Powder surfing in the Monashees

This is some awesome vintage snurfing footage from the interior of British Columbia, sometime in the early 80's...

Retallack Lodge has mountain biking?

They sure as shit do. I've known about the unbelievable skiing at Retallack Lodge for many years now, but only within the last few have they begun to explode on the mountain biking scene. I would love to experience the summer vibes and big long trails of Retallack ASAP, as I'm sure it's just as epic as the winter. Check out the big jumps they built in this video...

Steelhead and Spines in Alaska...

Steelhead and Spines- The Provo Bros from The Provo Bros on Vimeo.

Our addiction to mountains and rivers has always had us looking north to Alaska, where big fish and mountains existed on a level we had only experienced in our dreams. As the winter of 2012 continued to disappoint in the lower 48, it was obvious that Alaska was being buried in snow. It seemed like the time was right, that maybe after 10 years of "practice" in Utah, we were ready for our journey north. We hit the road in March, putting everything we had into our first and for all we knew, our last adventure to Alaska, with two things on our mind, steelhead and spines.

We joined forces with three of our friends from Utah, for a ski-plane assisted camping expedition in the heart of south eastern Alaska's backcountry. Over 50 miles by wing from the nearest road, our pilot dropped the 5 of us off on a big lonely glacier encircled by jagged mountains, and in the spirit of adventure, wished us good luck. We would need it. From that point on, the feeling of being completely alone in a wild and unknown land for the first time in our lives penetrated every cell in our bodies. Only one person in our group had ever been to Alaska, Chris Coulter. On day 8 when he suddenly left to work in Haines as a heli guide, the feeling of isolation crept deeper into our minds, and it had never felt so good.

We chose to do this trip without any guides, plans, itineraries, or rules simply because we wanted to have our own experience. We wanted it to be raw, unknown, and we wanted it to be an adventure. Of course the style we chose made things much more difficult for us than they could have been, but the feeling of accomplishment was immense. We found glorious spines to ride, and stumbled upon one of the best runs of wild Steelhead in the world. Returning home safely from our first journey to Alaska signified a successful mission, along with the wonderful new memories from the greatest riding and fishing experiences of our lives.

Steelhead & Spines!

Just over a decade ago, my brother Neil and I began a new life in Utah and started down a path that we knew would someday lead us to places like British Columbia and Alaska. This spring we have a plan to travel further north on the path than we've ever been before, to experience the greatest big mountain riding and steelhead fishing the world has to offer, in one journey. 

Sometime in March we will begin our long drive to the mountainous spine riding capitol of the world, Haines, AK. Our goal here is to make our first turns down an Alaskan mountain, while participating in an expedition with six others who are also on the same path ( more on this expedition later... ). 

After what is hopefully a successful ski trip, we'll begin part two of the quest and hopefully bring another lifelong dream to reality. This part involves taking a ferry from Haines down through the North Coast of B.C, eventually arriving in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It is here where we enter the most fabled steelheading waters on the planet. We will explore the Skeena and its tributaries, and our timing should be perfect for the spring return of the wild steelhead. 

I'm really hopeful that this will evolve into our greatest film project yet, but with any self supported project there will certainly be obstacles along the way. We're going to need all the help we can get! feel free to contact me (ijprovo at hotmail.com) for more information...

Armada SKis @ Retallack Lodge 2012.... like a dream

Its been like ground hog day in Utah for the last 3 months. Wake up, not a cloud in the sky, and absolutely no snow anywhere in sight. I couldn't have been more excited for this annual trip to Retallack, where I knew it was firing and I could escape this devastating drought. The trip was a major tease, and it was kind of like a dream, for more reasons than I could ever describe. It's like I went to sleep in Utah, arrived in this snowglobe winter wonderland in the Interior of BC, skied blower snow for three days without a cloud in the sky, and then my dream turned into a nightmare when I woke up in Utah again. No snow. It was a very surreal trip, maybe not sleeping much for 4 days has added to the illusion. But I know for sure it definitely happened, there were photos on my leica when I got home....


^Goat Range, BC, its on the list, believe me.


What was crazy about this trip, was that I spent over 65 days at this very place last winter, and I never saw one bluebird day like we saw on day 2 of this trip. Lucky we were.


^Johnny Five, master of the joke, keeper of the stoke. Rockin the same toque as last year.


