There are no words that accurately describe my complete love obsession with winter. I feel a slight “meh” about everything 3 seasons of the year, and then winter hits and the child in me awakens. Maybe it’s the beautiful blankets of white that hug Mother Nature’s mountainous curves. Or the blizzards that force everyone to snuggle together by the fire. The anticipation of weightless powder turns or that feeling I have after I can’t help but utter “that was the best single turn of my life!”

Whatever the reason for my wintertime stoke, I can assure you, my love of snow pales in comparison to the sheer joy that my dog has for this time of year. Gone are the days of panting in the heat, of laying on the bathroom floor trying to cool down. Of being left home alone with the cat because it’s too hot to hike. Screw that! It’s time to play, romp, prance, and roll in the beautiful fluff outside. Catch snow balls, sprint for no reason at all, jump like a dear, and when no one is looking, make some yellow snow.

If your dog is anything like mine, you share a fondness of playing outside in the cold. Winter is a great time to explore the outdoors with your dog and you can both stay active and healthy while enjoying wintertime hikes. That said, it’s important to make sure your dog stays warm, hydrated, and happy when you two are out in the snow. Many dogs LOVE and can handle cold conditions. That said, many breeds can only tolerate cold conditions for short periods of time, or not at all. Make sure your activity is suited for your dog’s breed and is age appropriate in order to have a great winter together. Need help? Learn about “How Cold is too Cold for Dogs” before venturing out this winter.

Spread Stoke Winter Hiking Dog Tips: 

1. Keep the Trails Clean. Joking about “eating yellow snow” is much more fun than stepping in poop. Plus, as a dog owner, it’s your responsibility to help keep hiking trails clean and clear for everyone to enjoy. Keeping an entire roll of earth friendly biodegradable pick-up bags with you is a MUST. These can be carried in a pocket, on a leash, or in your dogs pack for quick and easy access.

2. Trail Dog First Aid. Dogs are pretty susceptible to injuries while hiking. There are plenty of things to slice a paw open on, branches to run into, or rocks/ice to slip out on. Make sure you bring a doggy specific medical kit with you on your adventure. Not all are created equal. We suggest one that has an eye wash, a pet first aid booklet to review BEFORE you go out, irrigation syringe, tape, multiple wipes (antibiotic and alcohol versions) various wound closures, and gauze are also good to check for.

3. Hydration and Snacks. Sprinting around in the snow is fun, no doubt! Winter hikes can dehydrate both of you while burning calories o’plenty. Make sure your pup has plenty of fresh drinking water and don’t forget to bring snacks/food in case you need to rest for a bite or if you have an emergency and get stuck somewhere overnight. There are a ton of great dog food pack options and water containers out there. I’ve taught mine to actually drink out of a water bottle for quick and easy access while on the go, but always bring a bowl for him/her to drink out of as well. Provide your furry one with water at least every 15-20 minutes.

4. Doggy Gear & Accessories. Depending on your dog’s breed, you may need different items to keep him/her safe and warm this winter. Things to consider: Does your dog get cold easily? Does your dog have a natural winter undercoat? Does your dog’s fur hold moisture or collect snow and ice? Does your pup need winter boots? Your dog might need an insulated jacket, snow slicker, booties, or the like to stay warm and dry out there. You might also consider buying bright colored jackets, harnesses, and leashes so it’s easy to spot your snow beast in all that white! If your dog will NOT wear boots (I feel you!) keep an eye on their paws to prevent & clean out ice & snow build up. That brings us to…

5. Pause for the Paws: When hiking with dogs in the snow, the fur between their paw pads can collect ice melt, snow, ice, dirt, salt and all sorts of other nasty winter things. They can also freeze, split, crack or get cut. Keep your eyes on them, clean them out, and don’t let your best friend eat/lick ice melt or salt off their paws when they’re out and about. Or, bribe them with bacon to keep their winter boots on (good luck with that!). If bribery doesn’t work, grab some Musher’s Secret, a dense barrier wax for all season protection.

