ART

I took today off of riding and went to play golf at blue lakes. (http://www.bluelakescc.com/)
Blue Lakes is so cool. It's a golf course in the Snake River Canyon that eats balls. Idaho is a remarkable place, golfing and riding within an hour and a half of each other.  This picture is in the girl's bathroom on the sixth hole. It's basically what golf means to me.



Even in this paradise I miss New York. Here are some reasons why:

Good Luck- BK- WillyB

Ramz- downtown

BK- Flatbush

 

BK- Marcy Projects

Back In The Game

I'm back in the west visiting my fam and the mountains. Yesterday was my first day home and I was beaten down by Baldy (Sun Valley). I'm walking like an 80 year old. Today my dad and I went to Pomerelle. Pomerelle is in the Sawtooth National Forest. I learned to ride at Pomerelle. I was raised there. I went to Pomerelle every weekend from age six to sixteen. Everyone in my family taught skiing or snowboarding there except for my mom.  I have the best memories of this place.  It's not as steep as Sun Valley, but it gets killer snow. If there is a chance of it snowing anywhere, it is snowing at Pomerelle. The mountain has two lifts, neither one of them are quads- so they give you time to rest, but also time to freeze. I find moving your arms as fast as possible will take care of the freezing. The mountain has been run by the same family for as long as I've been going there. I also don't think anyone is allowed to have a day off, I always see the whole family working. Did I mention that no one is ever there and you can get freshies at three in the afternoon? Yeah, so they've got that going for them.
the pic is punch last spring- no shooting today- it was a powder day

                                                                  
                                                                    
New York

                         these make me laugh

the plan

So I started this Elevated Locals project last year. The plan was spend some time in Idaho, Colorado, and Vermont and showcase the life of my heads, riding and playing. I had so much fun riding and playing that I forgot the filming part.


Round two begins: I head out to Idaho in a couple of days and it's finally started snowing in the east.
Here is a clip of Scotty and Brycee describing a rare breed of mountain women-
TUNDRA WOOKIES at Dom's in Sun Valley.
Tundra Wookies from elisabeth toft on Vimeo.

Here are three more segments that will become regulars in my upcoming mountain posts:

 AND NOW....FOR SOME COMPLETE GAPING
Gapers carry skis from elisabeth toft on Vimeo.




DISCOUNTS
Liftopia (http://www.liftopia.com/) you probably know, but they have Christmas sales right now- every little bit helps



MY BROTHERS GIANT HEAD

Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle

"The Art of Classic Rock" (http://artofclassicrock.com/) release party was on Tues. at CBGBs. I mean what used to be CBGBs, it is now a John Varvatos shop. Rich (http://richardmarot.com/) took the pictures for this book and Ryan (http://stopdownphotography.com/) assisted. Rich photographed 1200 pieces of rock history from one dude's collection- Rob Roth. Pretty phenomenal.

While I was at the party sipping fancy tequila concoctions, I got a phone call from Good Luck inviting me to go see Cake at Irving Plaza. Apparently all of his girlfriends were busy. The first song I heard when I got to the show was "Rock'n'Roll Lifestyle" (How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?). Ironic, after leaving the John Varvatos shop. 


It can be freezing on the lift at Pomerelle (http://www.pomerelle-mtn.com) when that wind hits so I used to teach songs to my brother and sisters so we could bug out and stay warm. This was one of the songs I taught them:

John McCrea was hilarious. He's all about crowd participation. Which creates a great vibe, the audience was really into it. They don't have a set list, so you can just yell stuff out and maybe they will play it. Cake started their encore with Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"- awesome.

After the show Good Luck and I headed downtown to Max Fish. On the way a bus blaring music full of celebrating Jews gave us a menorah and a dreidel. Happy Hanukkah!

and for all you degenerates- Mars bar and Max Fish are closing soon. we will have to find other disgusting bathrooms to go to.

