It was a perfect day to explore some home-made jumps out-of-bounds on Mount Hood: blue skies with some outstanding clouds, no wind at all, fresh thermals for soaring, and plenty of decent spring snow for soft landings. When the jumps are as large as the Home Grown crew builds them, it is imperative to have soft landings.

I parked in the climber’s lot at Timberline and headed up the ridge above Salmon River Canyon on snowshoes, enjoying the view. I could see activity up ahead, and I thought I heard the distinctive sound of Tommy Ellingson’s voice.

Tommy and his Home Grown ski crew partners Josh Larkin and Ari DeLashmutt were putting the finishing touches on a trio of jumps they had built for the Home Grown Invitational, a backcountry party where riders take turns throwing down huge air and then hiking back up to do it again. They invite up-and-coming talent from the West Coast Session at Timberline to join the party, and the action can get quite extreme. But it is all about camaraderie and fun and hanging out in nature, rather than keeping score. The vibe is more relaxed and artistic than competitive. 

The event is sponsored by Solution Clothing, an Oregon start-up that sells sustainable apparel 100 percent sourced from U.S. manufacturers, stitched by a seamstress in Salem and tested on Mount Hood in all conditions. Here’s Solution SkiEO Josh Larkin behind the Solution Clothing logo, Mount Jefferson off in the distance.

Josh and his friends had built three jumps: a gap, a step-down into the canyon, and a huge hip next to the step-down where the rider takes a sharp left turn just before launching. They built these jumps with shovels and rakes, no snowcats or diesel required. As you can see from this photo, the outrun is nice and steep.

The young guy gets to go first – in this case skier Austin Yaklich of Oregon City High School:

Then Ari DeLashmutt:

And Tommy E:

And Josh Larkin and Randa Shahin:

I ventured down into the canyon to check out the view looking up. Before long Tommy and Ari were flying off in tandem.

It is insane how high in the air these guys fly, and how relaxed they look while they are up there.

It takes serious skill to drop from that height and stomp the mushy landing without cartwheeling down the outrun.

Once you land it, you boot it back up for another run. Protoplasm over petroleum.

After a while skiers from the West Coast Session started showing up to give it a go. The action was filmed, so Tommy and Josh are going to have plenty of footage to choose from and set to music for their next Mount Hood edit. They produced a lively film called Nostalgia based on their adventures last season, and it was a rocking party when they screened it in Portland last November. Their clothing brand Solution also made its big debut that night, and the business has done well since, selling out of everything except the vests.

Here’s Tommy with the GoPro boom cam, filming one of the West Coast Session skiers while Ari looks on:

And here is a large batch of photos in slideshow form for your vicarious viewing pleasure. We haven’t had many high-visibility days on the mountain lately, so I felt compelled to shoot as many photos as possible on this perfect spring day with pro skiers launching left and right.

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Last modified: May 9, 2014