Apologies for the delay. Here are the pictures (click link to go to flickr) from the weekend sojourn to Norway. Here are a few of them (more after the jump):
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Weekend Update: Norway!
I hope everyone had a great Super Bowl weekend stateside. Mine was a little different than years past as I was running around Norway with some friends of mine from London.
Dan and I flew into Oslo Friday night. Chris and Ana had beaten us there by a few hours. Nothing exciting Friday night as Saturday was going to be a long day. On Saturday morning, we hopped on the metro rail to Voksenkollen. This is what is amazing about Oslo. We were on a commuter train for 20 minutes and were walking distance to a ski resort. Many of the locals we talked to said they go there multiple times each week. Pretty cool lifestyle. A map is worth a thousand words:
View Larger Map
I'll post some pictures later, but the views were amazing. I had only cross-country skied once before, but this was on an entirely different level. When I had tried XC in Utah, it was on a snow covered golf course; not alot of elevation to gain. Skiing here involved going up some fairly extended pitches for 1km at times and then kind of steep downhill segments. On those little classic XC skis, hilarity ensued. Chris and I had each been on these types of skis once before, whereas Ana and Dan were entirely new to the concept. Dan had actually never been on skis before at all. Pretty impressive really.
Our best guess is that we covered about 12-15km the first day with almost none of those being flat. There were moments where we felt entirely alone in the woods and then moments where we were reminded that we were 20 minutes from a major city. Lots of people out skiing with their kids, dogs, spouses, etc. Just a great environment: beautiful scenery and really friendly, fit people everywhere.
We also stopped by to check out the somewhat famous ski jump in Holmenkollen. I had never really gotten a sense for how massive/steep these structures are when you watch on TV, but it is somewhat awe-inspiring. Very slim chance I would go anywhere near that thing on skis.
On Saturday night, we went to the waterfront area of the harbor in downtown Oslo and had some of the local fare. I had 'Roast Beef of Whale' and 'Fersk Torsk' with a local pilsner. The whale was fantastic. The cod? Not so much. We also tried a local variety of chowder that was good. The whale was like a really tender beef and was not as fatty as you might imagine. I'd highly recommend it.
Sunday was more of the same: wandering around a wilderness area with a vague notion of what we were doing. By the end of the day, we were all fairly proficient at cross-country skiing as well as pretending we knew which way we were going.
We negotiated our way into a lukewarm soap-less, towel-less shower at a hostel and then headed to the airport to catch our 9pm flights, but not before grabbing some nachos and pizza to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday on the way. Flight landed a little after 10pm in London and I was asleep well before midnight. Stew stayed up and watched the game (which was apparently great), but an 11pm kickoff is a bit much for me.
In summary, it was a fairly cheap, impromptu trip to a beautiful city. I spent almost every hour of daylight outside and my soul is much better off for the effort. I'll post some pictures later in the week. If they are half as good as I think, there should be some memorable ones worthy of a desktop wallpaper.
skål! ("skoal")
Dan and I flew into Oslo Friday night. Chris and Ana had beaten us there by a few hours. Nothing exciting Friday night as Saturday was going to be a long day. On Saturday morning, we hopped on the metro rail to Voksenkollen. This is what is amazing about Oslo. We were on a commuter train for 20 minutes and were walking distance to a ski resort. Many of the locals we talked to said they go there multiple times each week. Pretty cool lifestyle. A map is worth a thousand words:
View Larger Map
I'll post some pictures later, but the views were amazing. I had only cross-country skied once before, but this was on an entirely different level. When I had tried XC in Utah, it was on a snow covered golf course; not alot of elevation to gain. Skiing here involved going up some fairly extended pitches for 1km at times and then kind of steep downhill segments. On those little classic XC skis, hilarity ensued. Chris and I had each been on these types of skis once before, whereas Ana and Dan were entirely new to the concept. Dan had actually never been on skis before at all. Pretty impressive really.