6. Pack It In, Pack It Out! I have a working dog, so she obviously LOVES any task given to her. One of her tasks is to carry her own stuff on a hike. This allows me more room in my pack for extra water and jackets (and let’s be honest, a few beers) and Kira carries her own load. Plus, then I don’t have to put poop filled bags in MY pack. Her poop, her problem! Different dogs can handle different sized loads and packs. Make sure yours is appropriate for the difficultly of your hike and your dog. I suggest grabbing a bright colored pack with multiple compartments, light reflectors, and a front leash attachment. I also LOVE a pack that has a handle on the saddle so I can quickly grab my snow beast when needed. Also make sure that each side of the pack has equal loads of weight so it sits properly on your pup’s back.

7. Leash Up. While there are TONS of off-leash doggy trails all around the country (check the local laws before you venture out), you never know when you need to secure your buddy with a leash. Maybe you see a few wild animals roaming around, sprinting children that might get herded, or lots of traffic at your local trail head. Always keep a leash with you and ready to use.

Most of all, enjoy your time together in the snow and let the stoke fly.

Grassroots Powdersurfing brings you two days of tree riding, pillow pouncing and pow slashing through burnt forests in the Sawtooth Mountain Range, riding the best binding-free powsurfers in the world.

Powsurf Riders: Jeremy Jensen, Dave Smellie, Craig Stevenson, Jeff Tulloch, Erik Nelson, Cole Thompson.

Music: Sidestreet Reny “Roots Reality”  http://www.sidestreetreny.com
Good Blood “I’ll Be”  http://www.goodblood.bandcamp.com

Last winter Justin ‘Trauma’ Lichter and his partner Shawn ‘Pepper’ Forry completed the first winter thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.  For those unfamiliar with the “PCT” it is a 2650 mile trail from Canada to Mexico that cuts through 3 US states including Washington, Oregon and California.  This diverse trail crosses deserts, mountain ranges, deep forests, glaciers and volcanic peaks, and is considered one of the most difficult hikes in the world….in the summer!

For the western US states the winter of 2014-15 was very mild compared to normal winters.  Many areas reported record low snowpack, which might lead one to believe that this would be a great year to attempt a winter thru hike on the PCT.  However, it turns out the lack of snowfall and unpredictable weather patterns were a major challenge that almost forced Trauma and Pepper to abandon their expedition.  Not too long after starting in Washington, Trauma and Pepper found themselves caught in an unexpected storm that left them debilitated with frostbite.  Later on the trail they had to ditch their ski touring setup (due to lack of snowpack) and rely on snowshoe travel, which takes more time and burns more calories.  Thru hiking in the winter is filled with challenges, especially when it comes to food.

For many long stretches, the PCT is a desolate trail that cuts through uninhabited wilderness.  Trauma and Pepper often went weeks without seeing another person.  Many small towns with re-supply stations along the PCT close for the winter, which meant Trauma and Pepper had to be meticulous with their meal planning.  Cold weather and minimal pack space greatly limited the types of food Trauma and Pepper could eat.  According to Trauma, “our breaks were centered around eating. Any time we stopped we would spend that time ingesting calories. And if we took a break we couldn’t sit still very long because of the cold, so we had to keep moving.”  The most efficient calories came from conveniently stored nutrition bars.  The guys rotated between Lara Bar, Pro Bar and Kind Bar and ate 10 bars each per day, receiving 1/3 of their daily calories from bars.

Cooking at night proved to be another serious challenge.  Often times Trauma and Pepper had to melt snow for the next days water supply, since they frequently did not have a running water supply available.  Due to the terrible snowpack there was often “sugary” snow, which does not hold much water content and takes up to 2 hours to boil down for the next days needed water supply.  After a long day of hard work, the guys were often hungry, tired and ready to sleep, but had to commit an extra two hours of work to melt water.  This left little time for cooking dinner.  Trauma and Pepper relied on quick one-pot calorie dense-meals such as, Top Ramen, Knorr Sides, angel hair pasta, cheese, beef jerky, instant mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or any combination of these.  Trauma was especially a fan of the instant mashed potatoes because they can be made without bringing the water to a boil, which saved time and fuel.

