Exploring life between analog + digital

Radical Reels 2013, Highlights and Recap

Outrageous jumps, big air, crazy speed, insane verticals, and downhill, downhill, (and more) downhill. Sound familiar? Banff Mountain Film Festival’s Radical Reels Tour was in town! In case you missed it or want to relive the adrenaline-pumping action across mountains, road, river, and sky, here’s a recap…

The Mountaineers kicked off Rad Reels 2013 with freestyle mountain biking film, Lacon de Catalonia, shot at FMX pro, Andreu Lacondeguy’s mountain bike training compound in Barcelona. The 13-meter tall (41+ ft) run-in and mountainous dirt ramps made for some huge air, sweet tricks, and a thrilling way to get the night started…

Next up, free skiing in Norway. Being There featured a group of intensely determined and committed athletes who would not let anything get in the way of their shot at massive air and epic snow. I’m still on the fence if it’s inspiring or just crazy to ski with a freshly dislocated shoulder, but hey… no question, he was there, living in the moment. [Video] Jaw dropping tricks and breathtaking scenery (7 min).

Now, what would Radical Reels be without death-defying flying sports? (Queue: Wingsuit Downhill Target Punch!) Alexander Polli takes human flight to the next level, challenging what’s possible in precision and accuracy. Using a special slalom gate for target practice, he attempts to hit the top of it (just a few feet from the ground!) with his left hand as he flies past. Spoiler alert: he nails it! Polli also gave us glimpses of his wingman (literally) behind the camera; a good reminder of the talent, athleticism, and relationship it takes to not only be an extreme sport athlete, but to capture it. Can you imagine?! [Video] You want this guy for your quidditch team (5 min).

Switching gears (and elements), the fourth film of the night took us to whitewater in northern Quebec. Of Souls + Water – The Shapeshifter beautifully captures kayak legend, Ben Marr, shredding it on the river, with an epic ending in red, backlit rapids at night. Perfectly paired with electrifying beats, Forge Motion Pictures proves extreme sport (filmmaking) is an art. [Video] Hypnotizing cinematography (2 min).

 This brings us to legendary mountain film storytellers, Reel Rock, for Reel Rock 7: La Dura Dura (The Hard Hard). Banff Centre describes it best:

Chris Sharma vs. Adam Ondra. This is a tale of two rock climbing superstars each using their own methods in a gentlemen’s battle for the first ascent of Catalunya’s La Dura Dura, which was to be the world’s first 5.15c.

Youth vs. experience, strength vs. strategy, journey vs. summit. Whether you’re a climber or not, Reel Rock never fails to tell a good story that entertains and transcends the sport. At the time of the film, neither climber had a successful ascent of La Dura Dura. However, February 7, 2013 Adam conquered it first, with Chris Sharma not far behind, sending the 5.15c beast on March 23. [Video] Laugh & growl out-loud (2 min).

Ready for more mountain biking? Where the Trail Ends takes you across continents to maiden mountain biking territory in China, Canada, Argentina, and Nepal, reminding us “it’s human nature to want to explore” and mountain bikers seek the same uncharted backcountry lines as other mountain and action sport athletes do. This is a whole new level freeriding and these guys shaping its future. [Video] See where this sport is headed (4 min).

Every sport has a proving ground. For us… It’s been Utah. But the sport is still young, and we still won’t know until we step out of our comfort zone and off of this continent.

Finally, it’s time to see some girls getting in on the high-speed action. Endless Road features seven female riders of the Longboard Girls Crew. Tired of being the only girls, they started connecting with other female skaters around the globe through Facebook, making friends, and sparking a movement. It was fun to watch these girls taking on crazy roads by skateboard and inspiring all of us to change the gender label of not only skating, but in the larger action and mountain sport community. [Video] Watch these girls shred! (3 min).

Another familiar face to the Radical Reels family, Teton Gravity Research takes us back up to steep mountains and through cornices for some “psycho lines” with Jeremy Jones. Further follows Jeremy into deep backcountry and down heart-stopping, near-vertical lines on his quest to evolve physically and mentally. [Video] (Rethink) What’s the furthest you can go? (3 min).

Seclusion from society is what draws me to it. I come out here, just living in the most simple, most enjoyable way… Part of our soul needs it. Some of us more than others.

