Fun Sunday: Powder Skiing
I am in Park City with the Gotham Gal and our son and two of his friends. We woke up to fresh snow and its supposed to come down all day. So I'm taking the day off and going powder skiing off the Dreamscape lift where this video below was filmed. We'll be back tomorrow with Jerry Colonna's wrapup post on our Management Team series on MBA Mondays.
The video is about 3:30 long. Do yourself a favor and fast forward 30 seconds to the good stuff.
Comments (Archived):
Enjoy your weekend and break from the city. It’s good that you’re finally getting some snow there. The Sierras are still pretty dry. Weird year.
Awesome!Happy to say I’ve had many, many days just like that in Utah.When it comes to powder turns, I’m a 1%’er. 🙂
I wonder how the moose (were they?) conversation went?”Why always me at the front, huh?”
I would have rather watched a video that you or Gotham Gal have taken.
Depending on how my android camera performs today I may be able to supply that
Thanks 🙂
Great, looking forward to it!
no much to showcase. the android camera didn’t do the trick. here’s an example of the bad work i did with it yesterdayhttp://www.youtube.com/watc…
Thanks for sharing! Looks like fun 😉 You see… had you shot it with the HD GoPro camera… (and then fan-girl Ela keeps on going as if they were paying her do that haha!)
how do you control the gopro if the camera is on your helmet?does it have voice control?
(can’t reply below anymore, too many nested comments). It doesn’t have voice control. It only has two big fat buttons so you can easily turn it off and on even with skiing gloves on. And the battery life is pretty good so you can keep in on for quite a while. The basic version is just the lenses + 2 big buttons. Not even a display.
That was a good clip though.
We are getting in on Wed for 5 days and 5 mountains. Love UT!!!This is the best video I have ever taken. Three years ago at Snowbird. First 12 seconds are the best, then the rest is waiting for a guy who flops.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM…
AgreedI clicked through…and was waiting for Fred and others from the Wilson group.Have the Gotham Gal take a video and post it w/ Videolicious (not sure if they have a driod app yet)
Another reason why I badly want to work with FRED–> #COOL #FUN #BADASS
Carbon?
Enjoy!!!Looks great!!
I grew up in places where you only saw ice in the refridgerator.Now I’m where everyone seems to love skiing.#needtoskisoon
A calorie control diet?
#enviousHave a great one.
Fast forward 30 seconds is very close to the Wadsworth Constant in action.http://www.youtube.com/watc…
I’ve skied in powder, but never deep powder. That looks amazing.
Just north of Jackson Hole is a place called Grand Targhee. It is known for its powder and has 2 mountains. 1 exclusively reserved for snow cat access for those who like it deep and steep. We had a pretty experienced group of 6 + 2 guides. But we had 1 weak guy and after 6 of us waied on a ledge for about 10 minutes, he came down with the rear guide and looked like the Abominable Snowman he had so much powder all over him. And in that laid back attitude hard core ski instructors and surfers can only deliver, the rear guide said….”sorry dudes, we had a little powderous interruptus.”
Some of my best powder ever was at Targhee. Love that place
Man you have gotten around. Grew up in Idaho Falls, and used to go to Targhee a lot growing up. Amazing how much powder that place always has.Another one you should go to is Brundage outside of McCall Idaho. A definite hidden secret. It is a two hour drive north of Boise, and is quite possibly the prettiest drives you will ever take.
never been there. i’ve heard it is awesome
It looks like you’ll have a wonderful day on the snow. Enjoy!
I’m impressed with the photographer who shot this. He could be doing wedding photography but instead was able to (or choose) a great lifestyle as well.http://www.ianprovo.com/p/a…I am a skier/fly-fisher/freelance photographer currently living near Park City, Utah. I specialize in photographing skiing (or snowboarding, it depends on the weather). I also have a great history of shooting high end architecture for clients that include residential home owners, commercial developers, and real estate brokerage firms. But thats not quite as fun as sliding down mountains, so my business focuses mostly on that. My other photographic interests include actions sports, landscapes, sexy-ass women on the beach (20 year plan), and the mountain culture. Take a look through my gallery to see some examples of my work.I love his “20 year plan”.Definitely want to see videos of you and the family posted.
