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March 12

Paul had never done either of the Emerson coolies and I really wanted a repeat on zebra which I've only done solo in all time epic conditions so my expectations were low as far as snow conditions

Here's a random photo I found on internet of it:


Almost full moon the night before:


There is less snow down low than I've ever seen this time of year. You can drive really high on all dirt roads right now. There is ample coverage up high so it's pretty nice. However, if we don't get more snow it's gonna be a pretty sad spring for the southern areas .

Beautiful weather the next day after weather called for 30% chance of snow from some storm passing far to south:


Added to hit list:


Not sure name of this drainage, but it's beatiful place to do some skinning. Emerson looming:


Ran into what looked like a fresh 3 or 4 party splitboard track going into same area. You could tell it was from night before cuz the pole plants were frozen.
Hmmm. We made a plan just to hit w/e of the two chutes didn't have people in it. It's kinda hard to hit these lines fresh w/ the road so melted out, but I was actually surprised there weren't any out tracks from previous in week.





At this point we could see 2 people just going into north cooly, so we assumed there were 3 people total and all were doing same line:




Paul was up ahead on apron (shocker) and when he pulled into the zebra he turned around and said "there's already some guy in it". I laughed cuz I thought he was joking. Then I looked down and saw a booter coming from other direction you couldn't see before. So, I grumbled a few expletives and thought fuck him, we have verts. He doesn't stand a chance


The apron of chute was superfirm, windhammered snow. Once about 1/3 of way up main chute conditions got a tad softer w/ pockets of sortapow, breakable crust, windboard, etc. Typical Sierra wind affected conditions, but overall it seemed like it wasn't too heinous and still looked worthy to ride. Actually the best conditions for multiple riders since tracks wouldn't be too deep

Paul reeling in unknown splitter:


Paul passes him and starts a conversation and I hear the guy introduce himself as "Ryland" and hear the name "Seth Lightcap" and I realize this must be the "Deeper" crew! How f'ing cool
He was a really cordial dude and didn't give us any sort of attitude (which I might give if someone just passed me in my line )

Ryland about 15 feet from top:


The top got pretty steep and ends at rock. I made it too the very top and found a spot to stomp out a platform (another reason verts are awesome) w/ a natural little cubby hole to stash boards and packs against the rock wall. Ryland joined me on the same platform and I learned the cameraman (Chris Edmunds?) was shooting both coolies from across the valley and JJ and Seth were in the North cooly. I was giddy at this point knowing that JJ was in the next chute over.
He never asked but I assured him we wouldn't poach first tracks since that would be uber gay (and I'm planning on buying the dvd so i dont want to see him shred over my gaper tracks )
He was stoked and very appreciative of this. He also said he was glad we were up there w/ him cuz he was fucking gripped.

Cameraman radio'd Ryland shortly and said that the sun wasn't gonna hit the line so he told Ryland to go ahead and drop in. I squeezed against the wall so he could strap in on our precarious perch. What a perch it was! Ready to go, Ryland radios back "dropping in 10" and proceeds to rip the holy piss out of it in very marginal conditions . I was fucking blown away. He was gripped???

Ryland w/ Paul below him on his perch. It's at least a solid 50 degrees for first 50 feet:
















I quickly understood why this guy was partnering up w/ J. Jones. Amazing to witness a world class rider drop in to something like that first hand in nonhero conditions.

Paul:






Me on firm lower section:




Paul on apron:


Never did get to meet JJ but I was stoked just knowing they were out there in the backcountry and to witness their crew in action. I hope that shot makes the vid!

Super cool.

Right on

Nice work man and good on you for letting him drop in first

Sick!!!

BEAUTY COULI, Nice work! and very polite of you to let the first man go first

Yeah, well even if they weren't filming and he was some joe schmoe i'd probably let him go first since he set the booter for more than half of it. Plus he's a splitboarder! If it was epic pow and he was a two planker my morals would have been tested a bit harder

If he was a meadow skipper I woulda poached him on priniple

Nice B!

I recently met Ryland too. Cool guy, great rider, and way down to earth.

I'm jealous of your line too. You know my number right?

I love seeing these photos from the Sierras. Your mountains look some much different than ours...yet they have so many similarities. Good stuff.

Very nice BG. J.Jones ripped some sick lines in Utah this year. I had a guest appearence of sorts on my tour today.

Jeremiah Johnson!