2012 Pain McShlonkey Classic

The second annual Pain McShlonkey Classic is right around the corner, and based off of last years event, this is one day that you will not want to miss! There is nothing better than being out at Squaw with all your buddies ripping the shit out of everything that you see........... on snowblades, honoring Shane McConkey, and benefiting the Shane McConkey Foundation.  It was the most fun day that I had last season on the mountain, and I am sure that this year will not disappoint! 

Save the date: March 22nd-24th.  

Olympic Downhill Sochi Russia

Thanks to Andrey Batalov, we now have some super cool photos of the Olympic Downhill track in Sochi! This mountain (Rosa Khutor) is amazing, and the skiing here is some of the best I have ever seen anywhere... Take a look. 

The upper half of the Olympic Downhill

The top of the gondola and the top lodge with some mind boggling terrain below. 

Here is another view from the top of the mountain looking down at all the spins and cliffs all the way to the bottom of the mountain and the DH finish (right next to that snow making pond) 

This is the finish of every Alpine Olympic Skiing event. Mens Downhill and Super G on the left. I believe the Mens and Women's GS and Slalom in the middle and the Womens Downhill and Super G on the right. 

The Mens Olympic Downhill in its entirety. 

Not sure what it says there, but check out this collage of our coach Tommy Eckfeldt up in his tree stand shooting video! Nice work Tommy.  

Freeskiing Potential in Sochi

The terrain here at Rosa Khutor is badass! The freeskiing options are endless all along the ridge in both directions from the top of the gondola.  There are some really amazing looking spins, cols, and pillow line looking areas, and the snow is deep and top notch.  According to Scott Gaffney who was here back in 2005 with MSP, this is the land of "deep pow", and "sluffing in the trees".  I hope to go check out some of this terrain a little more closely after the world cup race is done on Saturday!  The amazing part is that all these photos were taken on the gondola ride to the top, so I am sure that there is much more terrain like this!

First Look: Rosa Khutor Ski Area-Sochi Russia!

From the town of Sochi you turn inland and start driving up this deep river canyon that snakes up into the mountains and to the town on Krasnaya Polyana (about and hour drive).  From the time you leave Sochi and enter the river canyon to the time you get to the ski area, the Russian are spending $100 billion dollars in roads, high speed trains, hotels, shops, the Olympic Venues, trams, Gondolas, and all the utilities/infrastructure needed for all that.  Crews of hundreds and hundreds of workers are building 24 hours a day for the next two years until the games and everywhere you look there are cranes, excavators, concrete trucks, welders, big machinery, everything... Its chaotic! I wish the Russians luck in completing the hundreds of projects in time for the games in two years.  From the looks of it now they will need it! The two hotels where all the people for the World Cup are staying are the only completely finished building, and I am sure that we are the first people to stay in our hotel! The paint still smells fresh and the carpet glue is still drying.  This place is going to be truly impressive when it is all build out! Oh and did I mention that the skiing is amazing???  More on that later.

 View across the river...

 View from the hotel looking up!

This is the first of three gondolas that take you from the valley floor up onto the mountain.

This is the one completed section where all the teams are staying for the World Cup!

And then once you rise up out of the valley you truly can see the immensity of the building here... Cranes everywhere. All of those buildings are no where near to be complete, but a lot can change in two years time.  Two years ago, there was nothing here but forest and river!


This is the construction at the top of the first Gondola! I think this is where all the athletes will stay for the Olympics.  Ski in ski out with a great view!

 Here is the second gondola, and this was my first view of the Olympic Downhill track!

 Looking back down to the valley of Krasnaya Polyana

 The Downhill start...

A huge jump in the middle section.



And then there is the freeskiing. I have a million photos of the terrain and will go through them for tomorrows blog, but here is a little teaser of some of the spines! This was taken from the gondola and all of this is open and strait off the top of the mountain! It looks amazing. I cant wait to check it out!

Flying to Sochi Russia

That right there is a Russian private jet! We were lucky enough to be able to join the Russian ski team and fly in style across the Black Sea from Ljublijana, Solvenja to Sochi, Russia!

Not a bad way to travel at all! If only it was always that easy!

Fish and I enjoying the champagne room in the front of the plane!

 Upon landing in Sochi at 1 in the morning, we were greeted by lots of happy Russians wearing Sochi 2014 gear who took all our bags and loaded them onto a bus that whisked us through the night from the seaside city of Sochi up into the mountains.  It was kind of weird; right after I took this photo some official police looking guy ran up to me and started yelling at me in Russian.  Once he understood that I didn't understand him, he said sorry but absolutely no photos at the Airport. Weird right? Whats so special about this photo?






So we arrived to the base of the Rosa Khutor ski area at 3 in the morning and checked into our brand new hotel (the paint and the carpet glue was still drying), and in the morning I woke up to this! Russia!

I then took a ride up to the top of the mountain on the three gondolas and proceeded to have my expectations blown away once I saw how amazing the skiing is here.  The mountains are huge, there is snow like we get in Tahoe and lots of it, and the spines, pillows, and steep skiing is endless. I took a million photos gawking at the terrain, so I will try and go through some of them and post that later!

Tomorrow is the first training run testing out the Olympic DH track, so Ill try and post an update after that!