willcardamone.com

Hello,

It has been an unusually warm spring here in Colorado. It was nice to come back to some sunshine and warm weather after the never ending snowstorm that was Japan. With temperatures hitting low 60’s it was much easier to get out the fishing rod and enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the river than go skiing. The rainbow trout are just beginning to spawn on the upper Fryingpan and one of my favorite things to do is stalk up on these hawgs and do my best at tricking them into eating my fly. Despite the warm weather though, the highcountry snow stayed fairly cold and stable on many aspects and the backcountry was amazing. We were able to get on some bigger lines off of aspen Highlands ski area in buttery-hero-pow conditions. It was pretty much like surfing down the mountain. So with epic backcountry options along with rest days spent casting for rainbow trout on the Fryingpan and nights spent working my restaurant job, springtime has been busy but very enjoyable.
Last weekend (march 19-21) was the 13th annual Crested Butte telemark extremes. After competing in the freeskiing tour last season I wanted to focus more on film and photo this season but I decided to head to CB the night before the comp figuring that it would be good to feel that comp adrenaline once again. It is always a good time in Crested Butte because they know how to throw a great party. I had decided to take this comp easy and after the first day consisting of two runs, I found myself tied in eleventh place with two other contestants. The point spread between eleventh and 1st was about six points and with the possibility of only one more run in the comp due to deteriorating snow conditions it would be pretty hard to make that up.
The next day ended up being colder than the first which kept the snow from turning to mush as quickly as the day before. Because of this we were able to fit in two runs. My first run went alright and despite a few minor bobbles I had worked my way up to 6th position and into the superfinal run. I changed up my second run a little for the superfinal and stomped it clean through Slot Rocks. This run earned me the highest score of the comp and a 2nd place finish. I was stoked to have moved up so far in the standings, and with a nice check I now have enough funding to cover my trip to Alaska.
After Crested Butte, I spent a few days in Moab exploring the desert before heading back up to Aspen just as winter hit again. It is always nice to get those end of season powder days before the warm weather returns again.
I am now enjoying my time at home and resting before I head to Haines Alaska on the 6th of April. I will be meeting up with Noah Howell of Powderwhore Productions and Photographer Jay Beyer, along with telemark athletes; Nick DeVore, Andy Rosenberg, and Andy Jacobsen. We will be chartering a small airplane up to a glacier where we will set up a base camp and ski to our heart’s content for twelve days. I am extremely excited to check out a new zone in AK and can’t wait to see what happens. It could be epic bluebird powder or we could just get to know eachother very well while we sit in a tent for twelve days while it snows or drops volcanic ash on our tent. Either way it will be quite the experience! Until then, here are some pictures from my spring adventures in my backyard.

The Maroon Bells

Jesse and Joey with Pyramid and the Bells in back

Tony P, Myself, Dayla, and Pat Sewell on top of Tnar bowl, CO. backcountry

Dayla shredding Tnar

Jesse Amory making some well earned buttery turns.

Highlands backcountry

Pat Sewell on top of the world

My Dad still rippin! Highlands Bowl

Bighorn Sheep up the Fryingpan

Monster bow with spawning colors coming in

Underwater View with the Pentax W60

Our trip photographer Gabe Rogel left us about four days ago to head to France for another trip. It was awesome to have him along for the first part of the trip and we were definitely able to capture some epic moments in Japan. We started out shooting daytime pow and then did some night time experimenting. Here are some rad photos courtesy of Gabe. Hope you enjoy!

Niseko Crepe Lady.

Delicious!

Face Shot!

Night ride

powlicious!

Devore sending through the trees.

Night-time blower

Cold smoke

Ninja Tree Air

Pillow Blast

AK with bushes. Nick sessioning the spine

My first long line of the trip.

The night here is unreal!

preparing for yet another lap.

Hope you enjoyed Gabe’s killer shots. Check back for more of Japan in a few days!

Cheers,

Will

Konichiwa!

It has been about twelve days since I left the U.S. and began a three week adventure throughout the Japanese north island of Hokkaido in search of deep snow, fresh sushi, and whatever else may present itself. I flew into Sapporo in the middle of a snowstorm and met up with Nick DeVore, Jacqui Edgerly, and our photographer Gabe Rogel in the airport. Before leaving the states we had organized to be picked up by some friends of Nick’s mom and taken to Shimukappu. Shimukappu is a small town in the central mountains of Hokkaido and is one of Aspen’s sister cities. Nick had lived there when he was about seven and I had been there for a sister city exchange when I was ten. It was amazing to return to the town and see the people that we had met when we were younger. They are some of the kindest people I have ever met and they treated us to three straight days of eating and celebration. The day would start out with a multiple course traditional Japanese breakfast which was followed by another multiple course lunch. Then we would top it off with amazing dinners of fresh sushi, not a bad way to start the trip.

We said our goodbyes to the kind people of Shimukappu on the fourth day and headed up into the mountains outside of Furano to a Natural hotspring/backcountry lodge. After eating so much food and really doing nothing since we arrived, we were all stoked to get out and do some skiing. We drove up and up and the higher we got, the higher the snowbanks grew, until we were driving through a small white canyon. We finally got to the lodge to discover that it was extremely epic. Located about midway up the tallest mountain in Hokkaido, with touring out the front door and a large inside/outside hotspring or Onsen, we definitely had it made. It was here that we met up with Ian and Ben from Sweetgrass Productions and spent the next three days exploring the surrounding terrain and capturing it with film and photo. We weren’t able to get any real sunlight but it was snowing constantly and the powder was some of the lightest I have ever skied. The days were extremely cold as well so returning to the hotsprings after long days in the cold was amazing. We were able to get some decent footage and with Gabe Rogel shooting photos we definitely captured some awesome moments.