Top ski photographers are among the most talented, cerebral, determined people I’ve met.
Well-chosen weekend. It’s been the lamest ski season here in recent memory, and you show up on easily the biggest snow day of the year. Have fun! 🙂
Snow total so far is 1″. I live within 5 minutes of fred’s place. Don’t know where you are.
Hmm… about a foot here in the valley. Rare that it hits here and misses the mountains 🙁
That looks absolutely amazing
I rather see the inside of the lodge – what’s the tube on the suit for? It looks like breathing apparatus.
it’s a breathing tube for when the powder gets so deep you can’t breath without it
Since it’s fun sunday and we’ve talked about it several times, in case anyone is interested I had my fight and lost. I wrote up a long blog post about the experience here:http://paulsanwald.com/blog…I will post a video as soon as I get one, if anyone is interested I’m @paulsanwald:twitter on twitter.even though I lost I am really proud of myself and it was a great experience, one I will remember for the rest of my life for sure.Hope everyone has a great sunday!
Do another one.
I will strongly consider it, tom. need to drop back and work on a few things first, though :).
wow. that is an amazing read. you have guts to do that. i’m sorry about your ramones shirt but i love that you wore that in the ring. i bet you’ll do a lot better next time. lots of lessons to learn from that fight.
thanks for taking the time to read it, fred! I think you are right, I have learned a lot already and I think with experiences like that, it can take time to fully absorb everything the experience has to offer.
Wow, so cool that you’re writing about (and going!) powder skiing! Happy for you, yay 😉 Are you going to record sth yourself? That would be amazing! I just got back from a week of free/cross-country skiing in France, some GoPro videos with me and my friends are being edited right now! While I was skiing, I actually spent a lot of time thinking about GoPro. Why? I ski/snowboard a lot and this year it seemed that every second person (including myself) in the snowpark had AT LEAST one GoPro cam and multiple accessories & mounts. Some people had 2 or 3 cams to shoot simultaneously from different angles. I am actually convinced that the phenomenon of GoPro is a topic for a separate blog post! WHY? They literally invented a new category, that little cam is the iPhone for all sports/nature lovers – you either have it and you love it, you haven’t bought one yet… or you’re getting a 2nd or 3rd one. The product itself is not really innovative in terms of technologies used – the cam is good but way better equipment has been available on the market since years. I has very few recording modes and it is rather basic. But all that makes it available to everyone (price) and super-simple to use (handy esp. in extreme conditions). It just works, it’s light, it’s well designed, well-packaged and extremely well marketed. To recap: an extremely simple, extremely well executed and extremely well marketed extreme sports product that works extremely well in extreme conditions. For all above reasons it’s also extremely cool to have one. Or more than one.They did a very good job with pricing – the basic version is relatively cheap but then you can spend hundreds and hundreds of $$ on accessories, see here: http://screencast.com/t/EjX…. And people do, I don’t know their numbers but I am almost sure this strategy is brilliant! The coolest part and the reason people buy GoPro is because it makes everyone – myself, Fred Wilson and Tony Hawk (always wanted to appear in this collection) – a pro. And coming up with a product that can have such huge impact on the ego and how people perceive themselves is just brilliant. Think of that – if Red Bull manages to deliver this ego boost when you’re drinking their “cool” soda, GoPro can be extremely successful if they continue to play their cards right. And because the product is suitable for practically all extreme sports AND numerous lifestyle categories their market is huge.What did I mean when I wrote they invented a category? GoPro didn’t just solve a problem for those who have been trying to document their adventures but could not afford / want to carry a more professional / heavy equipment. That’s 1% of their current customer base. The remaining 99% are those, including myself, who had never thought we could shoot an “extreme” sports video (sounded like sth really challenging)… and now it’s so obvious that we all can! Back to the product and the ego boost – you make a movie of whatever you’re doing and believe me: the experience of both making (yes, making – it’s a cool equipment, you actually look and feel like a pro) and watching your first Go Pro movie is *amazing*. If seems to me that making a movie of just walking around New York (or Kraków where I currently live) would turn out great. You really don’t have to do anything special and it looks interesting. Just like your hipster & pro instagram pictures – they are cool because instagram can make everything look cool!Apart from that, what I noticed is that the sheer fact that you’re recording makes you want to improve / get more creative & push your limits ;). Everyone has their set of skill and their own fears so improving just a little is rewarding! OK, some movies will look “extreme” just for you and your mom but SOMEONE will care, that’s for sure (think of those tweets about where you are or what you had for breakfast… many of your adventures will be probably around that interesting for the rest of the world ;)There probably should be a GoPro social network where people could share how pro they are in whatever they’re doing, just as people publish their thoughts and “blog” on Twitter.I actually shared this movie on my FB wall yesterday, it’s amazing, watch it of you have 4 minutes to waste. It will make you want to go for a run. Or book a heliskiing trip 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watc….
