Articles

Chris Davenport on Skiing the Four Peaks

2008-06-17T20:29:45Z

In the fall of 2007 I was searching for a project to challenge myself and my desires to ski bigger and more challenging mountains. After completing my "Ski the 14ers" project and then going on to ski the Grand Teton, Mt. Rainier, and many lines on Denali in the spring of 07, I naturally turned my attention to the Alps. When thinking about the birthplace of skiing and alpinism, I immediately came up with four objectives that I thought would challenge my skiing and organizational skills, while at the same time being very interesting an inspiring to the general public when presented in film and photo form. The Matterhorn, Eiger, Mt. Blanc, and the Monte Rosa, the most iconic mountains in the Alps, served as the platform to take my ski mountaineering experience to the cradle of ski mountaineering in the spring of 08.

With my old friend and skiing partner Stian Hagen, of Oslo, Norway, but living in Chamonix, I planned the project. Photographer and partner Christian Pondella signed on to join us on the climbs and ski descents. Writer and friend Jack Shaw would document the trip for Powder Magazine and several European Magazines. Photographer Peter Mathis would shoot the project for German Magazine Stern as well as Kastle skis and others, and Matchstick Productions, whom I have worked with for over a decade, would produce a film segment for their new movie, "Claim" as well as a television show about the project.

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The following peaks would repeat a very similar story. The West Face of the Eiger, the North Face of the Mt. Blanc to the Northeast Ridge of the Dome du Gouter, and the finally the famous Marinelli Couloir on the Monte Rosa, the longest vertical ski run in the Alps, all fell to detailed planning, excellent execution of complicated logistics, and a super motivated team of skiers. While the Matterhorn was the first and perhaps the steepest, each peak provided it's own set of challenges, from long and arduous climbs to changeable ski conditions, to weather issues. but for this team to complete safe ski descents of all of the objectives of the project in a ten day period is truly remarkable, and is most likely a first for this group of peaks.

The goal of the project was not to ski the most difficult lines in the Alps, or first descents, but was to bring the most classic and famous peaks of the range to the broader skiing audience in the form of film and photos, thus raising the bar, opening peoples eyes, and progressing ski alpinism as my previous projects certainly have. This project was deeply personal for Stian, Christian, and myself, but we also took it to another level by working hard to document the project in a way that would allow the consumer to see possibilities in skiing that they may not have recognized before.

So with this project I continue my pursuit of ski descents on the world's most renowned mountains. I'm already thinking about 2009 and what opportunities might present themselves for me. I'm a firm believer in not forcing an objective, but waiting for it to come to me in the form of a dream or idea that over time develops into a well planned out goal. For as the famous French climber Gaston Rebuffat once said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish!".

Words by Chris Davenport
Photo by Christian Pondella

Also check out Stian Hagen's account of he and Dav's descents.

Jon Olsson Super Sessions Goes Off in Sweden

2008-04-02T07:16:27Z

Day 1

There’s just no other way to put it…Day 1 of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions went off. The sun was out in full force in Are, Sweden this morning and throughout the day. With five beyond massive features to choose from, including The Floater (a 30-meter stepdown), The Trip Buster (a JOI-style gap jump), The Rhythm Section (three bmx-style jumps, tranny-to-tranny), The Launcher (a 30-foot tall hip, with a 70-foot gap in the middle to a 50-foot tall landing) and The Experiment (a tabletop with an old-school freestyle take-off), a difficult decision had to be made on what to hit first. After briefly considering testing out the hip to kick things off, Jon made the call to hit the JOI jump, mainly due to the lack of wind that was making the day that much more perfect.

The hospitality of the event is at all an all-time high courtesy of Jon, who has really outdone himself this year by first transporting the athletes to Are from the local airport by helicopter, and then putting the crew up in the beautiful Tott hotel, complete with Cadillac shuttles taking everyone wherever they need to go. The happiest man in the hotel this morning was Peter Olenick, who’s gift bag included 70 tins of snuss and more chocolate and condoms than you could shake a stick at.

As everyone got ready to head up the hill, the excitement was at an all-time high for everyone involved, particularly after the bad weather that has plagued most of the events this year. But no one was quite aware of just how much things were about to go off until they approached the jump. The Trip Buster, according to Jon, “is by far the biggest jump I’ll probably ever build.” And it was no joke.

A 26-meter gap monster with a buttery smooth landing complete with sunshine, a large crowd of spectators and a heli follow-cam made for a day filled with an epic level of skiing that went right until sunset and was just too amazing for words.

Day 2

Day 2 of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions in Are, Sweden started and finished early. After the forecast called for bad weather in the afternoon Jon made the call for an early morning start today on the step-up hip (aka The Launcher). So after a late night many for many at last night’s old school hip-hop party, the athletes and media made their way up the tram at 6am and got set up.

Unfortunately, there were some speed issues for most of the athletes on the feature (only Jon, Sammy and Andreas seemed to be feeling it), so the mission was aborted in favor of a possible return session on the JOI-style jump later in the afternoon, so the jump crew could begin modifications on the hip.

Day 3

Day 3 was a busy one at the Jon Olsson Super Sessions. The day began with the first annual Swedish Open, which saw a large contingency of up-and-coming Scandinavians duke it out for the ultimate prize, an invite to the next JOI, which will be taking place in Monaco, New York or Dubai, possibly as early as this fall.

Much like the North American Open, the qualifiers were jam format with Jon, along with Philou Poirier, judging the event. The course was comprised of three jumps that were a tad on the small side (likely because most of the jump builders’ energy has gone into the features for the Super Sessions), but the level of skiing was high, proving that the Scandinavian invasion isn’t on its way…it’s here.

After the field was narrowed down to 22 riders after the qualifiers, the finals started and finished with a bang, as Oscar Scherlin, the early favorite to win the event, was in second place for most of the finals behind Kim Boberg. After a host of Swedes and Norwegians strutted their stuff for Jon and Philou, Kim and Oscar remained neck-and-neck until the bitter end, when Oscar, who qualified first, had the last run in finals and one more chance to beat out Kim for the invite to JOI. As Luke Van Valin built the suspense on the mic in only the way he can, Oscar dropped in and unfortunately bobbled the landing on his switch 10 off the top hit, giving Kim the win, an invite to JOI, and much to his delight, access to all the Super Session features. Right behind the top two was Tom-Oliver Hedwall in third.

A few hours later, the Super Sessions continued and next on the list was the Rhythm Section, which was three bmx-style jumps in a row, tranny-to-tranny. The shoot began at dusk and went well into the night under the lights in front of a modest crowd that hiked up to watch the festivities. The session itself took a bit to get going as due to the close proximity of the jumps, the athletes had to take some time to get use to the triple line, and many skipped the third jump for the better part of the night.

