ADVENTURE JOURNAL PODCAST — Cody Townsend has made a name for himself as one of the world's best big freeskiers, but in recent years, he's mixed mountaineering into the equation. His series "The Fifty," which chronicles his attempt to climb and ski the 50 classic ski descents of North America, is one of YouTube's best adventure series.

We talked with Cody about how he decided to take on such a challenge and how a surf-stoked from Santa Cruz, California got so comfortable on the mountain.

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By Grayson Schaffer in GQ — The rules that govern the life of Cody Townsend, one of the greatest skiers on the planet, are pretty simple these days. Rule number one: Don’t die. That’s mandatory, especially now that Townsend and his wife, fellow world-class skier Elyse Saugstad, are parents to two-year-old Indiana. Rule number two: Have fun. That’s pretty much a given when Townsend, a prolific star of extreme-skiing films, is flying down a mountain on two planks. Rule number three is where it gets interesting, because he’s decided to do something that’s never been done, or even attempted. Something almost unfathomable.

Townsend is a freeskier—a practitioner of a kind of alpine daredevilry that involves high-flying jumps and breakneck descents. The trouble with the discipline is that you’re beholden to something known as “the progression,” a driving force in the ski universe that requires each year’s feats to be a little more difficult, a little more complex than what came before. The term gets mentioned in X Games commentary, social media posts, and ski magazines as part of the vernacular. And here’s the thing about the progression: There are no stopwatches or judges in free-skiing. Athletes who progress stay relevant and get paid. Those who plateau fade away or become influencers. And Townsend was never going to fade away.

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Bjarne Ssalen photo

By Matt Coté on SKI.com — The line before us didn’t seem all that intimidating—a subalpine couloir with walls that were almost more gully-like than a traditional, rocky pinner’s would be. But my two partners and I still paused for a solemn moment before dropping in that day. This was the Polichinelle Couloir, where Doug Coombs fell and died in 2006. I had moved to La Grave, France, for a season in my late 20s to follow in the tracks of giants like Coombs and learn to ski mountaineer. This is where I came to understand that the most deadly terrain is not found on the mountain but in the mind.

The trick with ski mountaineering is you can do everything right and still get it wrong. It’s like getting hit by a car; you never think it will happen to you. In Coombs’s case, a simple patch of ice above a cliff proved fatal.  Yet, these stories haven’t deterred other professional freeriders from transitioning into ski mountaineering and thriving. Chris Davenport was one of the first, with his 14ers project. Snowboarder Jeremy Jones followed with his Deeper, Further, Higher trilogy. And today, some of the biggest skiing heroes are Christina Lustenberger, Jérémie Heitz, and Jimmy Chin.

Enter Cody Townsend, a big, blond, lovable personality with more downhill ski talent than just about anyone on Earth. After reaching the stupefying limits of his freeride career in 2014—when he won “Powder” magazine’s coveted Line of The Year award for flashing an impossibly tight, aesthetic couloir in Alaska—he found himself at a crossroads, contemplating what lay ahead. In the throes of ski mountaineering’s new pop appeal, he discovered a book Chris Davenport co-authored, “50 Classic Ski Descents of North America,” celebrating some of this continent’s most underground self-powered feats on skis. Townsend, who was not then a ski mountaineer, announced he would repeat every line in the book and launched “The Fifty,” a self-produced YouTube series documenting the process. Here we are five years later, with Townsend, an ice-axe-wielding viral sensation and only four lines remaining on his daunting list.

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By Anneka Williams — For the last four years, Cody Townsend has chased the most noteworthy ski descents on the North American continent—at least those detailed in the book 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America—while documenting his missions in his show, The Fifty Project. More than 40 lines later, the project has taken its toll and Townsend is rethinking how he wants to complete the final descents.

Last winter, Cody Townsend and his film crew were slogging through the approach to a ski line while producing an episode of The Fifty Project. As his skis cut a skintrack, Townsend recalls looking wistfully across the valley at an enticing descent, thinking “I want to ski that more than anything right now.” But, bound by a specific list of ski lines, Townsend was compelled to shift his focus back to the approach at hand. That moment, though, gnawed at him.

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SNOWBRAINS — In this hilarious teaser for the film “Here, Hold My Kid,” mother Elyse Saugstad challenges societal expectations by continuing to send it. With a belief in the significance of women’s sports, she highlights the importance of supporting one another. The clip features a friendly competition between her and Jackie Paaso, emphasizing their different levels of competitiveness.

COMING SOON: Two professional skiers, two new mothers, one sponsorship. A quirky documentary style film capturing the highs and lows of two women determined to succeed with side-splitting, hilarious moments.

Starring: Elyse Saugstad, Jackie Paaso, Cody Townsend, Reine Barkered, Leanne Pelosi, Indiana Townsend & Tor Paaso.

Written, directed, filmed and edited by: Adam Gendle, John Verity & Hersha Patel.

By Ian Greenwood on POWDER.com — Cody Townsend fans, you're in luck -- more The Fifty Project content is on the way.

Yesterday, August 28th, Townsend teased what we can expect from The Fifty this upcoming season.

Typically, episodes of The Fifty are 20-30 minute YouTube videos covering Townsend's journey towards skiing all of the lines featured in the classic book The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America.

Powder reached out to Townsend to get to the bottom of this somewhat vague Instagram post. He graciously shared exclusive details that have not been released elsewhere. (Thanks, Cody!)

Townsend confirmed that there will be four total "episodes" for this season of The Fifty. Two episodes will fit the regular 20-30 minute format, and two will be feature length films with run times around 55 minutes.

Townsend shared the titles of the episodes, and the star-studded list of athletes joining him:

-'Comstock' featuring Mali Noyes and Greg Hill (regular length)

-'Bloody' featuring Josh Daiek, JT Holmes, Elyse Saugstad, Michelle Parker, Drew Peterson, Greg Lindsey, Ming Poon, Forrest Shearer (regular length)

-'Split' featuring Nick Russell (feature length)

- 'The Polar Star' featuring Vivian Bruchez (feature length)

All four projects were filmed by everybody's favorite cameraman- Bjarne Salén.

Release dates are TBD, but are slated for "around October". 

'The Polar Star' will screen at the High Five Festival in Annecy, France at the end of September, and at IF3 in October before releasing online.

Cody Townsend looks over the dramatic landscape of Baffin Island in 'The Polar 

Bjarne Salén/The Fifty Project

In equally exciting news, the editing team behind these upcoming videos is stacked, including Scott Gaffney, Lou Currie, and Team Thirteen.

Yup, that Scott Gaffney.

Last fall, Gaffney announced that he was leaving his filmmaking and director role at Matchstick Productions -- a legendary ski movie studio -- to expand the breadth of projects he could participate in. 

It seems working with Townsend was one of his new post-MSP gigs.

Stay tuned to Powder; we'll have you covered as more news about The Fifty emerges.

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