Archive

For March, 2010

Mar 16

Telluride Tuesday with Garrett

By Jon Hartley5 Comments

Garrett Russell is a man with something to say. We sat down with him and didn’t stand up until we had way too much content to print in one shot. For the next few weeks we’ll break it down and give you a segment. This week Garrett talks about his pilgrimage from Mammoth to his ancestral home in the Telluride backcountry, and what life is like as a BC cabin operator.

rootsy garrett

Where are you living?

This year I just moved back to Telluride, Colorado. I’m running the backcountry cabin my dad built in the 70’s. He just got hip surgery so I had to move back, away from Mammoth, which is hard because they just got a bunch of snow. I miss Mammoth and my crew of skiers out there. But I’ve just been living in the backcountry getting rootsy.

Have you been getting backcountry footage this year?

Yeah, I’ve been skiing with my brother. He pretty much inspired me to ski and got me stoked on skiing when I was a kid. So we go out and ski the gnarly shit man; like the other day we did this shit with two repels. Scary. It was crazy, usually there’s only one repel, but we had to drop in and then anchor off a tree that was buried in the snow kinda. You couldn’t huck it because you’re just in this slot that goes for 600-700ft, just as wide as my skis.

Geez.

Yeah man, it’s usually only one, but this one took two. So, I don’t know, just extreme stuff like that. Hopefully get some friends, build some jumps, and get some people out there.

Have you had anybody come out?

Andy was here for a day. I got to take one ride with him and I lost him. I didn’t know where he went, I was just like, “I’ll take you to the good spots.” But who knows what he does, he just does it.

We’ve got a little park; it’s fun to ride, but it used to be a lot better. It used to have bigger jumps, and that’s where Gus Kenworthy got his ninja skills from. He kills it now, and that’s cool to see.

Other than Traveling Circus, what film projects are you doing this year?

Nimbus sent me a GoPro, so I’m trying to get artsy with that. I’m not going to be able to travel much this year because I’m just so busy running the cabin. At some point I want to get people like Nimbus to come over here, but when and whenever. March is usually good weather there.

So give us a snapshot of your day to day as a backcountry lodge operator.

Well, there are variables, if I have friends then we pretty much have to go out there and ski cut it and read the snow to make sure it’s safe. There’s times when I’m up there by myself and I’m scared to go outside and ski Hans Solo and get killed right in my backyard just because of stupid slough, you know? So, younger me, I used to go out there more by myself and just get spiritual with the mountains. It’s really intense out there, because you’re all the sudden in the mountains and life has a different perspective.

So, wake up, bust out the snowmobile on the trail for 20 minutes, and load water because now we’re out of water. I have to haul water and melt snow. The cabin actually has electricity, which is nice. I make beds for the people, then go ski powder laps with my friends.

Usually I have parties that come in, like my friends and my brother’s friends. We go out and just yahoo-ski powder all night; full moon skiing. We ski really gnarly couloirs, it’s all there. It just depends on who is there and that determines how I’m going to ski that day—either build a jump or hike up a couloir.

It’s beautiful out there. Telluride’s amazing, you guys should come check it out sometime if you ever get a chance.

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 15

From my POV

By Jon Hartley9 Comments

Do you have a grandpa who likes to show everybody his war pictures (any war will do)? Or perhaps a crazy aunt that likes to snap shots of her cat dressed like an English dandy? Have you ever seen a slide projector, or even a Windows slideshow of somebody’s vacation pics? They’re all boring as shit, aren’t they? Want to know why? All of that shit is only interesting to the person who was behind the camera. It was what they were seeing, and they captured that as a frozen memory. It’s special to them, because they lived it; to everyone else it’s fucking BORING!

dandy cat

Fast forward to 2010 and you’ve just strapped on your fancy new helmet cam. You rip it down a pow-covered slope, or take a truly epic lap in your home park. You think to yourself, “Damn I’m cool, I’m going to go home and put this on Youtube.” Guess who cares? You and nobody else. That shit is boring and nobody wants to see it. I don’t care if you’re a kid in the Midwest or a pow bro shooting with Nimbus; the front of your skis and a shaky ass view of snow flying by is coma-inducing dull.

POV for the water ramps.

POV for the water ramps.

