Garrett Russell is a man with something to say.
For the next few weeks we?ll break it down and give you a segment.
Where are you living?
This year I just moved back to Telluride, Colorado.
I?m running the backcountry cabin my dad built in the 70?s.
I miss Mammoth and my crew of skiers out there.
But I?ve just been living in the backcountry getting rootsy.
Have you been getting backcountry footage this year?
Yeah, I?ve been skiing with my brother.
He pretty much inspired me to ski and got me stoked on skiing when I was a kid.
Yeah man, it?s usually only one, but this one took two.
So, I don?t know, just extreme stuff like that.
Hopefully get some friends, build some jumps, and get some people out there.
Have you had anybody come out?
Andy was here for a day.
I got to take one ride with him and I lost him.
But who knows what he does, he just does it.
It used to have bigger jumps, and that?s where Gus Kenworthy got his ninja skills from.
He kills it now, and that?s cool to see.
Other than Traveling Circus, what film projects are you doing this year?
Nimbus sent me a GoPro, so I?m trying to get artsy with that.
At some point I want to get people like Nimbus to come over here, but when and whenever.
March is usually good weather there.
So give us a snapshot of your day to day as a backcountry lodge operator.
I have to haul water and melt snow.
The cabin actually has electricity, which is nice.
I make beds for the people, then go ski powder laps with my friends.
Usually I have parties that come in, like my friends and my brother?s friends.
We go out and just yahoo-ski powder all night; full moon skiing.
We ski really gnarly couloirs, it?s all there.
It?s beautiful out there.
Telluride?s amazing, you guys should come check it out sometime if you ever get a chance.
So it?s a commercial business?
Yeah, my parents run it.
We can?t afford it, so that?s why we rent it out.
Do you do any guiding?
No I can?t do the guiding yet.
You have to have a permit to guide, and I?m working on it.
I don?t want to burn any bridges in the town.
I recommend aspects and that they are careful.
Snowpack is sketchy in the San Juans, so everyone should have a beacon, shovel, and probe.
They sign a release form, and that?s it.
I hope to have it where people can just rent a bed for $50 a night.
That?s what I?m trying to do with it.
That?s opened up a whole new world for the backcountry cabin.
Ski in, ski out.
It?s hard because I feel like I?ve kind of jumped away from the ski industry.
But I really feel like I?m building a different level for my ski career.
