NSFAcrophobics
December 9, 2014 11:20 AM   Subscribe

Cody Townsend is ignorant of gravity or physiology. That is the only possible explanation for why he would subject his body to this insane ski run, dubbed Best Line of the year by Powder magazine.

Townsend also won Powder's Best Male Performance and the Full Throttle award, which "goes to the year’s hardest, fastest, strongest ripper. This award is for the person who pushes the pedal and keeps it pinned until the finish line."
posted by Etrigan (36 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
GONE GONE THE LETTER C

COMES THE S IT OUGHT TO BE.

(great run!)
posted by vrakatar at 11:24 AM on December 9, 2014


I could totally do that. The proof would be the brown streak down the first third of the run. Yikes.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 11:34 AM on December 9, 2014


It's the red streak on the middle third you need to worry about.
posted by Nelson at 11:37 AM on December 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


"That is the scariest thing I've ever done."

Watching that without blinking might have been the scariest thing I've ever done. And I've watched those insane bike videos people share here.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:52 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I went skiing once. It was a lot of fun until I broke my collarbone.
posted by double block and bleed at 11:55 AM on December 9, 2014


what the what no

no no no no

get back on the ground where it is flat
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:57 AM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I spend all this time encouraging kids to make "good choices", as the verbiage goes these days, and then they end up going and doing something like this.
posted by Wolfdog at 12:06 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


If he died in the middle of that run, would they have just left his body there? I mean, that seems like the sane thing to do.

It's what they do with cave divers who die during a dive, from my understanding.
posted by el io at 12:08 PM on December 9, 2014


Now my adrenalin's up, maybe I'll mosey to the post office. I can barely watch adrenalin junky, kinesthetic types.

Last time I skateboarded, I borrowed a board from an adrenalin junkie who had hung up skateboarding, due to the dangers. That was the evening I broke my skull. Last time I skied I tore a rotator cuff. I am grounded.

It would be so great to be able to do that and enjoy it, and survive it!
posted by Oyéah at 12:12 PM on December 9, 2014


I am not really a doer of things, and I really can't understand why people do things, particularly things like this. It is so much nicer not to do things, and stay inside, where it is warm and my bones and skin and precious teeth are still where they are supposed to be.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:18 PM on December 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


No, if you die during a run like that, your body will most likely make it out to the snow field and then be recovered. If you somehow got stuck in the chute, it looks like others ski this run as well from the other ski tracks in the video, so someone would most likely go down slowly and controlled, tie a rope onto the body, then have it hauled out.
posted by Blackanvil at 12:19 PM on December 9, 2014


No, if you die during a run like that, your body will most likely make it out to the snow field and then be recovered.

By several different people simultaneously.
posted by Etrigan at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


That looks nearly suicidal.
posted by theora55 at 12:30 PM on December 9, 2014


I can't help but but notice in the 1st-person shots, there were a bunch of already-laid ski tracks in front of him. How many of these maniacs are there?
posted by umberto at 12:35 PM on December 9, 2014


I can't help but but notice in the 1st-person shots, there were a bunch of already-laid ski tracks in front of him. How many of these maniacs are there?

A bunch of already-laid ski tracks, but not a bunch of any other videos, so perhaps the answer is, "fewer now".
posted by Wolfdog at 12:37 PM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]


I can't help but but notice in the 1st-person shots, there were a bunch of already-laid ski tracks in front of him. How many of these maniacs are there?

Its hard to tell, but they almost certainly were distortions in the snow from avalanche clearing before the run. Chutes like that tend to be dangerous.

You can see some of that at the start of the run here and about the 3 minute mark.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:42 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Why why why can't I win a nice big lottery so I can go helio skiing, although I would've gone around the other side.
posted by sammyo at 12:43 PM on December 9, 2014


I can't help but but notice in the 1st-person shots, there were a bunch of already-laid ski tracks in front of him. How many of these maniacs are there?

If you're talking about the runout, once he's out of the choke, you can see in the heli approach shots that there are a bunch of much less insane lines surrounding that one, and the tracks are coming from there.

If you're talking about when he's in the pencil couloir itself, there is some fluting that looks like tracks. This is a natural feature of slopes that are too steep to hold snow well, so constant avalanches of unconsolidated snow create runnels along the fall line. Generally this is an indication of a slope steeper than 50 degrees or so.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 12:44 PM on December 9, 2014 [11 favorites]


That looks so awesome. When I used to ski at Alpine I imagined that at one point I'd get the nerve up to do Scott's Chute but never did. Hot Wheels Gully is the closest I ever came.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:55 PM on December 9, 2014


Hey [e d], how're the knees keeping up?

