silver Basin off of box car.... little sketchy underneath!

Sean skiing Boxcar

Mike Benson, Courtney's Cousin-in-law with his CGR premier!

Becky same line off of Eagle Peak down Speed Control in SouthBack

Sean skiing Speed Control down Eagles Peak

The weekend that nobody saw coming!

2010-01-24T19:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend was supposed to be horrible no new snow in the last week, but since it stayed cold the snow in the backcountry was great on Saturday! Especially if you went past the ski area boundary! It started snowing heavily on Sunday and I hope it will keep it up!

Me and Becky Skiing Eagles Nest Sunday

Sean Hiking up Eagles peak

Sean going HUGE!

Brian with a nice grab

First time down Eagles Peak

Guntower

Sean Paradise Bowl

Me skiing Rinky Dink

2nd Anniversary at Aleyeska Alaska

2010-01-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Court and I went to Big Sky MT four our honeymoon, Cypress BC for our 1 year, and this last weekend we went to Aleyeska AK for our 2 year anniversary.

We almost had a divorce ;) however when court tried to make me drive a ford edge or a jeep patriot as a rental car....... please I have way better taste in vehicles and so we ended up with this 2010 Dodge Ram...... which was super fun..... right up until we had to fill it up!

Aleyeska is an ok Mountain, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, we did wake up Sunday morning with 8 inches of light new powder!

We had lunch on Saturday at Chair 5 restaurant in Girdwood AK, check out the moose in the background with lights.

Aleyeska got 4 inches the first day, 8 inches on the second day

The resort was by far the best part of this Mountain! IT WAS INCREDIBLE! You walk out of your room and walk onto a tram which takes you practically to the top of the hill! Sooooooooo cool!

We met up with our favorite locals Matt and Genny on the way to the airport which was awesome and had a late lunch with them at the Mooses Tooth!

Awesome trip, decent mountain, and a great getway

Court Skiing down in fresh snow... check out how excited she is

I hate rock hard Ice!

2010-01-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

Since it was rock hard ice today me and court decided after only a few runs we had enough. The base area was a series of rivers and lakes of standing water on snow after it had rained all night... And with going to ski Alaska coming up this next weekend me and Court decided to call it a day and save our legs for next weekend at Aleyeska.

The conditions at the base

Since we left early we stopped by the Alphin's cabin and had a great time with

the local widelife the elk love apples and bread!

A nice video of the local wildlife

If I could only get this close when bowhunting:)

Happy New Years!

2010-01-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

First Some Pictures from the Weekend! The videos are below, some pretty great ones from this weekend!

View on Sunday Fireworks at Crystal Mnt on New Years Eve

I will start with the third day in a row up at Crystal(Sunday), this is from Sunday when Caitlin, Sean and Caitlin(my little sister) hiked for over an hour in South backcountry and made it all the way to the saddle past Three Way Peak.

Me taking some easy turns on the north side of the bowl

Sean taking some tuns down the south side of the bowl

Me Skiing Down Silver Basin near Boxcar

Caitlin Skiing on new years day by Queens run

Adam, Sean, and Paolo skiing the trees by Queens run on New Years Day

Jen Lang Skiing CMAC

Adam Lang and Sean skiing off some drops

Adam skiing Silver Basin in South backcountry

Sean and Caitlin skiing Silver Basin by Boxcar in South Backcountry

yes.. yes... Paolo made me a CGR shirt for Christmas! it is Sick! We will be making some orders if you are interested! Also he made some stickers too!

Damn that T-shirt is incredible!

And Lastly Sean and Adam being...... Sean and Adam

Mid-Week work

2009-12-29T19:10:00.001-08:00

Finally my Ski-wax-setup in my garage is complete! I finished the table with adjustable vices, a beer fridge, a soda/energy drink fridge, and a tv to watch ski movies on while I wax and tune my and courts skis!

So I also put in some crazy off-road use only headlight and fog light bulbs in the xterra this week as well.
Straight from Korea, they are putting out 85/100 now vs 45/55 stock
THATS USING THE LOW BEAMS!!!
So I also put in some crazy off-road use only headlight and fog light bulbs in the xterra this week as well.

