Gear Crush: Ladies, Here's Your Splitboard - Solution, Jones Snowboards

"From day one, the women have been screaming and yelling, 'Where’s our stuff?' And we’ve taken notice," said Jeremy Jones, who we recently interviewed about his snowsports alliance Protect Our Winters (POW) (follow POW on Facebook for informing and entertaining posts). "It’s really common to see a lot of women in the backcountry freeriding," he noted. "Women don’t have the as much as of a need to be in the park learning a new trick like a lot of men do. Women are much more comfortable with cruising the whole mountain and enjoying that aspect of snowboarding."

Thanks for noticing, Jeremy.

In fall 2012, Jones Snowboards will release three women's boards, including one splitboard, the Solution. It probably goes without saying that the construction and materials are identical to their men's boards, but the sidecut, flex, length, and waist width have been tuned to benefit a lighter, smaller rider. 

We admit, the Solution's Arctic Ocean map design drew us in like a magnet at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City last week. Made for the complete big-mountain, trail-breaking backcountry experience, the early rise tip and tail will float on top even on the deepest powder days. Meanwhile the Mallow Magna traction on the inner and outer edges will keep you in control even on ice. It's identical to the Mothership, just split. Retailing for about $800, the Solution quickly pays for itself since you won't be buying a lift ticket. 

Jones Snowboards will have three women's boards are the Mothership, Solution, and Twin Sister this fall. Roxy and Gnu will also have new ladies splitboards.

So, ladies, see you in the backcountry. —Mary Anne Potts

Ski Touring the Tetons (Photos): Hiking Up, Shredding Down Teewinot, the Grand, Cloudveil Dome

Text and photos by Kim Havell, Salomon Freeski International Team

It was a slow start to winter for resorts in the U.S. In order to find snow in the early season, for many passionate skiers, it meant getting creative.

Based out of the Wasatch this season, due to drier conditions, I decided to drive north for four to Jackson, Wyoming, to poke around the Tetons for a few days. Jackson temporarily offered more promise with snow depths that prevailed over many other locations in the West. After some great days skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, it was time to go exploring for some fresh snow in Grand Teton National Park.

With soaring peaks, protected canyons, and endless terrain possibilities, the park holds great promise for adventure. The 40-mile-long Teton Range is the youngest mountain chain in the Rocky Mountains with beautiful, jagged summits and long, aesthetic runs. This is a bountiful area for backcountry skiers.

Luckily, I was able to meet up with some expert local friends who accompanied me on a few fun backcountry ski tours. Steve Romeo, professional skier and www.TetonAt.com honcho, and Greg von Doersten, professional adventure photographer, both had time for some missions in the park.

Our team encountered a variety of conditions on our adventures with cold temps (-20F), big winds (50 mph+ gusts), and changing visibility, but we did find great snow on each excursion and that made the journey worthwhile. We skied lines off of three different high peaks: Teewinot, the Grand Teton, and Cloudveil Dome. Averaging roughly six to eight hours per route, we invested good energy in getting up high to scout out the best options for descent.

The first adventure took us to Teewinot Peak, which at 12,325 feet is the sixth highest peak in the range. The name of the mountain is derived from the Shoshone Native American word that means "many pinnacles." With a 6 a.m. start, after climbing close to 5,500 feet, we dropped into its southeast couloir for some soft, silky turns down to the lower apron. The remainder of the ski we were gliding through fresh powder to the valley floor.

Skiing Video: Trust in the Guardian - Salomon Freeski TV - “Selkirks Touring”

By Kim Havell

When you are skiing powder in Canada’s Selkirk mountain range, Research and Development is a very good job. Companies often want to see how their prototype product works in the field, so somebody’s got to do it.

In the sports realm, team athletes are often called upon to use and critique their gear for feedback, improvement, and development. This was the case for skiers Chris Rubens, Elyse Saugstad and I in the Selkirks this past March 2011. Our mission was to put Salomon Freeski’s new ski binding with touring capability to the test. After two weeks of hammering it in the big mountains, we were thrilled with the performance of “the Guardian."

