Skateboarding at Trailside Skate Park in Park City, Utah.

It was a late spring day, not a single Jerry in the way.
We went to Stevens Pass, with Kevin Curran who’s full of sass.
Scott Skis on the feet, looking mighty neat.

In February of 2014, Sasha Yakovleff decided to mix things up and leave the comforts of his New Hampshire hometown to make a cross-country move for a job opportunity in Salt Lake City, Utah. The decision wasn’t too hard since he knew Utah was a world-class biking destination and the new surroundings would offer plenty of choices to fuel his two-wheel addiction.

“You’re only young once, might as well travel around a bit and explore,” says Sasha. “Utah has opened my eyes and put things into perspective. I miss New Hampshire dearly and I’ll be back home permanently at some point, but until then I’m not sure where life will take me. However, I know I’ll be aboard a bike wherever I go.”

Moving your life can be tough. Making new friends and getting familiar with a new neighborhood can be a daunting experience and humbling to some, but Sasha sought to make it a quick process. His love for bikes and an incredible motivation to challenge himself have helped him settle into his new home and explore the limitless riding options waiting out the backdoor.

“Riding a bike is the ultimate sense of freedom for me. It doesn’t really matter where I am or what mood I’m in, riding always makes me happy and I have to thank my sponsors for helping me with that – Scott Bikes, Deity Components, Kenda Tires, Mavic, G-Form, Bern Unlimited, TRP Brakes, Five Ten, Darn Tough Vermont. My motivation though is pretty simple – keep myself challenged physically and mentally. There is always something new to learn or ride, whether at the dirt jumps or way out in the woods on some remote mountainside.” – Sasha

The constant desire for something new is a driving force behind Sasha’s creativity. He’s a nine-to-fiver who doesn’t understand the term “weekend warrior.” Everyday provides if you’re motivated to take advantage, and the Wasatch is a big backyard with more to offer than most seek to realize. The abundance of pleasures is almost overwhelming, and even after a good soak, you can easily be satisfied with just the tip.

“When I moved to Utah, my first thought was damn this place is dry, I hope we get a ton of rain. New Hampshire has variable weather which you learn to love, but Utah is much more sunny and dry. When it rains here I get really stoked and head to the woods to build. The nice thing about the Wasatch is the variety. You can ride whatever you want. Dirt jumps down low, alpine riding up high, DH or all-mountain trails in between.” – Sasha

Over the past few seasons, I’ve had the opportunity to tag along with Sasha as he familiarized himself with his new backyard. Being on the bike or shoveling dirt seem to be the only two things he thinks about, and soon I started to expect a call or text from him every couple of days to go shoot a new feature he had been secretly building over the weekend or scout something he spotted from the road on his drive to work that looked fun to ride. We got together at the end of this season to recount a few of the fun adventures and build projects we had photographed together.

“This was shot early in the morning in March. I Street is a winter staple in Salt Lake City as it is usually rideable year-round. In fact, the dirt there is much better in the winter when it’s actually wet and malleable. The funny thing about I Street is that things are always changing. Lots of people build there, so the place has tons of personality. I don’t know who built this jump but it’s awesome; you can just pull for days.” – Sasha

There had been a couple wildfires this past summer just outside of Park City. Sasha and I scouted this area after he spotted the burn zone on a cross-country ride and thought the ashy dirt would make for some good turns. Besides being covered in soot when we got back to the car, it was a fun new experience for both of us.

