Two Plank fans, be sure to check your mailboxes / newsstands for the first issues of the season from our friends at Freeskier and Powder Magazines. Featuring the new full page Ads from Two Plank Productions promoting the upcoming highly anticipated release of “BECAUSE” in September of 2012
After great successes at SIA 2012 in Denver, the Two Plank crew is off to Niseko Japan to explore 22 feet of powder with Black Diamond Tours for two weeks. Athletes accompanying the production crew of Corey Tibljas, Willis Barnette, and Austin Gibney will be pro freeskiers Jon Peot, Mat Jackson, Drew Petersen, Jeremy Brown, and pro snowboarder Brady Farr. Check twoplank.com, our Facebook and twitter for real time content!
With the criminals in the group headed to Cooke City Montana to shoot, the “good kids†of the group were ready to get part one of the mission underway. First stop: Nelson, BC.
We had no local connection in the area, so it was more of an exploratory endeavor. Lucky for us, the stigma of Canadians being overly welcoming is true. Most of the zones that had the best skiing were found solely from gathering local beta. Whether it was from the local hardware store employee, gas station attendant, or fellow sled neck enthusiast, all the info was solid. Even though at times some of the directions we received required implementing more of a “guess and test†technique. We did pretty well considering the endless kilometers of unmarked logging roads in the area. Unfortunately the weather was not fully cooperative with us (as would be the theme for the whole trip) most of the days consisted of grey skies with valley rain and mountain flurries. In fact, it almost seemed like the clouds were playing games with us the whole time. They would open up long enough for us to get a visual of the massive, picturesque lines in the high alpine that were begging for someone to put tracks down them. And it would stay open long enough to convince us that it would be a worthwhile to attempt hiking to the summit to ski and shoot them. Then of course, just when we get to the top, they would roll in stronger and thicker than before. Despite our relentless game of cat and mouse with the clouds, we were still able to find some great snow in the smaller mini-golf areas that offered us some treed visibility during the numerous cloudy days.
A week went by pretty fast, as they tend to do when you’re putting in 12 plus hour days of sled-skiing and exploring areas new to us. And with no foreseeable break in the coming days forecast, along with the groups collective ADD hitting the rev limiter, we made the difficult decision to relocate. So we packed up our house on wheels, said goodbye to Mrs. Kline of Kline’s RV Park, and put in a 12-hour push west to the Pemberton/Whistler area. At first the new location did not treat us kind, plague by 3 consecutive days of uncooperative weather, it may seem like i am whining, but three days of sitting in the trailer can take a real toll on an overly active personality. By day two we were all placing bets on who would be the first to turn into Jack Nicholson in The Shining. For some reason the odds seemed to be against me.
Travelling is indeed a wonderful gift, however, there are times when you second-guess the time spent on the road and off the hill because of uncontrollable factors. When you’re dealing with a limited budget and time frame, the overall goal of being as productive as possible takes priority in your decision-making. I had to constantly keep reminding myself of all the hype I had heard about this place from friends in the ski community to help justify the time and money being invested in relocating. To quote my buddy Cody Townsend, “if you want big-lines, definitely, definitely, definitely, go to Pemberton and be prepared to be amazed!†Sure enough, on day four when the weather turned for the better, I was just that.
We were extremely fortunate to have met up with Jon Johnson, a living legend in the Pemby area, who has had numerous appearances in ski movies over the years. I’m not sure what we would had done without Jon acting as our guide, Austin, Taylor and I could barely keep our sleds on the trail because we were gawking at all the massive peaks and endless lines shrouding us. Jon’s knowledge of the area is incredible, he and his late ski partner Jack Hannah have dedicated numerous years to exploring the area, using maps and Google Earth to suss out how to get on top of these monster peaks.
Mother Nature was kind enough to grace us with two consecutive days of sunshine and we took full advantage, with a 5 and 4am wakeup to hit the goods. Day one was an abrupt transition to say the least, we went from sitting on our butts for three day to standing on top of a 2000 foot line that took all but 3 minuets to get on top of with a sled. This themed continued for two days of great snow, huge lines and sun, leaving the crew totally exhausted and smiling for days later.
In hindsight I am not too sure the trip to Pemberton was the healthiest thing for me. Yes, I was able to ski the longest most impressive sled-skiing terrain of my life, but now I’m left wanting more and more. It’s safe to say that Pemberton has not seen the last of The Run Around!
Topher
I have been in Crested Butte for about a week now. Professional skier Matt Philippi and I drove down after our session in Cooke city. We struck gold this time in Crested Butte, it snowed about 3 feet during the first two days then the clouds cleared and left us with beautiful sunshine and deep snow! However, being this late in the season, when the sun comes out it warms things up quick making for heavy snow and dangerous conditions. Luckily this place has tons of good lines on North facing aspect which are more sheltered from the strong spring sun offering us some incredible snow. Matt stuck around for four days, then had to head back home to Salt Lake, I have been here for over a week now and the temps are starting to get pretty high. Its been 50 degree down low for the past two days which means its time for me to head back to Jackson and meet up with Taylor and Toph. Unfortunately the resort is closed for the season but we should be sled skiing for a while as long as the weather cooperates.
