We have been striking out left and right recently. The storms diverged/don’t even develop, the sun comes out and it is 60 degrees, or ,and this is my favorite, it dumps 2ft right after we leave. But hey, that is life and thats why we love skiing, it ain’t easy but when you get it good, you appreciate it all the more.

Well we finally hit it good, down in Moab of all places. We took bikes, a sled, skis, skins and camping gear to the desert. Some of you may remember a post several years ago about the ‘Helen Keller couloir’, I had touted it as one of the most committing and scary things I have ever done. Well this past trip it managed to be even spicier…and scarier. This time I hiked up a different route, so I had no idea what the snow or the width of the couloir was like. I also (stupidly) skied it all by myself, meaning there was no one within an hour of getting to me should anything go wrong, think soloing a big rock climb.

Once at the top I was exhausted and was staring down a REALLY narrow slot. The first turns in are the most committing and were solid wind buff. My skis chattered around like crazy and it was difficult to set an edge, however it all went smooth and then I was into the gut of the beast. The first time I skied it the crux was about 180cm wide, exactly as wide as my skis. This time, due to a low snow year, the crux was about 90cm wide. There was no way my Hoji 187cm were going to fit. This is also not the kind of line you can just point, because there is no slowing down and there is no falling.

After taking off my skis in what seemed like the steepest part of the couloir, down-climbing and then putting my skis back on I was ready to make some more turns. Usually putting my skis on is the scariest part of any climb/ski, I feel MUCH more comfortable with them on. But having to do so in the middle of this line oddly did not phase me at the time, I think I was so hypersensitive to not screw up that it all went smoothly.

With my skis back on I made some more tight turns and slowly made my way down. I have never sat down in the middle of a line, usually they are over pretty quickly, but this one took more out of me than I could have imagined. After skiing the couloir in its entirety, I peaked around the corner right above the apron and had to give my legs a break. I was breathing so hard I couldn’t even get on the radio. Even on the apron, the snow was extremely variable and took just as much concentration to ski as did the couloir.

So now that you have a little bit more ‘behind the scenes’ info, watch as it all got captured on film.

Red & White: Life Unbound EP3 [S2] from The Life Unbound on Vimeo.

Cheers!

Weston

It had been a long time since I had been in front of camera. Holidays, the flu, bad snow, all had contributed to me not getting out too much. That all changed when I had the opportunity to go out with the Powderwhores.  What was even better for me was I was not the one lugging the camera and tripod around, Noah had that pleasure.

We got out with the Grants, an awesome couple/team that splitboard and shred.  The snow was funky and up side down, each time we did a lap a layer of ice covered our goggles and gear.

I also had a personal first which I have learned much from: an avalanche.  A pocket released about a 1.5 to 2ft crown and followed me down the mountain.  Noah calmly proclaimed “avalanche” and I was able to cut off to the side unscathed.

I had my trusty Drift Ghost HD and caught some of the days action from my point of view.

60 seconds of Powder skiing with the Powderwhores from The Life Unbound on Vimeo.

Well December proved to be a very difficult month.  We had approx. 4 days to shoot between holidays, work, out of townees and bad weather.

Transitions: Life Unbound EP2 [SE2] from The Life Unbound on Vimeo.

When we did make it out, the wind played a major role in what we did. From where we could ski to where we could film and not get blown off the mountain.

Until next time…..

Stoked to bring you guys round 1 for season 2. With all this high pressure it is making ME really jealous. Oh well, it will come when its good and ready to.

Foosteps: Life Unbound EP1 [S2] from The Life Unbound on Vimeo.

Here it is, the last episode of the year!

We had a great time doing these edits and can’t wait for next year’s antics! Next we head off to Santa Cruz for some surfing/biking and overall decompression. Happy Summer!

Episode 3 is finally here! Following along with our travels from Oregon to Utah and trying to stay sane thru one of the most dangerous avalanche season’s in years.

Hope you enjoy!!

Weston

The Life Unbound partners with MyPOV360.com, industry leader in POV cameras.

Park City, UT February 3, 2012.  The Life Unbound is extremely excited to be working with the Drift HD provided by MyPOV360.com.  The Drift’s unique features such as external mic, remote control activation, playback features and more will help take their filming/documenting to new heights.

By partnering up with MyPOV360.com, The Life Unbound (LUB) will now have access to the finest POV cameras on the market.  By using the Drift HD they will now have better capabilities for interviews, unique angles and better story telling tools.

MyPOV360.com is an industry leader who distributes all makes and models of Point of View (POV) cameras.  “MyPOV360.com meets the needs of sports enthusiasts by providing the highest quality, best value point of view video cameras on the market.”

LUB is a chronicle of athletes Weston D and Shaun Raskin as they hunt for snow, travel and live the lifestyle we all dream of.  LUB is a webisodes series and blog, which can be followed at thelifeunbound.com.

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In my time as a telemark skier I have seen some of the most absurd, stupid and impractical mounts than I care to admit. In an attempt to remedy that and hopefully standardize it I created a How-to for mounting telemark bindings to alpine skis.

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