And last but not least, Simon Dumont continued to prove how bad he wants to win this competition by working his ass off all night and seemingly getting more jumps in than anyone else. Simon brought the rain with a variety of tricks, including some switch and regular cork 5’s with unique grabs and perhaps the ballsiest line of the night, a superman front flip off the top hit to a double front off the second.

Unfortunately, the host with the most Jon Olsson couldn’t participate in tonight’s session after tweaking his knee earlier today. His knee is beginning to feel better but he says it may be a day or two before he can jump again. Here’s hoping he heals up quick. So after a busy day here in Are, another huge party is just a few hours away where the shenanigans will surely be as high as they’ve been all week, especially considering tomorrow’s session (which will be on the old school freestyle jump, aka The Experiment, which looks insane by the way) will also take place at night.

Day 4

Day 4 of the JOSS started late today with another nighttime session, this time on the Experiment, the old school freestyle jump with three take-offs. The jump was one of the most anticipated features by the athletes and spectators alike, as all were curious how the best freeskiers in the world would take to the aerials-like take-off and landing.

The late start was more than a blessing for everyone involved, as the other major aspect of this event, the partying, was in full effect last night with the biggest party so far. With a seemingly endless amount of bottle service courtesy of Jon, everyone and their dog was in full-blown rockstar mode till the early hours of the morning, and the scores of beautiful Swedish women didn’t hurt things either. So after a much needed and well-deserved sleep in, the boys made their way up the hill at dusk to begin the session.The three take-offs got taller and steeper left to right, and while the jump crew made some final preparations on the tranny of the big take-off, the athletes began getting a feel for things on the smaller side.

Oscar Scherlin was the first person to hit the jump tonight with some stalled out 3’s before quickly moving onto some big cork 7 mutes. Simon Dumont continued his reign on terror of the features tonight, with his super slow and motionless cork 3’s and later threw in a huge variety of his extremely unique and tweaked out grabs.
All the athletes are grinning ear-to-ear after the session, with some calling it one of the funnest features so far. Also adding to their grin is the bowling contest/party that is about to go down, because really…who doesn’t love bowling?

Day 5

Day 5 of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions saw a return session on the JOI-style jump, aka the Trick Buster. After another beautiful day of sun and no wind Jon called for another sunset shoot on the biggest feature we’ve seen so far. While the initial session saw many of the athletes just getting warmed up on the features, today absolutely went off.

Simon Dumont continued to rip every feature a new asshole, mixing up nearly every hit with a variety of tricks from slow and motionless cork 3’s to huge corked 1080’s with tweaked out grabs. However some of today’s biggest highlights were the plethora of doubles that inevitably went down. With Jon Olsson also back in action after tweaking his knee a few days ago, the mastermind set the standard early with a huge kangaroo flip, which he proceeded to throw continuously with different grabs on nearly every single attempt along with a few double cork 12’s thrown in for good measure.

Oscar Scherlin skipped today courtesy of some serious shin bang and Mike Clarke was also out of action after slicing his hand open last night on the uber sharp edges of his new skis. He needed to get a few stitches and decided to sit today out and prepare himself for tonight’s pool party in the awesome Tott hotel where everyone is staying. Tomorrow will reportedly see a repeat session on the newly modified hip jump or perhaps the first crack at the 30-meter stepdown…the only feature that has yet to be hit.

Day 6

With more bad weather threatening to appear later today, Day 6 of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions began early with another morning shoot.Due to the amazing weather that has been blessing the event all week, many of the athletes are starting to feel the burn after sessioning the massive features for five days in a row. Because of this, Jon made today’s outing an optional session and a few of the boys gladly rose for the task, which of course was no easy one after another long night of partying.

Today’s mission…to test out the only feature yet to be hit, the Floater. The jump is a 90-foot stepdown perched right at the top of the mountain and will surely be hit again after the couple of hours of sessioning that went down today. Simon Dumont, Sammy Carlson, Andreas Hatveit, Colby West, Henrik Harlaut and Oscar Scherlin were all in attendance getting a feel for the new challenge, and much like all week, they did not disappoint.
Some of the highlights included Sammy Carlson’s switch right 10’s (before unfortunately tweaking his bad ankle, which may force him to sit the next day or two out), Andreas Hatveit’s huge double backflips with his brother Jon in tow, Henrik Harlaut and Oscar Scherlin’s effortless spins and perhaps the sickest tricks of the session, Colby West’s ridiculous zero spin and Simon Dumont throwing down what MC Luke Van Valin called the biggest cork 1080 ever.

Although the early rise was difficult for many, it will surely be a blessing in disguise by giving everyone an opportunity to enjoy the sun and rest up for tonight’s annual rock party, which according to Jon is by far the wildest and most notorious party of the week. With six solid days of skiing under the athletes’ belts and every feature checked off the list, the level of skiing is surely going to get even bigger and better now that the boys have the jumps figured out. The forecast is calling for rain over the next day or two but it seems hard to believe looking outside at the endlessly bluebird spring sky. If the sun decides to stick around, hold onto your keyboards and prepare yourself for some of the sickest skiing in the history of the sport.

Words by Jeff Schmuck (Newschoolers.com)
Photos by Jeff Schmuck, Felix Rioux, Dan McClung, and Charles Spina

*Click into Newschoolers.com for continuing coverage and video

A Conversation with Tanner: Part Two

2008-03-24T07:37:14Z

Red Bull Skiing recently had the chance to sit down with Tanner, in his Park City home, and talk with him about the season thus far. Tanner can talk for hours about skiing with little prompting, so the standard interview format doesn't always work out. Fortunately what we are left with is the man himself, uncut and uncensored.

In the second installment, Tanner discusses dealing with injury, the reality of making ski movies, the Provo brothers (Ian and Neil), and the Pettit brothers (Callum and Sean). Enjoy.

This week I’ve been seeing everyone getting up at 6:00 a.m. and getting out of the house at 6:30 a.m., to go out on sleds and just kill it the whole time. It’s tough, man. Like I said back in “Teddy Bear Crisis”, I’m one of the most active kids in the world and once you take that away from me it’s like taking medicine from a dying person. One of the toughest things you can deal with in this job is an injury. But just being off my skis for the last little bit and going up yesterday—knowing my ankle’s not ready—and knowing what I have to do to get to a full recovery, just makes me that much more stoked to get back on my skis. Once I get back on it the murder mission will definitely continue and I’ll be that much more ready to put a hurtin’ on the mountains, because I’ve been off my skis for a little bit and it’ll be time to get back on it.

