US Open (March 6 - 11): Who says you can't go home?

"What is the feeling when you are driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too huge world vaulting us and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies"

               -Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Kerouac was a literary genius and sought to find beauty in moving forward and new adventure despite the sadness of leaving things behind. Jack's life in On the Road is in constant motion in search of "it." For those who know Kerouac well, he, like most literary geniuses, died a very unsatisfied death, alone. Some will claim it is because he lived his life in pursuit of something that is not tangible, and would not view what was tangible as good enough. Kerouac was so focused on moving forward that he might have neglected to see that this life is not linear at all.

As the season begins to wind down many of us find ourselves leaning forward to the next crazy venture. There's beauty, sadness, excitement, nervousness, and everything that comes with the changing of the season and figuring out what to do next until we can grab a couple of weeks on snow in the summer and then prepare for the next winter. The feeling of moving forward can make you feel like you are leaving things behind, waving goodbye to the specks who defined your life for the last few months. This feeling only lasts so long, because the older we get the more we realize how interconnected our lives really are and forward and backwards become incredibly relative terms. This "too huge" world Kerouac speaks of is actually way smaller than we think.

Over the last 10 years I have, for lack of better words, been around the block. I have had 4 different home mountains spanning coast to coast, one being in Wintergreen, Virginia, so I don't often expect to run into all the people I have grown up with. "Home" no longer just describes one place to me. However, when in two weeks I wind up running into a vast majority of people spanning that decade... it is a pretty crazy feeling. A reminder that no matter how far we go - we can always go home. 

Vermont was an interesting experience (as it almost always is). After years and years of watching the US Open as a spectator, engaging in all the wonderful activities the open brings that do NOT have to do with snowboarding, it was really kind of cool to be on the snowboarding side of the open, however making it nonetheless intimidating. As competition days always go, monday was cancelled due to weather so we actually got to compete on a sunny day on tuesday. We saw the course for the first time Tuesday morning and had an hour to practice before competing. It was a creative course with some interesting features and big jumps. Keeping with the new theme I had not made it through the course before my qualifying run, so I was just trying to get through the course. Needless to say I did not either run, because I managed to overshoot the 70 ft jump everyone else was knuckling (surprise, surprise). I came away with a sore wrist but didn't think much of it, because my ego was far more bruised than my wrist. 

Some good things did come out of that day... My parents and my sister were there to watch as well as a special Bunny who I hadn't seen for a good 8 months. I am really lucky to have such an awesome family who are so supportive of what I do. I was glad they were finally able to come to a competition. Happiness is only real when shared. Reconnecting with family and friends pushed the bruisings to the back of my head. The competition was a valiant effort, and definitely not something to be ashamed of due to the size of the jumps, but I came away pretty exhausted.

The next few days the weather was pretty terrible so it consisted more of catching up with old friends than snowboarding. After getting an impromptu xray because of increased swelling, I found out I have a potentially fractured scaphoid (small bone on the inside of your wrist). They splinted up my right hand which has made for an interesting last few days. It's really amazing how useful opposable thumbs are... I'm pretty sure we take those for granted. Luckily we've got two of them so hitting the space bar when we type can be easily substituted. Due to the nature of a scaphoid fracture I have to get re-xrayed 10 days after the injury to find out if it is definitely fractured. Gonna take things a day at a time and the  take it from there.

After the clinic took my right thumb away from me and the Vermont weather failed to get better, I decided to skip out on Rev tour and head back to Utah to get my last two weeks of sacred snowboarding time before I head back to school. I skipped out on the Open parties and went home to Connecticut for the weekend. Got to catch up with some friends, get some family time, and hang out with the dogs. Definitely did not miss east coast snow that much...

I am now en route to Utah, ready to enjoy the last few weeks of my "abroad" time before switching to the daily grind.

While it was a long trip, it was a really awesome experience being able to compete in the Open. I came out of it exhausted and maybe a little broken, but it is all part of the territory. Although it was not my best performance of the year, actually being able to be there was a refreshing experience. Also I got to see lots of great friends and play with the puppies. 

And Mr. Kerouac, while I love and live by On the Road, I think its important we realize its not always goodbye. No matter where we go we always carry the people we have met in our lives with us, because its the people, places, and experiences along the way that have helped us to shape who we are and what we live for, and you can't ever lose that.

