It happens to me every year, it’s beautiful out and I want to wax my skis. Not gonna fight it and Chris Tatsuno’s killer video blog is doing it for me right now.

There’s a handful of girls in their prime right now that ski big mountain lines and toss huge tricks from backcountry booters like some of the best boys in the biz. Grete Eliassen is one of those girls. She’s been an X Games gold medalist and has many awards and film segments under her belt. She is currently shredding and there’s a new movie coming out this fall featuring her latest accomplishments. ‘Say My Name’ looks to be high-end prime entertainment.

Athlete Report brought to you by Superheros

Sean Pettit closed out what many experts are predicting could be another Powder award-winning year by throwing down more hammers than a Wilt Chamberlain season in his prime. Case-in-point, just as Steve Winter was preparing to put the cherry on top of the Matchstick Productions’ sundae, Sean elected to head out to some deep and fresh not-so-light and white in Montana in mid-May to unveil an awe-inspiring SWITCH DOUBLE-CORK in pow (time for another - whaaaaaaaaaaat). That trick capped off a season that saw the still (gulp) 17-year old Pemberton, BC resident victorious at the mother of all backcountry comps, RB Cold Rush, and the Orage Masters. Sean even headed to Mammoth to throw a little park shoot on the stove with a stack of other world-class park jumpers including Simon Dumont and one Bobby Brown. The shoot was called, “Off the Planet” and its participants have told us that it was just that!

PHOTO: Sean Pettit feeling comfy in his Mons Royale first-layer bottoms (Blake Jorgensen)

Originally posted at www.level1productions.com

At the ripe ages of 19 and 20 respectively, Parker White and Chris Logan stepped up to the plate this past Spring and quickly proved they could hold their own with some of the most recognizable park slayers and seasoned veterans in the Level 1 crew.  Longtime friends, both skiers are quickly making names for themselves.  I recently interviewed the two friends about their seasons, Eye Trip, and the much-anticipated Sun Valley transfer gap.

Interview by: Jonnie Sirotek

Let’s touch on your backgrounds first.  Where are you from, where are you currently, your age and sponsors?

Parker White: My name is Parker White and I am 19 years old.  I grew up Skiing at Bromley originally – a really small resort in VT.  I moved to Mount Snow when I was 13 and then moved to Mammoth when I was 16.  Right now I am camping in Government Camp, Oregon with some homies riding Hood everyday.  Big ups to Electric, Tomahawk, Kooter Brown, Skullcandy, and Rossignol.

Chris Logan: My name is Chris Logan and I am a twenty-year old skier who rides for Rossignol, Electric, Orage, Skullcandy, and Kooter Brown.

How did you get into skiing?

PW: Both of my parents ski a lot, and I grew up so close to the mountain it just happened.

CL: I grew up in New York as one of five kids who all skied. My parents weren’t big skiers growing up so I don’t really know how we all got into it (laughs). When I was five all I can remember during the winter was taking trips every weekend up to Mt. Snow to ski.  I would ski all weekend and then drive four hours back home to New York. When I was about eight I started skiing the weekend program on the Mt. Snow freestyle team. At that time I don’t even remember if they had a terrain park, and if they did then skiers were definitely not allowed in it. I skied moguls, and upright aerials until I was about fourteen, and started getting into the park when I was around twelve.  I loved jumping and being in the air more then anything. I kind of had to fight my parents a little bit because they wanted me to keep skiing bumps, but I ended up winning that battle. In high school I spent my winters going to the Mt. Snow Academy, where I would go to school half the day and ski the other half. I graduated high school in January of 2008 and spent a few months at Mt. Snow before I moved to Mammoth for the spring.

P White, Buck Hunting

Outside of skiing, you two are close friends.  Did you grow up skiing together?  Can you describe how your skiing affects one another?

PW: I moved in with Chris and his family when I was 14.  We rode Mount Snow together for a couple of years and both ended up moving to Mammoth.  We are both good at different stuff so it’s cool to ride with someone who thinks and skis differently.

