Sick-Gnar Hidden Backcountry Spot

Synopsis: We secured funding through a variety of grants to complete a quest that was so epic that the likes of Powder, Outside and other  magazines were too scared to even cover this ground-breaking trek into the unknown.

Date of Ascent: February 19th, 2011

Expedition Team: Gathered from around the world each specialized in specific skills:

• Trent from Oklahoma. Specialty is eating spicy foods.
• Tweak from Virginia. Specialty is not picking up girls at the bar.
• Caitlin from Minnesota. Specialty is pretending to be blond.
• Bethany from lots of places. Specialty is dog handler.
• Arthur from England. Specialty is being English.
• Danielle pretending to be from England. Specialty is withstanding English humor.
• Mike from an unknown location. Specialty is surprising people.
• Andy from Colorado. Specialty is talking about how awesome he is.

Expedition Map (click for Larger): Below is the specialized satellite photo that we received from NASA of the basecamp. They were our only sponsors and provided us with instantaneous views of the changing weather, erupting volcanoes, and movements of the native (and extremely hostile!) tribes.

Interactive Expedition Map (click for Larger): http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=203858300141676234019.00049e9d29873c006d6dd&ll=39.628045,-106.077688&spn=0.006445,0.013733&t=e&z=17&ecpose=39.63537586,-106.07009034,3258.7,-141.401,61.105,0

 

Expedition Video: Brain Farm Cinema was on hand filming the expedition using a number of their highly specialized (and retardly expensive) cameras including the CineFlex. One of the crew members had to hike nearly 28,000 vertical feet with a 27 lb camera attached to their helmet to get this awesome POV footage.

 

Silverthorne Colorado Backcountry Gnar! from AndyLibrande on Vimeo.

 

Select Photos from the Expedition:

Skiing the Icy 70+degree couilor:

View of the vast untamed wilderness that surrounds this 45,000 ft peak:

On the twelfth day this Ferocious Beast (which I believe is a Yeti?) nearly killed every expedition member and managed to eat most of our dwindling supplies:

I hope all of you take this serious…

 

Link to Original Post: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/05/sick-gnar-hidden-backcountry-spot/

 

A Day at Zuma

Most of the resort season just ended this past weekend (April 24th)with record breaking snowfall (Vail 524″). This huge amount of snow kept us mostly in or around the resorts and as a result had less backcountry skiing days then expected.

Regardless when we got out it was awesome.

 

A perfect day in Montezuma 2/27/2011 with Trent, Tweak, Caitlin and myself with no one around.

The Cornices were crazy that day and a number of the normal lines we were unable to do due to the potential danger of releasing one of those bad boys. Trent wanted to ski “Baby Notch” and the way in required some serious hacking to make the cornice doable (there has never been a cornice in this line for the last 3-4 years):

Caitlin picked out a sweet line that is rarely covered in snow. Here she is trying to get lined-up and making sure that small wind-lip is nothing to be worried about:

 

Caitlin going fast through the line and onto the open snow-field:

 

Tweak crushing it in “Little Chute”:

 

Days like this make this place the best.

 

Permalink: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/04/a-day-at-zuma/

Random Snow Adventures

This snow-season has treated me pretty damn well. The season started off right with a full-blown powder day at Vail’s opening day…easily one of the best days I have ever skied Vail due to a combination of great powder everywhere, zero crowds, and so many runs that I couldn’t move the next day. Since then we have had a lot of snow and a lot of adventures. However I have lacked in my photos since I normally do not take my camera with me to the resorts/side-country.

Here is a sampling of what has taken place:

A-Basin Sidecountry Scott Miller Sequence:

Tweak eating some powder:

Matt (which is Evan and Monica’s kid) is killing it in the park this year:

Backyard shenanigans:

Big Air Competition Downtown Denver:

Pretty cool event but as with most ski competitions they get somewhat boring unless you are standing right there (ie on the side of a halfpipe or right where the landing is). The structure they built was fricking awesome and it would have been a lot of fun to be in the comp.