“I had driven by this spot a million times, or taken the bus up past it with my DH bike to go ride other trails. I thought about riding it before but was too lazy and forgetful to check it out until it rained one time this past spring. The dirt was perfect and it was really fun to ride. There are a few sections of different pitches where you can alternate your speed and push out a brown pow turn or two. Plus, first descents are hard to beat.” – Sasha

“Evil Empire is a Park City classic DH freeride trail that never gets old. It starts at Jupiter Peak and descends over 2200’ vertical feet back into Old Town Park City via Daly Canyon. This jump is rad and on one of my favorite sections of the trail near the bottom in the Black Forest of Empire Canyon. The pines thin out a bit as you jump through aspens before dipping back into the darkness.” – Sasha

“Raspberry Lane is one of my favorite pirate trails and sits just above the top of Old Town in Park City. We were actually scouting out another shot on an overcast day and noticed the fall colors in this berm. Funny how things work out when you’re looking for something else – always keep your eyes open I guess.” – Sasha

I think Sasha’s least favorite time of the year is after Daylight Savings when it gets dark super quick in the afternoon. For someone who works all day but lives to shred, it’s frustrating to only have an hour or so to ride after work in the later part of the fall. Luckily the Park City Dirt Jumps are easy to get to and the street lamps at the fire station next door help illuminate the open field of jumps for a few laps before dinner.

The Oakley Skatepark is located right next to one of the biggest rodeo venues in Utah. The town population is about 1,000, but the new $3 million rodeo arena seats 6,000. It can be windy a lot of times, but if you wait it out, the Kamas Valley sunsets are usually incredible.

Eric Porter has one of the sickest backyard setups, stacked with stunt ramps, a pump track and a water slide snake run connected to another pump track in the neighbor’s yard. Fall BBQ sessions at Porter’s are some of the funnest days during late season.

“After moving to Utah, it took me about a year to scout out a few spots I wanted to build and learn my way around the place a bit. I knew I wanted to build a large wallride in the middle of the woods, and what better place to put it than in an Aspen grove? This thing is tucked up on a hillside in Park City. We built it, painted it and sessioned it a few times before the snow started to fall. The aspen leaves died early this year due to a fungus, so hopefully we can catch a golden frame next autumn when the grove goes off.” – Sasha

Adventures in any backyard can be endless if you use your creativity. Even when it seems like there’s nothing new left to discover, building and riding have endless possibilities. When you’re passionate about riding your bike and always looking for something new to shred, you’ll find a way to satisfy your cravings but also stay thirsty for more. He might be settled into his new home now, but Sasha’s quest for new fun outside his doorstep will never stop regardless of how long he stays anywhere.

Here is my 2014/2015 season snowboard edit from this past year. I am 16 years old. It was filmed by Jacob Levine, Jack Wiley, and Peter Day. This edit was filmed at Park City, Canyons, Mammoth, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Seven Springs.

With most of the western mountains measuring in with below average snow totals, here’s a video from February 2013/14 showcasing what Park City’s complimentary bus is capable of accessing. Hopefully March will pull through for bottomless powder turns. Keep those snow dances up.

“Always leave yourself an out” is a saying I grew up with. I used to think it was just a lesson my Dad passed down to me while I was under his wings, learning poker. But as I have come to realize, it is applicable to all aspects of life. And as of recently, it has become an essential mantra that I have had to adopt in my newest pursuit, backcountry ski touring.

Backcountry skiing has always allured me, and with a deep fondness for the outdoors, I see it as another opportunity to expand my appreciation for the mountains. There is, and always will be, one underlying factor that has deterred me for several years now from pursuing this new passion, avalanches.

Avalanches have played a big part in my life. They have taken the lives of several close friends, as well as taken the lives of several of my ski heros. It is a common topic amongst the community I’ve grown up in, and I’ve had recurring avalanche lectures since the first grade. With this ‘fear’ in the forefront of my mind, I had finally committed myself to channeling these anxieties of mine into education. To prepare myself for a season of exploring the Wasatch, as well as a trip to Japan, I have dedicated myself to learn, practice, and experience the amazing backcountry with the right tools.

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

Several weeks ago I signed up to take my AIARE LEVEL 1 through White Pine Touring. AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education) is a non-profit association that developed standardized curriculum to teach skills in identifying and mitigating problems in the backcountry. The level 1 course is designed to give you day-to-day skills and covers an array of topics that deal with planning, observation, teamwork and rescue. Taking an avalanche course is not about going out and getting rad for a couple of days on untracked snow. Instead, it focuses on developing skills and introducing resources for those who want to go out and explore the mountains they love in an educated and responsible way.

