PABST BLUE RIBBON CUSTOM SKIS LIMITED EDITION BY MSC

Is is karma?  Is it fate?  Does Ullr have a special place in his heart for PBR drinkers?  We’re not really sure but serendipitously we are now working with PBR to create a limited edition line of custom skis for PBR.   That’s right….custom MT Ski Co designed PBR skis.  Our special run of PBR skis (nicknamed the Pabst Backcountry Rippers) are designed to be light weight and quick for tight tree stashes and chutes yet stiff enough to handle aggressive high speed turns on open faces.  PBR will be rolling out TEXT to WIN programs at select retailers as well as drawings and give-away drawings at your favorite ski town watering holes.  For more information visit Pabst Blue Ribbon on the ol’ interwebs or keep in touch via Facecrack.

La Nina finally arrives

After a dismal beginning to winter (Canadians hold your tongue please) we are stoked that winter has finally arrived.  The tip of the storm rolled through Monday and there was nearly 2 feet of cold smoke on the north facing slopes of Big Mountain [read: Sick Day].  We’ll be traveling around the state to sample the goods at Bridger Bowl, Big Sky, Discovery Basin and others so let’s hope the snow keeps falling.  If we see you on the road we’ll have a cold PBR and celebrate an awesome day of skiing.  Here is to the late arrival of that bitch La Nina and to all those powder hounds who didn’t give up the dream that 2012 could still be an epic snow year.  Cheers!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the zone
Not a ski bum was hiking, not even on Lone.
The ski socks were hung by the wood stove with care,
In hopes that deep powder soon would be there.

The nuggets were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of pillow lines danced in their heads.
And hottie in her ‘kerchief, and I in my beanie,
Had just fired the grill for brews and a weenie.
When out on the porch there arose such a clatter,
The couch surfer sprang up see what was the matter.
Away to the window he flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and spilled his chron stash.

The moon on the carpet of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of bluebird to pockets below.
When what to his bloodshot eyes should appear,
But a huge fatty sled, and eight massive reindeer.

With a crusty old driver, yet lively and quick,
He knew in a moment “Whoa bro, that dude is SICK!”
More rapid than Bode his rippers they came,
And he whistled, and bellowed, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the mountain! To the top of the headwall!
Now slash away! Slash away! Slash away all!”

As dry leaves that smoke before the powder does fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, huck huge to the sky.
So up to the A-Frame the rippers they flew,
With the sled full of toys, and that gnarly dude too.

And then, in a twinkling, we heard on the roof
The pounding and pawing of each mega hoof.
As we drew in our heads, and were turning around,
Down the chimney the jolly Dude came with a bound.

He was dressed super steezy, from his dome to his foot,
Yet his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had in a sack,
He looked like Patrol, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples were merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose totally cherry!
His stoke was quite epic, his pants hung quite low,
And the beard on his face was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a gi-normous belly,
That rocked the house as he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was massive but plump, like Buddy The Elf,
And broski cheezed out in spite of himself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Told us he was irie like the most natty dread.

He spoke not a curse word, but got straight to his work,
And crammed all the ski socks, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his digits aside of his beak,
And giving a nod, rose straight up to the peak!

He sprang to his sled, to his team gave a yammer,
And away they all flew like he was dropping the hammer.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he launched out of sight,
“Happy Ski Season to all, and to all a good-night!”

An ode is described as “an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.”  We’d like to think that opening day is pure emotion.

Craig "Snow" Moore - 48 Months Consecutive Skiing

The Ultimate Ski Bum? At the moment, our good friend Craig “Snow” Moore is one of ten finalists in The Powder Highway Ultimate Ski Bum Blow Your Mind Contest (That sure is a reeeel mooothful eh?!)  Considering he has skied 48 consecutive months (mostly by hiking in Glacier Park like a deranged billy goat) we at MSC believe that Craig would make an excellent representative and therefore winner of this prestigious — and totally rad — contest.  Oh, and he’s a professional photographer, blogger, and total skiing dirtbag.  As Charlie would say “WINNING!”  Go to the link and vote for your favorite ski bum.  May the best bum win.