Jeremy Jones' Deeper- Teton Gravity Research

I really respect Jeremy Jones. He loves the mountains (POW protect our winters http://protectourwinters.org/why-join-pow/). I like what he stands for. Two years ago my dad and I were in Targhee for a week and so was Jermey Jones with his family. I was too nervous to say hi, so I just creepily followed him around the hill. This time when I saw him I just creepily filmed him.
Jeremy Jones' Deeper- Teton Gravity Research from elisabeth toft on Vimeo.

I was born in Wyoming, but when I was six we moved to Idaho. We would go back to Wyoming every year before Christmas and ski Grand Targhee.  Sometimes I would see the Jones brothers (the guys who started TGR) drop the crazy cliffs  on the side of Targhee from the lift. Little did I know what and who they would become (http://www.tetongravity.com/) .

Deeper is Jeremy Jones's project.  It covers two seasons of monstrous mountains.  Deeper is BIG mountain riding.  All the lines are reached on skins or by climbing. All the riding is done on splitboards. They camp in the mountains for weeks and spend many days snowed in their tents (crazy eyes). They go places where people have rarely been and do some really insane stuff. I kept wondering if  they were going to come out alive or if they even really knew what they were doing. The guys turn back when they have to, knowing the mountain is in charge. It was beautiful to see a snowboarding film that wasn't about tricks. It was about truly riding and the love of the mountain.
My final thoughts: I need a splitboard.


Thanks Sugarbush (http://www.sugarbush.com/) for the tickets!

Rangers game, Thanksgiving, Bob Dylan, and In the Heights

                                                  RANGERS VS PENGUINS- MSG

It always amazes me how there can be a hockey game, a basket ball game, and a concert with in 48 hours at the Garden. They want to build a glass walkway inside the garden over the court. Hmmmm, imagine a fight in a glass hallway over a sporting event- awesome. Anyway, the Penguins won and there were two fights. I don’t know much about hockey.  This was my dude’s present to himself for his birthday. I had cotton candy.

THANKSGIVING- BUSHWICK

My dude (Q) and I have been having Thanksgiving with our New York fam. for seven years. The first year was in Sunnyside, Queens. The rest have been in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Here are the credits:

Ryan and Yuko- 24 hour brining of the 20 pound turkey and pie

Good Luck and pastry chef- potatoes

Rodney and Monica- pie and the Call for the Wu

Ramz- RIBS

Mike- Coquito

Q- turkey, stuffing, gravy, corn, biscuits, cranberries

Me- um, green beans

I am thankful for my fam..........
that's coquito on the floor

BOB DYLAN- THE NEVER ENDING TOUR, Terminal 5

I got these tickets for Q’s birthday. I was massively excited to see Bob Dylan so maybe it was really a present for me. Terminal 5 is just a giant open venue with three levels, so you have to get there early if you want to see. We got there sort of early, and my visibility conditions were fair. Q’s a giant, so he’s always fine. The crowd was pretty lame. The scene was the typical New York jaded- I’m gonna criticize everything- Man, do you realize how much I know about music? crowd. As soon as Dylan and his band came on stage, though everything around me faded away. The show was just brilliant.. Dylan played a lot of songs from his last two albums and a few classics. His band was sick.  His arrangements were bluesy. He played straight through a two hour set. That’s such a long set for an old dude!  That's such a long set for anyone. He did a three-song encore: Joline, Rolling Stone, and All Along the Watchtower. I was so happy.

 IN THE HEIGHTS- Richard Rogers Theater

So I’m not big on musicals, but this show is not your average musical. It’s about life in Washington Heights (which I like to call the Dominican Republic).  It’s set in modern times and there are lots of inside New York jokes. The narrator rhymes more than he sings and the dancing is hip-hop and salsa. “In the Heights” is closing soon, so go see it if you can. And for those of you not in the city, there are always tours and there will be a movie made soon.  

snow films

Some snow films to take a look at:


