Build My Own FeedBD athlete Johnny Collinson reports on spring skiing and traveling
Black Diamond athlete Johnny Collinson is a busy guy these days. When he's not shredding pow here in the Wasatch (a rare occurence this season), he's traveling to compete, shoot with photographers and film companies, and drop in at some of the best ski destinations on the planet. This spring was no different for Johnny, and below is Part I of a report he sent us detailing his adventures over the last few months, traversing the continent in search of the steep and deep. Stay tuned for Part II of Johnny's report next week in the Journal.
Where to start ... after the glorious days in Japan skiing overhead pow, I wasn't sure I would even get a single fulfilling moment the rest of the season. Little did I know what the worst snow season I had ever seen had in store for me. It began with a quick jaunt to Whistler, ski some storms, shoot some photos, enjoy Canada's British Columbia. After a couple weeks of this I got the call to send home to SLC for the Ski Salt Lake shootout. Although I heard most people bailed because of conditions, I was stoked for a chance to ski all my home resorts and shoot with my favorite photographer Mike Schirf. After a crusher week we ended up taking the win for "Urban meets mountain" and third overall portfolio. Thanks to a rad team (Alex Taran and Brody Leven).
The very day that show ended, the Freeskiing World Tour came to Snowbird. Stoked to see the whole crew I signed up. Day one was sunny perfect comp conditions, so I threw down on the home hill, had some magnificent backslaps, ended up in 12th and stoked. Didn't get judged too harshly for my fuck ups. Day two the clouds rolled in and almost became a showstopper. But, a show went down nonetheless. Great skiing by everyone, huge airs and stylie tricks were thrown down and I think everyone worried we might break down the mountain. My run was pretty solid, though ending in a nice crash landing on hardpack traverse. Without time to catch a break I skied home, packed the truck and rolled up to Canada to meet the Sherpas Cinema crew for a catskiing trip in the Selkirk Mountains. I could get used to how those guys roll. Five-star dining and lodging with five-star skiing right out the window. We had a weeklong trip of crushing deep pow, pillows and cliff drops. Extremely satisfying. Still not done burning gas, I headed west, back to my second home in Whistler, a little sledding, a little less skinning and a lot of fun.
Two days later I headed south with part of the Dubsatch crew to Prospecting Idaho, where Smith Optics gives free reign to athletes to sled out to zones and build stupid jumps. Here we met up with the rest of the Dubsatchers and had a fun few days, ending with a banger sunny glorious day, hitting jumps till our skis broke. Better not stop there, so I headed home, picked up my dear sister Angel Collinson who had been crushing the comp scene all year, and together Team Collinson cruised to Kirkwood for the final stop of the FWT. Another crash on day one put me on the spectator stand to watch Angel take second in the event as well as the overall tour (just a few days earlier she placed second overall on the European tour as well). Congrats big sis!!
This event brought me home feeling unfulfilled, but Angel got the thumbs up from TGR to head to Alaska with Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Seth Morrison and Dana Flahr. I ended up sitting at home, skiing Little Cottonwood and waiting for that unknown perfect end of season trip...
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