Snacks were another essential in their backcountry pantry.  While dinner was cooking or snow was melting, Trauma would often snack on chocolate chips, Justin’s Hazelnut Butter, and Justin’s single serving almond butters.  The single serving packets were especially handy because they were easy to ingest and provided quick calories to his tired body.

In addition to making food, getting supplies was often another daunting task.  Trauma and Pepper had to hike miles off the trail to find open grocery stores or to access post offices with re-supply boxes that they had mailed to themselves before they embarked on their journey.  One much appreciated surprise came from a ‘trail angel’ who hiked miles to leave an anonymous supply box at a remote location.  Even though they were often isolated, the support from the PCT trail community was received throughout Trauma and Pepper’s trip.

After an astonishingly fast 132 days Trauma and Pepper reached the US/Mexico boarder to complete the first successful winter thru hike of the PCT.  As they signed the book at the end they were greeted by friends, family, and a champagne celebration to end their historic journey.

Check out the Adventure Dining Guide episode to learn more about Trauma’s PCT cooking challenges.

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/snow/winter-never-came-snowbird-utah/ http://spreadstoke.com/snow/winter-never-came-snowbird-utah/#comments Fri, 22 May 2015 16:06:01 +0000 http://spreadstoke.com/?p=5244 By the end of the lift service season, we were sitting on the least snowy winter in history here in Utah.  But, with this not so snowy winter, we still got out there and shredded and had loads of fun with all the homies up on Party Mountain!  Here are some photos from Spring shredding and my 2014/2015 season edit.]]>

By the end of the lift service season, we were sitting on the least snowy winter in history here in Utah.  But, with this not so snowy winter, we still got out there and shredded and had loads of fun with all the homies up on Party Mountain!  Here are some photos from Spring shredding and my 2014/2015 season edit.

だいすき – DAISUKI – LOVE

This one time I went to Japan and fell in love. These are my favorite things in no particular order.

1. ONSENS, ONSENS, ONSENS!
In Japan, hot tubs are pretty much non-existent. Instead you have the glorious Onsens – aka Japanese word for hot springs. There are many hot springs all over Hokkaido, there is even a public one just for your feet in a small mountain town. I pictured these magical things to be in the middle of a snow covered mountain where men and women would sit together… naked. I was sort of wrong hahah.

Things you should know about going to an onsen:

• The onsen’s I went to were separated by men and women
• There are usually a few pools inside with different temperatures and another one outside
• You DO have to get fully nude – (it feels amazing on your skin!)
• Before you can actually get into the onsen, you have to completely wash yourself including your hair
• There are shower heads in the onsen area where you sit on a bucket and rinse off with soap provided
• Tattoos are frowned upon and sometimes not allowed, especially in the more public onsens (at a ski resort)
• Ladies – if you have long hair, make sure you put it up so it doesn’t touch the water!
• It is the most peaceful and rejuvenating experience – it probably results in longer life
• Your skin will look and feel so fresh
• Your first time might be a little awkward… but now you know so embrace it!

2.   7/11′s and SEICO MART 
Okay, if you live in America you have most likely at one point in time been to a 7/11. No big deal, right?
Japan is very different! I survived off of these places, and so will you! You can literally get everything you want, including porn!… if you’re into that. The food is made fresh: fresh beef bowls, rice bowls, other meals. These places are on almost any block in Sapporo. They are everywhere! My favorite thing, besides the fresh rice bowls, were these mini pancakes that came in a package of 4. They were actually pancake sandwiches, so when you bit into it the butter and syrup spread out. Yup, I could live off of those for 100¥ (basically $1). The stores also have hot bottled drinks. America – get with it! Perfect place to stop before heading up to film on the slopes. You can also buy beers out of vending machines throughout the streets, so that is pretty neat.

3.  TOILETS
Let me just say you will be pleasantly surprised by the toilets in Japan. After a 10 hour flight from LAX->Tokyo and going through customs, the first place I headed for was the bathroom. I thought I was in a hotel for a minute, maybe due to lack of sleep or maybe just sheer insane excitement. As I walked in, a robot voice talked to me and I found that each toilet station was like it’s own little room where it had high walls and two doors you shut together. If you hate going to the bathroom (you know which one) in public, you have found your heaven. First off, everything is so clean. There are wipes you can clean the toilet seat with before and after. When you sit down on these modern toilets, you realize the seat is HEATED! And then the unthinkable happens, music or a flushing noise comes from the toilet. You guessed it, no one can hear you. Sometimes I wish these existed in America.