^ Pretty strait forward here, bounce all the way to the end and hope there's a nice place to land. Skiing on the all new Armada Bubba's here. I feel like the mayans prophesied that in the year 2012 I would have these ultimate skis to sacrifice snow pillows for the good of man and to bring even more prosperous snow falls. Maybe not, but these are next level.

Sammy Carlson is on it!

I have so much respect for this guy, not only is he an incredibly friendly human and passionate skier, he also knows how to keep it all in perspective. After watching all of this insane footage that he stacked in British Columbia last year, I nearly forgot that he just dominated the X-Games. And if you think this kid just sits around and vacations all summer, you're wrong. Check out his On Top of THE HOOD film. Sammy is fucking on it right now....

still waiting for winter...

   Its been a rather slow, yet interesting start to the 11'/12' winter. In terms of snow, Utah has had a few teaser storms that started up in early October, but there was never really any momentum with the storm patterns. Unfortunately, we're now setup with a very dangerous early season snowpack. There is a wide variety of weak layers from the ground up which will become a HUGE problem once the big storms finally arrive. It will be another year of extra caution and patience, allowing time for the mountains to heal up, and eventually we will find our place on the big lines. Lately its been great to hammer the groomers at the ski resorts, and this year I feel particularly nice about my condition going into the season.

^ Neil and I have found some good powder on the more mellow, grassy slopes. With the early season snowpack I'm usually more worried about tagging a rock or a log than an avi. You can avoid the avalanches by sticking to low angle slopes, but there's no way to avoid the sharks lurking beneath our severely deprived snowpack.

   With flashbacks of deep dry snow, heavy on my mind, I spent a night flipping through b-roll footage from our 2 month trip to BC last winter. I found some pow surfing footage and put together this GoPro helmet camera vid. For the record, I consider Retallack Lodge to be the holy mecca for pow surfing, or noboarding, whatever you wanna call it. Where else can you hit 6-10 runs a day, each one between 1500 and 4000 vertical feet of the nastiest fucking terrain in the world, without bindings?!?!?

The Provo Bros - mining powder at Retallack, British Columbia

Retallack powder mining, its a one of a kind experience. Karl the Gnarl is a one of a kind experience. You'll have to see for yourself at the legendary lodge in British Columbia...

Until then, enjoy this video which tries to somehow capture the energy. This piece was created with footage from an even larger project, Retallack: The Movie. Check it out from Inspired Media Concepts.




"During the winter of 2011, my brother Neil and I were presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were to spend two months embedded in the heart of the Kootenays at the legendary Retallack Lodge. The mission was to shred pow with our good friend Tanner, who was on his comeback, and to help film Retallack:The Movie for Inspired Media Concepts. I took the role of the dedicated time lapse junkie, while Neil was a true on slope camera master. This video is a showcase of our skills behind the camera, as well as a few of our favorite long lens shots from Retallack:The Movie. Time lapses make way for deep powder mining, and a trip into the heart of the "silvery slocan" to see how silver miners conquered the mountains a century ago. Mining for powder in the Selkirk mountains is serious business, and we found out just how serious it can get. We hope you enjoy our short film, and perhaps absorb just a sliver of the energy that is Retallack Lodge in beautiful British Columbia."

Retallack: The Movie - now available!

I'm pleased to present the latest offering from Inspired Media Concepts. "Retallack: The Movie" is the product of two months spent in one of the great powder skiing kingdoms of the world, the interior of British Columbia and even more specifically, Retallack Lodge. Having the opportunity to help make this film while skiing powder with my buddies at a place like Retallack was not normal and something that I'll be eternally grateful for.

Check it out on DVD and digital download here...
http://inspiredmedia.tv/1011/inspired-store/

I'm also stoked to share some behind the scenes footage over the next few months to show what it was like making this film at Retallack. There's some funny fun shit that goes on up there in the koots!

Retallack: The Movie - Official Trailer

Inspired Media Concepts presents the official trailer for Retallack: The Movie. This is the first feature film that I have ever been a part of and I'm pretty excited about the whole experience. We shot the film over the course of two months exclusively at Retallack Lodge, a cat skiing operation positioned deep in the interior of British Columbia. I spent a lot more time behind the lens than in front of it on this one, which at times was hard, standing idle as the boys hit beautiful powder lines. But at the same time it was up to me to capture the visuals that would tell the story of this amazing dream destination. In that aspect Im proud of what I was able to accomplish and I think everyone involved feels the same way about their contributions.

