http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/ en-us Copyright 2010 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:16:47 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Armada Skis World Headquarters in Southern California. It's definitely not the shiny and sterile mega-complex that a couple of Armada's larger competitors have, but who really cares. For the last six years Armada has been pumping out better and better skis, and now they are adding some sweet outerwear to their already stellar hardgood lineup. We got the tour (check out the gallery here) and sat down for a few minutes with Armada Marketing Guru, Jeff Russel...

Jeff, we're in the meat of the summer right now. What's going on here at Armada?

This time of year is all prep for next season, and the season after.

Right. Summer's not really an off-season for you, is it?

The first couple years, in the beginning, it died at the end of April for most of us here. The phones just stopped ringing when the ski resorts closed. We get some orders from buyers, put them in the system, then just try and figure out some other stuff to do the rest of the day. It was so slow. That's when we all took vacations. Every year would get busier and busier, to the point where now a lot of us are as busy as we are in the middle of the winter, just without all the travel. A lot of prep goes in now like organizing shipments and finalizing production, not only on skis, but softgoods and all the rest of the categories we produce. We have to get them into our various warehouses to ship and get documents ready to ship to various dealers.

For product development we're working a season or two ahead, while simultaneously working on shipping the current season's product. 

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/07/inside-armada.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/07/inside-armada.php?id=478 Athletes Industry Red Bull Skiing Tanner Hall Armada Interview Red Bull Skiing Tanner Hall Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:16:47 -0600 Meet Dano Bruno. This past January, on the morning of the X Games 13 Superpipe Finals, we walked into the zen zone that is the garage of the Armada house in Aspen. The smell of wax and methodic buzz of an expensive cordless drill permiated the senses. Enough Armada skis lined the wall, in various phases of mounting and tuning, to thorougly stock a retail shop for an entire winter...and it was all next year's shiz.

I talked with Dano while he moved through the preparations on Tanner Hall's Armada Pipe Cleaners for the evening's event and got the story on Dano, Tanner's Skis, and perhaps why the Pipe Cleaner is the winningest ski in X Games Superpipe history...


]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/06/tech-talk-the-guy-who-keeps-ta.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/06/tech-talk-the-guy-who-keeps-ta.php?id=462 Athletes Industry Red Bull Skiing Tanner Hall Armada Aspen Dano Bruno Red Bull Skiing Superpipe Tanner Hall Winter X Games X13 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:20:48 -0600 It's strange how Powder Magazine has affected my life. I remember the exact room within Sennett Middle School in Madison, WI where I saw my first issue. The Photo Annual with Doug Coombs and Scot Schmidt dropping a cornice on the cover. It must've been like 1992. I still have it, and every Powder that has come out since. The decision came quick back then: this is what I would do. I would write for Powder one day.

The path I followed through life pretty much revolved around this one goal: writing for my high school newspaper to majoring in Journalism in college. Maybe for a second I would lie to myself, and my advisors, about what I really wanted to do. The raised eyebrow was an inevitable result to the statement "I want to write for a ski magazine," so I'm sure I fudged it a bit and just said "writer" to career questions. I can't say I love writing in and of itself; but I love where it takes me and the situations it puts me in.

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/03/one-week-of-powder.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/03/one-week-of-powder.php?id=399 Athletes Chris Davenport Industry Red Bull Skiing Chris Davenport Jackson Hole Powder Magazine Red Bull Skiing Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:22:39 -0600 December has been a particularly sobering month this season all across North America. Snowpacks from Colorado and Utah north into interior B.C. are highly unstable and have wreaked havoc on resorts like Jackson Hole, and on the lives of the friends and families of at least 16 victims. The fact that three of the deaths occurred in-bounds at resorts underscores the severity of the danger in the Western snowpack at present and is a reminder that skiing powder at a resort, while still statistically extremely safe, doesn't automatically free you from the dangers associated with deep snow.

I came across a truly marvelous account of an avalanche that affected a group the day after Christmas in the Utah backcountry. The author, Tom Diegel, goes into great detail about all the aspects surrounding the burial and extraction of a member of his backcountry party. Keep in mind the skiers involved were not searching out or skiing the gnarly steeps and cliffs we see so many professional athletes riding in movies and magazines. They were after a mellow run through the trees on some seemingly safe and gentle terrain. Reading through Tom's account and then watching the associated video where they revisit the site with Utah avalanche specialist Bruce Tremper offers a rare oppurtunity to really get an idea of what can happen out there.

Read this, watch the video, and think about what you know about avalanche safety, rescue, and travel in dangerous terrain. Remember, people have died falling into tree wells often skied terrain in-bounds at resorts. Lastly, don't hesitate to take action: ask questions, take a class, get a training partner, practice, set yourself up with the necessary safety tools (shovel, probe, and beacon), and learn to use them. Thanks to Tom Diegel for his account and honest evaluation of his choices. Thanks to Bruce Tremper for the video (at the end of this post).

Have fun and be safe out there. 


