Soul Gypsy

It is good to be home, being on the road with the van was awesome – but more than anything it showed me how much work needs to be done to the Gypsy-Mobile. With zero dollars in the bank, there is a long road ahead of me before next winter. Lots of van fixes and improvement in regards to: the veg-system, on board filtration system, general power, installing a turbo, living quarters etc. Plus I have to get some money in the bank. That said – I have been busy as hell. Working for a tree service, rickshawing on the weekends (I made 400 in one night!) talking an online class in web design, working on the van and of course boating when things are good. Norquist hooked it up with Final Cut Studio Pro so I have also been finding time to play around with the editing software – just messing around with old footage from before when Fred became a badass filmmaker. Here is a quick – and hopefully funny edit from our personal first decent down Yule Creek.

Why oh why didn’t I take the blue pill? Gypsies rarely take the blue pill. They inherently tend to push the envelope and doing so sometimes ignore reason, choosing adventure instead. Still in Alaska after leaving home about two months ago I am in the midst of a very expensive learning experience. I worked hard all season on preparing the van for this journey but have now figured out that I made one critical mistake. I failed to create a functional on board filtration system for the vegetable oil. Armed with only a 12v pump, a bucket heater and filter housing I thought that as long as I could find good quality oil that did not contain water I would be good to go. Naivety at its best. Upon leaving Jonah and the RV life behind we commenced to put our full effort into collecting and cleaning our vegetable oil. Over the course of 3 days we ended up with 100 gallons of decent quality oil – none came from a dumpster. Despite all of our efforts in filter and settling our oil still had water content (as far as I know any WVO does). I decided to pull the plug and booked a ferry home. I did not want to continue pushing a situation that was harmful to my vehicle. While this was a more expensive option it increased our chance of making it home and not breaking down in the Yukon. We cleaned up our veg-mess gave our oil to a fellow greaser with an at home filtration system to handle the grease and hit the road to Haines. We got some awesome spring skiing on Chilkat pass on our way. We did a lot of chilling the last two weeks in Valdez due to bad weather and some sketchy Avalanche conditions. We did get some good skiing the last few days though.Jason West – Shred Alert! Getting some good Alaska Pow. We had a good day in both the “Back it In” and “Python Shoulder” areas while Jason was with us. After a week of collecting grease in Anchorage we decided to burn diesel and take the ferry to preserve the van. Paying for and burning fossil fuels is hard to do. A high price and negative global connotations. We have seen the season turns in Alaska and have been rocking the no shirt – no shoes a ton. Here we are rocking the 800 mile frost heave drive from Anchorage to Haines. When we got to Chilkat pass it was hot – we played frisbee in the pull off / our campground. The sun is up until ungodly hours up here. We woke up the next morning and climbed this beast – it was so hot we were shirtless (also hot) and got some awesome corn skiing. We got to the bottom and did it again. We contemplated skiing the north face, I dropped in to check out stability and it seemed good, the snow quality wasn’t though. I put in a ski cut, about half way through I felt a pretty significant change. When I stopped and dug a quick hand pit I realized I was on a hard 4 inch crust ontop of two feet or more of facets. I got off the slope as quick as possible and we skied down in the sun. We got back to the road and started drying out our gear in the sun. This picture is a tell-tale sign of spring skiing at work. We discovered the mountain we skied was Nanahini mountain and was 3400 feet above the road. We knew it was big ski but I guess our perception of size has been altered since we have been skiing in Alaska for the past two months.

Beacon strap sun burn – ouch. We woke up the next morning and moved camp to access some other mountains and much to my dismay I heard some thwapping under the car. The belt to our alternator and vacuum pump and finally snapped. We were able to drive down the pass (with no power braking) and limited battery power, cross the border and arrive in Haines. We had the car serviced the next day – glad this didn’t happen in the middle of the Yukon.

And on that note: I am happy with my decision to take the blue pill this time and back out when I’m not that far behind. Getting the van home in one piece is my greatest concern at this point. The ferry should be awesome – we are traveling the inside passage, should be a few scenic – van-worry free days. But mark my words – next time I’ll be ready!