Seen at the Snow Film Festival (http://www.snowfilmfestnyc.com)
"Work It Out" (http://www.meatheadfilms.com).
"Work It Out" won the Snow Film Festival's viewers choice. In "Work It Out" the Meatheads are east coast cats showing some east coast style all over the...... East. The Meatheads really show how much the East has to offer. They show footage from Canada, VT, NH, ME, and Japan. Plus they show everyone's fav. NEW JERSEY. There are some killer urban lines in this flick, they go to DC in a blizzard and build a hit right in front of the Washington Monument. Who does that! I love to see the Meatheads go so hard about the east. When I first moved to the city, eight years ago- I thought the east didn't have real mountains and the snow was all ice. Basically, I deserved to have my face smashed. I, now love riding the East. It definitely makes you a better rider. I love the tight trees, the hard snow, and the freezing temps. When I go back to Sun Valley I hear people whine, "It's iccccccy." I turn around and say, "Bitch, ice is blue."
Forum's "F*ck It" (http://vimeo.com/user611720)
The Forum team always goes big. I was sad not to see Peter Line. He is Forum. John Jackson's clips were amazing. The film was massively silly and an altogether good time. oh yeah, and Sun Valley was in it.


Seen uptown:
Wintervention (http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/)
I'm always stoked on Warren Miller films because he started out in the River Run Parking lot in Sun Valley, sleeping in his van down by the river. Warren Miller sold his company years ago, but the house is still putting on stellar films year after year.
Wintervention takes you all over the world with addicts as your hosts. Addicts jonesin for that next line.
They start off big in Antarctica skiing what seems like 90 degree pitches on glaciers. One fall and they are in the ocean.
They go to Georgia, which used to be a part of the soviet Union and is an untouched paradise. The New Zealand World Heli Challenge is covered by these addicts. This contest is insane, riders and skiers pick lines way above the treeline and try to "impress" the judges.
My favorite line is in Southern Utah. Reggie Crist drops this palpating chute with the greatest of ease.
The Alaska segment shows dreamlike ranges and turns.
The film ends in Norway 500 miles from the North Pole with the addicts skiing all hours where the Sun never sets.
Wintervention left me itching for snow (its almost time for me to leave Brooklyn) with visions of future lines and mountains dancing in my head .

Ah, Colorado

My girl Carrie commented in her facebook status that it was a powder day. She's in Breck. I began reminiscing about last years CO trip..........





A long time ago, in a land far away there were four ex-Burton sales associates who decided to leave the big city and follow the call of the mountains. On the way there one of them acquired a Ram Zi. Time passed and I became more and more worried about their mental state. So Q and I set out to visit the escapees. We rode Breck. We rode Vail. We rode the Beav. We pretended the elevation didn't effect us. Then we rode Vail some more. All these mountains are within an hour and a half of each other, if it's not a blizzard and you aren't driving a toy car. We were driving a toy car in a blizzard.

These mountains are just a bunch of kids that have been chilling together for a while.

Breck is the bad kid. All my girls worked at Breck. I was on the chair with a 10 year old who was rolling a blunt, I was like, um, give me that- I'm telling your mother! I have a bump problem so I was all about The Burn. (Peak 8 was closed, no snow). Those long rollers are big fun too.

The Beav. is the fat kid. They give you warm cookies at 2pm everyday, c'mon. Our tour guide was a voiceless sushi chief ninja from Queens who showed us the glades. Man, is the vert at the Beav sweeeeeet! Root broke his collar bone. Genna had some fat lady run over her face. Was fun for all.

Then there is Vail, Vail is the smart kid that knows everything, you want to hate him, but then that smart kid writes all your papers and you realize that all you wanna do is chill with the smart kid. Q had his first bump run! Ramz and I rode from one side to the other, front and back. Wildwoooood!
Vail is Mecca. It's 7 miles wide. Bowls and bowls and bowls and then some more bowls. You could ride Vail for a whole season and not cover all of it- Someday I will take that challenge.Ps- for all you Eastcoasters- check this out http://www.rideandskine.com/Home.html. Good discounts and it's something for the kids.......

