Huge week at Jackson Hole!
Last week at Jackson hole was one for the books. In a week i skied more lines that have been on my list than i did all season to date. It started off with a small storm, that wouldn't quit. By the end of the storm we received over 41" of new snow. My first hit on the list was SnS wall ride, as seen in my last post. The next couple of days would be the best two days of skiing of the year.
I warmed up with a 50 foot front flip to check the snow conditions off the bench air in Rock Springs. Things checked out and we continued back up the tram for more.
On our way to hit the Smart Bastard Air, Tim spotted the Lost Liftie cliff, a extremely exposed line just over the rock springs drainage. The sun popped out and i hiked up for my first time air off the 50 footer! The photo sums up how jaw dropping this air is.
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Owen Leeper. PC: Tim Swartz
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After a successful front flip and lost liftie air, Sasha Motivala had his eyes set on Smart Bastard air, a 40 foot cross court cliff with rocky exposure above the line. We booted up and he dropped in first, i followed with an air i'd been eying for years and stomped the landing.
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| Owen Leeper. PC: Tim Swartz |
With day one over, day two loomed, with perfect conditions and bluebird skies, day two was going to be big. Meredith Edwards had her sights on Central Couloir on Cody Peak. I said ok, and got first tram to get to the couloir early. By the time we set up to shoot it, two other skiers had dropped in, but with great snow and a soft landing on the mandatory 35 foot air out the bottom we went for it.
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| Owen Leeper PC: Lance Koudele |
After successfully airing out of Central Couloir, we skied down Breakneck in terrible icy conditions from the sun baked east face. We were reluctant to go back but thought we'd check out the snow on the north facing "Fat Bastard" cliff. After a tram ride back up the clouds closed in and started to snow. Somewhat defeated Tim and i decided to go check it out. I probed the snow below the cliff and it seemed to be deep enough. I told him it was a "go." I booted up and waited for his signal. We needed a clearing to fly the drone and to get the shot, so i sat a top of this 70 foot cliff watching the clouds roll past. Finally a blue hole opened and Tim yelled ready. Not to miss the light, i pointed it off the cliff, the unusually fast speed sent me deep off the cliff. I sent the air into a slow frontflip and landed deep in the snow below, popped up and skied away! I went back with a laser rangefinder and found my landing to be 120 feet from the takeoff and after a few calculations, i estimated the cliff between 85 and 90 feet!
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| Owen Leeper on Fat Bastard Cliff. PC: Tim Swartz |
It was the week that you wait years for, and i took full advantage of it. I can't wait for the next time.
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