Today was quite cool! We finally nailed that line variation off the Val Scura couloir on Sassongher. This was extremely satisfying getting to ski such a unique line. Conditions in the couloir were still very hard and icy in places so the skiing was slow and careful. Traversing/hiking the ramp out of the couloir did not present much of a problem and it was a very cool feeling knowing what we were heading out to. The snow on the slope above the cliff was firm and icy and not much fun but it was only about 3 or 4 four turns long before the jump. We spent a lot of time on a rope looking over the edge of the cliff in a few different spots and throwing rocks to figure out how big the cliff was and how to manage this jump. I must say that it seemed a bit more spicy than we were expecting. The cliff bulged out further than we were hoping at the bottom and this made for a very intimidating looking jump. There was a minimal amount of snow at the edge of the cliff due to melt back so the best spots to ski off from were not doable. JT threw some rocks and we got a few 9 second rock drops and then we knew it was on! I had opted to not even bring my wingsuit today so I geared up for a standard slider up ski base jump. JT had brought his wingsuit and was feeling the wingsuit ski base. We called the MSP film crew on the radio and they fired up the heli and it as time to charge off this sucker! I went first and punched it hard into a big ol front flip with as much speed as I was comfortable taking in those conditions. Everything went great and I had an on heading opening. I flew down completely stoked and landed high up on the hillside so I could watch JT from a good angle. No more than 30 seconds after I landed I see JT flying off the cliff with a lot of speed. He yanked his skis off right away and began to fly immediately. It was a perfectly executed wingsuit ski base. Skis off quick and stable and into forward flight with no potato chipping or instability. I was jealous. Today was a good day!

Shane

Hello everyone, 

I am currently in Corvara Italy on a Red Bull/MSP Films project. JT Holmes has joined us as well for the search for our primary goal, to finally nail the double stager ski base line. We also are trying to ski some interesting lines that end in ski base jumps. For these we are trying to focus on lines first and foremost not just base jumps with some snow above it. Its about the skiing for us not only the base jump. Having a parachute in our gear bag allows us to look at mountains and find lines in places that one normally couldn’t go so we are trying to take advantage of the opportunities these amazing Dolomites have to offer. There is a well known couloir here called Val Scura on the mountain called Sassongher. It gets skied a lot because it is a classic but it is anything but easy. See picture below. Currently it is very firm, hard pack conditions in the chute on a sustained 45 degrees for about 2,500 feet of vertical. Not the greatest conditions for skiing fast but manageable for a descent. About 1/3 of the way down the couloir there is a ramp that slopes up and out to the right. It leads out to a nice field of snow above about a 1,000 foot cliff. Its a beautiful line variation on a classic couloir here in the Dolomites and would be a great one to do. Yesterday we went for it but had some problems. There was a group of people in the couloir in front of us who took over 2 hours to ski it while off and on belay. By the time we were able to drop in it was getting late in the day which eliminated the option of taking the ramp over to our line. We only had time to ski the main couloir. About 1/5th of the way down JT broke the toe piece off of his crappy, old Tyrolia bindings and nearly fell to his death down the icy couloir. Something that could have happened to either one of us. We have to use these old bindings when doing certain types of ski base jumps because they have an upward release system on the heel piece which makes it easy to release the skis. So, instead of nailing this classic line variation we spent the rest of the day making fun of JT as he probably performed the first ever walk down the Val Scura couloir. As soon as the weather clears we will head straight back up there and go for this line using our normal skis with some bomber Marker bindings. There may be a double stager nearby too which we plan on scoping out. Will let you know how it goes!

Shane