Mount Washington | Sunday – March 20, 2011
UPDATED (3/20 | 8:15pm): Well today was interesting, got up there bright and early and slowly made our way up to the hut. Once at the hut we started to realize that snow wasn’t softening up as much as we had hoped and our options were limited. We decided to head back to a zone we hit last season, the Lower Snowfields. Above the snowfields is a large chute called The Duchess – center right in the photo below – Lucas decided he would hit it first. 
After a long trek up Hillman’s and over into The Duchess, he started to make his way down. He made it below the ice bulge in the center and clipped a small sapling mid-way through his third turn. I guess you can just watch the video to see what happens next.
Sherbie was in amazing condition on the way down, looks like Winter Storm Warning up there for tomorrow into Tuesday.
UPDATED (3/19 | 10:15pm): The moon is as big as it’s been in 18 years, this was a huge part in our decision to make an early morning assault tomorrow. Here are a few from the Beach this evening.
Firstly I’m testing out a new program that will allow us to put media up in a more live fashion, so this is the test post.
Secondly, we are planning a super dawn patrol on big ol George Washington on Sunday. Looks like tomorrow’s full moon will be awesome and if all goes as well – we’ll be skinning up into Hillman’s in the moonlight (no headlamps required).
It’s about to be a party up there on Sunday so make sure to get in touch with one of us.
Peace,
Ryan
Bolton Valley | January 29, 2011
Went up early to Bolton again this morning, this time accompanied by a new guy….Ryan. We’re always stoked to have new riders come along, especially if they rip. Today the plan was to do some backcountry touring outside of the ski area boundary. We combed the mountain for leftover pow and decided around 11am to throw the skins on and jump off piste. Last week we dropped a few hints on how to reach the line we skied, hopefully nobody heads up that way because it was scraped off and quite frankly, dangerous. Today it was just far to good to expose our route, Bolton continues to bring the sickness and today was no exception. I still have that perma-smile on from getting snow in the face so many times. Our new guy (and hopefully a regular from now on) mentioned that it was “the best east coast skiing he’s ever experienced”. This isn’t a rarity, I’ve said it at least 10 times myself and I’ve heard our previous guests saying the same thing.
New guy Ryan about to dig a tunnel
Lucas sending it — what a surprise
**On another note there is an enormous blurb on the map for mid-week…it looks like the mountains could get slammed. GAME ON! Stay tuned into Alpine-Live.com for weather updates as they become available.
Tenney | January 27, 2011
Got a late start today and decided on Tenney Mountain, a recently closed resort located off the Plymouth, NH exit. Andy heard this place had some good terrain and it’s moderately close to home compared to our regular adventures. The place was a ghost town but there was a lot of cat tracks running up and down the trails, almost like someone’s been doing snowcat laps. There is some awesome stuff over to the skier’s left but the majority of the main trails still had a ways to go until it could be considered full coverage. We had a great time anyways and prospected some stuff for future trips. Finally replaced the broken D5000 with a Nikon D3100, here are some photos…back to the grind tomorrow.
Andy just bought a splitboard — much more accessibility.
The up.
Next time we know where to go.
Shot from my backyard, these most recent storms have been all coastal, hopefully things turn around.
Alpine-Live.com | Travel Season
As I pack for my 18 day trip to Mantana I can’t help but be reminded that this time of year is awesome, pre-season is over and winter has set in – our legs are finally getting a break via Dopplemayr lift transport and we’re all around in better moods. Most ski areas are open East and West and theres snow at lower elevations all up and down the East Coast. All of the Alpine-Live team guys are traveling and it’s just an awesome time to be a skier.
Lucas just got back from his Christmas break in Vail, Colorado. I’ll add Part 1 of his video series and his .02 on the trip:
“My 2010 Christmas was spent in Vail, Colorado with family & shooting for alpine-live.com. And I couldn’t have asked for a better present. From the 24th-30th the back bowls accumulated a total of 12”-18” of fresh. I managed to hook up with a friend in town who knew the area better, and could show me all the secret stashes. ‘Getto’ didn’t disappoint, we hit the furthest point of the Vail backcountry range, Earl’s Bowl. Where we got some unreal first tracks in the morning, before retrieving our lunch & brews from the snow, and grilling out in the continuing snow showers. After eating and drinking a little too much, we decided on heading back to Earl’s for some glory turns in the fading sunlight before heading home.”
Another buddy Robby and his friend up and left on a last minute powder journey to the Wasatch, he hasn’t returned just yet but I got a few shots through e-mail that were astounding. Hope they’re killing it! Here is a little taste of what they’ve been getting into:
Andy, the other Alpine-Live partner is also headed west to CO, he will be leaving later this week and surely will bring back some documentation from the trip. Stay tuned right here to Alpine-Live.com because it’s about to get wild.
Lastly, we’re stoked to be bringing on a new friend to the AL family, Outdoor Technology. These guys produce some awesome gear. Check out their Facebook Fan site: Outdoor Technology
December 30, 2010 | White Mountains Backcountry Trip
Andy and myself got together yesterday and decided it was about time for some backcountry riding. I had skied at Cannon earlier in the week and knew that the snowpack was pretty deep and there would be good cover in the Notch. We got in the car at 6:00am and headed up to check the scene. We scoped a few different lines, most of which were wind scoured and icy or rocky, although one aspect facing Cannon looked pretty good and it was just a quick hike from the Tram lot. After some pretty solid bushwacking and the discovery of a snowshoe trail we made it up to the bottom of our intended line. 
Literally as we reached the bottom there was a ton of snow moving, mostly from being in the sun for too long. The snowshoe track ended at the base of the line (obviously right?) and we attempted to continue on upwards. After we had reached the halfway mark we decided it was certainly necessary to do a little bit of snow stability testing. Considering it was such a short trip and the line didn’t look large enough for danger from the road we opted not to bring gear. Improvising a little bit and pushing aside the technical snow testing methods we went for a little bit of an isolated column snow test, which resulted in serious instabilities towards the bottom of the snowpack. It seems as though there was a weak facet just above the rock floor that was triggering the release of our column after only 2 solid taps from the elbow (none from the wrist, starting with elbow & with a glove instead of a shovel). From here we decided there was way too much snow coming down around us and it was time to go down. We still managed to grab a few turns without anything releasing and headed back out through the wildery (yes, wildery) NH White Mountain woods. 
Turned out to be a great day and we’re really excited to get back up there….endless opportunities in all directions. GET OUT THERE!!!
alpine-live.com 