The film will be available on DVD and digital download August 1st!

photos from Retallack

just a few random photos from our days at Retallack Lodge. So far its been nothing short of incredible. I've been shouldering a fully loaded pack lately with a time lapse rig and video kit. My back has been suffering, but a few hours at any of the hot springs in the kootenays and a couple hashers will keep me going. Looking forward to charging real soon....

Inspired in BC

The ol' blog has been getting a bit dusty lately. I just have been so damn busy living the dream, that I forgot all about computers and the internet! Seriously though, living in the Kootenays has altered my lifestyle. Things are a bit more simple on our program. You see, I'm here in the interior for 6 weeks to produce some kind of ski movie. Its still in the developmental process in a way, but we're shooting it all at Retallack, and thats unique. So the end product will be unique, just as the mountains and the people and the energy of the kootenays.

Neil and I hung out on a ridge in the selkirks the other evening, here are a few shots.....















and here is a frame grab of tanner sending a double cork. he is a beast...

Armada @ Retallack

I just returned from a short but sweet trip to Retallack, BC. It was the annual trip with the Armada squad to get some imagery of all the new products in their natural environments. Once again, deep powder and high avalanche danger kept us off the big terrain. But like always we were able to find some incredible skiing in the protected forrest at Retallack Lodge.






^ These trees have adapted well to the heavy snowfalls of the Kootenays.


^ Always a good fire burning at the lodge.


^ Head up to Retallack and visit with CR. His spirit is up there!

Cold Rush!!!

First of all, I'd like to thank Red Bull for putting together one of the greatest events in all of skiing! Their production, planning, and organization was really Impressive. It's so great to see a company like Red Bull supporting this type of skiing in such a huge way. Also, I'd really like to thank the staff at Retallack Lodge. They did such an outstanding job accommodating this rowdy bunch of skiers. The food, hospitality, and environment was on another level! I truly believe that Retallack Lodge has transformed the Cold Rush from a contest into something more of a festival, celebrating the joy of skiing in the mountains with your friends. BIG THANKS!!!!!

My experience with the Cold Rush began when I received a phone call, asking if I could make it up to fill the position of an athlete who got injured. I knew I had a to take care of a few things at home, but how am I going to pass up this opportunity? The next day I was on my way to beautiful british columbia, my new favorite place on earth. I've never been involved with anything like this before, so I was completely humbled to even be considered for this event.

The Red Bull Cold Rush is a contest to see who is the best all around, mountain skier. The venues included the beautiful north face of Texas peak with all of her various alpine descents, a kicker zone with 7 different jumps that all had powder landings, and the PME cliff section which was a short, technical face with unlimited potential. The terrain at Retallack is absolutely ideal for such an event. I wish that I had more time to prepare for this, as I skied far to conservatively to be considered a contender for the top spots. My position in the final results (7th), meant very little in comparison to my excitement for being a part of such an amazing event. To me, it was all about experiencing all that the cold rush had to offer with a great group of people, at one of the greatest places on earth, RETALLACK!

So, here is a video I made with the goal of documenting the cold rush from a skiers perspective. I shot it using my 5D Mark II with a fisheye lens and a 50mm 1.8. I also used the GoPro HD mounted on my helmet. Even with all the camera men and photographers capturing the action, I still felt compelled to document it for myself. Enjoy! I know I did!

Click for HD

Exploring Southern British Columbia...

I just returned from a 17 day road trip through the southern interior of British Columbia. It was probably the best ski trip I have ever been on. With this being my first time to the region, I was completely humbled by the mountains. The amount of easily accessed backcountry skiing is just mind boggling. During our trip, we became quite familiar with the region, but only saw a sliver of what's actually out there. This will undoubtedly be the first of many excursions to the Kootenay's over the course of my life.

The trip started out at Retallack Lodge where I spent 4 days shooting marketing material for Armada skis. Unfortunately, we had to deal with fluctuating temperatures and a very active surface hoar layer in the snowpack. Avalanches were easily triggered the entire time we were there. Given the conditions, we were still able to get into some fun terrain, and deeeeep powder making for some really great skiing. The guides do a great job of getting you into some goods even with a sketchy snowpack

^The first two days at retallack were spent freeriding with some of the fellas who work for ARMADA. Had a blast running top to bottom runs without worrying about getting "work" done.

