Behind The Scenes Of HP&M: Shaun Raskin

Yet another system lines up to hit the Wasatch with even more late Spring snow

So like I do every year, I booked my flight and made my annual migration to NY to spend some time with my family. However, this season as I hit the skies heading east I could not see that close behind me an endless storm cycle of snow was going to blanket over 50inches of the fresh white stuff over Utah. The weather in Utah has definitely caught most off guard, with many of my friends itching to ride bikes, but still feeling the need to buckle up their boots and get after the fresh because…well… “this might be the last storm of the season”.

Riverside Bike path overlooking the Hudson River

While it is quite tempting to jump in a plane and head back west to join my friends in the April and May powder crazed emotion, I realize that as a professional skier in the winters and a full time guide in the summer times, these short couple months between seasons are some of the only time I get to see family and childhood friends.

Reuniting with some High School friends

So I stick to the plan, spending a week at my childhood home northwest of Manhattan, watching my mom walk down the isle with the man of her dreams, spending time with my grand parents who taught me how to ski way before I can remember, and kicking back with my cousins aunts and uncles.

Rita and Phil, The Matriarch and the Patriarch of the Family and the ones who introduced me to skiing

Rolling on the Subway with one of my bestfriends Rachel

After soaking up the family love I head into my sanctuary outside of the rugged world of jagged peaks and swooping valleys, New York City has been a place of inspiration and comfort for me since the time I can remember. Whether it’s the rhythm of the subway cars vibrating beneath the busy city streets, or the collective energy of 1.5 million people living within 22miles of one another, the city has always spoken volumes to me. So I use it to revive my cultural and spiritual being, as well as to catch up with some great friends from my past, before heading south to Miami to catch up with my father.

Luch time in Manhattan's Financial District

Welcome to Miami

Miami is a strange place to find yourself when you still have a goggle tan, a stark white body, and an alternative sense life. None the less, the bleach blond hair, fake boobs, and overly tanned bodies can be something to appreciate and like any community, there are misfits, hippies, and punks in Miami, you just might need to look a bit harder to find them. One of those who has always beaten to his own drum of life is my father, and while his New Yorker heart still flutters irregularly with out the city’s bustle keeping him on beat, he is still staying true to himself in the city of plastic. Getting to spend time with him is always special.

Sunset with Downtown Miami in the background

Papa Bear!!

So with my soul, now filled by family and friends, I am in the airport heading back to Salt Lake City, where yet another storm cycle is expected to hit and I will return to the mountains to join my friends and industries in excitement over this fluke endless winter!

All and all the trip was rad. We had a great crew of ripping female tele skiers and the sickest photographer, Re Wikstrom documenting our every turn. We got pounded with snow which made for some great pillow lines and even inspired me to drop a 60 footer before the Heli picked us up on saturday.

If you look real close you can see my 60ft. bomb hole just bellow the cliffs

The skies broke our for our last morning

Endless Pillow Lines!!

The view from the heli ride out

The sun cutting through the pines in Golden

Our time in Fernie was equally exciting with a short stay at Martha Burley’s house and an evening tour out of the Resort for some sweet pow turns and beautiful light, as the sun descended in the BC sky.

Martha Burley- The biggest Celeb in Fernie

Re Wikstom getting a nice taste of the Fernie Spray

Sunset over Fernie

The trip home was quick and relatively uneventful as we all tried to get our heads looking towards the week ahead of Outdoor Retailer, Sundance film festival and fresh Utah powder!

Page and Candy Road tripping

The Cockpit

First Blue sky we have seen in a long time

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But Now… My mind moves on to the powder to come!!!

Tomorrow at 5am I head out with Re Wilkistrom, Candy Foere and Paige Brady on an epic road trip upt to Golden BC. We will spend one night in golden then meet up wit Martha Burley and the Helicopter and get flown into the Ice Fall Lodge!!!!!

I am so STOKED!!

I am going to try and do updates daily. So Stay Posted……..

They are some of our industry’s most influential athletes and they are pushing hard to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer.

Last night cars full of excited girls and guys were making the push up the Little Cottonwood road to see the first all women’s ski film, “Catch Me if You Can“.

Claire Smallwood Doing the honors

The film was put on by SheJumps, who’s vission is “to create a community of ambitious and compassionate women that are willing to take a “jump” to reach their potential and help others reach their own.”

Whitney, Me, Vinny, Jamie standing room only

VP doing the Pogo cross up

The night kicked off with several slide shows including that of Re Wikstoms. The images were strong, showing women throwing back flips, hitting huge cliffs, skiing big lines, and women just being women.