Mammoth Grand Prix (March 1 - 5th): Speeding up and slowing down

With a competitive lifestyle, we are currently "on the go." However, this last week the term has taken on a whole new meaning, making the rest of the season seem like a stroll in a park. The last 24 hours have been a full-on sprint. Since 6 PM last night I have made it through 4 states, 3 time zones, 2 separate car rides, and 2 separate plane rides. The best part? I'm not done! We still have a 3 hour drive ahead of us from Boston to Vermont. Talk about a whirlwind! The team left Mammoth last night after Grand Prix finals and a quick change and pack in the parking lot to embark on the 9 hour drive back to Utah. After arriving in Utah at 3 am, I quickly drove to my house and packed my snowboard bag then set out to Salt Lake to catch my 7 am flight, after a short plane ride to Phoenix and a one hour layover, I continued on to Boston, where I'm at now waiting for the rest of the crew to show up so we can do the 3 hour drive to Vermont (major shout out to Dustin for taking the hit on driving for this one). All so we can arrive in Vermont in time to register tomorrow to compete on Monday! Not only are the time zones messing with us, but I can guarantee that none of our sleep-deprived internal clocks have any idea what time it is right now.

By the second plane ride, I was done fighting to catch up on sleep and finally had some time to just sit and think. It had been quite the week and had all gotten caught up in the rush of getting from A to B (to C to D). We had packed Clifford up for Mammoth at 4 am Tuesday morning so we could make Grand Prix registration on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were scheduled practice days, but we woke up Wednesday morning to 8 inches of snow on the ground. After heading up to the mountain and inspecting the 30-70 ft jumps with 20 ft lips, there was no way practice was about to be held, so it was cancelled and we got the day to explore some powder on the mountain. Thursday morning looked a little more promising in the village, but as soon as we got to the mountain it was completely socked in and the winds were gusting. Pipe was called off and practice was postponed until 1.  At 1, things still were not looking promising, the winds were gusting and the course was put on course hold every 5 minutes, making jumping in this weather incredibly sketchy. A lot of girls were getting hurt, and Elin and I ended up only hitting about half of the features by the time practice was up. Sitting around looking at the biggest jumps I had seen in a while was not good for the mental game, but at least after we got to hit the first jump we felt a little more comfortable. However, we were still going into the competition pretty blind. At this point though, there was not much we could do about it. On Friday, neither of us were really sure what our run would be since we had not hit the whole course. Due to time constraints barely got our full 30 minutes of practice. At the end of practice more girls had taken the third jump deep and gotten hurt, and about 6 girls had pulled the night before, and 6 the day of, and I still had not made it through the whole course - great way to start off my first run. The course was definitely a little intimidating, although I did manage to make it through my first run (falling on the last jump... naturally), and Elin made it to finals, finishing with a 4th. The boys also dominated, Ryan in 4th and Caden in 8th. I unfortunately fell on both runs (good thing I'm being consistent) and did not make it to finals, but was thankful to walk away with two legs. After that, the rest is history...

The girls were forced to play it safe, which made for an interesting competition, but definitely started to prepare us for the US open where we only get an hour of practice before we compete. This is a whole new ball game and a whole new mental game. It forces us to take things as they come and be constantly on our toes. Especially with all this traveling, we kinda just have to go along for the ride. But we also have to remember to slow down. Now is the most important time to look inward and be confident in my self-knowledge and to find the balance between playing it safe and pushing boundaries. Without it, a lot is at risk. But this is why we do this sport, because everyday we grow and we learn something new about ourselves. No one said it was going to be easy.

I am looking forward to a good trip to my old stomping grounds!

Mid - Season Reflection

The hardest part about the snowboard season is the middle. After two months of go, go, go, you just want to stop. Athletes get beat up, worn out, and over it. When this happens it is more important than ever to believe in yourself and look at the bigger picture. It is really hard to keep the constant beat down of competition scores out of your head. When there is no external gratification, you have to search inside of yourself. We need to understand what being the "best" means, and how we can balance that with our fast-paced, ever-exhausting lives. It takes on a different meaning for everybody, and the key to endurance is finding out how being the best plays in your life. 