From steep and fast, to fast and furious, Whitewater Grand Prix- Big Water Enduro captures the fun, wild frenzy of the world’s best kayakers racing down whitewater in Chile. “You’re either getting chased, or chasing.” Go! [Video] Watch the high-speed water chase! (1 min)

Two more left — jumping across mountains and snow, and racing down roads in a futuristic suit of wheels. Wanna Ride? is playful, aerial duet of kite skiers (is that a sport yet?), catching flight, doing tricks, and skipping slopes.  [Video] You’ll want to join them, too (3 min).

And closing out the night, The Rollerman! Jean-Yves Blondeau is the French daredevil inventor of the now famous roller suit. After attaching 31 rollerblade wheels to a body suit, he speeds down roads up to 70 mph(!), just inches from the ground. If you watch nothing else, press play here!

Perfect bookend to another awesome Radical Reels Film Festival. See you next year!

LINKS
YouTube Playlist
Full Film List on Radical Reels Website

You can still catch the Radical Reels Film Festival World Tour in other parts of the country and internationally. Check local listings on the Banff Centre website. And for those of you in the Seattle area, The Mountaineers hosts a TON of cool events and programs year-round. Coming up April 20, 2013 join them for Everest 50 – celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Mount Everest with special guests (history maker himself), Jim Whittaker, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. See The Mountaineers website for other rad happenings!

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Kashmir Photos

Pictures from the Soulryders team are up! Check out the Soulryders Facebook page to see pictures from the India trip.

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India Press Release

Soulryders Productions Takes “A Step Closer to Heaven”
Latest documentary gets ready to glimpse unknown heights during their descent of the Himalayas.

February 6th, 2013
(Seattle, WA) — Soulryders Productions (www.soulryders.com) is kicking off 2013 by throwing itself a little party.  And what’s a party without a few gifts?  Tucked discreetly in a range of the Himalayan Mountains near Kashmir, India, Gulmarg is a powder present ready to be ripped open.  Don’t worry, there’s an invitation with your name on it. Get ready to follow the journey to Kashmir through the lens of Soulryders.

From the blower snow of Utah to the Himalayan mountains of Kashmir this team will bravely explore and document all the discoveries from freeride lines to mountain culture and local customs. The mountains there contain natural wonders in big lines, great tree skiing, endless pillow zones and of course boasting the title of best powder in the Himalayas.

In addition, the Soulryders crew will be exploring the richness of Indian culture, determined to document the various changes in perception along their discovery these young explorers will no doubt find curiosity at every turn.  The first of a 5 episode series, the Gulmarg expedition (http://bit.ly/11MBaX4) will be focused on introducing the athletes’ character and skiing style as they adapt to the unfamiliar surroundings.

Standing ready to document every moment of this freestyling, free-wheeling affair is the creative team consisting of Will Wissman (http://willwissman.com/), Jeffery Lowe and Rhys Logan, along with athletes Mark Koggelman, Thayne Rich, Kalen Thorien, Vanessa Adland and Tony Rossi.  These Soulryders, in tandem with The Adventure Project (http://www.theadventureproject.net/), will attempt to capture an honest, vulnerable personal response as it is confronted by the beauty and natural wonder found in the journey to Kashmir.

The Soulryders  journey to Kashmir will conclude February 29th 2013. You can follow the team’s journey and share their first sights via Instagram (http://instagram.com/soulryders) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/soulrydersproductions). Soulryders is a production company, curating lifestyle and adventures of mountain sports. Whether it be by road, air or foot, we work to capture what few actually do…the story of the sport. We’re explorers and storytellers, driven by the passions of our team and brands.

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Baker Blower

My fingers were so frozen my iPhone wouldn’t let me open it.  Sliding my cold numb stubs across the screen they might as well have been sardines straight from the can.  Up to my waist in the driest snow I had seen riding 5 years at Baker and shooting upwards toward the crew I kept my pack and gloves nearby for fear of losing them in an inevitable pow spray that would bury everything in a whitewash of beautiful snowdust.

Shouting back and forth in the low visibility  had to be comical if heard from afar;

“Ready??!”

“No!”

“Go?!”

“NO!”

“Droppin in 3…2..1!”