]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/01/ski-powder-please-take-the-tim.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2009/01/ski-powder-please-take-the-tim.php?id=346 Red Bull Skiing avalanche powder Red Bull Skiing Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:25:09 -0600 A couple weeks ago we caught up with Sean Pettit on the phone while he was sitting in a computer lab at his high school. We talked about his blow up segments in this year's crop of movies, being a teenage ski star, and fighting with his brother Callum.

Sean, how did last year go for you?

I'd say last year was definitely the best year I've had so far. It was crazy and action packed. It's hard to even put it in words: getting to jump in a heli and whatnot. It was unreal for me.
 
]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/12/the-sean-pettit-interview.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/12/the-sean-pettit-interview.php?id=343 Athletes Red Bull Skiing Sean Pettit Interview Sean Pettit The Massive Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:37:42 -0600 Tanner Hall landed at LAX from IF3 in Montreal a few days ago for the next leg of his premiere tour which would the showing at Red Bull North America Headquarters in Santa Monica on Thursday night. But first, T took a day to check on on his two other biggest sponsors, Oakley and Armada, and get some business taken care of while he was in the neighborhood. I rode along.

The day began by getting picked up at the hotel in Santa Monica by a tinted-out Suburban limo. I was chasing in my economy-sized rental and really putting it to the test trying to keep up with the driver on the freeway in LA. Glad it wasn't my car. It's one of those places were after you drive on the highway you feel like you need to lay down and take a nap. It's exhausting in a strange way.

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/09/tanner-in-la.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/09/tanner-in-la.php?id=261 Athletes Red Bull Skiing Tanner Hall The Massive Armada Oakley Tanner Hall The Massive Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:47:38 -0600 It's difficult to imagine anybody could do much of anything follow Day 2 of IF3 and Tanner Hall's The Massive Reggae Party, but the shows went on and Tanner was there early in the afternoon to catch them all. The main features on the last day were Level 1's "Turbo" and Poor Boyz "Reasons," which was supported by Red Bull. Both movies made it clear--along with "The Massive" which played yesterday--made it clear that the art of making a ski movie is not stagnant. Both Josh Berman and Johnny Decesere have logged many impressive seasons of reinventing their respective ski movie franchise.

After the movies it was a mass exodus again to the Telus Theatre for the Newschoolers.com IF3 Awards ceremony. Everyone was in high spirits with drink in hand as Tanner Hall jumped on stage to kick off the evening. The amateur awards were first and wrapped up with Tanner announcing the  $2,000 Under Armour Best Am Movie Award to the beyond stoked crew from 4bi9.

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/09/tanner-hall-and-the-massive-do.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/09/tanner-hall-and-the-massive-do.php?id=258 Tanner Hall The Massive IF3 Sean Pettit Tanner Hall The Massive Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:52:56 -0600 A couple weeks ago we celebrated the end of July by heading up to Mt. Hood to meet up and shred with Red Bull team rider Angeli VanLaanen. We rolled up to the lift at Timberline and got up on the glacier just as the racers were getting out, and cruised around with Angeli as she sessioned Windell's jumps, rails, and pipe. Afterwards, we sat down and talked about her season, injury, the former USSR, and being a Red Bull rider. 

What are you doing up at Hood?

I had an ankle injury this season that I was taking some time off to let heal, and I got the A-OK after the Fourth of July to come ride. So I started biking and doing some mellow stuff and then came up here to see how I felt on my skis.

And how's is it?

It's going good. I'm going every other day to be nice to my ankle, but overall it's feels pretty solid.

What have you been working on  up here on snow?

Definitely just getting my ski legs back. Just jumping, doing basic stuff.


]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/08/a-little-chat-with-angeli-vanl.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/08/a-little-chat-with-angeli-vanl.php?id=231 Angeli VanLaanen Athletes Red Bull Skiing Angeli VanLaanen Interview Mt. Hood Red Bull Skiing Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:58:33 -0600 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.
 

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/06/chris-davenport-on-skiing-the.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/06/chris-davenport-on-skiing-the.php?id=192 Athletes Red Bull Skiing Chris Davenport Europe Red Bull Skiing Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:29:45 -0600 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


]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/04/jon-olsson-super-sessions-goes.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/04/jon-olsson-super-sessions-goes.php?id=141 Are Jon Olsson Oscar Scherlin Simon Dumont Super Session Sweden Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:16:27 -0600 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.

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/a-conversation-with-tanner-par-1.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/a-conversation-with-tanner-par-1.php?id=135 Massive Sean Pettit T Hall Tanner Hall Utah Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:37:14 -0600 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



]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/a-conversation-with-tanner-par.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/a-conversation-with-tanner-par.php?id=129 Interview Massive Sean Pettit Tanner Hall Utah Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:00:06 -0600 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!

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/massive-search-for-utah-powder-1.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/massive-search-for-utah-powder-1.php?id=124 Massive Sean Pettit Tanner Hall Utah Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:54:28 -0600 “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!

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/massive-search-for-utah-powder.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/massive-search-for-utah-powder.php?id=120 Massive Sean Pettit Tanner Hall Utah Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:29:02 -0600 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.

]]> http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/steeze-and-monoskis-the-shane.php http://www.redbullskiing.com/articles/2008/03/steeze-and-monoskis-the-shane.php?id=113 Interview Red Bull Skiing Shane McConkey Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:07:34 -0600