Lindsay Van and Vanessa Pierce Representing at the Peruvian

As the last raffle tickets were shouted out By Claire Smallwood, the lights dimmed and the film started to roll. Imediately you could tell that this was going to be a ground breaking film. The music choice, the editing style, it all apealed to that kick ass female ethos. It was the first time I actually felt like women were being represented accurately in a film.

Vanessas all around!!!!

The film was short, but it hit hard, filled with phenomenal skiing and representing what being a woman in the ski industry is really about, pushing hard, succeeding at times, wrecking at others, getting back on your feet, and inspiring others.

After the film and a little Pogo demonstration by Vanessa Pierce we all headed over to the Peruvian to keep the party going. It was truly an incredible night for all, but especially for women in the ski industry.

As I looked around the room I noticed that the Peruvian was filled with some of the most talented women in the industry and instead of doing the stereotypical female competitive thing, they were all talking with one another, sharing ideas, getting excited for each other, and generally wanting to help build this community of women who are trying to push the envelope and change the way women are seen in sports.

Cheers!!

There was something really profound that went down last night, I felt as though we really were starting to take the reigns of a revolution, a time when women are going to start pushing, inspiring, and supporting each other and I am so stoked to be a part of it! Thank you to SheJumps for leading this much needed revolution!!!

Last season’s trip to Alaska was one of those windows. I was not planning on competing last year, I had decided that my real focus was going to be on working with photographers and pushing hard to get published in as many magazines as possible.

However, during the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City I bumped into
Lizet Christiansen, a fellow Rossignol athlete. She was reintroducing the Alpine meadows comp. to the Telemark circuit and was hoping to get some competitors signed up. I thought on it for a minute and then decided that I always say I want to inspire others and what better way to inspire others than to get involved in a competition that might attract a bunch of first time competitors.

So I told Lizet that she could count me in and I would see her in February at Alpine

As things so often do, once I made that decision the ball just kept on rolling. I soon received an email from Megan Michaelson, who prior was just a name that I had seen in Mags and a reputation that I had heard about. Her email, was inviting a list of people that I had never met (but some I had heard of) inviting us to stay at her mom’s house in Lake Tahoe for the comp.

I was shocked to receive such an incredible open invite, after all I had never met the girl and as far as I knew she didn’t even know I existed, let alone was planning on competing after my 2 year comp hiatus. But after making sure she meant to include me on the invite I accepted the open invitation with out ever thinking it would lead me to an article published in Telemark Skier and an incredible experience up in Alaska.

I went up to Alpine Meadows, competed and met some amazing people.

But, I decided to stay in bed, knowing that I would need the last three hours of horizontal darkness, even if they were spent wide awake. Eventually, I did fall asleep until the alarm went off at 6am and I was finally allowed to start the day I had been hoping for since I moved to Utah.

I jumped out of bed, grabbed a cup of joe and checked the weather one last time. Then I fed Merl, the dog, a big heaping helping of his food, knowing that even though he didn’t know it, he was going to need every bit of kibble. After which, I grabbed everything that I had packed the night before, jumped in the truck, picked up Whitney and then we were off.

We arrived at the trail head at 8:15am. There were only two other cars in the lot, which was quite surprising seeing as Timp is one of the most popular hikes in the state. All we could think was that it was due to the fact that it was a Sunday in Utah.

We got our gear together, strapping skis and boots to the outside of our packs, while Merl, so over wrought with puppy excitement, used the lot as a formula one race track.

Before we knew it Whitney, Merl, and I hit the falls and then it was as if we blinked and there we were approaching the snow line. We were making great time. Merl was doing great on his first big hike and Whitney was mitigating hot spots on her feet very nicely, and I… well, I was busy taking more pictures than a Park City tourist.

Everything was going bizarrely smooth for a pair as accident prone as Whitney and myself, we just knew something had to happen. And just as Whitney uttered the words, “Last time I just pranced over this section.” BOOM!!! She slammed down hard on the boulder behind and let out a horrific scream. When I turned around, there she was, white as a ghost holding her ankle.

After a few minutes of silence she decided that the only way to figure out if we should go on or turn around was for her to just keep hiking up. So on we went….

We slipped and slid our way up through the glazed-over snow pack, kicked in steps where the ice gave way to recrystallized snow, and post holed through the deeper snow pack. Suddenly it became perfectly clear why there were only two other cars in the lot.