White Pine Touring, a retailer and guiding shop in Park City, Utah is one of the most proficient providers of the AIARE courses. With twelve certified and experienced backcountry instructors, it is one of the only programs in the country that has four experts teaching the course at any given time. The AIARE program was started in 2003 by Freddy Grossniklaus, a swiss alpine ski racing coach residing in Park City. Grossniklaus’s program was adopted by White Pine, where they provided the funding and marketing to spread awareness about the course.

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

I met with White Pine instructor and guide, Scott House, before the course to get some background on AIARE and why one might want to take the class. Every year, I have more and more friends venturing into the backcountry and I know some of them have never taken an avalanche course. I asked myself, are books and mentors sufficient enough? After meeting with Scott and taking the course myself, I am a huge advocate in taking this course before you head out. Scott explained how the course isn’t there to scare you, but rather give you knowledge and tools to use when you are scared and manage that uncertainty.

“Of course there should be some sort of fear, it’s what lets you ask important questions such as why are we skiing this,” Scott says, “everyone should know why.”

Scott reminded me that avalanches, for the most part, occur from human error. It’s our mistakes and our thinking that get us into trouble.   That is why the decision-making framework taught in the class is so important to have when deciding to go out on something that potentially might slide.

The frame-work consists of: Plan, Observe, Teamwork, Choose Terrain & Travel Wisely.

My first day in the course was a Thursday evening in a small conference room with twenty or so other outdoor enthusiasts. The course is designed to incorporate your 9-5ers and weekend service industry workers, which makes up the majority of this small ski town. The instructors introduce themselves in the beginning of class and have everyone go around saying their name and why they are interested in taking this course. Immediately, everyone is gasping about one another trip to Alaska or wanting to exchange phone numbers because they realize they have ten new friends who want to go touring locally. The instructors have a range of backgrounds, from heli guides to ski patrol. Their knowledge is just as extensive as their passion for the backcountry. They make three hours in the classroom fly by with their presentations. It is a heavy topic with an abundance of information to remember, so being able to make everyone smile and laugh for a moment makes what you’re learning that more memorable.

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

The class discusses avalanche fundamentals and you get to watch several YouTube videos of past slides. After learning and reviewing the different types of avalanches, results of climate changes and a variety of terrain traps, we then start assessing scenarios ourselves. By the end of the class, you are able to analyze terrain through important factors like location of slope, elevation of slope, aspect to wind and sun, slope angle and any physical characteristics in the start zone. The classroom also develops teamwork skills by breaking the class into several groups to do activities where communication is key.

By the weekend, you are ready to get out in the field and expand your knowledge of snow science and rescue skills. The AIARE 1 isn’t so much focused on snow science as the AIARE  2 course is, however, it gives you basic recognition of different snow types. We break into groups, dig pits and start analyzing the snow via different tests. The tests show you the different layers, each representing a different storm and whether those layers are strong enough to hold the ones above. In our circumstance, there was a prominent weak layer at the bottom which gave us intimidating results, displaying a ‘mini’ slide.

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

We also spent a great deal of time doing rescue missions that involved beacon practice, as well as probing and shoveling. I was really impressed with this part of the class because they made you search for a beacon over and over until your time was reduced by half from when you started.

After the class, everyone gathers and shares what they learned. Everyone is humble, and stoked. I honestly recommend taking an avalanche course and if you are in the area, taking the AIARE 1 course at White Pine Touring. A big thank you to Scott House and the rest of the class for sharing your knowledge with me.

Photo courtesy of Jans, Ross Downard

The first experience I had being new in town was three and a half years ago when I moved to New Orleans for school. After an hour in the soupy humidity, I immediately felt like an outsider. I hadn’t gained the 10 pounds New Orleanians consider your “credibility”, I couldn’t spell Tchoupitoulas street let alone tell you where it was, and I wasn’t sure about the function of a “go-cup” (turns out that one’s pretty self explanatory).Luckily, the lack of open container laws in the city enables you to walk down the street toting a cooler on wheels full of beer, essentially screaming, “I’m the kind of person you want to be friends with”. As a result, feeling new only lasted a little while. Three and a half years later (and sure enough, 10 pounds more credible) after graduating, I was absolutely heartbroken to leave the city and the people that became my home.

