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The Howell bothers, AKA Powderwhores, are opening the world premiere of their new freeheel flick, Flakes, in Salt Lake City, UT tonight. The show is a fundraiser for Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. If you can't make it tonight, they are showing it Thursday and Friday, too.

Although I am partial to their first film PW05 (something about first efforts), Flakes is their best effort to date. Noah and Jonah Howell travel with a talented crew of skiers. The footage of their crew ripping it from Alaska to Patagonia will leave you yearning for powder and thinking you need bigger skis.

The SLC shows are downtown at Brewvies, 677 S 200 W, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Check out the film, meet the crew, get lucky in the raffle, start the winter stoke, and show some love for the Avalanche Center. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Utah Avalanche Center.

Tickets cost $10 at the door and you must be 21 or older to attend. If you don't live in SLC and can't justify squandering your pennies to get there this week (there's no skiing yet), then have a look at the tour schedule and find out when the film hits your 'hood. The crew will on tour beginning next week with Idaho and Oregon as their first stops. They hit Hood River on October 10.

The latest edition of the Northwest Mountaineering Journal is now availalable. The online publication is the work of Lowell Skoog and other dedicated skiers and mountaineers around the northwest. They do a great job of keeping tabs on cutting edge ascents and descents around the Cascades as well as offering quality features related to northwest mountain culture. For starters, I recommend checking out the short reports. It offers a collection of interesting descents in the Cascades.

In other seasonal news, we have snow in the forecast here in the northwest and we actually had some rain last night - maybe the second time since June. With the snow comes more ski movies. Josh Madsen sent us a copy of Freeheel Life and fromt eh trailer it looks like a good window into the progressive telemark world. Madsen is an accomplished skier in his own right and I look forward to checking out the new film.

Swift. Silent. Deep, a new film that documents the ski bum culture of Jackson Hole, WY during the '80's recently arrived here at our office. It follows the rise and adventures of the crew that came to be known as the Jackson Hole Air Force (JHAF). The JAHF was made up of a crew of dedicated ski bums who pushed the sport of skiing and are rather infamous for their antics on snow and off. The JHAF set the tone for out-of-bounds skiing in Jackson before the boundaries were open. Check out the trailer.

The Labor Day Weekend forecast for the Cacades is turning very fall-like this weekend. The Northern Oregon forecast includes the following: 

AFTERNOON VALLEY TEMPERATURES ARE LIKELY TO REMAIN IN THE 60S
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...WHILE AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES AT THE CASCADE
PASSES WILL STRUGGLE TO REACH 50 DEGREES ON SUNDAY. SNOW LEVELS
IN THE MOUNTAINS ARE LIKELY TO DROP DOWN TO 6000 TO 7000 FEET
SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH A FEW INCHES OF SNOW
POSSIBLE.

It is also the time of year that the various winter snow-season predictions begin to fly around the internet. The NOAA Climate and Prediction Center is forecasting an El Nino influence this winter. El Nino is not the most popular of forecasts for NW skiers as the warmer ocean currents associated with El Nino typically impact our freezing levels in the wrong direction. Historically, El Nino can mean above normal precip inthe Rockies, especially the southwest Rockies.

There are, of course, countless places to read about the El Nino Southern Ocilation - commonly known as ENSO - and what it may really mean. A great place to start is the article Demystifying ENSO that appeared in Off-Piste Issue 38 last October.

The Old Farmer's Almanac has their forecast up for the season as well. These guys have been producing longterm seasonal outlooks since the late 1700's. They suggest

Winter temperatures will be above normal, with the coldest periods in early to mid-December and early February. Precipitation will be above normal, with below-normal snowfall from Reno to Salt Lake City and above-normal snowfall in most other areas. The snowiest periods will occur in early and mid-November, mid- and late December, and mid- and late January.

Northwest skiers can read at length about ENSO and its historical influences over Washington and Oregon at skimountaineer.com. There is an interesting ENSO discussion here based on 2004-5 and 05-06 data.

Although temps were summer like this weekend, the significant color change in the trees is a sure sign that Fall is on its way. Another good seasonal indicator is that the ski movies have begun arriving at our PO Box. Flakes from Noah Howell and the crew at PowderWhore Productions is the first to arrive. We have yet to sit down and screen the fifth film from the Wasatch based PowderWhore crew, but given their track record and the film trailer, it looks like we can count on quality deep snow skiing (telemark of course) and bold lines from some of the finest freeheel skiers around.

Looks like the official release is in Otcober. I'll be sure to get a crew together and give a report before then. In the meantime...