What would inspire a person to precariously balance themselves and walk along a piece of webbing extended hundreds of feet above gorges, waterfalls, and tall towers?  This short video, created by ZEAL Optics Ambassador Chris Morgan, explores briefly explores the motivations behind two avid highliners, Anthony and Corbin, as they practice their sport in Kenton Park, Portland, Oregon.

You can see more of Chris’s work on his website, www.twosherpas.com or on Instagram at @chris_twosherpas.  Anthony & Corbin are on Instagram at @arobslacks and @chundafalls.

A well known name in the ski racing community, Scott Hoffman, ex-US ski team member and NCAA National Champion, enjoyed a long ski racing career that included years as a successful pro ski racer. After retiring from racing, Scott struggled against his addictions, and his life spiraled down a path from which he thought he could never escape. After spending a year in prison, Scott emerged sober and with a new inner peace. He has dedicated his life to giving back to society, the skiing community, and people who are currently fighting to overcome their own addictions.

Directed & Edited by Chris Morgan (twosherpas.com)
Thanks to ZEAL Optics (zealoptics.com)

Dave riding on the Lightning Ridge cat at Powder Mountain on his way up for another lap.

Despite losing his way during his 20s, Dave Rosen never lost his love for skiing. Sober and motivated, Dave is determined to make up for lost time.

Dave reached out to me a couple years ago, and we agreed to meet at Powder Mountain, Utah one day to see if we had the chemistry to make a good working team.  I was blown away by Dave’s abilities as a skier, especially his eagerness to hit big jumps off piste, but even more so I was impressed by his professionalism and desire for perfection. That first day of skiing together went so well that we’re been working together regularly to create photo and video media.

Over time Dave told me how his addiction to alcohol had taken over his life, but how he’d been sober for several years after finding his way through Alcoholics Anonymous.  I thought he had a story worth sharing, but I didn’t want to simply shoot a “talking head” documentary.  I approached him with the idea of this video with a voiceover, no obvious interview, and the video stylistically being divided into two parts.

Dave Rosen at Powder Mountain

Dave embraced the concept and over several days we were able to get a lot of great shots in the park and off piste at Powder Mountain.  I don’t normally shoot in the park, so it was a fun challenge doing multiple laps shooting various angles in slow motion and with the camera stabilizer in an effort to best show Dave doing his thing.

We’re looking forward to this season, and we already have plans to shoot throughout Northern Utah.

Chris enjoying Park City Main Street during the summer.

Chris Morgan is a videographer based out of Ogden, Utah.  You can view more of his work at www.twosherpas.com and on his Instagram feed @chris_twosherpas

Dogs are awesome. Mutts are even better. We adopted Lucy, our cattle dog mix, after finding her wandering the foothills above our house where she had been heartlessly abandoned in the middle of winter. She was surviving on mice and voles she caught by pouncing through the snow like a fox, so it took several months before she realized the bowls of dog food we fed her weren’t a passing phase. She still terrorizes rodents of all sorts, but now simply for the sport of it.

Six years later, she’s a solid member of our pack, and we can’t imagine our lives without her. She may have given up living off of rodents, but she still enjoys chasing anything with four legs — the bigger the better it seems. She’s seen more of the Western U.S. than most people. She’s been there as my daughters have grown up from young girls to young women. She’s chased us down untracked powder.  She’s explored the depths of mountain ranges. She has curled up next to me under a tarp in the rain. She’s an “adventure dog” through and through, and she embodies the “explore more” attitude with her limitless energy. As a good friend once said, “everything’s better when you do it with a dog” and that is the truth! Here’s to all the great mutts out there who spend their days living the lives others dream of. In my next life I can only hope I come back as a heeler mutt living along the Wasatch Range. It’s a pretty great life.

Chris Morgan
www.twosherpas.com
insta: @chris_twosherpas

Photo credit: Richard Tilton (@richardtilton)

This video is a nice break from the hot temps and smoky skies of summer.  Last winter my lifelong friend Jon Malmberg and a few of his crazy buddies went on a speed flying vacation to Chamonix, France; the epicenter of big mountain skiing and now “hucking yourself off big mountains in every way imaginable.”  He asked me to edit his GoPro footage into something fun, so I carved out some time and created a video that’ll hopefully get us all thinking more and more about the coming winter!  It’s not a fancy edit with some insightful story line…just some good old fashioned editing with all effects done inside of Premiere Pro CC 2015.