Our best guess is that we covered about 12-15km the first day with almost none of those being flat. There were moments where we felt entirely alone in the woods and then moments where we were reminded that we were 20 minutes from a major city. Lots of people out skiing with their kids, dogs, spouses, etc. Just a great environment: beautiful scenery and really friendly, fit people everywhere.
We also stopped by to check out the somewhat famous ski jump in Holmenkollen. I had never really gotten a sense for how massive/steep these structures are when you watch on TV, but it is somewhat awe-inspiring. Very slim chance I would go anywhere near that thing on skis.
On Saturday night, we went to the waterfront area of the harbor in downtown Oslo and had some of the local fare. I had 'Roast Beef of Whale' and 'Fersk Torsk' with a local pilsner. The whale was fantastic. The cod? Not so much. We also tried a local variety of chowder that was good. The whale was like a really tender beef and was not as fatty as you might imagine. I'd highly recommend it.
Sunday was more of the same: wandering around a wilderness area with a vague notion of what we were doing. By the end of the day, we were all fairly proficient at cross-country skiing as well as pretending we knew which way we were going.
We negotiated our way into a lukewarm soap-less, towel-less shower at a hostel and then headed to the airport to catch our 9pm flights, but not before grabbing some nachos and pizza to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday on the way. Flight landed a little after 10pm in London and I was asleep well before midnight. Stew stayed up and watched the game (which was apparently great), but an 11pm kickoff is a bit much for me.
In summary, it was a fairly cheap, impromptu trip to a beautiful city. I spent almost every hour of daylight outside and my soul is much better off for the effort. I'll post some pictures later in the week. If they are half as good as I think, there should be some memorable ones worthy of a desktop wallpaper.
skål! ("skoal")
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Pillow Skiing Made Easy
I'm not sure where Mica Heliskiing is (ok, I looked it up, its in British Columbia of course), but wow does this video make me want to go. I've never even tried skiing the pillows like these guys do, but they make it look really easy. I was really glad to see the clips of them falling to prove they are mortal. (Hat tip Adventure Journal)
Deep - Mica Heliskiing from Switchback Entertainment on Vimeo.
Deep - Mica Heliskiing from Switchback Entertainment on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
aBradAbroad in Steamboat: the sequel
This second video is a little better edited and is a compilation of a few runs. Same caveats: chest-mount makes it look less steep and also makes it look like I'm sitting really far back.
Now I'm off to catch a flight back to London...
Now I'm off to catch a flight back to London...
Steamboat Powder New Year's Eve 2010 from Brad Yates on Vimeo.
World Video Premiere: aBradAbroad in Steamboat
This is my first crack at the whole edit/upload thing. We'll call the first video a very rough cut, but I thought I should try to just get something posted. Also, please note that I shot this from a chest-mounted camera, not the helmet mount, which does two things:
1. My arms look like they are being held up awkwardly high
2. The pitch looks less steep than it actually was.
Enjoy!
1. My arms look like they are being held up awkwardly high
2. The pitch looks less steep than it actually was.
Enjoy!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Flying out of a tiny mountain airport in winter?
Of course, I am delayed. Good skiing = bad flying. It currently looks like I will make my connection in Denver to get back to Dallas for about 24 hours before I leave again for London. I only have my trusty iPad, so I can't post any cool links or videos, but I promise they are en route.
I had a blast skiing in Steamboat with Blake and Julia. We pushed a couple of comfort zones and tried to kill Julia at one point, but we definitely had fun all around. I used the GoPro POV camera that Mom bought me for Christmas to shoot some (hopefully) cool footage. I'll try to figure out how to edit them down so you don't have to listen to my heavy breathing and/or light swearing. It was bitter cold (minus twenty at the top), but some hiking and steep powder skiing definitely kept me warm. I'll try to get photos or videos posted in the next week or so.
I hope you all had a happy and safe New Year's. Happy Birthday Nancy.