The whole month of February was kind of botch for us, because we’re used to going to a lot of places where the pow’s always nice—getting work done—but this is the first year we’ve kind of had to deal with getting botched out on snow everywhere we’ve gone. It’s almost been a full month of not getting super banger shots. Then all of sudden the boys came out here and the first day coming back from skiing they were grinning ear to ear and I knew something good had happened. CP came in and said it’s back on and just to hear those words was super comforting to me. Even I was getting nervous from not getting shots for a month and the pow staying away. You start to think everything is working against you, but like I said you can’t play with Mother Nature. It’s just on of the things in our sport we have to deal with and you take it as it comes. The more you respect the mountains the more they’ll respect you back and they’ll love you just as much as you love them. So, that’s what we’re doing right now: positive vibes. I knew we come back 180 degrees going from negative to positive and it’s all good. We needed these couple days of the boys going out and getting good snow and getting banger shots.

The Provo brothers, I’m super stoked on these brothers. They’re probably the coolest pair of brothers I’ve seen in a while, next to the Pettit brothers. The Provo brothers are out there. They’re the most mountainous type of kids you’ll meet. In the summer they’re fly fishing all the time and rock climbing, just being out in nature. These kids just love the life that they’re living and the vibe they live is all about righteousness. They are all about positive. That’s the word of the winter. It’s just that much easier to do your thing and hang out with these kids. When you’re out there doing what we are doing—watching people get sick—it’s so cool to see kids that are so level headed. They are my neighbors and they are two of my best friends in my life right now. Seeing them work together, they are best friends, they do everything together. One snowboards and one skis. Neil kills it really hard, you’ve probably seen him in Technine movies throughout the years. He’s really trying to progress his skills and he’s really focused on the backcountry like his brother. It’s a lot harder to go out and ride the mountains than it is to go in the city and hit a rail and those kids realize that and that’s what they are trying to push now. No taking away from sliding rails, because we all like to do it. It’s so fun to go in the city and slide some rails, but the real adventure of what we are doing is them getting out on their snowmobiles and waking up at 4:30 in the morning and getting to the trailhead at 6:30. Getting that morning light and being up there until 5 at night. Working, hiking, skinning, building jumps, finding lines; they are all about it. That draws me to those kids a lot more. We’re all into reggae music, we’re all into a positive lifestyle, and I feel like I’m blessed everyday to have two kids like that in my corner.

The Pettit brothers, just like I said about the Provo brothers, just two of the coolest brothers I’ve ever met in my life. They are still pretty young. You know the Provo brothers went through it when they were younger too. Always fighting all the time, always bickering at each other, but in the end the love is always there. They might not know it, but they are best friends. They do a lot of stuff together and spend a lot to time together. I can see Callum is the older brother, trying to look out of Sean and stuff. In certain situations sure they are going to have their fights and tiffs and quarrels, but that’s like every brothers. Me and Tyson did that at that age. Neil and Ian, it was insane how they used to fight at the skate park here in the summer. You see little fights and quarrels from the Pettits and sometimes they can take it too far and sometimes it’s all good, but the coolest thing is they are there for each other. They are always looking out for each other and the skills that these guys have on their skis is really scary, man. Callum is way different than Sean in a lot ways, but they are so similar in a lot of ways. I think Callum right now has been hanging out with Kye Peterson a whole bunch and is maybe starting to get a little taste of mountaineering. Skinning and hiking and getting into bigger mountains and I think that’s such a righteous thing. Callum’s gonna learn so much from just wanting to know about a mountain and know what’s gonna slide on him and know about wind-loaded pockets and know about temperatures of the snow and know about layers and know about digging pits. He’s already learned so much stuff and it’s already coming in really handy in his skiing skills, especially launching big cliffs. It’s amazing, the kid fully charges 100 percent. Then when you look at Sean, the kid is the murder machine right now. I look at it to the point right now where the kid’s 15 years old and what he did this year up in Retallack and what he did up here, when the kid is my age he’s gonna be on top. He’s gonna be running the world. The ski world is gonna be Sean’s world. Just keep these kids on the righteous path and they know what they want. The eyes they have for the mountains when we go out and film: they are looking at the same lines I am. They got the eye to look for the good line, to look for the gnarliest thing right in the middle of a face and that’s so sick to see young kids to do. Most kids Sean’s age are worried about training pipe and park and going to the X Games and winning. Sean maybe wants to go to the X Games one day, if you ask him he might say yes, but I don’t think that’s in his mind right now. I think what’s in his mind is world domination. And he’s on the right path. You stick him in a halfpipe he’s gonna do what everybody else is doing. Off of jumps he’s got crazy artillery. Put him on urban rails. Put him on park rails. Whatever. Now stick him in heli and put him on big mountain lines. Stick him on pillow lines stick him on a backcountry booter. If nobody out there has really realized what we’ve been trying to do with skiing, well, it’s an all around thing. Skiing is just fun and I can see in Sean’s eyes it’s really an all around thing to him. The sky’s the limit for the kid, he’s just gotta grow up a little bit. Sean’s still got a little kid body, wait until he’s a full-grown man. I mean he’s stomping 60-footers right now to flats, he’s gonna be stomping 100-footers no problem. Maybe. Right now I don’t where his progression is going, but I’m just stoked on the Pettit brothers.

A Conversation with Tanner: Part One

2008-03-19T06:00:06Z

Red Bull Skiing recently had the chance to sit down with Tanner, in his Park City home, and talk with him about the season thus far. Tanner can talk for hours about skiing with little prompting, so the standard interview format doesn't always work out. Fortunately what we are left with is the man himself, uncut and uncensored.

In this first installment Tanner discusses striking out in St. Anton, coming home to Utah, and what lies ahead for the remainder of his winter. Make sure to check back for the continuation of this conversation with Tanner. Enjoy.

Tanner Hall: We got to St. Anton with high expectations. I’ve been there a couple times before: the place is off the meat rack with features and just a bunch of cool stuff that lets you get a bunch of work done. I was super stoked, got off the plane and talked with a couple kids in Munich that had just been to St. Anton. They said it wasn’t looking so good, so right from the beginning we weren’t hearing what we wanted to hear about the conditions. CP (Tanner’s filmer) got in a hour after me. Met up, drove up, and of course it sucked, but you gotta deal with it. We tried to go out anyway, tried to get a couple things done. Callum ended up launching a 70-footer, sent it to the flats. It was probably a solid 25-foot drop, but he just took too much speed and launched. It was super sick. Me a Sean tried to do a little thing and it just didn’t really work out. We were about to pull the plug, but I saw a nice natural feature. I wanted to ski into it switch, try a cab 5. No stepping it out, no doing nothing to it. Got into it, skied in, started picking up a lot speed and launched a cab 5. I went way further than I thought, kind of over rotated and backslapped. I ragdolled through the gnarliest, nastiest, wind-crusted, sugary, crappy snow. Just the worst conditions possible. I ended up slamming my ski in the snow and twisting my ankle. I came to a dead stop and knew my ankle was super jacked. It felt like a high and low sprain, and I was in pretty insane pain, so we pulled the plug and came home.

