After 6 great days of Skiing pillows, slashing pow, and touring our butts off we had reached our last day in our little piece of paradise.

As seemed to be our luck, the skies were crystal clear and the Alpine above the hut, “The Nordic” was begging us to sign it’s blank canvas.

Weston, Chucky, and myself gobbled down breakfast, threw together our packs and headed out the door to break trail and see what the Nordic had in store for us.

The pace was fast (Chucky being the machine that he is) and I was regretting the extra beverages I had indulged in the night before. But we made it onto the glacier around 9:30 and threw on our harnesses. The initial ascent up the White Russian Col was  smooth and we topped out around 11:30.

The rest of the group was behind and from the top the col they resembled an army of aunts marching up the large terrain.

After grabbing a snack the three of us decided to move on. After a bit of discussion about the snow stability and issues of cornices breaking off in the afternoon sun, we decided to ski the lower part of “Critical Thursday”, a super fun open shoulder off the larger Merlin Peak.

Weston dropped in first to set up the shot, then Chucky followed. Three turns in he lost a ski , but it was no big deal for Chucky as his one leg skiing was flawless and he was able to recover his wayward ski and keep cruising.

The snow was perfect, deep and light. After hooting in hollering and outragous stoke we put on our skins and geared down for the long traverse across the Nordic over to Escargot. After about 2 hours we found our selves reaching the peak with 360 degree views.

The day had been tremendously successful, and most of the group made it to the top to celebrate.

From there we skied down the Khumba Ice Fall and into the Escargot alley.

It was a spectacular day. Tons of beautiful sights, great snow, and tons of laughter.

The next day we did our chores to get the lodge ready for the next group of unsuspecting vacationers. Collected water, mopped floors, and packed up our gear.

It was another blue bird day and the flight out was spectacular. We flew out over the Nordic and Cheap Scotch, to lay witness to the signatures that we were leaving behind.

Flying past enormous peaks, the lines here seemed endless and definitely left us hungry to return when the snow pack was a bit more stable.

We can’t thank Trew Gear enough for giving us this opportunity. The friends, laughs, skiing, and scenery was the pinnacle of our season.

Stay tuned for Episode 4: The Sorcerer

The fabled mushroom

The mushroom is front and center in the picture. It consists a big pad to a smaller, hanging pillow with a few options for hitting it.  The first time I hit it I took it from the large pad, hitting the pillow and then down into the gut (you can see the track).  This was my first time ever hitting pillows and let me just say it is a learning experience.  Instead of the pillow collapsing and being soft like all the other pillows I hit that day, it was hard and bucked me like I hit a patch of ice. Apparently when they sit there all season they get super stiff and don’t give much at all. That promptly threw my feet from underneath me and I landed straight to my butt. Major fail.  I also hit it lookers right, again, another catastrophic fail- video coming shortly.

The next day we ventured into the alpine again, and while the weather was better than the day before, the forecast still called for clouds rolling in.  Just as we peaked at the pass the clouds rolled in.  When the clouds roll in on a glacier there isn’t much you can do other than feel your way down- and slowly.  We made a huge traverse to try and find some trees that would offer us a bit of definition.  We managed to find them along with a few cliffs/pillows.

Shreddies trees

You can see some of our tracks on the lookers left of the photo.  We had some fun for sure and there were some really fun turns in those little trees!

On our last lap of the day we met up with the party train, or at least the party train Conductor, John Pew.  John always is the life of the party, partied harder than any one else and never missed a day of shredding.  John just happened to have a 12pack of Kokanee’s in his pack and was gracious enough to share a few libations for the skin track home.

PARTY TRAIN!

We were feeling pretty good when we finally pulled in the hut!

Here is a parting shot of the Conductor chowing down on some food in the lodge post party train.

Grubin it

Stay tuned for our last installment of the Sorcerer Lodge as we recount an unforgettable day on the glacier and one of the most epic days of Shaun and mine’s season.

-Weston

The First was Treasure Mountain Lodge in Silverton. We were able to make that one happen on a whim in December when they got hit with a storm while the rest of the lower 48 sat dry still waiting for their seasons to get under way.

The Second was one of the lodges just north of Golden, BC, where you get helied in and dropped off for a week of touring.

