Raven's Nest Hut

Nestled in the convience of I-70 between Georgetown and Silverthorne, Colorado is the Raven's Nest Hut in the shadows of Grays and Torreys Peaks. I have been scouting Colorado huts in the I-70 vicinity the last few years in the spring to try to find some good spots to run tours in the future. The location suits my current seasonal migration pattern. The Raven's Nest Hut is also a high-quality candidate for a variety of reasons as well. From location, to comfort, and access this hut has a plethora of qualities I like for tours. Part of my program when I scout new locations is a trip to get boots on the ground, and I like to invite a media crew to join me to both have solid partners in the field and to make the scout trip more productive than just a scout with some content work. The last two years I have invited CJ Coccia of Tele Colo to join me with a telemark crew. I have grown to really enjoy the folks that CJ assembles each spring and it is also nice to try to contribute to the telemark industry as best I can when I can as it obviously always has a special place in my heart. 

^The crew on the approach from a nice parking zone right off the

Hatcher Passion

I first came to Hatcher Pass near Palmer Alaska on a film project I had set up with my media cooperative company, Vertical Integration, about a decade ago. Jon Gurry, Dave Magoffin and I had organized a trip to film for Telemark Skier Magazine's (TSM) annual movie. We invited two young chargers Spencer Jonas and Andrew Schauer. Cody Smith came as the principle cinematographer for TSM. At that point Vertical Integration had become a driving force in the background behind a lot of the telemark industry's media in film, photography, and writing. After years working in Valdez Alaska utilizing helicopters I decided to embark on a different kind of trip utilizing human power and some snowmobile assisted access with the Vertical Integration crew in the Chugach around Girdwood and the Talkeetna Range near Palmer. Jon Gurry had moved to Palmer, and Dave Magoffin was based in Girdwood. The two locations allowed for flexibility of different weather patterns, access to a resort in Alyeska, and a plethora of human power and snowmobile assisted access. Leaving the helicopters out of the equation opened budget space as well as opportunity to build content regardless of weather. We shot under this program for two projects in subsequent years yielding countless content streams for Telemark Skier Magazine's pages, social media, and annual movie. After these projects I had not returned for years as I retired from athlete work to become a backcountry ski guide. Now in my last stages of the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) ski guide track I needed to chase some bigger lines and some glacier experience. I thought there would be no better way to do so than to go back to the backyard of my long time touring partner, Jon Gurry, in the Talkeetna Range. 

From Jon's home in Palmer Alaska the grandeur of the surrounding

Spring Training

Spring for me in the mountains these days is all about training in the ski mountaineering skill set. I have been a backcountry ski guide for a decade now, but this year the American Mountain Guide Association(AMGA) is making a move that essential turns them into the union for mountain guides in the United States. This summer they will be enlisting what they call "Scope of Practice" which essentially says if you want to be, or work for, an AMGA accredited outfitter, then you have to go through their programs and guides must have certain levels of AMGA training to guide certain terrain under certain roles. Part of this includes a basic skill set in ski mountaineering. I missed being grandfathered in as a "tenured guide" by two years as I started guiding in 2010 and the cut-off was 2008. As such, I have to train up and go through all the AMGA courses to comply. Despite the fact that I have no desire to guide mountaineering objectives I have to gain a basic skill set in the mountaineering craft. Luckily for me, I do value the skill set and am excited to learn it as the crossover to the kind of guiding I do every day is indeed applicable. I don't want to guide Everest or Denali, but the skills to do so are cool and I am enjoying learning them. I am not a climber. A long time ago I chose to buy a mountain bike over a rock climbing rack and the rest is history. I became a ski guide and a mountain bike guide and my little bit of rock climbing skills completely atrophied. Therefore, the training I have to do to get proficient in these early stages of the AMGA path are my most difficult skills to attain. So as I always have in my past, I train. The last two years I have gone all-in on training in these skills each spring during mountaineering season. The absolute best way I have done this is through mentorship with guides I know and trust. This weekend that meant joining up with my colleagues at Inspired Summit Adventures to enroll in their ski mountaineering camp. The four-day basecamp has been essential to my training as I will go sit for my AMGA Alpine Skills Course this summer. 

^We load up snowmobiles pulling toboggans with all

A #GuideLife Program

I always tell young aspiring backcountry ski guides that the key to being a ski guide is a diversified income stream. Honestly, the truth could be said for any profession that is intricately tied to the weather and the seasons. The statement is kind of a two-fold thing. One, is that as a young ski guide the consistency of work is difficult to manage in a life that typically has consistent fixed expenses. Second, is the diversity of skill sets within the #GuideLife that is helpful to craft a more and more consistent workflow. I have been a guide for nearly a decade now and have developed a program that works for me. It is not all glorious bluebird meadow skipping like the picture below or that my Instagram feed would lead folks to believe. 

photo: Chris Morgan

^These days I have so much guiding work that I have to

Trim to Win

 

Fall colors were on point for my trip to the U.P. of Michigan's Porcupine Mountains State Park where my dad and I drove up for a trim party in the woods with the a few of the tribe from Midwest Telefest, which is hosted at the Park's ski area each winter in early February. The objective was thinning out some glades for tree skiing at the ski area, as well as see some of our friends that we celebrate Midwest Telefest with. The experience was a bit different amidst a global pandemic, but all-in-all still a really enjoyable and productive trim session. 