We spend our lives living in relativity, who is “better,” “more suited,” “stronger,” “fitter,” etc. Better is a term we use to compare ourselves to a societal optimum. And therefore we like to translate the societal optimum as being the “best.” But is best really a relative term? I don’t think so. I think best is something that comes from inside. It is a term that honors the value of the individual. When you are the best, you are not the best because of quantitative factors. It’s not because you are necessarily stronger or more suited than the people around you. It is because you have found a way to take who you are and what you have to offer and utilize each of these qualities to the maximum effort. We can best use terms like “better” to set goal marks, because we have no other way to measure our progress. But it’s not about how we are in comparison. When you get caught up in the idea of better and worse, you begin to bog yourself down in defeat. Being the best is an individual effort that comes independent of everybody else. You take in what you see and you take your personality, and the opportunities offered to you and you make it your own. No one will ever reach the point of being “the best.” Realistically, there is no right way to get there. We live in a world of billions of people where everybody is living their own individual life and has their own ways of looking at the world.

             Consistency, looking for quality, and positive mental attitude. It doesn’t require any special talent, or special genes… It requires you to believe in yourself and to know yourself better than you know anyone else. There is no endpoint because no matter where you are in life, you will not be perfect and you will still be looking for quality. The “best” take these three things, and apply it to everyday life. Notice, each of these three things has NOTHING to do with anyone else. Then we reach the problem, what about ourselves? Aren’t we our own worst enemy anyways? But like I said, the term “better” is not something to use to quantitatively measure things. Every day we are at a different point in our lives. It is important to understand, know, and accept the past so we can progress, but we can’t lose ourselves in it. We see the progression, we understand where we’ve been, but we deal with life in the present. Sometimes life will throw us a curve ball, and we “fall backwards” in what presume to be our progression. But we adjust, it’s a blank slate and we move forwards. Perhaps the level at where we were changes, but consistency, quality, and positive mental attitude don’t. It is when we understand this adaptability, the variables rather than the sum, that we can continue to strive to become the best. We probably will never be able to quantify what our best is. But quantity does not even hold a candle to quality, and we will never stop looking for quality.


Once we are able to inspire ourselves, we can inspire others to no end. 

Tahoe (February 10-12): Going with the FLOW

Sometimes when life is taking you for a ride you just have to hold on.  It's like riding a bull: you need to learn exactly which way to lean when the bull is bucking, and if you lean wrong you will be thrown. You just can't fight it.  Even when you learn which way to lean, you are going to get bucked eventually - all the good bull riders do. But what separates the champions from the hombres is getting back on the bull and trying to learn more so you can stay on for that one second longer.

The last couple of weeks following the Jackson trip have been crazy - filled with adventure, excitement, happiness, and frustration. It has been a struggle to find a solid rock in a fast moving stream. After Jackson I decided to stay in Utah and enjoy the company of friends. It was a adventure-packed week filled with surprises and new experiences. It ended up being too cold to snowboard for a few days, but life definitely did not lack excitement. I had a good few days to myself, learned some new tricks, broke a board, and just lived and love, and at the end of the week felt ready to dive back in.

The following weekend was the Brighton Gatorade Free Flow Tour. We woke up early and drove to Brighton, signed up, and began practicing. Unfortunately during practice it started dumping snow and the jumps were literally not hittable. To clear the first small side you needed to straight line past all the rail features, and even after making that jump, you could barely get up the lip of the second jump. So at the end of practice the competition was cancelled. While this was a relief for the day, it made things a little complicated for the following weekend...

This weekend was probably the most stacked competition weekend of the entire year, they (whoever organizes competition schedules) scheduled the dew tour, aspen open, revolution tour, and gatorade free flow finals right on top of one another. Because I did not get to compete in Brighton meant that I did not have a guaranteed spot at the Gatorade Free Flow Finals, but since I had placed 2nd in Jackson Hole I had a good chance of being given a wild card, because they had invited all the second place winners last year, but it was not for sure. This made decisions difficult because if I went to Tahoe for Revolution Tour, then I would be driving back the night before finals which would not be ideal. After days of back and forth of going and not going between the entire team, I decided that going to Tahoe would be the best decision because I was not guaranteed a spot in Finals, I have a boreal pass, was already signed up for Rev tour, and had figured out lodging. After a lot of indecisiveness, Scott, Mitch and I finally packed the car on Wednesday to head to Tahoe. As we were getting in the car we found out that Gatorade Free Flow was not giving out wild cards to finals. While this was a bummer, it put a lot less stress on our trip.

