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.