[Eric O]

Ben Paik and i hit my favorite fun run of all time last Monday, just south of Mammoth Lakes. With good lighting and fun snow, I brought back some of my best ski photographs ever.

The place is pretty incredible. When I ski this route I almost don't care what the conditions are, because the scenery is so intensely beautiful. I would even say it's mind-boggling. The fact that we happen to be tele skiing there is even beside the point.

However, you will see that Ben is an undiscovered telemark rock star. There isn't all that much to tell; the scenery speaks for itself.

click any picture for a larger version.





We begin in the sagebrush about 7,500'.











Ascending a gully that's not part of the ski route,











Topping out at 11,800'






Dropping in for several thousand feet of roller coaster.





























... So about this time, after nearly 1,000 feet of killer corridor skiing, we take a break and I tell Ben the truth: "hey, do you know we're still in the top third of this thing?" ... the look on his face was memorable.












































Amazing -- the dude was practically always doing something photographable. Typically I ski with Ben at the resort and all I see is a streak going by me at 30mph, huge turns and a powder cloud. But out here in a couloir, he had to tighten up and slow down enough that I was able to shutter on time. I usually find it difficult to get my clunky older digicam to capture a shot at the moment I intended; but Ben just proved that when your subject is badass enough, even a tired camera comes through.

[Tele-G]

Looks like the snow was a bit chunky in spots. Was it too hard to push thuough? Nice TR, as always.
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Running for my life

[Otto]

awesome!
did you lug your 10.6 stix up?
awesome!

[edg]

Sweet pics!

edg

[telemikey]

Really nice stuff man.

That Ben dude... is does he frequent this site under the alias "chucky"? That dude skis LOoow...

Nice pics, good timing.
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White room,
pillow lines,
I rule

[telewoman]

Excellent!!!
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Ski! Ski! Ski!

[Eric O]

No, Ben is a certified occasional lurker.

That chunky snow was nice and soft most of the time. Yes, the 10.6 were deployed and they made fun, easy work of it.

3,500' (over 1km vertical) of couloir out of a 4300' descent, warm afternoon light playing off the metamorphic rock walls. Simply an amazing place on earth for an hour or two.

Apologies to Julian: I have some shots of him skiing the same place, which I never posted because I screwed up the exposure on the whole series. Sorry, dude! I'll send them soon if I can locate 'em again.

[Kayakland]

Great pictures!

[Julian]

Hey that snow (and rock and scenery) looks familiar! Very nice photographs. I can understand your reluctance to post mediocre images of such a stellar location. Don't waste your time digging up shots of me unless you happen to know of some where I look almost as good as Ben.

It's been five months to the day since my last visit here. What a season! Always glad to see that you're taking advantage of it, even if it's impossible not to feel just a little jealous.

[seki]

Nice photos, eric.

I met Ben on shoulder separation day at Mammoth. Great skier, and a big strong boy. He could probably rip it through most conditions. Nice guy as well... thanks for the pics & story!

[trackhead]

Chunky Monkey!! Nice pics.

[wheats]

Nice pics Eric!

&

And nice turnin' & burnin' Benjammin!

missing the sierra.

[h2oyeah]

[Kerstin]

Awesome and exciting photos once again, Eric!

[hansup]

nice. that guy rips. i think i've seen him blitzing down the mountain at mammoth. . .

nice photos to boot.