Warren Miller Photo Contest

http://www.skinet.com/warrenmiller/photo-contest/heli-contest/photos/all/18470

Check out this shot of me dropping the line on Mt. Herman Monday March 7, 2011. Please go to the linked page and click on the 'like' button to vote for us by May 1, 2011.  We could win a trip to Alaska to go heli-snowboarding if our photo gets the most votes!

Thanks!

Winter All Over Again!

The past couple of days have been absolutely stellar.  Snow has been falling not only on the mountain but also in Bellingham.  It is currently snowing in town and I had a great day up on the hill today.  Yesterday I rode Mt. Baker with my homey, Avi.  He is from the Ham and has been living in Hawaii for the past year and a half.  We met a couple of years ago and he was my riding buddy.  He leaves in four days so I have been trying to get as much time in with him as I can.  This is a picture of Avi setting up his board in the back of his rig:

Mr. Avi Schwartz

We rode from about 10 until the final bell of the day.  The snow was great and deep, but still very unstable.  Baker had received over 8 inches and it was cold and fluffy.  The pow turns were plentiful.  At one point we had considered going for a hike but as we were heading out onto Upper Elbow we witnessed two slides.  The first slide came from above onto the hiking path.  There was a crew ahead of us and as they continued through the sluff another skier/snowboarder traveled above them and set off another slide.  The second slide came down and almost buried the crew as they stood there watching.  As two of the guys dug out a third we turned downhill.  That was the end of our thoughts on hiking for the afternoon.

We lapped a couple choice lines and had a really great day.  Here's a little bit of a run that we took through some deep trees:


Later on in the day we rode some other fun lines.  Here's a wreck for your enjoyment: (please feel free to laugh)


After riding all day we decided that it would be a good idea that if I were to catch a ride back up with him in the morning I should crash at his rent's pad.  It would cut off a bit of the morning commute and make for a much easier travel day.  I came home, packed up all of my things for the day, and put together the things that we needed to be able to wax our boards.  We hit the sack while watching a snow-porn.  Over the course of the night it got pretty cold in the basement and I was lacking in the blanket department.  On top of trying to solve problems and waking from very busy dreams several times through the night I was also a bit chilled.  I awoke this morning a bit sore from riding, yoga on Monday, and a great workout Sunday night.  It has all been adding up over the past few days and my body is ready for a rest.  But not until after we rode today!

As I was getting ready to head up to the mountain this morning I unpacked my clothes and realized that I had forgot to put a key ingredient into the bag: MY THERMAL PANTS!  As I told Avi of this fact he mentioned that he had an extra pair that I could borrow for the day.  I am 5'9" 1/2 (the 1/2 matters) and Avi is about 6'Large".  I have a 28" waist and assume that Avi's is not in the same area code.  This was proven by the amount of times I had to roll the waist of the thermals like a teenage girl rolls her booty shorts before going to the swimming pool.  It was actually quite humorous.

We got up to the mountain after a very long drive.  The roads were icy and people were having a lot of trouble getting up the hill at a decent traveling speed.  At one point we were driving 25 mph before we even hit Glacier.  Once we got to the hill we scraped our boards and headed out to the hill.  I honestly believe that having on Avi's "Big-Boy Pants" helped me do this:


Did you notice the skier crash? Stop laughing. It's not nice to laugh at skiers. They know not the error of their ways. =)

The day was a success and riding with Avi was a blast.  It will be sad to see the homey take off in a couple of days, but hopefully we get to ride again before he bounces back to the islands.  As for now, I am beat and need to get some much needed sleep before a long day of work, webinars, and business meetings tomorrow.  Life is pretty great when you think about it.  I am blessed to be in this wonderful place and have so many great people to share it with.  Thank you for reading and enjoying my life as I put it out there.

A Great Week

What a week it has been.  A lot of snowboarding.  A little bit of business.  A whole lot of growth.