Will be heading up to Crystal Mountain for the fireworks new years eve! Show starts at 9pm, also they are showing the new TGR movie on Saturday night at the base lodge and I will be there, new snow is in the forecast and I cant wait to get up there!

My Birthday!!!!! And I got sun and a little powder

2009-12-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

Priceless Court!

We didn't get started too early but me and Kurt still made it out to South Back and where some of the first people to ski Silver basin off the top of the Boxcar..... while you look at this slope keep in mind that I was the first one to ski down that little stretch and all the avy debre and sluff you see all came down while I was skiing down...... now watch Kurt rip it

Paolo posing

Chumy, aka Ashley's fiance having some fun

This is the crew once again hitting up RinkyDink

Monday 21st, aka my birthday eve

2009-12-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

I actually came up skiing Saturday the 19th with my Dad and Mr. Sean Keely, it rained/misted off and on all day long, so the snow was HEAVY but there was lots of it off the groomed and we hit up all the usual hidden places...... Jimmy (aka my dad) shot some great video of me and Sean making the best out of the conditions but unfortunately the 16gb memory card in the camera craped out on me..... So I returned Sunday night with a fresh memory card and ready to rock!

Me, Court and Paolo headed up Sunday night to ski Monday and Tuesday, it was raining all the way up to crystal, and rained all night at the alpine inn. But about half way up the mountain it snowed all night so 4 inches of fresh stuff was lots of fun to play with in the morning, that and it snowed off and on all day, hopefully we will get a decent amount of snow tonight and tomorrow will be fun.

And although I make it look good the snow was hella sketch with ice crust just a couple inches under the cascade cement on top.

Here is Coutney and Paolo heading down past Snorting Elk, some nice super hard boilerplate underneath

Taking a break on top of some nice Avalanche debre!

Me, Mr. Alphin, Kurt, and Ashley Alphin(last name soon to change:)

ripping down the back side of Rinky-Dink, and yes thats the name of the run

2nd weekend of shitty skiing

2009-12-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

I never would have made it on the east coast... I just cant enjoy skiing on an ice rink, call me crazy. I was raised a powder skier from the Pacific Northwest say it loud say it proud.

It was 2 degrees up at Crystal this weekend and there was only 3 inches on top of the ice, also the upper mountain was off and on due to wind hold and both backcountries where closed.

On Saturday we went to Leavenworth to see the Christmas lighting

On Sunday we headed up near Crystal and hunted down our Christmas tree!

Well it was due to happen...... a sub-par ski weekend

2009-11-29T17:57:00.000-08:00

First off Crystal recieved rain in the begining of last week and then it got cold right before the weekend = ice!....... There was some new snow but 3 inches on top of ice only goes soo far.

Also I was feeling horrible on Friday night and Saturday morning so after about 4 runs my head was hurting soo badly I had to call it a day....... But did get the first stage of my Christmas lights put up!

Instead of skiing we headed down to pick up a Christmas tree permit in Enumclaw and then go put up some lights. On Sunday I started on my wheel project for the ultimate ski vehicle.

WOW GREAT DAY!!! and it's not even Thanksgiving!

2009-11-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah it was that Kind of a day!

Such a great picture you couldn't just see it once! ... I guess I'm an ok skier :)

Got to ski with Jimmy and Cassandra for the first time this year.(aka Mom and Dad)

It was dumping!!!
Court, Jimmy and Cassandra
Courtney buried in the snow
The Offroad xterra after just one night!
My smile tells everything there is to say about the conditions that day!
video of Big Jimmy aka my Dad ripping up the powder. sorry for the crappy format, between my horrible editing skills and courts video shooting abilities this was the end result. Still the big guy did AWESOME!

Great Secound Weekend, Sat November 21st

2009-11-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today we got up to the mountain about 8am and got to move back into our room at the alpine inn! Courtney wasn't feeling to great so she slept in while I went out to enjoy a bunch of fresh snow. Mr. Sean Keely skiing between Boxcar and Threeway peak in Silver Basin
I was in the one of the first people out Southbackcountry as it opened for the first time this season!
Keely loving the new k2 Sidestash skis!

Begining of 2009/2010 Ski Season!

2009-11-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

This season is going to be LEGEND...... wait for it.....hope your not lactose intolerant...DAIRY!!!!!!!