After much debate, our favorite sons of Utah have produced a backcountry ski film that includes skiers and snowboarders.  Don't worry, there are still Tele skiers there too.  Check it out and support the Howells!

Ryan Hawks. Photo by Frank Shine

Ryan Hawks was one of us: a skier, a powder-lover, an all-around great guy. When he passed away on March 1, 2011, from injuries sustained during the Freeskiing World Tour at Kirkwood, California, his loss was felt throughout the ski community.

The Flyin’ Ryan Hawks Foundation was recently established to remember Ryan and to enrich the lives of young athletes like him. Money raised through the non-profit memorial fund will go to support individuals who demonstrate Ryan’s leadership and sense of adventure, and will support their journey in wilderness education, mountain exploration, or contributions to the freeskiing community.

For this coming winter, there will be seven Flyin’ Ryan Ambassador coaches—Lars Chickering-Ayers, Dylan Crossman, Angel Collinson, Louis Erickson, Ben Blakely, Rob Greener, and Chuck Mumford—and those athletes will help conduct 16 clinics (Flyin’ Ryan Days) at ski resorts around the country. The clinics will take place alongside the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour’s junior stops and at Ryan’s home mountain, Mad River Glen, Vermont.

The Flyin’ Ryan Hawks Foundation was formed by Ryan’s dad, Peter Hawks. “The purpose of the foundation is to honor Ryan’s humanity and to extend his principles for living (self proclaimed) in order that others might be inspired to elevate the quality of their lives by adopting Ryan’s ideas,” said Peter Hawks. “I think our Ambassador program has the potential to attract a significant number of participants who will, collectively, provide us with the ongoing capacity to place our scholarship dollars where they are most needed.”

Here at Flylow, we’d like to pay tribute to Ryan and all he did for us and the skiing community at large. Ryan helped us design our new Quantum jacket, a three-layer hardshell that, like Ryan, is as tough as it comes. So, starting now, we’re going to donate $2 from every Quantum jacket sold on Flylowgear.com to the Flyin’ Ryan Hawks Foundation.

“This is a small gesture but it has a large meaning,” says Flylow president Dan Abrams. “Ryan Hawks was a big part of Flylow and we want to do what we can to support his legacy.”

Flylow athlete Lars Chickering-Ayers has won yet another stop on the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour, this time it was at the Chilean Freeskiing Championships, held last weekend at Ski Arpa, Chile's only cat-skiing outfitter. Lars' winning run lasted six turns and 45 seconds and included a massive, 40-foot air and a 360 off the manmade jump at the end. “I like turning where the mountain makes you turn and when you’re on big mountain terrain, that’s how I ski,” Lars said afterward. Tahoe skiers Josh Daiek and Kevin O'Meara rounded out the men's podium.

In the women's field, Chile's own Sole Diaz took the top spot but Flylow had two athletes in the top 10: Ashley Maxfield took fifth and Rebecca Selig took sixth.

The venue was the same for both days of the two-day contest. "Conditions on the final face were too shallow and boney to provide a venue suitable for this level of competition," said head judge Jim Jack. "Safety being paramount, we opted to move back to Cornices. The athletes came together with the event organizers to put on one of the most exciting and spirited events we have ever seen. Relaxed and stoked, the skiers threw down dynamic runs. Today was a great celebration in the mountains and represented the full essence of our sport.”

Congrats are in order for our very own Drew Petersen, who placed third at the World Heli Challenge in New Zealand this past week. He competed with Ted Davenport, Mike Basich, Ben Schmitt, Ian Borgeson, and other amazing athletes. Drew had never competed in the men's division before and feels that he is now able to compete at this level. Congratulations to Fraser McDougall for placing first and Sam Smoothy for placing second.

This past winter was one for the record books. It got down to be -50F in some places on the East Coast and several states around the country had the snowiest winter on record  (New York, for example, had the snowiest December and January ever). As a result, many ski areas were open until late June to early July (A-Basin in Colorado and Mammoth in California, among others, stayed open until July 4). According to weather predictions posted on Unofficialnetworks.com, the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean are cooler than normal, meaning more of the white stuff for next winter. Here's what the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Services reported in early August: "The atmospheric circulation anomalies were more variable during the past month, but the monthly means still reflect aspects of La Niña ... Thus, while tropical Pacific oceanic anomalies indicate ENSO-neutral, the atmospheric patterns continue to reflect La Niña-like conditions." Translation: While we're likely going to have a neutral winter (not La Niña or El Niño), there's still a chance we could be looking at a La Niña repeat for 2011-12.

Flylow athlete Rebecca Selig just placed third in the first stop of the Freeskiing World Tour at Las Leñas, Argentina. The invite-only Red Bull Powder Disorder was the first-ever FWT to include manmade jumps. We're pretty darn proud of Selig, who stood on the podium with winner Crystal Wright and two-time FWT champ Angel Collinson, who took second. We spoke to Selig before the contest about how she got to be where she is now.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Kalamazoo Michigan, which is a big college town. I started out skiing at Timber Ridge ski area, which only has about 150 verticle.  I was up there everyday, by myself because I was only person in my school that skied. I skipped a lot of school, but was somehow able to pull off straight As.

