The skiing world was shocked when professional skier Cody Townsend announced that his popular video series 'The FIFTY' was ending.
Townsend, however, teased in a March interview with POWDER that a new project was on the horizon, and on October 8, 2024, we finally know what it is. Townsend's new video series is called 'The FIFTY+', but details are still under wraps. See below.
Townsend revealed that the first episode of The FIFTY+ is premiering to live audiences at Salomon's annual QST film tour, and will be published to YouTube on October 30th, 2024 for free viewing.
More details are expected to come, but Townsend has provided a satisfying teaser to hold us over until the end of the month. Here's what he says The FIFTY+ is about:
"When you go into the mountains seeking a specific objective, you generally walk back out of them with more lines you’d like to ski than when you started the day. Now if those new lines are ‘Classics’ or not? Well that’s pretty much the basis for the entirety of this new series called The FIFTY+".
Townsend noted in the aforementioned interview with POWDER that budget constraints, deliverables, and pressure to tick off dangerous lines are what led him to "bookend" the series with one final mission on The Bloody Couloir in California. One can assume that Townsend is striving for more freedom and flexibility in creating The FIFTY+, but that remains to be seen. Check out a preview for the films showing at Salomon's QST Film Tour 2024, including a couple snippets of Townsend.
"The Hunt for Classics Continues. After 6 years of following, climbing and skiing 46 of the lines and mountains in the book “The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America”, it’s time to pursue a personally inspired and modern list of classics.
Introducing the first episode of the FIFTY+ (that’s FIFTY “Plus” FYI). With many more to come, Cody Townsend and a long list of guest skiers, climbers and outdoor adventurers climb and ski a list of backcountry ski lines and mountains that number far beyond 50. Using a personally created metric of characteristics like Aesthetics, Inspiration, Ski-Ability, Danger and more, each episode will venture into the mountains and come home with a decision on the question, “Is it a Classic or not?”
If you're interested in seeing the first episode before it drops on YouTube, check out the schedule for the Salomon QST film tour here .
POWDER has reached out to Townsend for a follow-up interview about The FIFTY+. Stay tuned as we intend to dive deeper into this new video series by one of backcountry skiing's most influential personalities.
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