With another Rocky Mountain winter on the brink of reality, you might be thinking about retiring rods this week for some turns. In this southern Utah edit, the Provo Bros (photographer Ian Provo and crew) get it done with some early-season inspiration: fishing footage followed by a mission into deep, spine-laden stuff. “The 2009-2010 winter was not an average winter for Utah. The mountains in the north were plagued with sporadic snowfalls and dangerous avalanche conditions, while the southern regions were reaping the benefits of a strong el nino pattern. Neil and I had wanted to explore the ski terrain in southern Utah for many years, but we knew we had to wait for the right snow year. Early last winter, we made a few recon missions and found the kind of terrain we were looking for. Truly beautiful and inspiring ski terrain that none of us had ever seen before. Finally in late March, myself, Neil, and Josh Finbow made one more attempt at skiing and filming some lines before the strong desert sun melted them out for good. A combination of good timing and preparation, along with a little luck, led to some of the wildest riding we had ever encountered….”Source Link
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.