We trekked the 8 hours on I-80 through the beautiful Nevada desert (mmm, my favorite drive) and arrived late Wednesday night at the Stanford Ski Team cabin. Although it was a new cabin, the familiar drive up northwoods felt like going home. It was the same drive I had made hundreds of times before, and I couldn't help but smile. The next day I rode Boreal for the first time all season, and it felt like nothing had changed. The course was probably the best rev tour course all year: 50 ft jump to battleship box or gap to down rail, to flat down box or gap to flat down rail, to launch box/drop down feature to a 45 ft jump. It was a long course and flowed really well. After getting comfortable with the course I was determined to land my front 3 off the first jump. I had told Scott my goal for the trip was to finally stomp my front 3 in a competition which I had not done yet. I must've fallen at least 10 times trying it on Thursday. The jumps got really icy in the afternoon so I called it a day without landing a front 3 and headed over to pipe to watch Mitch compete. After Scott and I worked hard on my approach into the jumps so I would stop washing out on my landings. The next day was warm and sunny again and the girls were competing in the morning and things were good. I set out to do my safety run, got the first part of the course but then corked out a back 3 and landed on my thumb on the last jump. Second run I was ready to lay down my front 3 on that first jump. I came in just like we had practiced and stomped my front 3. I was so excited that after the down rail I fell on every other feature, didn't have enough speed for the last jump, and then fell getting on the lift. Talk about sloppy nuggets! So all in all, I completely blew the competition, but accomplished the goal I had set out to do. As soon as the adrenaline stopped rushing through my body, I realized I had actually beat myself up pretty hard that morning and was pretty much done for the rest of the day. After riding we hopped in the car and headed back to Utah. It ended up being a very quick and easy trip and relatively very successful. Sometimes success doesn't come in contest wins. `

Now I am back in Utah, enjoying two weeks without competitions. It is time for a much needed break. Sometimes you need a few days to remind you why you do what you do. Everyday I am overcoming new obstacles, and I absolutely love it. It's not always easy, but it's a journey and I feel very positive about where this journey is going.

As for today, it's Valentine's day, and all about loving. So live and love it up.

Jackson Hole (Jan 26 -29): Look out Jackson Town

"We are not grand because we are at the top of the food chain or because we can alter our environment -- the environment will outlast us with its unfathomable force and unyielding powers. But rather than be bound and defeated by our insignificance, we are bold because we exercise our will anyway, despite the ephemeral and delicate presence we in this desert, on this planet, in this universe." - Aron Ralston, Between a Rock and a Hard Place


Every day we see ways humans have fought, conquered, and overcome nature with roads, buildings, and bridges. We watch on the news as mother nature fights back, with tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and earthquakes. Even Bear Grylls, the ultimate nature man, is up against the wild. However, when man and nature can coexist, it is really something beautiful.

Wednesday afternoon we packed up the van with 4 skiers and 4 snowboarders to head to Jackson Hole for the Gatorade Free Flow tour. I had been looking forward to this trip all year, because the last time I had been to Jackson Hole was in the summer on our Sophomore College geology trip, and driving by the ski resort over and over again was just a taunt. The time before that I was 9 years old and just learning how to snowboard, unable to appreciate the greatness of the mountain. Jackson Hole has a looming presence in the ski world as one of the best mountains in America, if not the world. The terrain is steep and technical and the views are breathtaking. I had known from the beginning that this trip was not going to be about the park. Turns out I was in for a bigger surprise than I had thought.
We arrived under the wyoming stars and I knew it was going to be a good trip. I was filled with flashes of my summer in Crested Butte spending night after night under mountain stars - no light pollution, no city smog... just you and the sky. It strikes a chord somewhere deep down that makes you just smile at the grandness of the universe and the beauty of nature. Its a feeling that gets rid of all the small problems of the day, because you are facing something so much bigger than just you. This is a feeling you often miss in the suburbs of New York, or San Francisco, or even Salt Lake City for that matter. It was a feeling I had been longing for for a couple months now.
The next day we woke up to foggy skies and got out of bed slowly hoping the fog would pass. We had big plans for the day - Dustin was going to take us hiking up Teton Pass and show us his old stomping grounds in Wyoming backcountry. No lifts, no park, no snowboard scene, just us and the mountain. By the time we got out of the house and drove up to the pass, the skies were bright blue and near cloudless, it was warm and avy danger was low... a near perfect day. We set out on the 45 minute - 1 hour hike to the top of Glory Bowl. The sun was beating down and it was a straight uphill hike, so everyone definitely got a good sweat in. Some of the boys were not too stoked on the hike, which I will admit was very steep, especially in snow gear and without water. But after I got over the first couple hundred feet, I was beyond ecstatic. Once again I was filled with flashes of the summer, of long hikes and fresh mountain air. Hiking mountains is an unbelievable feeling, because you feel as if you are doing something that no technology can. You progress beyond civilization to an intimate relationship with you and the mountain. By hiking, you are not fighting nature or overcoming it, you are simply coexisting with it. And after putting your lungs to the test, standing at the top of a mountain looking out over what you just accomplished - its hard to say there is a much better feeling in the world. 
(Chillin at the top of Glory Bowl)

