Fuck this noise.

I was on crutches until ~thursday last week and managed to go rafting down the Heber River today so I’m assuming that this means I’ll be skiing Baldy main chute sometime this week. The doctor never specifically said anything about not skiing and a ski boot is basically an air cast so it should be fine.*

Now. On to the show part of this show and tell website. I don’t really have any awesome skiing fun to post since last week, but occasionally I do get sweet fan mail about videos I’ve posted or trip reports I’ve done (which is so awesome, thank you anyone that’s ever written anything in!) and I’ve still got copies of every letter I’ve every received, but this e-mail (actually facebook message) I received early last week made my day in ways I can’t begin to describe and I decided to post it here:

Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your helmetcasts. Unfortunately, I’ve been disabled now for a number of years due to racing accidents, and I’m unable to ski even the meagre slopes here back on the East Coast. Your work reminds me of my days schussbooming the wasatch front, Be it going for Big air in Brighton, face shots of “carfoonda” down Eagles Nest in Alta, or doing the backcountry bit between the Canyons (which these days I guess isn’t as “extreme” as it was back in my day of the late 80s)…

Thanks man… keep em slick and fast, to make the good runs last.

Sean K.
U of U alumn and former powderhound.

There you have it. A UofU student/ski-bum from nearly two decades ago still stoked on the Wasatch. That just brings a big fat smile to my face

Keep you eyes peeled Sean (and other fans), I may be down for the moment, but I’m certainly not out and you can bank on some more sweet helmetcast action before long. Between bad crashes, busted ankles and pulled teeth from this last season I’ve got an arsenal of painkillers and other bad things, but there is still only one addiction I can’t seem to kick…

June 2007.

July 2008.

July 2009.

Summer 2010.
???

Trying to make those perfect turns last,
Jake

*JakeCast.com or its writers (me) are not responsible for any injury or death that may occur as a result of taking my incredibly stupid medical advice. The psychotic ways in which I justify skiing on failing body parts are probably not for you. I’m extreme. All day. I stick uphill ice…on my soft skis. Send it.

The end is here.
Today marked the ending of Snowbird’s official 2009/2010 ski season. From skiing a groomed ribbon of snow under Gadzoom on November 17th all the way until pond skimming on June 20th, it’s been a blast.
Fret not, because while today might have been the end of the lift served ski season, it was also the start of the backcountry release waiver ski season. Let the clock on my delusion start now.

Big thanks to Gered for capturing the awesome shot of some of the closing day ceremonies.
In addition to mountain biking and rock climbing, I have also begun water skiing this summer. It rocks.

Keep your eyes peeled as a special Father’s Day HelmetCast is being edited as we speak (or type, if you want to be technical about it).

Jake

It’s not over until every last inch of snow melts out of Baldy Main and I am not longer able to get a dune buggy ride off the mountain.

You never really have to go through the five steps if you just stay on denial.

Pics from last weekend:

Team Tram

Check out my sweet pizza wedge…and jeff in the background rocking a speedo…

Corn Harvest.

Sweaty Tram Antics.

JP and I sending in the slush.

I go for some Silver Fox pond skimming!

A crying shame.

Jake

This post is boring. But I just took this sweet photo on my deck of the storm currently slamming into the city of Salt Lake.
…I took the photo in a robe taken from Deer Valley’s Condominiums. My neighbors across the way pay extra for the view.

Jake

From ESPN:

According to Freeskier Magazine and the Sierra Sun newspaper, freeskier Arne Backstrom, younger brother of Ingrid Backstrom, passed away yesterday after a fall in Peru. Backstrom was on a ski mountaineering trip with Sweetgrass Productions when the accident took place. He was 29.

Sources close to the family say that Backstrom and his team were in South America to attempt a descent of the southeast face of Artesonraju, a 5,999 meter peak in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca region. The accident, however, took place during an acclimation day on a smaller sub-peak. On the trip were Arne, Kip Garre, Dave Rosenbarger and Jamie Laidlaw — all experienced ski mountaineers.

Backstrom, a Patagonia Ambassador and a rising star on the competitive big mountain scene, gained momentum this past season with a number of breakout performances in contests and on camera. In addition to winning the McConkey Cup and becoming the ’09/10 Freeskiing World Tour champion, he filmed his second straight segment with Warren Miller Entertainment and a part with Matchstick Productions. Backstrom also made a name for himself in the world of ski mountaineering. In April of 2009, he visited Chamonix and successfully descended the fabled Mallory Couloir, a giant ice-climbing route under the Aguille du Midi that almost never gets skied, and the Himalayan Face, an 11,066-foot run off the west face of Mont Blanc.

Backstrom’s parents, Steve and Betsy, spent decades as volunteer ski patrollers at Washington’s Crystal Mountain. Growing up, Arne raced for the same alpine club that produced World Cup racers Scott Macartney, Libby Ludlow, Tatum Skoglund and Paul McDonald. Said Olympic champion Phil Mahre, watching a young Arne on the race course: “That kid’s got a great feel. You can’t teach that.”

Backstrom went on to attend Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., where he majored in chemistry and excelled on the ski team. He worked briefly as a rep for Volkl/Tecnica after graduation before moving to Squaw Valley in August 2006 to join his Ingrid and Ralph, his younger brother, who is a professional snowboarder.

Said Keith Carlsen, Visual Media Director for Mountain Sports International: “Arne’s talents as a skier were only surpassed by his incredible persona. He was a humble, quiet, caring and compaassionate man. This season he proved that he was a force to be reckoned with, winning not only the Canadian Freeskiing Championships in Revelstoke but also the coveted Backcountry.com Sickbird Award. Soft spoken and humble to a fault, Arne was an incredible ambassardor to the sport, always willing to take part in promotional endevors that would further skiing as a whole.”

Arne Backstrom will be missed by the entire freeskiing community.

http://freeskier.com/articles/article.php?article_id=5106

Arne, you’ll be missed.