BEST WAY TO DOMINATE CATEGORY IS INVENT IT.
I agree with you on the go pro and I was thinking it would be great if Fred had one.”Some people had 2 or 3 cams to shoot simultaneously from different angles. “I film everything and anything so I would do this easily. What I’ve found though is that people are either into this or not. At other people’s family functions I’ve been the one shooting video or still shots just for enjoyment. It amazes me how many people don’t shoot anything of their kids or even their own party. At the cost of the go pro I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t rent them where Fred is if you don’t want to buy.
i saw so many people wearing gopros on their helmets yesterday. they look like martians.if i could wear something in my goggles (so much smaller), i might do that
Sure, I get it 😉 For that very community, I think it actually looks cool so it might be a matter of perception (don’t want to imply you’re old but try asking your son how would he feel about attaching that cam to his helmet, maybe he wouldn’t really mind that much). Alternatively, you could attach that cam to your skis, ski poles or wear the so called “chesty”, too – http://gopro.com/camera-mou…. I am pretty sure that they will have a mini version soon.Here’s one powder skiing video we made 2 weeks ago in Slovakia if anyone is interested – http://vimeo.com/37097501;)
Last name of the guy who made the video is Provo? Guess he’s got deep roots in Utah.
Was in Tahoe two weeks ago. Last season was amazing, this season…..not so much. Film looks amazing. #jealous.
So jealous….as we are on the skiing theme here is an article from the telegraph on the world’s scariest ski runs from the top http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…
Every sunday should be ski sundayAlso loving the mother hips sound track. but then i’m just a sucker for ski videos with a backing track. Nobody beats Warren Miller’s stuff though. old skool and still the best
Agree. This just gave me an idea to show my wife, who has never skied, one of Warren’s films as well as the clip posted above.
Going contrarian in VT. Off piste Smuggs trail “disappointment”.. steep, stumps, bumps: http://twitpic.com/8m2xi6 http://twitpic.com/8m2y32
Great pics. Get over to Mansfield and ski the Chin. I’ve never skied back to Smuggs from there.
thanks for the tip…!
Interesting, what’s the song in the video?
The mother hips…my new favorite band
thank you good sir!
Do yourself a favor and get to Solitude. Waaaay better than the Canyons.
I think snowbird beats them all…the whole mineral basin/back bowl is a blast. Have fun!I’m jealous sitting here in the midwest…the city I live in (Madison) had to manufacture 60 truckloads of snow this weekend for the annual winter festival. Sad state of affairs.http://madcross.smugmug.com…
I’ll be at Snowbird in a few weeks. 🙂
Best place in Utah is Snowbasin (live here for 12 years). It is a hidden gem. All the tourists go to Park City and to the Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons (Solitude, Brighton, Alta and Snowbird). It is a Sun Valley affiliate, so the food and lifts are amazing and the snow is outstanding. Next time you are here, make sure you visit.Fred came on the best day possible in the last 45 days.
i like solitude a lot. particularly the upper parts of that mountain. but we have a home at the top of the canyons. so we ski here mostly.
On the right day (and there are many of them), the Canyons is terrific.Before the new lift was built I used to backcountry ski around the upper section of the Canyons coming from Big Cottonwood canyon.The Wasatch Mountains are an amazing place.
Nothing like the Pow Pow dude!! What a rockin vid thanks for sharing.