CL: Well originally Parker grew up skiing at Bromley and I grew up riding at Mt. Snow, so we would compete against each other in USSA mogul and aerial events.  Our teams got along at events and we would all hang out, but we didn’t really like one another (laughs). At events we would go back and forth, he would win one week, and then I would beat him the next. It wasn’t until I was in ninth grade (Parker in eighth) that we really started skiing together.  The following two years after that, Parker lived with my mom, little sister, and me at my place at Mt. Snow. After that we both, along with our other homie, Nick Miles, all had the same idea to move out to Mammoth.  Skiing against and now with him, we both have always pushed one another. We were both out to be the best, so if he would do something sick then I would have to top him and then when I would do that it was his turn to top me. It was always and still is a back and forth battle between us, which makes it so much fun.

People may suggest that you broke onto the scene this season.  What was your overall season like?  Where were you?  What tricks were you working on?

PW: (laughs) Naw I don’t know about that but the season was rad.  For the most part I was just chillin’ in Mamm riding park when it was sunny and pow when it snowed.  I took a couple of trips, got to ride Bridger with my brother and dad for a little while, did some filming with Duncan Lake and the Electric homies in Key, and got to go to those park shoots with Level 1 in the spring.  I just was trying to get my right side stuff a little better and keep style in mind.

CL: My season started off in Mammoth. Typical early season hitting rails and little jumps, waiting for the snow to come. We took a trip together to Colorado where we met up with Duncan Lake, Jon Brogan, and Liam Downey to put together an electric edit. Mammoth at the time was working on building a huge half pipe for the snowboard grand prix, so we wanted to go ride some sweet parks and figured there was no better place to go then Summit County. After that we came back to ride Mammoth for a while with the crew (Montage Inc.) and do some filming for our mini movie, “For The Hell Of It”. We took a trip back home to the east coast at the end of March to compete in a few events back there and see some friends that we grew up skiing with. After that we came back to Mam where we were just planning on skiing the rest of the spring, until we got an email from Berman inviting us to join the Level 1 crew up at Alpine Meadows for a park shoot. We were both so excited to head up there and get a chance to shred with some of the best skiers in the industry right now. Everything at Alpine went real well so we were lucky enough to tag along and join them at the Sun Valley shoot as well as the Mammoth shoot. I was really trying to work on my right game this season, along with getting a few doubles because nowadays in skiing it seems like you need at least one to have a fighting chance with everyone else. Overall I would say it was an amazing season.

Darhkness

Who or what influences your own skiing?

PW: I like Candide’s style.  And some dudes in skateboarding like David Gonzalez and Brent Atchley.

CL: I would have to say that everyone who I ski with, the whole Montage Inc. crew influences my skiing. Parker and I are the young guys in the crew so we both look up to those guys for new tricks to do, and tips on how to make our skiing better. They are never afraid to tell us that something looks good or not so when we do something and they are stoked on it really gets us pumped up.

What plans for the summer?  What are your plans for next season?

PW: Right now I am camping and skiing in Hood.  Next season just want to film with Montage and Level 1 hopefully put out a nice segment with both.

CL: My plan for the summer is to work security and ride at Camp of Champions. The lane is so good this year and just filled top to bottom with some real fun features so it should be a real good summer. Next season I hope to do some more filming with the Level 1 guys, maybe try to get into the backcountry with them a bit. I am going to keep living and filming in Mammoth with the crew and trying to put out some quality edits. I really want to try and qualify for the Dew Tour as well. After growing up and competing in slopestyle events I really like the pressure it puts on you. Only getting two runs or so to stomp your hardest tricks, it makes you have to be on it.

How did you get involved with Level 1?  How was your experience filming with Level 1 this season?

PW: Last year Jimbo Morgan gave Berman a call and got Darhkness (Chris Logan) and I involved in the Mammoth Shoot.  This year they gave me a call and invited me to some park shoots at the end of the year.  It was pretty insane filming with Level 1.  We got to hit some really creative features with a notorious crew.

CL: I got involved with Level 1 through having amazing team managers. Matt Rihm from Rossignol and Jimbo Morgan with Electric and Skullcandy are the main reasons why I am here.  I guess they bugged Berman, Decker, and Freedle enough to get us a chance to ride with those guys, so when we got that chance we took it and ran with it. My experience with those guys couldn’t have been better. The whole crew was so nice to us and they are so much fun to ski with. They all kill it super hard and are always stoked which makes it easy to have fun and just shred.

Parker White © Mark Oliver 2010

Speaking of this season, many of our fans have been tuned-in to the hype surrounding the Sun Valley park shoot, and the Transfer Gap in particular.  Can you share with our readers your experiences at the Sun Valley shoot?  How was the jump?  What do you remember most from the session?