Corey Felton
Well my trip to Canada got cut pretty short. In fact I never even made it in. I still have some legal issues, that are being taken care of as we speak, that are prohibiting me from entering the great white north. However, I left Toph and Taylor and headed to Cooke City Montana to meet up with Matt Philippi to check out some of the sled skiing there. On the way in I could tell that this place was just like Jackson. It had a ton of snow and from looking at the weather forecast and talking to some locals it does not see a lot of sun. The following day we headed out to see what it had to offer. Cooke has it all, pillows, big lines, jumps and snowmobiling heaven. Unfortunately the sun barley came out and some of the people that I was with had a few issues (blown motors). So here are a few shots and I am now in Crested Butte where it is dumping snow. More to come soon…….
Corey Felton
By John Symms
“Taylor Felton has been active in a variety of skiing pursuits — ski racing, and more recently slopestyle and halfpipe contests — since he was five years old. Now 24, this winter he traded in the competition sticks for powder skis and a 30-foot travel trailer. Felton has been running around the mountains of North America in his wheel-bound home, searching for lines, kickers, deep snow and alpine solitude along with his brother Corey and their friend Topher Plimpton. You can see where the trio’s travels have taken them by checking out their new webisode series, “The Run Around,” which is posted exclusively above. We spoke to Felton about his season.
Last March, I went over to Idaho Falls and picked up a 30-foot travel trailer that comfortably sleeps six. I’m living out of it now. It’s my home. I’m parked in my brother and sister’s driveway in Jackson Hole for 150 bucks a month. Not bad.
You have to pack snow into the underside of the trailer when you’re parked so the pipes don’t freeze overnight.
So far this year, I’ve also taken my home to Salt Lake, and then to Kirkwood, for Corey and our friend Topher to compete in a Freeride World Tour stop. We were there for about two weeks and the weather was insane. We got about 12 feet while we were there. We couldn’t really ski much outside of resorts because there was too much snow to sled in.
I didn’t compete in Kirkwood. I feel like I’ve kind of served my time. If I competed next year, it would be 20 years of competing on skis. I’m kind of burnt out on it and looking to broaden my horizons. That’s why I really wanted in on The Run Around project. We’re doing our best to ski at a whole lot of different locations and with a whole lot of different skiers. Anyone’s welcome. It’s all about being out there and having a good time.
I’ve always dabbled in backcountry jumps and sledding. It’s always appealed to me to get out there and be really secluded. It’s nice being on your own, and getting away from competitions. Out here, you can pick your battles and be a little smarter than you can when someone’s telling you to drop when the wind’s blowing 70 miles an hour.
In the summer we’ve got to make a whole bunch of funds so we can do this again. Summer is our time to cut down trees and pocket some cash to put down our gas tanks next winter. My brother goes up in a big bucket truck, like guys use to service telephone poles, and cuts down dead branches or leaning trees. And I clean the mess that falls on the ground and run it through a chipper.
It’s pretty cool, the people you meet in parking lots of ski resorts. I met a guy who was a NASCAR pit crew chief. He told me how when he was our age, he had no money but a whole bunch of free time. Now he’s making a whole bunch of money, and has a lot of toys, but doesn’t have any time to use them. He was really envious of what we’re doing.
Everybody’s looking for that balance between having enough money and having enough time. I say, go work your ass off in the summer and take the winters off, even if you just barely get by.”
From our friends at StokeLab.com
Stokefiles-
Videographer and all-around ripper Austin Gibney is something of an enigma. He might be better riding in front of the camera than working the controls behind it. Maybe. No doubt, his riding is precise and ballsy. Diverse, too – he kills it from the pipe to the backcountry. Click through to see the photo gallery.
His videography and editing are nothing to shake a stick at either, as we’ve been fortunate enough to learn while working with Austin the last 8 months or so. He contributes video to StokeLab on a regular basis, check the end of the interview for some links to Austin’s latest work.
Age 26, Austin grew up in Rhode Island, and moved to Colorado in 2002, to Gunnison to go to Western State College. He graduated in ‘06 with a degree in recreation and communication, and now spends his summers working with Outward Bound in Alaska, and winters chasing deep snow stoke from Crested Butte to Jackson Hole to British Columbia.
We caught up with Austin recently to get his take on riding, filming, and all the turns in between. —Mike Horn
StokeLab: When did you start riding?