Your Adventure Civic Duty: Vote for the People's Choice Adventurer of the Year (Last Call)

We are down to just a few days left to vote once a day for your favorite Adventurer of the Year. On January 18 at midnight, we will have a new People's Choice Adventurer of the Year. We'd be thrilled if any of the twelve nominees won. So far the race has been tight! It's possible that the standings could change over the weekend, if people really come out and rock the vote every day. As a member of the greater adventure community, it really is your civic duty to thrown down your ballot (once a day) until the voting is done.

As a brief refresher, here's a look at each adventurers' video clips. Hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis, who set a new overall record on the Appalachian Trail, and kayakers Jon Turn and Erik Boomer, who completed the first circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, were so consumed by their challenges that they did not shoot video. That in itself is pretty bad ass. Mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner's footage will be shown in conjuction with an upcoming article in National Geographic magazine.

Who will be the People's Choice? You decide.

Vote Here

Microadventure 8: River Swim from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo.

COLD - TRAILER from Forge Motion Pictures on Vimeo.

Danny Macaskill: Industrial Revolutions from Cut Media on Vimeo.

Brain Farm - The Art of Flight Trailer from Brain Farm on Vimeo.

SOLITAIRE: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

Video: The Vision of Dave Graham, Extreme Rock Climbing's Mad Ambassador

The Vision of Dave Graham from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

By Andrew Kornylak, The Blind Monkey

As part of our new feature climbing film A FINE LINE, co-director Josh Fowler and I spent a week shooting with some of the best boulderers in the world—Daniel Woods, Jimmy Webb, Dave Graham, and others—in Castle Rocks, Idaho as they tried a landmark climb called Warpath. The nearly 30-move route was established by James Litz in 2007, and was unrepeated. It was thought to be V14 or V15, a grade that would put it among the hardest established boulder problems ever done.

Gear Review: Anon M1 Snow Goggles's Magnetic Changeable Lens

By Contributing Editor Steve Casimiro, editor of Adventure Journal

This goggle doesn’t exist yet. It’s new for the 2012-13 season, but Red/Anon (a Burton brand) released the above YouTube vid to give the world an idea of what’s to come, and we have to admit it looks intriguing. Smith already has their Outrigger I/O-I/OS lock/unlock system that allows lens changes much more quickly, but Anon is promising something mas rapido, with magnets holding the lenses in place and small levers at the bottom of the lens and goggle frame junction facilitating a quick swap even while you’re still wearing the goggles.

Pitfalls? Well the lack of a mechanical latch to hold the lens in place might mean that it could detach inadvertently — say, during a face plant in a few feet of powder. And what we’d really love is for someone to invent a light adaptive and tint-adaptive lens to make swapping a thing of the past.

$199 – $220, depending on the style. LINK

 

Snowboarder Jeremy Jones on Protect Our Winters

"Jeremy Jones is an alien. He's just inhumanly good at snowboarding." So lives the legend of this pioneering big-mountain rider. We heard this comment this week from an Alaska-based ski/snowboarding operator, but the sentiment is one that rings throughout the snowboarding world.

Once a pro rider hitting a different big-mountain location every week, Jones's ethos have evolved over the years. Instead of heli-assisted first descents, he now prefers to go the old-fashioned way—on foot or splitboard. "The reality with going on foot is that it can take days to go do one run. It’s definitely a quality over quantity deal," he says. His film trilogy Deeper is aimed to show that you can do world-class freeriding without a helicopter. Further, part two due out September 2012, shows some of the best riders exploring the backcountry the slow way, which makes for a more a richer, more personal snowboarding film.

This falls right in line with Protect Our Winters (POW), a foundation Jones started in 2007 to unite the snow-sports industry and fans to fight climate change. With 30,000 members and some of our favorite athletes as ambassadors, Protect Our Winters is taking their message to the classroom and to Congress.

