Apres’s New Look

This season we will be making the transition to a new hosted site. The web address is http://www.ApresSki.us
Same great content, same great snow bunnies with a twist…

Aviation in the News

As itineraries are being finalized and gear is being sorted, we were informed earlier today, by an Apres staffer that there was enough left over in the 2011 budget to upgrade our flights arrangements for our upcoming trip to the great Alaskan wilderness. As previously reported, the team would rendez vous at the Flying Crown Airstrip to board the plane pictured below.

Well, plans change. We received a call early this morning from an Apres intern explaining to us that our travel itinerary had been updated. The team will still report the the Flying Crown Airstrip, as previously reported, however our carrier has changed. See below.

 

The Bonafides Deliver for the CFO

Full review on the fashion tab. 

Best of Both Worlds

Although ski season may just (finally) be heating up, I couldn’t lay off this summer season concept. Hot tub + boating = amazing. I can’t wait to see these things cruising around harbors all over the country this summer!! On top of the phenomenal utility, take a look, the boats look classic and natural, making it the natural choice for the Apres company boat. (Ok – maybe tender, but we love it!) http://hottubboats.com/.

Excerpts from The Sawtooths. Sun Valley, ID.

…Day three led us north over Galena to Stanley and the Sawtooths, where a long drive through snowy plains awarded us with priceless views (shown below) and a long soak in local hot springs. The journey provided some rest for the evening’s activities, including plans to strap on the skins or snowshoes to ascend the mountain we had so enjoyed skiing down a few days earlier. We assembled at 5 pm at the base lodge and hiked for over 2 hours as the sun set behind us. Meager headlamps announced our slow upward migration to busy Cats preparing the hill for the next day’s crowd, as we pushed on under a starlit sky. At the top, out of breath and ecstatic for the summit, I announced proudly to my friends: “Yes. I skinned baldy.” The steady turns I took on my descent in the dark were some of the most rewarding of my life… Full Story @ Apres Weighs In.

What a tease. Mother Nature’s ballyhoo continues in the West!

After overhearing that Denver was getting throttled with snow this morning I couldn’t help my gut reaction, which was to hate text a buddy of mine who is making some celebratory turns at Vail this weekend.  Luckily I refrained, but then after taking a deeper look, the story got way worse. Travelers all across the country are being affected by the snow, including most likely those trying to get to Vail, but yet again Mother Nature is up to her old ballyhoo. It seems that this monster is nothing more than tomfoolery, blowing a friendly kiss by way of a faint breeze to the resorts in CO. while hammering their gateway city of Denver. Too bad there’s no skiing in Nebraska.

 

Killington’s on the Board!

Great sign early on at Killington today and tonight!! Word of the street is that there was snow spotted in the greater Boston area this evening as well.

“Skiing’s the easy part Karl.”

It should come to no surprise to this readership that we kick off this season’s list of “must see’s” with the timeless classic, Aspen Extreme. With lots more to come this should get the juices flowing for some gear reviews, retro Apres adventures and classic Snow Bunnies of the Week!

Operation West Coast Expansion is a Go

Is this thing on?!?

It’s official, we are now live from the West Coast.  The recession has meant challenges for everyone here at Apres (the most painful of which was undoubtedly the grounding of the Apres jet) and for me it has meant an increase in workload. Seven Dark & Stormies into our first annual “Irene is a little bitch” hurricane party the CEO informed me that I was being relocated to Northern California to run West Coast BD, report live from the mountains, and continue all fashion related duties.  My range will now consist of everything West of the Wasatch and South of the Tetons.  As the season gets closer look for cutting edge reports from Squaw, Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, etc. with the occasional trip to Alta and possibly Whistler in the mix as well.

First order of business: a recon trip to the Western edge of the Sierra Nevada’s to chase wild rainbows and browns on dry flies.  I’m heading out later today and will report on what I find.  I know I know, this schedule is grueling.

