Below is a journal entry describing one of many afternoon storm sessions.

4/14 4/14 Standing on top of a 400 ft steep sled hill with Travis Rice to my left and Tom Burt to my right I am giddy with excitement and fear.  The look on there faces tell me they are equally gripped. This is because of what is below our feat; a Turkish “Las Board,” a No-Board and a splitboard in ski mode. Moments before I pushed my snowboard turned  ski’s over the blind rollover into the white abyss. The consequences of a lost board made the seconds stand still as I waited for my ski to reappear from the blind roll.

Now it is the moment of truth.  Am I tripping to think I can ride Alaska on a glorified toboggan?  I press on my front foot and let myself pick up speed over the blind roll and I begin to fly.  I feel solid as a rock and lay into a couple of big turns that cause me to get engulfed by the deep, blower snow.  I ride up to my ski’s and fall over with gut busting laughter.  This is repeated run after run by all of us as we trade out tools.

By switching our tools we turned this small glacier roll into a memorable session.  There is over 50 years of snowboard experience between the three of us and we are as stoked as ever.  It shows the power of the turn.  We have been feeling it on new tools and it is taking us back to our youth when we freaked out on our local sled hills.

The cover to my journal

Travis and I would have to shovel every few hours to keep from losing the tent.

The big tent was our living room and kitchen. We could all fit in here no problem. Tom and Gary play cards while Rice watches.

Navigating through the glacier in a white out was a good challenge. Tom Leads the way while Travis and myself follow.

Tom and Travis moments from dropping into the unknown.

Tom Burt catches a break on our "Town Hill" and sends it on the "Las Board." We averaged about four dark and deep face shots a run. Those go a long way when waiting out a storm.

Travis Rice enjoying the fruits of his labor. I was stuck in town for the 10 day storm. While I was gone Travis and Jonaven had the dug the biggest sbow cave I have ever seen.

The full view

Travis's energy and stoke level remained sky high through the storms.

We have been hammering the snow-pack  hard the last couple of days and have seen no activity.  Our multiple pits also concluded we had a bomber snow pack.  With a big storm in the forecast I knew today may be my only chance to get this line before the stability changed. The other factor was heating.  I had to traverse a west face with multiple cornices looming over head.  My plan was to start the traverse/hike early in the day when everything was locked in and crusted over.

I left my final island of safety at 11:30AM  and the race was on.  At exactly at 2:00PM I was standing on top of my line just as the first rays of light hit the face.  By 3:30PM I was back to my safe spot.  The whole process took about 20 well thought out steps but with proper planning I was able to mitigate my hazards.

It was a huge physical test because I was racing the clock and there was no real safe spots to rest so I was forced sprint most of the hike.  I was exposed for over 4 hours and the physical and mental test was like nothing I have felt before.

The anti was way up today and I have never felt that small in my life.  It was great to have Tom backing me up today and reconfirming that I was not crossing the line of good judgement.

The was the first good look I got at the face. I started my hike from the saddle traversing the sun/shadow ridge and on up to the lookers right peak.

Earlier in the day Johan, photog Dan Milner and Jonaven left do to fears of being stuck out for another 10 day storm and to restock camp.

Enjoying the view of Mount Fairweather and taking a breather before setting out for an afternoon of exposure.

The key to riding this line was hiking it in the shade. Check the ocean in the lower right.

The last 200 ft was so steep I had watch from knocking my teeth out on the edge of my board. If it was not for my verts I would have had to turn back.

We fought off weather through the day and at times it seemed like I was going to loose the battle. I kept pushing on because I knew this would be the last chance to ride this safely. Just as I reached my final island of safety the weather final closed in around us.

The trip was an experiment with a lot of question marks going into it and I am proud to say that it was a total success.  We road world class lines in unexplored mountains with out the use of a helicopter. Living in the mountains at the base of our objectives gave me an intimacy with my surroundings that I have never felt before.  We knew every layer of the snow-pack before we even went out because we lived threw the storms.  It seemed like everyday I was learning something new in the mountains and doing things I have never done before.