After a few more days in the cold, we heard that Niseko was supposed to get slammed by a few consecutive storms so we packed up our gear, loaded it in the Sweetgrass van and headed south to Niseko. The rest of the Sweetgrass crew was in Niseko in two apartments that they have rented for the winter in order to create their Japan project, a film based all in Japan with riders from many different places. We made it safely after a cramped five hour drive and passed out on the floor as soon as possible. We woke up to another gray day and decided to head out to check out a pillow zone that they had scoped out earlier. We were able to ski some extremely fun pillowy and crazy featured lines in some much warmer weather than we were used to. That night we did some major celebrating and got to know everybody much better. The best part was definitely the Sake’ limbo.

We spent the next day recovering while checking out the Japanese coastline and some amazing waves. When we got back to the apartment we were told of the epic Niseko night skiing so we geared up and headed to the resort for some night turns. Now I have never been night skiing before but this was not ordinary night skiing. The entire mountain was lit up totaling about 2 thousand vert and to add to the situation it was absolutely puking snow. We spent the next four hours shredding knee deep Japanese blower. It was by far one of the most amazing ski experiences of my life! We had so much fun that we returned the next day which was even deeper and skied a new run that was off the beaten path and pretty much untracked. There was just enough light to kind of see where you were going but it was skiing by feel for the most part. Gabe brought out his camera and captured some amazing night shots with a flash set-up. Another day that I will never forget.

The following day it went completely blue for the first time on the trip. We headed for this zone that Nick Waggoner from Sweetgrass had been saving for our arrival. This zone was one of the coolest looking slopes that I have seen anywhere. It had the typical Japanese trees on top but continued down into some prominent spines and fins. It was definitely fairly intense being that it was very steep and ended in a pretty bad terrain trap. Nick, Jacqui, Myself, and Marie Claude Larivee, a ripping chick from B.C. headed to the top and spent some time checking the snowpack. The pit that we dug was about eight feet deep and when we probed to find the ground the entire twelve foot probe disappeared before striking dirt. We all felt good about the stability and all were able to ski two epic lines. The slough was pretty intense but everyone managed their line very well and was stoked on a successful bluebird session. We ended the day with some beers in the Onsen (Japanese Hotspring) across the valley. The celebration continued into the night as Gabe and M.C. were leaving for home the next day. So we ate some more dank sushi and said our goodbyes to our new friends and fell asleep to visions of steep bluebird powder lines in japan.

Our trip continues and we hope to get in some more epic days in the near future. Check back to see what we get ourselves into next and until then here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Our first sushi meal

Jacqui and Nicki enjoying yet another amazing meal.

Me and the Bearded Man of Shimukappu

Jacqui airing out at Asahidaki

Nicki getting in deep in the crazy trees

Outside hot springs, Onsen

Crazy waves Japanese coast. Nick DeVore photo

Neck Deep Nick Asahidaki.

Sushi master at work

My first few powder turns of the trip. Gabe Rogel photo

Skinning through one of the few blue holes. Gabe Rogel photo

Nick dropping in. Gabe Rogel photo

Jacqui heading to the bottom of the valley. Gabe Rogel photo

Feeling how deep the snow is with my face. Gabe Rogel photo

Hangin by the Ocean. Nick DeVore photo

Check back soon for more of Japan.

Greetings from Alaska. I have now been in AK for about two weeks and it has been socked in quite a bit. We started the adventure in Girdwood for the world telemark freeskiing championships. The comp was on Alyeska and was definitely the most intense competition venue I have ever skied. It was steep, and gnarly with areas of huge exposure. Definitely a humbling experience! Unfortunately on my last run I hit some funky snow and ended up tomahawking backwards and straining my knee pretty badly. Despite the crash I still ended up in 5th place at the end. Our RV crew took took four top five finishes.  Nick DeVore in 1st, Jake Saakson in 3rd, Kate Cardamone in 3rd for the women, and my 5th place finish. Not a bad showing from Colorado.  Now, we are hanging in the Thompson pass area outside of Valdez doing some touring and one drop heli time when the weather is good. It has been cloudy quite a bit which has given my knee some good time to heal. It should be ready to go by the next bluebird day. The Powder Whores are here in their RV and we will hopefully be getting some filming in when the sun comes out once again but for now it is snowing again…                             We will be exploring the Thompson pass area for another two weeks before we head out on the Summit to Sea mission. Shortly our RV crew, now consisting of Chris Erickson, Danny Brown, Kate Cardamone, Nick Waggoner, and myself , will be joined by another two athletes, Mark Welgos and Jacqui Edgerly after they are done with the Alpine comp in Girdwood. It’s gonna get a little cozier. Check in in another week or so to see how everything is going. Check ya later.  I’d also like to pay respect to Aspen Snowmass local Wallace Wesfeldt who died last week while snowboarding in the Aspen backcountry. A friendly guy and very talented snowboarder. Wallace we are all thinking about u R.I.P.