When week one was over I thought we may had just experienced the best week of skiing that Thompson Pass had to offer. There are so many horror stories about being grounded for weeks at a time, it is accepted that three blue days in a two week stretch is something to be grateful for. But in week two there was so much blue and we skied so much that I’m actually typing right now – even though it is blue outside. Hard to believe for me personally but during this two week stretch we skied every drainage from Python to Forty and a Half, except for RFS. We skied twice as many runs and consistently better lines than we did during the same time period as last year. For those who have not seen the mountains here they are unbelievable, their ski ability and sized dwarfed only by the size of the range and pure vastness of possible skiing.

The Ivory Tusk

This is just before my scariest moment of the trip, seeing the open powder field I was ready to fly – but the snow was deeper than I could handle at the speed and I took the biggest tomahawk of my life. When I finally stopped I looked back up the slope and saw a wave of snow barreling towards me, I put my avalung in and held on for dear life. When our guide Dylan Freed came down he said that he saw a 10cm deep crown that I may have kicked off. Good lesson here – test the waters before jumping in. This is the line Paul skied on our first Heli drop in the Valley of the Tusk. There is a terrifying double fall line here as the whole top of the run funnels of the cliff where his sluff is barreling. You can barely see Paul in the lower right hand of the screen. This is a very scary line that Paul skied like a champ.

Paul skiing above more cliffs - that crazy cracker

Jake getting back in the groove

Dylan gave us the best day of heli-skiing of our lives in the Valley of the Tusk. The skies were crisp, the snow deep and the lines HUGE. How he pulled the strings to make this happen we will never know. To anyone thinking of coming Heli-Skiing in Valdez definitely go to Valdez Heli-Ski Guides. The other operations may drop you on the same run time and time again, but this operation has got it going on with the best guides and terrain in the business. They will take you to wherever the best available skiing is on any given day – no questions asked. Which may entail plundering the other operations unskied classic runs!

When we awoke the next day the skies were still blue, and although we were emotionally drained from the intense Heli-skiing of the day before we decided to go get a one drop in the “Wrong Place”/”Crudbusters” drainage.

Paul

Megan mocking down the slope!

Jonah Howell getting down to business

We skied three east runs and one west run before we headed to the RV and then the Airport to send Megan on her way. Here are some good family photos – for the family.

Ride that pony

Sluff on the Ivory Tusk

Kimbrough Action

Classic end of the day nipple touch

Chilling in the Heli - kinda, not too chill really

Private heli - once in a lifetime experience for gypsies like us

It has been an unbelievable week of skiing. Special thanks to Dylan Freed, the pilot Mc’Lovin (bad mother fucker to say the least) and Valdez Heli-Ski guides for making it happen for us. Be sure to check out the upcoming Powderwhore movie. Words cannot do justice to the experience.

After a good competition it commenced to NUKE in Girdwood, the mountain receiving 24inches in 24hrs. So after two awesome powder days Paul and I grabbed Megan Michaelson and headed to Anchorage to meet Jonah Howell of Powderwhore. I was somewhat relieved when I parked the van at Paige Brady’s house and got into the RV. With the intense effort it takes to maintain this vehicle and collect and burn vegetable oil I was ready to focus on skiing and let my hands rest. The full moon was enormous – hovering just above the St. Elias in the long Alaskan sunset as we approached Valdez. The mountains got bigger and bigger until we finally pulled into our RV parking space at Valdez Heli Ski Guides in the shadow of the mountain Diamond. We had expected it to be snowing but the night was crystal clear and we awoke to blue skies the next day. Last season when I had been up here there was no snow in the parking lot. This year there are 15 foot tall snow banks. We got skunked on our first day of touring in the Promised Land by typical Valdez clouds rolling in faster than you can say, “its gonna pop.” Paul skied his first Alaskan couliour and Megan took this sweet picture.

Alaska - home of long epic pow runs.

Tele turn!

Down days have been minimal – we have skied and filmed 6 out of 7 days. Snow quality has been pretty good, the benches have been skiing great and it has been sooooooo blue. We have skied almost everywhere our legs can carry us on a day trip – laying tracks down nearly all the lines in our home zones: Back it in, the promised land, staircase and python shoulder. We have yet to ski RFS (really fucking steep) which is in our backyard but besides that we have tracked everything. It has been awesome to be able to get out so much.

Skin to Win.

Gettin' er done.

Paul showing me how to test snow stability on our first day out. Lots to learn from this gypsy for sure.

