FWT L9 Posse

Representing.

Klint Review

Day 2 on the Klint Krypto was pretty incredible.  Snowbird was covered in white frosting, that was smeary and delicious.  It was actually snow, but was a treat nonetheless.  Windblown, dense powder was everywhere, and the Kryptos gobbled it up.  Smearing was the name of the game today, and throwing the skis sideways for 20 feet was not only possible, but extremely fun.  So, yeah, the skis did pretty well in this snow too.  On the firmer snow it did a little better than what I had heard, so I could see myself on a pair in the future.  Not as cool as Chuck's Folsom Customs, but as close as I can get right now to being the only guy on the mountain with that ski brand clamped to their boots.
Now, is the Krypto worthy of a potential trip to South America, where a quiver of 2 is the maximum allowed?  Not sure about that yet, but its looking better than a few other contenders, mostly because of the twin and skis 'lighter.'

Klint skis

Got a chance to ski some Klint Krypto skis last week.  They are a small company just starting out with a lineup for 2011/12 season.  The highlight of their lineup is the Krypto, which is about 189cm in length, and about 120mm underfoot, with a good amount of tip and tail rocker.  The graphic below is a demo graphic, the production will be a lot brighter.

Anyway, conditions were probably about perfect for this ski- 12" on top of sun crust, and even deeper in some spots that get wind deposited snow.  Only a few areas could you feel the crust underneath.  The Kryptos floated with ease, and extremely maneuverable, despite the length and me being only 5'7" and 150lbs.  I hiked Baldy a couple times, North first, then West, and the skis were solid in both areas.  North Baldy was a little shallower and more windblown and punchy.  West Baldy was deep, but sluffed off to expose some of that sun crust.  Tight spots were even easier because they pivot without much effort, so when I needed to dump speed, or weasel through some trees, I felt like I was in full control. When it got a little choppy and even on the semi-groomed the tails washed out a bit more than I am used to.  That might be the skis, might be me being used to non-rockered tails.  At higher speeds I could feel a little instability generating, and couldn't push the envelope to the max.  I'll be using these tomorrow, which will be a lot firmer snow, more groomed and Utah hardpack (packed powder), and some windblown dense powder.  At least, that's what I'm hoping for.  I'll report back tomorrow.

Qualifier Pic

Pic from Snowbird Qualifier:

Wasatch Powderbirds

So, a week and a half ago, with a lot of luck, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of heli skiing. My brother Dave, accompanied by sister Meredith and youngest brother, James, and I (Eric in China on business) drove down from Park City to the bypass road to a place I never figured I'd enter... Wasatch Powderbird Guides.  It was a miracle we even had a chance, as the weather called for snow and wind, both things that helicopters don't seem to agree with.  The storm just never showed up, but the storm the day before left 6-12 inches of new snow, just for us to enjoy.
After a quick orientation, we got our gear, and took off... literally.  Half of the experience was the thrill of riding in a helicopter, but the other half was pretty incredible too.  The guides have everyone take a pretty tame slope for starters, to judge the ability of the group.  Good thing we were all pretty solid skiers, otherwise it was going to be powder skiing on intermediate runs all day.  As it turns out, we were a pretty strong group, and they put us in terrain that most groups don't get to ski.  The guides were super cool, in a different world than the cat skiing guides I met in Brundage.  What a life those guys have- skiing several times a week via helicopter, powder everyday.  Anyway, not gonna happen for myself, but doesn't hurt to dream of that life.
After taking our runs, we made it back to base camp, where a late lunch was awaiting us: Applewood smoked salmon, smoked steak, and side dishes to make a complete, quality meal.  I had a big chunk of salmon and two steaks- had to take advantage of the good food, of course.  I'll get some videos and more pics posted, but here's a start:

Solo roadtrip from SLC to Taos, NM. Drove from about 6pm to 4am, then found a secluded dirt road for a nap. Rolled into Taos resort at 8am to find 100" of snow since the start of the season (that's bad).

First night car camping, which was almost as comfortable and convenient as staying at a hostel just outside Taos:Qualifier venue xerox. There was a lot more black than white in real life.

FWT

Having skied most of my life, and having adopted skiing into my life as more than just a hobby, I figured I ought to try some sort of competition to gauge my skillset that I've been developing over the past 25+ years. The Freeskiing World Tour Snowbird stop seemed like a perfect opportunity, so when registration came around, I went for it. Registration started at 10am, and within 3 minutes or less, the event was filled. Fully prepared with my credit card info already pasted to my clipboard, and somewhat acceptable web navigation skills, I was one of the lucky ones to claim a spot. That was the easy part. Now I had to start skiing to get ready for this trial. Just one problem... With a work week of 50-60 hours, finding time to ski was going to be tough.

So, 'training' began early fall, wrapping up soccer season, cutting out sugary soda, skiing West Baldy at every opportunity, and thinking a lot about skiing. Also had a good warm up at the Salomon Extreme Skiing Comp at Taos, NM, where I qualified in 10th, Semi'd in 20th, and ended up in 14th in the Finals.

To get to the point, I had a good qualifier run, putting me in 5th for my heat. A couple days later, I had a good run on Silver Fox, but had a bobble that cost me a spot in the finals. Also, my line score was a little low, so gotta work on that for next time. Not bad though for having never hit any of those drops, and feeling like I was out of my element. Ended up in 40th, and the top 35 went onto the finals. Here's my run, thanks to Nick for recording it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-slhYWG-9k

More to come, including the 'training' that went down to get to this spot.