PW: Yeah that was the biggest jump I have ever hit.  Big ups to Peter Columbo though, and the whole Sun Valley park crew for that matter, for how big the jump was – it was super smooth.  I don’t know if any one thing really stood out.  Everyone killed it the whole session and it was a good vibe the whole time.

CL: Sun Valley was amazing. The jump that Pete built for us was unbelievable. It was so big you probably could have seen it from space. The whole town was so nice and welcomed us all like we grew up riding there. The jump was definitely intimidating, 110 feet to the deck was scary enough, let alone the fact that there was a huge gap between the jump and the landing.  It was like floating when you came off the thing because you had so much air time. What I remember most was Tom’s double ten, huge rodeo 5, and P White with the biggest front flip and zero that I have every seen.

Any sneak peek into what viewers will witness from you two in our upcoming film, Eye Trip?

PW: (laughs) don’t even know man.  Hopefully something cool.

CL: They will see some carving off jumps followed by some grabbing of our tails. Other then that they will just have to watch the movie to get a real idea of everything that went down.

Keep an eye out for these two young guns in our upcoming film, Eye Trip.

Its almost June and the summer activities are in full swing. Yesterday morning was a fishing adventure on the Columbia river then the afternoon spent on the mountain bike, railing high speed single track on The Dewdney and Oasis. Oddly enough its still snowing and the tops of the mountains are caked with freshies. This means that if you’re so inclined, you can still ski lines. Some of my favorite skiers / mountain men went on an expedition last week in the Rockys and got it good. Here’s a little slide show Rubens put together from their trip. Well done boys!

I

On Thursday, I ruined the first pair of skis. My treasured Katanas, favorite pair ever, sheared apart when I strapped them sticking too far out from the sled. The tails caught in the snow when I rode through a steep ditch, ripping the heelpieces right off the skis, breaking the plates in half and leaving the topsheets warped and little fiberglass hairs sticking out every which way. Ouch …

The next day, I scraped up my car — a super shiny Subaru Outback that is probably my other most favorite possession — on a hidden cement block pulling into the Base II lot at Blackcomb. But Kevin the Volkl rep had brought me a new pair of skis, and SnowCovers had mounted them up for me. So as I backed away from the cement to the sound of my passenger side door crunching, I thought: Oh well. I can deal with the car later. I have skis! I’m going skiing!

I made three glorious laps of Spanky’s and Teetering with my friend Brian. Feeling good on the new skies, I was getting stoked for the following day of filming. Stuff is just stuff, I reminded myself. At the time, I thought I was just having one of those weeks where somebody is trying to tell you, “Don’t get too attached to material possessions.” (And, “Watch out for cement blocks, dummy!”)

Saturday began in an exhilarating fashion, although any time I am on a snowmobile is exhilarating because I’m usually hanging on for dear life. We were headed up a valley in between Whistler and Squamish to check out some hopefully still-untouched lines. The first part was on cat roads, which I can handle, but then we got into some tricky uphill terrain. I kept getting sucked to one side or the other and not quite making it up, so I’d have to pull a Hail Mary and turn around without getting stuck. Then I’d drive back down like a grandma and execute an embarrassingly wide circle at the bottom before making my second (or third, or fourth) attempt.

Luckily, Scott Gaffney (a fellow sled novice) and I were accompanied by Rory Bushfield and Jeff Patterson, both experts and extremely patient guys. They would ride ahead and scout the route for us. We finally arrived at a beautiful perch overlooking several terrain features and the hazily lit valley all the way back to Whistler and beyond.

I

Nothing was really jumping out for me to ski, but with a little time and some prompting from Gaffney, it was determined that Rory would shuttle me over to ski a warm-up run through a chute just opposite us. On the way to the line, I wanted to look at an air that we had seen from a far. I thought the landing would be too flat, but when I saw it close up, it looked good to go. So I skied the warm-up chute and Rory easily tandem-ed me back up to the top for the air. After some fiddling around and more inspecting, I was ready to drop.

The snow was a bit wind-hammered on the few turns before the air, so I made a single sliding turn, spotted the take-off and I pointed it. But I got a little bit off-balanced in the air, and I hit harder than I expected. So I started to tomahawk, just like I’ve done so many times before. Except for this time, it hurt — immediately, and bad. I was pretty sure it was my Achilles, but there was no sense in freaking out; we still had to get out of there. And besides, maybe I had just injured my calf muscle. I hoped for that as Rory skied a few more lines and we started the process of snowmobiling out.

I was making fine progress sitting down and only crying a little, mostly when no one was looking — it hurt! But as long as I didn’t have to use the lower half of my right leg, I could still stand up a bit. This method worked just fine until I didn’t quite make it up the biggest hill. Rather than plunge off the cornice and back down to the bottom, I parked it and waited for Rory to help get it to the top before climbing back on and starting the sled. I gunned it but it didn’t go. I fiddled with the key a bit and revved it again — nothing. I looked over and saw Rory pantomiming to remove the parking break. Duh! What a moron. I switched it off and started after them.

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Half a kilometer later, I noticed some smoke rising from the engine. Steam from melting snow? I wondered for a brief blissful second before I saw the flames. I totally panicked. Screaming, I limped as fast as I could away from the sled in the direction I came from. I got out my radio and alternated screaming into the sky and into the radio and both, in utter hysterics as the snowmobile — which until that moment had not belonged to me –burst into flames. In under a minute, the whole thing was fully engulfed in flames. It was a massive bonfire of metal and plastic & as well as my second pair of Katanas, fanned by the increasing wind.

Scott finally arrived on the other side of the burning machine and instantly got out his camera; Rory got there and rode over to where I was and just started laughing, which got me laughing in between crying fits. We rode over to Scott, who said, “Sorry. And I’m sorry about your second pair of skis.” I was like, “Yeah, me too. And I’m sorry about your ski boots,” which reminded him that he had left them tied in a bag on the back of my sled. Oops!

We waited for the sled to burn to the ground for a few hours before collecting the pieces and dragging them out behind Bushey’s sled (”Sarah just loves it when I bring junk home,” he remarked, ever the optimist) at a glacial pace with him insisting that I sit down for comfort. Scott drove behind us and picked up the remnants we dropped all the way to the trailhead.

Total destruction tally in 72 hours: Two pairs skis and bindings, one pair of ski boots, one snowmobile, one passenger side car door, and one Achilles tendon. But the stuff is just stuff, the tendon is healing, and there have been several silver linings out of the whole experience, like spending lots of good time with family and friends while laid up. Learning from Bushfield that in some tough situations, all you can do is just laugh? Priceless.

Super G is not a ‘pro skier’. He’s an awesome skier and totally loves it, a lifer per say, but he’s no McIntosh. All I’m saying is maybe there’s a chance that a few of us ‘expert’ skiers could one day experience some of the turns that Super G captured in his latest mindblower of a POV video.

Dan Treadway’s blog has been firing with great stories of his recent ski and sled adventures. He’s very good at what he does and has an amazing view on life.  Dan lives the dream naturally and likes it in Haines, must be a good spot.

Words and photos from Dan

I’ve never been to Haines but have heard nothing but good things. I can see why, as I drive in the sun is setting and there are alpine glow lit spines stretching as far as the eye can see. Like the rest of the chugach the mountains stick straight up from glaciers and the ocean shores. I had no idea where to ride, so the plan was to just ask around. We cleared Us customs and after answering 30 mins of ?? about how good the snow was in Valdez, where we skied and sledded, how sick Travis Rices run was at King of the hill, etc? The customs guard gave me the full run down of where to ride in town, which turned out to be some amazing beta.

When I got to town I went to the bar to get a second opinion on riding zones. The place was on fire with people pounding drinks and celebrating some of the best skiing of all time. It was apparent that we needed to get in the heli. Tom Wayes hooked me up with SEABA heli. I spent a morning flying to some of the coolest terain I’ve ever seen. After a few days of sled and ski in the craziest place in the world I needed to get on the ferry. Tom convinced me to risk missing it and going out to the range and blasting off over 300 rounds thru his AR15. I think I’m moving here next year!!!

White in tru AK style

Imagine that you’re actually Sage for a few minutes… Think about it… You’re in your prime as a bad ass skier and have tons of valuable mountain experience under your belt. You’re so deep ‘in the zone’ that you can chill and shred big mountain faces in alaska no problem… You’re stoked and you even have Rasta vision