Name- Billy Poole
Age- 28
Home Resort- Alta, Utah
Website- www.billypoole.com
Sponsors- Black Diamond, Smith, Hestra, Cross Sportswear, Levitation, Surefoot, Discrete, Alta

For those out there that might not heard of Billy Poole, who are you?

Big mountain skier that likes to build houses.

You’ve been down to Sth America a few times now. Where is your favorite place to ski down here?

Can’t tell you, it’s a secret. I like Chile, but Las Lenas has the most amazing lift accessed terrain I have ever seen.

You are filming for the Levitation Project down here? How has that been and what is it all about?

It has been rad to work with snowboarders and see their perspective on sliding on snow.



I heard a story about a pretty gnarly avalanche involving a helicopter in the Coast Mountains of BC last winter. Who was there and what happened?

We were filming for the Levitation Project with Dan Treadway, Bryce Phillips, Stian Hagen, and photographer Adam Clark was shooting stills. The group had split up so we could find the first zone to film. Our group consisted of Dan, Bryce, Adam, our guide John Buffries, and myself. We found a good zone and had the pilot drop us near it and we skied some mellow pow turns down to the glacier at the base of the face. We stomped out an LZ and paper rock scissored for our lines while we waited for the heli to pick up Stian and the filmers. The heli dropped the filmers at a good barby angle and dropped Stian and Jane Mouser, a friend filling a seat in the heli, at the top of the face. Next, the heli came back to pick us up where we sat about 250 yards into the flats on the glacier. We were all loaded in the heli except our guide when I heard Bryce yell avalanche. We were in an eight seater, so I happened to be facing Bryce away from the front of the heli and the direction of the slope. I slowly turned expecting to see a dust cloud up on the bench at the bottom of the face. Much to my dismay the dust cloud was past the bench and was definitely coming for the chopper. The pilot didn’t have time to pull power so he just pulled the stick as the guide jumped in. We lifted off as the dust cloud enveloped the heli. The force of the air blast pushed us into the air. The heli started auto-rotating, causing alarms to go off. At this point, I was sure we were going down. Somehow, we kept rising out of the cloud and a few moments later we were out of the cloud and under control. Stian and Jane had broken off a huge cornice at the top of the face. Luckily, Stian was able to grab a handhold before being thrown into the class 3 slide. Jane was not so lucky. She was thrown into the slide and fully buried before being pushed back up to the surface. I will never forget the sight of Jane standing in the huge debris field amongst 20 ft snow boulders.

What were conditions like? Did you expect anything to cut off at all? Was it sketchy or you and the guides thought it was safe.

The conditions were perfect. We had about 20 to 30 cm of fresh/recrystallised snow on top of perfectly stable layers. We had all discussed taking the day slowly and safe since it was our first day of the trip. All we expected was a substantial sluough on the face but definitely not a 4.5 m deep fracture. The slide was all the way to the black ice at the base of the face. We assessed hardly any avy danger for that aspect or any aspect in the area.

How close were really were you to not making it out?

Not to be dramatic, but there is no reason we should have made it home at all that day. The way the air blast pushed the heli up and out of the avy was surreal and that the pilot was able to pull out of the autorotation in a complete whiteout isn’t possible outside of Hollywood. It felt like a bad action scene from Cliffhanger or something. You know the kind where you laugh out loud and say yah right that was realistic.

How did that affect you after the incident?

It was completely surreal. I didn’t know whether to run around hooting and hollering happy to be alive or to sit down and cry from the fear of almost watching my friends die.(I did both). It took me all summer to come to terms with this accident. It changed my whole outlook on the sport that I’ve always had so much passion for. In a way it made me numb to everything in my life, not only skiing. I now know that any one of my friends could be gone in an instant and it has made me very thankful for the time I have with them.

How did the others react?

Every one was pretty quiet. We pounded whiskey and beers and hugged a lot. Stian claimed he would never ski again. He felt like it was his fault which sucks because we all knew it wasn’t. It was just a freak accident.

How do you feel about avalanches now? Or had you been in a big avalanche before that?

I’ve seen some big slides and been in a couple. This was by far the biggest I’ve ever been near. The thing about this slide was that it started because of a freak cornice break. There is no way it would have fractured that big by the weight of a skier. So I would say it definitely opened my eyes to the already obvious danger of cornices. For the most part, it made me realise that there is still no exact science to avy danger and control. Every time we go out there we are pushing the limits of perfect safety and this experience just proved that to me.

Good to see you guys are still here. Changing the subject a little, you signed on with Black Diamond skis. How are they for you?

The freeride skis are amazing and they are taking steps towards revolutionizing skis. They are a wood core construction and super durable with torsional rigidity that makes them one of the most amazing skis on the market.

They aren’t just a ski-touring/telemark company anymore it seems.

Fuck no. They mean business. Watch out for them.

What is the big white prototype ski by the door? It looks pretty progressive from BD.

Its called the Megawatt. Its super fat, 125 underfoot, with a rockered tip, but stiff under the foot and the tail which makes it ski like a small jib ski on hardpack, but a Pontoon in Pow. My first first 4 days on them here in Las Lenas have been a revelation.

You are a part of Discrete also? How is that project evolving?

Great. It has been gaining momentum and is seen world wide on lowlifes and celebrities alike. (and the Mongoose !!)

What are your plans for coming Winter?

I want to spend more time in Utah skiing pow, but would live to go back to Alaska and spend a month in Europe. Europe because I just want to travel there and see it.

What else should people know about Billy Poole?

“That he is a Bengal Tiger”, Julian Carr

That I love to travel and you better watch out, I might be in your town this winter.

"That he sets a kick ass boot pack"- Julian Carr