Blog

A Chamonix Vacation

Way back in January during the OR show BCA’s European sales manager, Craig Widdecombe, regaled us with tales of an epic Chamonix winter.  In my powder starved state I somewhat impulsively purchased tickets for my girlfriend, Steffie, and I to spend two weeks in Chamonix during the first weeks of April. The trip exceeded all expectations with great snow, stability, and just enough blue sky to head up high a few days. It was hard to whittle down two weeks of pictures, but below are some of my favorite. A big thank you to all our new Chamonix friends. Thanks for showing us the ropes.
 
We stayed with local legend Gary Bigham a few days.… Read more

An AK April

In an attempt to redeem the unmemorable 2012 ski season in Colorado, myself and fellow BCA employee Bruno Damico along with two of our good friends (Kelly Longe) and (Morgan Lipscomb) set off on an adventure to the deep snowpack up north. Arriving in Anchorage, we picked up our mobile command vehicle later known as the “GnaRV” and headed down south to Girdwood where we set up for the night. The next morning we woke up to blue skies and headed up to Turnagain Pass for a skin up Tincan Peak. The snow was quite heavy at lower elevations due to the high temperatures, but the snow up top was… Read more

Taylor Glacier: (way friggin’) steep and aesthetic

In Colorado, it’s special when you can ski something really steep. It’s really only feasible late season, when the snowpack has had lots of time to build–and has had repeated freeze thaw cycles to help stabilize it. So when spring comes here, it’s game on! Some of the steepest terrain in Colorado is right here in the Front Range, if you don’t mind a long approach. On Sunday, we slogged our way up to Taylor Glacier, in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s a reason “the Park” is so popular: the alpine environment is mind-blowing–but so are the winds. After a nearly four-hour approach — in shoes, not… Read more

Avalanche Rescue Caught on Video

This video was produced by some Utah snowmobilers along with the Utah Avalanche Center. There’s a lot to learn from watching it but many folks are probably going to find it easy to criticize some of the choices and actions from this day. If you watch the entire video, you’ll see that the group was aware of some of the key mistakes they made. So let’s look at the positive aspects of the video and not harsh on them.… Read more

Bella Donna and BCA on stage in Cham: Be Careful Assholes!

BCA’s provocative Bella Donna “popped up” last week in the skiing epicenter of Chamonix, France. Deployed on stage at the Micro Brasserie de Chamonix (“MBC”) at a gig by Gary Bigham and the Crevasseholes, the unsuspecting victim was 11-year-old Kiwi shredder Manu Barnard.
Young Manu got an education on female anatomy last week at the MBC.
BCA
Bigham is a legend and needs to be called out here. He’s a former ’70′s freestyle competitor and long-time ski industry photographer, including copious Patagonia catalog images and Greg Stump’s “The Blizzard of Aaahh’s”. He and wife Anna run a bed-and-breakfast (and yummy dinner) operation, Vitamin Ski Holidays, in nearby Argentiere. If you’re… Read more

Back from AK

Guest blogger, Donny Roth reflects after a recent trip to Alaska. Donny runs Independent Descents and is based in Boulder, CO when he is not on the road.
“There is NO way this can be stable!” I just spent over two weeks skiing in Alaska, and if I had a dollar for every time I made this statement, I could have easily ordered another pitcher of Mosaritas at Mosy’s in Haines. (Mental note: Put this in my contract for next year.) The snow in Alaska is legendary in its ability to stick to steep slopes and also for the power with which it sloughs as skiers cut through it. Before ever… Read more

Utanahoming road trip

It happens every year, that itch for skiing new places that can only be scratched by a nice, long roadtrip. Last year it was satisfied by our trip to Washington, and for this year we opted for Montana, a frontier full of new lines. So Daan, Alex and I loaded into the Forrester and hit the road: first stop, Solitude Utah. There we met up with buddies Zach and Jonny, and proceeded to drink heavily and ski tour to relieve the consequent pain.

We hit up Silver Fork and US Basin over the weekend, then booked it up north to arrive in Bozeman by Monday morning, ready for more of… Read more

Reflections from an AMGA Ski Guide Course

Below is a guest blog from Norie Kizaki, a Colorado Mountain School (CMS) guide who won our AMGA Ski Guide Course scholarship and just took her course:
My name is Norie Kizaki and I am a mountain guide for Colorado Mountain School in Boulder, Colorado and a ski guide for Hokkaido Powder Guides in Hokkaido, Japan. I received the 2012 BCA scholarship for the AMGA Ski Guide Course. My Ski Guide course took place in Aspen, Colorado from March 12th to March 23rd. There were ten course participants (including me) from across the US (and the world), along with our instructors, Amos Whiting and Peter Leh. I have been preparing… Read more

Avalanche Airbag Survey

Attention Avalanche Airbag owners living in the United States- we’re currently running a survey to collect data that will eventually be made into a presentation for the 2012 International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) this fall. While there have been studies made already on airbag use in several parts of Europe and Canada, there is currently little information in states.

If you can, please take a minute to fill out our survey by clicking here.… Read more

Sampling Some Powder

Here’s a helmet cam video of 18-year-old Shana Rosen ripping it up in WA. Shana is a Mt. Baker local and found herself far from home and having to put in a few extra 1,000 feet of climbing on this day. But she said it was well worth it:… Read more