Austin Gibney: I started snowboarding in 1996, I think that was the first time, pretty much grew up snowboarding at Loon in New Hampshire.
SL: How did you get into the videography side of things?
AB: Ever since I was in high school, my friends and I would film skateboarding and snowboarding. I just kept getting more into it, started as a hobby and kind of turned into a job now.
SL: What are you up to this winter?
AB: Working for Two Plank Productions, filming with this group of guys from Jackson Hole called the Runaround Crew. I’ve been hanging out with them and filming. When I’m not working with them, I’m in Crested Butte snowboarding and filming with my friends. The big difference for me this winter is I’m traveling more and not just staying in Crested Butte.
SL: Is that a good thing?
AB: It has its ups and downs. I like traveling, and going to new places. It’s more work. When you’re in a town you’ve never been to, you’re relying on other people or just going out and exploring.
SL: How many films have you worked on total?
AB: Full-length, five with Black Hole Productions, and I edited Two Plank’s “Screenplay.†BHP and Two Plank did a joint short film that I directed and edited, which won the Beating Film Festival in Silverton, Colorado. I also made a short 16mm film that won best cinematography at Reel Fest.
SL: What’s up with Black Hole Productions?
AB: Pretty much a local snowboard crew, we film and ride together, and put out a film every year. We’re starting to focus more on putting out web stuff throughout the season versus putting together a full video.
SL: Is it hard to be behind the lens sometimes? Wouldn’t you rather be riding?
AB: I think that’s what has kept me from pursuing it as a full-time job. I can’t be behind the lens all the time. It’s hard to be behind the lens when you see someone riding something you want to be riding yourself.
SL: You are out splitboarding a lot. What do you think splitboarding has done for snowboarding?
AB: I think it’s opened up a ton of terrain in the bc to snowboarders that was mostly just ski accessed before. Made it a lot easier to get to the better stuff. And it is easier to get more laps in because of the splitboard. When my friends and I go splitboarding, we tend to leave the cameras behind and go enjoy ourselves.
SL: What’s next for you? How do you see your riding and filming progressing?
AB: I still like hitting cliffs and jumps and doing the freestyle stuff, but for me it’s more about the adventure and that’s where splitboarding is starting to take over for me. It’s easy to go to new lines on a splitboard and get further out. I think that’s where my snowboarding is going to wind up—further away from trailheads, and higher peaks. That’s where I’d want the filming part of snowboarding to go to, the adventure, what goes into it and what makes something special.
SL: Anyone you want to give a shout-out to before we sign off?
AB: I want to thank all my friends because they are so supportive and they help me out so much when I show up and don’t have a place to stay, and let me crash on their couch or in a loft or wherever… sometimes it’s the floor. It would be really hard to do what I do without their support.
Also, thanks to my sponsors, Salomon, Bonfire, Skullcandy, Celtek, Bern, Colorado Boarder, Smith, Backcountry Access and Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
And thanks to Spark R&D, who helps me out with bindings. I truly believe that their product is the main reason that there has been so much progression in splitboarding recently. With their binding you can no longer use “I’m on a splitboard” as an excuse not to do something.
Some recent video clips from Austin –
“The Runaround Projectâ€
http://stokelab.com/runaround-project-webisode-2
The crew hit the road three days ago, Canada bound, for a big sled-ski trip up to Revelstoke then over to the Pemberton/Whistler area. All seemed to be going well, Corey, Taylor and myself packed up and left Jackson to meet the Two Plank Production crew of Corey, Austin and Willis in Montana and head on up to the border. That is until the long arm of the law caught up with us! Both Corey and Willis have a bit of a minor criminal history, nothing we need to go into detail about, both of which happen over 7 years ago so, with the necessary paper work filed, we thought they would be in the clear for some poutine and powder…..Needless to say, the Canadian border patrol felt other-wise, so unfortunately after several attempts at different borders, we detemined the best thing to do was to split up the team. Taylor Austin and myself are BC bound, and the other boys are pointed for Cooke City, Mt, to get some shooting done in the states.
We just rolled into Nelson this afternoon, after some gorgeous driving, ferry riding, and a little polar bear club swimming, we are now posted up at a comfortable RV park just outside of town and planning our mission to check out the terrain around here tomorrow morning. From what I have heard about this place the goods should be plentiful!! Keep checking in for trip updates.
Topher
For the past month The Run Around crew has been on the road. After judging the final stop of The Dew Tour, I hung out in Salt Lake until the boys came back up from Crested Butte. Their departure cued up Two Plank to produce the second webisode of The Run Around, which consisted of Corey and Topher in Colorado.