Thanks to Jon’s sponsors for their support – in particular, KAVU, an outdoor clothing company based out of my old hometown area of Seattle.  Enjoy!  Chris

Featuring Jon Malmberg, Blake Robinson, Max Toeldte, and Giorgio Traverso

Edited by Chris Morgan (twosherpas.com) | Music: Give Me The Beat – Ghostland Observatory

• Kavu
• GoPro
• Swing
• Freeboern
• Trew

]]> http://spreadstoke.com/snow/speed-flying-in-chamonix-france-gopro/feed/ 0 http://spreadstoke.com/climb/inspiration-yoga-climbing-maggie-odette/ http://spreadstoke.com/climb/inspiration-yoga-climbing-maggie-odette/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:30:59 +0000 http://spreadstoke.com/?p=5484 It’s sometimes better to be lucky than good, and that’s how I feel about being lucky enough to meet the outgoing, inspirational, amazing Maggie Odette while bouldering at The Front in Ogden. An accomplished 5.14 climber and yoga instructor in her own right, my family and I were blown away with her grace and technique as she made impossible routes look easy.  I was even more amazed by her kindness as she was gave us subtle, positive instructions as we floundered on the wall.  I didn’t know anything about her background, but I knew she was an exceptional person and would be perfect to feature in a short video. We got together at the climbing gym one gray day in February, and Maggie was generous and patient as I filmed her climbing the same route over and over in order to get the shots I needed.  We agreed to meet again soon to shoot the interview narrative, but weeks, then months passed as other jobs kept me distracted and busy. Then one day in late May I got a message from Maggie.  She politely explained that I may want to shoot the interview soon, since she and her husband were leaving town.  When I asked when they were coming back, she told me, “Never.”  They had an adventure to go on and it was going to take them away from Utah for good. I rearranged my schedule, shot the interview, Maggie left town, I put the video together, and “voila!” here it is.  Thanks for ZEAL Optics for their support. Enjoy! Chris]]>

It’s sometimes better to be lucky than good, and that’s how I feel about being lucky enough to meet the outgoing, inspirational, amazing Maggie Odette while bouldering at The Front in Ogden. An accomplished 5.14 climber and yoga instructor in her own right, my family and I were blown away with her grace and technique as she made impossible routes look easy.  I was even more amazed by her kindness as she was gave us subtle, positive instructions as we floundered on the wall.  I didn’t know anything about her background, but I knew she was an exceptional person and would be perfect to feature in a short video.

We got together at the climbing gym one gray day in February, and Maggie was generous and patient as I filmed her climbing the same route over and over in order to get the shots I needed.  We agreed to meet again soon to shoot the interview narrative, but weeks, then months passed as other jobs kept me distracted and busy.

Then one day in late May I got a message from Maggie.  She politely explained that I may want to shoot the interview soon, since she and her husband were leaving town.  When I asked when they were coming back, she told me, “Never.”  They had an adventure to go on and it was going to take them away from Utah for good.

I rearranged my schedule, shot the interview, Maggie left town, I put the video together, and “voila!” here it is.  Thanks for ZEAL Optics for their support.

Enjoy!

Chris

Last fall, Caroline Gleich and I met and bounced around ideas of video projects for the coming winter.  Over plates of delicious Middle Eastern food at Mazza’s in Salt Lake City, we discussed our plans, goals, and thoughts about the ski season.  While we were full of ideas, we were also short on free time and a budget.  I ate some pita bread and thought of what we could do.  Caroline wanted to make a video focusing on her training regime.  I had a lot of commitments over the winter, but I had a kernel of an idea for a video.  A few more servings of muhamara and loobia later and we’d come up with a plan.  We just needed to shoot some video before the snows hit and then meet again a few months later to get some on-snow shots.

The next week, we met again in SLC and over the course of one day we were able to shoot video of Caroline running in the foothills, working out at the gym, and hiking at Snowbird Resort.  It was a long, fun day, and I knew I captured a lot of great shots.  We said goodbye and wished each other all the best during the upcoming ski season.  I threw together a quick assembly edit to make sure I had all the shots I needed, then I moved on to other gigs and didn’t think much about our unfinished project.

