Weather We Change Trailer

Adding video content this morning, I stumbled across the trailer for Tahoe-based Adventure Film Works' Weather We Change on YouTube, and it looks great. This past spring, AFW's Duane Kubischta accompanied Karhu skiers Lorenzo Worster, Alison Gannett and Zoe Hart over to Europe to film their tour through the Berner Oberland for his upcoming film, and the trailer has a lot of the ski footage and some thought-provoking interviews. With both the Sierra Nevada and the Alps suffering abysmal droughts last year, Adventure Film Works worked hard to capture both the effect on our mountain world and the bright spots of good snow in an otherwise tough season.


(Video courtesy of Adventure Film Works)

From the AFW website: "Weather We Change is the third major release from Adventure Film Works, whose 2006 movie Hustle & Snow received acclaim at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Weather We Change is a skiing adventure documentary that follows athletes who have taken a pledge to follow in the footsteps of pro skier Alison Gannett in search of a greener ski bum lifestyle. Mother Nature serves up a healthy dose of reality with a bleak early season, but these snow soldiers eventually find the deep powder that recharges their fight to save the snow. Stunning footage of the Swiss Alps, the best of the West Coast, and an educational journey come together in an unforgettable film that shows how global warming is an issue that skiers cannot afford to ignore."

Weather We Change is touring up and down the West Coast, from Taos through much of California and up to Portland and Seattle. Visit Adventure Film Works for details on the Weather We Change Tour and more info on the film.

Snow in Colorado!

The turn is happening! The daylight hours are dwindling quickly in the Northwest, and the sky's been dark and ominous for much of the week. Earlier in the week, the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire reported cold temperatures and the start of rime ice building on the mountain summit. Then came the photos from Colorado, where residents of Breckenridge and Vail woke up to large flakes falling on Monday:

Photos courtesy of Breckenridge Resort.

Photo Tales 1

Jason West, Crest Drop at Brighton, UT. Photo by Steve Lloyd. Karhu Team skier Jason West takes flight over the Wasatch on the new Team 130. Karhu full-page ad, September 2007 Powder Magazine Buyer’s Guide.


This was one of those sure-thing photos from the moment it landed on our desk. We see a lot of great freeride shots from Steve with Jason going big, but the perspective on this shot was perfect. Here’s the tale behind the photograph, from Jason and Steve:

It was fairly early in the season at Brighton, Utah; the Millicent lift hadn’t even opened yet. It had snowed over a foot of fresh the day before, one of the first big storms that snowed enough to actually huck something. As the storm wrapped up, we didn't have access to our usual terrain and drops on the Millicent side, so we sessioned this air trying to get the skier/photographer timing just right. It’s a 35-40-foot air inbounds at Brighton, directly under one of the main lifts. It’s always been an obvious hit, but it doesn’t get skied often. The perspective was achieved by Steve shooting from the lift as he's moving over the drop. We had to time it out perfectly to be in the air and shooting directly over the cliff. There’s a lot of heckling from people on the lift to hit it while you’re waiting.

The air is on a small, but steep, terrain feature where the snow builds up to form several natural takeoffs. The takeoff is blind, so you can’t see the landing until you are on the lip. You have to scout it well and pick out a tree in the distance that’s in line with your landing. It takes some good speed, because you have to clear some big boulders near the bottom of it and line up your landing in specific spots. The landing – well below, out of frame – is what makes it so exciting to me. It’s a perfect landing, but small, basically a narrow opening between old-growth trees. The steepest part of the landing means landing right up next to the nearest trees. On this day, it was like landing in a Styrofoam pit. I think that this was the first day we actually shot a cliff last year. It was definitely big grins for the whole day!

Eastern WA - Tour with Nils Larsen

Spokane folks... Mark your calendars for Conservation Northwest's Hope for a Wild Future dinner and auction. The program is headlined by a photographic presentation from the Columbia Highlands Initiative, and the live auction during dinner will be packed full of outdoor gear and getaways, including a Karhu package (XCD 10th Mountain skis & tour) from our Minister of Ski Culture, Nils Larsen.