We got lots of good skiing in the first few days of the trip in the Promised Land and Back it In. High milky clouds and tired legs finally earned us a much needed rest day. So glad we took this one off because our next two days were to be big ones.

My favorite way to wake up is to the sound of Jonah Howell yelling Shred Alert, and of course the earlier the better – it was about 6am when we gnawed down some breakfast and started gearing up.

Skinning up.

The plan was to ski the east facing Python shoulder in the morning and then wrap around and lay a few lines on the west side. The approach was pretty short and we were so amped when we found the Python shoulder unshralped and just starting to get light.

Paul working his way

Paul skiing out of a huge cliff - check out that line folks

The east was awesome, we took a short lunch break and then headed around to the west side.

Jake laying tracks down the west side Python Shoulder

It was awesome to have such a great leg-powered day and now having skied most of easily leg accesible zones we were ready for a helicopter ride. We got lucky and we were able to get the first Heli ride the next day. Dylan and pilot Mclovin took us to the Iguana Backs, a cool zone with awesome couliours that can’t be landed. We skied one helicopter assisted run and then hiked for the rest of the day setting a personal record of four Alaska lines in one day. I also think I set a personal tele turn speed record. The east facing slopes had variable snow conditions, wind crusted in places, buffed in others and powder yet in others. The slightly north, west facing slopes had awesome snow. Easy bootpacking, soft snow and awesome rock formations made for some great lines.

Paul Kimbrough throwing a 360 in AK - another sick line by this guy

Jake reigning back the speed and enjoy the fluff

Jonah psyched about the good day

Definitely all-time awesome at the very least – so much fun. All the photos are from Megan Michelson, shredder, writer and now it seems a photographer too. After the day she took us out to for a delicious King Crab dinner in town.

Megan - only photo of her because she is the one behind the camera

And as always I was left with dreams of good days to come.

The day after we arrived in AK it started to snow, temperatures had been high and the resurfacing is just we needed. Paul and I were pre-qualified for the event so we enjoyed a nice day of resort skiing to get our legs back after days on the road. This year the resort took more control of the competition and decided to add alpine and snowboard categories to the competition. The end result being a few out of town telemarkers showing up, but the rest of the competition was dominated by locals. Paul Kimbrough, Conor Davis and myself entered in both the telemark and alpine categories on our tele skis.

Taking the traverse

The ant line up the boot pack.

Day One:

The competition started on AK time, the morning meeting was at 11:00am and the competition did not start until about 1:00pm. To our dismay we were informed that there was to be two runs today instead of one because weather was rolling in over the weekend, this meant we had four runs to ski and a significant 30min steep boot pack in between each. The snow was good and a visual inspection left the venue untouched except for a few shallow crowns triggered by patrollers doing control work. Having to do four runs was physically straining but it was nice to actually get a full day of skiing out of a comp day. By the time the fourth run came around we were very familiar with the venue albeit tired. Our female telemark contingent also laid down solid runs, wish I got to see them but I always seemed to be on top of the venue when they were skiing.

Spencer Jonas - young slayer

Paul Kimbrough in the air

Conor Davis getting oh so low

Final airtime

Day One Results:

Men’s telemark — 1) Paul Kimbrough 148.5, 2) Rory Camm 135.5, 3) Eric Nyce 132.5, 4) Dave Magoffin 132, 5) Jake Sakson 131.5, 6) Spencer Jonas 128, 7) Andy Banas 127, 8) Ryan Davis 124.5, 9) Conner Davis 122.5, 10) Jundai Nakashio 119, 11) Tom Murphy 107.5, 12) Spencer Bosket 99.5, 13) Jeff Requist 92.5, 14) Chris Bouch 80.

Women’s telemark — 1) Paige Brady 122, 2) Megan Michaelson 109, 3) Lizet Christiansen 95, 4) Brooke Edwards 90, 5) Candy Froerer 87.5.

Men’s alpine — 1) Aaron Long 155.5, 2) Paul Kimbrough 147, 3) Abraham Gioffre 135.5, 4) Josh Randich 130.5, 5) Jake Sakson 126.5, 6) Ryan Morrill 121, 7) Ryan Anderson 119, 8) Greg Stafford 118, 9) tie, Conner Davis and Brian Horton 115, 11) Michael Greenlee 87.