We were driving home from Snowbasin one afternoon in February, when we got a phone call from Trew’s Tripp Frey. He was wondering if we had any plans for March. As a matter of fact, we hadn’t and with the Utah season showing no signs of recovery from the low and dangerous snow pack, we were ready for an adventure elsewhere.

Tripp went on to invite us on his annual friends hut trip. This year it was to Sorcerer Lodge, a heli in lodge just north of Golden, BC!

Weston and I looked at each other with excited disbelief. It looked like this season, not one but two of our dream trips would come into fruition.

February soon turned into March and we found ourselves packed to the brim with camera gear, backcountry packs, and skis. We made our way north slowly (Very Slowly).

First, we stopped in Jackson Hole to meet up with Lance and Brian who we would be carpooling with over the boarder.

We all piled into Brian’s Toyota Tundra, which was sporting a fancy new topper that was recovered the evening before from under a foot of snow from a buddies yard.

Next stop Bozeman, MT! We reached Bozeman around 5pm and made a quick stop in to the Bomb Snow offices to collect some of Lance’s photo gear. Then hit up our buddy Zeph, of Zephyr skis to watch him press a fresh pair in his garage.

By this point we were all thirsty and in much need of libations and some good grub. With the thirst that comes only from being on the road , we hit the town…

Needless to say our 6am departure from Bozeman felt a bit rough, but we managed to make our way thru Kalispel and White Fish to the boarder.

The Boarder is always uncomfortable, it is the line on the map, neither country nor state, just a line. A purgatory of sorts. It was in this purgatory that we sat while Weston got brought into the offices and questioned as a suspicious alien attempting to forage his way back into Canada usurp the volunteer opportunities of their citizens.

Fortunately, Weston was released and the Tundra was once again foraging north.

We arrived at the Sportsman Lodge in Golden around 6pm to meet up with the other 12 people that would become our newest and closest friends for the next 7 days.

Later that evening we all gathered in one of the rooms to sign our lives away, discuss the particulars of the next day’s loading schedule, and meet Tannis, the owner of Sorcerer Lodge and one of the raddest women ever.

The morning came quick and even quicker did our personal gear get piled including 2 1/8 kegs, 15 or so bottles of liquor, 24 bottles of wine, a few cases of Kokane, copious amounts of Zoke, toilet paper, food,  fire wood, Oh and not to mention our ski gear. All got packed into the Landing Zone while we waited for the heli to arrive.

Once settled and briefed the flights began. 4 loads later we all found ourselves inside a beautiful lodge. It was snowing pretty hard out, so we could only imagine where we were located based on the photos that were framed on the walls, the lodge book of the surrounding runs and the large map that was posted above the observation clip boards.

It was now 11:30am and we were all ready to get after it! It was still dumping and it looked so deep.

We skied strait down form the lodge and immediately were greeted with pillows of all sizes.

After 2 laps, our legs that hadn’t seen much pow thus far this season, were worked. We made one more concession and then headed in for the evening.

That night, along with celebratory libations and grub, we planned our next day’s excursion. The weather called for a small high pressure to move thru that would bring blue skies for a small 24hr window, perfect for a tour in the alpine.

Cheap Scotch was our destination. The tour kicked off with a 1,000ft vert. decent thru trees and pillows into a drainage. once in the drainage it was a 2,500ft vert ascent to the peaks and cols of the alpine.

With over a meter of fresh snow and a few weeks since anyone had made their way over to Cheap Scotch, trail breaking was slow and brutal to say the least.

But we pushed thru, alternated leads (sort of) and made our way.

Much like the lower 48, The Selkirks were having a bit of a rough go with avi conditions. A buried surface hoar layer from February was still cause for some light treading and conservative line selection.

Regardless, the snow was amazing! The pow was light and deep and our laps were delicious.

The way home was just as arduous as the way out. We broke a new trail up that would later provide access to quick laps on the popular Lee’s Trees run.

The day was long, but extremely rewarding.

With a sense of accomplishment, exhaustion, and anticipation for what was to come in the days ahead we drank beers, sipped Ullar, and passed around the bottle of Whiskey.

