A skier ascending ‘After Burner’ – a winding, technical maze of stacked boulders and charred timber, requiring stiff kick turns and steel nerves. An uptrack with as much adrenaline as the run it precedes.

Heading into the alpine above the lodge – the infamous ‘Groove Tube’ in the background.

Sunshine, powder and epic terrain. Who says you can’t have it all?! Life is good at Icefall Lodge.

The post Icefall Lodge #2 appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post Mount Carlyle Video appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

For most of my friends and I, and…you– we all live for time the mountain. We all have full-time jobs, we’re all 40 somethings, and each of us does something different for a living. I’m a commercial director and producer, my best friend and backcountry partner; Tom is a hydrologist. This day we were with several more of our extended friends, with one thing in common– backcountry skiing. Luckily all of us have discovered a summer passion, kiteboarding. I say “luckily” because it’s hard to chase the snow to the southern hemisphere, which we have all done in the past– but with kids, jobs, and daily pressures– it’s becoming more difficult to even afford to get away. We all live in Portland, Oregon and Hood River, but the entire group shares these experiences together as often as we can.

Not into watching television even though it was “superbowl sunday”; my buddies and I decided it was a great day to climb mt hood, and it was. We would definitely get some freshies, climb up as high as we could safely, then ski back down to the highway. There were 6 of us and myself. I was a bit more excited than the rest of the gang because I was out on my first day with a new camera and was sure to get some great pics of all of us shredding the gnar. We all left Timberline Lodge’s climbers lot mid-morning and succeeded in climbing up the mountain all the way to about 10,700 feet.

Since new snowfall hadn’t been around in about 4 or 5 days there were some very icy patches on the way up. Some call it boiler-plate, death-cookies– whatever it was– we all made it up safely and I was able to grab a group shot at the top before we circumnavigated Crater Rock and the Hogsback to ski down White River Headwall, and continue down the mountain. We thought about summiting; but none of us had exactly the right gear, like ropes or crampons. Even though the last couple hundred feet was a do-able boot pack, we all opted for the safer route which was to hit the summit another day.

We all had a great time on the way down, and I was able to get several decent shots of the gang, both in stills and video. We skied pretty far below Timberline Lodge where all our vehicles were, and decided because it was getting near dark to just skin back up rather than ski down to the highway. We all put our skins on and me being the photgrapher, went first traversing across a steep slope to get another sho of the group at twilight. Because it was getting dark, I couldn’t exactly see the ice, and thought it was softer than it was. I soon realized that I was on ice, and my buddies were all watching me carefully step across a steep icefield. This wasn’t “high up” on the mountain– it was only 4800′ – 5000′. They all said after I slipped they wondered why I was going so slow. Well, I slipped and couldn’t self arrest and ended up sliding about 200 feet to the bottom of the canyon we were in. I hit some small trees on the way down.

When I did finally stop sliding– I realized I couldn’t move my leg. At first I thought it was broken, or *something. I’m very thankful of all my friends and buddies who aided in my rescue– the last picture which I did not include in my picture entry– is me in a “backcountry basket” getting hauled out by Mt. Hood Reach and Treat Team.

After about an exhausting 12 hours of a rescue operation –to go less than one mile, it was very late / early in the morning by now, but I did finally make it to a hospital with a dis-located hip. I knew I was very lucky, but thankful for being with a great group of friends who helped me get through a very difficult time. Also thanks to Mt. Hood RAT team who brought in the sled, or kitty as they called it– to a very difficult area to extricate me.

I hope to be back skiing this season, even if it’s only to take pics of my friends. It’s been 4 weeks and I’ve lost my crutches and walking again. The doc says no– but… we’ll see about that…

The post Jeff Kraemer appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post Peter Knight appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

Its funny, there we were second night in, pouring out a pint of sweat in the sauna and already planning out our next pilgrimage back to this amazing Land of face-shots, endless skiing, fine dining and great company.

Winding our way up through some beautifully stunted Whitebark Pines

Joe, one of out tireless guides for the week soaking it in and figuring out his plan of attack for Sunrise Ridge.

Joe, kicking the morning off right with an Over Easy run, straight out of the cabin. I’m sure he still has sleep in his eye and bed head under that toque.

We woke up to 4″ of dry pow everyday, that’s right—2 feet over the week! Tracks were constantly being covered, the temperatures were staying low and the pow kept getting deeper.

Checking out our ski tracks dazzled in evening light.

As much as we all loved the fresh pow every morning, it was nice to see the storm break so we could admire some of these gorgeous peaks before heading out.

Even with a whole week here you can really only scratch the surface of a place like this, but hey, I guess that’s why I’m already planning to come back.

Daniel even shot a video of the adventure:

Think you could handle some time in the backcountry like Daniel? Then make sure you enter the February round of Backcountry Purist for your chance to win—because it is your last chance!

The post Powder Creek Lodge is a Mecca appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post Michael Zaretzke appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

It’s not just about the waist deep face shots at Carlyle.

She’s back from her first adventure, staking her claim to powder at Mt. Carlyle Backcountry Lodge, and our 2012 winner, Julie-Anne Davies, has shared some of her story in the Purist Journal. Here’s a glimpse of just some of the highlights:

Partying was done with fervour and taken quite seriously up at Carlyle!

The lodge is situated ideally for anyone with an infatuation with sunrises and sunsets. These skies were twice daily lit on fire up at Carlyle, this photo one of many.

Some photos just speak for themselves:)

Skinning up under one of the many old growth larches under Mt. Carlyle.

Clear skies meant stunning sunrises, sunsets and of course spectacular star gazing at night.

Lodge owner Brian Cross, otherwise affectionately known as ‘the Bald Bomber,’ monkeyed high up into one of the areas old growth beauties, scanning the next ski run.

The post 2012 Purist Stakes Her Claim appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post Tyler Higgins appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post Mike Berger appeared first on Backcountry Purist.

The post George Oulton appeared first on Backcountry Purist.