AS SEEN IN THE NOVEMBER 2011 ISSUE OF FREESKIER

SKIER: SAMMY CARLSON WORDS & PHOTO: DARCY BACHA

The chimney has been one of those features we’ve always wanted to hit. It’s kind of a bitch to build but we had a good crew this year and we wanted to do it in the best way possible.

The hard thing is that the type of rock on the top is like cement and is so sticky, it doesn’t have any give. So you’d try and stall and you’d stick and fall on your face. I think the first time Sammy hit it he almost broke his thumb. Sammy was telling me at the beginning of the day he wanted to do a huge flatspin off it and land in the tiny transition below, almost in the flats. That’s all he was saying, how he wanted to blast off the top and hopefully land in the tranny. And he did.

I think this particular shot was the last shot I took. Those clouds in the background? Yeah, they socked in right after this shot. We knew the banger shots would be later in the day, so we definitely waited until the last 30 minutes or so of shootable light. The sun was going down and the light kept getting better so I strobed it up as the clouds were rolling in and out. Most of the shots from that day were in the clouds and they kind of sucked. But we had a break for a moment and it was perfect.