With friends like these

...you'll learn to ski pretty good. These are some of my friends. They ski really really good.

Awesome on so many different levels.

There is a reason that the best skiers in the world are obsessed with Alaska. That reason...well, it's hard to explain. Sure I could blast you with the typical superlative skiing adjectives like 'steep', 'spiny', 'powder' and 'epic'. But words don't really encompass the feeling that Alaska imparts on you. I've heard every description of Alaska you could ever think of, and guess what, none of them make me feel, much less reminisce, about the sensation of standing atop an Alaskan peak, skiing down and getting to the bottom. So I apologize for the lack of verbal descriptions, they just aren't gonna cut it. In the meantime, here are some photos from what was likely the best skiing day of my life.

The objective and the method. CPG helping us achieve nirvana.


Warm-Up wall. The first line I skied in AK this year. And by warm-up, this was still a 800' foot wall with a 45 degree pitch. Better than most of the best lines at any ski resort.


Warm-Up Huck. Thought it was a 30 footer. Turned out to be a 60-65 footer. Great warm-up stomp too!


Peak 6500'. The two airs on the right were the closest thing I've ever felt to flying. The 20 foot cliffs on a 50 degree pitch allowed for a sail of up to 60 feet. Pure bliss.


Henrik Windstedt, my partner in crime on this trip slashing some turns with some massive sluff roaring behind. Take note of the big cliff above and to the left of Henrik because...


It turned out to be one of the funnest lines I've ever skied in my life. Super spine, raging sluff and a 60 foot exit air with a perfect landing. It's the line I've been dreaming of skiing for decades.


Oh and check the entrance view to the line before. As if the line wasn't scary enough, the super blind entrance had to make it down right terrifying.


And then the mecca of spine zones. If heaven looks like this I'm going to start going to church.


One of the most beautiful places in the world.


The Crystal Castle. Where would you go?


Heli-Angle fly-by. Seriously exposed and dangerously steep. Yikes!


Well that's where I went.


Edge of the world line. Steep, scary and fun.


Stoked to be in AK with Henrik!


Sun up to sun down.

I've driven through hundreds of times. Been sniffed out by its speed trapping highway patrol. Seen desert for hundreds of miles around. Been glazed over by the monotony of endless highways. Yet never have I taken it for what it really is; a solitary skiing nirvana. Nevada has eluded me. That is until last week.

Joining up with Captain of all things weird, Hans Ludwig, in a state that is personified by the weird became a drive for me that ended up pulling me away from the glory and fame of the Verbier Xtreme in Switzerland. I left the competition early to hop a flight back to Salt Lake City and drive for hours into the unknown. All I knew was that Nevada is the most mountainous state in the continental U.S. and that it occasionally snows there. What I didn't know was the secret that has eluded nearly all skiers for centuries.

The mountains came into view.


The desert can be cruel


But amid the harshness lies our desert encampment. No running water, no electricity, no people, but plenty of snow, 10,000' peaks and a pristine hotspring out the front door made this place more luxurious than any 4 Seasons Resort.


Humans aren't the only survivors out here.


A Las Lenas style 4000' foot descent was our destination.




Unique environments littered with untouched creamy pow was the reward.





The tracks will not be crossed.


Waist deep pow in one of the most beautiful couloirs on the planet.


The golden eye photographer, Jordan Manley.


The curator to the desert oasis and sole guide to 2.3 million acres of Nevada backcountry, B.G. Tackett. One of the raddest dudes on the planet. Thank you B.G.


Nevada is littered with amazing skiing. You just have to know where to look and work a little harder. Or call B.G. he'll show you around.