Buzz Aldrin In Stable Condition After Reportedly Falling Ill And Being Evacuated From Antarctica According to an IAATO Press Release, 86-year-old Buzz Aldrin was evacuated from Antarctica after falling ill. Mr. Aldrin reportedly had fluid building in his lungs, but was responding well to antibiotics that were given to him to reduce and deal with that pesky fluid. He was the second man to walk on the moon, after Neil Armstrong, in July of 1969 during NASA’s Apollo […] Brains Chris Wallner | December 1, 2016 0 Comments
Avalanche More Complex Than Thought Pushing into the backcountry offers the thrill of untracked powder, but along with it comes the inherent risk of a potential avalanche. Much has been written about the cause and the effects of these dangerous events, yet until recently little has been known about what goes on beneath the plume of snow during an event. To better understand the dynamics […] Avalanche Robin Azer | December 1, 2016 0 Comments
SnowBrains is Hiring a “Conditions Reporter” for Crystal Mountain, WA: SnowBrains.com is hiring a reporter for Crystal Mountain, WA for the 2016/17 winter season. Crystal Mountain is ski resort in Washington state with unreal, techy terrain that rivals anywhere in North America along with a monstrous average annual snowfall of 486″. Crystal in splendiferous and SnowBrains is looking for someone splendiferous and über-reliable to write conditions reports from Crystal this winter. SnowBrains is […] Industry News SnowBrains | December 1, 2016 2 Comments
VIDEO: 13-Seconds of “Oh My God” at Alta, UT Yesterday [iframe id=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmarcuscastonpowder%2Fvideos%2F1126166327478841%2F&show_text=0&width=400″] This video is from Alta ski area, UT yesterday. Alta just got 54″ of snow in 48 hours… Skier: Marcus Caston Video: @skibrown Conditions Report SnowBrains | December 1, 2016 0 Comments
Over 200 Lost Jobs From GoPro’s 2017 Business Restructuring Earlier this week, GoPro revealed its plans to restructure the business for 2017. Over the past few years, GoPro has been expanding its market by dabbling in the media operations business in an effort to further promote its core model as a camera company. They hired Tony Bates, former owner and founder of Skype, as the President of GoPro and since have landed […] Backcountry Dylan Cautela | December 1, 2016 1 Comment
Grand Targhee, WY To Open Thursday, December 1st: Grand Targhee ski resort in Wyoming will open tomorrow Thursday, December 1st, 2016! Grand Targhee has gotten 26″ of snow in the past 4 days… On Thursday, December 1st Dreamcatcher, Shoshone and Papoose lifts will spin and uphill traffic will be closed. With a killer start to the season, receiving 53 inches of snow in October at Targhee, it looked as […] Dylan Cautela | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
Most of the USA Has Well Below Average Snowpack Right Now | Except for Tahoe & Utah The snowpack in the USA is below average for today’s date in nearly every ski location in the Western USA. Only Lake Tahoe & Utah have ski areas with significatly above average snowpack. Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are hurting right now… BELOW AVERAGE SNOWPACK: Wyoming Colorado Idaho Oregon Washington Taos, New Mexico ABOVE AVERAGE SNOWPACK: Lake Tahoe, CA/NV Little & Big […] Weather WeatherBrains | November 30, 2016 1 Comment
Don’t Cut Your Ski Trip Short This Year – Be Ready to Prevent HAPE HAPE, which stands for High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, is a result of an intense version of altitude sickness. HAPE causes swelling in the lungs, and it can be life-threatening if not treated immediately. Altitude sickness will develop into HAPE within 24 hours of ascending to a higher altitude than what your body is currently used to. As the ski season […] Haleigh Hafner | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
NOAA: Winter Weather Advisory for Oregon Today | 5-10″ of Snow Forecast NOAA has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Oregon today. They’re calling for 5-10″ of snow and snow levels as low as 3,000′. * ACCUMULATION…STORM TOTAL OF 5 TO 10 INCHES. * SNOW LEVEL…3000 TO 3500 FEET. – NOAA Portland, OR today Mt. Bachelor, OR has seen 21″ of snow in the past 7 days and they have snow forecast […] Weather WeatherBrains | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