Luckily our buddy Brian hooked us up with a phenomenal viewing location on top of the Denver Post building that overlooks Civic Center park. Great spot to hang out with friends and see something new in Denver. Damn the post building is sick.

 

Crested Butte:

Had a crew of people meet up in Crested Butte for a weekend of great snow and our buddy Jake’s B-Day. It dumped all day on Saturday and we had bluebird all day sunday with loads of snow everywhere. I focused on riding all weekend so no camera patrol but had way too much fun at the best ski mountain and town in Colorado. Still in my opinion the best mountain town in Colorado (see what it is like in the summer)

Zuma:

Yes we had some good snow (and scary cornices) in Zuma. Here is just a taste of the usual awesomeness this place provides:

More Adventures to Come!!!

 

Link to full-post here: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/04/random-snow-adventures/

 

 

Ice-Ice-Baby…

What: Ice Climbing in Ouray Colorado

When: Feb 11th-13th, 2011

Who: Andrew G, Hoof-Cakes, Caitlin, Brain G, Myself,  meeting up with Vinny, Sarah, Andrew M, and some other dude’s whose names I haphazardly forgotten…yeah we had a crew.

Reasons why Ice-Climbing in Ouray is the  shizzle:

• Gear: Nothing like playing with sharp-pointy Ice Axes all day
• Technique: The better at hitting/kicking you are the more fun you will have
• Location: Comparing Ouray to the rest of Colorado is like comparing a Salema Hayek to Rosie O’Donnell
• Ice Park: Huge area, easy access, plenty of climbs and beautiful things to look at. I am always impressed when I visit here. Plus you walk from the Motel to the ice-park.
• Ice: Unreal formations everywhere.
• Food: Classic Mexican at Buen Tiempo and a new favorite at Mouse’s Chocolates
• Hot Tub at the Victorian Inn: Best views from any hot-tub I have ever gotten drunk in (here is an idea picture)
• Not Driving on I-70: Well technically you can get here via I-70 but why would anyone want to drive on that road. Instead we enjoyed ~5.5 hours of scenic roadways and saw a incredible sunset over Monarch Pass

Yes. I was pleasantly surprised with how awesome our trip to Ouray turned-out.  First off Ouray seems like a little bump in the road on the way to bigger and better things (ie Silverton, Durango, etc); however you only appreciate this town when you have spent some time here.

This is my third Ice adventure to this town with the previous two being on commercially guided trips with the DU Alpine Club back in college. Those were a lot of fun but this time was able to piggy-back on some friends with a bunch of Ice-climbing equipment and were able to explore on our own.

First day was spent at the New Funtier Area. Good area that has a number of concentrated climbs in a narrow canyon.

Vinny leading up some thin ice:

Whitney posing for the camera:

Andrew G. showing us how it is done on a sketchy pillar at the end of the day:

The second day we headed to the excellent South Park area which is much further in the canyon, however the actually area is in a wide-section of the river and makes for a nice place to hang-out and watch climbs.

Amazingly a Bighorn Sheep crossed under the canyon when we were setting-up the climbs. They hung out above us all day too:

Caitlin after cruising through the tough part:

Brian making his mom proud:

Andrew M. doing some leading on beautiful ice:

Andy L. (myself) up on the right with Vinny quickly catching-up:

Solid Trip!

For the original post please visit: http://andylibrande.com/news/2011/03/ice-ice-baby/

Snow Preview

Updates have been slow as I have been trying to fix my main computer over the last month or so…luckily I am getting close!!!

This doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a hell of a busy winter. Plenty of days out riding great snow, ice-climbing, and other shenanigans has made the time go by quick.

Here is some eye candy to hold you over:

Ice-Climbing in Ouray (only a little pretty):

Caitlin in the side-country at A-Basin:

More to come….