The Garret Russel Experience

After SIA Shane, Will, Garret and I all head down to Angel Fire, New Mexico. The long days and nights of the Denver trade show had taken its toll on us, and it was nice to be out of the city. We got into Angel Fire after dark, and woke up early the next morning to check things out. The sun was shining and the park was prime, and with 3 different parks we had a sick day of riding.

Team LINE at a fancy restaurant.

After two days skiing around Angel Fire we headed to Telluride to stay with Garret for a few days. We spent the first day skiing the park at Telluride, and then headed into the back country. Garret towed us into an old mining town, and we started to set up three different jumps across a stream. We had some minor complications with some of the jumps, Will was landing on rocks, and I barley had enough speed to clear the the stream. Luckily we all survived, and after headed up near the Garret family house to finish off the day with a fun BC jump.

Fueling up at Lottaburger - Taos, New Mexico

Building jumps in Garrett's backyard paradise

-Andy

Anything and Everything.

In late January, after a long dryspell in Utah, the sky opened up and overdue glory snowed down upon us.  We headed to The Canyons for some deeeeep powder with Erik Olson.

After a few epic days on the mountain, we hit up a local park in Salt Lake City with Ian Compton.  I don’t want to give anything away, but I’d personally like to thank Ian for his sacrifices during this session.  Shane even bought him a burrito for his efforts.  He’s okay, don’t worry, just sit back and enjoy.  Man vs. Tree:

Next up, we hopped in the car and set out towards Colorado.  On the way we hit up some rare desert mini lines for the heck of it. Everyone got first descents.

We met up with Garrett Russell (above) in Glenwood Springs, CO and continued on to Denver for the SnowSports Industries America Trade show also known as SIA. Check out the LINE soft-goods and Pointy Stick Man below:

-Will

Episode Five Coming Soon

Our original plan was for Episode Four to be an entirely east coast episode filmed around Christmas time, but after a few weeks of less-than-awesome weather in the north-east we decided to bump up the cross-country road trip through the mid-west (intended for Episode Five) and get the heck out.

Erik Olson en route to the ski bus stop in Salt Lake City, Utah

Returning to Salt Lake City in January we began brainstorming ideas for Episode Five ski destinations while enjoying a week of awesome Utah powder. Will and I then mapped out a brief 1,800 mile loop which included the SIA tradeshow in Denver, skiing in New Mexico at Angle Fire, and heading back into Colorado to visit our friend Garrett Russell in his hometown of Telluride, Colorado.

Preparing lunch/dinner in the Angle Fire parking lot, New Mexico

Editing Episode Five!

Highlights of the trip included, but were not limited to: skiing sand dunes in the desert, Andy’s first time in the backcountry, sweaty handshakes at the tradeshow convention in Denver, skiing in New Mexico, and eating instant noodles for every meal while staying at Garrett’s house in Telluride – which wasn’t really a highlight. Rather a low-point for myself.

-Shane (TC camera/computer person)

TC CONTEST!

While visiting the LINE booth at the SIA trade show in Denver last week Andy and Will made sure to steal a few hoodies and other goods while the LINE corporate big-wigs had their backs turned. Since then we have been having some friendly competition over on our Facebook page to battle out for sweet, sweet prizes. Check it out!

“Wait… Why are we driving across the U.S. again?”

After making the cross-country trip last summer, and then again in the fall, I was confused why I’m doing this for the third time in the past 8 months. I don’t mind car rides, but the prospect of being trapped in Will’s tiny Golf for thousands of miles didn’t get me too stoked. However, this time I was assured it was going to be different: rather than making a mad dash across, we had plans to ski around the Midwest first.

Andy's true feelings about being in a car with Will

Perhaps one of the coolest parts of the trip was waking up in the ski patrol locker room at Perfect North, Indiana. Ski all day, hang out in the lodge, and then walk downstairs to go to bed. Isn’t that every kid’s dream? I know it was for me. That’s what makes the Traveling Circus so much fun, doing things you never thought you would do and going places that you never thought you would go.

