Nick Waggoner, one of the Sweetgrass Productions founders, emailed us this morning proud to announce: "I'm gonna need a ride to the hospital cause this baby's (movie trailer) done ready." Check the release of their new trailer for 'Solitaire':

SOLITAIRE: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up skiing in East Montpelier, VT

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

I started out skiing around the age of 2

3. Did you always want to be a pro?

Growing up I think it was kind of always a dream but now as long I can keep skiing and traveling I will continue to be very happy.

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

My brother Lars and my dad for bringing us to MRG with him to patrol, Dylan Crossman, and many others who continue to inspire me.

5. What is your favorite ski that you have skied on?

I have a new pair of Wagner Custom Skis, which are really fun and can do almost everything I want. Also the head 103 is an awesome ski because it’s basically a race ski for the big mountains.

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

I really enjoy being in the mountains like most skiers, and skiing is the best way I’ve found to do this. It is just an amazing feeling that doesn’t compare with many other things in life.

7. What is your favorite memory as a child?

For skiing, probably hiking around in Mad River’s woods, just exploring. Otherwise I think just having the opportunity to grow up in such an amazing place like rural Vermont.

8. What is your favorite ski area?

Mad River Glen will always be one of my favorite places. It’s where skiing is rooted for me and the MRG community is what skiing is supposed to be about. Also after a couple short trips to British Columbia, it seems like an alright place too.

9. How do you stay in shape during the off-season?

Mountain bike, hike, play soccer, and a lot of other good ol’ Vermont activities.

10. How do you train during your season?

Skiing tends to be great training for skiing.

- Leah Jewett

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Carbondale, CO. I learned to shred the hard pack and pow at Aspen Snowmass.

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

My family moved to the Roaring Fork Valley near Aspen, CO when I was four. That was my first season skiing at Sunlight Ski Resort outside of Glenwood Springs. They still don’t have any highspeed lifts.

3. Did you always want to be a pro?

I certainly fantasized about being a pro skier in my youth. But it has never been what drives my skiing. When I switched to Tele at sixteen I became a fiend. Since then I’ve just been trying to ski as much as possible. Then “pro-skier dom” comes second as a means of maintaining the lifestyle.

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

Kayo Ogilby the coach of the CRMS (Colorado Rocky Mtn School) Tele team is responsible for lighting the tele fire in me. He is a very inspiring person on many levels and a truly beautiful skier.

5. What is your favorite ski that you have skied on?

I would have to say that the Fall 2011 Black Diamond Zealot is the best ski I have ever used, hard charging and playful all in the same package.

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

The feeling of skiing is one that is not easily described; understanding comes from the experience alone. It’s a blend of concentration and bliss, weightlessness and freedom. It is this feeling that keeps me coming back day after day, but over time it becomes a greater practice that demands rational decisions in line choice and backcountry travel, physical ability, and the deeper level of focus you can bring to the slopes – the greater the reward.

7. What is your favorite memory as a child?

I’m still a child, and my favorite feeling – well, shredding pow of course.

8. What is your favorite ski area?

That is one secret that I will be keeping to my self

9. How do you stay in shape during the off-season?

The off season sports I enjoy include kayaking and rock climbing, they provide different physical outlets but are also practice for the mental aspect of skiing. Recently I have noticed big aerobic and strength gains from lots of skiing and touring my goal this summer is to maintain those levels so I can start at a higher baseline when snow falls again.

10. How do you train during your season?

My main focus on “ training” is in the off season, I think its better to burn when there is no snow then when you are actually trying to ski hard. I just like to play it by what conditions have to offer, ski pow when there’s pow and always make sure to put in some solid resort time to maintain strength and technique. I never really feel like I’m training when snows around, it just felt so good the first time why wouldn’t I want another lap?

- Leah Jewett

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up skiing in East Montpelier, VT.

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

I first started skiing when I was 3 year old.

3. Did you always want to be a pro?

I always wanted to make skiing a central part of my life, but I’m not sure if I’m considered a “pro.”

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

My brother Silas, Dylan Crossman and all the great friends and coaches I’ve skied with along the way.

5. What is your favorite ski that you have skied on?

a. Why?

The monster head 103 are my favorite skis so far because they are stable at speed and reward good turns

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

The greatest form of freedom I have found.

7. What does skiing mean to you?

To me, skiing means fun
8. What is your favorite memory as a child?

Just running around in the woods being a kid.

9. What is your favorite ski area?

a. Why?

Mad River Glen is my favorite ski area because it is where I grew up skiing. The people and feel are hard to find anywhere else, and the terrain continues to challenge me every time I go back.
10. How do you stay in shape during the off-season?

I cross train with mountain biking and soccer as well as the occasional trip to the gym

11. How do you train during your season?

I’ve found that skiing every day that I can is the best way to stay in shape during the season.

- Leah Jewett

It may be summer now, but it's important to stay in shape for skiing and snowboarding during the off-season.  You don't want to be that person who is tired by 2 p.m. when there are still two hours of skiing to be had. Three main areas that need the most work when preparing for winter: flexibility, strength, and aerobic ability. The best way to keep these areas strong is to be constantly active -- whether it be biking, running, skating, kayaking, or rock climbing -- maintaining a high heart rate will help keep you going till last chair. Although cardio is very important, muscle strength shouldn't be overlooked. Make sure to hit the gym and work on those quads, hamstrings, gluts, and abs. If these muscles are weak, you will have a rough day after skiing. Don't forget to stretch before and after every workout because you don't want to injure yourself before the season has begun. We like these workouts created by the folks at Ski Magazine with tips from Olympic ski racer Ted Ligety.

