I got a call from Pastrana at 8:00 Monday night asking if I could be in San Diego the following morning. I made a few adjustments and caught an early flight to Southern California.
Jim DeChamp and T.P. swooped me up at the airport. I was busy all winter and I hadn’t seen the boys since November. I was stoked to start the summer mayhem!
We spent the day cruising in the No Fear heli with Jeff Tilton as copilot. Trav, Jim and I made a few jumps into Jeremy McGrath’s ranch. We ended up making it an all nighter with building BASE jumps and other good clean fun.
I was on a flight home the following morning…I love the way TP rolls.
Check out footage of our jumps
TP and DeChamp ready to get terminal
Moto mad man Jeff Tilton was in the crew…
TP figuring how to climb out the heli
Pastrana
A city full of buildings to jump
Check out footage of our jumps
I have been home from AK for a week now. I definitely went through a post AK depression for a few days. I couldn’t seem to find the motivation to do anything. Maybe it was the decompression from an intense trip…I don’t know. What I do know is what a different world AK is and how it has totally changed the way I view skiing. My eyes were opened and my mind humbled. All I can think of is getting back up there.
Alaska 2008 Photo Gallery
The downtime in AK can be trying…there is not much to do other than ski. You can sit for days and then at a moments notice find yourself on top of one of gnarliest lines you have ever skied. The drastic opposites of lying in bed and watching TV, to dealing with all the many variables of skiing a rowdy AK line can wear on you. We make the most of what we have with hikes, games, computers, sleeping and whatever else we can come up with to occupy our minds.
My Hotel room
Computer time…
Bar Time…
Gaming….
Lurking around the hotel…
Hiking…
One of the most difficult aspects of skiing in Alaska is judging the size and scale of the mountains. Each line or face always look different from every angle…but nothing is as revealing as the look down from above. Usually the smallest bump in your run will look like a 100 footer from up top. No matter how well you have scoped your line, when you stand on top everything looks different and way more scary.
Warm up drop in…
Actually dropping in…
A big AK ramp
A look down the ramp from up top
Sage getting into the mix
Sage’s line on the lookers right and mine on the left
A long thick ridge
The long ridge from below
The end of this couloir is a 400 foot cliff to BASE jump
A look at the actual ski BASE line
Another Steep AK line
The face I was looking down…