At the top of the mountain we were all feeling accomplished and slightly parched, but the hard part was over. We celebrated for a bit at the top, making friends with our fellow hikers. The best part about winter is that once you get to the top you get to snowboard down. I have to say, my least favorite part about hiking this summer was definitely coming down the mountain. I couldn't escape the bumps and bruises that over took my knees and legs. So coming off of my hiking high, we then set out to snowboard down. We were not sure of what to expect - it hadn't snowed in a week and it was kind of hot. To our surprise, it was pretty unbelievable... almost right out of a movie. The whole way down all 8 of us cruised through the trees and gullies getting untouched powder and hitting natural features. When we got to the bottom, every single person was grinning ear to ear. We hitch hiked back to the car, with smiles on our faces. It had gotten late, so we attempted to go to SnowKing to ride some night park. Unfortunately SnowKing let us down and had no park, so instead we chased a moose. We all fell asleep that night, exhausted but fulfilled after an awesome day of new experiences.

(Clifford "getting lost")

On Friday we attempted to go to Jackson Hole (the resort) to check out the park and explore the terrain. However as things happen, we couldn't get discounts on passes and the bottom was socked in, so by the time noon rolled around nobody was willing to pay $90 to ride half a day. Instead, we headed to SnowKing to ride for 3 hours. SnowKing is a pretty small resort, so after about an hour we had already hiked to the best spots. The top was sunny, so it made for a pretty view, however once we dropped below the clouds things were not all that exciting.

(Top of snowking above the clouds)
There were a lot of races going on, and SnowKing was not too stoked on a bunch of park rats dressed in bright colors at their mountain with no park, so after a series of incidents and a covert mission through the trees, we headed to Billy's hamburgers to grab some of the best burgers in town. We headed home to change, and then drove through the Wyoming sunset to registration for Gatorade Free Flow. Once again, exhausted, yet fulfilled we all fell asleep.

(Wyoming sunset on the way to teton village)


The next day was probably the first beautiful competition day we have had in a really long time. The sun was shining, no clouds, and no wind. It was too bad that when we got to the course, there were two 15 ft jumps that you had to go as fast as humanly possible into. The course was questionable, but it was whatever. Good thing Jackson Hole is not known for its park. After practice I went to explore the mountain, finding a couple of Jackson's stash parks (all natural features) and riding up the tram (which was beautiful). It was hard to believe that it was ten years ago I had been first thrown up the tram and told to snowboard. Where does the time go?

(View from the top)
 Girls finally got to go at around 2 after all the guys and skiers had gone. Unfortunately we did not know the speed at all and it had been warm all day so it was only natural to believe that the speed had gotten slower. I started off the starting block for my first run and went in to do my back 3 off the first jump. As things go, I overshot the 15 foot landing to flats and over rotated my 3, not landing the jump. Second run I was ready to stomp it. I started BELOW the block  and rolled in slowly thinking I would have no problem because all the big guys had been knuckling all day. Of course, I once again overshot the jump. So I didn't land a run, but ended up in second and got a lot of gatorade. Overall - it was an okay day. The two days before definitely made the trip. I have faith though... a landed run in a competition will come eventually. I'm still hungry.
It's hard to be hungry when every time you start to attack your food you get food poisoning. Yet, we can't stop needing food. We need to be fed and nourished to survive and need feeds desire. Maybe that desire will be dulled every once in a while, but there is a reason you desire to eat. Once you have found that hunger, there is not much you can do to get rid of it, except feed yourself. And even after being fed, the hunger returns. The key to food poisoning is not to gorge yourself once the hunger returns... because your stomach cannot take all that food at once. You also cannot back off completely, because you will starve. It's all about finding a happy medium, with the confidence that one day you will not get food poisoning.

