VIDEO – The Flying Muzz in Alaska

Murray looking stoked after a nice line in Alaska Image:: Murray Bartram

Mountainwatch | Murray Bartram

Ed’s Note: The Flying Muzz is Murray Bartram, an adaptive sports athlete who skis for Liberty Skis Australia. Murray is a little different than your regular freeskier, that difference is that he has a slight disability. This however doesn’t slow him down. Muzz recently made it up to Alaska for the second winter in a row and he skied lines steeper than most freeskiers only dream of! Here is his take on what went down…

Ahh Alaska, I set my sights on this place after my dad passed away in 2007. It was always my goal to get to ski AK. In 2012 i got my first chance to ski there and the place blew my mind and changed my life. Not only did it define me as a skier but also as a person, so when the opportunity came up to go back i grabbed it with two hands.

Lucky for me, for a second year in a row I scored great snow and great weather with 3 fly days in the week. On my first day there last year I had a once in a lifetime crash. This year I took a different approach. That was to try and step things up slowly one step at a time, but also to ski out of my comfort zone which isn’t hard to do in Alaska. I spent my lead up week in Whistler getting my legs back before going up to Points North Heli in Cordova.

On my third day, after clearing out the cobwebs skiing 2 days of amazing powder and steeps, we flew into a run that was classic steep and deep with a “cordova role” (not being able to see your first or next turn).

We landed on the top and got out of the heli and our guide told us to wait as she wanted to dig a pit. Off she went over the edge, while we were left standing, waiting for her all the while not being able to see the run at all.

We waited for what was only 10 mins but it felt like for ever! I was packing it to say the least. I rolled down into a different entry point. From there i could see a few turns and the snow looked great. It was just a big funnel of steep soft snow down to one exit point.

After a quick chat about sluff management and my exit point with my guide Kim, I took a deep breath and dropped in. To be honest i really don’t remember what happened I just seemed to black out and skied this blower steep deep run with a great line straight down the guts. It just seemed to flow so well. It was easily the best I have ever skied in Alaska, for the first time I felt like i was skiing not just trying to survive, I was just in the moment.

I skied out to the bottom yelling and cheering, then I threw a big high 5 to one of the guys in my group who skied it just before me. When I looked back up I was shaking. At that point for some reason everything came back to me, the whole reason I set myself a goal in 2007 to go to Alaska and be the first person with cerebral palsy to ski big lines there.

That run completed the dream and I broke into tears it was by far the run of my life. I apologized to my group as I turned everyone into a bunch of crying girls, it was a moment I’ll never forget. Alaska will challenge you physically and even more so mentally, if you get the chance to go and lay down a line in the Chugach Range I guarantee you won’t come back the same person.