When: Thursday, Septemeber 27th, 6-9:30pm
Where: The Davenport Hotel, downtown Spokane
Registration: $60 early registration here

Freeheeling on Sherman Pass

What's better than a new pair of Karhu XCD backcountry skis? How about to chance to hone your skills with a one day backcountry ski lesson & tour on Sherman Pass. Backcountry telemark guru Nils Larsen has been teaching and inspiring free heel skiers for over 20 years across the US and Canada. Nils has also produced instruction films and is currently working on a documentary project on the roots of skiing in Central Asia. After the lesson, review what you learned with a Freeheels Backcountry DVD Box set. Value: $685, http://www.karhu.com/

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Conservation Northwest connects and protects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. More at http://www.conservationnw.org/

Chasing Glaciers on CNN

Alison Gannett and Zoe Hart recently returned from touring in the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan, where they documented the effects of climate change and glacial recession. We’ll be posting their video updates on Where Will You Ski over the next several weeks, but in the meantime, CNN ran a story on their trip.

I can’t get an embedded player for this one, so click on the link or the image below of Zoe and her Jils to take a look at the interview and the action.

CNN News to Me - Chasing Glaciers

Way to go Alison and Zoe!! More on http://www.chasingglaciers.com/

Big Wednesday

Tuesday was a really crisp morning in Seattle, and it started getting some of the anticipation flowing for winter. In that spirit, let’s start up the Big Wednesday stoke.

After a weak start to the winter in New England, Mother Nature delivered redemption and some major powder love on Valentine's Day. Adventure writers and photographers and Karhu supporters Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson captured the essence of the storm and the best of East Coast tree skiing...



(Video courtesy of Brian Mohr.)

You can't beat those conditions at Mad River Glen - light, deep, drifting powder, refilling every lap - and Brian and Emily ski the lines as they're meant to be skied. More on http://www.emberphoto.com/

So What Is This?

Welcome to Where Will You Ski. In redesigning KarhuSkiCo.com, we wanted to offer more content… the photos, videos, and especially the stories that inspire you to get out and ski. In that spirit, we’ve launched Where Will You Ski to deliver more of that content directly to you, the enthusiast. While KarhuSkiCo.com is the place to go for information on all the new Karhu ski gear, Where Will You Ski is the hub of Karhu adventure. We’ll have trip reports, check-ins from testing, brand news and initiatives, athlete stories, videos, contests and much, much more.

We’re glad that you stopped on by to read where we’ve been and to see where we’re headed. Let us know what you think, and we hope to see you often.

Welcome...

At Karhu, we work and play in a world of seasons and cycles, waiting for mountain winds to drop colored leaves on the ground and for the wintry wonder that comes soon after. We live in cycles of products and people, of young kids graduating to bigger skis, of new skiers discovering the joy of gliding on snow, of old skiers smiling again at covering long distances with light gear, and of skiers bored with boundaries finding the beauty beyond the lift line.

Snow falls around us once again, and one thing is for certain: our commitment to winter exploration only grows. Across the spectrum from Fitness Touring to Telemark and Alpine Touring, we are making the most innovative, performance-oriented skis for any stage in the cycle of skiing. We are supporting a host of programs that build excitement around winter, from initiatives like Winter Wildlands Alliance’s grassroots wilderness conservation to sponsorship of avalanche centers and an athlete program that fuels the development of our broad range of skis. And once again, we renew our dedication to XCD, the heart of Karhu. XCD is the mountain energy that runs palpably through our brand whenever cold flakes fall from the sky.

Backcountry has been our heritage since Allan Bard, Chris Cox, Dickie Hall, Steve Barnett and Tom Carter became pioneers by simply following their imaginations on Karhu skis into an open white wilderness nearly 30 years ago. The lesson then – that Karhu skis could accomplish a feat like the Redline Traverse at the same time they toured leisurely from your backyard – has never been more relevant. Wherever you head in the mountains, from snow-covered logging roads to rugged, untracked peaks, we will continue to raise the bar of performance and forever explore winter.

Be well and ski well,
The Employees of Karhu

(Karhu ski engineer Eben Sargent surveys the day's options. XCD ski testing, North Cascades, WA. Photo by Graham Gephart.)