A couple weeks ago I went down to Brian Head to do a few days of shuttle laps with the Huck n’ roll team of photographers. The trip was incredible! We had an all time caste including Jenn Berg, Re Wikstrom, Tommy Chandler, Grant Gunderson. We arrived around 2pm and quickly set up camp just out side of the Cedar Breaks National Monument. Within the hour we were all loaded with our bikes into our two vehicles ready to set up the first shuttle of the trip, to hit Dark Hollow.

We hit the trail and immediately I knew this was going to be an epic few days!! The trail was flowy and fast with some techy parts mixed in as well. After shooting tons of photographs and hiking bikes back up sections multiple times, before we knew it we had been out there for about 4 and a half hours just on the one trail and our hopes of squeezing a second lap in was a bit ambitious so we did what any good freeride team does, we started drinking beers as we headed back up to camp to make a fire and prep for a tasty dinner of shrimp fajitas. Yummy!!!

That night we kicked it around the campfire discussing the game plan for the next day. We would hit Bunker Creek and then hit up BlowHard. With great anticipation I crawled into my tent. Around 6:30am my eyes popped open as the realization of where I was cut through my dreamy mind. I jumped out of my tent and was welcomed into the day by watching the peach sky gently waking up The Cedar Break formation as well as the rays of the sun silhouetting the Peak at Brian Head. It was an invigorating way to start the day.

As the rest of the crew rolled out of their tents the scent of backcountry coffee and breakfast simmered out of camp. With full tummies and amped bodies we hit Bunker Creek. It was a fun trail with a few pedally sections, but we got some great shots. As we reached the shuttle truck the clouds started moving in and with further discussion we decided that Blow hard was a ride best left for tomorrow and that Pizzono’s, the local pizzeria, was our most intended destination. We ate more pizza then our exhausted bodies could or should probably be tolerant and then it was off to bed.

The next morning we woke, had some oatmeal, and then it was off to Blowhard. It’s a magnificent trail with the first few miles riding along the Breaks. Stunning views and a few exposed areas to really let you know you were riding in southern Utah. Again, hiking back up and taking multiple shots made for an extra long decent and by the tme we reached the shuttle Jen and Tommy had to start their journey back to Sal Lake City. Re, Grant and myself were more opened and decided to hit Dark Hollow again, without cameras. Despite an interesting flat tire, we made it down in relatively good time.

My goal for hitting Dark Hollow again was to hit this area of red rock spires and shale that I had scoped on our first day. I had decided on the trip that i wanted to start getting into Big Mountain Freeriding and this spot looked like the perfect way to kick it off. It was a little under 500ft. of vertical. So I rode ahead and started the long hike-a bike ascent. If you have never hiked a big DH bike up a lose scree field, I strongly suggest it. Nothing is more character building then trying to keep your footing while maneuvering a 45+ pound bike up a sharp rocky field. At any rate it took about an hour and a half and a few sketch falls to make it to the top. As I put on my knee-shin guards, my elbow pads and my full face my heart rate began to spike. “What was I doing up on this scree field?” With no trails and just a crazy lose descent in front of me. “What was I thinking?” Then I began to look at it through my skier eyes, suddenly it did not look so steep and my line became clear. I yelled down to Re, who was shooting from the bottom “Dropping” Next thing I knew I was surfing the shale, feeling confident, while at the same time realizing that my previous concern of cutting myself up on the shale if I skidded out was the least of my worries. Now my focus turned to the fact that I was mocking down this slope and if anything went wrong I would be tomahawking at skier speed down a rock field. Yeah… a spine and neck guard will be my next Huck ‘n Roll purchase! At any rate, miraculously, I made it down. With more adrenaline then I have ever felt before in my life, I threw down my bike and started jumping around in complete elated disbelief. I did it! My first Freeride line. Success!!!

With that accomplishment under my belt we cruised down to the truck, had celebratory beers and made the journey home.

I can not thank the crew at Huck n’ roll enough for inviting me on this adventure!!

Behind The Scenes Of HP&M: Shaun Raskin

This edit highlights what happens when five girls get together and push one another to go beyond their comfort zone and progress the sport that drives us. There were a lot of crashes, but some huge pillow lines and cliff drops that show just how hard women are pushing on Teles!!