^The drive up was really colorful. My dad and I packed our

Charles Dickens in the Age of Corona

February 7th is Charles Dickens' birthday. The writer of classic ominous stories and his birthday hosted an ominous snowpack event for the Ogden Wasatch mountain range that we never really recovered from in all honesty. Rain and rime iced the top of the snowpack taking on the name of the author becoming the Dickens crust. A crust so thick that it persisted the rest of the season only to be one-upped by an invisible layer of sickness and fear that blanketed our society like nothing I have seen in my lifetime. The novel corona virus Covid-19 finished off the winter in unprecedented fashion a month and a half early completing the destruction of the winter of 2019/20 completely... for me at least. 

^Ice formed on the tree branch in this picture above is a

Observations of I-80

The time came to make the big drive across the Great Plains to the Intermountain West. From my Wisconsin hometown that means a lot of time on Interstate 80 westbound. I took some time to rest and simply be at home for just a bit, but soon had to get ready for the big drive and a chaotic schedule. I had lined up a rather busy December getting ready for the upcoming winter that included observing instructors in an AIARE avalanche level 1 & 2 as well as a Rescue course to prepare for an AIARE Instructor's Training Course coming up in January. It was an ambitious timeframe, but I felt good about my plan, and at some point ya just gotta go for it. 

^I had a week off between seasonal labor efforts from

Summer's End to the Fall That Never Was

The end of summer came quickly with so much time left to the run around of a small young family and the sports, gymnastics, family parties, birthdays, and the like. It flew by like time seems to do more often than not in this phase of life I find myself. I had big hopes for fall mountain biking and the beauty of the changing colors. However, a wet cold winter blast came in early and spoiled all those fall ideas. It exacerbated the skier's itch I had boiling up in my blood, but did little to serve the to-do list I had in mind. 

Spring Rains and Summer in a Breeze

The spring rains came and summer has gone like a warm breeze. I got so damn busy that the last months have felt like they have passed in the blink of an eye and all of a sudden it is middle of August. I got a new job as Trails Coordinator for the local County government in my little corner of Wisconsin, and between the learning curve of the work, family obligations, travel, and trying to find time to paddle and ride my mountain bike the time flew by like the breeze. 

^Sunset on Lily Lake. This is the lake I grew up on. The whole idea of

Winter Wrap-Up and So Close to Home

Time got away from me the last part of winter. I had so much going on after my Japan trip that I let the posts on this website fall behind. So I will do a big wrap-up post to give a highlight reel from the last part of my winter into the spring skiing. I started out in the Upper Peninsula Of Michigan at Mount Bohemia and the Porcupine Mountains for Midwest Telefest, rolled back to Utah for a variety of content and guiding work, judged a junior free ski comp at Taos New Mexico, had the old college buddies come to town, skied plenty of Ogden backcountry with the local homies, did a lot of backcountry ski guiding, my wife and kids came to visit me in Utah, bought a new snowmobile, and wrapped it all up with a couple last crusher content days with the fellas before hitting the road back across the Great Plains of America to my hometown in southeast Wisconsin. It was a hell of the finish to winter, and here are some of the highlights.

^Right after Japan I rolled up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Niseko of My Dreams

I first came to Niseko over a decade ago as a young hard charging pro skier to shoot for a movie project with Sweetgrass Productions that became the movie, Signatures. That movie is still one of my favorites and this place is as well. Niseko Japan is near and dear to my heart by this point, and I am so grateful to have made some real friendships there as well over all these years in returning every year since. I have built a trip package through my business, Vertical Integration, that has built on all the knowledge and experience that I have gained over the years skiing there. This year I had a really great group of friends buy the package deal to take advantage of all that Niseko has to offer.  

^Driving in Japan is always a bit of an adjustment on the right side

Emotional Utah Quick Hit & Gracious Midwest Holidays

Shortly after returning from the Austrian Alps I was loading back into another airplane to head to Utah for some guide training work and some ski industry content work. I was also looking to keep getting in shape for my looming Japan trip just around the corner of the calendar. 

^I grabbed a late night flight and kissed my wife, kids, and pup goodbye.

To the Freeheeler European Opening Festival and Back

Early in the fall I received an assignment to write an article for the Freeheeler Magazine out of Europe, and a subsequent invitation to come do a presentation on the concept of the article at the Freeheeler European Opening Festival at Hintertux Glacier ski area in Austria in late November. 