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 14

Lampshadin’ at Raging Buffalo

By Jon Hartley3 Comments

Good Sunday everybody! We’re looking to get some edits from different crews representing their regional scene. So if you are cool, and you’ve scraped together enough dough for a camera, please drop me a link: jon@brobomb.com

The boys at Raging Buffalo (somewhere near Chicago) sent this edit over. In addition to riding at an impressively obscure locale, they seem to have abnormally skinny legs coupled with large upper bodies. Or maybe that’s just how they wear their clothes.

Mar 12

Rogge Gets on the Soapbox

By Mike Rogge17 Comments

mike rogge brobomb

Mike sent me this email yesterday. He’d probably prefer that I exclude the initial note, but that’s just too bad.

“So I’m sitting in an airport and I had a few thoughts I’d like you to post on Brobomb. Feel free to post them under my name. No aliases on the Bomb. That shit is for pussies. Anyway, here goes:

European X Games is never going to work and here are three reasons why:

1. Sure, it’s great for the twelve up-and-coming Euro skiers to compete in the “X Games” but a majority of European skiers will always be racers. ESPN wants ratings and when it comes to Europeans, we all know they could give less than half a shit about a bunch of no name North Americans that make less than $100,000 and throw down in a U-shaped stunt ditch. Unless, that is, their homeland heroes win Gold and Silver to beat those no name North Americans. Viva le Bertoni! Viva le Rolland!

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 10

Sprung Break for the Poor: Northeast Edition

By Ryan Dunfee8 Comments

If you’re a college student with a spring break, chances are you’re gunning to do some drinking and some skiing this March. But if you’re not lucky enough to have a family that takes annual ski trips, or already spent all of your money this year drinking, there are a few options around the area to keep you shreddin’ hard and having a good time despite your gloomy financial situation. Here are a couple options:

The “all my TGR buddies went to Alta and I’m stuck at home with my Dynastar XXLs” spot: Magic Mountain

The Word: The recently un-shuttered Magic Mountain is about as straightforward as you can get: one red double-chair, completely open boundaries, and no stakes blocking off those tempting cliffs East Coast resorts always rope off to keep the joeys from airing into icy mogul fields and blowing their ACL’s. Magic is only open Friday-Monday and during the week if there’s a powder day (6”+), so trails and the woods stay pretty fresh. If you snag Redline first run with fresh snow you can send it off a bunch of cliffs, drops, and catdrops that sit right under the lift line, earning you double points from the AT-sporting TGR crowd that swear by their GoPros that Magic is the goods. As a bonus, you can see all the idiots at Okemo and Stratton waiting in line while you hot lap trees. If pulling out a knife and fake-wrestling in ski boots on the deck with your buddy after you’ve slammed four beers is your thing, you’ll find plenty of that quirky Vermont humor here.

The Deal: Mid-week tickets are $39, or weekends for $59.

The “all my rich buddies went to Breck and I’m stuck at home with mom’s car” spot: Mount Snow

The Word: The East Coast’s answer to Bear Mountain + Dew Tour course. The Nitro Express at Carinthia gets you top-to-bottom jibs, jumps, polejams, etc., etc. etc. on every trail off the lift, with the highlight being Nitro, the small/medium park that runs the length of the liftline with 20+ options to hit in a row. The wood park is nasty if you’ve figured out how to slide wood on skis or are Garret Russell. If you are indeed as hard as the “underground” hip-hop playing from your Skullcandy’s, the original Dew Tour course is open every day. If you’re the kind of guy that’s pissed Level 1 doesn’t just do park segments anymore, or are ripping off the tongues from your old basketball shoes and duct-taping them to your Salomon boots so you can afterbang like T-Fresh, Mt. Snow is your new kingdom. Any jibber worth their weight in tall tees needs to check this park out.

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 08

Muddy Delivery: SKI Trip

By Jon Hartley1 Comment

We’re pretty into Muddy Delivery Films. We’ve been making some progress towards collaborating with them, but email translation software leaves a lot to be desired. For intro purposes I can tell you that they’re a film crew out of Japan. They actually live there, so in their videos Japan isn’t just some boring artsy segment about cultures and shit. I’ve gathered that they live at least part-time in a very cool van, and encompass multiple different styles of snow-sliding. Luckily for all of us, ski edits are pretty universal and these dudes make cool ones.