UPDATE: Made it home on time!!!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I had a blast skiing in Steamboat with Blake and Julia. We pushed a couple of comfort zones and tried to kill Julia at one point, but we definitely had fun all around. I used the GoPro POV camera that Mom bought me for Christmas to shoot some (hopefully) cool footage. I'll try to figure out how to edit them down so you don't have to listen to my heavy breathing and/or light swearing. It was bitter cold (minus twenty at the top), but some hiking and steep powder skiing definitely kept me warm. I'll try to get photos or videos posted in the next week or so.
I hope you all had a happy and safe New Year's. Happy Birthday Nancy.
UPDATE: Made it home on time!!!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Operation: Dallas
The flights to Dallas have managed to escape Dallas the last two days and Heathrow managed to finally open a second runway (after 4 days without any precipitation). There are even some seats opening up on indirect flights to Dallas (some via LAX, now THAT would be a long day).
The bottom line is that it looks like things should proceed as planned. If not, I will have a pay-per-view fight with British Airport Association Chief Colin Matthews
Here is how it would look:
IF HE DIES, HE DIES
The bottom line is that it looks like things should proceed as planned. If not, I will have a pay-per-view fight with British Airport Association Chief Colin Matthews
Here is how it would look:
IF HE DIES, HE DIES
Friday, December 3, 2010
Cool, Short Backcountry Ski Movie
This is the third in a three episode series about traveling the world and skiing. The shots from the Canadian backcountry are breath-taking and definitely stoke that impulse to join them. Watch the fullscreen HD version on vimeo
Freshfield Icefield: A Skier's Journey Ep3 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Hat/tip Teton A/T Blog
Freshfield Icefield: A Skier's Journey Ep3 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.
Hat/tip Teton A/T Blog
Friday, November 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Jackson Hole Gets 33" from one storm in October
From Outside Magazine Blog:
A major winter storm that has pounded Jackson Hole since Sunday has already dropped 33 inches of snow, Transworld Snowboarding reports. The immediate forecast calls for even more snowfall.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort isn't slated to open until November 27, but already some mountain staff are saying it's the most snowfall they've seen in October in the past 30 years. The National Weather Service is reportedly saying that some of the strongest La Niña conditions since 1955 are currently building in the Pacific. While long-range forecasts are difficult to predict, above-average snowfall is predicted this winter for the Tetons.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Great POV Footage from Utah
The backcountry.com blog posted this over the weekend and I thought I'd share. The steep chute at the top seems a little hairy, but it convinces/reminds me of two things:
1. I might need to get a POV (point-of-view) camera for my helmet to better share adventures and
2. Utah is pretty tough to beat
1. I might need to get a POV (point-of-view) camera for my helmet to better share adventures and
2. Utah is pretty tough to beat
Hypodermic Needle from Ian Provo on Vimeo.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Light the Wick
Yesterday afternoon I got some email saying that Teton Gravity Research was debuting their newest ski film Light the Wick at a concert hall near my flat in London. I have always wanted to go to these things, but they don't usually make much of an appearance in Dallas. I convinced Stew to join me.
Stew doesn't ski much and he loved it too. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Also, look into one of their productions Deeper on iTunes. They showed a preview and I will watch it on the plane to Munich later today. (Also, our office espresso machine arrived yesterday.... consider yourself warned).
It is the first ski movie to have a 3D sequence and the overall quality was amazing. It got me totally pumped to steal some weekends and get some high-altitude backcountry turns in Chamonix this winter. Preview after the jump (I embedded HD, turn it off if you are downloading slowly):
Stew doesn't ski much and he loved it too. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Also, look into one of their productions Deeper on iTunes. They showed a preview and I will watch it on the plane to Munich later today. (Also, our office espresso machine arrived yesterday.... consider yourself warned).
It is the first ski movie to have a 3D sequence and the overall quality was amazing. It got me totally pumped to steal some weekends and get some high-altitude backcountry turns in Chamonix this winter. Preview after the jump (I embedded HD, turn it off if you are downloading slowly):
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