To kick off skiing and snowboarding season, we caught up with Jones to find out the latest on POW, what it's like to talk to Congress about climate change, and his favorite places to ride. —Mary Anne Potts

Become a Protect Our Winters Member:
This year, Alamos Wines is spreading the love by gifting 1,000 people with yearlong POW memberships. The winery is getting involved because it relies heavily on the snowmelt from the Andes to irrigate its vineyards. Simply register on protectourwinters.org. Your fee will be waived by entering the codeword ALAMOS.

Adventure: What’s going on with Protect Our Winters right now?
Jeremy Jones: The foundation continues to strengthen and grow. We're becoming more educated in doing our job better and making sure that each dollar raised goes as far as possible.

This fall we have been busy with a Hot Planet, Cool Athlete tour, where we take professional athletes into high schools with a scientist. We have this really hip, upbeat presentation on the state of the planet and climate change. We break it down for them and explain ways that they can help. The in-school stuff is the most rewarding, uplifting thing we do at Protect Our Winters because it gives us a level of hope to see the next generation really rise to the challenge of climate change. They really want to make a difference—and they are not accepting defeat like some of the older generations.

A: What's it like to talk to Congress about climate change? Are there any skiers or snowboarders among our elected officials?
Jeremy: Well, there aren’t any snowboarders in Congress. But I have met some die-hard skiers...and general mountain climbers and outdoor enthusiasts. When we go to Congress, sometimes we meet with full champions on climate change who are really excited that we are there. They realize that they need our help, really. Although I would say the discussion on climate has gone the wrong way on Capitol Hill over the last couple years. But there’s hope on Capitol Hill that the ship will be righted and we can start feeling positively.

Video: Watch the Amazing JP Auclair Street Skiing Scene From All.I.Can.

JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

This scene from the award-winning Sherpas Cinema ski film All.I.Can. may have been our favorite at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Set to LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yourself Clean," it features freeskier JP Auclair jibbing his way through three towns in British Columbia, Canada. "We asked people if we could 'play' in their front yards before we'd start jumping over their cars, etc.," says Auclair, who seems to effortlessly ski across snowless roads (causing sparks), down staircases, and flipping through intersections. "We had spotters at each intersection to make sure there were no cars coming ... usually our spotters were kids walking back from school and people living in the neighborhood." Amid all the fun of this scene is a serious message: "Showing skiing where most might not have expected it, making turns beyond the ski resort, beyond the snow was a simple way to illustrate human's capability for imagination and creativity—which are just a few of the qualities we need to solve crisis like global warming," says Auclair, who answered some of our questions about the scene below. —Mary Anne Potts

Adventure: All.I.Can. has a strong environmental message. How does this scene play into that? 

JP Auclair: Global warming is a serious issue. People have to act. We believe we need to go beyond the traditional "consume less, travel less, live less" mentality. We believe a shift in the approach to a sustainable world is also needed. The parallel drawn with the piece is basically to show we can think outside the box. Showing skiing where most might have not expected it, making turns beyond the ski resort, beyond the snow was a simple way to illustrate human's capability for imagination and creativity—which are just a few of the qualities we need to solve crisis like global warming.

A: Is it legal to ski like this? Did you have to ask people to stay out of the way? 
JP: This was shot in Trail, Nelson, and Rossland—all in B.C., Canada. Not sure if this was entirely legal to ski like that. I can say, however, that you're less likely to run into trouble in whatever you are doing if you respect the wellbeing of others around you. We asked people if we could "play" in their front yard before we'd start jumping over their cars, etc. We had spotters at each intersections to make sure there were no cars coming ... usually our spotters were kids walking back from school and people living in the neighborhood. Lots of "standbyers" participated!

Adventurers of the Year 2012: The Ultimate Descent: Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa and Sano Babu Sunuwar

Over the next two weeks we will introduce each of the new Adventurers of the Year here on our blog. Be sure to cast your vote every day for the People's Choice Award.

See photos of all the Adventurers of the Year!

When Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa first saw paragliders arrive in the Himalaya, he dreamed of flying above the massive peaks of his home—the Khumbu region. After his third successful summit guiding trip on Everest, he viewed paragliding as a simpler, faster, and more graceful way of descending through the peak’s perilous slopes.