Being new in Park City is a little different, especially sans cooler on wheels. Not only have I not yet mastered all of the vocabulary that rolls off the tongues of veterans of the mountains, but also there is no longer anything about me that screams, “be my friend!” Despite these minor setbacks, what I’ve realized over the eleven days I’ve been in town is that there is an equalizer here much larger than a twelve-pack in an icy cooler. The mountains are something we all share. As the new girl my first true powder day looked a lot more like sitting my way down the mountain than skiing—definitely NOT spreading any sort of stoke. But when I got to the bottom (nine years later) my brother was still proud of me because I had embraced one of the challenges that the place I get to call home has to offer. I began to understand more and more that no matter if you started wearing skis the moment you could stand on your own two feet, prefer to hike, or simply get to see the views during your morning commute, the mountains belong to everyone. And as a result, everyone is able to belong in the mountains.

My season edit for the 2013-14 snowboard season. 15 years old. Filmed at Park City, Brighton, Mammoth, Sun Valley, and Mt. Hood.

Song: Evil Love- Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. Song Inspiration: Chandler Hunt

These 2.5 minutes with Sam Jackenthal are worth a watch. Check out this video edit I made of my friend shredding the Park City, Utah skate park.

Troy Tully and I got up early one epic fall morning and decided to used his drone to film the sunrise over Park City’s Guardman’s Pass. The leaves were on FIRE. Check out the edit here:

Also, check out my blog on SkiUtah.com where I’ll be writing as the new SkiUtah snowboard blogger!

Thanks to Troy Tully for filming and the following companies for the support:

Nectar Sunglasses, SANDMARC, Discrete, Gnarly Nutrition, Smith Optics, Goal Zero, Rossignol, 3B, Ski Utah, and Hitcase.

This is a been a year of ‘firsts’ for me. This Summer I took up mountain biking, originally to humor my boyfriend and his passion for adrenaline, but as the summer progressed biking became an escape that forced me to confront my fears and learn what I’m truly capable of.

Hands-down, my favorite trail is the Pinecone Ridge Trail.  It begins at the top of Guardsman’s Pass and takes you up the infamous “Puke Hill,” but then propels you downhill through a incredible canopy of orange, red, and yellow (the colors popping during the fall).

Just this weekend, I noticed how much better I got at the switchbacks. I skidded through the turns with my back tire, caught myself, and kept going. That was such a rush for me, I nailed what my boyfriend had been trying to articulate for so long and I just wasn’t getting it before. But this time I felt the turn, I felt the catch back to the trail, and I felt empowered. I’m addicted to this feeling now. It wasn’t about keeping up with my boyfriend or humoring him because it’s something he likes to do, it was about me and how comfortable and capable I feel on my bike. I’m addicted.

10/4/14 – I answered the call. No, literally. The phone rang and the voice on the other end said “Crest lap?” So I took a break from housework to get in a late afternoon ride with a few of my usual crew. There were four of us and my girlfriend was nice enough to shuttle us up in my truck… I owe her one. Despite the North Face event wrapping up, the Guardsman parking lot being a complete junk show, and a large crew heading out just in front of us, this turned into a most enjoyably epic fall ride.

Scott’s Bypass was in some of the best shape I’d seen it. We slow rolled up Puke Hill and then decided to push on in order to get ahead of the big crew. It paid off, allowing us enough space to feel like we were the only ones out there the rest of the way. Foliage was popping, temps were fantastic, dirt was grippy, and the light was just perfect. There was even the occasional patch of snow left over from the dusting earlier in the week that added to the experience. The early sections of singletrack in the PCMR/Monitors area were perfectly tacky, allowing us to ride fast.