After camping out in the trailer with Corey and Toph for an additional week or so, it was time to head far West to Kirkwood, California for a Freeskiing World Tour stop. We played an incredibly pathetic game of hoops in the trailer park and said good-bye to our most exclusive photographer, Mike Schirf. We will be setting up a donations page to help Schirf buy himself a sled, quit his jobs, dump his girlfriends and travel around with us all next season. Please contribute……
Heading due west, we did not make it more than 70 miles before breaking down for the first time. My exhaust almost fell out of my truck and some wires that read temperatures snapped. After wrestling the 80lb toolbox out of the trailer I got to work in the dirt under the rig. We were back on the road making gas guzzling progress in no time.
Soon enough it was time to refuel. We exited the freeway and circled around a tire shop to line up for the diesel pump adjacent to the building. One of the mechanics noticed a lot of noise coming from my axel area under the trailer. He stopped me and asked if I had a minute or two to check out where it was coming from. We pulled the trailer around front and his crew went to work. They pulled the tires off and one thing lead to another resulting in a lot of 4 letter words and those guys telling us how lucky we were to still be on the road and not in a ditch. I bought the trailer used and it turned out that all of the shackles holding the axels to the leaf springs were shot. The leaf springs were flat and all the bolts holding everything together had worn the factory holes to nearly twice the size.
I had them go ahead and fix everything that was about to decay so we posted up at a nice restaurant which also happens to have a sister building with some very high class, respectable woman to observe. The place was called Bella’s and sadly enough the club was not located off that particular exit.
After dumping out my wallet to the fellah’s in the middle of nowhere, we were on the road again. Depressed, I let Toph drive while I figured out how to save more money next summer. We arrived in Cali that night and parked in a beautiful casino parking lot on the state line for some much needed sleep.
We spent the first half of the trip bouncing around from “snow park†to “snow park.†It was a treat to wake up, make some food, step outside and go. No driving or loading and unloading of sleds. We were already where we needed to be.
I did very minimal skiing while in Kirkwood. They received around 10 feet of snow while we were there. It was very tough just keep my sled moving without it getting stuck. THERE WAS SO MUCH SNOW!!!!!!!! I did some of the best sledding of my life there.
Soon after necking right out my circus of a house on wheels, it was time for Corey and Toph to go get their heads on strait and prepare for the comp. We set up shop right in the Kirkwood parking lot for duration of the trip. The Tour used up both of their allotted weather days because it was snowing and blowing so hard. I saw the light of day for 3 hours in 2 days during this storm.
I had a blast watching the boys do their thing. It was the first big mountain comp I had ever seen and was very entertaining. They skied well but was not their day. R.I.P goes out to Ryan Hawks. It really hurts to see another brother down. I think about that aspect a lot because it has come way to close to our crew. They need to make competitions safer for the athletes.
The trip ended here in Jackson with everyone safe and stoked to be home. Sooooooo……… yah… sorry to leave on a sad note but our sport we love is not as safe bowling. I’m hungry and need to get some dinner going. Stay up to date with more articles, stories, clips and interviews on therunaroundblog.com and do not put diesel in your sled. They do not like it.
Taylor
Two Plank Winter 2011
Business Internship
Two Plank is looking for motivated individuals to help develop an emerging business. Positions are available immediately upon interviewing process approval.
-Positions may be compensated based on quality and experience of the applicant; which MAY include, a season ski pass, 6 College Credit, Gear, Commission, etc.
Come develop your professional skills in a laid back, yet fast passed exciting work environment with one of the best teams of young entrepreneurs in the state!
• Business Administration: Accounting/Bookkeeping — Management
o Establishing and maintaining budget lines
o Tabulating monthly spending / Development of reports
o Tax preparation / Working in association with licensed CPA
o Office Management – Athlete/Associate relations
• Email & Customer Service Response
• Sales assistance and Collaboration with Distributors
• Logistics and Fixed Asset Management
o Web Experience and basic IT solutions for cutting edge networking
• Development and management of online marketplace
• Analytics tabulation & increasing traffic
o An all encompassing opportunity of real business experience
• Production Services
o Seeking and bidding for new clients in need of production services for commercial, entertainment, business, or private use such as corporate events – project presentations – closed circuit live broadcast events
• Sales – Marketing
o Selling advertising sponsor space in productions / Sales lead research
o Proposal Drafting / Developing strategies for objectives and events
o Seeking Advertising funds to meet objectives (Events & Productions)
• Events and Film Tour:
o Develop tour locations and venues
o Recruit local representatives and event managers
o Solicit event sponsors to pay for venue and promotion fees
o Design/develop, execute, and oversee promotion strategies and outlets
o Coordinate tour prizes, raffles, ticketing, promotion, and execution
Please contact admin@twoplank.com to apply. Please assemble a resume and letter in order to interview for the internship. Upon interview, you will be given a “production project†to help determine qualifications.
*Limited experience required however is not based on current qualification and quality of past projects. The highest motivated and driven candidate will be awarded the internship. Thank you and good luck!
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