^Cat driver and tail guide, Jonny 5. "giver till ya quiver"

^Retallack offers up the goods. The food, the lodging, and the staff are all top notch. The vibe is always so positive and relaxed, just the way a ski vacation should be. And we can't forget about the terrain. Its steep, deep and covered with pillows. Great for charging.

After a week of shooting pictures with Chris O'connell, our photo trip was over. I wasn't ready to leave. The conditions were improving and I was itching to get into the backcountry on my own accord. I phoned up Neil who was down in utah waiting patiently for the pow. I told him about all the sick snow and terrain up in BC, and the potential for an epic ski trip. Two days later he was on a 2.5 hour flight from SLC to Cranbrook, BC.

For the next week, we based out of Nelson, BC. With the help of Google Earth, we scoped some areas that looked ideal for ski touring. What we found was better than we could have ever imagined.

^First stop was Whitewater ski area where we hit some sidecountry lines. It was a complete white out the whole day, but from what I did see I can tell its a SICK little ski resort.

^after the warm up day at whitewater, it was time to check out some truly unfamiliar terrain. The weather was starting to work in our favor, and the first day of ski touring offered a few glimpses of what was to come.

^Have to make sure the coast is clear. No messing around in these parts. Fortunately, the snowpack was beginning to stabalize more and more each day.

^Damn surface hoar's! It was a very tricky layer that was showing sings of strengthening, but was still producing clean, planar shears with a moderate/hard force about a meter down.

^Just stoked as can be. The sun popped out for our last run of the afternoon. 1800' back down to the valley with massive pillows perfectly positioned the entire way down.

^We doubled back to the truck after milking the last light of the day. We decided to return the following day to dig out a snow cave and make ourselves at home for a few days.

^good snow coverage even down low

^The next day was snowing and overcast. We were able to make our way into a pillow garden that we scoped the previous day.

^ We began to session pillow lines. With only two people, we had to trade on and off with the camera bag.

^scary dropping into this one.

^Neil airing off the nose

^Towards the end of the day, we began looking for a good place to dig out a snow cave when we happened upon this public cabin. We were beyond stoked! Instead of digging for 3 hours, we just unrolled our sleeping bags on the floor and camped in luxurious form. On top of that, the skies opened up for the first time on our trip. sweet.

^Tea, sausages, and smokes by the fire. we were living nicely.

^The next morning we woke up to beautiful alpenglow skies. An early start to maximize the ever changing light.

^the surrounding mountains were gorgeous.

^a couple good lines in there

^Neil, all up in the zone.

^THIS ZONE!!! The icicle spine wall had all kinds of gnarly stuff going on.

^Neil gets the session going for the day.

^ Nice little air off the pillow spine

^This zone brought me back to my mogul skiing days. Only difference was these moguls were the size of cars and covered in powder!

^ 8/11 stages completed in this shot. I have been dreaming of hitting lines like this.

^ we ended the day with a long run down the megalithic pillow field. Lots of endorphins were released on this run.

^ the next few days also brought patches of blue skies and sunshine. Neil finds a patch of sun on this pillow popper

^then it was time for the icicle spine wall. It really was an ice wall draped with fingers of light powder. Once I managed the pillow line at the top and began making my way down the wall, all the snow sluffed off and I was left with a shear ice ramp. I came out of it fine, and it turned out to be the line of the trip for me.

Our road trip came to a close when I almost totaled my truck and sled on an icy access road. I made it to the top of a steep hill only to start uncontrollably sliding backwards downhill. I thought for sure I was going to slide off the road into the forest. Somehow, some way, I managed to pull a full 180 and finally came to a stop about 70 feet later. We were absolutely gripped, and decided it was best not to try and attempt the hill again. We got lucky.

Our bodies were beaten, our funds were running dry, and an epic storm was pounding utah. All good reasons to say good bye to British Columbia and head home. What we got out of the trip was a great adventure, but only a small taste of what's to come when we return to these beautiful mountains.

P.O.V videos from our trip at Retallack and our backcountry missions should be up in about a week. Check back to catch the action in HD.