I skied once, back in the 6th grade, took lessons for two weeks in Berchtesgaden. To say that the instructors drew straws as to who got stuck working with me would be an understatement.Then I followed up on that humiliating experience with a season of little league baseball….Two things skinny, uncoordinated tall people should never do…ski and play little league, glad I got them both over in the same year!
I was skiing last weekend at Killington, VT and while the snow wasn’t even close to being “powder” it made me think about how much I love skiing with the fam. Wrote this post when I got home. Enjoy the day! http://joshrutstein.com/201…
Oh dear Fred 😉 I could go on and on about what entrepreneurs can learn from pro-skiers (pro-snowboarders, pro-you-name-it-athletes). I have a feeling you will think twice before mentioning skiing (or dance) again haha!I was making this mental list when I was trying to cross my own limits in a snowpark a week ago. Because I have tons of important things to finish… it really seems like the perfect time to write it down!I used to snowboard for about ten years (incl. working as a snowboarding instructor) and I only went back to skiing recently. I wanted to learn how to jump on big jumps and maybe even make some tricks this year. The first days were filled with frustration but while I still believe I have a long way to go, I’m actually pretty happy with my progress. It’s amazing how much you can achieve when you are A) DETERMINED, B) FOCUSED and C) STRATEGIC. Some takeaways below, they might not make sense globally but the they do make sense to me. (1) You will have to get out of your comfort zone A LOT. The feelings that you can expect will be a mixture of excitement and being very proud of what you have done (10% of time) and anxiety mixed with fear mixed with frustration knowing that there are so many people better than you mixed with wanting to do so much more than you are able to at the moment (90% of time).(2) Reg. that 90% – you will often ask (well, blame) yourself “Am I crazy? Why can’t I just enjoy myself and take the easy route?”. I laugh that the answer must date back to your childhood but… who cares anyway? That’s who you are.(3) If you’re really into what you’re doing, the adrenaline will keep you going way longer than you think you can go. Time will fly. If you’re coming up with excuses and reasons why it’s time to take a break, it’s probably not one of those days when magic happens.(4) The magic WILL happen if you try long enough. (5) One successful attempt marks the line between the state when you really COULDN’T do sth and the state when you JUST KNOW how to do it. That’s the 10% moment or the “overnight success”.(6) Only rookies are proud of not falling. You won’t hurt yourself if you don’t take risks but the chances are that you won’t learn amazing tricks either. You can’t be afraid of earning bruises along the way. (7) Stick with the best and you can learn a lot but don’t compete with them until you know you are ready. Be realistic about the kicks/jumps/trails you choose – it’s perfectly fine to admit that something is too difficult for now and focus on sth easier. This is NOT giving up, it’s keeping yourself alive so that you can accomplish the long-term goal later ;)(8) There’s a lot of thinking & science behind “freestyle”. It also takes a lot of courage to be that “sick crazy dude.”(9) Things that look easy are usually not easy. They are often beautifully executed difficult things. All pros will agree that perceived “ease” after months of practice and frustration.(10) Before doing something new and risky understand exactly how you want to do it. Ask people who have done it before, then understand and mentally repeat the sequence of movements. You have to imagine yourself performing that action. Stay focused on imagining only the positive scenario. Never imagine yourself failing, your brain will remember that and use it against you (bastard!). The funny part here is that in most extreme sports you gotta have a very good imagination to visualize every single detail of what you want to do. At the same time you have to have an infinitely bad imagination and never admit that the odds are against you!(11) It’s all in your head. The more you hesitate before the jump, the bigger the odds that you won’t be successful. If you feel you’re not ready, don’t try yet. This one I learned the hard way 😉 (12) Right after you’ve managed to learn sth new it’s hard to understand what was so fu**ing scary/difficult about it (10%!).(13) If you fall badly (ouch!) it can take a while to get back on track. Your brain will try to convince you to become a bit more risk averse. Ignore it, stay focused and keep trying.(14) No matter how hard you try and how good you’ve became, some external factors (like the weather) can seriously get in your way. There will be powerful things that can stop you and you won’t have any control over it.(15) Your friends and family love you but they won’t really treat your new “hobby” seriously in the beginning. If they think it’s dangerous, they might even try to discourage you. That’s until you start kicking ass – then they will be really proud and supportive (yay! 10% again).
