Ducksjen

This has nothing to do with Animal Farm, but this movie is awesome:

Ducksjen - Klaustrofobiatch from Kasper Häggström on Vimeo.

Midwest Mission

I took a week off of work to do a little Midwest road trip. First stop was Tyrol Basin, which may have the cheapest lift ticket in the country. $12 for a ticket that lasts from 10 AM to 9 PM. I didn't stay nearly that long, but had fun riding a lift for the first time this year. (click the pictures for bigger versions)

I left Tyrol for Minneapolis. This Yak is living the high life:

Drove through the town of "Black Earth." I was hoping for something a bit more metal.

Then I found Rich's Eatery and car wash, where you drink liquor and then I guess the car wash is for getting clean after you get filthy.

There's a lot of snow in Minneapolis. My friend Eric feeding the meter.

The next shred stop was Hyland Hills. I'm going to go ahead and say this is one of, if not the best park I have ever ridden. The rope tows probably go fast enough to wakeboard behind, and everything is made absolutely perfect.

I broke out the new Protective League sticker:

After riding for what seemed like hours I went inside to get a drink and some fries. I realized it had only been 50 minutes!

As I was sitting there, in walked Joe Mertes, an old buddy who worked at High Cascade while I worked there. With renewed vigor I set out for the rest of the day.

Here's Joe with a frontside three on the best jump of all time.

And two of me on the same jump.

This jump below was surprisingly large for a rope tow hill, you had to bomb the whole hill to hit it:

Midwest transformation complete, Raging Buffalo, Tyrol Basin, and Hyland Hills lift tickets.

Happenings.

It's been fun in Salt Lake/Wasatch Mountains lately. The holidays are over. Good times were shared with family and friends. Though the smog has been close to unbearable in the city the past week or so, the mountain air has saved my sanity as well as my lungs and upper respiratory system.

Torrey, Ben Littler and I took some days and explored the Wasatch, well Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon on foot. A few hikes out of Brighton, up Grizzly Gulch and a hike into Days Fork off Big Cottonwood Canyon. Not much was documented unfortunately, but a time shared with friends in the sidecountry and backcountry is hard to beat.
I recently completed a splitboard, and I'm excited to get out and explore with a bit more ease, what we've only been able to look at from a far. Here's a picture of my work, and also a gem (above) on top of Millicent peak, right outside of Brighton Resort.

It's been a good week

Well, 2011 has been treating us pretty well so far. Ben and I have been heading into the back country daily, enjoying blue skies and lots of snow from the last storm. Here are a few photos from this week just documenting some grand old times in Utah.