We cruised up Red Hill and over to the Spine, stopping just long enough to snap the pics in this post before pushing on past the split to Mill D and into Canyons territory. The double track sections just before the split to Millcreek were still a bit wet and eroded, but perfectly rideable. Just lay off the brakes and go. When we hit the section from Crest Connector to Mid Mtn the trail was covered with fallen golden leaves, providing surreal scenery. We dropped onto Mid Mtn and decided to extend the ride over to Insurgent. Insurgent was steep and rutted and kicked my ass (as always) before dumping us out on lower Holly’s with just enough light left to rally down to the cars we left in the Canyons parking lot.

Upon arrival we realized that in our haste we forgot beers, the only blemish on an otherwise classic Saturday afternoon in the Wasatch. Oh well… guess we’ll just have to do it again this weekend! After all, the freedom to sleep in, get chores done, ride the Crest, and still be back before dinner is exactly why I live here.

Check out these 3 incredible moose sitting peacefully next to Spiro trail on Park City Mountain Resort.  No more than 5 yards away.   Bull, cow, and baby.  Stayed and admired for nearly 10 minutes.  What a stoke!

As  I was driving through the desert last night headed back to Reno, (having just left the best place on earth -Park City,Ut) I was occupying my time with remembering how I grew up in a small ski town, but also how it has changed. I kept thinking to myself -never change, and remember where you came from and don’t worry about where you’re going.  Keeping the inner Peter Pan alive is my goal.

“Life is too important to be taken seriously” -Oscar Wilde

Looking forward to posting, and viewing some excellent adventures and stories!

Until next time

-Casey

Tram laps in the Summer? Dreams do come true! Snowbird Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon dropped a stoke bomb on mountain bike fiends this week announcing the grand opening of their brand-spankin-new Big Mountain Trail. Needless to say, we’re aching to get to Snowbird ASAP to do some laps on what will certainly be a premier must-do trail when visiting the Wasatch.

According to the Ski Utah video (see below), the trail is approx. 3000 vertical feet, 7.5 miles long, and takes about 1 – 2 hours to ride depending upon rider experience. So that means it’s a <10 min. ride up the tram for a massive descent back to the tram deck. CAN.NOT.WAIT! From the video, it looks like there are lots of smooth berms to rail, a few wood features, and a mix of high alpine and aspen single track to give even the most spoiled of riders a mega-fix of downhill fun.

Here’s some beta directly from Snowbird.com about the trail:

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Access: Hidden Peak (Tram MTB ticket required), Down-traffic ONLY after 11 a.m.
• *Trail Rating: Blue (intermediate)
• Distance: 7.5 miles from Hidden Peak to the Snowbird Center via Dick Bass Highway.
• Trail drops 2,900 vertical feet with an 8 percent average grade. Wide-open straightaways, tight forested turns, small earthen tabletops, wooden bridges and amazing down-canyon views. Very little pedaling required. Helmets required.

• Adult $19 Half-Day, $29 All-Day
• Child $16 Half-Day, $24 All-Day
• Snowbird season passholders (winter 2013/14 and 2014/15) $10 All-Day

For more information about Snowbird’s mountain bike trails, hours, and ticket prices, visit Snowbird.com.

There are days that I find myself craving the winding, rolling, hairpin traverses of the single track.  I am a runner, but I am not the type of runner who trains on a schedule or races towards goals.  Ney. I am a runner that loves the freedom I feel when I am zipping past overgrown meadows, or swinging Tarzan style on low lying branches, or launching myself to do side kicks off some rollies (must be the skier in me).  I run to be free.  I have no training schedule, no timers, no watches, and no idea of how far I am going to run that day.  Just running for hours. Well mostly running.

When I get to a trailhead, my regimen usually consists of lacing up my kicks, turning on that perfect playlist and then hitting the dirt.  Here is my dirty little secret: I find myself being pulled into the music and the trail so much I break out and start dancing.  Yeah, that’s right.  Dancing.  Even for a few seconds just to drop the beat and then I am pounding the dirt again.  It has become an addiction.  I find myself doing handstands, popping off tree stumps, using trees as imaginary dance partners; you name it.  By the time I know it, a few hours have gone by and I feel glorious! It’s as if the trail has a story to tell and I am its evolution witnessing the changing scenery and discovering what’s just around that corner.  I am celebrating the journey.  It is here that I have found my happy place.