How old were you when you first started skiing?
It was always my dad’s dream, who is a retired vet, to get us into skiing. He started us out when I was about 2 ½ years old. We would go up every Sunday and every Christmas we got a new pair of skis. Our family vacations were to big ski areas on the west coast. I had a full ride scholarship for softball, but gave is up because all I wanted to do was continue skiing.

Did you always want to be a pro?
Becoming a pro was always a dream of mine, but I didn’t want to admit it because I was scared to fail. I ski raced as a kid, but wasn’t really into it because I loved the big mountain and doing my own thing. I feel so lucky to be interviewed my magazines and other professionals. It’s such a blessing.

Was there anyone in particular who helped motivate you to where you are?
My dad shared the love and passion for skiing. My ski coaches helped motivate me to get to where I am today. I’m mainly skiing because it’s what I love to do and there isn’t anything like it.

What does skiing mean to you?
To me, skiing is my church, lifestyle, everything in my life really. It gives me motivation to keep going in the summer and is what drives me to be a better person. I’m actively involved in AA and skiing helps me keep a straight line. It keeps me closer to God and keeps me out of trouble.

How do you stay in shape during the off-season?
I live with a rafting guide, so that helps me get into the outdoors. I also go rock climbing and kayaking everyday. I try to do at least 20-30 minutes of cardio everyday. I don’t have a structured workout really; I do pushups and sit-ups in my room. I have a free class that I’m able to go to every day, but I haven’t started doing that. I will have to eventually because I’ve got to start training for Argentina.I’ve have 5 major ACL surgery’s, three years in a row. So, I need to make sure that I stay on top of my strength building so I don’t have to go through that again.

-Leah Jewett

Lars and Silas and their van, The General

A bunch of Flylow athletes have traveled to Argentina this week to compete in the first stop of the 2011-12 Freeskiing World Tour, an invite-only big-mountain comp called the Red Bull Powder Disorder, which is being held at Las Leñas. In the men's field, we'll be rooting for Lars Chickering-Ayers, who ended up second on the overall rankings last year, and his brother Silas Chickering-Ayers, who scored a couple of top-five finishes last year. Lars and Silas were featured in a story on ESPN.com today. And in the women's field, we have Ashley Maxfield, who was ranked second overall last year, and Rebecca Selig and Nicole Derkson, both of whom landed on the podium a few times last year. The comp begins tomorrow and stay tuned to Freeskiingworldtour.com for the latest.

Last week was filled with steep and deep at the World Heli Challenge in Wanaka, New Zealand. It has been two full days of skiing for the athletes: The first day was the Freestyle Day and the second was the Extreme Day. One of Flylow's athletes Drew Petersen, who's just 17, competed alongside athletes like two-time champ Ted Davenport. Many of the pros are saying that he has proven that he has a future in big mountain skiing at the young. You can vote for Drew for the People's Choice Freestyle and Extreme Skiing on the 2011 World Heli Challenge Peoples Choice Voting Facebook page. Voting ends on August 10 at midnight, so be sure to get your votes in ASAP.

With all the hype circling around the upcoming movie releases, the "Eye of The Condor" video and photo contest just went off in La Parva, Chile and judging by the videos, the snow was in pretty good condition. Flylow was a sponsor of the event, so enjoy the flicks!

The winning video:

2011 Eye of the Condor Video from the Dubsatch Collective from Eye of the Condor on Vimeo.

Another one with some good pow shots:

2011 Eye of the Condor Video from Discrete from Eye of the Condor on Vimeo.

Visit http://www.laparva.cl/eotc/ and skiingmag.com for more information on the event.

1. Where did you grow up?

As the fortunate son of an avalanche forecaster/park ranger I grew up spending my winters in Salt Lake City and summers in Grand Teton National Park.

2. How old were you when you first started skiing?

At age 2 my parents strapped skis to my feet and lowered me down the neighborhood sledding slope.

3. Did you start out telemarking or did you start out doing down hill?

I started out on alpine gear and when I was 19, I switched to telemarking.

4. Did you always want to be a pro?

I always thought it would be cool to be a pro skier, but it wasn’t till I freed my heel that I realized I could be good enough to get some free gear.

5. Was there anyone in particular who helped motivate you to where you are?

No one person has influenced me on their own, however numerous skiers have, and continue to inspire and push my skiing. Among those I would have to include John Philips, Carston Oliver, Kent May, Jake Sakson, Nick Devore, Eric Pollard, and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa.

6. If someone who doesn’t ski asked you why you ski and why you like it, how would you describe it?

a. What does skiing mean to you?

I ski because I love the mountains and I know no better way to explore them. I ski because it requires my complete attention, both physically and mentally; it is a form of meditation. I mostly ski because sliding on snow is fun.

7. What is your favorite memory as a child?

My favorite memory as a child would have to be my mom feeding my chocolate on the chairlift.

8. What is your favorite ski area?

a. Why?
I would have to say that my favorite ski area is Mt. Baker because of the small, family atmosphere, the terrain, and the large amounts of precipitation.

9. What do you plan to accomplish with your career?

The main thing that I want to accomplish with my career is to have fun.

- Leah Jewett