Austria is it...

This place is bad to the bone. This is just a pic of the crew getting geared up at the top of Krippenstien Freeride Arena. This resort is sickness every which way you look. The imagery here is so gorgeous that I have had more than a dozen "How the hell did I get here?" moments in the last two days. The mountains are huge and the cliffs are a total mind blow. The photo below is one Dylan took from our skin up to our coulior I told you all about from the Loser (Low-sah) backcountry. You probaly can't see the filmers and photographers hanging out on the cliff edge waiting for us to get to the coulior, but they are there up on the top of that monster.



Yesterday we spent our down day touring around a small town near here that is rich with history and tradition. The town is called Hallstatt and is absolutely gorgeous. Hallstatt was apparently part of the filming for the famous old movie, "The Sound of Music". I can see why! The crew is still getting after it and we are recieving some snow today. We got a foot last night and it is still snowing throughout today. We are stoked to be getting the conditions we need to get after all of the huge lines and faces we have been scouting for the last two days. Hopefully the snow sticks well and we can take advantage of it. It is looking promising for it so far. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Austria is off the chains...

We have arrived in Obertraun, Austria. Jon and Steve are getting some photo work done in our apartment in this photo. Myself, Dylan Crossman, Zach Houston, Jon Gurry and Steve Lloyd took two flights totalling 15 hours then a half hour bus ride, four hours on a train, and then two hours on another train and we arrived right in our little town we are staying in. We are staying at the Hotel Soerossee and we have skied two days so far with the Ydream Productions crew. We have skied Loser ski resort (pronounced Lowsir) and Krippenstien. In the Loser backcountry Dylan and I skied a first descent couloir which means no man has ever skied it. As we approached the entrance a large deer/mountain goat looking animal called a Gam was hanging out on the peak checking us out. Then Dylan and I got into the entrance and I was scared shitless. Dylan looked at me and said, "Do you mind if I take it first." I replied quickly, "I would prefer it actually." Dylan dropped in and I lost sight of him after the first two turns. Of course he ripped the shit out of the line. I was so sketched that my lips went numb and my hands were shaking, but I had to go cause I was Dylan's partner for the trek out and there was no other way down. So I radioed in and dropped in. It was scratched out after Dylan had gone through and it was really firm and wind effected. This is was the tightest, steepest thing I have ever skied. I had to slip through a small part of the middle section cause it was barely wider than my skis and hard as ice. I was barley holding an edge. I made it through and checked "Big crazy ass couloir" off my list of things to do before I die. And since it was a first descent it will now forever be called "Crossman's Couloir". I was apprehensive about skiing it cause just looking at it scared the shit out of me, but Dylan wanted it bad and no one else would go with him. So I volunteered to be his wingman despite my fears, and in the end I am glad I did cause it was a first time experience for me and Dylan got the chance to rip the shit out of one of the craziest things I have ever seen. There is a reason he is a seven time U.S. extreme champion. You all will be able to see photos in the magazines and check out the footage and his helmet cam footage in the fall 09' Tough Guy Production's release that we are working on. We partied hard last night at Carnival in Bad Aussee last night to celebrate the descent. Lothar Hoffer and Martin Sochor of Ydream have hooked us up at the resorts and have been guiding us around. Those guys are super sick dudes and we are stoked to call these guys our friends now. They have really been great helping us get this trip dialed in and taking care of operations over here for us. This tandem shooting structure is really working well for us. So far the first international Vertical Integration trip has been a success. Just based on the material we have gotten in only two days I can already call this trip a wild success. So I write again in a day or two to keep the updates coming. Pray for snow and pray for us cause this place is fucking crazy.

making plans...

Trying to get all of the logistics and plans worked out for the up coming Austria trip. We leave Saturday for Krippenstien Freeride Arena in Austria where we are hooking up with the Ydream Productions crew. The trip is going to include me, Jon Gurry, Zach Houston, Dylan Crossman, and Steve Lloyd. We are hooking up with Lothar Hofer, Phillip Huber, and Martin Sochor ( I hope these names are right). It will be a pretty crazy trip I'm sure cause we really don't know what to expect. I am trying to track down funds for the trip as well as get my bills paid. This ain't the NBA, most of us skiers are barely scrapping by so coming up with the funds is a monumental task. Just keep juggling. Zach is meeting us in Atlanta cause he is diving down in Rowatan, which I have no idea where that is. Our night jobs at Delta really are the keys to the world's welcome mats. Crazy shit. So we are getting stoked up and packing our shit. I met a dude named Nick with Sweetgrass Productions at the OR tradeshow and they've got one of the sickest trailers I've seen. I am kind of fired up to hook up with his crew, they are doing something that I am really into and I hope the logistics work out for me to get out with them. Until next time...

still puking

It is still puking here in Utah and we are reaping the benefits. The crew has been out freeskiing the last few days just gobbling up the pow. No shooting, it is even hammering too hard for that. It might pay off tomorrow for some partly cloudy paydirt. The Wallow at the Biscuit has yielded some of the deepest experiences of my life, like blind deep. The avy danger his blowing up so we are just finding it inside and it is plentiful. The commercial masonry job I was on has finished and it is time to rock and roll on the mountain. The rest of the winter off with the day job, and switching over to full-time ski mode. Still throwing bags at night down at Delta cause the ski biz ain't the NBA and the benefits are soooo nice. Might be trying to get over to Reno-Tahoe next week to hook up with Stephane and put the finishing touches on the "HarmLess" TV show for RSN. Tahoe is getting pounded with these storms just before we get them and I hear it is going well for them also. Keep it coming, fill 'er up. Still trying to get over to Austria first part of February, we'll see.