So overall, we definitely took advantage of our Jackson trip. We all headed home happy and tired. It was a great trip and I am so glad I got the opportunity to return to Jackson. I can't help but feel at home under those stars. Half the crew is heading up to Canada for the Canadian Open, and the other half has already departed for Colorado for a fun trip. As for me, I will be in Park City regaining my appetite, ready to stomach a full meal again.

Park City Burton Am (Jan 22): Patience - The Lost Virtue

In our fast paced, high tech, ever-progressing world we have become accustomed to getting what we want, where we want it, when we want it. With high speed internet, cell phones, and fast food restaurants, speed just becomes an expectation. When your sonic burger takes more than 5 minutes, or the internet won’t bring you to the page you want fast enough, or you can’t connect a call, it means that something must be wrong. What was once a luxury is now a given. We cram our daily lives with as much as we can on the basis that things will run as expected, and a screw up, like 10 minutes to get a latte instead of 5, can mess up your whole day. While all of these advancements allow us to run at the highest efficiency possible, it inevitably takes away the ability to be patient. It’s hard to believe that once upon a time people had to wait weeks to simply get a message that we can type on our smartphones and send cross country within seconds.

           

            Sometimes we forget that we can’t just expect things to happen before our eyes, especially in a sport where muscle memory and repetition are the keys to success. We expect because we wish it to be so, it will just happen.

            Well, unfortunately this is not always the case. For the lucky few, the action will just click and the trick is there. However for the majority of people, it requires throwing the trick multiple times and understanding the mechanics of the trick before it becomes a stomped trick. It requires patience.

            It is almost easy to work hard and be dedicated in comparison. Hard work and dedication requires a physical effort, whereas patience requires a mental effort. Waking up early and putting your body through physical routine pales in comparison to overcoming a repeated bodily beat down trick after trick, doing things you know you can land. The mind is our own worst enemy. The pain of a physical beat down will go away eventually, but the wear and tear of a mental beat down can cause life-changing decisions. Our bodies are much more accustomed to overcoming physical pain than mental pain; it requires a discipline unlike any other.

            As it always go, Saturday brought snowy weather and high winds for the Burton Am at Park City. The day before was a beautiful, sunny day. We had been hitting the course all day and figuring out the speed, stomping tricks over and over again. The jump line was looking promising and I had my run all set up. I was feeling confident going into the competition on Saturday, but the winds were definitely gusting. The flags were blowing hard, but that didn’t seem to deter many people. We started out the day checking the speed. It was definitely different than the day before, the first run I knuckled the first, and the second run overshot all three. We had one final run to go before practice was over, and regardless of my speed issues I was still feeling pretty confident. I came into the first one a little slow and barely knuckled, and then took the regular turns into the second. The minute I took off the lip I knew I was going to knuckle the 35 ft step down. At the same time a gust of wind came, and I came down hard to the knuckle to my face and chest. The knuckle and I got very up close and personal. I knocked the wind out of myself pretty badly and got a nice battle scar on my nose. 

Needless to say, I was a little shaken up, both physically and mentally. I knew I had stomped those jumps over and over again the day before, but I couldn’t help but feel like I had just been smacked in the face. I went to go freeride to get my feet back under me, and when I came back a couple hours later for my runs, the jumps had been taken out of the competition because the speed was so slow and the winds were so high. It ended up just being a rail jam, and it was so snowy it was even hard to hit the rails. I was feeling pretty beat up, but competed anyways and once again Jessika Jenson got first (even in a competition with three rails!). It was definitely a little bit of a rough day.

Another competition day, another beat down. It’s all just a test – coming down to how we handle it and how we move on. I have two options: 1) dwell on the falls and the failures and remain stuck in the past or 2) move on, confident in my own ability, with hard work, dedication, and patience. Number 2 is really the only option in my mind. Learning how to be patient isn’t always easy, but in the end, as a good friend has said to me, through endurance we conquer. 








On another note...




First Urban Feature in Colorado on trailer





Write up in the Stanford Daily:
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/01/26/better-boarding/

Colorado (Jan 13 - 17): Going Green

Sometimes its not hard to wonder why we wreck ourselves day in and day out, sleep on floors, sit in cars for hours on end (and eat in more fast food restaurants than I can count on both hands), and endure freezing temperatures, when there are many other more appealing options. We ask ourselves why we CHOOSE this lifestyle over hundreds of other that might be more comfortable or more secure...

