SCARPA athlete Jake Sakson and his buddy Morgan Boyles are back at it with their own brand of deep and quirky telemark action. Relocating to Central Colorado opens the crew up to the ski mountaineering potential of the Colorado Rockies and has them seriously considering the true place of Freeheel skiing.
Beans and Rice: Episode One “To Deep, Too Steep” from BeansandRiceFreeride on Vimeo.
What better way to ring in the New Year than with our First Friday Film Fest? Our athletes are at it again as they tackle the hardest lines, establish new ascents and venture into the unknown. Sit back and enjoy.
Aaron Mulkey’s “The Pursuit”
The Pursuit film takes you into the mind of Aaron Mulkey and his pursuit of mother nature’s greatest watery treasures. With over 100 first ascents of frozen waterfalls and nearly 20 first descents of rivers and creeks around the world, Aaron Mulkey has proven he is not afraid to walk a little farther to explore unknown places.
The name Chris Davenport brings to mind the images that usually exist in only dreams—shredding mountains in Alaska, skiing faces on Mount Everest, traveling the world for endless powder faceshots, and more. But over the past few years, Dav has changed his skiing to focus on uphill challenges, including a mission to ski the Centennial Peaks—the 100 tallest peaks in Colorado.
Although we usually ask Dav to talk about the SCARPA Freedom SL, we asked him about his fondness for another boot—the F1 Evo. The newest boot to the SCARPA family, the F1 Evo has a hands-free ski/walk mechanism that switches modes automatically based on whether the heel is locked into the binding.
Andy and Jason Dorais are accomplished ski mountaineers, known for flying up mountains in the Wasatch Mountains. But now that the ski season is slowing down, the two have been running trails. Andy told us a story on how they came to love running and their recent trip to the Paria River.
For so many people running is a chore. And although it was like that for us once, now running equals freedom and fun. It can be painful, but it’s always gratifying after the fact. How did we change running from monotonous drudgery to something fun we do nearly every day? Read on.
*Photos by PeteTapleyImageWorks and Scott Adamson
SCARPA athlete, Pete Tapley is a professional mountain guide and climbing instructor out of Bozeman, Montana. Over twenty years of experience lend a hand to Pete’s impressive instructing and climbing resume. For the past eight years, Pete has worked with Montana Alpine Guides and Andes Mountain Guides. He also contributes photography and written work to Alpinist, Backcountry, Climberism Magazine, and others.
Despite frigid temperatures, Scott Adamson and I established the first free route on the East Face of The Moose’s Tooth on April 14th. We climbed the 5,000-ft. face in a single, 27-hour push.
When Jason Dorais and longtime ski buddy, Lars Kjerengtroen tackled the the Grand Teton this spring, they lucked out with near perfect conditions for ski mountaineering. The snowpack they encountered while cramponing up Tepee Glacier and then to the Glencoe Couloir proved to be stable in the early morning. But as they reached the Stettner Couloir, the bright sun was causing snowmelt, increasing the chance of wet slab avalanches, so the team increased their climbing pace to reach the summit before conditions became too dangerous.
Jason and Andy skinning the upper snowfield of the Otter Body.The terms “physically fit” and “expert ski mountaineers” don’t even begin to describe the Dorais brothers – some would say they’re possibly beyond human. Climbing and skiing higher, faster and harder than many mountaineers, Andy and Jason are consistently raising the bar. Most recently, the duo has been all over newsfeeds and media outlets for climbing and skiing down Mt. Rainier in under four hours. But, that’s not the only monumental adventure the brothers embarked on this season. We caught up with these SCARPA athletes to hear about their ascent of Rainier and skiing the Grand Teton’s Otter Body (both on SCARPA Aliens and Ski Trab skis), and what it’s like to set a speed record on racing gear.
SCARPA ambassador Chris Davenport is an icon in the world of big mountain skiers. He’s skied everywhere from the LHOTSE face of Mount Everest to the Antarctic Peninsula. He’s appeared in over thirty ski films and holds two World Extreme Skiing Championship titles. Davenport has made numerous first descents and skied hundreds of classics. When not skiing (which, by the way, is very rare) he commentates on ABC Sports, ESPN, and Outside Television, delivers professional lectures to businesses on risk management, and spends time with his family in Colorado. Davenport was also named one of ESPN’s 50 Most Influential People in Action Sports. In addition, he’s even written two coffee-table books: Ski the 14ers and 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America. In short, Davenport has a glittering ski resume—and has no plans to slow down.
A few weeks back SCARPA athletes Weston D. and Shaun Raskin took several sets of gear down to the desert for a dual-sport weekend – backcountry telemark skiing and singletrack mountain biking. Weston and Shaun are creators of The Life Unbound blog and web series where they track their journeys across the West seeking bigger thrills and higher peaks.
Red & White: Life Unbound EP3 [S2] from The Life Unbound on Vimeo.
As winter slowly fades to spring, a time honored tradition is followed in Utah. That is, as the mud season approaches, many – if not all – the locals migrate south. Southern Utah boasts some of the country’s greatest natural gems; from rock arches to sand to slickrock, there is something for everyone.
SCARPA/Ski Trab-sponsored Team Crested Butte is an elite adventure ski team that trains in Crested Butte, Colorado and competes around the globe in various disciplines such as ski mountaineering (skimo), classic cross-country skiing and skate skiing. Practicing what they preach, “live to ski and play hard,” heed their warning: Don’t put your skis away yet, spring ski mountaineering is some of the best touring of the year.
In the 10 years Team Crested Butte’s been around, we’ve experienced a transformation from an elite adventure racing team to an elite ski mountaineering team. Heck, some of us don’t even tele ski any more.
