I’ve been skiing resort more than usual this year to try to get better at skiing. Yesterday before work, we climbed and skied Tallac, a Tahoe classic and it felt great to be back in the backcountry. We wanted to scare ourselves a bit and ski the hanging snowfield to the chute seen in the middle of this photo. 
It isn’t particularly difficult terrain, but the 100′ cliff at the bottom makes you ski pretty cautiously. Fun times before work!
At the top at 8AM:
Here is some of my GoPro footage:
Filed under Backcountry Skiing
Going into this comp, I just wanted to ski aggressively and choose hard lines. On Day 1, I got a little wily after my first air and had to adjust my line and so it wasn’t as hard as I hoped. I ended up tied for 6th going into Day 2 on the Buttress at Alpine Meadows.
A few of us inspected the venue on Saturday and found it to be quite rocky up top. I chose an entrance that would definitely require a lot of jump turns and “billygoating” – not really known to be my strength, but it would look cool if I made it through. Well… on my first turn into the thing, I clipped a rock and went tumbling. Then my slough came and buried me! I tumbled over a few rocks, but luckily I was unhurt. I’m sure it looked scary from below. I got up as fast as I could and started skiing, but the adrenaline was uncontrollable and I fell a few more times. AHH! Nightmare run. Trying to redeem myself, I took and stomped a 20 foot air at the bottom of the venue. And skied through the finish line covered in snow. I have GoPro footage, but snow is covering the lens…so it is not really worthy of watching.
Here is a highlight video of the comp. Look for me at 2:12 with blue jacket and yellow pants:
Well, I learned a lot.
1) I am not a smart competitor in these big mountain comps. I want to ski something hard and if I crash… oh well.
2) I need to work on telemark jump turns.
3) I can land most airs, but need to work on speed control.
Hopefully I can get all these things dialed by next year. Thanks to everyone who came out and watched and tried to cheer me up afterwards!
Here is a photo of the final air that my friend Jenay took.
Filed under Skiing
Every once and a while something happens that makes you realize how lucky you are. And it wasn’t landing on my head during a backflip attempt yesterday at Sierra and skiing away unscathed. Yesterday I was reminded that life is short and uncertain when I found out that a young father and husband lost his 14 year battle with cancer.
http://detnews.com/article/20110225/OPINION03/102250313/Seaholm-coach-lived–taught-by-example
I’m sure everyone will keep his wife and young son in their thoughts and prayers. It was a reminder to me to be grateful for the time I have and to make the most of it. Passing kindness and a general lust for life on to others is the best way I can think to honor this person and his family.
I think this quote from “Romeo and Juliet” applies to this heroic man.
“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
— William Shakespeare
Filed under Random rambling
Holy holiday crowds in Tahoe batmen and women! It was a beautiful, cold (by Tahoe standards) day and we wanted to get some more powder – since 4 days in a row is not enough. We did some car shuttle laps on the pass in the AM and then headed to Kirkwood since the fabled steeps of Thunder Saddle were to open and had not opened since before the California mega-storm that dropped over 8 ft of snow in 4 days. Oh man, big mistake skiing at a resort on a bluebird holiday weekend in California! There were so many people that we had to hike a mile in from the road… plus my legs were shot from the previous 4 days. Still, we managed to get 5 amazing runs in and jump off some stuff.
It is hard to be annoyed when you get to ski most days with the likes of these characters:
Filed under Skiing
Some antics at Kirkwood today.
Ahhhh Yeah! Hahahahahaha!
We had a rowdy Kirkwood storm day – only chair 6 was open, but that was all we could hope for. It probably snowed over a foot while we were skiing between 9 and 2 and the winds were howling. I got frostbite on my face… in California. Seriously.
Anyway my GoPro died on me early… maybe I didn’t charge it? Still figuring it out. Here is a short clip.
Here is a quick video to show off my new GoPro Chest mount… maybe not the best idea for knee droppers like myself. This is a run down “The Face” at Heavenly – our storm day hill. 1800′ perfect pitch – it’s a leg burner.
Here we go! I’m giving blogging a shot. I’m hoping to share honest and compelling accounts of my skiing and other adventures. I recently competed in the Big Mountain Telemark Competition at Grand Targhee in Alta, WY. It was my rookie comp and I lost my line on my second run. Despite my lackluster skiing, the overall experience was super fun and the venue was amazing. I also made some new friends and solidified friendships with my travel companions. Here are some photos from the comp: 
Additionally, I just picked up a GoPro camera to document some of the great skiing here in Tahoe and throughout N. America!
Filed under Random rambling, Skiing
Meghan Kelly Teles! 