I initially opened this up on my phone while waiting with my 14 y.o. daughter in the drive-thru at In-N-Out — http://www.in-n-out.com/ BTW the ONLY beef burger and practically the only beef I eat these days. If you are gluten-free or don’t want carbs, you can get a burger “protein style” (wrapped in lettuce). It is much better bun-less than you would ever imagine.A visit to In-N-Out is one of the things to put on your list if you are visiting Southern California.Anyway, my daughter made me turn it off because of the music.Sometimes I feel like the generations are reversed.Looks like amazing fun. (I eventually got to watch the video.) Hope that’s what you are having.
The music was a turn off. I don’t think the moose liked it either.
I thought the music was great!
I’m with the moose.
You had me at In-N-Out!
haha!
Fred-If you are in town for a few days I would love to show you around my art show. I will send you an email with details.
Hi FredI ran across your site (AVC: great site), I live in Park City; 15 years. Hope you and your family are enjoying your stay. I skied Park City Mountain Resort Friday (Fun Friday for me means skiing), the snow has been a little spars this year but all in all the resorts do an excellent job grooming. I hope the 3 inches of fresh snow last night helped (we usually measure snow out here in feet, not inches; as you see in the video). I hope you are able to come back in the future to experience some of the powder skiing as shown in the video. If you do look me up and I will be glad to show you a few of the “locals” secret powder stashes, 😉
i mostly ski the canyons. though i do like jupiter bowl when there is fresh snow.
do you go over to the cottonwood canyons at all? Snowbird … touch of heaven!
I used to ski there all the time. But I can walk out of my house and ski untracked powder. Hard to beat that
No need to try to beat that. direct flight from NY to SLC, 40 min drive, clip in … sounds like it is as good as it can get.
You definitely hit it at the exact right time lots of snow today. Hope you enjoy your time here.
best site man thanks by Saraiki Portal
Fred, Great vid. Think you will make it up to Deer Valley. If so, I’m at the top of the crown point lift. Stop by for a hot chocolate. We could spend 30 secs talking about XYDO, which is based in Park City, and you get the ultimate ski trip tax write off. All in fun – would be great to meet you and the Gotham Gal in person.
i don’t ski deer valley. they don’t allow boarders there. they are the apple of skiing.
You are right about that. I do wish they would open to boarders, then again as a bump skier, I appreciate the perfection of never boarded on moguls.Hope you have a great trip and enjoy the mountains. If I can help in any way, pls do advise. Our team is pretty jacked that you have come to Park City.
do you ski or board?
Both. But I lean toward skiing. Gotham Gal leans toward boarding as do my kids. But we all can do both
Wow Fred, you have no idea how jealous I am right now..
Hey Fred, you in Park City much longer? If so, we’d love to have you over to XYDO HQ for lunch!
Ooooh. I would love that. I am leaving first thing tomorrow but back for the last two weeks of march. Can I stop by then?
Sure thing! I’ll be in touch before then – looking forward to it!
omg how cool is that
ahhh, funny! we are in park city too. we skied deer valley today….lovely. it’s our first trip here…staying on park city–ski in/out. love it. prefer this over colorado!
Fred, I love that video, but here is a better version IMHO https://vimeo.com/15317426. Song is much different, but I think it matches the feeling of power skiing more. There is little else in the world that makes me smile like a powder day.
Fast forward to around 1:35 to see the best part
What an exhilarating video. I’d recommend a Contour helmet camera over a GoPro. I bought the Roam for my dad this winter and he loves it. It turns on/off by sliding a large button on the top part of the camera (it also beeps when it changes modes). Plus, Contour has a lively community!I shot this heli skiing video using it: http://bit.ly/y01CA2
What is awesome experience. Have to imagine you were “feeling good feeling great.”I just got back after 5 days and 5 mtns in UT last week. A friend had the contour. It was awesome. The contour looks a lot better too.
I would have made the kids schlep some waterproof camera equipment.
pretty much did that. i took a couple videos of josh going off a cat track. but mostly skied trees and powder all day.