Despite low snow conditions around the Western US, I had a great season traveling to 2- and 4-star Freeride World Qualifier events, freeskiing at my home resorts of Alta and Crested Butte and touring in the Wasatch, Uintas and Crested Butte backcountry!

Flylow Gear, Ramp, Flyin Ryan, Soul Poles, Pit Viper

I headed down to Taos Ski Valley for my first ever Freeride World Tour Qualifier 4 Star event with a bunch of hooligans, better known as my teammates, from the Western State Mountain Sports Big Mountain Team.  Conditions were not good when we arrived for inspection of the venue, but the forecast called for snow for days.  After months of promises this winter, the forecast sounded like more of the same.

We woke up to a pleasant surprise as it was nuking, but that came with its own set of problems.  Taos Ski Valley is a rocky place, and the foot of new snow now meant we couldn’t see the sharks lurking just below the surface.  Adding to that was the problem of visibility.  It’s hard to judge a competition that you can’t see.  The organizers did the best they could with a “split judging” format where some of the judges took positions on the upper part of the venue, while others remained at the bottom.  Realizing they would be running competitors intermittently between squalls meant there was no way to run all the groups on Thursday.  They cut the men loose for the day, and we took full advantage!

With more snow overnight, the venue was really shaping up now.  What a difference a couple of days can make when you’re experiencing a 100 year storm cycle!  An intended early chair load slipped past as Patrol worked diligently to control the venue for potential avalanche hazards.  A quick inspection lap and the men were up.  Limited visibility, variable snow conditions and hidden sharks made for challenging runs.  I caught a shark as I sent my final air, pitching me forward and spoiling my clean landing.

My disappointment at missing the cut for the finals was short lived as we awoke on Saturday to the deepest conditions of my life!  The combination of super deep pow and ripper skiers and boarders made for high stoke all over the mountain!  But it wasn’t over yet.  Piling into the van at the end of the day, completely worked, we sped back to Gunnison in time for a foot of fresh at Crested Butte Mountain Resort!

This turned into one of the most memorable weekends of my life.  I can’t wait for some more snow!  Winter isn’t over yet!

A last minute email from fellow big mountain telemarker Bevan Waite boded well for great holiday week ski sessions… and that was before the Wasatch was pounded by storm after storm! Check out some highlights in this quick edit put together by Bevan.

We’ve teamed up with one of our favorite local companies, Soul Poles, to bring you:

Phase 1 of our #SustainableStoke Challenge

We all share a passion for the outdoors, we conquer our fears, quiet our minds, and express infinite enjoy when we emerge ourselves in it. The outdoors is our playground, with unlimited possibilities, yet fragile barriers.  The playgrounds we love: our oceans, mountains, lakes and deserts must be protected. We are all one with our surroundings and environment; so let’s make every little choice with that in consideration.

Let’s all take an effort to spread sustainable stoke

During the next 2 weeks, we are holding an Instagram challenge in dedication to spreading the word about protecting our playgrounds and to share how we protect our Earth. Our hope is that we continue to inspire both friends and strangers to step in and make a difference, so we can pass down this beautiful world for generations to come.

We are asking YOU, the Spread Stoke community, to help pass the notion of #sustainablestoke forward.  In exchange, we are giving away a pair of customized “Spread Stoke” bamboo Soul Poles so that you can continue doing what you love with gear that makes you feel good about it. On Christmas morning, we’ll announce the winner (selected at random) on Instagram and send them out their new quality shafts.

To Enter the #SustainableStoke Instagram Challenge:

1. Follow both @spreadstoke and @soulpoles on Instagram
2. Share a photo on your Instagram that sums up how you reduce your impact on the environment or how you directly partake in a sustainable activity
3. Use the hashtag #sustainablestoke so we can see your post

Here’s to the playgrounds we love and to making continuous steps towards a sustainable future!

• Learn More: Read our interview with Soul Pole’s Co-founder, Bryon Friedman.
• Special Gear Offer:

I got my first pair of Soul Poles several years ago as a Christmas present.  I was ecstatic, because not only was it a great conversation starter on every chairlift, I was also impressed with its functionality.  These shred sticks made out bamboo and post-consumer plastic grips were durable and fluid.  With a background in environmental studies, I often lose sleep over how detrimental the ski industry can be on the environment.  But, my passions lay both in skiing and the environment and I know with creativity, consideration, and enthusiasm there is opportunity in the industry for sustainable  products to thrive.  Soul Poles is doing just that.  Their mission is this: “Build quality products that inspire momentous living and the protection of the mountains we love.”

Spread Stoke is about stories, whether it is the story behind a four day trek into the mountains or a story behind a brand that is looking to make a positive impact in the outdoor industry.  I sought the brains behind Soul Poles out because I not only loved my own bamboo poles and it was a local company, but I also felt their brand resonated with how I felt about the ski industry.

I met Bryon Friedman, professional ski racer, musician, and co-founder of Soul Play (soul poles mother company) for an interview at the Soul Poles Shop.  His office was similar to mine… huge white erase board with ideas, visions, and future goals on how to grow the company.  I first noticed the ‘Vision’ on the board: “Reduce our impact on the environment, make durable and quality products, and connect mountain-minded individuals to our brand by having fun and producing uncompromising customer service,”  which made me more excited to delve behind the scenes.

Bryon moved to Park City at a young age from Atlanta, Georgia where his love for skiing perpetuated with having access to skiing all winter long.   His passion then flourish into a ski racing career where he raced on the USA ski team for 10 years.  Outside of racing, Bryon’s love for the mountains came in all shapes and forms, “We have all the seasons, not just skiing, but also mountain biking and fishing. You build some sort of relationship with your surrounding and environment. I was very fortunate enough to grow up in this town” beamed Friedman.  We both shared how stoked we were to have a big playground at the tips of our fingers.  We also agreed that it is imperative to protect these playgrounds.