The Pee-Wee Herman Show

My friend Kristina, who I grew up with in Idaho, is now Pee-Wee's manager. She invited me to come see The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway. I have loved Pee-Wee forever. One of my favorite things to do is talk/yell like Pee-Wee. Which usually makes my boyfriend disappear. Hmmm. Anyway, the show is fantastic! Pee-Wee is hilarious, and even jokes about things that have happened to him in the past. A hand skit, if you will. The set is perfect and all the characters are back including Chairry, who is played by Lexy Fridell. I went to boarding school with Lexy and it was amazing to see her make her Broadway debut! Amy Klein assisted in the press photos too: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/he_holds_his_own_F0z7QBOMFVvVxD4UnHV5KM. Here are: some clips of Pee-Wee after the show at the stage door, and some pic.s of Lexy, Kristinia, Q, and me.


Pee-Wee stage door from elisabeth toft on Vimeo.

introduction of the gaper

It is now time to introduce the Gaper.
What defines a gaper? Well a gaper is totally unaware of their surroundings. They seem astonished that they are on the snow; confused about how they got there. They show no emotions and are usually adults. The name gaper came from the goggle gap, and the individuals ability to gape at the mountain and their surroundings. Also in some cultures, it refers to a
gaping vagina.
A gaper is usually a mute, maybe not in real life, but once they put their equipment on, they become silent. Perhaps it's the sheer effort of gaping, perhaps it's the elite nature of the gaper, they want nothing to do with the common man. They can almost fit in with the locals, they have the right gear and the right equipment. But the way to identify the common gaper is their speed, they move with the swiftness and intelligence of a mentally challenged turtle. They travel against the mountain, that is, they turn up the hill. In line they intimadate others by running over people's skis and implementing the loss of leg muscle technique. One might mistake this as falling or being uncoordinated- do not be confused- this is the way of the gaper.
My sister and I will now demonstrate:
We are not mocking beginners, we are mocking the gape and the gapers inability to be aware of their surroundings

Steak night

Last Fri. night we went to Ryan and Yuko's to grill some steaks. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the coals weren't staying warm. So Q and Ryan decided to bring the steaks in and put the hibachi on the stove. There is a big air vent over the stove and we opened windows, so everything was grilling perfectly. "I know we aren't supposed to put the grill on the stove, but I can't remember why."-Ryan What we learned: when you grill there is fire. Q and Ryan took the grill back outside. The steaks were delicious. See the final product on http://stopdownphotography.blogspot.com/

cow insemination gloves

I hit a tree while riding at Pomerelle last year right after Christmas. I hit trees all the time; they like it. I took another run, but I knew something was wrong when I couldn't buckle my bindings with my right hand. I had broken my arm. I had a trip planned to Colorado at the end of January. My doctor said I could go ride, I just needed to keep my cast dry. The nurse told me to go get some cow insemination gloves (remember, this is Idaho), the glove would keep my cast dry. So my sister Mary and I went to D & B supply, a local farm supply store, as soon as we walked in the door a man came up to me and said, "Cow insemination gloves?".
How did he know?
My arm was hidden under my coat.
Photo- Ryan Zimmerman (http://stopdownphotography.com/)

Faile- Bedtime Stories

Thurs. night I went to Bedtime Stories the new Faile show at the Perry Rubenstein Gallery with two of my best girlfriends, Lil Mo (http://motionetti.com/) and Amy. The artists from Faile are based in Brooklyn but they are all over the place. They just finished a Temple sculpture in Lisbon and have shows in London all the time. The last show I saw they did a collaboration with Båst. They had their art in old school video games. You could actually play games like Frogger with their art. Um, yeah I like Faile.
Faile- Bedtime Stories from elisabeth toft on Vimeo.
Music- Secret Agent Gel

I got my early/late season pass today for Sun Valley. It's $240 and is good for the 28th of March until the end of the season which happens to be 4/20. It's also good before the 17th of Dec., but I won't be there then. I am going to Sun Valley for a month at the end of the season. If I only rode 18 days after the 28th because I was: super lame, or had a brain malfunction, or something it would equal out to be $13.50 a day. What! That's amazing because Sun Valley is crazy fancy. My brother has been teaching skiing at Sun Valley for five years. I will stay with him in his.... um, filthy one bedroom studio that is at the base of the mountain. I also did this last year, and had pretty much the best time ever. Although I am sure he loves sleeping on the floor, this year I plan on "borrowing" a twin mattress from my parents who live an hour and 15 min. away from Sun Valley.