-Sam Hulbert
First day in Tahoe and I’m at a jump with Sam Hulbert, Ian Thorley, and Tim Humphreys. I was very excited to get out, into the snow, and start photographing. The jump was just outside of Alpine Meadows and quick hike from a parking lot.
-Ian Thorley
-Tim Humphreys
Trying to go to bed at 10 PM to wake up at 2 AM and drive 8 hours to hike for another 2 1/2 is not easy.
Spencer Cordovano called me telling me of big couloirs and even bigger plans but before all the details were out I was in on the trip. Waking up at 2 was hard but staying awake enough to drive was even harder. I keep myself going by telling myself that if I dosed off once I would pull over and go to sleep. This gave me the motivation to keep on driving threw the night.
AM Driving
Arriving around 10 I meet up with Spencer and Abe Greenspan. I grabbed my gear out of the car and started down the trail. The couloir we wanted to ride was a very easy 15 minute hike to the base followed up by a two and half hour hike straight up the middle.
Upper Left
I really wanted to ride the couloir myself and made the hike up with Spencer and Abe. Inside the walls of the couloir the air is very cold and the snow is steep but stable. The idea of falling backwards and tumbling 2000ft down almost was enough to stop me but I continued to hike. The ride down was very fun and very very tiring on my legs.
Looking Up
Once back at the cars we grilled some sausage and sat around camp for a bit. We formulated the plan to camp out that night and ride the couloir again in the morning. I slept in my car and got to watch as the sun rose and filled the valley with light. I decided I was going to shoot from the trail so Spencer and Abe started their hike early while I cleaned up camp.
Abe & Spencer
After cleaning up I started my hike up the trail and set up my base station. Spencer and Abe rocketed up the couloir in under two hours and each took a run down. Spencer completed his run fully naked which was a big surprise to the young couple on skis that was hiking lower down the couloir. Meeting back up at the cars we finished packing up and hit the road.
Basecamp
Guys Mid Hike
Abe Greenspan
I left on wednesday morning for Stowe, Vermont with Justin Mullen and Mike Bennett. We stayed at the house of Stowe guide Pat Walsh. We rode off resort for two days and on resort for two days before leaving on Monday. We were blessed with some fresh snow each day. Here are some videos from the trip that Justin made. Don’t forget to check out my 8 powder turns at 2:19 in the second video.
Drive up and first day.
Day 2 & 3
VT Trip2 from justin mullen on Vimeo.
Some more images ran in the new ECS issue. My image of Kade Madsen from SLC ran as his Rookie Card. This is one of my favorite images of the year and I am really glad to see it run. Mike Bennett and Tom Weiss both had images in the Big Boulder Resort Guide section. Lastly Justin Mullen’s hard work paid off with his image of a hugh cliff we shot in Tahoe running as a double page.
This image of Nick Poohachoff is my most successful image to date. It has run as the Cover of Playboard Magazine #57 in Germany as well as a full page in Transworld Snowboard Magazine Vol 23. December 2009 issue. Playboard has popped my cover cherry and very big thank you to them for that.
Here is a little background on the shot that I wrote up for Playboard.
The beam that Nick Poohachoff is Frontside Boardsliding is a beam that supports an abandoned train tunnel that runs threw the backcountry know as ASI around Sugar Bowl Resort. Nick set up this jib and tested it all by himself while we were shooting another feature 500 yards away. Had he caught his nose while he was by himself he easily could have fallen and died and we would have had no idea.
Playboard
Transworld
Original
I was told I had a double-page in the new Snowboard Magazine and this was confirmed when my mom picked me up the new copy at the store. This is my first image in their publication and I am really stoked to see the image is the opening spread to the gallery. A big Thank You to Snowboard Magazine.
PS the CO powder guide in this issue has me so excited! Planning the trip now. Check this image out on flickr.
Spent most of the first day looking at three rails, but didn’t hit a single one. Instead went over to Neri’s backyard and snowboarded for a little. I even strapped on Matty B’s board and tried a few tricks. Day two was spent at ASI where my roommate Justin Mullen was eyeing up a man size cliff for his 18th birthday. He hiked around, manned up, and dropped the cliff just like he had planned on. Day three was spent with the beautiful Jordan Parks, in Tahoe City. She ollied threw this mess of steel about 23 times risking decapitation each time. Day Four I woke up late and hiked up ASI with no breakfast in me arriving just as the kicker was being completed. It was quite a large group with 5 riders, two filmers, and myself. It was a good session and ended with some backflips off a small wind lip. The weather for the next week looks like rain turing into snow.