Thus came the founding of Soul Poles.  Freedman and co-founder, Eric Schlopy, developed the idea by taking a look at the past.  People first started skiing with sticks and eventually bamboo, a natural carbon fiber.  The industry then shifted to aluminum, a light-weight and malleable material that innovates design, yet also contributes to harmful effects like erosion, deforestation and water contamination.  Taking it’s destructive consequences into matter, Friedman and Schlopy looked to create a product with a renewable resource.  Making a sustainable ski or even boot would be too difficult, so to make a quick impact they reevaluated the ski pole (and soon to be ski+hike poles).

The founders started by ordering a bunch of bamboo and glued existing grips from other poles to try it out.  “Every lift ride, someone would be asking about our poles, this was before we even had a name for the company in 2010″ reminisced Bryon.  With their fresh new product, they took it to SIA to show buyers and to their surprise…they got orders!  Bryon smiled, “We jumped in and went for it! We started solving problems.”

Soul Poles has gotten more refined since then. They are now in their 4^th year of business.  They hold ‘quality’ above all in their business model.

“The idea is to be sustainable. You have to have a quality product, and it has to work, it has to survive.  Soul Poles isn’t about how many poles can you complete in a day, but about taking the time to make quality shafts.”

In order to get these quality shafts, they go through a phase production.

They first seek out the best bamboo, making trips to China frequently to search for the right people that will hand pick the bamboo.  The bamboo growers become family to Bryon and the Soul Pole team. They want to make sure everyone is benefiting from this incredible grass. They look over the bamboo, making sure it has the right wall thickness, plus inner and outer diameter. Once the bamboo is in the shop, they sort through it, count it, re-hydrate, and let the bamboo rest.

“The bamboo needs to acclimate to our really dry climate, we learned how to do that with providing the right temperature and treating it with an oil blend,” explains Bryon.

Aw man, it’s like a spa day for the bamboo, I thought.

After the bamboo rests, it is time to go into second phase where all the sanding and grinding is done. This is the awesome dirty work that the boys in the shop bond over.  The bamboo then goes to the laser for engraving and is ready for final assembly, attaching the grips and tips.  As if bamboo wasn’t enough to create a sustainable pole, they make sure to use grips that are from recycled postindustrial plastic with straps that are recycled PET plastic (the stuff that holds your strawberries in the summer).

“It makes sense to reuse, if you already have product lying around, put it to good use.”

The bamboo pole is more than a sleek, sustainable product… it is a message.  Bryon hopes to see more people following suite, using re-purposed material and straying away from wasteful practices. All in all, Soul Poles would like to see more bamboo ski poles then aluminum poles. I would, too!.

Outside of Soul Poles, Bryon also hopes to grow Soul Play as a lifestyle outdoor company encouraging individuals to protect the playgrounds we care about.  Their bamboozie (perfect attire for your PBR) and 100 percent recycled hoodies are great examples of sustainable products that align well with their philosophy.

Another admirable aspect of Soul Poles is their athlete program.  Like their mission, they want their athletes to care about their surroundings. Bryon emphasizes working with like-minded individuals.

“Who do we want to be involved with? As you grow as a a brand, you discover where you are, who you want to spend time with, from the people who work here to the athletes that are brand ambassadors, to the people who you do business with.  If an athlete has any environmental studies background or works with a cause that they have purpose for, we are all about.”

Bryon pauses and then laughs, “It basically comes down to doing only awesome shit, with only awesome people.”

That is definitely a motto I will have to adopt, I thought.

To learn more about Soul Poles, check out their site here: https://www.soulpoles.com/

You can also help support their Kickstarter campaign and pre-order some of their awesome new ski+hike poles.

Follow them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (@soulpoles) to learn more about their custom ski pole workshops or follow them on their cross-country mobile tour.

I had a very progressive and fun season, traveling to new places and competing all around the Western US. I worked on throwing more tricks off of natural jumps and cliffs.  Near the end of this edit you’ll get to experience the biggest air of my life!

I traveled to a bunch of cool places for competitions; Grand Targhee, Big Sky, Crested Butte, and Breckenridge on top of my standbys of Park City Mountain Resort, Alta and Snowbird. Overall I had a super fun season, and I’m stoked for this upcoming season!

When we started SpreadStoke.com a few months ago, we wanted to create more than just a website. We wanted to bring together our community of fellow athletes and share the experience and feeling of being stoked-out…all day, every day! Starting Spread Stoke has been an amazing experience so far and we’ve had so many awesome posts, videos, and photographs shared. We wanted to share that love back to our contributors, fellow stoke-birds, and our community by throwing down a Sunday Funday party at Snowbird.

Yesterday, we teamed up with our super amazing friends at Soul Poles, heated up some grills, and threw a Sunday Funday party at the lower Gad parking lot. Needless to say, lots of hot dogs, PBRs, and laughs were had. Soul Poles brought their tricked out van and some of their newest pole lines to check out, while House of Marley & Goal Zero provided the jams so we could party both in style and off the grid.

The afternoon was a hit and we met a ton of new people. Thanks to all our friends who helped us set-up, breakdown, and get the word out. Also, a massive shout-out to our friends at Soul Poles. Soul Poles is doing a 6 month mobile tour right now while traveling through 36 cities in 12 states. Visit https://www.soulpoles.com to find out more about their earth friendly poles and where their next stop will be. #plantyoursoul

We will be looking to do many more of these events throughout the rest of the year and will be announcing our next event on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram … so follow us and come join us at our next party. Cheers!