Finals...Ah I think I'll go ski POW!

With the end of the school semester here the library fills up and people in Boulder begin to stress out about grades and things they should have done earlier in the year. I chose to take a different route. I look at it as a time without assignments due or new things to learn in class. In other words I take it as a time to ski. With all my fellow classmates dwelling in books, I woke up Tuesday (12/7) to ( new inches in Vail and a ride on the first bus to the Vista Bahn. My ski team coach Palmer and I, along with two other friends headed to the infamous East Vail to see what we couldn't find.

We we found a lot more than 9 inches, (knee to waist deep) and soft landings. It was my first trip out there this year and it was as good as my days in March last year. December has been great to us for far and I can only hope that it keeps up.


As I drove out of Boulder this morning at 6am with hope that the storm that had been the talk of colorado for the past week had delivered, that and to beat traffic (I didn't), I was anxious to see if today would compare to Tuesday. Then about at Silverthorne the news came over the radio that Breck reported 14 new inches, (@ 530) and the anticipation for the day immediately set in. We got to Breck and be-lined it to the T-Bar (30 min wait) and waited trying to imagine what it was like up there. Amazing, magical and possibly even spiritual were the words of the lifty as we loaded the T-bar. An it was nothing short of all of those, we took two laps down what I call the knoll on Horseshoe bowl, first tracks down this region at 930, hell yes.

We dropped in an it was bottomless; submarining under the snow and coming up for air (and a quick yell) and back in again. All smiles and a snowy face at the bottom only to get back in lines for seconds, which were only tracked by us in the same zone. The second run, as good if not better than the first.


A picture we took that gives the day no way near the credit it deserves


The rest of the day was spent in and out of the trees from Peak 8 and over to Chair E finding the remains of the 14+ inches that we were granted.

Overall it was a great week leading up to winter break, my only hope is that it keeps dumping.

Bring it on La Nina.

Anticepation

Its been a long summer so far and I can't wait for the cold weather to come. I've learned a lot about myself over the summer, good and bad and I feel like I have grown a great deal. To start off I had a little run in with an electrical box one night lets just say it got the best of me. One broke fibula, a sprained ankle and 8 weeks later I was back on my feet ready to get in shape for ski season.

Oh but I still managed to make it to Vegas for my 21st.........


On another note, I accomplished one of my life long dreams this summer and landed a sponsorship with Helly Hansen. I'm really excited about skiing for them this year and now I'm just hanging out in Boulder training with the CU Freestyle Ski Team waiting for snow and passing the time hunting and fishing.



ITS GOING TO BE A GOOD SEASON, I CAN SMELL IT

To Cap Things Off.....Almost

This season has been one that makes me laugh. I live in Boulder at the moment and go to school at CU. Down here I hear a lot of people talking about there skiing adventures and what they entailed. This year the majority of talk has been about how bad the snow was and how there is "no snow in Colorado." Thats where the laughter begins. I'll agree that this year has not been the greatest snow year, but I'd like to think that you have to have some low snow years to respect the great season even more. Either way, I think people underestimated how much snow there was out there this season.

For me and the group of friends that I usually ski with, mainly on the CU Freestyle ski team, we ahd . It was a year of several accomplishment for myself and a year that I will definitely never forget. And although the resorts may now be closed in the area, the year is far from over with several days of big mountain skiing in the near future.

Here are some of my favorite shots from this year so far.

Deep at East Vail


My first Front Flip


Pillows and Air







My Coach Joel and I teeing of on the Par 5 in East Vail.
I went first to test the waters



And Joel followed



Eyeing the Par 5 after two successful hucks


All smiles


It was a great season spent skiing with great friends and deep snow. Now that the pow season is over, its time to do some hiking.

Swimming in Champagne

I've spent a majority of my skiing life in the mountains of Steamboat CO. This year I took a trip up there with my brother and we managed to grab a couples sleds from my uncle to mess around with. The first day we got up there we headed up to Rabbit Ears pass just west of Steamboat Springs. It was a fun day of sledding but nothing like the day to come. That night a storm rolled into the area and the forecast called for 4-6 inches. We decided to take the sleds out again hoping for a little bit of fun in the powder. We got lot more fun and some stress than we were expecting. When we got up to the pass we found almost 2 feet of new snow and it was still dumping. It was unreal how much snow was up there.

We took a few runs in bottomless snow and of course managed to get stuck many times. We spent a large part of the day riding then getting stuck and riding again, but overall it was worth it.

A few shots of myself struggling to breathe.

And a couple of my brother.

The next day we decided to ski the the reported 14 inches in bounds. I;ve had some of the best days of skiing in my life at Steamboat and this was up there on the list. The snow was deep and possibly the lightest I've ever seen it.

Here are a few shots from the day.

A sequence from my favorite glade on the mountain just out of bounds.

Some shots from the end of the day of my brother Frank and friend Jarrett in pillow line just of the side of the run that goes under the gondola.

Frank

Jarrett really trying to keep his tips up.

And a few more blower turns to end the day.

Jarrett

Overall it was a great trip and it once again proves there's really no place like the Boat.

INTRO

I decided to start this blog to let everyone in on how I live my life and the experiences I have on my journey.