The Fifty Project by Cody Townsend

[jmeb]

Cody is trying to tick all the lines in this iconic book: http://www.50classicskidescents.com/

The first 4 episodes of this series have been great. From the skiing, to the cinematography, to the humor, to the realistic safety aspects. He and his partner are likely already responsible for saving one dude's life in the course of this work (in a forthcoming episode.) A really cool project to be watching unfold in real time.

First episode, the rest are all on his channel.

 

[Slim]

I haven’t watched any episodes yet, but from what you are saying, and what Cody said in the podcast about it, it shows the prep work, the safety decisions and such as well as the successful descents.

I really like that. To many movies only show the successful descent. I dislike that for 2 reasons:

1. It doesnt represent the reality of the experience of backcountry skiing. Most of your time is spent not skiing.
2. It leads to false conceptions of what safe lines are, and what you can expect to actually be skiing.

 

[jmeb]

Totally agree @Slim .

His Mt Superior episode is particularly interesting with regards to the safety aspect. He skied it on a day that raised many eyebrows. But he has detailed on other forums, and to a lesser extent in his episode, exactly how he made that decision. Avalanche may have been "high" that day, but Cody and team had direct lines to forecasters, knew exactly where mitigation was done on the peak, knew the results, and did their own stability tests. Very cool stuff and fantastic skiing.

 

[Mike King]

Cody showed up in Aspen to do work on his project and was interviewed by the Colorado Sun. Love this news source!

https://coloradosun.com/2019/04/11/...-30142877&mc_cid=2bdd44da4a&mc_eid=b8ce61c3ee

 

[Mike King]

So, I don't know how many folk are following Cody's project -- it's really quite good. This weeks episode, the Grand Teton, is quite illuminating as it shows climbing and skiing some really #@!%ty snow. One really interesting thing is watch how a guy known for his ripping big lines skis very conservatively when there's no support for immediate rescue and the conditions are less than stellar.

By the way, he has Jimmy Chin (Jimmy Chin!!!) as his guide! And you get to see the Oscar Jimmy won for Free Solo. What he should've won for was Meru, a (IMHO) much better film.

 

[Mike King]

Cool story on Cody's turn to this project and away from ski porn.

https://www.tetongravity.com/story/...il&utm_term=0_02c03531f8-ce6a292853-273070065

 

[AngryAnalyst]

Not sure if this is the best place for visibility (feel like this subforum gets less traffic than some others) but I just wanted to put in a shameless plug for this series. I think it’s really interesting content.

I hope Cody gets more YouTube subs so he can keep it going in terms of sponsorship. I suspect 15k, where he is now, is on the low end of viable for the project long term.

As a result, I’m asking anyone reading this to subscribe to his channel. To be clear, I have zero financial interest I just hope the series continues.

Is this an appropriate post? Honestly don’t know.

 

[Mike King]

BTW, Episode 13 is gripping.

 

[CalG]

BTW, Episode 13 is gripping.

Watched that last night.

"Don't look down" Oops! ;-)

 

[AngryAnalyst]

I loved the spearhead traverse episode.

 

[Mike King]

All of them are really quite good. And it is very refreshing to see how they ski in terrain and snow conditions like that when there's no heli and rescue crew watching your every move. Real world skiing as opposed to the ski porn that Cody was known for.

Mike

 

[4ster]

Just watched 12 episodes. Well done
Starting #13

Ski mountaineering is hard!

 

[Mike King]

Just watched 12 episodes. Well done
Starting #13

Ski mountaineering is hard!

Jim, don't you find the way he skis to be fascinating? Not at all like when he was in the ski porn...

 

[Eric267]

Jim, don't you find the way he skis to be fascinating? Not at all like when he was in the ski porn...

Definately puts a new meaning to "no fall zone" when your out in the middle of nowhere and your descent is down what sometimes looks like boilerplate.

The episode where the dude drops out of nowhere and they somehow manage to see him out of the corner of their eye is crazy. If not seen that guy would have likely died out there. In one of the shots it looked like he his his head so hard his eye was hanging out of its socket. Gnarly shit!!

Cody must be in some crazy good shape. Sometimes I wonder how he still has anything left in him to ski the actual lines after the effort to get to the top.

Been an A+ series so far

 

[4ster]

Jim, don't you find the way he skis to be fascinating? Not at all like when he was in the ski porn...

I had heard his name before but I’m not really a ski porn fan & never saw him ski. I have viewed movies & read books about climbing & mountaineering though & this really belongs in that category. Great skiing & versatility!
Not surprised that he comes from a race background. Guessing he is around 40yo, prime for a mountaineer.
Jimmy Chin is a legend.

 

[Eric267]

Shit, meant to quote mikes post from higher up not the one for Jim..

 

[4ster]

Just came across this link about the recent collapse on Mt. Joffre..
http://www.leelau.net/sharonandlee/j...-sharon-bader/

 

[James]

Just came across this link about the recent collapse on Mt. Joffre..
http://www.leelau.net/sharonandlee/j...-sharon-bader/

Wow. An air bag is not going to help with that.

 

[James]

All of them are really quite good. And it is very refreshing to see how they ski in terrain and snow conditions like that when there's no heli and rescue crew watching your every move. Real world skiing as opposed to the ski porn that Cody was known for.

Mike

They're also skiing on tech bindings.

 

[Mike King]

They're also skiing on tech bindings.