Face To Face Tour

Bellevue, ID - Sunday 8/3

After 2 days in Sun Valley, ID relaxing, tearing up the mountain bike trails and having a few nights out of Pete, we were ready to attack our next clinic. We headed from Sun Valley, ID down to Bellevue, ID for a half day clinic. Deborah Vila was the person behind getting this tour stop to happen. Huge thanks Deb! We had a great show of skiers who, even though the water was choppy from the wind, ripped turns all afternoon. We are looking forward to returning to this lake next year, for more than a half day of course though!

Idaho/Oregon - Monday 8/4

We took off from Bellevue, ID Sunday after the clinic on our way toward Bend, Oregon. That night we stayed near Redfish Lake, the Bellevue crew told us it was amazing there. Arriving in the dark, PJ jumped out of the rig with a mag light to scope out the joint and Marcus pulled us in for the night. We were stoked in the morning to find out that we slept in a such a sick place. MInutes after waking up, we headed to the lake to get some footage and rip turns on the open water. The Sawtooth Mountains surround the lake. They are unbelievable!!! Definitely some sights to remember.

After our 2 seconds at Redfish Lake we were on the road again toward Bend. Trip was smooth, except for a scare in Eastern Oregon,...we thought we lost our air brakes. We ended up driving the last 210 miles (over two 5000 foot passes) with only the jake brake. Marcus didn't touch the real brakes once! We arrived safe in the Wal Mart parking lot where we met up with Marcus' parents and Ziggy. Wednesday morning we woke up to "In His Wakes" tour bus out our window....this was the 3rd time our paths crossed this summer.

Lake Billy Chinook - Tuesday and Wednesday 8/5 and 8/6

We spent a few hours in Bend taking care of some errands before heading up to Lake Billy Chinook. This place is insane!!! There's about 500 foot cliffs (giver or take a few) on either side of the dammed lake. Driving over a marked "Narrow Bridge" with Pete, we were amped to see there was a course in the water!!! We set up camp and headed to the water for what we thought was going to be a slayfest. Unfortunately we were greeted by white caps. So, since skiing wasn't exactly on the agenda anymore, we decided jumping off that "Narrow Bridge" was!! It was siiiiiick! We guessed 35-40 feet (sure seems alot farther than that when you're up there though!!!) We were ready to head back for some grub, when we saw a group of people parked above the course heading back to the truck. Turns out they were there to watch Marcus ski!!!! Despite the conditions, Marcus was stoked to have spectators so he jumped in for a set. Every time we went by them, they cheered louder than any fans at the Pro Events have yet! This is what the Face to Face Tour goal was all along...bring the sport to the people! WIth Pete we're not exactly able to hide, so throughout our 2 days there we had tons of people coming to our campsite wondering what we were all about. Marcus was able to coach a kid, Dominic, whose home course is here. Good skiin' man!

Wednesday's water was much better and we were all able to get some sets in. This canyon lake, with The Sisters, Jefferson, and Broken Top Mountain in the horizon, is wicked! We'll definitely be spending some time back at this place!Now it's on to Marcus' home in Chico, CA to wrap up the tour...