For those who want more, Teton Gravity Research's youtube channel is reliably jawdropping.

The years since 2008 have been great for POVs of insanely skilled skiiers. You have to remind yourself that a helmetcam makes things look half as steep.
posted by anthill at 12:58 PM on December 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


It looked impressive at first in the helicopter shot, mostly because of the geography, but the first-person view made it clear it's pretty much a straight shot down the run. So of course he did a bunch of that side-to-side hotdogging to try and make it look more dangerous than it really was.

Need I say hamburger?
posted by The Tensor at 1:01 PM on December 9, 2014


So of course he did a bunch of that side-to-side hotdogging to try and make it look more dangerous than it really was.

No. The "side to side hotdogging" is properly known as "slowing down". Otherwise he's pointing straight down an incredibly sharp drop, which then makes him go too fast to make the turn at the bottom, which is fatal.
posted by DGStieber at 1:24 PM on December 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


Apparently you needed to say it.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:26 PM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]


Every so often you come across someone you obviously have a lot in common with.

This guy is not one of those people.
posted by brundlefly at 1:28 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also NSFAcrophobics.
posted by brundlefly at 1:29 PM on December 9, 2014


I hate those side-to-side hotdoggers, always bragging about how slow they can go.
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:29 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also, it's worth mentioning that the avalanche danger in a chute like that isn't actually that high. The constant small loose snow avalanches prevent the formation of slabs. The real danger is on wide open slopes around 45°. In other words, perfect powder skiing. Stay safe out there!

Why why why can't I win a nice big lottery so I can go helio skiing, although I would've gone around the other side.

Most heli operators will keep you on pretty tame terrain. They have liability to worry about, and you will be restricted by the weakest member of your group. If you want an affordable way to access terrain like the mountains in this video, I recommend investing a touring setup and earning your turns. Fewer moving parts to fail than a helicopter, plus less carbon emissions to enrage Ullr.

On preview: anthill! My knees certainly aren't getting the workout they used to. I've decided to get a membership to a bouldering gym this winter though, so they will probably get put to the test again. We should organize another MeFi ski trip, see if we can get more than just the two of us this time around.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:39 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


the first-person view made it clear it's pretty much a straight shot down the run

Yeah, but shit got real when he turned off his targeting computer.
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:39 PM on December 9, 2014 [5 favorites]


Ha I was there when he won this award and when it was played on the screen the crowd went totally bananas. Incredible descent.
posted by trbrts at 2:02 PM on December 9, 2014


Honestly, it doesn't look all that awful; it's a nice, straight shot with a pretty good amount of space to slow down and stop at the bottom. No awful drops or blind corners. Not saying it looks easy, (it doesn't,) but it's more aesthetically pleasing than it is technically impressive, by heli-skiing standards.
posted by fifthrider at 2:03 PM on December 9, 2014


Apparently you needed to say it.

Too many <small> tags, maybe.
posted by The Tensor at 2:44 PM on December 9, 2014


We should organize another MeFi ski trip, see if we can get more than just the two of us this time around.

I'm in.

I left the premier of Days of Our Youth genuinely disappointed I couldn't yet load this video up on youtube and analyze it over and over again. Crowd in the theater at the premier also went bananas.

On top of having huge brass ones, Cody's actually a pretty down to earth guy and would have a conversation with you like you were sitting on a chairlift together.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:06 PM on December 9, 2014


Wow. That was intense.
posted by humanfont at 7:21 PM on December 9, 2014


"Woo I'm nervous," he says and I can't imagine why. That's not skiing, that's plummeting.
posted by vanar sena at 11:58 PM on December 9, 2014


Honestly, it doesn't look all that awful; it's a nice, straight shot with a pretty good amount of space to slow down and stop at the bottom. No awful drops or blind corners. Not saying it looks easy, (it doesn't,) but it's more aesthetically pleasing than it is technically impressive, by heli-skiing standards.

This is how I know I'm not a heli-skier.
posted by This Guy at 10:07 AM on December 11, 2014


FYI the best snowboarder on the planet right now, ticked this line a week or two before Cody. His footage will probably appear in his movie out next season. Here's a interview where they talk about it. Apparently Cody had no idea it had been already been done. Quite a coincidence.
posted by trbrts at 9:57 AM on December 19, 2014


« Older Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks Around the...   |   Dollree Mapp, 1923-2014: "The Rosa Parks of the... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments