G Routine

After a fun evening hanging out with the local Valdezians, we awoke to almost totally blue skis. We were packed, ready to go and out the door at 8:00am. Today was probably one of my top all-time ski days.

Nothing like touring the Chugach with the legendary Dean Cummings. Amazing pace and a great variety of runs today. A little deep, ultra blower powder, some nice long chutes, and some of the steepest terrain I've ever skied in my life.

Here's a couple photo's from the day.

Here's a shot of Harvey in the helicopter on the ride out. It's almost more of a self-portrait with the reflection in his goggles.

At the bottom of our first run, we looked up to see the shelf of our second run. We landed the heli on top where the black arrow is pointing.

This is what the same run looks like from the top. Can you say amazing?

Dean Cummings shows Matt Harvey his line and where to stop.

Here's after Harvey skied it.

The above image is the view of the mountains from the top of our 4th run. A super long blower pow run over a bunch of rollers down through a bunch of crevasses. The next couple shots are all of the same run, until the last image which is of the same mountain range but on the glacier bottom.

We trade off each run on who gets to go first. Here's the first turns of the run.

This is the view looking up the run we just skied down. Scale and perspective are so different in AK. Things that look small are actually twice as big as they seem.

And this last image is from the pick-up zone on the glacier, pointing towards the same peaks as the image previously.

I didn't post the image here, but we skied some super steep true Alaska terrain today. The kind you hear about and see in the movies, about 50-55 degrees. Dean our guide told us before we dropped in, "this is serious guys, hands out in front, take your time, don't make a turn unless you are 110% sure you're going to make it, and whatever you do, this is not a place to fall. This is the real deal." I'll post the image in the gallery or maybe in the final blog post for this trip. Don't worry Mom, we're being really careful and safe.

The mountains are so big and beautiful it's absolutely mystifing. We skied approximately 25,000 vertical feet in 6 runs. We were done by with our daily quota by 1:00 pm. More to come.

Posted by Gary at 08:21 PM | Permalink

There isn't a whole lot going on up in Alaska, but that is exactly the point. I am lucky enough to be included in a Valdez Heli trip at H20 with Freeskier Magazine. The crew is a fun bunch, composed of: Matt Harvey (editor), Luke Blaser (ad guy), Gabe (Scott USA), and Jimbo Morgan (Olympic Medalist, Electric, Skullcandy dude) and myself.

We arrived in Anchorage, rented an RV and drove to Valdez. Fun road trip of looking out over the mountains and seeing the scenery. After six hours of cruising the roads captain Blazer brought us into the Valdez port. We checked in, got a briefing and then did our beacon searches. Long day of getting up at 4:30am to bed at a little past midnight.

Next morning we were on weather hold for a while, then got up and flew for the afternoon and logged some runs. Half of the fun is just riding in the helicopters, banking turns, taking off, and coming in for landings. Some impressive landings on top of very small LZ's.

Then today we got in a few more runs until it got super milky and we had to huff it out on a glacier. Polling out of the glacier was actually pretty fun. The mountains, the vastness of it all, and the thrill of landing on huge peaks keeps my blood pumping. Today we had the legend himself, Dean Cummings, as our guide.

These are just a few pics from the last couple days. I have a ton more and will put some together in my gallery when the trip is done.

Can you see the guy in the picture skiing? Hard to tell as the light was getting bad by now.

Posted by Gary at 04:41 PM | Permalink

The only way to solve a problem is to identify it. To discuss the problem openly. Through debate and discussion to find a solution that may be heated at times, but earns one another's respect in the end. Part of the problem facing American politics is the media. The nit picking of issues to spark drama instead of substance. Their need to debate and continually discuss insignificant matters like a high school altercation of 'he said, she said" instead of weighing in on issues of substance. As they did on picking only controversial content by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

The speech Barack Obama gives goes a long way in addressing the issue of race in America. I hope he continues in this fashion and finds time to address the failings of the media to not just entertain but to educate its viewers on matters of importance. I believe that if media changed their methodology and provided intellectual content they would see an increase in ratings as well as be providing a much needed service.

If you missed Obama's speech I encourage you to view it here. Regardless of whether or not you like him or plan on voting for him, this is something outside of the political race for the Presidency, and just something we should all learn and address as individuals.

Posted by Gary at 01:50 PM | Permalink

I'm soft. But I think I'm okay with that. I enjoy watching movies that make me feel good. Pure escapism, where somebody achieves the impossible, finds love, is funny and makes me laugh, or mostly inspires me or provides some sort of hope.

There are a lot of film categories like drama, comedy, action and documentaries but where's the 'feel good' films section? What prompted this topic was watching the film August Rush. It was a little sappy and all over the place, but overall pretty enjoyable. It's not going to win any academy awards, its just a nice film. It got me thinking about all the 'nice' films that should be lumped together.

I made a quick list. It's interesting to find some actors seem to be in more feel good films than others. I wonder if they are sold to actors as such. Here's my quick list:

01. August Rush
02. Green Mile
03. Finding Forester
04. What Dreams May Come
05. Little Miss Sunshine
06. Good Will Hunting
07. Jerry Maguire
08. Garden State
09. Dan in Real Life
10. Wedding Crashers
11. Scent of a Woman
12. Big
13. Dead Poets Society
14. Meet Joe Black
15. Hitch
16. Pay It Forward
17. Rudy
18. Patch Adams
19. Under the Tuscan Sun
20. Strictly Ballroom
21. Rushmore
22. Somethings Gotta Give
23. Bucket List
24. As Good As It Gets
25. Purple Violets
26. It's A Wonderful Life
27. Shawshank Redemption
28. American Beauty
29. K-Pax
30. Pleasantville
31. Remember The Titans
32. Say Anything
33. The Pursuit of Happiness
34. Once
35. Million Dollar Baby
36. Shrek
37. Cars
38. Ratatuille
39. The Wedding Date
40. Swingers
41. Pretty in Pink
42. Erin Brockovich
43. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
44. Superbad
45. Martian Child
46. The Cider House Rules
47. Tootsie
48. Good Luck Chuck
49. Spanglish
50. Sleepless In Seattle

And the list could go on and on. But there's just a few off the top of my head in no particular order. What would your list consist of? Do you like feel good films?

Posted by Gary at 08:37 AM | Permalink

I could wait no longer. The new 16 GB Apple iPhone came out and I just had to have one. I have envied friends with their hand-held computers that happen to also make phone calls since the first one came out. It's amazing I made it this long, limping ahead with a blackberry Pearl. I am afflicted with instant gratification syndrome.

The iPhone is truly a revolutionary device. I only know how to use some of its features, but learning new capabilities every day. Go pick yourself up one today, it's an eye opening experience.

Posted by Gary at 10:53 AM | Permalink