The Surface Horde: November 2012

Pre-Season Update from Colin (11/14/2012)

Everyone Have their Silverton Passes?

So as the second-half of the title implies, I hurt my knee a few weeks back (actually the same week Arapahoe Basin opened). I was bouldering at Thrillseeker’s climbing gym in Denver and took a weird fall, landed on my right foot, and sprained my knee leaving me with a bruised meniscus that would take a month to heal. Fortunately, the fall season in Colorado on artificial snow really isn’t good for much more than race training or jibbing practice.

What climbers do when they can't climbing

Recently I have been going to physical therapy, acupuncture, and kung fu classes to get strong enough for the real season. Really focusing on the entire rehab process has really done an amazing job at healing old injuries and general wear and tear all over my body from my back and shoulders to my old ACL graft. I highly recommend that any active people suffering from any chronic problems or new ones consider therapies like massage and acupuncture (from sports oriented therapists). I think it should be a more common addition to physical therapy routines, at least for very active individuals whose bodies are often stressed.

I have also been using this time to get involved in our local skiing community. This last weekend. I joined the Friends of Berthoud Pass as a place to start, and at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) I talked to FOBP about other ways to get involved. If you would like to join, donate, or get involved you should check out Berthoudpass.org

News from the 2012 Annual Friends of Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Breckenridge

Speaking of the annual Breckenridge fundraiser for the CAIC, it was a fantastic time this year. The benefit was at the Breckenridge Riverwalk Center and tickets included two free beers, access to the silent auction and a live concert by Denver band James and the Devil. The silent auction apparently was a success. I showed up at 7:30, but still managed to place the winning bid on a hard-to find pair of MFD Alltime Binding Plates, one of the few items that I thought was a steal, but its good that people wanted money to go to the CAIC. The CAIC is the group of forecasters in charge of all the backcountry reports that are not only used by the Dept. of Transportation but save public lives every day by giving Colorado recreationalists daily detailed online forecasts of conditions around the state. It is a BIG Task!

At the benefit there were many industry representatives. The boys from Backcountry Access were there showing off their new line of FLOAT airbag packs. They even let me pop one off, much to the surprise of the crowded room I was in. They say it is much easier and cheaper to refill their airbags, which does seem like a good idea. However, I also like the idea of the removable airbag system (RAS) in Mammut and Snowpulse packs that let’s you move one system between your different RAS compatible packs. The Mammut Representatives also told me their packs are lighter. I’ll post some pricing info about airbag packs before the holidays.

I also got a chance to meet up with Markus Beck, a Swiss Mountain Guide, and owner of the Colorado/International guiding company, Alpine World Ascents. He gave me his card and I just sent him my resume, so hopefully I’ll be shadowing or assisting AWA this Winter!

James and the Devil rocks out at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge

An unknown band rocks out at a nearby bar

But best of all, I ran into my old friends I met in Bellingham, Cooper and Becky. Cooper is a recent graduate of Western Washington University and an instructor for Outward Bounds. Becky is a ski-instructor and herbal health/nutrition student. I first met them on a trip to the Tenquille Lake Hut near Pemberton, British Columbia. The two of them have recently moved from Bellingham, Washington to Colorado. It was great to end the party hanging with old friends and hitting the town in good ol’ Breckenridge, Colorado.

"Choose Your Adventure" Review of the 2012 Film From PowderWhore Production

Whore's live on the Big Screen

Two weekends ago, Powderwhore came to the Front Range to premier their latest all backcountry ski-flick, Choose Your Adventure, with back-to-back showings in Boulder and Denver. The Denver premier was shown at the Oriental Theatre, a nice small-medium sized venue. I passed on Matchstick’s Superhero’s of Stoke premier at the Gothic in Denver (although I’ll probably buy it) but I was definitely going to this year’s Powderwhore movie. Powderwhore is a small-budget, uber-gnar production company that has been producing top-notch all-backcountry ski-films for several years now. The hooker members of the Wasatch SnowBrothel that is Powderwhore currently include fantastic adventurers and athletes such as Andrew Maclean, the Provo Brothers, the Howell Brothers, and promising young guns Forest Shearer and Jake Sakson.

Apparently adventure requires effort

It would be pointless to try and breakdown all the action in a ski movie, but there were certainly highlights. One of these was Andrew Maclean and crew’s quest to ski all the greatest and sketchiest couloirs in the Wasatch. Chris Davenport also made a brief appearance in the movie along with some European riders. The high-quality shredding by pro-athletes/alpinists was a constant throughout, but what really helps make a Powderwhore movie is the roughly third of the movie that is not professional ski porn. These segments introduce the audience a wide variety of crazy locals and legendary bums and really delve deeply into different mountain cultures. There is segments of dirt-bag ‘professionals’ chasing steep snow patches on sketchy summer scree fields, just trying to ski every month for as long as possible. I like Powderwhore because they can get the ski-porn goods, and still tell a story and get people inspired to make their own stories too.

lots of goodies to give out, but i gots none

Other notable things from the night were the raffle, which gave away many good prizes, but most of the best were donated by Flylow Gear, Friends of Berthoud Pass, and Black Diamond. Flylow Gear is a smaller but growing technical outerwear company that started in Denver. They make good looking jackets with a relaxed but technical fit. The University of Denver Alpine Club Officers all wear custom club ones to feel cool, but they really are decent jackets. Its good to see this local company grow and have more and more success.

The proceeds from the raffle went to the Friends of Berthoud Pass, which is a fantastic group trying to preserve recreation on Berthoud Pass by promoting avalanche safety and education around the Front Range. They do lots of cool stuff like give free avalanche awareness presentations and other projects for Berthoud Pass. A yearlong membership is only $25 and has several perks along with sending your money to a good local cause. I believe that all backcountry users should give back with time or money to their local communities in order to preserve the sport and the environment.