Thanks to Paige Brady for putting together this edit.

Home Sweet Home

The last week has flown. I spent three amazing days in Silverton, got to watch the Hourse drawn Ski Jouring competition down one of Silverton’s main streets, helped

Ski Jouring

Colter getting it done

build a sick acid drop off a hotel for Colter Hinchliffe, Tour up into the East San Jaun’s, Stay in the Treasure Mountain hut which sat at 12,000 ft.  

and accesses some of the gnarliest terrain on the continent, kicked it with good people, great laughs and sick pow.

In the words of my Trew teammate, Pat Sewell, “I LOVE MY LIFE!!!”.

]]> http://shaunraskin.com/2010/02/11/silverton-treasure-mountain-hut-wrap-up/feed/ 0 http://shaunraskin.com/2010/02/05/silverton-at-dawn/ http://shaunraskin.com/2010/02/05/silverton-at-dawn/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:41:43 +0000 sfraskin http://shaunraskin.com/?p=569 Yesterday I headed out to Silverton, CO to join the the TREW guys for a week of  slaying big pow lines and taking photos in next years gear (which is so SICK!!). It is me and 10 guys for the week. We are staying at this great little motel called the Triangle and heading up to the lift today to roll with one of Silverton’s guide. Looking forward to my first Silverton experience!!

All and all the trip was rad. We had a great crew of ripping female tele skiers and the sickest photographer, Re Wikstrom documenting our every turn. We got pounded with snow which made for some great pillow lines and even inspired me to drop a 60 footer before the Heli picked us up on saturday.

If you look real close you can see my 60ft. bomb hole just bellow the cliffs

The skies broke our for our last morning

Endless Pillow Lines!!

The view from the heli ride out

The sun cutting through the pines in Golden

Our time in Fernie was equally exciting with a short stay at Martha Burley’s house and an evening tour out of the Resort for some sweet pow turns and beautiful light, as the sun descended in the BC sky.

Martha Burley- The biggest Celeb in Fernie

Re Wikstom getting a nice taste of the Fernie Spray

Sunset over Fernie

The trip home was quick and relatively uneventful as we all tried to get our heads looking towards the week ahead of Outdoor Retailer, Sundance film festival and fresh Utah powder!

Page and Candy Road tripping

The Cockpit

First Blue sky we have seen in a long time

]

But Now… My mind moves on to the powder to come!!!

Tomorrow at 5am I head out with Re Wilkistrom, Candy Foere and Paige Brady on an epic road trip upt to Golden BC. We will spend one night in golden then meet up wit Martha Burley and the Helicopter and get flown into the Ice Fall Lodge!!!!!

I am so STOKED!!

I am going to try and do updates daily. So Stay Posted……..

The past two days I have spent waking up well before the sun rise and heading over to Snowbird for the First Annual Freeride Avalanche Summit.

Mineral basin snow profile

The point of the summit was to discuss the many snow safety issues facing todays freeride community. We hit on all the major avi 1 topics, such as beacon search and rescues, snow pits, reading terrain, and mountain travel.

Logan Shows us how the BCA new Arsenal saw shovel can save time and lives!

However, the Summit also pulled on huge resources that the Utah Avalanche Center has. We were able to take a trip over to the Wasatch Powder Birds to discuss Loading Zones for potential emergency evacuations, then the AirMed bird landed just down the hill and we were able to learn a bit about packing a patient and calling for life flight.

Wasatch Powder Birds

AirMed

We also were able to use the Snowbird Avalanche training center and worked on probing, beacon searches, Recco locator detection, and group dynamics when an avalanche hits.

Along with having an incredible amount of activities and local resources put into action, the leaders of the course and discussions were also quite remarkable. We had some incredible big mountain legends such as Jenn Berg, Brant Moles, and Gordy Pfeiffer. Not to mention an alstar staff of avalanche and snow safety specialists such ad Bruce Tremper, Craig Gordan, and Jim Conway.

Weston and Noah Howell getting cozy while learning the extended column test

All and all the past two days were the best put together avalanche discussion and education I have yet to receive. If this is just the first season for the Freeride Avalanche Summit, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Summit and the potential reduction of Avalanche fatalities in the backcountry.

Sam, Jason, Forest, and Barker get ready for the early morning Tram lap