In October of 2010, Lakpa borrowed a paraglider, got a few pointers, and launched from a hillside above his home. He promptly crashed into a tree. With his paraglider wing badly damaged, Lakpa set out for the town of Pokhara, considered to be the gathering spot for paragliders, to seek repairs and find a mentor. He ran into Sano Babu Sunuwar, whom Lakpa had met years earlier on Island Peak. Babu repaired the glider and the two men hatched the plan for the Ultimate Descent.

They would climb to the world’s highest point, launch a paraglider and fly for as long as possible, bicycle to a point where streams gathered into rivers, kayak across the Nepali border into India, and paddle the Ganges River all the way to the Indian Ocean. It would be an unprecedented first, but it was the overall combination of sports, audacity, and friendship that drew the duo to the idea. Babu, 28, had no climbing experience. Lakpa, 37, had never kayaked and didn’t even know how to swim.

In April of 2011, the duo had borrowed gear, slapped a basic plan together, and began their ascent of Everest. On May 21, they became the third party to launch a paraglider from the summit and set a new world record of 8,865 meters for free flight in the process. On the Kosi River’s Class V rapids, Babu got caught recirculating in a massive whirlpool in their two-man kayak, while Lakpa floated down river. Once they reached the Ganges, they paddled flatwater through unfamiliar country. They were robbed at knifepoint and had to live off fruit trees. After 850 kilometers, Lakpa and Babu reached the Bay of Bengal. On June 27, they became the first people to complete the descent from Everest’s summit to the Indian Ocean.

“When we arrived on the beach, we were frightened. We were surrounded by giant red scorpions,” says Babu. Later after showing pictures to friends, he would learn that these “scorpions” were in fact harmless crabs.

The Ultimate Descent team earned recognition from the international paragliding community, and the Nepali press hailed them as national heroes. Western adventurers admired their spunk, simplicity, and bare-bones budget. There were no social media campaigns, corporate sponsors, or expedition websites, just the essential ingredients for adventure—vision, creativity, and friendship.

—Fitz Cahall

Now read the interview with Lakpa and Babu and be sure to vote everyday for your favorite adventurer

Adventurers of the Year 2012: Surfer Carissa Moore

Over the next two weeks we will introduce each of the new Adventurers of the Year here on our blog. Be sure to cast your vote every day for the People's Choice Award.

See photos of all the Adventurers of the Year!

Surfing likes its legends. When the surf media started comparing a teenage girl from Hawaii with the sport’s reigning superstar and 11-time world champion, Kelly Slater, some of the passionate fans of the sport labeled it as hype. Carissa Moore made the first step toward proving the doubters wrong this year when she became the youngest person ever to win the world title. Her aggressive but fluid riding turned heads. Later his month Moore will be the first woman in the modern era to compete in the men’s Triple Crown of Surfing. Not bad for a 19-year-old.

In 2010, the then 18-year-old Hawaiian began making her case for greatness when she was accepted onto the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour. Moore won two events, earned a nod as Rookie of the Year, and graduated from high school. She was just getting her bearings on surfing’s center stage. By 2011, Moore crushed the female competition in surfing’s main events. During the ASP World Tour, she placed first in three events and never placed lower than third to win the overall title. In her two years on the tour, she’s already raked in $225,000 in purse money and attracted top-notch sponsors such as Red Bull, Roxy, and Nike.

Even though the women’s ASP World Tour ended early due to lack of sponsorship dollars, Moore’s season continued when she got wild card slots to surf alongside the world's best male surfers on the male tour at the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and the Van’s World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, both on her home turf of Hawaii. The events are in November.

“I’m kind of nervous, but I’m also really excited,” says Moore. “I’m being realistic about what is going to happen. The guys I’m surfing against have a few more years and more experience on me, so I probably won’t make a heat, but if I do, great. That would be awesome.”

—Fitz Cahall

Now read the interview with Carissa Moore and be sure to vote everyday for your favorite adventurer