The last few days I’ve just trying to heal up: icing my ankle and going to physical therapy as much as possible, just trying to get healthy. I’ve got a couple of big trips coming up. We’re going up to Terrace, B.C. in a week and then going up to AK. I want to be super healthy for those trips and I want to be ready to push the limits when I get in the heli. I want to ski some stuff that is going to open some eyes and just charge. My confidence is super high right now in my skiing ability and it’s been going really well. Since I’ve been icing my ankle things have been all good.

Right now we have Sean Pettit, Callum Pettit, and Ian Provo out here getting it done. They’ve gone out to sled zones in the Uintas and done some really cool, unique, and pretty crazy stuff. Ian really stepped it up this week and it was pretty sick, man. He’s coming off I-80 in Tahoe where he had a face rip out on him and then coming back here and basically putting a hurting on some lines. He’s been in his element. That kid is one of the skiers out there that could be pushing the top limits and creating a style of his own if we put him in his element. We finally did that and I was super stoked that he got it done. It was also super cool to see the Pettit brothers rally in and it was cool crew. We had everything working out in our favor, we had good snow, good sun, good weather, good everything. “Massive” might have some sunny shots in it this year.

I went out yesterday and tried to get a couple things done. My ankle is still pretty sore, but I got one shot. I did a kind of corked up backflip off this little pillow, all natural style and I was stoked. I went up and tried again in the sunny light and crashed. I ragdolled and kind of tweaked my ankle again, so I’m back off my skis for the next week. I’m icing again and going to physical therapy. This is just the name of the game, this is what we do. It’s part of the job. I’m just thankful I didn’t take out a knee or break my ankle again, so that’s how I’m looking on the bright side. It could be a whole lot worse than it really is and I’m just super stoked to get healthy and get back up in the heli.

I’m going up to Terrace with Ian McIntosh. As you know I’m usually riding with Seth out there, but he’s on a different program this year and I’m super stoked for him. I hope he’s killing it. I’ve heard he’s just been murdering it out there. But I’m switching it up a bit this year and going out with another super crazy skier who likes to step it up in the bigger mountains. Ian McIntosh, with the lines I’ve seen him ride, is definitely one of the most powerful skiers I’ve seen riding the bigger stuff. I’m really excited to get out there and have my confidence brought up, because I know when I’m skiing with somebody like that everything gets up to a whole new level and I’m super stoked.

Up to AK right after that with Dana Flahr. He’s just another righteous big mountain shredder. We both have kind of similar styles in skiing. We both love all around stuff. It’ll be nice to go up to AK and if we want to build a jump and pull the doors off the heli we can get some sick shots. We’ll ski spines, we’ll ski big lines and if all goes well in AK with the budget we have—having our own chopper—I think it’s a recipe for making one of the best segments ever. The way the stuff has been going this year it’s been really insane. I couldn’t be more proud of everyone that’s been involved with the new movie and we’re gonna keep it going. The season’s halfway done and now the second half starts and this is the most intense part of the season. Getting up in the heli is a lot different that going to a contest and a halfpipe and doing what we do all the time. I’m going out there and I’m basically gonna be risking my life, but this is what I want for my life. I want to do what I want to do and fulfill the goals I have set for myself. Hopefully, I can give the people what they want to see in the new movie. I’m just gonna keep pushing it out there. The sky is the limit.

*Part Two

MASSIVE Search for Utah Powder, Continued...

2008-03-10T22:54:28Z

After having our well-laid plans of powder domination destroyed by sledneckers up North in Logan, we regroup back down by Park City for another sled mission to find fresh in Utah. It’s somewhat of a gamble as temperatures are unsettlingly spring-like across the state, but Ian and Neil Provo know of a zone at high altitude with North facing aspects.

It’s not a cakewalk getting to this spot. More than thirty miles in from the trailhead, it’s difficult to figure out if our light-headedness can be attributed to the altitude, or sucking two-stroke fumes for the last hour. Cutting the engines, it only takes seconds to see the toil was worth it. Silence envelopes us like a flood and the ridge before us—rising from a frozen alpine lake—is a natural terrain park covered with at least a foot of fresh snow that is still good.

Sean Pettit sets up and tees off a big Cab 540 off a sizable drop. Stomp. Neil Provo sends a floaty backside three across the fall line into a powder apron. Stomp. Ian Provo slashes a pow turn on top of a hanging field and drops a 180 off the edge. Stomp. Callum Pettit arcs turns down a tight chute and throws a 180 off a pillow at the bottom. Stomp. The crew is beside themselves. The best footage in over a month hits the can and at this rate the utah segment in “The Massive” is sure to blow minds. The zone gets slayed for the rest of the day with similar results. Everyone is riding high.

Tanner Hall feeds off the good vibes coming from the crew after the first two days. His ankle is feeling better after some intensive icing and physical therapy for a week. He heads out on day three with us to scope this zone and test out the ankle. He’s got about a week to some heli time up in Terrace, British Columbia, and he’s itching to see if he’s good to go.

Of course Tanner can’t help himself when he sees the zone we’ve been hitting the last two days. He sets up on a steep, tight chute with mandatory air at the bottom. Dropping in, he busts off one quick turn and points it off the 15-footer at the bottom, sailing between rock slabs barely wider than his shoulders. He stomps it and quickly lines up a launch off a pillow. Nonchalantly, he throws down a smooth backflip, all Japaned out, and skis away through the powder, which is still holding up in the high altitude.

Utah ends on a high note. Tanner is back on skis, shots for the movie were definitely got, and we spent a week skiing fresh in the middle of nowhere Utah. Keep checking in to www.redbullskiing.com as the season, and the snow, gets deeper.

Click here for the full photo gallery!

MASSIVE Search for Utah Powder

2008-03-07T21:29:02Z

“I have no idea where we are,” CP (Tanner’s filmer) screams. He rests his forehead on his fists and then bangs them violently into the steering wheel. “Oh God, we’re lost,” he continues as the truck sits at the head of a long driveway to a big new house in a massive subdivision outside Park City. More banging. This goes on for five minutes or so, all the while Callum Pettit is growing more frantic that CP is freaking out.

“CP, just get out to the highway and drive,” Callum shouts, “We’ll figure it out man, jeez!” Feverishly, looking over one shoulder, then the other, Callum is trying to see the highway through the houses and fog forming on the windows in the truck’s cab. CP is driving Callum and Sean Pettit from the Salt Lake City airport to Tanner Hall’s house, which he says is a good two-hour drive. It’s only been 45 minutes. CP lets out one more shout, and then sighs like he’s just plain given up. Callum is terrified, eyes growing wider as CP puts the truck in gear and continues up the driveway to the house.

“We’re here,” CP cheerfully exclaims as he throws the truck in park. Callum is stupefied. CP laughs wildly, walks into Tanner’s garage, and leaves Callum in the truck with his bags.