Cutting fiberglass for 178cm Skookoleels

With La Nina kicking in a bit earlier than expected a few hills in the region cranked up the lifts sooner than expected.  We took a break from the white shreds of fiberglass and snowing sawdust to do some shredding of Mother Nature’s goodness.   Thanks to a last minute text update from our “inside man” we dodged the opening day crowds at Lookout Pass along the Montana/Idaho border and headed to 49 Degrees North in Northeastern Washington.  To our stoke filled surprise we found Chewela Peak covered in 30+” of fresh powder bliss and zero lift line.  There was a lot of risky early season off piste poaching and definitely a few close calls with some dead-fall in the “Peacemaker” trees, but it was well worth the gamble.  We’re looking forward to schralping Angel Peak when we return later in the season.

The Northern Rockies Avalanche Safety Workshop is right around the corner.  Check out the website and get yourself signed up!

5 of North America’s prominent avalanche professionals will present practical avalanche safety information and research to those attending the workshop.  For our guest speakers, NRASW offers an opportunity to share avalanche safety information that is based on years of experience working in avalanche conditions.  For those attending it is a time to learn about the current state of the avalanche industry, practically based avalanche safety skills, and meet new (and old) friends with a common goal- staying safe in avalanche prone terrain.

This is the first time a workshop like this has been offered in the Flathead Valley. We are excited to have this opportunity to come together in the name of improving avalanche safety for all that would like to attend!

On behalf of the NRASW Steering Committee and the NRASW guest speakers, please join us to make this a successful event. It promises to be very educational and fun for all attending.

We have been working hard throughout the fall and winter to dial in our process and make a number of new designs, sizes, and shapes available.  In fact we now have more than a dozen new options spanning the gap from 75cm kids skis to 202cm rockered big mountain skis.  The bottom line is that we can create a ski for whatever style of riding you need in just about any size you can dream up.  Here’s a couple of our new flagship skis that we are ultra stoked on…

We introduced a new couple new prototypes a just 2 weeks ago (codename Super Soldier and Tatonka).  The dimensions of the original Soldier were beefed up from tip to tail allow for more flotation off piste (132-93-116).  We also added early rise in the tip and tail to allow for easier turn initiation and tail butters through the trees (or in the park).   We mounted the Super Soldiers with new 22 Designs Hammerhead bindings and they (not surprisingly) turned out to be a ripping all mountain telemark ski.  The Tatonka ski is, as the name might suggest, a burly big mountain ski designed for ripping big wide open turns.  We brought both the Super Soldiers and the Tatonkas to Big Sky last week for some testing off the tram on Lone Mountain and our ski tester was quoted as saying “wow dude…these fattys are tasty indeed!”  Both pair are currently only available at the 180+ length but we can make any ski a reality so drop us a line and we’ll figure out the perfect set-up for you.

All in all it was  a pretty good end to the year and we’d like to thank a few individuals for making the 12th month so damn good.  We would like to thank Chris Davenport, Cody Townsend and Kim Havell for joining us at the Whitefish Mountain Films event this past December.  It was a great event with excellent film and photography showcasing the mountain lifestyle and unbelievable skiing.  Big props’ to Greg Franson of Bluebird Guides and all the lovely ladies at Outside Media (Amy, Hilary, Sammie…you know you rock!) for bringing us all together.  If you have a chance I highly recommend that you check out Dav’s film Australis and Cody’s new project The Way I See It — you will not be disappointed, I promise.

As I look out the window I see some fat flakes falling on the trees while my phone is beeps with the texts of friends already fired up to rip the heavy overnight snowfall.  Looks like 2011 is going to be pretty damn good too.

Fresh tracks Montana Ski Company carves its niche

By Matthew Frank – MISSOULA INDEPENDENT

Montana Ski Company’s first season unofficially began last Wednesday, when its president, Zak Anderson, skinned up and skied down Whitefish’s Big Mountain on a pair of handmade Montana Ski Company skis.

