For those of you keeping score at home we received another 9″ of snow last night. This brings our total snow fall to 471″. That being said I thought it would be a good time to grab a pair of Volkl Kuros and put them through there paces. The word is that Volkl is making a 195 Kuro next year so I thought I would test out the 185 to see if it would be enough or if I need the big dog.
For those of you who are unaware of the Kuro here is a brief synopsis. 164mm in the shovel,132 underfoot, 139 in the tail, reverse camber yada yada yada. This baby is a powder ski. Although surprisingly good on trail and in crud lets be honest she was designed for one thing; powder and saying otherwise is like comparing a nuclear missile to a bottle rocket. They are both awesome, but they are designed for two different things.
Naturally, I was impressed with the Kuro in powder. Between the rocker and the width it was perfect for all the snow we have been having. I did think it was a little short for my 6′10″ frame. She got a little squirrelly on me in certain situations, but I discovered that if you let them run in the powder they plain out and surf just like a snowboard. Which is an amazing feeling.
All and all I like the ski. I will definitely put a pair of the 195cm in the quiver.
Saturday was a big day in the Teton’s. Between the Hill Climb, Mountain Festival and 21″ of snow it is safe to say the whole Hole was going off. I’m not much of a concert guy, but the atmosphere at the JHMR Mountain Festival this year was great. Ozomatli headlined the event and they were amazing. They performed during a driving snow storm that may have keep the crowds down, but the loyal folks that were there did their best to let the band know they appreciated the show. The fireworks at the end brought it all together. I personally would like to thank the JHMR for the this event and I look forward to more like it in the future.
Late March can bring every type of weather you can imagine to the Teton’s. Case in point, we have had over 30″ of snow in the last week. Yesterday was one of the best days of skiing I have every had inbounds at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It felt like no one else was on the hill to enjoy the fast, dense seemingly bottomless powder that was severed up. The snow kept falling during the morning and then the sun came out for the afternoon session and it was glorious. I wish I had a photo for you, but the skiing was too good to stop and snap a shot. The skiing was so good I hit two of my credit card airs and I found a new one!
Sorry for the image quality on this one. It was taken with one of those new fangled Steve Jobs phones. This picture was taken at a recent Teton Village Sports employee party. The theme this year was “What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.” Simba (on the left) apparently wants to be an Austrian beer drinker, while Ned wants to be a cowboy. Although, he claims he wants to be Luke Skywalker, but couldn’t come up with a good outfit as his Luke Skywalker under roos don’t fit anymore.
I contimplated putting up some scandelous pictures of the employee party we had last night, but if you weren’t there you probably would not about the “What do you want to be when you grow up” party so instead I found this video for you.
I wanted to follow up on the last post about going to Montana to go fishing last weekend. At the time I thought I would regret not taking advantage of what lift serviced skiing we have left here in the Tetons. As it turns out the weekend in Montana was amazing. Most of us had good fishing and the weather was better than can be expected for this time of year. We experienced just about as much of what Montana has to offer as possible in one weekend. Meaning we:
Caught Monster Trout, floated a beautiful river, saw an avalanche or two, saw lots of nature, drank whiskey, ate at the best restaurant/pharmacy ever, saw a bar fight and of course saw Duffy’s favorite truck.
Here is a picture of the vehicle. I think it was a Chevy hatchback that the owner had chopped. The back of the car had been cut off and a truck bed was added. It also has a beautiful custom shifter.
Who goes to Montana for a Bachelor Party? The very mention of the phrase conjures iconic images of Tom Hanks, Vegas…. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a believer in the “you can have fun anywhere with the right friends” philosophy, but there is just something about leaving a small town, to go to an even smaller town to go fishing in March. For those of you not familiar with the Rocky Mountain West fishing in March can be a lot like getting ready to go skiing except you throw on a few more layers just in case.
I sound like a real downer and I don’t mean to. I would love to go catch a bunch of trout and have a few good days on the river with the boys. I think I am just looking outside at the mountain here in Jackson and thinking that we could have a darn good time in our own back yard. It is gorgeous here. The skiing is awesome.
I promise a full report on Monday. Well maybe not full but I will disclose what I can. Remember, what happens in Ennis, stays in Ennis.
It seems there is nothing we can do to keep spring from coming. More and more spring merchandise keeps showing up on the doors step, the brown spot has started to show on Slalom, friends are talking about going fishing and I saw the snow blower on the bike path today. I guess I am only slightly disappointed by the end of ski season this year. I am looking forward to some of the new summer gear and I can’t wait to get back on the bike. Still, ski season just seems so short here in the Teton’s some times.
After Squaw I was pretty sore from crashing and had to take a few days off. I wanted to be ready for Kirkwood and be confident with my skiing. This has been a really tough year on me mentally and it has started to downward spiral my confidence. When you start to crash a lot it makes it hard to think about anything in the gate except crashing. Squaw was my 5 […]
I’m back home after a month of hauling 70 lb duffel bags, camera equipment, ski bags, and packs through airports, cities, villages, into the mountains of western Sichuan and back. At the end of it all, between the chaos of modernizing Chinese cities, gnarly jeep rides, packing and repacking of gear, ancient Buddhist temples and [...] […]
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