A simple practical joke? Perhaps, but it may also be a barometer of how on edge Tanner and his crew are after spending a week flying to Austria, finding out the snow was terrible, and flying back to Utah to continue the mission to get footage for Tanner’s next film, “The Massive.” And the thing with the Austria debacle is that it was just the last event in a month long string of poor luck with finding good snow for filming. Utah has to be better. It surely can’t be worse.

Utah delivers and the skies puke for the next two days. We loaf about Tanner’s house and watch the snow pile up outside the two-story windows in his living room. Tanner spends the days icing his ankle and attending physical therapy religiously. He tweaked his ankle a bit in Austria and will be off it for a week or so. In the meantime, the crew—The Pettits and Ian and Neil Provo—load up a trailer with a handful powerful mountain snowmobiles and prepare to invade the backcountry around Logan, Utah.

We arrive at the trailhead well before sunrise. A quick three-mile buzz up a groomed trail, we spill out onto a frozen lake. The scene that lay before us is hard to describe. The small lake is rimmed by ridgeline probably a mile long. It’s littered with spines, chutes, flutes, pillows, and mandatory airs. And it’s steep. The sun crests the horizon and the face is aglow in pinkish light. The line possibilities are endless.

For an hour the silence is only broken by the yells of “three, two, one, dropping” and the hoots that follow. Inevitably, we hear the drone of more sleds ripping up the trail. We knew we wouldn’t be alone out here, but nobody was prepared for the fury that was about to be unleashed upon us.

The scene that now lay before us is equally hard to describe. Somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty slednecks descend on our zone and roost around the lake in deafening two-stroke. They gather in a group for a few minutes and the chaos is reduced to the low rumble of idling engines. Then the guns come out. Just some good ol’ boys shooting off in the air, but the sound of clips being unloaded sends some of instinctively diving for cover. The icing on the cake comes with the helicopter. Out to film the mayhem for the slednecks, its arrival triggers a symphony of brap-brapping.

Spreading out like locusts on a fresh crop, the sledneckers devour every single inch of fresh snow that their sleds will take them to, which is pretty much all of our landing zones off the ridge. Game over. We move up the valley a bit, set up a shot with an untracked landing, and seconds before Sean Pettit is set to drop in a rouge slednecker arcs a highmark across Sean’s line. Game over.

We do manage to get off a few nice shots in other zones for “The Massive,” but our day ends a bit earlier than expected. The disappointment runs deep. We literally traveled across oceans and spent a week preparing for this day, but such is life in the ski game and such is life when you are accessing terrain with sleds. We are still clinging to one last hope. A zone in the Uintas the Provo’s know about. North facing with high-elevation, it’s our only chance for good snow in Utah. Back to the trucks, the journey pushes on.

Click here for the full photo gallery!

Steeze and Monoskis: The Shane McConkey Interview

2008-03-04T22:07:34Z

When and in what circumstances you decided to combine skiing and
BASE-jumping?

2003. I'm a pro skier and an experienced base jumper. It would have been irresponsible of me not to combine the two! The first one I did was with JT Holmes here in Lake Tahoe California off a 400-foot cliff. It was much easier than we expected.

What did you feel while you jumped your first BASE?

Scared shitless! That’s what makes it so fun!

You often declare that you’re skiing just to finance your hobby, BASE-jumping. And what about financing your own family? How do you earn your living?

I ski for the fun and passion of it. I am very fortunate that skiing as well as BASE-jumping earns me a living for myself and my family.

Tell me about the moment whet you’ve felt fame?

Well, "famous skier" is kind of an oxymoron. Nobody in America knows who skiers are. I only feel that sometimes in the ski community and at skiing events and functions. It’s weird because I'm just a normal guy. The only difference is that a lot of people see what I do. That's how I get paid.

Which of your deeds or jumps you consider to be the most crazy?

The ones where I screwed up really bad. I made a really bad decision to BASE-jump off a cliff once in horrible wind conditions. I got slammed into the cliff wall twice and almost died. Had to get rescued. My dad and wife were watching. That really sucked.

You’re fanatic about monoskiing: a sport completely unknown in Russia. Tell us what is monoskiing itself? And what are its advantages and disadvantages if compared with snowboarding, for example?

Monoskiing was mildly popular in the 1970s before snowboarding was invented. It’s basically a really fat ski. It looks like a snowboard but longer. You stand on it with your feet glued together. It works really well in powder. It’s like skiing in the way that you are facing forward and wearing ski boots and ski bindings and poles but like snowboarding because you are standing on one board. It is faster than
snowboarding, but not as versatile. It’s better than skiing for powder but that’s about it. The technique for riding the things is exactly the same as mogul skiing technique - plant your pole, drive both hands forward, wiggle your hips, get laughed at by everyone. If you can be comfortable with the fact that everyone out on the hill is laughing at you then monoskiing is actually pretty fun.

Can you calculate how much times you’ve been close to fatality?

Five times BASE-jumping. One time skiing.

How do you amuse yourself when injuries prevent you from skiing?

Whenever I am injured I dive full on into the business side of skiing. My desk finally gets clean. All that stuff that I am normally way behind on gets done. I own a few rental properties so those get neglected less when I'm injured. I do things like start the International Free Skiers Association and design new powder skis and dream up weird new BASE-jumps to do. Does anyone remember Saucer Boy? That was an extremely successful idea bred from an injury.

Considering your biography, I have a feeling that you’ve ridden on everything that’s rideable. Is anything left?

I've never used an Airboard yet. Really want to try that. I have never done any speed flying yet either. That to me looks like the coolest and most fun new sport in the world.

What do you consider to be the marker of skier professionalism?

When your sponsors take you to a function and introduce you to any and all of their business partners you should have the ability to act like a responsible adult and make a positive impression on everyone you meet. There are a lot of spoiled bratty pro skiers out there who expect to be treated like royalty all the time. No one likes an asshole. I have seen many top level pro skiers ruin their career
simply due to their behavior off the mountain. I too have made this mistake a couple times.

High level athletes have their own style. What does your riding style look like?

Well, I'm old for a pro skier. I'm 38 so I would guess that my style is considered old. I have no problem with that. I'm not going to change my style. What's more important to me than style is to keep on doing interesting, new things.

Tell about your favorite place for powder skiing and the place for BASE-jumping.

The best place for powder skiing is anywhere there is a helicopter and a maritime snowpack. In my experience, that usually means anywhere along the Coast Range of British Columbia all the way up to the Chugach Range in Alaska. However, as far as lift-accessed skiing goes I would have to say any of the little ski resorts in Europe that most people haven't heard of. I love skiing in Europe. I love the Alps. For BASE-jumping the best place I have ever been is Baffin Island, but access is very difficult and expensive. Norway and the Alps are a close second.