Second order of business – I need some new daily drivers for the Tahoe region.  My quiver has a serious right coast bias, and I need to fatten up.  I really like the look of the new Blizzard Bonafides.

135 / 98 / 118 mm, 21m radius @180

These things have the new “flipcore” technology that Blizzard has introduced this year.  Yeah its a little bit of marketing, but these do have the mustache profile that I’m looking for (early rise tip and tail with traditional camber underfoot).  Now before everyone starts chirping about how 98mm underfoot is too skinny for out here keep in mind four things: 1) I’m coming off a season where my hard snow daily drivers were FIS compliant slalom sticks – a whopping 65mm under foot with an 11m turn radius.  I like quick skis and smaller turns.  I also like something that I can wail on without it getting all noodley at speed (Rossi S3’s I’m looking at you here).  2) I’m only about a buck fifty five, so even a mid-waisted ski should still provide plenty of float.  3) Due to my work requirements I will pretty much be a weekend warrior this winter (after back to back winters of 35+ midweek days).  This means that I need a ski that will still be fun on the non new snow days.  4) I love bumps and don’t want a ski that makes them no fun.

The other option I’m considering is sucking it up and pulling the trigger on some DPS Wailer 112RPs.

141 / 112 / 128, 16m radius @ 178

These are true 5-point sidecut skis, which allows them to have a such a tight turn radius with a relatively fatter waist.  I haven’t personally been on these but I hear that they are pretty amazing.  My only issue is that they may just not have the edge to edge quickness that I’m looking for.  Also, I’ve heard that while they make almost every condition fun they can be a handful in the bumps.  Lastly, they are wildly expensive for the full carbon version (and the Apres expense account isn’t exactly what it used to be…).

Decisions decisions.  Obviously get back to me with thoughts on either of these two skis or anything else I should be looking at.  I have sort of sworn off Gotoma’s after they went to the extended tip rise shape of last year (although I do love the stiffness of Volkls in general).  I heard that 2011/12 model is completely different and may even be closer to the goats of 2007/2008 vintage, but that is unsubstantiated.  I do plan on demoing extensively before I pull the trigger on anything, so I’ll fill these out with more informed reviews as the season starts.

The trout await.

C.F.O.

Wakeboarding – About As Cool As It Gets

Yes, this picture isn’t me, but I do enjoy carving up the water as often as possible, and on a steamy 100+ degree day I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing. (Except maybe skiing) This picture is however, newly crowned Apres slickster Adam Esh showing just how easy this sport is… not really, he just makes it look easy!

A rare gathering of Apres executive this past weekend up in Lovell Maine reminded me of how relaxing and ridiculously fun spending extended periods of time on the lake is. A salt water boy myself, we rarely have the opportunity at glass calm conditions such as are common on lakes, but I guess when your soaked in sweat and day dreaming about doing anything involving cool water, I’d take either.

Thanks for the pic Esh.

A-Basin. Of Course it is.

There should be no surprise that A-Basin is the only mountain in CO that is still open. And open it is. With over 70% of its terrain still accessible, you know those guys are having fun. Reports are that the area plans to stay open until June 5th.

Clock goes Tuck…Tuck…Tuck…

At this point it seems like an annual right of passage that we plan a trip to Tuckerman’s and ultimately never end up going, but hopefully this year’s tradition will include actually skiing. Weather reports seem positive after a few dicey days of rain and the radar also seems clean. Although realistically I’m at least a week out from a trip its never too late to start planning and hopefully a few extra days will allow the solar radiation to soften things up a bit more. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center is a great place for information and I especially love the honesty of the information… “Two other things we want you to be aware of today are the waterfall hole and how to best descend from the Bowl. Every year when the waterfall hole opens up, we see people skiing dangerously close to it. Occasionally someone falls in. Historically most people who fall into this hole don’t get rescued, they get “recovered”.” I will keep my eyes on this site and continue to monitor weather reports for a desired trip weekend of April 22nd/23rd. Any further insight into what’s going on up there would be helpful as well.

