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Flight

by Andy Earl
This season has been spent riding powder… lots and lots of powder… I am not complaining in the least but I have missed hitting jumps. Last week we met with Blake Nyman and Tony Pavlantos to chuck ourselves off a few different mounds of snow.  Continue Reading
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En Route Approach by Nimbus Independent

by Parker Cross

 

I met Eric Pollard at SIA in January this year, and he was one of the nicest guys I’ve come into contact with to this point. I’ve been super amped on Nimbus Independent ever since Hunting Yeti came out four season ago, and their productions were one of the primary reasons that interested me in generating a podcast and trying to do it for real. Blake Nyman has been connected with these guys since the 2nd season, and I am honored that they would want to use some of my footage in the new production, so keep your eyes peeled for some unforgettable shots of Blake during the Utah section that you may recognize from previous episodes of the podcast.

 

Also, big ups to Hayden Price for getting after it in his debut appearance in Nimbus. Stoked, guys. And well done. Something for guys like me to look up to.

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Scouting

by Andy Earl

Our next weather window we are going for Everest Ridge. Parker, Tanner and I took our weather window and used it to scout the approach. I really just wanted to go for it but Tanner didn’t have his crampons and ice axe so we couldn’t do it safely.

It took us just shy of three hours to get to baldy saddle, roughly 3,000 vertical feet above the valley floor. The more I am around that mountain the more I love it. It was such a beautiful day, I wish we could have pushed for the summit… but that calls for a 1 a.m. start this time of year. Hopefully this week.

  • March 30, 2011
  • Posted by: andy.earl
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Splitting

by Andy Earl

I now understand why a friend of mine charges $150 bucks to turn a snowboard into a splitboard…. It was fun having a project for a while, but I am glad these boards are done and ready to be ridden. I look forward to the fun times I hopefully get to enjoy with the people these boards are for.

It all started when I snapped mine and fell in a river. I offered to cut some boards for some friends because I would be making my new one. Four boards, hours of oldies music in the garage, epoxy covered fingers, and here they are. From Left to right; Nate Love, Glen Harris, Torah and Jacob Welch. All awesome people. I did my best. The one up top is mine, my buddy Jeremy Jolley hooked me up with a Rosignol Experience 163. I am pretty stoked to get this thing up some big hills.

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302 Inconsistency

Provo Peak (11,068′) marks the next summit on the hit list, when the boys discover alpine ice crust existing on all the summits above 10,500′. Leaving the peak-bagging for later in the season, the crew sessions the trees and couloirs of the mid-elevation slopes and ride the blower Utah powder in classic Wasatch form.

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Wolverining

 

by Andy Earl
Conditions looked heinous. After so much snow fall how could all the deep fluff I rode on Friday have blown off? The wind was still at it, transporting all our new snow to leeward slopes stacking it all into dangerous slabs of snow. Blake Nyman, Parker Cross, Tony Pavlantos, David Kaplan, Hayden Price, Jay Eichhorst and I made our way up to Wolverine Cirque. Conditions limited our line options. The day was windy, productive, and fun. Continue Reading
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  • February 17, 2011
  • Posted by: andy.earl
  • One Comment
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Provo Peak

Nearing the summit I found myself pushing hard just to get it over with. The elation of being high up on a ridge had slipped from my mind and I put blinders on transfering all my focus on moving up the ice encrusted slope. When the summit was finally within reach I pushed my legs faster and began to feel the fun seep back into my mind. I sat on the summit alone for a few minutes catching my breath. Ridges and valleys that could only be authored by God stretched out in every direction. Continue Reading
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  • February 17, 2011
  • Posted by: andy.earl
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FAIL

Parker’s frozen mustache.

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  • February 17, 2011
  • Posted by: andy.earl
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Cheater Shot


Even though this heelside blaster looks like I am cruising in blower powder, it is all an illusion. The video this frame was grabbed from tells the real story. Never trust a photo. They may speak a thousand words, but who knows if they are telling the truth.

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  • February 17, 2011
  • Posted by: andy.earl
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Failed

Martin Luther King Day really screwed us over with that rain. The high alpine terrain is a solid sheet of ice, all the snowfall since has entirely blown off. We decided to go for Red Baldy out of Snowbird’s Gad 2 gate. The access would take us up Red Stack, another 11,000 foot peak, but we had a huge epic fail. We didn’t all have ice axes and crampons. We quickly found ourselves on a long solid sheet of ice. Continue Reading