What’s the most useful advice you’ve got in your life?

Don't take yourself too seriously. No matter how much you shake and
dance, the last 3 drops go in your pants.

Let’s talk about goals. How do you plan to surprise
the world in the near five years?

I think if I am able to maintain the level of skiing and exposure I'm at right now for the next five years that would be pretty surprising. I have a couple tricks up my sleeve though. Keep your eyes on the Discovery Channel around August and you will see what I mean.

You are not a young athlete. What’s the main difference that you see between young Shane and 38-year-old Shane?

Without a doubt the answer is seeing possibilities. Now I see possibilities: interesting ideas and different ways to do things. When I was younger this was not the case. It was all just skiing down hills and jumping off cliffs. That’s what skiing was to me then. I think as you age you develop the ability to see the sport and the world a bit more creatively.

Red Bull Cold Rush Goes Off in B.C.!

2008-02-14T19:41:59Z

What drives today’s ski world? Sledding out to shred the biggest backcountry peak, dropping massive cliffs, terrain parks or a little old-school hike and ride? This weekend at Red Mountain Resort in Rossland, BC, Red Bull Cold Rush proved it isn’t the format that matters, but the talent. 18 of the sports elite competed for the title of most versatile and best all-around skier, first hitting a natural cliff zone for a slopestyle session, followed by a freeski big mountain component, and finally a summit approach to make sure the athletes are well… athletic. So who is the king of all disciplines? According to a video-judging session conducted by the athletes themselves, it’s Golden, BC, resident Dave Treadway.

By weekend`s end, Treadway was undoubtedly the most consistent performer, taking first place in the big mountain descent of Mt. Robert, eighth place in the slopestyle session, and showing that sometimes it pays to leave the sled at home, Dave posted the fastest time in the summit approach at one hour and 11 minutes. The multi-skills on multi-disciplines earned Treadway a winner-take-all purse of $5,000.00. Points were awarded for each component: Summit - maximum 20 points; Freeskiing – max 40 points; Slopestyle – max 40 points.

15-year-old Sean Pettit of Pemberton, BC, showed why he’s widely regarded as the next in skiing, taking home $500 for his first place showing in the slopestyle session. Pettit also recorded a second in the big mountain freeski to finish second overall. JP Auclair performed consistently all weekend to earn third overall.

With the athlete’s choice determined, all that’s left is for the people’s voice to be heard. Ski fans everywhere can vote for their favourite athlete performance by logging onto www.rip.tv and voting for the Red Bull Cold Rush People’s Choice Award. Voting opens Feb. 12 by 11:59 pm PST and closes March 1, with each voter automatically entered into a draw for a free pair of skis signed by the ultimate People’s Choice winner.

Featuring the top emerging and established talents in skiing, the athlete roster for Red Bull Cold Rush featured Whistler wunderkinds Sean and Callum Pettit, icons of the sport like JP Auclair, and a collection of other talents such as Andy Mahre, Dana Flahr, and Anthony Boronowski …just to name a few. Hosting the action will be one of the world’s foremost big mountain playgrounds, Red Mountain Resort. Located in Rossland, BC, Red offers a labyrinth of underground abandoned mining tunnels for the history buff, and 3,000 vertical feet of mountain surface detailed by chutes, glades and big lines – a perfect environment for mining the skills of today’s most progressive skiers.

Additional supporters of this event include Diamir, Colltex, and Red Mountain Resort.

Check the full photo gallery here!

For a full athlete roster, additional information on Cold Rush, and post-event images and video, please visit www.rip.tv or www.redbull.ca/coldrush.

The Tanner Hall Interview: X and Beyond

2008-02-06T04:50:51Z

RedBullSkiing.com caught up with Tanner Hall yesterday coming down from filming up on Donner Pass near Tahoe. It’s been nearly two weeks since he captured his third gold medal in SuperPipe at the Winter X Games. Tanner basically showed up in Aspen and won or achieved everything he possibly could have, with a good four months of skiing left to go. We ask him what is was like and what the future holds.

You won SuperPipe gold, again, for the third year in a row. Was there anything different about the 2008 X Games than there was in previous ones?

Basically, I had to work a lot harder to win this one. I saw last season that everyone was boosting higher, spinning to both sides, and just bringing a whole other level to the SuperPipe. I began training and thinking about it back in September in New Zealand and then spending a bunch of time in the park and pipe in Breck back in December. Basically, when I came to Aspen I had a good five months of training under my belt. I went in there and on my very first day of practice I was really laying down my runs and I didn’t really screw up on any of them. So, it was a really good feeling to go in there consistent and confident that when I drop in I’m going to lay my run down no matter what. That’s a good feeling. Confidence will give you a whole lot more than you ever thought you could have.

This season marks the first where your only competition was the SuperPipe event at Winter X. Is this your new deal, do X Games and then film the rest of the year?

I don’t want to say that I’m done with competitions or competitions other than X Games. I’m still really young and I feel like I have a lot left to do with skiing. This year I was really focused on the three-peat in SuperPipe and having the most medals overall of anyone at Winter X, and I did that. Now I’m focused on filming, but maybe that will change in future seasons.

The crowd wasn’t exactly behind you this year at the bottom of the SuperPipe. What was is like to hear the booing, how did you deal?

It definitely affected me a little bit, it hurt a little bit, but you know what? It’s all a part of it. The crowd likes to see drama. With the X Games Superpipe, it’s been coming down to me and Simon the last couple years and of course it came down to me and him again. I think, to the crowd, it looked like Simon won; and to the judges it looked like I won. I’m pretty happy with the way the judges took it, because I think it was a great night for halfpipe skiing and I think it opened up a lot of people’s eyes on how you can ski in a halfpipe. There’s so many different options that the sky’s literally the limit. I’m really interested to see what it’s gonna be like next year. But with the booing, you just need to brush it off and be a bigger man and just move on forward: turn negative vibes into positive vibes and keep your mission rolling.

Your latest movie release, “Believe,” has received tons of praise and won Movie of the Year at the 2008 POWDER Video Awards. Not to mention you walked away with the Best Line award and Best Male Performance. Had you already been getting respect before you walked into the PVAs?

Yeah, the great thing about our industry is a lot of the movie-makers have always shown respect and support for my career. From Matchstick Productions to Poorboyz to Teton Gravity Research, those guys started my career and it’s really cool to see how much support they’ve been showing through the years. I think they feel us nipping at their toes now though (laughs). We’re coming up with new cool ideas each and every day, and it’s just super fun to have a guy like Constantine right by my side. The guy’s the most on-point dude I’ve ever met in my life, and I think with my skiing and his filmmaking it’s a lethal combination. But I just got to say, respect to everybody out there on the film side of things. We’ve been shown a lot of respect on the film side of things and it just feels good.

How’d it feel to walk out of the Hotel Jerome with four awards in your arms?

