http://aws.tgrmedia.com/podcasts/Generations/Generations_Podcast.m4v

Enjoy!

This is the oven that Eric Hjorleifson and his beautiful assistant Jen Ashton handcrafted with stone from the Whistler Valley.   This is truly fire roasted pizza.

Dicin’ up the za!

All that pizza made us real thirsty for some organic brews.

Jake and Nicholas manning all the raffle items.  Thanks to Smith, Dakine and Salomon for the goods.

Here’s the crew looking real good.  Thanks to everybody that made it out!

1STEP is a charitable foundation dedicated to mobilizing winter sports communities worldwide to combat climate change and enjoy winter sports in the most sustainable ways possible.

Event: 1STEP 1-Piece Party & Fundraiser
Date& Time: Tuesday December 1st 4pm-10pm
Location: Creekbread  – 2021 Karen Crescent 604.905.6666
Contact: Kim Slater – 604-698-7697 kim@1stepnow.org

On this adventure, Chris Rubens, Eric Hjorleifson, the Rocky Mountain Sherpas and I ended up in northern Patagonia to ski  a volcano named Mt.Puyehue.  After waiting out weather, the clouds cleared and we all got to experience a new aspect inside a volcanic crater.

After a long flight I woke up to this amazing view of the Andes as we neared Santiago.  The mountains here are spectacular.

After landing in Santiago we hopped on another plane that brought us further south to a city called Osorno.  From Osorno we met our guides Jorge and Nico from Andes Cross and drove 2 hrs south to a farm at the base of Mt.Puyehue.  We drove in on a beautiful sunny day and had our first glimpse at the volcano.   This farm house was our home for 5 days as the weather moved through.

Yup, that’s a block of cheese and big slab of ham.  Our days here consisted of trips to the local ski hill, checking out hot springs, and day touring on the pass between Chile and Argentina.  Although it was raining in the valley, the knowledge that it was snowing in the mountains kept our spirits high.

After 5 days of waiting out the rain we loaded up 17 horses with all the supplies we would need for the next 10 days.  These horses carried us and the gear 8 kms up the volcano to the next cabin.

This part of the adventure took us along the rolling hills of the farm, through the bamboo jungle and up into the fresh snowfall.  In some spots the horses were trudging through 2 ft. of snow.  These horses proved themselves as the ultimate all-terrain vehicles as we encountered super steep sections and crazy narrow traverses.

Yup, home sweet home… this was our ‘humble abode’ for the remainder of our stay on Mt.Puyehue.  Although we didn’t have running water or electricity, we had everything we needed.   We had a  roof over our head, firewood and a stove, a volcano above us that had never been skied (on the inside) before, and we were more than ecstatic to be here.

The day after we made it up to the cabin the weather wasn’t great but we could see the top of the volcano, so we decided to punch it to the rim and bring some gear to leave at the top.  This was my first touring trip and I was really enjoying the pace that we were approaching the mountain with.  As we neared the top the weather moved in and the wind picked up.  Although we made it to the top, unfortunately  we weren’t able to see into the crater.  After stashing the gear we proceeded to ski down in the flattest light I have ever skied in.   We were trying to use our boot pack and skin track as a guide, but the wind had blown most of those tracks clean, leaving me feeling a little vulnerable.   We made it back to the cabin safely and spent the next 2 days totally enveloped in fog, not being able to see much more than a few hundred feet around us.

We didn’t have much communication up there but we did have a satellite phone to help keep up us to speed with the weather.  After 3 days of being socked in, the forecast looked grim; overcast at best.  We went to sleep after giving a solid effort of drinking it blue and singing the night away.  Our guide woke himself up the following morning due to a dream.  In this dream he saw stars and immediately woke up and started speaking the words,”I’m sorry to disturb you, but the volcano is open.”  We woke up in confusion, not knowing if the volcano was blowing up or if it was just a door ajar in the cabin.   Luckily that morning we had that early wake up call and got going as soon as we could.  We had 2,000 ft. of vertical to skin to get to the rim, so we quickly found our pace.  We wanted to get there quickly, but it was hard not to rubber neck and enjoy the views of the surrounding volcanoes and the lush lake country below.