But then something happens, and it's a feeling you can't quite explain. It's a little glimmer  of hope, and the knowledge that you are pursuing the life you want to be living. It could be a stomped trick or a perfect day, or a piece of the puzzle that fits into the larger picture you are trying to create. It can even be as simple as an encouraging smile or a text message. It is a moment of clarification stronger than any cloud of doubt, and the promise of more of these moments that keeps us going.

We set out on the 9 hour drive to Colorado on Thursday afternoon. On the way there, I took a big leap: I switched out the board I have been riding for 4 years for a new one that I had never ridden before. I had tried a couple different boards over the past few years, but every time I returned to my Rome. However, as time has its ways, I realized it was time to move on. Switching snowboards is like moving houses: you leave everything you know and love in the hopes that the new one will be all that and more, but you run the risk that it won't be. I had heard good things about Niche snowboards from the boys, and I strongly supported the eco-friendly construction, but for the most part I dove in head first, hoping I could trust what I heard.
Call it green-washing if you'd like, but as soon as I held my new Niche in my hands things felt right. It was more than just a snowboard; it was values I believed in. The board is made of recycled materials with a sustainable wood core and a digi-print topsheet that doesn't use lacquer and cuts up to 60% of the material and 75% of the energy wasted during alternative printing processes. This is true progression of the sport - providing a sustainable alternative in a changing world. Obviously there are still a lot of materials and energy that go into making the board, however as we move into the future, industries need to find ways to make their footprints a little smaller as our resources begin to deplete. Niche is taking a bold step forward in leading the snowboard industry to take action in order to save the industry. Without snow, there are no snowboards. Michael Pollan says in his book, Second Nature: "We won't get anywhere until we come to terms with this crucial ambiguity about our role [in nature] - we are at once the problem and the only possible solution to the problem." We all need to believe we can make a difference, and every little bit helps.
Maybe green-washing helps me snowboard, because the next day on snow was one of the best days all season. Keystone's park was unbelievable, the sun was shining, and the feeling of a new board under my feet was amazing. I had put all my trust into my Niche Minx, and I felt like there was so much more than just a snowboard under my feet. It had all the pop of a new snowboard, and all the enforcement of my beliefs... it was all that my Rome was, and so much more. We had an awesome day of filming on endless features at Keystone and returned to our condo exhausted, but grinning ear to ear. Life was just awesome.
We woke up early the next morning to head to Vail for the Gatorade Free Flow tour. The morning started out a little rough with cloudy skies and sore bodies from the day before. The course wasn't great - a little on the small side and it was pretty hard to see. For a while, things were looking pretty dim. But we had 4 hours to turn our attitudes around, and as 2 pm rolled around and after a long day of sitting and waiting the girls finally got to go, the clouds broke open and it was sunny! We actually got to do our runs with blue skies and perfect visibility. I hadn't landed my run in practice, so I was just hoping I would be able to land it in the competition. Things started off really well, I landed my first backside 360 ever in a competition off the first jump, and unfortunately got a little too excited and ended up overshooting the third jump by about 20 ft on a straight air (oops) and didn't end up landing my run. That aside, I was ecstatic for having landed my unnatural 3. Jessika Jenson once again swept the competition and got first place, making her undefeated up to this point, and the boys both made it to finals. All in all, a crappy day turned into a very exciting one and we once again returned back to the condo tired, but happy.
We got to sleep in for a little on Sunday morning then headed back to Keystone to ride the awesome park. Unfortunately the light was a little flat, but we made a day of it on the rails (there were so many!). It was ridiculously crowded because of MLK weekend, but ended up seeing some old friends which is always nice. After riding we headed to Woodward, where we can trampoline and hit snowflex ramps on our snowboards into a foam pit. Learned some new tricks, perfected some old ones, and had an overall good time.
We woke up Monday to the wind howling outside. As it always does, weather overtook us and Keystone was closed. After working hard for three days, we finally packed up Clifford and headed home. Overall a very successful three days in Colorado: stomped some new tricks, had a perfect day, and added a piece to the puzzle of the larger picture I am trying to create. It is so important to live a lifestyle you believe in and believe in the lifestyle you live.

Moral of the weekend:
Find what you love... Then find a way to make the world a better place for everyone around you.

Oh yeah, and did you know there are no recycling bins at Colorado gas stations?  Come on Colorado! Step your game up.

Thanks, Niche for the awesome board! Keep doing what you are doing.