We consistently had to back down on lines waiting for the right conditions because hiking the lines from the bottom up left no room for error.  For the big lines we would be exposed for 3 to 5 hours as we hiked up the faces we would ride.  With a heli you can limit your exposure to minutes.

Now I am in “shock” mode as I settle back into society.  I will role out some journal entries and pics as time permits.  Below is some highlights and a few pics from the first two days of filming.

-12 ft of snow fell while we were camped on the ice. (a 10 day storm, and a 5 day storm)

-We ate 100 pounds of Clif Products.

-Filmer Garry Pendergrass wins the “Toughest Bastard Award” for lasting the whole month in camp.

-Travis Rice was the MVP.  Putting in 25 days with non stop energy and stoke.

-Tom Burt is truly the God Father of Big Mountain Riding and a huge reason for our success.

-Jonaven Moore is my favorite person in the world to ride with.

-I had 31 runs

-Hiked 30,000  vertical feet.

-Rode 17 out of 18 days.  (I missed the 10 day storm for Shane’s Funeral….Thanks Shane!)

-Climbed 3 major unnamed peaks and rode world epic lines off them.

-Named the biggest and baddest one Mount McConkey

It took about an hour to get up and going. Soft boots turned into froozen ski boots in the morning. By the end of the trip we were getting up at 4 AM to hit our morning lines. TB, Johan and Rice warming up and waking up.

Rice came out of the gates firing. This was his first line of the trip and one of the better lines I have ever seen him hit. His year in Jackson has payed off.

We were all ridng with two to three times heavier packs then normal. (About 25lbs.) This was the hardest part but we got use to it. TB's pack was over 40 pounds but it did not effect him once he got into the steeps.

It was awesome to be back in the mountains with Johan. It was the first time in years that I have seen him really amping on snowboarding again. Later in the day I got a good line off the highest peak to the right.

Jonaven moments away from a serious triple air sluff racing line.

T Rice making the first track count on this crevace gap. This was the second half of double line that started with a cliff drop to spine wall.

Mid day refueling at camp while the light switches from the North East to the NorthWest faces.

Waiting my turn as Jonaven tunnels his way up a sketchy section over exposure.

The view from above. This is the Stranline glacier and is 30 miles long.

Kalama makes his way into another world.

Laird and Dave in the big cave.

The entrance to Superman’s private stock of cryptonite

The floor of this cave was a fine sand.  This would be a cool place to camp.

Don King is the master of shooting surfing form underwater. This may be why he jumped at the oppertunity to get under the ice.

I was definitely a little intimidated to meet him but that changed quickly.  He is a really down to earth and very out going person that makes anyone in his presence feel comfortable.

The icing on the cake was that this was all going down in the Tordrillo Mountains in Alaska.  I was lucky enough to spend three weeks here two years ago and I have been trying hard to get back.  They are a much bigger range then anything I have ridden before in Alaska.  The closest road is 150 miles away and Denali sits 30 miles away to the east.   This has made these mountains some of the most untouched mountains in Alaska.  The thing that excites me the most is that the scale of the mountains ranges from small and manageable mini golf to triple XL lines that on the right day could be rippable.  We are not on the triple XL hunt on this trip but I will be back this spring for some big game hunting.

The set up. Lodge, Heli, Hot Tub, and Suana. The Tordrillo Mountain Lodge is in a leagu of its own for Alaska Heli Skiing.

Laird could not wait to get to the lodge and cut a swimming hole into the lake by the sauna.

THis time of year the days are short. This was our first morning at the lodge looking out at Mt Spur. It is 8:30 AM and the sun is just rising.

Dave Kalama is one of the nicest guys in the world. He grew up in Mammoth and is really strong on his ski's.

Dave still going.

By the afternoon we had found good snow and started ramping it up to bigger lines. This was my best line of the day. I managed to cross court the lower spine to the right and float a fun backside air.