Colorado Teens Rescued After 48-Hour Whiteout on Summit of a 14,000′ Peak Colorado teens Tommy Hendricks and Matt Smith were successfully rescued from an area near Mount of the Holy Cross on the day before Thanksgiving. The two teens had spent a few days in the backcountry after becoming lost due to whiteout conditions which set in with a storm front that blanketed most of the west. The pair have had several successful summits of other 14ers […] Backcountry Dylan Cautela | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT Closed for Backcountry Skiing | by Andrew McLean Little Cottonwood Canyon Closed for Backcountry Skiing by Andrew McLean/StraightChuter.com on November 29, 2016 *** It was only a matter of time before this happened. When I was working as an Avalanche Forecaster, I heard that closing the Little Cottonwood Road during one of the big three day weekends costs the ski resorts (Alta and Snowbird) over a million dollars a day. […] Guest Author | November 30, 2016 3 Comments
Colorado 3-Day Snow Totals = Up to 32″ of New Snow A storm just raged through colorado from Sunday to Tuesday. That storm dropped up to 30″ of snow on Colorado ski resorts with southwest CO resorts racking up the biggest numbers. (Utah just saw 54″ of snow in 48 hours…) OpenSnow’s Joel Gratz is calling for 3 more storms to hit Colorado this week and next: “The next storm […] Conditions Report SnowBrains | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
Skier Triggered Avalanche Claims Lives of Two in Austrian Alps On Saturday, a large group of people snow touring through the Austrian alps of Tyrol triggered an enormous avalanche. The group consisted of ten members- one on touring skis, one on snowshoes, and eight using splitboards- with an objective of reaching the Verwall Valley located slightly east of St Anton am Arlberg. The avalanche released at approximately 12:30 pm on Saturday […] Avalanche Dylan Cautela | November 30, 2016 0 Comments
VIDEO: Utah Just Got 54″ of Snow in the Past 48 Hours… “Winter is here! In the last 48 hours Utah’s ski and snowboard resorts have received as much as 54 inches of snow. That’s a lot of powder. More resorts opening soon.” – Ski Utah, today’ One of our rookie avalanche dogs, MsT doing a depth check on the 7″ of fresh powder that fell over the course of the […] Conditions Report SnowBrains | November 29, 2016 0 Comments
Squaw Valley, CA Conditions Report + Photo Tour: Shirley Lake Powder Day People were smiling like crazy at Squaw today. Everyone. Smiling. Squaw opened Shirley Lake at about 11:30am and it was all powder. Shirley Chutes, all the Tree Runs, Rainbow Bowl, all of it. Snow was recrystallized powder and it skied beautifully. People were hucking everything in sight and squeezing through every little straightline. Shirley went off today and it […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | November 29, 2016 2 Comments
Jackson Hole, WY Will OPEN on December 1st with 2,200-Vertical-Feet & 24″ of Fresh Snow Jackson Hole ski resort in Wyoming just announced today that they will open on Thursday, December 1st, 2016 with 2,200-vertical-feet of skiing and riding. They got out there and got some “test” powder turns today just to make sure it’s great. After seeing these photos, we know it is… Lifts Open on Thurday: Apres Vous & Teewinot Lifts Open on […] SnowBrains | November 29, 2016 0 Comments
Patagonia Raises $10 Million For Environment On Black Friday The outdoor outfitter Patagonia has announced record breaking Black Friday sales to the tune of $10 million, with 100% of total revenue going to the environment. This exceed expectations by 500%. Customers were aware that the cost of the items they purchased would be donated, and have evidently expressed support for such a motion. Here is the official release from Patagonia: Last week, […] Sergei Poljak | November 29, 2016 0 Comments
VIDEO: Nipple Deep in the Alta, UT Backcountry Yesterday… The boys from The Daily Pow got out into the Alta, UT backcountry yesterday and it was nipple deep. Looks like it’s game on in Utah. “Skiing 32″ of fresh in Alta’s backcountry.” – The Daily Pow, yesterday SnowBrains | November 29, 2016 0 Comments
Copper Mountain Offers FREE Cat Skiing On Tucker Mountain And Copper Bowl When it comes to skiing, its hard to come by something that’s free, but Copper Mountain ski resort in Colorado offers free cat skiing on Tucker Mountain and Copper Bowl for mountain guests. This cat skiing operation grants expert skiers and snowboarders access to over 273 acres and 12,000 vertical feet of Copper’s unprecedented high alpine back bowls. Tucker Mountain […] Industry News Chris Wallner | November 29, 2016 1 Comment
Out-of-Control SUV Careens Down Ski Slope at Lake Tahoe Ski Resort | 5 People Injured With the possible exception of ski racers, no one enjoys icy conditions. Least of all the driver of a SUV that careened out of control in Tahoe this past Saturday. Icy road conditions lead to the SUV swerving off the road and onto the ski slopes at Heavenly Mountain Resort. Five people were taken to Barton Memorial Hospital on Saturday […] Industry News Robin Azer | November 29, 2016 2 Comments