October Update

Well hello there!
The winter is shaping up perfectly. I'm excited to say that I've gotten hooked up with a small company out of Breckenridge, CO called Rocky Mountain Underground (RMU) skis. The skis are pressed in Denver so I'm psyched to support a company thinking locally! Also, my roommate and I are finalizing details to become ambassadors for SkiingTheBackcountry.com. It's a neat website where you can track your vert totals for the season and find backcountry skiing routes in your area, or areas that you might travel to. It's shaping up to be a sweet place to meet people and share information!
I'm also beginning to work on getting the youth program here in Durango more established and hopefully get higher numbers of young people involved in this sport.

Here is the RMU Guyot. Their backcountry oriented camber-rocker ski (early rise tip/tail, camber underfoot). Super solid ski with a 120 mm waist and comes in 186 or 200 cm models.

I think that's about it! I hope everything is going well for y'all and I'll see you on the slopes hopefully sooner rather than later!
Hasta pronto,
Luke

Foot O Fresh and Lovin' Life!

The Portillo Big mountain Telemark Camp Session 2 is going off! We started off the week on Sunday with a nice snow storm that dropped about a foot of new snow and consequently shut down all but two very short and somewhat useless lifts. We took it as a down day and relaxed to let the legs regain some composure after jump turns and some switch skiing in the flat light made day 8.

The past 2 days have been amazing. We awoke to total bluebird skies on Monday and hit the slopes hard after a yoga session. We charged nearly 15,000 vertical feet that day making a superb way to start off the camp comprised of all adults. The juniors are missed but between the Chilean, Sergio and the University of Wyoming staff member Matt, everybody works together really well.

Today, we hiked up above a run called "Primavera" and skied down 1100 vertical feet in sweet creamy sun-baked powder. Here are a few pics from the past few days.
Enjoy the summer in the northern hemisphere, or whatever weather may come your way,
Luke

The crew above Primavera readying for the sickness

Kayo Ogilby Shredding

Nick Devore popping off something none of us saw...

Alex Romashko lovin' Lake Run

Kayo filming on the down day

Portillo Numero Tres- More Pow and Telemark Skiers

As we sit, readying for week 2 of the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp, I'm excited to say that the first week was a success. Everybody absolutely destroyed the mountain! The less experienced camper Dave is making great steps towards moving into the pow and steeps and he'll be staying here along with Alex Romashko for the second week to really soak up all that Portillo has to offer.

The week progressed well, and after charging the powder non-stop for 3 days, we found that Wednesday required a nice chill afternoon including a hot tub sesh at 1 in the afternoon. Yes, we might've been a bit lazy, but you can't blame us, especially because we got up to 18,000 vertical feet on the first day! The weather has held out for us, but I wouldn't mind a bit of snow to start session 2 out on the right foot.

Here is an edit and a few photos to get the stoke up a bit, and i do apologize if you begin to drool....

Nick Devore Pows out

Ian "Scooby" Scobe gets down on Lake Run

Kayo must've said something funny...

Getting the afterparty Friday night off on the right foot!

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp 2010 Video #1 from Luke Lubchenco on Vimeo.

Enjoy the summer in the north,
Luke

Portillo Update- Dos

Hello there. Tired, so I won't go into too much depth....
The first two days have been absolutely out of this world. Beautiful bluebird days, a great group of people, and plenty of powder to go around. Truly an EPIC way to start off the camp. Unfortunately, Portillo is having a low snow year, so there are still tons of rocks around. If you like what you see, head over to The Winter Life for an extended update and more pics!
Vibe on,
Luke

Nick Devore DESTROYING a pillow

Nick getting down with the scenery

Epic? um... ya

Estoy en Chile!

Alright, something like 24 hours of travel from home to Portillo, Chile is done after re-routing, changed planes and delays. We even barely snuck through the Chilean police as it's been snowing for a few days now and the pass to Mendoza, Argentina is closed to through traffic! Needless to say, I'm here as a guest coach at the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp.
The trip started with Nick Devore, Kayo Ogilby, Hannah Horn, and myself driving my loyal truck Fred out of Carbondale en route to Denver. In vail we picked up a 5th, VMS student Riley Ebel. Our plane had to sit on the tarmac for an extra 45 minutes waiting for a storm to clear over Dallas Fort Worth airport and then we were re-routed so that we went around the storm as much as possible. Once in Dallas, we ran around the airport trying to get to a flight we were an hour and a half late for. Luckily it hadn't left, but not because of waiting for us.... The engine wasn't killing it and not 10 minutes after getting on and seated, we were told to get off the plane and wait for two hours while another plane was prepared. To make a longer story a bit shorter, we arrived in Santiago after a fitful night of sleep on ambien and caught the shuttle to beautiful and snowy Portillo. Enjoy and be sure to check back in a day or two as I'm shooting for an update every other day.
Hasta Luego,
Luke

5 people's worth of gear at DIA....

