Mark Howard： The Lodge Father

The spirit of Wyoming is to pioneer these new mountains that have never been skied or boarded. It's all about getting out there and finding them and putting those first tracks down on them. It's a feeling like no other. It's what I live for. My name is Mark Howard. They call me the Lodge Father. I am sled ops for TGR. My job entails getting everybody going in the morning, getting the motivation going, kind of come up with our game plan. Everybody kind of gives their idea on how we feel about the snowpack. Sometimes it's six, eight miles back. So days before we put in roads that we can just shoot right up into the zones. This year, with Parkin and Jake showing up, they like to build roads to the craziest places. Yeah, we're putting a little high alpine road in. It'll be a day early before we're shooting. Just put up and down tracks, a little shoveling here and there, you know, knock out the side hills. It's a whole group working together to make it happen. And you're 10 miles out into the backcountry while you're doing it. Oh yeah! I'm looking to execute tomorrow. Definitely gonna be a road. I've been working with TGR down here since 2013. I've been at the lodge for about 14 years. Man, the early days were Sage, Dash Long, Todd Laguerre, Dylan Hood, shooting segments. Right in the backyard of the lodge, pretty much. Just deep Wyoming, you know, deep Wyoming vibes. Kind of started out as a concept. It's a place of gathering. Back in the lodge! Hospitality, Tim Murphy cooks up the best food and really puts you in the mood of you're in Wyoming. Yeah, it's cracking out there. It's pink and beautiful. Starts in the morning, you know, push the coffee button, get everybody rolling. Read the avi report, fire the trucks up, we can just cruise right to the trailhead. Run through a little beacon check and head on into the hills. We're heading back to a zone that's delivered in the past and there's kind of some sketchy avalanche conditions going higher up into the mountains, so we're sticking down mid-elevation and yeah, we got a dog crew today. I think we're going to get it done. Once we double them up to the top, it's always a matter of, okay, safety protocol. If something happens, where are you? Are you able to get to somebody quick? Three, two, one, drop! I'm probably going to ski above the shoot on that flank and then come at it pretty fall line. I mean, I really enjoy taking them out into the backcountry, showing them a blank canvas to where they can just paint their lines up and down that and it's really cool to witness. Three, two, one, drop. Yeah, boy! There's like a bully head right there. I think it would work. Oh, oh my gosh! That was fast. Dude, that was special. Drop! That was epic. We're doing it. Godfather dropping. Yeah, Ollie. Yeah. Look how fast he's going. Dude, he ripped. It's just amazing to see what has gone down in these mountains. I mean, it's exciting every time we go out. We got a good crew. I mean, the future looks like the past, I hope. It's the adventure. It's the not knowing what's ahead that keeps me going.