george crosland photo blog

On Sunday afternoon a lot of the folks from Omatic left so after I cried alone in the woods mourning the fact that my friends Ed and Louie Vito left I shook my self off and went to the naked hippie hot springs about a half hour North of Truckee in Sierraville. The thing about Tahoe is that if you get off the beaten path at all you have pretty much complete solitude. The hot springs in Sierra ville were so cool, no alcohol but lots of hot springs and cool people in a beautiful setting. They have organic meals and lodging, see the photos

The meadow in front of the resort

peaceful nightfall sky, away from So Cal

trail to heaven or at least the naked hippie hot springs. No photos allowed there - for obvious reasons

peaceful spot

The Globe “hotel” was built in 1870 and used to be a brothel and a chinese card palace at one time. You want to stay somewhere different – this is your place

Next day it was off to Sqauw Valley which had a lot of snow, no bare spots. Squaw was and kind of still is the “extreme” spot to be. When you see the photos you will see why. It has more cliffs, chutes, and rocks than perhaps even Jackson Hole. Jackson is probably steeper but Squaw has seemingly endless pockets of rock jumps and stuf – all in plain view, hence the nickname Sqaullywood. Back in the day when magazine photos came from resorts that notaml people could ride and not helicopters or sleds back like 25 miles from the road, Squaw was the backdrop for many snowboard photos. The photos may come from elsewhere but Squaw is still bad ass, check the photos and check out a historical spot – Squaw Valley

Acres: 4,000
Lifts: 34, including 7 high speed lifts, two gondolas type things and a tram
Parks: 4 and at least a superpipe
Web: www.squaw.com
Season: Nov-May
Snowfall: 450”
Vert: 2,850

Argueably KT22 chairlift offers, inch for inch, some of the most challenging terrain in the USA. If you are here on a powder day, you are STOKED

Squaw Peak, Siberia Express and bunch of other lifts down lower in the photo. Siberia lift was closed but you are welcome to hike over and ride Squaw Peak anyway – and people were

Sqauw has the biggest Tram in the USA

Shirley Lake Express lift and part of Emigant Peak

Granite Chief lift which is where the majority of steep lift served spring riding is

Looking down the main rain on Granite Chief

The public park was looking fun too, especially for May! Hits of all sizes

Now I noticed off in the distance some people killing some HUGE kickers, then a helicopter started filming them

So I walked for like 20 minutes or so and it turns out it was the whole Forum team filming for a video. The team manager Brian Knox, was pretty cool and said I could shoot some lifestyle stuff but he wanted me to not shoot the jumps so they could save it for the video. I mean I guess they spent all that money so I was happy to do what he said. There were three people in the heli; the pilot, Ian Ruhter and the fimer

Jake Blauvelt waiting for his run

Stevie Bell was having fun. He wanted to take a ride in the heli but Brian Knox said “this is not Disneyland, this is expensive” Stevie cracked up. Stevie is from Utah and you would think that since he is the only black dude in the hole state he would be shunned…rumors prove that the opposite is quite true. it makes sense too, Utah chicks are dyeing for something different, something to distract them from their daily boring life. If you are from California - take your pick. If you are Stevie Bell…they come running, or so it has been said

Joni Malmi

Pat Moore and Peter Line getting towed up

The heli was getting super low to the ground to film them and it was super cool to watch. Notice the filmer standing out the left side of the heli

back to reality, bump riding a hella steep run

A run called the Funnel

a shot of the tram from the bottom

On the way back to the airport in Sacramento I stopped at the Foresthill bridge which is the highest bridge in California at 730 feet tall. Lots of people base jump off this thing, throw cars off for movies, jump off without a parachute (suicide). I just read a book about a ranger who patrolled this area, pretty cool book. Look in the lower right hand part of the corner…

…this kid was sitting on the bridge and his girlfriend was pissed saying “how much longer you going to sit there” People were rafting the river and sunbathing down below – 730 feet below

back at work Monday people asked how my weekend was I said “well I walked to the middle of the highest bridge in California and did not jump” They just kind of looked at me funny, not sure if I am serious, others laughed their ass off but if you go to the Foresthill bridge to commit suicide, you can call these people first

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Snow & Skate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.