Merl, Happy to see the snow

Whitney pushing through

Side stepping one of the many steep and slippery slopes

As we reached the hanging meadow it became obvious that there was going to be plenty of snow to ski and that my decision to leave the skins at home was going to be brutally paid for by every step of trail I broke.

But inevitably we made it to the lake and snow field where Whitney and I decided to take a much deserved lunch break.

1 Can Smoked Oysters + 1 bag of trail mix = Retro Lunch

It was 1:30pm. The snow had been basking in the sunlight for the pas few hours, warming from it’s icy evening temps. Whit and I sat down among the juvenile pines, I opened my can of smoked oysers and bag of trail mix and we soaked in the rays while scoping out the boot pack up the snow field.

After eating enough oysters to ensure nausea for the rest of the hike we decide it was time to capitalize on the sunny slopes and get skiing.

The final push

We finished the hike, threw on our skis, and started our way down the hill.

After skiing four pitches down the peak, about 1,000 verticle ft. of velvety smooth, supreme spring like snow we hit the trail and it was time to hike our way back down the trail.

As Whitney , Merl, and I limped, moseyed, and swaggered our way down the mountain, I couldn’t help but fearing I was still in bed and this was all just a dream.

The night was great. We had full house icluding the film’s athletes J.T Robinson and Ben Johnson and Rossignol’s Head of Nordic, Robert Lazzorini. While we all waited in anticipation people walked around placing bids on the slew of items and mingled with athletes, friends and industry. Around 9pm Josh kicked off the night by calling out the raffle and setting the tone for the rest of the night.

As the movie played there were laughs, ohhs and ahhs, and even some misty eyes in the house. The sound track and images grabbed us all and took us on a fun rollercoaster through heroing lines and backflips to horrific tumbles and crashes. The movie was awsome and everyone seemed to have nothing but love for this years film!

JT and Ben

Josh Madsen, Jaimie Atlas, and Hank Keil celebrating a great night for both the Tribe and The Free Heel Life

The snow totals ranged anywhere from 1″ to 8″ across Utah, and the Uinta’s were looking promising. So, I put on all my new Trew clothing (they have to get broken in some how) brought everything needed incase we found a filled in spot that was actually skiable and started up the road.

As we drove past the Jourdenelle reservoir the skies broke and we could see the fall colors on Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort as well as the snowy alpine terrain of Mt. Timpinogos and the provo range.

After a quick stop to take it all in, we jumped back into the truck and continued on. As we headed up the Mirror Lake Hwy I couldn’t help but catch my self staring at the beautiful tapestry of fall colors, while driving through the lower elevations leading through the Uinta National Forest. As the road wound further up through the majestic range we suddenly were faced with a huge herd of cattle casually walking down the center of the scenic byway. I quickly slammed on the breaks, praying that I wouldn’t injure any of my bovine friends.

Weaving through the maze of cow

It was wild, as if we had just pulled up on a scene from an old western. There were cowboys driving the herd of at least two hundred down the paved path. As we weaved through the mooing cattle and yelled “Yah! Yah!” out of the truck window, I couldn’t help but get a sense of time a place, beyond heading up to go snurf, saucer, or ski, to being in a place that holds such a deep history and where so many worked, struggled, and died in an effort live and survive in this landscape. As we cleared the last of the cattle and hit the accelerator heading to our point of play, I felt so fortunate to be part of this environment, this mountain landscape, a place that to me represents play, peacefulness, challange and personal growth.

Wintery vista of Hayden Peak

It was with these thoughts that I summited the pass and roled over to the east side. With vistas that open to Wyoming and the High Uinta Wilderness, the snow grew deeper and the excitement of getting out of the truck and romping around was too much to contain.

We jumped out at Fehr Lake trailhead. After assessing, that while the snow was deep, it just was not quite enough to ski, we brought the only tools that could possibly withstand the versatile conditions that lay before. A Snurfer and a saucer. And in the great spirit of the late and great Shane McConkey, we headed off for an incredible adventure with our $4.99 plastic companions.

Slaying the Log slide on the saucer!

Pond Skimming on the Snurffer

Scoping lines for the coming season

The day was filled with side splitting laughter and an over all sense of freedom and excitement for the winter season to come. On our way home we stopped in to our favorite spot right at the gateway to the national forest, the Samak Smoke House. There Jen and Dave brewed up some hot coffee drinks and made some delicious sandwiches. A perfect way to end an incredible day up in the Uinta’s.