It was one of the best feelings ever. I really tried to switch gears with my career and push it more in the backcountry. To still go the competition side—and still kill it on that side—then to be able to go and make a whole other movie outside of the competitions it was a really rewarding feeling and that’s what we set out to do last year. It was a dream come true to sit back and collect three of the biggest POWDER Video Awards, but that’s not gonna stop us. That was just the beginning. What we have in the works is based on killer ideas and with companies like Red Bull and Oakley supporting us, well, the sky is the limit. I keep saying that, but that’s my catch phrase for the week.

Your week in Aspen must have been really good for you. From winning SuperPipe, to your Red Bull party with Cali P performing, to winning the King of Quarters, to owning the POWDER Video Awards. How’d it go down in your book?

The week as a whole was just the best week of my life. I spent it with the most righteous people I know. I had good family and good friends all in town, and to have Cali P there was something that I’ve always wanted: to bring skiing and music together. I think the collaboration we’ve done with Cali P and the skiing that I’ve done is a great combination. This is just the beginning with me and him, as well. We’ve got a lot of things in the works with movies and him doing soundtracks and putting out a lot more music for us. It’s going to add a new little flavor and flare to these films that wasn’t added in the past.

Going forward, what have you been up to since X?

I went to Las Vegas for a couple days. That was really good. I got to hang out with my brother, Tyson, and I got to hang out at the Armada booth and see a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a long time. I hadn’t been down to the SIA show in five years, so it was good to go check it out and let off some steam. I got some partying out of my system and since I been back from Vegas we came out to Tahoe right away and we’ve been shooting the last couple days and have been getting some amazing stuff. We’ve been skinning up in Donner Pass getting some lines and some really big drops and doing some good stuff. It’s kind of cool getting on some skins and touring stuff, it’s a little different than what we did last year. The snow is really good out here right now and the weather went blue. We’ve got the perfect recipe to get the killer shots and that’s exactly the mission we’ve been on and that’s the mission we’re going to stay on.

How’s the new movie coming together?

Everything is coming together, “The Massive” is shaping up to be one of the best ski films ever made. Like I said, with the music from Cali P we’re going to have mixed in, it’s going to be good stuff. We’ve got a bunch of younger kids in the movie this year that are pushing the limits not only in the park, but in the backcountry. It’s going to be a great mix of everything in skiing. That’s what we’re focused on: all aspects of the sport, instead of just one. We’re just going to mix everything together and show how much fun we have at what we do. We lead the best lives in the world and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s called “The Massive”. That sounds really big. Will it, in fact, be bigger?

We’re trying to do it real big, you know, between everything that we are doing from going to X Games and getting a three-peat in pipe and being tied with Shaun White for the record in medals. With all the filming we’ve done there’s been some pretty crazy stuff. The word “massive” is telling everybody we are stepping up our game on whole different level. I think everybody is going to be super stoked on what we are going to put out, it’s gonna be deadly!

How do you want “The Massive” to be different from “Believe”?

We’ve been doing a lot of different filming, looking at lines differently, just trying to be unique with the features that are put on the mountain. I’m looking at the mountain in a different way and that’s going to translate to the way I ski it, but everyone will just have to wait and see.

You’ve been redefining the future of the sport lately. Where do you see yourself in 5 and 10 years?

Just hopefully on my skis having fun. This is my one thing: the thing I love to do most in my life, my passion. It’s what I know most in my life and it’s my best friend. I just hope I’m healthy and happy and I’m still skiing.

Any final words?

Thanks everybody for listening to what I’ve got to say and one thing I’ve got to let everybody out there know is to definitely be on the lookout for my new ski film, “The Massive,” dropping next fall. Don’t even got a date yet for you: that’s top secret. But we’ve been filming like nuts we’ve got the best—and I’m not saying “some”—we’ve got the best footage we’ve ever had in our life. Expect to hear big things from the music side of it, too, and big things from a lot of new, younger up-and-coming backcountry slayers. And with the support of companies like Red Bull, I think there’s nothing stopping us from turning the ski-film world on its head with “The Massive.”

Deep in Colorado: Road Trippin'

2008-02-05T07:03:07Z

Colorado is cold. The kind of cold you suck up and brave for a killer pow day, and a week later parts of your feet are still numb to the touch. Parts of your face are peeling off too. The little crescent shaped part of check where your balaclava and the bottom of you goggles don’t quite come together. And your nose, it’s like a sunburn peeling. People back home in the much milder Pacific Northwest look at you kind of crazy.

We pulled out of Aspen Monday night following a full week of events and parties at Winter X Games. There’s a traffic jam on Main Street already. Everyone’s trying to get out of town, but they are all a bit too afraid to hit the gas and go for it. Trucks are chaining up way down in the flats by the airport.

The drive from Aspen to Breckenridge is nearly indescribable. It’s like fallout beyond the comfort of the SUV’s cabin, and it’s hard to see past the hood. We get passed by a VW Beetle. We’re okay with it. It’s some taillights to follow. We don’t want to be responsible for leading the train of cars and trucks off the highway, where it’s now nearly impossible to distinguish the edges. What should be a two-hour drive is four.

All logic suggests the next day at Breck would be good. At least eight inches fell and the sky is bluebird. But the wind, oh the wind. Breckenridge is the most wind-scoured mountain we’ve seen in a long time. Deep in the trees the snow is so wind-affected it’s not rideable. Skiing the “fresh” is a scene of flailing appendages. Calling the snow “grippy” would’ve been the understatement of the year.

Faced with sub-zero temps, ripping winds, and good snow gone bad, the only thing to do was hop in the car and drive. We set our course to the Southwest. Wolf Creek gets more snow than anywhere in Colorado (it’s on par with Mt. Baker right now) and we heard the snow phone was currently off the hook.

A five-hour drive to do anything else would suck. Somehow, on a ski trip, it’s no big deal. Nothing is amusing like the middle of nowhere Colorado. Highlights of the drive included 60 mph cross winds, the Cowboy Cantina, finding a “Girls Gone Fly Fishing” calendar at a gas stop, and passing Colorado’s only alligator farm. Yes, I said, “alligator farm.”

Arriving at a completely new mountain in the midst of a storm cycle certainly bodes well for first impressions. Wolf Creek was serving up a foot of fresh and it was dumping. The layout of Wolf is pretty flat with some hero-pow runs through nicely spaced trees. On the outer edge, however, a ridge rises that is cake-walk of hike to get on top of. You can go either way down the ridgeline, but we preferred skiers left. Cornices galore and steep pow fields into trees and chutes stayed fresh and filled in all day long: partially due to the ripping wind and partially due to the fact there was maybe 20 people hitting the ridge all day long.