A slightly larger Telemark crew waiting for a new plane.... 

"Camino Cerrado" UH OH! NOT!

SUP...

yo,
Went on a little outing with Ross and John from Alpine Quest Sports looking for a few images of them Stand Up Paddling. This sport, otherwise known as SUP (hence the title) is one of the fastest growing water sports in the country, and it's no surprise after having laughed more in that night than most people do in a week. In the words of Ross Herr, "It should be illegal to have this much fun". Here are a couple pics from the conquest, and if it tickles you enough, jump on over to Alpine Quest and demo one. I promise you'll have a smile on your face! Have fun and enjoy the summer. Remember to check back shortly as the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp is just around the corner...

Enjoy,

Luke

Fly-fishing Through the Summer Months

 Well hi there,
The summer has officially begun. The rivers are falling and paddling season is almost over. As I await the less than 30 days to departure for Chile, photography, slacklining and fly-fishing have taken over. The weather couldn't have been better for a nice 4 mile round trip hike up to my favorite high mountain lake. The fish were absolutely stunning with their mating colors still in full swing and easy to catch to top it all off. Just wanted to throw up a few photos of the day and let you all know that blog posts will be frequent starting July 23rd, so be sure to stop by to see what's going down at the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp (Click here to see website) in Chile. It should be a righteous time.
Enjoy the warmth of the sun and the cool of the rain,
Luke

Right on, Right on!

Righty Oh!
The season finished with a blissful day up on Silverton Mountain and the day previously with San Juan Cat Skiing. Now, my attention is turned to getting through the last of the finals here at Fort Lewis College and kayaking. The rivers are coming up and it's getting good! Check back every once in a while to see what's going on, but for now check the self edit I put together...
Enjoy,
Luke

Fun in the sun! and other updates....

Yo!
I hope everybodies season is winding down in style. After a 10th place finish in Crested Butte and some killer snow the following week, we've been getting pounded! 3 april storms have deposited 45"of snow and another is rolling through as we speak. It's been a good time lately with low avy danger and we've gotten to ski some of the lines that we dreamt about all season. Got to ski with some great friends these past few weeks. Hopefully get some more shots out of the next few weeks, but my attention is turning to kayaking and fly-fishing now. Check out the photos and video and get over to http://thewinterlife.com to check out some other flylow athletes in action including Jake Sakson who is currently killing it in AK!
Enjoy and see you on the river, slopes, or wherever! Vibe hard,
Luke

Clockwise- Eric Tollund gets down on freshies on Red Mountain, Nick Malik sends large, Riley Berman dragged me out to the river for a beautiful day.

Spring Break Complete....

Yes it's true, the 9 days on the road has finally come to a close. We ended up skiing a short fun backcountry run right outside of Glenwood Springs on Friday and taking the day off Saturday. We drove to Ouray on Saturday night and climbed out of the truck next to the ice climbing right outside of there. Daylight Savings time had begun much to our dismay and we got right on the road getting over to Red Mountain to ski the ever famous "Sam's Trees" to end the whole thing. We approached it from a different route than at the beginning of the trip which put us right at the top of the chute and was incredibly easy too! The snow was absolutely superb (18"?) and the avy danger was virtually non-existent which is of course a weird thing for the San Juans. Needless to say I'm back here at school and loving every minute of it... NOT!
Enjoy the video and pics below and remember to have fun,
Luke

Monarch and Monarch Pass!