Check out this of my first ‘alpine’ comp run that happened to make it onto the Anchorage Daily News site, I didn’t exactly do tele turns in the run out: http://www.adn.com/cgi-bin/apps/vmix/player.php?ID=12011689&GID=118

Follow that mans finger to the venue

Day Two:

We were greeted by glorious blue skies and some cold high pressure system temperatures. The venue was changed to allow for a fresh playing field. With visual inspection only again we were concerned about the snow being sun affected from the warm afternoon. Line choices seemed to be pretty minimal and all of the hard lines were especially challenging and uninviting due to bed surface and lots of pepper. When it came time to ski Paul and I had successfully found clean lines through the most challenging area of the venue (along with a handful of others). The girls went first as usual and I am sure they were stoked to complete the competition and let the relaxation kick in. Our lines were clean and we were psyched as we headed up the boot pack for our Alpine run.There was good skiing all around but Ryan Davis of Girdwood laid down an especially awesome run. The line we previously skied no longer had snow on the rocks so we skied lines that we had scouted earlier in the day. Conor Davis took a very serious tumble that left us all scared and we were very glad he skied out with just a banged head and bloody nose. The competition ended at 2:30pm, and was filled with good skiing and pretty lines all around.

Final Results:

Women’s telemark (three-run average score) – 1) Paige Brady 124; 2) Megan Michaelson 112.3; 3) Lizet Christiansen 93.

Men’s telemark — 1) Paul Kimbrough 155; 2) Jake Sakson 145.3; 3) Ryan Davis 140.3; 4) Spencer Jonas 139; 5) Andy Banas 138; 6) Conner Davis 136.3; 7) Eric Nyce 135.7; 8) Dave Maggofin 135.3; 9) Rory Camm 134.

Women’s alpine — 1) Kami Cabana 133; 2) Emilie Fetscher 114.

Men’s alpine – 1) Aaron Long 152.7; 2) Paul Kimbrough 144.3; 3) Jake Sakson 133.3; 4) Abraham Gioffre 132.7; 5) Josh Randich 129; 6) Ryan Anderson 127; 7) Ryan Morril 121.3; 8) Greg Stafford 120; 9) Brian Horton 110.3; 10) Conner Davis 76.7.

SickBird Award– Jake Sakson – highest scoring run of competition.

Tough Guy Award–Conor Davis, Paul Kimbrough, Jake Sakson – for rallying the venue six times.

I always seem to be full of good ideas. Buy a vanbulance with all of my remaining funds, spend my entire savings on converting it into a vegetable oil burning camper and then of course the best part – spend nearly the entire ski season on this project. Crazy? maybe, Ambitions? definitely. But when I finally filtered all of my grease, packed up and got in the van at 10 O’clock at night – destination Alaska – I was somewhere in between absolutely psyched and out of my mind. I got to Salt Lake City without too much trouble, only some power loss and maybe a couple stalls. I filmed a Cribs segment with the Powderwhores, picked up a pair of Megawatts, pumped 40 gallons of grease and hit the road. I made it to Bellingham, WA – eventually – after 4 days on the road wrought with minor disasters, severed veg lines – multiple clogged filters and in the end a veg-system failure I couldn’t figure out on the road. I was wearing nothing but stinky greasy long johns when I finally pulled onto final destination Humboldt drive.

The Ultimate-Gypsy Mobile

It was snowing at Baker and I was blessed with two awesome days of skiing unusually light pow (for Baker), and even some sunshine. We scored turns on the Elbow, Hemispheres and hit the Baker road gap.  After that it was time to get back to the grind, we were both committed to making it to Alaska, and with plane ticket prices through the roof we had no choice but to fix the veg system and rally. With the help of the Williamsons we diagnosed the problem, fixed it and began rigging for the trip. We straightened and re -secured the rack which had loosened and shifted and then got to veg-collection and filtration.

Surrounded by grease - better than covered in it, but that only takes time

We got 50 gallons of settled grease at our first stop; Diego’s hooked it up fat, giving us each a burrito on top of all the good grease. After that we hit up all the Asian cuisine that we could – no more free food but we got some decent quality grease. After that we got to coarse filtration.