Mar 07

CR

By Matt BarberNo Comments

Know-Your-Roots-Header

CR Johnson hit the skiing masses’ consciousness ten years ago on the Contender page in Freeze and Plake’s Picks in Freeskier. It amazed me that someone my age was just as good, if not better, than most pros in the park. It’s not surprising to see teenagers push the sport today, but at the time the movement was dominated by a crew of 20-somethings from Canada. CR made a generation of kids realized we could be a part of this thing. I hung a photo of his 1440 on my bedroom wall and the pullout from Frontline of two BC booters hung in my dorm throughout college.

CR_Johnson_FreezeJan200

CR’s segments and style have changed my skiing. He made me love the big floaty three, legitimized halfpipe skiing to the masses, and made it cool to excel in all aspects of the sport. His recovery from a near-fatal injury in 2005 and recently placing at the Red Bull Linecatcher this year should be an inspiration to anyone.

The day CR passed away Jon’s brother, Dan, and I waited for the same closed Headwall lift at Squaw, skied the same cliff area, and hooted and howled like everyone else in a foot-plus of powder. We noticed a crowd of skiers and patrollers gathered to the left of the lift, but wouldn’t get the news until we were headed back to the hotel.

CR changed skiing forever and made it more fun for us all. RIP.

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 04

In The Moment 3

By Jon Hartley2 Comments

KC Deane, Scotty Nikkel and crew deliver episode 3 in their series. This one covers Breck and Ruby Hill in CO and some urban shred in lord-knows-where. Straight from the Biggest Little City…enjoy!

Mar 03

Your Ass Missed the Mark

By Jon HartleyNo Comments

yams

This might be the beginning of a recurring series, or it might be a once-and-done bitchfest. Either way, I present to you: Your Ass Missed the Mark (conveniently shortened to YAMs). I’m going to do my best to get that into regular circulation, so when you hear a bearded weirdie yelling “you YAMed it” from the lift, you’ll know I’m near.

Continue reading this entry »

Mar 02

Noseblocks with Garrett Russell

By Jon Hartley5 Comments

The noseblock is a tricky maneuver. It’s fun and simple, but there’s significant risk of breaking your precious skis if you’re not doing it right. We went straight to the source for a trick tip to end all trick tips. Garrett has more variations on the noseblock than anyone in the game, and has probably forgotten more quirky tricks than we’ve even dreamed of. Scroll down for animation or check out Wild Life and the latest TC webisode to see him in action.

noseblock imageAll photos: Ed

BroBomb: Let’s go into trick tip mode. We’re going to talk noseblocks, mostly because I try to noseblock all the time and I suck at them. So I’m going to be completely self-serving and try to get some pointers from the master.

Garrett: Cool. It’s all about timing and waiting for your apex. It’s crazy because I see some kids do it, and I’m like, “Oh my god, they’re going to break their skis!” Don’t do it like that, I hate for kids to break their skis. I know a couple people who have and I’m sorry, but it’s super fun. It’s all about having the right snow, and you’ll learn that if you go into something icy you’ll die. But if it’s too soft your skis are just going to punch through.

Been there.

Yeah. It can work out though, it’s all about reading the snow and waiting for that one point where you come up to a point where the hill goes like this (makes a hill with his arm) and there’s a little bit of tranny where you slow down. You wait until you slow down, and that’s when you lean forward and bring your heels up to your butt. Then you kind of lean back and do any grab you want, like you’ve got the “backpacker” now.

It’s all about patience and waiting and finding that balance on the tips. Other than that just practice, I guess. But it all depends on where you do it. Like, when we’re going skiing I’ll do it in one spot and then I’ll keep going back to that one spot. Then I can slowly dig out these little tip steps in the side of jumps and it’s pretty cool.

So that’s noseblocks, and tailblocks…I don’t know.

The tail block?

Yeah, it’s a hard one. I feel like I’m going to throw out my back trying it.

Sounds dangerous. Are you working on the tailblock?

Well, if I have the time and the place to do it, and somebody inspires me maybe it can happen. There can be so many variations. You can do the screamin-semen noseblock and you step over to the other ski. I don’t know man. I’m thinking about it, it’s interesting.

Do you sit at home and dream up tricks to do?

There used to be days when I couldn’t sleep, you know, where I just had the greatest idea and I’m like “I’m going to do that!” It’s been years and I can’t do it still. I don’t even know what I was thinking about. Skiing is just constantly in my brain.

garrettr

< OlderNewer >