Between Caroline’s world travels and my own “schedule restrictions” (aka – other obligations that required skiing), we couldn’t choose a day to meet until April.  Unfortunately, the weak snow year was also deciding to give up the ghost and leave us even earlier than usual.  As we talked about our plans, the prospect of running out of snow was very real.  Luckily, two late season storms hit and gave us the saving grace of a new layer of snow.  Then, almost immediately after it fell, this white goodness started to melt, too.

As we drove up the Little Cottonwood Canyon I noticed the buds on the maple trees opening up.  The canyon was a sea of glowing green.  Beautiful, but not what I needed to capture some “on snow” shots.  I was worried we’d waited too late in the season.  One mile down the canyon from Snowbird the snow coverage was still sketchy and I was still worried.  A couple more miles up the canyon and we parked at the base of Mt Superior.  Caroline pointed at the approach and the chute she wanted to ski.  It looked great!  The cruel sun didn’t have a clear shot, with it so nicely nestled at a bit over 8,000 ft we found our perfect location.

It was a short morning skin and boot pack followed by a short ski back down.  The video came together rather quickly at that point.  It attempts to showcase not only the work that goes into training for Caroline’s physically demanding adventures into the mountains, but her thoughts about why she is always in pursuit of Type 2+ fun.  Enjoy!

Caroline Gleich: carolinegleich.com
video by Chris Morgan: twosherpas.com
music by Steve Gibbs: stevegibbsmusic.com

Last week I joined up with some of the SKILOGIK crew at Snowbasin Ski Resort during a WWSRA demo day.  Despite temperatures more reminiscent of early Spring than mid-February, Dave Rosen and I headed out early to see what snow had fallen overnight at the upper elevations.  Most skiers were there to try out a wide range of different skis, so they were loading onto the Needles Gondola for a quick ride up, and a fast ride down run, back to the base area.  We had other plans.

Hopping on the JP chairlift we separated ourselves from the crowd.  We then rode the empty Mt Allen Tram that dropped us off at the top of the ski area (approx 9,300′ elevation).  We were thrilled to see a few inches of untracked snow, sub-freezing temps, and an overcast sky to keeps the temps down — we threw on our skis, took off, and enjoyed the best snow conditions we’d seen in a week.

We did six laps back down to the tram before we headed back to the base to grab the others.  During one of the rides up the Tram, Dave commented how shocked he was that we’d only seen three other skiers, so it was like having the place to ourselves.  ”Better lucky than good is what I always say.”

The clouds kept moving up and over the mountain in waves, so visibility kept alternating from poor to spectacular.

Early that afternoon we headed back up with Darrell Haggard, Skylar Memsic, and Emma Morgan (SKILOGIK athlete manager, SKILOGIK athlete, and SKILOGIK ambassador, respectively).

We stuck to the upper elevations and took advantage of little stashes of goodness we could find.

Dave during one of his standard launches.

Dave Rosen throwing a Cork 7 off a natural wind lip above a two stage drop.

Skylar sending it with the barren mountains as a backdrop.

Emma charging hard and showing what great ski technique looks like.

Dave enjoying the views after a great day of skiing.  Now let’s pray for snow and some good ol’ Utah Powder!

Written by Chris Morgan (twosherpas.com / Instagram: @chris_twosherpas)

Skiers: Dave Rosen (@daverosen1), Emma Morgan (@skiemma), Darrell Haggard, and Skylar Memsic

Thanks to SKILOGIK, ZEAL Optics, Surefoot, and Snowbasin Resort.

Related Deals:

• Shop for SKILOGIK at REI.com
• Buy discounted lift tickets for Snowbasin, Utah
• Save up to 30% on Zeal Optics at Backcountry.com

Here’s a quick and insightful look into the world of veteran Snowbasin ski patroller, GR Fletcher. I was fortunate enough to be able to follow GR during a morning of avalanche control work on the mountain as he explained what motivates him to continue as a patroller after over twenty years on the job.  The video is short and sweet, so grab your coffee and enjoy before gearing up and heading for the mountain.

Enjoy!