It hasn’t always been this way.  I used to run on a training schedule, with watches to measure my pace and with a goal in mind.  Rarely, did I finish a run with the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. It felt like work.  Lately, that smile is guaranteed and instead of work it feels like play. The craving I get is not a craving for the physical act of running. It’s a craving for the experience, the feeling I get when I am in that mode, in that place, getting lost in the magic of the trail.

Whether you’re shuttling up or making the climb, the Pinecone Ridge trail atop Park City Mountain Resort is simply a shit-eating-grin-of-good-time kind of trail. It’s fast, flowy, and smooth. Here’s a quickie edit of Kevin enjoying some of Park City’s finest single track …

There’s not a lot out there that is more American than apple pie, BBQs, fireworks, capitalism, death penalty, etc, but skateboarding is definitely high on that list. HFBA and ZA worked on this one together and we found some amazing and unique places to skate.

Riders: Tyler Plane, Josh Adams, Tony Lent, Ozzy Henning
Edit By: Andrew Braden
Music: NewVillager – ‘Lighthouse’

I had one of the funnest seasons of my life this year. I had plenty of time to get my feet wet in the Wasatch and ride the bird. I also had a killer trip back home to Targhee to breathe that fresh Wyoming air. I loved every second of this season in Utah (except the inversion smog).

Related Post: 

• DAMN! JONNIE MERRILL GETTING ROWDY AT SNOWBIRD

I have found in my experience that the feeling of ‘stoked’ comes in a range and degree of exhilarating excitement.  There is being stoked about your untracked blower pow run, there is being stoked because you conquered your fears and overcame daunting anticipation, and then there is being stoked for someone else, which I have found to be the best kind of stoke-ness.

This past week, I’ve gotten less than ten hours of sleep due to watching the Olympics.  Every night, I joined my friends in the apartment above me with a case of beer and my comfiest sweats.  The time difference between Sochi, Russia and Park City, Utah is 11 hours… and there was NO chance any of us were going to wait for the following day to find out our friends scores.  We huddle around the T.V. where it is being streamed live from one of our laptops.  All of us are friends, if not fellow competitors of, the Sochi Olympic Slopestyle and Half Pipe athletes.  We all snowboard, ski, and live for the adrenalin these sports provide us.  It was Wednesday morning, when I got to watch one of my best friends, Kaitlyn Farrington, win the Gold Medal.  That feeling, the stokeness of being that happy and that proud, was an over whelming experience in itself.  It was a collaborative stoke, because everyone that is a part of my life was just as excited as I was. Our girl, a bad-ass, humble, beautiful human being… simply slayed it. Under pressure & full of grace.

Photo from Kaitlyn’s instagram: @kaitlynfarr

After 14 hours of pure amazement, it was time to watch the Men’s Slopestyle Skiing.  This time we were cheering on a fellow Park City kid, someone whom we are all close to… Joss Christensen.  I had his older brother, Chuck, one of my oldest friends, on speed dial with a clenched fist.  The competition was at an all-time high, and after several stunning performances by all the skiers, Joss righteously won the Gold Medal.  In fact, the U.S.A swept the podium and for the next hour, apartment E8 was screaming, dancing, hugging, crying, taking shots, instagramming, tweeting, snapchatting, more screaming, more shots, and eventually, Kimmy and Jessie Sharp made this (yes after everyone else passed out):

For how stoked we were, I can’t imagine actually being the one standing on the podium, woah!

I am so proud to be from this town, Park City, Utah, and seeing those around you grow up and represent this community’s incredible lifestyle, in front of the whole world.

Mad Kudos to all the Olympic athletes, and a massive shout-out to Devin Logan for taking Silver in Women’s Slopestyle! You kick ass!!!!!