Report from March 26, 2024

Yesterday was a big day for us at Palisades Tahoe, CA.

We rolled onto the mountain a little late because we weren’t expecting anything special.

Then we got to Granite Chief and realized the peak hadn’t opened the previous day.

Noah Gaffney, Kaz, Zeb, and Scott Gaffney were up there filming for Blizzard.

They said the snow was good.

Fox & I watched Noah launch “Smooth Air” like it was nothing.

The last time I hit Smooth Air was back in March 2021.

It was big that low snow year…

I sent it into an east wind and paid dearly.

The wind pushed me back and I landed on the big old Blarney Stone rock in the landing and took a hard fall.

I had to take a couple of days off as my knee and back hurt.

4 days later, I cannonballed off it again – this time flying too far and crumpling upon impact.

After that 2nd crash in 2 days my back and knee were really hurting.

My back issue eventually developed into full-blown sciatica on a solo surf trip in Nicaragua that sent me to a sketchy clinic in the middle of nowhere where I received IV valium, steroids, and anti-inflammatories.

It worked though and I was surfing again in 4 days!

Squaw Valley, CA - Smooth Air Fail - March 11, 2021

OK, back to Smooth Air.

Now, you can see why I was anxious standing on top of Smooth Air yesterday morning…

Robb Gaffney says this of Smooth Air in his legendary book, Squallywood:

“If you are looking for a 35 to 40 foot cliff with a 45 degree take off and a 45 degree landing, this is the one for you. A bit intimidating from top due to the rollover and drop-out effect, this cliff lives up to its name as it is one of the smoother mdium-sized airs at Squaw Valley. People usually straightline the small snowfield and take off just above the rock, though another option is to hit it from the top cornice. In low snow, rocks stick out from the landing and are difficult to clear. At medium and high snow levels, snow drifts up onto these rocks, making a perfect steep landing.” – Robb Gaffney, Squallywood

Miles launching Smooth Air. image: snowbrains

Yesterday, the rocks in the landing were covered and all went very smoothly on Smooth Air – thank goodness.

I hit it after Noah and Fox.

Noah was lining up a double backflip off the gargantuan Goodwill’s Air (he ended up throwing 3 double backflips off it taking all of them to his feet and finally stomping the 3rd one, unreal…).

Then, Fox marched me back to Mainline Pocket to inspect A Fox jump.

It was in perfect form.

Fox stomped out a takeoff in only about 5 minutes and it was game on.

Fox showing some scale on how far we flew for out backflips. image: snowbrains

Fox went first and laid out an impossibly snow, enormous backflip to stomp.

He then hiked back up to film me – which was very nice of him.

I gathered my courage and set the backie as slow as I could.

It worked out but the off-angle landing almost ate me up.

It took all I had to grunt out the landing and ski away.

As I was gliding out the landing through old avalanche debris, I screamed and fist pumped so hard that I tumbled over.

Miles inverted on A Fox jump on Mainline Pocket at Palisades Tahoe, CA. image: snowbrains

A moment I’ll never forget.

To get a backflip in this big at my age (45.75) was life-changing.

This was the biggest backflip I’ve executed since 2019.

Last year, I was recovering from a knee injury and my mom passed and I just didn’t feel interested in high-performance skiing during the Northern Hemisphere winter.

I hid in the backcountry with friends and pondered life and my next moves.

This season, I swore to delve back into high-performance skiing again and I wanted to do the bulk of it at Palisades Tahoe with my buddies.