^I grabbed a big flight across the pond to Munich and spent a

I Wanna Talk About Ben

I want to tell you a story about a classic weekend. Originally, it was a story I was not going to write about. Why? Because at the time I decided it was going to be a break from documenting. It was going to be a true vacation with two good friends. Two good friends who flew all the way across the country to spend a weekend with me in my childhood hometown doing things we loved doing together. I had just moved away from these two friends and was so excited to spend the weekend with them that I did not want to take too much time away from the experience doing my typical documenting that I do. I did not take an incredible amount of pictures like I usually do. I do have some. Mostly because I just love taking pictures, but now more then ever I am glad that I did take these pictures. I am glad because it was the last weekend I spent with my very dear friend, Ben Geiger. Also, in thinking back on the story of the weekend it really encompasses nearly all the beautiful aspects of my friendship with Ben. The story has inter-workings that speak directly to the wonderful man, friend, business partner, and mentor to me that Ben has been to me. I knew I needed to write about his death at some point, and I feel like I am in the right place to do so now. So I will weave in and out of the story of this one particular weekend, and about my relationship with Ben. It will get long. We've been friends for twenty wonderful years in the prime of our twenties and thirties. 

Paul, Me, Ben (L to R)

^Ben and our buddy, Paul Wright, flew in from Utah on a Thursday night, and we had a classic weekend in

Stroll Through Generations

Summers in Wisconsin are all about my wife and I clamoring for time to try and make some memories with as much family and friends action as we can in what always seems like such busy and chaotic lives. I also have to spend a great deal of my off-season making plans for the upcoming winter as well as my variety of projects. Sometimes I emerge from the fog of busy and need to get out and take a long slow walk with some of my guys. I rallied up my two sons, and then we scooped up my Dad, or more popularly known around my house now as, Grandpa. One of our favorite local spots, KD Park, in my Wisconsin hometown is a really nice place to take a hike. This park was once a gravel pit that served the region. In it's next generation now it is restored and serving the community as a beautiful park. I am glad to have been able to enjoy it as three generations of my own family on a classic Wisconsin summer day.

Wisconsin Property Walk

I recently landed back in my hometown in rural Southeast Wisconsin after a very busy winter in vast mountain ranges around the globe. My wife and I bought some raw land here a few years ago in order to build a mini-ranch home here some day. I have put a lot of work in to start to get it ready over the years, but I also have a long way to go. My Dad keeps an eye on the property while I am away. The recent rains subsided, and we got out to take a walk around to see how things shaped up throughout winter while I was traveling. It is comfortable to come back here. It is the area where both my wife and I grew up. Most of both of our families are still here. Wisconsin summers are gorgeous, and my abundant family time is a blessing. My Dad has been a big part of this property project with me. I am fortunate to be able to share this time with him taking a walk around to assess the season on the land and talk through all my family's plans for it in the coming future.  

It's May

Soon I will be driving back across the Great Plains of America again for the summer, but the spring skiing in Utah continues to call me out for more. First week of May came with a couple small storms that were cold enough at elevation to yield some cold powder! I saw a chance to get in a tour in the Cottonwoods so I sent a variety of texts to my Salt Lake City touring friends and nearly all of them were pre-occupied. All but one. My friend, Travis Bellantino, linked up with me for a dawn patrol in a classic area of Little Cottonwood.

I linked up with Travis bright and early at one of Little Cottonwood Canyon's most popular trailheads above Alta, Utah. Mid-winter the parking lot is brimming with people gearing up. Even at this early hour of the cold crisp morning. However, it's May. There are few people in the lot, and Travis gives me a wave as I pulled in and we got our tour underway. 

^Superior view. This has gotta be one of the most photoed scenes

April Showers Bring... High Elevation Powder

For most people April showers bring May flowers. I am not most people. I am an obsessed skier. I see ski lines on the horizon year-round. My summer hikes usually even revolve around scouting future skiable terrain. For me, the saying goes, "April showers bring high elevation powder."

^Most everyday folks have moved on to more traditionally

Madness of the Moments

After Japan the whole ordeal of winter just sped up to break neck pace. I was in it deep, and just holding on for dear life. The best laid plans all got stacked on top of each other and became a whirlwind madness of travel, logistics, certifications, and powder chasing.

^Immediately after I landed back on American soil I was

Niseko, Japan - a Vertical Integration Trip

I recently returned from hosting a Vertical Integration trip to Niseko, Japan. I first went to Japan a decade ago for athlete work with Sweetgrass Productions on their film, Signatures. I immediately fell in love with the area and have found a way to go back nearly every year since. This latest trip was my first time hosting a Vertical Integration trip there, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to take with me to the powder paradise.

^My oldest son, Amos, always likes to play in my bags as I pack at