GALLERY

Enter the DriftHD.  I had heard a bit about the DriftHD and it piqued our interest to say the least.  Rumors that it came with a LCD screen so you could actually see, in the field, what you had just shot.  No external bulky back pack screen(GoPro), no guessing if you got the shot.  The LCD screen also meant that you could see, in English the powerful menu and functions of the DriftHD.  And the coolest part, the thing that blew the GoPro completely out of the water……a wireless remote that can be attached to your wrist.

We came to find out that those few selling points were only the beginning of the package that was the DriftHD.

Head over to MyPOV360.com and check out the technical specs of the DriftHD vs. the GoPro.

In the next installment we will show you just how versatile the DriftHD really is.

Shaun stoked on the DiftHD

Here are a few pictures I took along the way with the trusty camera phone documenting some of the week.  Look for Nat Segal in the bright pastel’s and Thayne Rich to always be upside down or spinning.

Thayne’s jumping skills were off the chart, nice to be skiing with a fellow 4FRNT team member!

Worst week of snow and we still managed to find these!

Pretty amazed my phone could actually capture this.

Now we are off to the Sorcerer Lodge in BC for a pow filled week of touring.  We leave you with a little time lapse edit I put together of the last few weeks.

Low tide conditions across the lower 48 meant we had to get creative and travel for some fun. After a trip up to Mt. Hoodoo we returned to Utah with frightening avy conditions. No better time to attempt to learn how to use our snowmobiles on the flat, open fields in our own back yard. We then had a surprise trip to Park City Powder Cats with the WidSix crew, while the snow was still low we had a blast. We finish the episode by going back to the Ranch with lead guide Bob to help discover some potentially new terrain.

Today we got quite the treat thanks to PC Powder Cats Guide, creator of backcountry.com, and now friend, Bob Merrill.

We had met Bob last week while out with the PC Powder Cats and WidSix media. During the course of the day we spoke with him about our new love of sledding and how it would be so cool to be able to access this privately owned terrain via sled.

Bob said he would love to take us out and show us the goods….

(Usually conversations such as this end here)

However, last night Bob made the call.  A plan and  a day was formed and what a day it was!

Our Fearless Leader Doing What He Does Best...SHREDDING!!!

Nothing like a last minute invite on a cat ski day with a group of rad people to make you realize how ridiculous your life truly is.

Yesterday Weston D. and I got invited to join Widsix‘s founder John Roope, athletes Langely McNeal, Keely Kelleher, Nat Segal, Vanessa Aadland and photographer Ross Downard for a fun day with the PC Powder Cats.

With our low snow conditions and high avi danger, this day was not about skiing gnarly lines or bagging big mountains, rather it was more a celebration. John Roope, our common connection invited us all on this adventure for one thing and one thing only, to have fun, and that’s exactly what we did!

HUGE THANKS TO ROOPE, BOB, MEEGAN, AND JOHN !!!!!

This year was no exception. The Life Unbound looks to move into it’s second season for 2012/13 with much momentum and a full schedule of websodes, fresh content and more support.

With much excitement we  met with current sponsors, industry friends, and potential companies that we would love to partner with. Through all the meetings and hard work we have come out quite excited.

The most immediate relationship that has been born out of those meetings is a new partnership with MyPOV360, an online POV retailer. With a tagline, “Capture the world from your point of view”  we could not think of a better partnership

PRESS RELEASE

The Life Unbound partners with MyPOV360.com, industry leader in POV cameras.

Park City, UT February 3, 2012.  The Life Unbound is extremely excited to be working with the Drift HD provided by MyPOV360.com.  The Drift’s unique features such as external mic, remote control activation, playback features and more will help take their filming/documenting to new heights.

By partnering up with MyPOV360.com, The Life Unbound (LUB) will now have access to the finest POV cameras on the market.  By using the Drift HD they will now have better capabilities for interviews, unique angles and better story telling tools.

MyPOV360.com is an industry leader who distributes all makes and models of Point of View (POV) cameras.  “MyPOV360.com meets the needs of sports enthusiasts by providing the highest quality, best value point of view video cameras on the market.”

LUB is a chronicle of athletes Weston D and Shaun Raskin as they hunt for snow, travel and live the lifestyle we all dream of.  LUB is a webisodes series and blog, which can be followed at thelifeunbound.com.

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