The ridge isn’t the only gem we found at Wolf Creek. If you meander through the flats long enough, or just get a trail map, you’ll inevitably come across the “Waterfall” area. Holy pillow lines, Batman! We hucked everything in sight, it was that deep. It was obvious if you could manage to miss the hard things like rocks and trees, the big ones anyway, you’d be fine.

Seven hours and no lunch after the first chair, we loaded up the last one with the patrollers. It was a full bell to bell day of untracked goodness and the only price to pay was a little bit of frostbite and another five hours back to Breck to catch a plane the next day. People who don’t know might call 10 hours of driving for 7 hours a skiing a bit crazy. If you ever find yourself freezing you butt off in Colorado, getting to Wolf Creek is the sanest thing you can do.

Rewind: 2008 Winter X

2008-02-04T20:48:48Z

As the rage and the fury that is Winter X Games 2008 dissipates into the Aspen ether—and it returns again to the simple place where beer flows like wine and women flock like the Salmon of Capistrano—it’s an appropriate time to reflect on the damage team Red Bull inflicted on the competition.

The first night of X, featuring Men’s SuperPipe finals, may have been the most spectacular and anticipated event in professional freeskiing, ever. As the media played up the Tanner Hall vs. Simon Dumont angle, really the two, who are friends off the hill, were each focused on the task at hand and not worried about the other. In the end, Tanner’s technical prowess, spins to both sides, and seven hit runs impressed the judges into bestowing him with the gold. Simon’s performance was thoroughly awe-inspiring as well, as he came at the SuperPipe like a blazing yellow cannonball and continued to show that nobody pilots higher above the deck than he. He went home with the silver, and a promise to come back next year boosting even higher.

Under the Friday night lights, Jon Olsson lit up the Big Air venue in true rock-star fashion. He began the evening by shrugging off the massive 80-foot gap as “too small.” Despite this fact, he had no trouble giving the roaring crowd a lesson in the evolution of jumping on twin-tips: the double flip. Jon didn’t bust out the Hexo Flip. The world, and the “small” X Games jump, weren’t ready for it. He did, however, Kangaroo Flip himself through three head-to-head elimination rounds to capture the gold medal. He bested Red Bull teammate Simon Dumont in the first round, but had the event actually awarded 2nd and 3rd place, Simon surely would’ve been weighed down with another medal from X.

On the ski side, Saturday was lazy with Slopestyle practice, and a non-X Games quarterpipe comp at Ajax. Tanner showed up and bagged an easy $9K, before walking into the historic Hotel Jerome to claim four awards, including Movie of the Year for “Believe”, at the 2008 POWDER Magazine Video Awards.

Super Sunday kicked off with Daron Rahlves taking a last second gamble in a qualifying run to sneak into the Skier X finals. Obviously he was just trying to keep it interesting for the crowd as he absolutely destroyed the field in the finals run. In third place out the gates, he wasted little time in bowling past everyone in the FIRST TURN. Nobody really saw him after that, except for the frantic crowd at the bottom. Another gold captured for Team Red Bull!

X ended for skiing with the Men’s Slopestyle finals. Jon Olsson laid down some clean and calculated runs topped off with a Kangaroo flip at the bottom. It wasn’t the gold medal he, and his car dealer, were hoping for, but a bronze medal and podium finish amongst the best skiers in the world is nothing to scoff at.

Congratulations to the Red Bull Ski Team for dominating this year’s X. In case you weren’t counting, that’s five medals—three of them gold—in four events. Keep checking in to redbullskiing.com as we keep track of the team as they span out across the globe to slay pow and more comps throughout the season.

Seeing is Believing: Tanner Hall's New Film

2008-01-11T00:37:29Z

Just seconds after winning X Games gold in superpipe last January, in his post-win interview, Tanner Hall threw up his arms and shouted to the crowd. “Everybody check out the new movie dropping next summer called ‘Believe.’ It’s off the hook: we got so much filming going on.” Propelled by the monumental win, and taking the gold at the US Open just days later, Tanner quietly collected his competitive drive and disappeared into the wilderness in search of something altogether different.

The backcountry chronicle set forth in Tanner’s latest ski film, “Believe,” began well before the X Games. Hell, it began well before most people were even thinking about winter at all. While the rest of the country was sleeping off Thanksgiving gluttonies, Tanner and close friend C.R. Johnson set off for Mt. Baker, Washington where over 100 inches would fall in a period of five days. The storm culminated on November 28, 2006 and the two—along with “Believe” director/filmer Constantine Papanicolaou and skier Ian Provo—set to slaying the deepest snow of the year. Almost too deep, the powder at Baker leveled the playing field amongst the few skiers there that day, but the Baker segment in “Believe” is a clear illustration of why Tanner and the athletes he films with are at the top of the sport.

Fast-forward to early January 2007 and we find Tanner “training” for the X Games at Retallack Lodge in British Columbia. Taking the term “owning a line” to a whole new level, Tanner along with Seth Morrisson and some friends bought the Retallack cat-skiing operation, and for good reason. The terrain is epic and traps storms that dump snow day after day, all winter. Tanner, Kye Peterson, and Dan “Big Air” Treadway hone in the best of what the region has to offer: deep powder and buttery pillow lines. Tanner’s versatility on the mountain is evidenced in his ability to spin big in tight trees and open up to scary speeds on faces above the treeline.

The drive to find the best snow on the planet pulls Tanner and crew from a fickle Pacific Northwest Feburary to Niseko, Japan where the snow phone seems to always be off the hook. Armada teammates Anthony Boronowski and Ian Provo help Tanner pillage all the powder lines the locals seem content to let go un-skied. Especially noteworthy in the Japan segment is a roadside sessioning of weeks worth of pow built up on manmade terraces. A perfect waist-deep terrain park just feet above a roadway thousands travel on a daily basis.

Enough with the mini-golf, from Japan Tanner goes straight to the heart of big mountain sking: Haines, Alaska. It’s unclear who is more privileged to be skiing with who, but Tanner teams up with Oakley teammate and seasoned AK veteran Seth Morrisson on this mission. The way Tanner slays lines could make one believe he’d been going there as many years as Seth. Regardless, both athletes put in thoroughly jaw-dropping performances on peaks so steep it seems in defiance of the laws of physics snow can even stick to them.

“Believe” is rounded out at the end by one kicker session to rule them all. In fitting style for Tanner, a massive hip is sessioned with friends Kye Peterson, Callum Pettit, and Red Bull teammate Sean Pettit. With a chopper for aerial shots, the crew boost into Canadian airspace with the setting sun ablaze in the background. It’s a telling scene for Tanner, who’s matured greatly in the last couple years and is passing along his wisdom and influence to the next generation. The young guys will have to enjoy soaking it all in as “Believe” makes it clear Tanner won’t be coming down off the top of the freeskiing world anytime soon.

Get down to your local shop to get your hands on "Believe" or get your copy online here.