Needless to say once we got radios in the mix it helped quite a bit.  What helped even more was something like 80 inches of snow in 5 days.  Getting to watch killer riders like Chas Eberle, Jessica Earle, (who came all the way from Idaho) Peder Bottheim and Kalen Thorien, we had just as many powder highs as they did, seeing the slashes, rips, drops and pure sprays we all dream about.  Not so bad for a Wednesday.  Snow snobbery level 1,293, engage. And its not even Christmas yet!

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Picture Time with Peder

Getting a late start Tuesday we were still surprisingly awaited by almost a foot of fresh. With seriously low visibility, the only indicators of life on the  mountain were the echoes of  joyous hoots and hollers of brave souls venturing into the foggy blizzard.  Passersby gave their nods covered head to toe in pow mustaches paired with ear to ear grins.  With not much time to spare and the perfect mini slope for sessioning, Peder and I decided it would just be fun to get some stills and make some laps.  I posted up while he skinned up the backside of our nice steep knoll, dropping line after line of 3 or 4 turn pow plows, even getting a nice little drop or two.  Even on a 10am Tuesday arrival, we were both stoked at the reassurance that there is no such thing as a bad day if you are in the mountains.

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Early Season Epic

Getting to the Soul Ryder base in Seattle sometime after 1 am, Kalen and I decided to rally hard in the morning and see for ourselves what was rumored to be happening at Baker.  It didn’t matter that the previous two days we had driven 1,000 miles and she had flown to Tahoe, then to Utah and back just a few days before; girl is a trooper to put it lightly.  But who doesn’t like driving through downtown Seattle at 6 am? With pow on our minds and caffeine in our bloodstream we bombed up I-5 straight to Baker for what would be Kalen’s first Baker experience.

And to say it was fairly typical Baker is an understatement. We heard from at least three people after learning it was her first experience there, that this was classic; with wet enough snow to burn the legs of any olympian powerlifter (Scandinavian even) and being deep enough for me to cartwheel at least three times before lunch Baker gave what Baker gives best; deep and thick. But I was home.  Kalen was game as ever, and with shooting anything totally scratched, we just searched for secret pow stashes, ran into familiar faces, charged as hard as we could and ran the best runs of the day, on the way to the parking lot.  With the snow coming down in what felt like inches per hour, we were stoked on what the rest of the week would bring, being that it was only Sunday and we had a tough schedule of cabin hot tubbing in Glacier, hanging with friends in Bellingham and meeting up with the rest of the crew to go back and find bigger better lines at Baker.  It was the best I’ve ever felt about early season apprehension; if it was this good in early December, my snow snob level would be sky high by January.

With a text from David that afternoon reading “I know you guys are solid, maybe take a day to rest up a little. Don’t want you guys to burn out,” I thought for a second maybe taking it easy wasn’t a bad idea. But seconds fly by pretty fast, and the feeling of some of the driest snow I’d seen at Baker in a while had us both realizing that there really was no other option than getting after it as hard as we could.  As with most things in life, who knew how long it might last?

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A 101 for Highway 101

Looking at the map and seeing that we had traveled almost three quarters of the west coast of the united states, I wondered why we didn’t just put an X on Mexico and plan for some margarita sipping on the baja peninsula, since we could have been there the next day if we wanted. But the Redwoods were calling, skinny dipping a northern cali beach had been planned for weeks, and the the oregon coast was just asking to be driven. In between gas ups, dirty gas station bathroom tours and brewery visits there was hardly enough time to share our lives most embarrassing, drunken, and shameful moments, but we did our best to recount the details. With nearly 20 hours of drive time, I’d say we definitely made the best of being trapped in about 50 square feet of van.

Highway 101 was our yellow brick road to all of these things and it only seemed fitting to send T-Swift (the endearing name of our team van)  on her virgin voyage through one of America’s greatest coastal and scenic drives. It was painful to resist to stop every 15 minutes to shoot a photo of rugged coastlines, crashing waves or Peder springting bare-assed and headlong into the frigid Pacific, but we possessed the motivation of knowing that home is where things are best, and sometimes while beauty in unknown adventure is captivating, there is something to be said about returning home to familiarity.

With much of the trip consisting of slogging through some of the most torrential rain I have ever driven in, it seemed that home was welcoming us back with open arms, and confirming rumors and reports of systems absolutely going off in the Cascades. We were catching the Pineapple Express’s early volleys that would soon have us waist deep in snow and trading pow hugs left and right after every run.