Most of Laird's riding has been in Alaska and it shows. He is really good at spotting lines and very comfortable moving around the mountains. He snowboards with the same power and strength that he surfs with.

This is the start of the really crazy terrain and the zone that has had me day dreaming for years of the possibilities.

Sunset

Take your pick. Everything is in. This is shot from the road.

Donner Lake. I swim and paddle board in this lake all summer long.

The below photos are by Chris Gallardo from splitboard.com

Jeremy

Jeremy sets the booter to the next pitch.

On to a different zone, Ryland Bell gets his pow slash on.

Jeremy spies a spine line.

And nails it perfect, including the air at the end.

Ryland

Jeremy

After two days of riding powder in the trees the storm finally passed.  We were on it early and much to my surprise we were going to compete even though the avi conditions seemed a bit high.  Rolling up to the face in the arctic morning light I was impressed on the venue selection.  Not because it was this insane huge face, but because it was the perfect fit for the conditions.  A small face, good outrun, and lots of islands of safety.

It was hard to focus hiking up the face.  Every direction I looked left my head spinning with the endless sea of mountains that faded into the horizon.   Every other line seemed to crack today.  My face cut loose the second I got on the face.  Luckily I had a good plan that allowed me to abort from the rocky zone and ride the small slide threw the rocks and safely into the flats.

Rap up.

Being on the Big Mountain Pro is like signing up for the most insane road trip through the alps with a handful of world class riders.  We seem to get it more and more dialed each year.  The contest days were a bit of a struggle with either poor snow or mellow faces but that is often the case with freeriding.  The days when the big faces are both safe and powder are few and far between.  We did however get in a ton of ridning and had incredible experiences.

Check the results at www.bigmountainpro.com

Europe

When Europe is good there is no better place in the world to ride.  There is hundreds of resorts that see very little traffic on or off piste.  We were there during the busy season but we had days of all day lift serviced powder.  Looking around you can get lost in the possibilities.  If there is not a lift close buy then there is probably a hut to sleep in.  Below a visual tour of the mountains we passed threw on our seven day tour through the alps.

Tropical Trees

Everyone stayed in houses in this village. We would meet the bus at the church every morning to take us to the goods.

There seems to be a village tucked up every valley. They Avi fences, barriers, and tunnels are all over the place.

One line in particular that caught my attention my very first time up the Snowbird Tram 12 years ago (and has not lost it)  is the Hypodermic Needle.  The 6 to 8 hour approach that seemed impossible a few years ago no longer does now.  TGR filmer Pete O’Brien gave me the call that things had stabilized and the Needle was ready.

An 8 hour Desert crossing in my fancy Ford Focus and few hours of sleep later I find myself booting up at the base of the climb at 4AM in total darkness.  With in minutes my mostly a sleep body is forced to negotiating a sketchy river crossing.  “If I fall in I am going back to bed”  I tell myself,  half wishing I do.

Halfway up a 3400ft chute I look back and realize this would not be a good place to fall... asleep.

Ward leading the charge threw the crux. Every sick mountain has a few world class freeriders. Ward is Snowbird's version. You will not see them in the mags or movie's but they are legit. By working double time in the summer they can ride all winter and it shows.

The top of the crux. 3400ft hiked before sunrise. You can see the car lights from the road below. This is by far the most direct 3400ft gain I have ever had from the car. It is right around here that I started seeing my surroundings for the first time and waking up.

Although we had been hiking for 5 hours the final hour and a half up the ridge was the easiest thanks to the power of the sun. Ward soaks in the Vitamin D.

The Reward in the upper right. A 2400ft straight down chute. The combination of Endorphins and Adrenaline was too much for me to handle. I ended up pointing the second half of the chute and redlining in fifth gear. Coming out the bottom I skipped trying to dump speed and ended up doing three top speed cartwheels. This resulted in a broken pack strap, broken camel back tube, ripping the strap and the lens out of my goggles, losing a glove and suffering my first "huck" neck of the season. Thankfully I still had 3500 vertical feet of powder below to heal my aching body.