Dude Park: Big Sky, MT.

This video pretty much sums up the last 7 days. 5 days were ski days at Big Sky, Moonlight Basin and The Yellowstone Club including two powder days with snow fall over 22″ in 12 hours and smaller amounts of fresh snow just about every other day. 1 memorable day was spent floating down the lower Madison under the leadership of guide Robert Boyce from Montana Flyfishing Expeditions. With snow falling all day the river was quiet and all ours.  We had good luck catching rainbows and browns at almost every bend with the two prizes being my 18-19″ brown and Eliot’s brown, which literally took him out of the boat.

Apres reached its high point on Friday when we had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with the voice of skiing himself, Mr. W. M. (Did not ask permission so just connect the dots)

I hope you enjoy this video, it has also been posted on the “Gallery” as it includes all original photos and video.

C.E.brO

Jammin in Jackson

Thanks to Apres mainstay Sparkes for passing this video along. As Sparkes always says, “keep it in the family” and he’s a man of his word. This video is of his cousin.

…if only they had mountains in South Dakota!

I just thought these were too good not to share… from the January Blizzard, much of the northern mid-west was blanketed with multiple feet of snow this year.  Just stunning, huh?!

-D

“Best Looking” Team at Winter Carnival. Way to Go Babson

This is a minor glimpse into the wonderful weekend shared by 16 MBA programs from all over the country. The hosting team up at Tuck did an outstanding job and we than them for their hospitality. Highlights included wins in the overall best dressed female category won by a Babson MALE, unofficially being voted “best looking” team, an all out 80’s bash at a “Big Labowski” themed bowling ally (couldn’t tell you the name if my life depended on it), and some really impressive times turned in by some world-class skiers on the course at Whaleback mt. For my money, this event is only rivaled by the April 1st Beach party at A-Basin, and I can’t say for sure which plays harder. That’s impressive given the competition. Thanks again to all parties involved including Booth MBA, Babson’s new sister program…

C.E.brO

Lost Ski Areas Project – Mt. Tom

My first pair of 205’s, white rear-entry boots, neon pink snow pants, alpine slide, T-bar, epic spill, daffy you name it… it all happened here. Mt. Tom in Holyoke, MA. Unfortunately, Mt. Tom joined the forgotten ranks of the “Lost Ski Project” nearly 10 years ago. Coming in at a jaw-dropping 680 vertical feet in its hay day, Mt. Tom killed it. Night skiing, a strong race development program, a few dicey drops, and a huge booter on the lower left hand side of “Big Tom” that, like Mt. Tom for the majority of the 90’s, survived any and every effort for destruction. Mt. Tom is now home to a lonely wind turbine on the back of the mountain and a bunch of un-bothered rattle snakes. I will say that it is an eerie scene these days as the sign is rotted away, the old entrance is blocked off next to the parking lot of an ancient amusement park that provides an interesting backdrop its self, and pedestrians who frequent the nearby reservoir are often completely unaware of the mountains former glory. We’re a huge fan of the New England Lost Ski Area Project and reading about some of these old mountains reminds me of the old wild West. While many of these former stomping grounds are shells of there former selves,  its grounding for sure to remember that former glory and consider that I was even a small part of it.

-C.E.brO

Apres nails it

It’s safe to say that last night’s decision to head north was a good one. It’s snowing like crazy with no sign of slowing down and I’m pretty sure the driving conditions will keep most people in New York.

Fashion

The CFO uses protection…

Apres disciple brings it with a real Spark!

That’s right, Apresski disciple and amateur photographer Sparkes handed us this beauty late this afternoon. Sparkes writes, “To my fashionable friends (at Apres) please note: the one piece suit and fanny pack are back.” It appears they are Sparkes, it appears they are!