When we were ready we headed to the border crossing –  a little concerned, our fate rested in the hands of the border patrolmen. Getting turned around would mean no Alaska this season. They sat us down in the bad kid room and searched our car, we were clean but had heard stories of “unemployed” ski bums not being allowed into Canada. The border patrolmen couldn’t hold back his excitement about the rig and we made it into Canada with no problem, except of course that we had 2300 miles to go.

A very long road

The drive was not an easy one, we spent an average of  five hours a day working on the vehicle or collecting grease. In Prince George we made a big mistake of melting down fat and putting it into our tank – which meant lots of clogged filters down the road. We only used about 2 gallons of it but it plagued us for some one thousand miles. Lesson learned – if you have to melt it to put it in your tank – don’t put it in your tank. Grease collection and filtration is the main problem we faced. Not only is it arduous and time consuming – which is ok, it is really hard to clean and de-water grease on the road to a usable level. We ended up burning diesel about half the way, after many stalls, periods of power loss and fat-clogged filters. Our grease filtration needs much improvement before the journey home and the system needs to be touched up before I feel comfortable driving it back across the Alaska Highway. The great part about owning a veg-powered vehicle is that it forces you to connect with people along the way, you are not just simply putting your credit card into a magical diesel fountain. You have to talk with people and work hard to get every mile down the road. Standing on top of my van during the Yukon sunrise to retrieve a filter, I was reminded of the power and beauty of the world and amidst all of this difficulties, greasy bodies and battered frozen fingers the waste vegetable oil journey seemed right – especially when compared to the challenges of this increasingly confusing and destructive world.

Can't drive across the country (or multiple ones) without Yerba Mate. Thanks Fred for saving the day!

Doing work in beautiful Prince George, probably just about to put fat in the tank...

Getting on the roof in Whitehorse - Yukon Territory

Paul playing with fire in one of the many roadside mini-town parking lots

Paul psyched on making to AK

Me psyched on making to AK!

We made it to Alaska, something some of our friends believed to be a miracle,  I wouldn’t go that far – but the drive was certainly constantly physically and emotionally straining for the entire duration. But hell, if it were easy it wouldn’t be called the gypsy life. The drive took five very long days. I wouldn’t say we were ecstatic when we pulled into Anchorage, we were too worn out for that, but the first turn I made on Alaska soil had a certain sweetness to it as it was my own blood, sweat and tears that had got me here. This was definitely a huge mission and I could not have done it with tons of help. A huge thanks for Jerome Hatem, without whom the ambulance would never have been ready for the road, or some serious gypsy living, my mom for helping me make the final push to get on the road, dad for keeping me going when I began to loose hope and helping me when I lost a critical filter, the Williamsons for rallying us out of Bellingham and allowing us to grease up there garage and of course Paul Kimbrough for joining me on this absurd quest. Telepalooza and the “Alyeska World Competition” just finished and Paul and I came out of the mix with multiple podiums and awards. Check out the photos of the up to date van living quarters and the journey.

It has been awhile since my last Gypsy post and there is a good reason for that, I have been busting ass for awhile preparing what I believe to be the ultimate Gypsy Rig for the open road. I have owned this van for about 4 months now and just today I can say that it is road worthy. There have been many late nights and long days and way too many days spent with dirty painful  hands, laying in the snow instead of skiing. But it is all coming together and I am getting psyched! For my new mobile apartment with the biggest backyard ever. There were time on this journey when I was completely overwhelmed and doubted my ability to pull through. Which was critical of course, I had spent all of my money on this investment and if I couldn’t come through that was money lost. So now finally coming to the surface I realize the importance of Gypsy rule #6, which is basically in layman’s terms “Gypsies git shit done.” The gypsy life is not a cush one and rarely comfortable, it is the quest for comfort the gypsy denies in exchange for the quest for intense experience, personal development and freedom. I’m all for going with the flow, but sometimes that flow goes into a nasty sieve and you have to do a serious ferry to avoid doom, and that is where busting ass comes in (but not only to avoid doom of course). I don’t have pictures of the rig now – but those will be coming soon, Alex pointed out that I have only really posted pictures of nuts and bolts and not the rig in all its glory. Tomorrow I leave for UT, the WA and then AK, a 6 week journey in its totallity. And finally getting those turns in I have been craving this dry and van work full season. Then after that my goal is to stay on the road for as long as possible for a high intensity boating season and beyond. Stay tuned for stories and a full van overview. Its gonna be off the HOOK!

