I went up to Thompson Pass for the King of the Hill and Tailgate Alaska (I ended up getting 4th place behind Travis Rice, Rob Kingwell, and Scotty Lago) and got to check out some REAL mountains.  I had both my 164 Flagship as well as my 161 Solution.  I’ll be honest; it felt a little weird using the Solution with so many gas guzzling machines scurrying past me and flying over me.

So I stayed off the sled highway whenever I could, cranked my tunes, and enjoyed the sh** out of the plentiful scenic views.

Aside from the excellent exercise and enjoyable views, I also benefitted from all the time I spent looking at the competition venue for the King of the Hill as I skinned past it, getting a really good feeling for the size of,  and distance between features.  Here I am with the venue behind me.  My two lines are right above my left shoulder.

I took advantage of the easy sled access and got a few more laps in, shooting some photos with Jeff Hawe (check out his gallery on ESPN).  It’s really amazing how high the sledders can get; I overheard a pilot say that he landed on a really high peak and there was a guy in jeans drinking a beer on his snowmobile on the same peak!  This was a fun face, albeit a bit short.  I aired off one of the rocks right below the peak.

It’s so inspiring and motivating to get into the big mountains up there!  Sick lines and terrain features everywhere!  Needless to say, both boards felt at home up here.