So you've probably been hearing a lot about The Levitation Project over the years. Vids, teams, logos, design, artwork, magazines, and on and on and on. Well now, after much anticipated waiting, the online store is up. Buy something or don't. Whatever, we don't care. But if you like shredding or playing Seek and Destroy hop on over to...

The Levitation Project Shop


oh and I do suggest the base layer shorts. Quite dandy if you ask me.

Revelstoke, British Columbia: Picture Essay

Before I tell the story behind a recent trip to Revelstoke, I wanted to simply highlight some of the scenery and landscapes of interior British Columbia. The views alone are worth the trip.

Wanna Go Heli-Shredding with Elyse and I?

(x-post from www.elysesaugstad.com)



This coming March Chugach Powder Guides is hosting an Epic Athlete Experience with Elyse and I! I am very excited to have this opportunity. We get to go heli-skiing with clients, not as guides but as athletes. We will be based out of Girdwood and there is a 5 day or 7 day package available. I think Girdwood is one of the best possible situations for heli-skiing for so many reasons. First off, Girdwood is one of the coolest towns in Alaska, with lots of good restaurants (Double Musky here I come!) and interesting people to mingle with. Secondly, if we can't fly we get to go Snowcat skiing. CPG recently opened 500 more acres for cat skiing in addition to upgrading to a new, super posh cat. I actually got to experience this cat skiing last winter. It was a blast and totally worthy! Thirdly, there is Alyeska Resort, one of the best ski resorts in the world, at your disposal for down days as well. But down days in Girdwood with CPG are fairly rare, only once has a group been unable to get in a helicopter in their 13 year history. No other heli-operation in Alaska has it this good! If this is something that interests you click here to view more info on the CODY TOWNSEND & ELYSE SAUGSTAD HELI-SKI EXPERIENCE. Hopefully we'll being seeing you there...

Introducing the 2010/2011 Salomon El Dictator

El Dictator
Size: 194
(wussies need not read further because this is the only size offered)
Dimensions: 134 x 114 x 124
Characteristics: 300mm Tip Rocker, Flat Square Tail, Full Woodcore







The story:

So the inspiration for the ski came from the head freeride ski designer Lionel Favret. He said to Kaj Zackrisson and I one day, "We will build a ski for you. We wouldn't want to send you two into a Formula 1 race with a Citroen, so the ski is as you wish. Build your Formula 1 ski".
The excitement to build a ski one-hundred percent from scratch, as I wanted to build the ski was nearly over-whelming. But once I settled down the conception process was an easy one. It's something I've been dreaming of for years upon years.

I wanted something that withstand the rigor of hard-charging, variable conditions while still combining some of the pleasurable elements of recent ski design with regards to effortless pow skiing. And I wanted it to stomp cliffs, biiiggg cliffs.

So the design you see above is what we came up with. Now let me tell you why we picked the design we did.

Size: 194 cm. We wanted something that had the long turning, hard charging capabilities of the 202 XW Lab but with a bit shorter length for more versatility and tighter turning proficiency. Hence a pretty damn big ski but not overwhelming length by any means.

Dimensions: 134 x 114 x 124. We stayed with a similar radius to the Rocker because that radius is a great radius for long super-G turns, a non-hooky feeling in pow and butterability in the deep. We wanted 114 underfoot because we estimated that 114 is a great width to still sink the skis when landing big airs but still staying afloat while ripping turns. When you get past the 120 underfoot range landings become a bit harder and more jolting because the skis don't sink into the snow and utilize the cushion of the snow to soften your landing.

300mm Tip Rocker. Because rocker rules. It's the only way to achieve effortless flotation in pow. We stuck with a minimal amount of rocker to allow the ski to still be easily manageable in super variable conditions. I'm sure most have felt what a lot of rocker feels like on crud and windboard, and I'm sure none of you like that tip slapping and chattering feeling that a lot of rocker supplies in those conditions.

Flat Tail. Because even though some say there is no reason to not have a twin tip on all skis, I feel like I've found a reason. And that is that twin tips tend to wheelie and squirrel out on big air landings. Square, flat tails sink so well into landings that stomping becomes a breeze. I've definitely found that flat tails are essential for those huge hucks.

Woodcore. Because we wanted it stiffff. And stiff this ski is. The tail is adamn 2 x 4 and punches through nearly all conditions. The tip still has some nice poppy characteristics and isn't a brick, but the tail, g'damn it's like a teenager at a strip-club stiff.

Overall, I got my first prototypes in March of last year and didn't ski a single other ski until park ratting it up in Hood this summer. It's all that I've ever wanted in a ski. And it better be because I fucking designed the goddamn thing!