What are you up to in July? Are you still working on your goggle tan? Well, those who ski at Crystal Mountain in Washington have been spending their weekends not at the lake or river, but up on the slopes. Crystal Mountain has been open since November 19, with over 600 inches, making this the longest ski season in Washington and one of the longest in the country. This Saturday, July 16, will be the last day to ski Crystal with operating hours from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. The snow is finally melting and giving away to a beautiful Washington summer. So, if you aren't quite ready to pack those ski boots away, head to Crystal. Snowbird, Mammoth, and A-Basin all closed on July 4 so Crystal is the last place you can still ride.

Backcountry skiing on the 4th of July offered all-time conditions this year, thanks to a plentiful La Niña snowpack that's lingering well into the summer. Flylow's grassroots team member Geoff Maly skied Oregon's South Sister, part of Three Sisters, near Bend, over the weekend. "We skied from the top to the car, amazingly," Maly reported afterward. "It was hot as all hell and somehow I got sunburned on the underside of my arms." This picture is of Maly skiing the south face of South Sister with Broken Top in the background.

Hope some of you got out to ski over the weekend too.

After a biblical snow season in the Sierra’s and too many powder days to count, summer has finally arrived in the Tahoe basin.  On June 25^th I finally busted out my mountain bike to get out on some of my favorite trails.  I made my way to the trailhead with the intention of completing one of my “go to” loops.  In the back of my mind I was wondering if I would be able to make it all the way through as the top of the ride takes me above 8,000 feet. I ran into another rider and we stopped to talk.  “The meadow is still flooded and the snowpack makes the trail impassable at the top…”, my fellow rider informed me. “I have been doing an up and back from the bottom of the trail,” he added. Considering that this was my first time out I took this piece of info to heart and decided to follow suit.  Let me state that the trails are in great shape.  The late season rain and snow is keeping the dust down and the trails are nice and tacky.  I began my grind up the technical climb enjoying the sounds of the rushing water from the melting snowpack. About 20 minutes in to the climb I came across my first signs of snow. My Suunto altimeter said that I was at 7,100 feet. This was only a small patch, but it was a sign of things to come. I continued climbing and I came across a few trees that had fallen across the trail. Once I breached the second tree I only made it a few hundred feet before the trail became completely blocked by snow. 7,470’… I stopped for the photo op and turned around for the fast, flowy descent.  Did I mention the trails are in great shape?

The ample snowpack means that there are still ample hiking opportunities for skiing. In fact, Alpine, Kirkwood, Mammoth and Squaw Valley will all be open for skiing over the 4^th of July weekend. This leads me to one final question…will this weekend count toward my ski day total for the 2010-11 season or are these my first days of 2011-12?  After all, it did snow last night!

-John Ferris

Teton Gravity Research just released the trailer for their newest film, "One For the Road." We highly recommend you spent the 3 minutes, 43 seconds watching this. Winter can't get here quickly enough.

This season I put together two out of three wins in the TGP Telemark Series earning me the overall title. I have been competing in telemark freeskiing comps since my first year on tele skis. I've had mixed success, my most notable podiums in Crested Butte my first year when I was still a junior and then a third place behind Nick Devore and Dylan Crossman the following year at Alyeska. Since then I've had mixed results, good finishes here and there but lots of crashes as well - until my confidence for stomping comp lines began to whither. Those who have seen me ski know that I have a speed problem, sometimes skiing a little (or a lot) quicker than I am able to maintain. My goal at the beginning of the season was to focus on reigning back my need for speed and gain more control and style in my tele turns. While I definitely lost it a few times this year, my skiing evolved - I ended up in the first spot before every super-final run! Grand Targhee was the first tele comp - a notoriously cold area so I was packing heat, in the form of Flylow's King Hoodie.

I don't like feeling bulky when I ski and competitions inevitably require lots of standing around so if temps are on the cold side the King Hoodie is always in my backpack to throw over my shell while chilling (although not chilly) on top of the venue. I was able to line up this huge frontflip that brought me up the list from my qualifying place at 8th or 12th or something.

Paul Kimbrough and Will Cardamone laid down some nasty and stylie runs and edged me into third place, but stomping some comp runs helped with my confidence levels going into the rest of the season.

Sunny California is well, usually sunny and Tahoe's warm temps and often mid winter spring skiing get a warm blooded Colorado native like me sweaty. This is when Flylow's venting system is key. Although it snowed the night before the competition the previous month did not have any snow leaving the take offs to the cliffs scratchy and long. Nonetheless, for the first time in the three years that I have attended the Alpine Meadows comp we were able to run the "Buttress" venue for finals. The Buttress requires a heinously long side step from the lift and I hate side steps. Luckily this was easily avoidable with a T-shirt, tele skis, skins and the large leg zips of the Stash Pants. It was a rowdy venue with very variable snow conditions but my man Cardamone helped me with line choice and strategy and I claimed the top spot.

Crested Butte in March seems to always be bulletproof and rocky. Excluding the Buttress venue this year CB is the home to the highest consequence, technical and committing venues of any freeskiing comp I have attended. It's a scary comp that requires precision but is an incredible test piece for telemark freeskiing - exactly because the conditions are so challenging. Especially for pow loving tele shredders. Before this competition Flylow Dan set me up with the 2011/2012 Quantum Jacket. Although I didn't test it out on any of the sharp rocks and trees CB has to offer, I'm sure this is jacket that can best handle the abuse of that mountain. I spent the majority of my season chasing storms, touring and skiing powder so in some sort of Sadomasochistic-al way I was excited to return to the solid snow conditions that I learned to tele ski on in the beginning. I had avoided the CB comp for the past two years and it was time to meet my Maker. This competition was going to epitomize what I was striving for all year, controlled skiing. I busted out my 95mm Kilowatts and chose lines wisely. —Jake Sakson