4. FOOD
Alright, well I already talked about 7/11, but we all know that Japan is known for its food. This is true, I never had a bad meal there. Obviously sushi is a must while you are in Japan. There are some sushi places where they make it in front of you and put it out on a conveyor belt, so you can pick whatever looks good to you! Don’t get me started on soup curry. Soup curry is my favorite food ever and I try not to think about it while I’m here in the States. Then of course you can’t forget about the famous ramen.  I felt so healthy and my skin was very clear because the food there is pretty good for you! I’ll be writing another piece solely on great places to eat in Hokkaido – mainly in Sapporo, so look out for that.

5. YUKI aka SNOW!!!
Last but not least…. SNOW! Holy shit. That is all I can say about skiing in Japan. Let’s face it, we all grew up watching Warren Miller and TGR films where they go film powder skiing in Japan and we all dreamed of doing the same thing. When I was 16 I was sitting in a golf course at work watching an old Warren Miller flick and decided that one day I would live in Hokkaido for 6 months. Well, 7 years later I went for 5 weeks and it was enough to fall in love with Japan. It snows all the time, the access to backcountry riding is incredible, the people are friendly, and you will love it.  If you ever get the chance to go to this magical land, please go… and don’t forget your boots.

Hope you found this useful and I hope you will visit Japan one day! Enjoy my continuation of stories on Japan in the near future.

Always stay stoked – Dani.

In 2006, everything changed. It all changed for the positive but I never thought this 180-Safety grab would be the last time I ever hit a jump and land successful on my skis. The morning after this shot, I over shot a step-up jump at Mammoth Mountain, going 130ft on 100ft jump. The resultant impact burst-fractured my T12 vertebrae into my spine, causing incomplete paralysis of my lower extremities.

This accident fueled the start of High Fives Foundation. I encourage everyone to check out the Foundation and the program services we offer: www.highfivesfoundation.org

Seeking love is often a popular thought this time of year. Expectations rise while emotions begin to fly high. This particular feature has been on my mind for the past several weeks and I haven’t been able to shake the thought of riding her inviting curves. At first I observed her from a distance, however, time and additional snowfall allowed me to work up the courage to ask her for a ride. Valentine’s day was the perfect opportunity to express my love for her bubbly, rotund, pillow lines. And express I did.

Photo Credit: Colter Wade

Mine lines.

Bottom line.

I love the mountain.

The month of January has been an interesting one in the Wasatch. 2014 kicked off with rollover powder from the previous year.

Old Town, Park City

Photo credit: Colter Wade 

photo credit: Colter Wade 

Champagne pow gradually fluctuated to mostly sugar and cream. Lack of freshies led to getting creative with local terrain. 

Transit Center Pillows

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

Shred the Bush

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

Creamy, Sugary, Butter

Photo credit: Colter Wade

Just when Old Man Winter’s local approval ratings began to dip, a series of storms pushed into the area dropping classic Utah snow. Stashes were shlarped.*

Nighttime Powder Thievery 

Photo credit: Colter Wade

Old Town Night Moves

Photo credit: Colter Wade

Riding the White Wave

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

Pitted Braj**

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

Yet another high pressure system pushed itself into the Wasatch area shortly thereafter, apprehending all hope of continued powder terror. Instead, sunny, spring like conditions prevailed for the past 2 weeks, lowering team morale. In times like these, succumbing to frustration seems to be an easy excuse not to ride some snow, however, a backyard sunset session never hurts when the powder is nowhere to be found. Get creative and make the fun happen. Because the next storm is right around the corner.

Sundancing with Chemtrails 

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

And remember, keep it weird.

Photo credit: Ben van Avermaete

*Shlarp - To shred and shralp at the same time.

**Braj - Urban Dictionary

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