Yo Yo!
So much fun has been had that it is hard to restate this trip. We drove in and camped in the back of my truck (see picture below) and woke up to 7" of fresh on the mountain and skied all day while another 7" fell on Monarch ski area. Such a killer place that we went back the next day to rack up untracked laps down mirkwood basin and a ton of other places. We happened to meet up with Corey Folks, who introduced us to his ski patrol friend, Tyler and also let us crash on his couch that night! Thanks Corey! It was bluebird to begin the day, clouded up just a bit, and then ended bluebird. Fantastic! Today we did a smaller tour on Monarch Pass called "Perfect Trees" and still tallied close to 2000 feet of uphill vert with the same down. Super fun! We're looking to do a tour tomorrow with tele skier Alex Paul tomorrow and then another day at Monarch before heading home to see the fam and do a few laps on the local backcountry spot and head back to school. Here are some pics, Enjoy,
Luke

Coalbank to Red Mountain to Monarch

Just have a few minutes so here's some photos. Fun stuff for sure. 3 days into it and Colin and I had some of the best skiing we've ever had. Monarch got pounded last night with 7" and then recieved at least another 7" over the course of the day. Super Sick! Sorry to delay, here are the photos...
Vibe hard, Ski harder!

Colin gets down on some freshies (it snowed the whole time we were hiking and then quit when we dropped in!) in "Sam's Trees".

SPRING BREAK!

Hello,
Spring break has begun! Today my friend and spring break friend Colin and I went up to Coalbank Pass and skied 1800 or so vert. The snow was interesting, but it's all good and super stable. We have absolutely no plans but have built and outfitted various pieces of furniture to make the back of my truck into a makeshift home. Like I said, we have no plans but to ski, and ski we will. Check back for updates and enjoy the rest of the winter!
Luke

Shredding around Durango

Hello hello,

School, work, play. The endless juggling act that I find myself pursuing at this point. Studies, eventually blend into work, and work is meaningful, but at this point is hard to title as such. The snow keeps flying here though and that is truly where I find myself yearning at each days beginning. With Spring Break starting in less than a week, and plans to travel around the state with a friend coming together nicely, the work becomes ever harder.

It's been busy, there's no question. A trip to California ending in a 9th place finish, backcountry and front country skiing every weekend and more photos than I can hope to edit while the snow is still around. Adventures into the mountains leading to epic days with help from all my friends.

Enjoy the pictures, video, and most importantly, the life!
Luke

Wolf Creek Edit

yo,
Here's the edit from this past Sunday! Super sick conditions and 2 cameras got us some fun footy to play with.... Enjoy!
Luke

SNOW

Yes, the blower white stuff has hit the 4 corners area. Durango was blessed with 35" of snow, shutting down fort Lewis and most of the town for Thursday afternoon and all of Friday. Purgatory recorded 63" out of the storm and we're expecting another storm to come in Tuesday! If you've been looking for the snow, you can find it at any of the resorts surrounding Durango. My buddy Riley and I went to Red Mountain and did backcountry the weekend before this storm came in and got some nice turns. Riley and I camped out at Purg to be the first up there in the morning and took some powder night pictures right at the base while the snow continued to pound. Unfortunately, the powder the next day was slightly less than prime. Although it was in copious amounts, it was incredibly dense and the less-than-steep slopes at Purg don't lend themselves to that type of skiing. Skied Saturday at Purgatory again and then headed to Wolf Creek's college day on Sunday to rack up a multitude of runs in the over 60" of blower CO powder that had been deposited over the course of the storm. My friends Sam and Will were also there and we shot a ton of footage so an edit will be coming shortly. Enjoy the snow and feel free to drop me a line if you're headed to Durango!
Snow and peace,
Luke

 Clockwise-
Riley Stands by the truck after a good sleep beginning the epic dig-out after the plows did their work.
Riley shreds some windblown pow up Red Mountain Pass.
Yours Truly skiing the sunset run on a beautiful untouched apron.
My truck completely snowed in!
Riley getting some blower late Thursday night.

Photos and Skiing

Yo!
Just returned from another sunrise adventure up in a local backcountry area. The hamburger I had last night messed me up a bit on the 6:00 hike (attempting vegetarian), but I joined my friend Sam on the summit before the sun poked above the elk mountains. The snow flurries flirted with ruining the view but eventually unveiled a beautiful blue sky above us while, most of the clouds hung low in the valleys below us.
Had a great Christmas, and thanks to my parents and some generous family members, I now have a beacon which means I am fully equipped for backcountry travel (in gear, I won't get ahead of myself with knowledge). I've been skiing a wonderful amount over this christmas break here in Glenwood Springs, even though Durango has gotten almost twice the snow we've received here. I'll be back there in a week and you can bet I'll be sliding through the fluff as soon as I can!
Enjoy the photos, the snow, and the life,
Luke

                                                                                                            
Left and below right, prayer flags [adorned with hoar] fly at the summit of Williams Peak