“I was rockin’ some prototypes from last year,” Anderson says. “It worked well because it was heavy snow and it’s always nice to have a bigger, fatter, wider ski—especially when there’s only two feet…It’s nice to stay on top of it.”

Technically, this winter marks the Whitefish-based Montana Ski Company’s second season. But it’s the first year its skis, distinctive for their Montana-grown wood cores, are available for the public to purchase.

The company’s emergence reflects a surge in the number of small ski businesses in Montana and around the country—and just in time for ski season. In Bozeman, 25-year-old ski fanatic and craftsman Eric Newman is launching Seneca Boards this winter, and in Helena, a trio of college students, under the name Epik Skis, began building skis in a garage last year, among other start-ups.

“There’s kind of been this rebirth of the small, grassroots, made-in-the-USA ski business,” Anderson says.

Anderson, 32, believes Montana Ski Company can thrive in the niche it’s carving out.

“We’re trying to make quality custom skis using sustainable timber from Montana and to keep that price point relatively low,” he says. “And our focus is mainly on making backcountry and powder skis. We know there’s an aspect of the market we can capitalize on there, and that includes telemark skiing as well.”

The company began with an informal conversation last December at a Flathead Valley Ski Foundation fundraiser between Anderson and a friend, Chad Wold, who’s a partner, along with former National Football League quarterback and Whitefish resident Drew Bledsoe, in the Bledsoe Capital Group. Wold told Anderson that he and Bledsoe were exploring the creation of a small ski company.

As Anderson tells it, he said, “I’m in,” even before Wold could provide any details.

“Because that’s one of the reasons I moved back here from Arizona—to get back into skiing,” Anderson says. “That’s where my heart’s at.”

Before long, Anderson found himself learning the nuances of the so-called boutique ski industry. The company partnered with Spokane, Wash.-based handmade ski and snowboard manufacturer T.J. Sneva, of Sneva MFG, to build a few prototypes. Meanwhile, it sought more investors to support the vision.

Montana Ski Company’s financial backing gives it a significant advantage over most other ski start-ups. It’s allowing the company, now with a staff of five, to make in the coming weeks about 30 pairs of its base models (costing $850), plus semi-custom ($950) and fully custom ($1,500) skis. It’s developing a new website and marketing plan, securing additional financing, and identifying Montana athletes to be Montana Ski Company ambassadors. By next year, the company hopes to open its own production facility in Whitefish.

What also sets the company apart is its commitment to using Montana wood and the least harmful chemicals and plastics as possible.

“I think there’s a bit of a misnomer in the world of skiing and snowboarding that they’re all made of plastic or metal…,” Anderson says. “But for the most part, skis are wood-core, and the best skis on the market are wood-core skis. The best materials for those are maple and poplar. Those are our go-to [trees].

“There’s certainly a certain amount of mad scientist/artist that goes into creating skis,” he adds.

Only a handful of people have actually taken turns in Montana Ski Company skis. Count Jules Older among them. The former editor of Ski Press tried two pairs of Montana Ski Company skis last winter.

“The P’arc, a maple-cored giant slalom brute, I hated,” Older wrote the Indy in an e-mail. “The Buffalo Soldier, an all-rounder for any snow and any kind of turn, was the best ski I’d ever set foot in. Extreme stability without boring deadness. Great on short turns and long. Sweet as. I wanted a pair.”

“Sweet as,” Older explained, is a New Zealand expression for cool.

Anderson and his team hope many more skiers will agree. Montana Ski Company skies will initially be available only on its website—www.montanaskicompany.com. As the company grows, Anderson says he hopes to have its base models in select shops around the state.

“That’s the goal—to keep it grassroots in Montana for the first few seasons,” Anderson says. “And if we start to have the kind of success we’re hoping for, then we’ll expand a little and look into going into different markets.”

But in the short term, Anderson has his eye on the forecast. He says more snow has already fallen on Whitefish Mountain Resort than by opening day last year.

“People are buzzing around town for sure,” he says.