Will, his car, and a gas pump.

Ian comfortably asleep, Half on the foor, half on his air mattress.

A perfect example of a place I never thought I would go is Chestnut Mountain Resort in Illinois. We had no idea what to expect when we first arrived, but after a quick skate over to the park, we were all blown away. There were boxes, rails, hanging, and rolling barrels, and a sick-looking table made for a really fun park, something you might expect to find out west rather than in Illinois.

Skiing into the sunset at Chestnut

Skiing at Chestnut was great but we still had a long way to go, so after a sunny day of shredding, we hit the road. Endless driving, shady hotels at 2 a.m., and fast food was on our agenda for the next 20-plus hours. The driving was slow in some places due to high winds and blowing snow, but after the cursed city of Laramie, Wyoming (where my car blew up 4 years ago), it was smooth sailing in to Salt Lake City. Will and Shane dropped me off around 1:30 a.m. It was great to be back home. After almost a month of traveling and thousands of miles, I was ready to take it easy for a few days.

-Andy

A Simple Plan: Episode 4

Its New Year’s Eve: With almost no clue as to where we would be sleeping, eating or going to the bathroom for the next week and with two cars packed to the ceilings myself, Will and Andy got on the New York State Thruway and headed west. Again.

We had convinced recent college “graduate” Ian Compton and our friend Jack to accompany us on our criss-crossing journey from New York through the mid-west and ultimately ending up back at our “homes” in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The plan was pretty simple: ski in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois before trying to beat any snow storms that might close the highways in Wyoming and make it back in time for Andy to compete in Dew Tour Half-pipe here in Utah.

While the ski season in the mid-west may be shorter in length, ski resorts definitely know how to stay open late, especially around the Holidays. After several consecutive nights of skiing way past midnight we came away with some pretty cool night footage and my back hurt from getting five hours of sleep on different crappy mattresses and strange hotel room floors each night.

Episode Four Editing Process

Episode Four. See you Sunday.
-Shane
(TC Camera/Editor guy)

TAGS: episode 4

Holidays and Endless Driving

From the desk of Will Wesson:

After some sunny early season skiing at The Canyons in Utah, Andy and I flew home to the east coast in Mid December. We spent the Holidays with our families in Western New York State and skied a couple days at Toggenburg Ski Area with our friend Pat Cowan. It wouldn’t be skiing in NY without some rain and we spent our first day messing around on “sled dogs” or “snow runners(plastic boots with a smooth base to slide on).” Luckily, on our second day at Togg had sunny skies, warm temperatures and the rails were prime.

Will at Togg (when it was not raining)

Next up was our second continental crossing of the year, this time we stopped to ski along the way in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. We’d already driven Andy and Shane’s(camera guy) vehicles across the US to Utah in October, now it was time to cram everyone into my tiny VW Golf. Ian Compton and Jack Borland also joined us in Ian’s Subaru aka “Black Betty.”

Will and his Car

On New Years Eve, we packed the cars full and headed to Mad River Mountain near Columbus, Ohio. After 8 hours of driving, we rolled in around 9pm tired, but ready to ski into the next decade. Mad River far and away exceeded every expectation we had for a small mountain in the Ohio. Tons of sick features open till 3am in the morning. Shooting guns on New Year’s Day. Deluxe room and board. All dreams that came true at Mad River Mountain, Ohio.

First Day of 2010

Next, our journey brought us to Perfect North Slopes Ski Area just over the border from Cincinnati in Indiana. 2010 started off awesome. First Mad River and now Perfect North hooked us up with food and slope side lodging. Literally: We slept in the lodge. Ski Patrol had bunk beds and once we got over the initial fish-food smell of the place we all got six hours of much needed rest. (Except for Jack who had to sleep out on the medical cots and was woken up very early the next morning) I’d seen edits and videos from Perfect North in the past and I was pretty pumped to finally ski there. Countless runs were taken in with one of the fastest laps of any park I’d ever skied. We also had some fun on fresh snow making mounds around the mountain.