After 2 1/2 hrs. of skinning we arrived at the rim, welcomed by the view of the 1.5km wide crater.  I was amazed to see that 80% of the crater was worthy to ski.  I wasn’t really expecting anything more than some mellow terrain taking us into the crater, but as you can see from the photo, it is quite substantial terrain.  This photo is the south facing portion of the crater.  Throughout the day we skied 4 lines inside the crater.  The snow was soft and stable and we got ourselves into position as quickly as possible to take advantage of the day that had been given to us.  We followed the sun as it wrapped around the crater and proceeded to hike and ski as much as we could.  We skied the west, south, and east facing slopes that day.

These tracks are the first to have made their way into Mt.Puyehue!  We proceeded to put 14 more tracks into the crater that day.  By the end of the day we estimated to have skinned/climbed about 5,500 vertical ft.

After having our fair share of excitement inside the crater we made our way back down to the cabin amongst one of Chiles classic sunsets.  Our run down the outside was truly amazing as we hooted and hollered all the way down.

We woke up to stars again in the morning and got going as soon as we could.  It was Rubens birthday, and he went straight for the prize.  You can see his tracks right next to the shadow of our guide Nicos face.  I looked at this line from the top, and I can tell you that it was really steep.  Hjorleifsons tracks are on the left.After Rubens bagged that line we all met up in the center of the crater and couldn’t believe how hot it was getting.  Lines that we scoped the day before were melting by the minute.  We were seeing natural avalanches all around us and decided to pull the pin.  We made our way out of the crater and counted our blessings as we hiked to the rim.   We skied back to the cabin and celebrated with the last bit if Gato.

The following we day said farewell and made our way back down to the farm to eat an amazing meal and celebrate Rubens birthday.

If any of you want to check out Mt.Puyehue or any South American adventure,  contact Jorge at andescross.com

If you want to check out more rad photos from this trip check out   http://www.rockymountainsherpas.com/news/sherpas-latest-project-allican

WinterVolume has developed unique social technologies to enable community interactivity. Skiers and boarders now have their own piece of the internet to share videos, pictures and blogs with other community members. As the site grows it will be the community that makes the news.

To compliment community contributions there is also a team of staff writers and a video production crew to publish up-to-date, well researched stories. This team is headed by former snowboarding pro and Editor-in-Chief Rich Hegarty, “WinterVolume will bring about a new standard in writing to the ski and snowboard community” said Mr. Hegarty.

Founders Rob Lloyd and Kristen Stanleick had a green message at the forefront of their minds when deciding to establish the website. “Global warming will have a huge impact on snow sports. It was a natural fit for us to adopt the low-carbon option of operating online” said Mr. Lloyd.

With the Southern Hemisphere winter winding down the WinterVolume team is getting ready to relaunch their site for the Northern winter. “We’ve learn a lot over our first two months of operation and we can’t wait to bring what we’ve done to the European, Asian and North American snowfields” said Mr. Lloyd.

Media Contacts:

Rob Lloyd, Director, 61 420 553 138
rob.lloyd@wintervolume.com

Rich Hegarty, Editor in Chief, 61 420 985 030
editor@wintervolume.com

Kristen Stanleick, Director, 61 403 636 070
kristen.stanleick@wintervolume.com

BOULDER, Colorado, (September 19th)

Star athletes from “In Deep” were on site to sign posters and meet and greet fans, friends, and partners. Athletes included Mark Abma, James Heim, Daron Rahlves, Rory Bushfield, Hugo Harrisson, Bobby Brown, and Colby West.

MSP took a new approach this year choosing to document the experience surrounding the sport of skiing. Each segment was built around different aspects of the sport. Highlights from the film included the “Lines” segment, which helps illustrate each individual’s unique vision of skiing big mountain lines. A standout newcomer to the MSP team, Henrik Windstedt, has a breakthrough segment that transitions into some of the fastest skiing you will see in the Alaskan backcountry, courtesy of Daron Rahlves, Chris Davenport, and Henrik himself.