Monday was the Del show, and also Valentine's Day.  Bummed we couldn't get into the Bellingham Circus Guild performance, then heading to Del for a less than stellar performance started the week of to an interesting foot.  By the end of the week Del had announced that he felt super bad about the show and is going to make it up to Bellingham by throwing a free show on March 18th.  What a guy?!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were awesome days up on Mt. Baker.  There was fresh snow everyday and nothing was sliding.  The visibility on Tuesday wasn't good enough for any real killer hiking, but the snow in the ski area was great for shredding all day long.  Wednesday the weather got a little bit better as far as visibility.  I was riding with some good friends and we managed to take a couple of sketchy lines down some fun stuff. Here is a little bit of a run from that day:



Thursday was by far the best day on the mountain for me.  Visibility was great and got better as the day moved on.  I hiked around and got fresh tracks all day long.  In morning my friend Jessica and  I rode mostly in-bounds, but by the afternoon it was all backcountry riding.  The snow was mostly stable with only a few surface slides in steep places.  I saw a few friends taking some pretty aggressive lines, but it was in my best interest to just have fun riding the lines that I was comfortable with.  My knee has been giving me some problems lately, so I took it pretty easy. On my way out the Arm the third or fourth time I hiked up a little bit higher and took the back way down. This is probably my favorite hit on the mountain right now:



Here is a bit of a line that I took Thursday afternoon with Stone Malone and JP:



Friday I spent the morning trying to clear my head of some negativity and irrational thoughts.  I went to Yoga with Guy at the La Vida Dance studio on State Street in Bellingham.  When I arrived Guy was the only person there.  Shortly after I had changed out of my gear into the proper attire another lady came to the class.  Guy kept a really good pace and tried very hard to keep me in the mix.  He could sense that my mind was troubled and that I was not as present as I could/should have been.  Sometimes it's hard to compartmentalize all of the things that I have going on in my mind.  I am working on it and sobriety is helping.

Yesterday I went back up to the mountain with my married friends and we went for a nice hike out towards Table Mountain.  T is about ready to quit smoking cigs and it showed.  He was having some trouble with his breathing as we were hiking.  I have noticed that my hiking and overall energy level and endurance has skyrocketed since I quit the cigs.  I set my completely tobacco-free date and have all of the supplies that I need handy to help with the transition.  The power of positive thinking is going to help me out with this one.  That and the fact that I know how good I feel right now!  It was a beautiful day and here's proof:

Look at the love-birds hiking together.  So stoked on these two marvelous friends!

This is me smiling!

Today is a mental health day for me. I am going to head down to the waterfront and get some much more needed vitamin D and read a book for a while.  I have some work things to accomplish this evening, but today is just way too nice to sit inside.  =)

More Snowbearding

Deep pow turns, glistening tree-tops heavy with mountain fresh precip, whumping sounds galore?  

Yep, that's right it's Spring again in the PNW.  We got that March new snow over the past week and it has been a really great ride.  Time to take another day and head out on the Mountain.  The past few have been totally loaded with fun and exciting lines, drops, and of course everyone's favorite:  

POWDER SLAMS!

Get outside and enjoy the fresh air.  I'll be back inside soon enough to blog about the adventure!

A New Storm

Over the past two weeks I have been completely immersed in my studies.  I have been on WWU campus an average of 10 hours a day.  By average I mean most of the days I have spent more than that, but I am considering weekend days, too.  This busy schedule of learning, followed by more schooling has been a pretty big downer for me.  My only real saving grace has been that there really has not been a whole lot of snow hitting the Pacific Northwest.

As I wrap up my classes and get set for my finals schedule to commence next week I find that I am in a great need for a snow-day.  My last day of riding was February 27. (eek!)

The past few days have dumped approximately two feet of fresh on the local mountains.  This means that tomorrow, Saturday March 13, I am going to wake up mighty early and try to beat the masses of people who are just like me, snow depraved and itching, up to Mt. Baker.  My roommate rode today and informed me that it was super heavy and got a little bit sticky.  Tomorrow is going to be a good day for me to work on some much needed relaxation by way of powder slashes and hopefully some epic lines.

As for the hiking, the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center is calling for some High and Moderate Avalanche conditions in the area.  My buddy is thinking about heading up from Port Angeles to take some turns.  He and I have not ridden together in a couple of years and we have both progressed in the interim.  My backcountry access is pretty limited as I don't have snowshoes or a split-board.  On the fly snowpack analysis and careful route planning are going to be the key to a fun and exhilarating day on the mountain away from the masses.  If you plan on heading out of bounds know your limits and know the snow!!!

Good luck to the competitors at the Summit at Snowqualmie tomorrow competing for 35k worth of cash prizes at the Ride Shakedown!  I would be there if I didn't have to hit the books more tonight and again on Sunday.  If you can't make it to the Summit and aren't going to be hitting the slopes yourself you can catch all the action live from 2 - 930 PM (PST) on FuelTv!