End of season report

WINTER 07/08

Another winter is done. Hard to believe that
I’ve been in Whistler for 13 years, skiing/sledding every day and I’m
still not board of it! Then again how could I be after a winter like
the coast had this year. Like last winter I travelled a lot but didn’t
leave B.C for long.
The year began with epic early season conditions
and by Dec 1st I was already shooting photos that were coming out like
mid winter shots. I think some of my best work was accomplished before
the New Year. Most of my shooting was with Whistler photographers,
Blake Jorgenson, Eric Berger, Paul Morrison and Damian Cromwell. Snow
stacked up early as the alpine never really lost much of it’s base
because of a wet and cold summer. YAY to global warming!
I kicked
the season off with a trip to Revelstoke for there opening weekend. The
buzz was amazing with people launching themselves all over the
mountain. January brought on what’s become an annual Oakley trip to the
Kootneys. This year the filmers were left at home and we went to shoot
stills with Blake Jorgenson. As always it was dumping for a good
portion of the trip but when the skis cleared we where able to get up
and ski some great new zones at Retallack. The now annual party was
tamed down as people were scared from being cut from skiing like last
year. Next came a week of shooting for the new 2 stroke cold smoke
movie which is featuring me in a ski/sled segment. Conditions were
great with a couple days of sun and epic snow. Then it was off to
Europe with Damian Cromwell to shoot for Powder and tourism
Switzerland. Upon arrival we were greeted with 30cms of fresh but after
that we never saw a cloud and snow became hard to find. We made the
most of it scouring Switzerland and France in search of some powder.
Had some great days of skiing and shooting with Damian, Janci Hadik and
Myriam Lang-Willar. When I got home I filmed a show for Rush HD. We
shot in the Whistler area and once again the weather was on my side.
It’s a show that profiles what I do for a rush.  It’s now nearing the
end of February and I’m getting started filming my segment for
Slednecks who are also doing a ski/sled segment. Conditions were not
very cooperative, everything was wind hammered around Whistler and the
boys weren’t able to move so I took off with Dave Mossip to film for a
Canadian avalanche association movie. We went and stayed in a cabin in
Northern B.C for 4 days of sun and good conditions. When I got home it
was off to Utah for a Ski Salt Lake Photo contest with Damian Cromwell.
We lucked out with 16 inches of new snow and sunny skies. We didn’t win
the contest but managed to get some amazing shots as well as shooting
with Damian I made some time to hook up with Adam Clark, Scott
Markewitz and a filmer for The Levitation Project. After Utah I was
back home to shoot skiing and sledding around the Whistler area before
heading North with Slednecks to shoot a redneck segment of hunting
rabbits massive fires and shredding lines. Could end up being one of
the funniest segments of the year. Next was a trip to Golden on a
feature for Freeskier magazine with editors Chris Jerard and Jay
Michelfeldor. We skied the hill a few days as well as accessing the
back-country near the resort by sled. From there I stopped by
Revelstoke for a few days to shoot a Grio product video with Freeride
productions. We had a couple of the best days of my year. Amazing snow
and clear skies. From there it was back in the truck and heading south
to Snowater with SBC Skier and Peak Performance magazine. We had a
couple days of cat skiing before the skies broke and then it was up in
the heli. Conditions were good but with a weak snowpack we were stuck
to tighter trees. The next day we moved into the Valhallas where
conditions were more stable and we got into some great terrain. I was
back in the truck and heading home finally to finish off my Slednecks
segment. After a few epic days I went too big off about an 80 foot
cliff and hit hard compressing 2 vertebrae. The doctor said it was
stable and I could ski as long as I had no compressions. So I was off
to Eagle Pass Heli on assignment for Skiing magazine with Paul
Morrison. It was a short trip of only 3 days but we actually got up in
the heli everyday. It was hard to watch James Heim launch cliffs as I
skied the easy ribs beside him but at-least I was out there. My final
trip was to drive to Haines Alaska with Bryn Hughes but I had to step
down and take the time to heal my back. Everything is back in place and
feeling good and ready for a summer of building that will end with a
trip to New Zealand with Adam Clark and The Levitation Project.
It
was an amazing year in regards to the press I generated. I added
another 5 covers making my total covers, 36 to date. I was used in the
marketing campaigns of Rossignol, Oakley, Giro, Leki, Dakine,
Whistler/Blackcomb and Retallack. It was another great year in
magazines around the world with over 100 pages of published work. For
films I was in the opening segment of Playground by Warren Miller, a
segment in Tanner Halls- Believe, The Levitation Projects- The Fall of
07, featured in a Nomads episode shown on Rush HD and National
Geographic HD. I was also featured in Frontier films- 2Stroke Cold
Smoke 10 and Daniel Cedonas BRRP 7.