And here is a little video sample of the El Dictators from Jackson Hole last March. Stompy!

Jackson Hole. South Beach POV.1 Line from Cody Townsend on Vimeo.

And the Winner is....

Well, that didn't work out quite like I had expected. I guess my 'brilliant' and 'challenging' plan was 'witless' and 'effortless'. Sorry. Won't pull a Free-Shit Friday quite like that again. Promise.

So here is what I pledge to do in the melee that ensued right after the genius RHeath correctly answered the query.

RHeath, you get the helmet. You definitely deserve something for getting the answer correctly first and then having the class peak and copy. So congrats smartie! Email me and I'll get the helmet out to you.

For the consolidation prize, I'm sticking to my guns and doing a drawing for the people that correctly copied..errr..answered the question. So to pick the winner I did exactly what I've done in the past videos, but I did everything except without the video. The reason for no video is the fact that I'm in Revelstoke, Canada at a cheap motel with horribly slow wireless. At 5mb video would day a half a day to upload. So you gotta trust me on this one.

So in the drawing....the winner is.... JULIO! So Julio, hit me up via email and I'll get that sweaty out to you.

Thanks for playing guys and gals and look for a new and improved Free-Shit Friday soon.

And just cause posting without a picture is lame, here is a shot that showed up in this month's Photo Gallery in Powder Magazine.

Photo: Chris Bezamat

Free-Shit Friday!!! Round 3.

On this week's edition of Free-Shit Friday we're going to play a little game called 'Name That Peak'.

So just do that. Name that peak! Take a look at two pictures of the same peak below and wage a guess.






Okay, okay, so I understand this game might be a little hard to play for some of you, so here is how it's going to go.

-If you accurately name the peak then you're automatically entered into the final giveaway drawing.

-If a quota of 5 people is not met on the peak-naming issue then the closest people in terms of area will be entered, up to 10 people.

-The order of importance will be: Nearest Ski Resort--> Nearest Town/City--> State/Province--> Country.

So everyone should at least garner a guess for this because who knows if people are going to actually name the peak. You might just get in the top ten with only a 'Country' guess.

And this week's winner will win a Salomon Patrol Helmet. And just for extra incentive I'll throw a Salomon Sweatshirt in the box for good measure.





Get to Guessing!!!

Reminder: Enter your guess in Comments section below.

Skiing on Waves- Behind the Scenes

So now that the video is out and it's getting passed around the internet faster than a joint at a Phish show, it's time to get a little bit behind the scenes of the action.

In order to accurately delve into the world of wave-skiing, I will interview myself. Well technically I'm interviewing myself but most of these questions and comments are plucked right out of internetdom. So here we go, Cody Townsend on Cody Townsend.



Why did you use ski boots and ski bindings?

To put it basically, ski boots and ski bindings were the safest and highest performing set-up we tested, and trust me we tested nearly everything out there. Most waterski, wakeboard and water-centric bindings didn't have the capability to come out of the bindings and skis as easily as ski boots come out of bindings. Nor do the water-centric stuff have nearly the drive and control of a alpine set-up.

Do boots sink like cement shoes or what?

Surprisingly enough ski boots float on their own when tossed into salt water. So no they don't sink you like a mafia boss' enemy.



Why no poles?

Cause how could have we held onto the tow rope with poles in our hands? Skiing on the waves was difficult enough without throwing joysticks into the mix.

Was it difficult?

Extremely. I couldn't have predicted it would have been that difficult at first. It was super awkward at times, really hard to maintain speed and incredibly hard to make rad turns because the design of our skis was so off the mark for enabling good turns and such. But at the same time there were moments when it felt like we were just out skiing down a mellow slope on any ole mountain.

How did the locals react to the endeavor?

Surprisingly the locals on Maui were friendly and supportive of our project. Maui is place that is quite open to innovation in the ocean and the fact that they accepted some fruit booters into the line-up truly proves that.




What skis are those?

We used two main type of skis, Wakeskis and some skis that were custom built for us by Starr Surfskis. They definitely did the trick in the fact that we were able to successfully ride waves but ultimately the designs were waaaayyyy off. If I could scrap it all I would in a second and go through a full redesign. I mean that was the ultimate challenge to the whole project, no one had done it before so we had to figure it out on our own with little time and a slim budget.

When are you doing it next?

Well to be honest probably never. I would definitely give it another go if I had the chance but the logistics and challenges of skiing on waves are pretty immense and costly. Plus we aren't trying to start a new sport here, just seeing if it could be done.



[just because all surf movies have girls in bikinis as B-Roll, I might as well oblige on this post. Elyse looking to the future]

Realizing a dream that started when I was 12 years old. Skiing on waves, why not?

And the Winner is....