Perfect North

Huge thanks to Nick at Toggenburg, Josh at Mad River, and Ellen at Perfect North Slopes!

New gear!

Opening Christmas presents is great, but it kinda loses its magic when your mom slips up and tells you what your getting. That was what happened to me this year, no surprises. But today, two weeks after Christmas I woke up at 10am, walked upstairs and noticed two large boxes address to me.

I had some idea what was in them but no real clue about how much stuff was packed in.

Keep and eye out for all next years stuff in episode five.

-Andy

Words from Shane!

Episode Three: The Great Western Expansion

The last time I slept in a real bed was about a month ago: the night before we started driving. Since then I have seen three different couches, the front seat of my truck plus a handful of living room and hallway floors. Oh, there also was the night spent in a tent under the yellow streetlights of a rest stop in Kansas, the back of my pick-up truck in Ohio and the twin size air mattress I now have here in Salt Lake.

Sleeping arrangments on the road. This acctually was quite nice.

During Episode Three I also experienced my first In-N-Out double-double cheeseburger, my first time in Nevada and California, as well as the first time I ever filmed with Garrett Russell. I met Garrett for about five minutes last year and up until sometime this spring I had no idea he actually lived in this country. I think it was the mustache that threw me off this whole time.

Garrett and his confusing mustache.

Garrett is from Colorado and might be my favorite skier to film. (Aside from Andy and Will of course) He is totally unpredictable both on and off skis, has a very refreshing outlook on skiing, and is rarely seen without a smile and sunglasses.

En Route to Utah

I would recommend driving across the country at least once. If only for In-N-Out, Waffle House or the many exotic vistas and locales of the mid-west.

Gateway to The West!

-Shane
(TC filmer/editor guy)

p.s. We like doing things on Sunday’s. See you in a week.

Episode 3- Go West Young Man (part two)

The longest part of a drive is always the last eight hours. It’s the point where you’re so close but still so far away, and no matter how fast you go or how many cars you pass the anxiety only builds the closer you get.

Our last eight hours was from Loveland, Colorado, where we spent our first day of resort skiing with friends. After skiing we had a typical Traveling Circus debate (Shane crying, Will yelling, and me pouting in my car) whether to follow our original plan of staying in Colorado another night or beat the storm rolling in. After limited tears and bloodshed we decided to book it to Salt Lake City as fast as possible.

The prospect of getting to Salt Lake before midnight was something I had on my mind as soon as we got done skiing. I continued to neglect the fact that I made it this far without getting a speeding ticket and took advantage of the few cars and straight roads. We were making great time despite a long stop at one of the great American fast-food joints, Carl’s Juniors.

Will and I rolled into Salt Lake around 9:30 p.m. and by 10 p.m. I had helped Will unpack and was on my way to find my new home. Following half-baked directions from my roomate, I eventually made it to my new home and found that I have a futon mattress to sleep on and a great big place to live. It was good to be in a new home and not be traveling, but I knew it wasn’t going to last long.

I was right: it didn’t last long, and five or so days later I called up Garret Russel and asked him if he could drop what he was doing and come to California with us. Garret had no qualms and hustled up from Colorado to meet us. With an eight-hour drive, five people, and equipment filling the car to the top we rolled into Squaw right after eating dinner at THE BEST fast-food place ever, In and Out Burger.

The next day all of us were more then excited to go ski Boreal, and after a quick pit stop at Porters in Tahoe, we rolled into the parking lot ready to shred. It was just like skiing in the spring; warm, sunny, and slushy. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions. We were in bliss for the next few days loving every second of Boreal, Tahoe, and California.

Thanks to Rom, Hyde, Jason, and Finley for letting us crash. Also big thanks to Jon at Boreal, Dustin Schaefer at Loveland, and Rom one more time for the pictures.

-Andy