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Carson Pass to Roundtop Mountain

With a cold early start from the condo near Donner at Tahoe, the idea of actually snowboarding and skiing was a welcome one. After picking up Kalen in Reno the day before and getting the low down from a local shop that the early season goodness was to be had at Roundtop Mountain on Carson Pass, we set out on the hour drive south for the trailhead. Driving around the rim of Lake Tahoe wasn’t so bad if you’re into that whole clear blue sky and beautiful lake thing, being from the Northwest I actually enjoyed it once I got past the sun burning my eyes and general lack of gray rain clouds.

A few hair-pin turns later and we were dragging mountains of gear out of the van and greeting RV piloting retiree tourists at the top of carson pass. We even put on our law abiding citizen costumes and bought a trailhead parking pass. ($10 a day)

We had an easy traverse over a few miles of terrain but with an elevation of  8,652 feet the temperature kept it to nice ice covered rocks and bushes before the final ascent  to take on Roundtop.  Feeling good about what may await us after a few hours of sun we trekked in hoping to time it right to get some corn snow waiting for buttery shredding.

But with the temperature probably only rising an entire tenth of a degree nothing softened up and the stair climb to round top’s chute had us kick-stepping 2 inches deep into bulletproof ice the entire way. By the time we got to the mouth of the chute, the pitch was too steep to continue, and no one wanted to risk slipping one step to a thousand foot butt slide back to the lake, even if it was free and came with enough ice to start a snow cone stand.

Peder had already had a couple profanity filled slips and Kalen had torn her hand up pretty good trying to Wolverine claw her way from sliding away from the mouth of the chute.  We had a quick regroup and decided the low angle valley of ice and rocks below us was obviously much more desirable. Listening to the sound of our edges being ground to butter knives on the way down made me pretty satisfied with the decision.

Once we got to watching Kalen and Peder manning up and trying to get some turns on the equivalent of a sidewalk of snow I was still glad to be standing on my snowboard. If the worst thing that happened was a killer workout under the sun in a beautiful place, then it wasn’t such a bad day after all. A california sunset and trek in some early moonlight later and we caught up to Kalen who had already had some coronas buried in the ice bank waiting for us. We came, we may not have exactly conquered, but Roundtop’s challenge had been made, along with  toasts and vows to return.

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Testing..Testing..One, Two, Ski…

 

Call it crazy, but before two weeks ago, I had never been to California.

Now with a hell of a fading goggle tan, Carson Pass, Northstar and Boreal under my belt I don’t exactly consider myself a seasoned cali veteran but its a start.
With a road trip in mind we at Soul Ryders decided the great golden state would be the best place to get some early season riding, had we known the storm we were chasing would dump rain and leave us exposed on icy hockey rink slopes and dodging rocks, we might have timed it a little differently to say the least.
But with such a crew assembling, including Utah’s own Kalen Thorien, Baker knight Peder Bottheim, Stevens Pass rider Megan Middleton and Mt bachelor’s transplant Lou Macias, the ingredients for a killer time were set.  So on a bleak Seattle Saturday morning, photog extroardinaire David Yousling, Peder and I set out on a 16 hour van ride from Seattle to Truckee. Sucking down enough coffee and 5 hour energy to supply a small country, zero turns later (thanks I-5) we found ourselves nine hundred miles down the west coast.

We had visited the portland farmers market, dined on the best italian sandwiches oregon has to offer, ceremoniously named the van (T-Swift) and watched the sunset on mt Shasta. Driving by the Reno strip I was wondering why we were even skiing and snowboarding in the first place, but with a clear forecast we were stoked to be picking up Kalen bright and early at the airport and seeing what Lake Tahoe had to offer. Other than 15 resorts there were plenty of cool places to explore.

The weather had crapped out on us but the local shop had given us the low down on where the early season days could be had, being that it was the last week of November. So with some time daylight  to spare, our destination too distant to rally to for an afternoon, we decided it would be better if we all just held hands and skipped around Truckee. We ate some good food, watched some sunset on Lake Tahoe, chucked some rocks and discussed the plans for the following day’s outing to Carson Pass. But my favorite thing about plans, is that they are usually the first thing to go out the window.

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