AK Lines!!!

So there I was, diesel pouring all over by chest, dirt flakes in my eyes and coolant in my hair, my hands were cut and burning as I sawed through one of my fuel lines. I’m just full of bright ideas. The vegetable oil journey for me actually started years ago – when I first started searching for my first van. With some research I found a good van and a good company to do the conversion, or at least that is what I thought. They seemed like good guys at Veg Rev but when I dismantled my system, the placement of the equipment was lazy, they did not run Hose in Hose fuel lines, even after raising the price after I asked for them (they didn’t even put standard hose on hose fuel lines) it was really no surprise my van died before I made in home as i am fairly certain I was not getting hot enough temperatures to not damage my engine. I decided to do it myself this time so I could know my system all the way through, get it just the way I want and well because I am strapped on cash. Gypsies like to do it them self.

Time to get up, get in the car  – my friend Jerome had roused me and, clothes still on from the 1:00 finish the night before I grabbed a bite to eat – a cup of coffee and got in the car still rocking the dirt mustache. I was tired, maybe a little woozy from the coffee and not enough water but energized by the project, the day before had not been an easy one some 14 hours spent on the van project straight.

For those of you who don’t know me I have a very hard time keeping and knowing where all of my belongings are. I can remember almost every phone number entered in my phone and my credit card number, but I can never find my credit card or my phone. One time I forgot all of my kayak gear  when I went kayaking (except for  my boat) and I have forgotten my ski pants when going skiing (and my boots – the list of mishaps go on). The day before I had actually came in and out of Walmart 4 times on one trip to get four items (this is after the first trip failed because I forgot my credit card and they would not take my memorized number). Space-case to the extreme is what I have been feeling like lately. The morning started off smoothly, Jerome wired the plugs on the inside of my van, which was a huge success – as now I can plug in for outlet power which will make the van life that much more livable for a long stretch as I can charge on the go and use boot dryers! I spliced into my coolant lines (the ones going to the ambulances second heater core). As soon as I cut into the coolant lines, the almost burning hot liquid – not enough to actually hurt but hot enough for my bodies natural reaction to let go to occur. I had put a bucket underneath where I was cutting but the coolant went everywhere and my bucket wasn’t 20feet in diameter.  When I spliced back into my line I just put vice grips on either side of where I was cutting and didn’t spill any coolant. Oh yeah and I drained my radiator – so that might have helped.

Oops

Nasty, nasty coolant - drained from radiator

Coolant line splice out. There are two heater cores on my car - I think this is due to the ambulance - factor. I spliced into the one that supplies the cabin.

Filling up my coolant lines - i plugged the funnel into the lines and then ziptied it to the door

I was psyched after I refilled my lines and radiator and the all got warm. I was not get quite enough heat in the back but I hope to solve this with an auxiliary water pump.

The day before the coolant disaster Jerome and I wired all of my diesel veg-switches, so as I came into the garage the next day I knew it was going to be a nasty, serious consequence day. All I had left to do was splice my coolant lines and plug in the diesel lines to the switches.

4 wires for my 3 valves and my temperature gauge

Smoking wires - yikes

Jerome gittin' r done

As the sun set I knew it was going to be a long night, Miles Davis “All Blue” in the background I sawed through the diesel line just before the injectors – nerve racking business.

Valve Three - the one closest to the injectors with some funky hose routing to stay out of the way of moving parts. Mounted on the diesel fuel filter housing. The injection pump is just to the right.

Cut fuel lines, see the duct tape plug on the left. Psyched on the valve placement here.

I completed this without to much trouble and then it was time to go under the car and cut and route the lines before and after the lift pump.

Valve two routed - mounted in the wheel well

Valve One - hard to take a picture off and even harder to work with

After re routing my diesel lines into the switches – then came the moment of truth. Air in my lines now I knew I would have to bleed my injectors to get the air out of the system. Something I became familiar with while stuck on the side of the road in the middle of the night.

Bleeding the injectors

It started up without too much effort and I was so psyched!!!!! I was not getting quite hot enough temps to operate my heated filter and pump but with the addition of an auxiliary water pump I should be in full operation. I didn’t get out of the garage until 2am but I completed my mission. The veg-burning begins!