Wet Dreams in the Hida Mountains: Shakushi Northeast Couloir Continuing with the theme of objectives not immediately in view from the window, the Northeast Couloir of Shakushidake entices the ambitious when viewed from popular resorts to the north of the valley. However dreamy this line seems from afar, it requires and early start just to get it. And like most things in Hakuba, the weather windows are few and […] Zach Paley | April 20, 2015 1 Comment
Wet Dreams in the Hida Mountains: Shirouma Southeast On Honshu, the transition from winter to spring can be be painful. In March, temperatures rise, but the mountain weather remains as wild as ever. The result is rapid and violent transitions from heat and sun to rain, cold, snow and heavy doses of wind. However, when the Gobi Desert dust finally settles and stable weather windows materialize, opportunities arise […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | April 12, 2015 1 Comment
Wet Dreams in the Hida Mountains: Shakushi Southeast This series documents riding spring big lines in the Hida Mountains. The first part reports from the Shiradake Diagonal Couloir. One cool thing about Hakuba is that many of the biggest, most aesthetic lines are clearly visible from town. Every sunny morning, I wake up and stare at Shakushi’s SE face lit up in alpenglow. I scan the surrounding terrain for signs of instability for the day ahead, and I dream about putting tracks on Shakushi’s spines. I’ve been waiting for the right conditions to get on this face for some years now. In late March, an opportunity finally presented itself. […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | April 9, 2015 0 Comments
Wet Dreams in the Hida Mountains: Shiradake Diagonal Couloir Due to the complete media blow out coming from Japan this winter, I’ve been hesitant to share anything from over here. I know I’m sick of hearing about how awesome Japan is; I can’t imagine how annoying it is if you live somewhere suffering through a rough snow year. However, I thought it might be appreciated to see a different perspective on the skiing and mountains in Japan. Everybody knows about the deep mid winter powder season. It is a lot less common […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | April 6, 2015 2 Comments
Japan Conditions Report: Bottomless Powder at Cortina Yesterday What a start to the season at Cortina! With 50cm today and 50 cm yesterday, it was truly bottomless, by any definition. Snow quality was quite good, and face shots were plentiful. As the lifts opened, the clouds parted and gave us a few hours of beautiful light before it started to snow again. Despite weekend crowds and limited terrain due to only Chairs 2 and 4 being open, the resort did not track out too quickly. This last storm has done […] Conditions Report Lee Lyon | December 15, 2014 0 Comments
RESQSKI: Transceivers For Your Skis RESQSKI is an English company that is marketing a very interesting product for powder skiers. They make an electronic ski finder that helps you find your lost skis when you crash and they are buried in snow. If you’ve ever spent precious hours on a powder day searching for a lost ski, or lost an expensive ski altogether, you know […] Gear Review Lee Lyon | November 2, 2014 2 Comments
2014 South America Recap: Nevados de Chillan and Las Leñas I spent two months skiing in South America this summer, and it was fun! My trip took me to Nevados de Chillan for two weeks, Las Leñas for a month, and the Cordon del Plata for a week. I’ve been coming down here for nine years now, which makes me feel kind of old, but also very fortunate. The majority of these photos were taken by Moritz Morlok. Thanks Boyscout! I arrived in Santiago in the middle of August. Typically I head straight to Las Leñas, but things were looking a bit dry and warm there, so I decided to go south to Nevados de Chillan instead. I’ve been hearing good things about Nevados in recent years, and it seems to be the […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | October 19, 2014 3 Comments
Skiing at Over 17,000-Feet in Argentina: The Super Canaleta As the season came to a close in Las Leñas Argentina, Dorian Densmore, Alejo Sanchez and I decided we wanted to explore and ski something new. Here is what we got up to. Video (by Dorian) and trip report are below. Enjoy. If you’ve ever spent time in Mendoza, you’ve probably noticed some rather large, snow covered peaks not far from the city. This is the Cordon del Plata. We’ve all eyed runs from the city and dreamed about skiing up there, and decided it was finally time to do something about it. The highest peak and most enticing ski line seen from Mendoza is Cerro Plata (19,574ft), which towers more than 17,000 vertical feet above […] Climbing Lee Lyon | October 13, 2014 8 Comments
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