I always liked the simplicity of hiking lines. No heli noise, first hand impressions of the snow conditions on slope and – above all – the satisfaction to have earned your turns is just priceless. So when the idea came up amongst my snowboarding friends to plan on a mission deep into the alaskan backcountry with nothing but tents to sleep in and nothing but the own feet to get us up the mountain, it was a no-brainer for me to join. The area of choice were the Tordrillos, a mountain range northwest of Anchorage that became famous for being the stage of parts of Brainfarm‘s legendary snowboard movie‘The Art of Flight’ with Travis Rice and John Jackson showing big mountain riding never seen before. The challenge to access some of these spots ‘barefoot’ was just tantalizing.
After quite some planning and finding the right guides to pull of a mission like this we were finally meeting at a seaplane airfield in Anchorage. Five riders, two filmers, two guides and myself for shooting stills. Three plane loads with a Beaver aircraft, equipped with skis to land on snow. More than a ton of tents, stoves, sleeping bags, snowboards, safety gear and food to be brought to the back of beyond.