Probably the most anticipated and powerful segment that comes out of “In Deep” is the tribute segment to Shane McConkey. When his name came to screen the venue was filled with constant cheers and people to their feet. Tears were shed, laughter was shared, and Shane was finally put to rest for many fans. “Man, what a great night!” exclaimed Steve Winter, co-oounder of MSP. “Both the 7:00 and 9:30 shows went off. There were so many great moments, for me the introduction to the 9:30 premiere was one of the greatest ski movie moments ever. The skier intros were insane and when Shane McConkey was announced the roar of the crowd was deafening and for me the defining moment of the night.”

“In Deep” will be touring the United States and the rest of the world for the next three months and is available on DVD and Blu-ray disc. For more information visit www.skimovie.com.

MSP Films would like to thank all of their partners for their continued support: Helly Hansen, Subaru, Red Bull, Salomon, Dakine, Discrete, Coreupt, and Powder Magazine.

ABOUT MSP Films:
MSP Films is the leader in action sport filmmaking, producing over twenty ski films and a three-time Emmy nominated HD television series called FOCUSED. The team at MSP works with the best athletes in the world in the most exotic locations to capture compelling images.  Their ultra progressive camera techniques, editing, and production value have earned MSP many prestigious awards including Powder Magazine’s “Movie of the Year” five out of nine times, “Best of FRESHtival” in 2006-2008, and “Movie of the Year” from Freeskier Magazine. For more information about MSP Films or to watch the teaser of “IN DEEP” please visit WWW.SKIMOVIE.COM.

Contact:
Kellan Van Hoesen, MSP Films
(970) 349.0860

The 2009 season gave MSP the opportunity to take an original look at the sport of skiing. “The format of the film is going to be a fresh approach for MSP this year,” said Executive Producer, Murray Wais. “We captured so much epic footage this winter, we could have put out five teasers like this.” “Haines, AK was the ultimate trip because everything came together,” added skier Eric Hjorliefson. “We had great weather, great snow, and we were able to ski everything we wanted to, which usually never happens.”

MSP was also faced with tragedy this year when long time friend and star skier Shane McConkey died in a BASE jumping accident. In this film MSP will feature a McConkey tribute segment that will highlight his incredible career as a pro skier. Each tour stop will have a contest to see who can dress up as the best Saucer Boy with prizes being given out nightly. “Shane McConkey was the greatest ski film star of our time, in addition to being an incredible person and a loyal friend. We all miss him deeply,” said Co-Founder, Steve Winter.

“IN DEEP” features the best skiers in the world including Mark Abma, Sean Pettit, Eric Hjorleifson, Daron Rahlves, Henrik Windstedt, Chris Davenport, Bobby Brown, Colby West, TJ Schiller, Mike Douglas, Kaj Zackrisson, James Heim, Hugo Harrisson, Rory Bushfield, PK Hunder, Ingrid Backstrom, Jacob Wester, Russ Henshaw, Henrik Harlaut, Alexis Godbout, Michelle Parker, JT Holmes, Sammy Carlson, Chris Rubens and Shane McConkey.

“IN DEEP” is shot in high-definition on location at Squaw Valley, Keystone, British Columbia, Italy, Haines, Sweden, Crested Butte, and additional destinations worldwide. The MSP Film Tour visits over 200 locations across the globe this fall, featuring athlete appearances, poster signings, after parties, live entertainment, and more. Please visit www.skimovie.com/tour to find out when “IN DEEP” will be at a location near you.

MSP Films would like to thank all of their partners for their continued support: Helly Hansen, Subaru, Red Bull, Salomon, Dakine, Discrete, Coreupt, and Powder Magazine.

ABOUT MSP Films:

MSP Films is the leader in action sport filmmaking. The team at MSP works with the best athletes in the world in the most exotic locations in order to capture compelling images in action sports. Their ultra progressive camera techniques, editing, and production value have earned them many prestigious awards, including 2007 and 2008 Emmy nominations for outstanding cinematography. For more information about MSP Films, please visit WWW.SKIMOVIE.COM

Contact:

Kellan Van Hoesen, MSP Films
Kellan@mspfilms.com
(970) 349.0860