I’ve only entered the best, the original and the most classic pond crossing of all time, the Cushing Classic at @palisadestahoe , three times. And ahem, to brag for a second, I’ve won this international championships of global pond skimming 3 times. So 3 for 3. So all the skiers at @palisadestahoe who claim to be the best skier on the mountain…they know deep down inside how incorrect they are every time they say it.
Anyways, last time I entered was in 2017 with this Butter 3 and I haven’t thought of an idea to top it yet. Saturday, May 4th it’s on again. I unfortunately will be on a glacier, but maybe it’ll give me some time to dream how to go 4 for 4 one day…🤔
It has been seven years since this line hit the airwaves, went a bit viral and defined my ski career ever since. Good to go back into the footage archives and remind myself, “Hey, I used to be pretty good at skiing. What happened!?!”
🎥: @mspfilms
ANNOUNCING: @the.fifty.project ! Today is a huge day for me. Episode 1 of 50 planned episodes is live. You see, over the next three years I'll be producing a nearly live web series chronicling my attempt at skiing all 50 lines chronicled in the book "The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America" by @steepskiing , @pennnewhard & @artfuladventureburrows . All of the lines in the book have been skied at least once, but all the lines have not been skied by one person. I've cast nearly everything else I've normally done as a professional skier in this pursuit to at least try. It's something that has plagued my mind for the last few years and today, I'm officially starting this journey. Watch Episode 1 on my YouTube channel (link in bio), please subscribe so you don't miss a single one and follow along here or at @the.fifty.project to see how this thing, a thing that will probably be the single most challenging thing I've ever done in my life, will unfold.
Happy Mother’s Day first to @elysesaugstad for pulling this family forward at all times, and then of course to all the mothers out there doing the work, being the rocks and pulling with love. You’re all so very appreciated! Happy Mother’s Day Elyse and Grandma/Mom.
At the bottom of this line I did question what the frick I was doing with The FIFTY for so many years. It’s been a long time since I’ve skied this good of snow. Unfortunately Mother Nature is not being kind to us outside of this two hour window of sun we had a few days ago but is being kind to the glacier…from 2.5 meters of snow on the glacier when we arrived, to 3 meters of new snow on top of that today and more on the way. Unfortunately that probably means the end of skiing for us and now we’re trying to figure out how we can get out of here. All models on @opensnow are showing endless precip for weeks. I’m happy for the mountains, but worried if we’ll ever get out.
Pulling all the AK strings I can today to figure it out.
🚁: @bjarnesalen
15 days in tents, 1 sunny day with a very reactive buried surface hoar, the lowest tide I’ve ever seen, 6+ feet of snow with another 3 on the way and one, one 3 hour window of sun yesterday evening to see how that 6 new feet is doing. It was the mini-est of mini golf’s but holy hell did it turn around the morale of what’s been a very patience testing trip (patience not for just us, for people like solo-mom-to-a-toddler @elysesaugstad too).
This was the second line of a tiny little zone above camp. I solo-sprinted up this thing as fast as I could racing the incoming darkness at 9:15 pm. My @corosglobal watch told me my training was “excessive”, 20 minutes straight of Zone 5 for you fitness nerds. I wish this line had some airs twice the size and it was 10x the length because this is the snow that Alaskan dreams are made of. Fingers crossed for one more weather window and this storm we’re currently getting covered by is stable on the backend so we can chase the big dragons before we run out of food.
🎿: @salomonfreeski QSTX
And after 7 days, we saw the sun…for about 30 minutes. Now we wait for our third storm of over a meter in 12 hours. It hasn’t snowed most of winter in Alaska—we measured 2.5 meters on the glacier upon arrival. That amount had nearly doubled and may triple by day 20 out on the glacier. Buried and hopeful and waiting. That’s the update from AK In Tents round 2 (Round 1 was 10 years ago at this very spot on my first ever AK base camp trip). At lot has changed in those ten years…mainly the mountains, which this film were making with @nikolaischirmer@bjarnesalen@joonasmattila and @cutts_and_couloirs will be about.
By the way, those are 190+ @salomonfreeski Blanks and QST X’s for burial reference.
They say patience is a virtue. Let’s see if the few meters of snow we’re getting in these 14 days will be worth the wait. Until then, we may as well be on the moon…with about two hours of satellite internet every other day to check @opensnow .
⛺️: @slingfin
While winter in the western US might have been a bit of a letdown, ski season in South America begins in 6 weeks⛷️
Come join our 22nd annual Superstars Ski Camp at @skiportillo Chile August 15-22 with coaches:
@mikedski@ingridbackstrom@elysesaugstad@codytownsend
And me, @steepskiing
This all-mountain ski camp is geared towards advanced skiers looking to expand their skiing horizons through focused coaching and skills acquisition both off-piste and on.
Camp@is $3400 per person plus hotel stay.
We have 15 spots still available for 2026
DM for more details or hit my site, chrisdavenport.com
#skiing #skiportillo #summerski #superstarscamp
