Small-town Colorado and Lake Tahoe

The town of Crested Butte hosted me for a whole 5 days last week for yet another stop of the Freeskiing World Tour competition. This resort was the birthplace of this tour 20 years ago, so there was a lot of love surrounding the entire event.

I flew in and out of Grand Junction, Colorado, which isn't too far from the Utah border. And just 20 miles from Crested Butte is the town of Gunnison, whose basketball and volleyball teams we played many-a-time during my years of high school athletics at Rowland Hall. Small world.

The highlight of my week was undoubtedly the amazing home-cooked meal I enjoyed with the VP of Marketing and Events for the Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce. He's organizing a mountain biking competition in town this summer, and rather than doing a standard business call or meetup for drinks, he invited me into his home. His wife made homemade pasta with alfredo sauce, and then we dug into homemade berry cheesecake for dessert. Now THAT is the way to do business!

Here are a few pics from the awards ceremony...the one of the three female winners swigging their Sierra Nevada Pale Ales is probably my favorite photo of the season thus far.

Now I'm finally local, with the next two weekends in Kirkwood, CA. A huge storm is predicted to blow through tonight and tomorrow, so we'll have some fresh "pow" for the weekend. I've got an event at Squaw Saturday night, and I'm hoping to get in a full day of snowboarding on Sunday with a few friends for a welcome day off.

And just because I work for Sierra Nevada doesn't mean I can't enjoy other brews. In case you're looking for a seasonal recommendation, I had a super tasty beer from Deschutes Brewery up in Oregon. Their Red Chair NWPA is definitely one to try while it's on the shelves.

Expert Terrain Only...

I had a great trip up to Crystal Mountain this week. The resort is just a few hours outside Seattle--the area itself is pretty remote, but the mountain is pretty big and I got a solid day of skiing in with my friend Krystal who lives just north of Seattle at the moment. We caught a super clear day with sunny, blue skies and decently warm weather.

We were feeling adventurous enough to try to make it to where the competition (North Face Masters of Snowboarding) was being held. We were given directions to go to the top of one of the highest lifts at the resort, where we could catch a traverse across a huge bowl, then drop over a ridge to the base of the spectator venue. On the left is the peak they were dropping down...probably one of the scariest pieces of terrain I've ever seen.

On the right, you can see the bowl we had to traverse to get over to the competition. Let's just say it was one of the most challenging runs I've ever done in my life. We stood at the top of the lift for 15 minutes debating whether or not we should download on the lift or go ahead and try to make the ridiculous journey down and across the bowl. Needless to say, we went for it. Krystal almost made it but bailed when she slipped off the traverse path on her snowboard. I managed to keep my ski tips on safe ground and proudly dropped into the spectator area for a much-needed breather.

Regardless of the journey across the bowl, the view from the top of the lift was simply spectacular. We had a crystal clear shot of Mt. Ranier not far in the distance, and that sight alone made the whole thing worth it.

Overall, it was a fantastic couple of days to catch up with a few old friends, ski a new resort, and complete another successful event for Sierra Nevada. I've got this weekend OFF so of course I'm headed up to Tahoe with friends...making the most of the snow this winter season.

Evenin' Mountain Adventure

At about 4pm yesterday, I decided I needed to get my blood moving so I wandered down to the hotel gym. I plopped down on the stationary bike, thinking I would get some reading done while I mindlessly pedaled. Not two minutes into it, I realized I was literally in the last place on earth I wanted to be at that moment. Here I am, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and I'm in the hotel gym?! Unacceptable.

I bolted back up to my room, threw on my warm clothes, and trekked out the back door of the hotel, straight onto the ski slopes of the resort. My goal was to reach the top of the ridge in time for sunset.

Turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I huffed it up the cat track and wound my way up past the bottom two chairlifts. What ensued over the course of the next hour was pure sunset brilliance--I was speechless as I witnessed all these brilliant colors light up the sky.

The Great Outdoors, & Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole has got to be one of my favorite little Western towns around. I've been up here a number of times during the warm Wyoming summers, but this is my first winter experience. I walked off the plane to blue skies, warm sun, and snowy mountain peaks all around.

I had a chance to wander downtown yesterday and try some local brew at Snake River Brewing Company--they had a solid Pale Ale which washed down my sausage sampler quite nicely.

I capped off the night at a local bar where I watched Obama's State of the Union and then nabbed a pool table for some quality chill time.

I took a couple of long walks yesterday, choosing to trudge through the snow-covered neighborhood streets rather than hopping on the large bus that runs between the resort and downtown Jackson Hole. On my way back from town last night, I was surrounded by cold air, huge mountains, bright stars, and nothing but the sound of snow crunching beneath my boots.

It reminded me how incredible it is to have these awesome outdoor spaces where we can play, camp, hike, explore, and generally escape from the world. I want to give a huge shout out to my family, and particularly my grandpa Tom (far right below), and Grandma Margie (far left) for making the outdoors such an essential and central experience in their children's and grandchildren's lives.

I'm the little one in green here, stoked to be up in the High Country in Yosemite, our family's favorite place in the world. The only other place that truly rivals Yosemite is Grand Teton National Park, just an hour away from where I'm sitting now. How lucky I am to have an opportunity to visit all these magnificent places...

Snowbirding Complete. Next Stop: Jackson, WY

It was a beautiful weekend up at Snowbird resort in Utah. We had two amazing, sunny days and one day with 75 mph winds and constant snowfall. They cancelled the competition on the bad weather day, which allowed me to sneak in an afternoon of snowboarding. I gotta say--I loved it, despite being dubious of the sport from my experience 8 years ago...

The competition was incredibly fun to watch and I've enjoyed meeting the athletes between rounds. They're so talented and yet so relaxed and humble at the same time. It's refreshing and inspiring, to say the least.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves for this event. Oh, and if you click on them, they should open up in a new window in your browser and they'll be all big and pretty.

Here you'll see the booth where I "live" on the weekends, some athletes, some beer, some beer showers, and the obligatory sunset shot...

Aerial Views

Well, I had a phenomenal weekend in San Francisco, where the sun was out and the weather was warm. I spent a few hours lounging on Baker Beach and soaking in views of the Pacific with friends. We manged to get 5 people, 3 dogs, and 3 six packs in the car for the drive over there--not too shabby.

This morning it was back to the races. I flew out to Salt Lake City where we've got two events on the menu this week--the Outdoor Retailer show downtown, and The North Face Masters of Snowboarding up at Snowbird resort.

I wasn't expecting to have much to post in the way of photos early in the week, but I had the unexpected pleasure of capturing some shots from my window seat on the plane. After 3 hours of delays due to heavy fog, when I finally got up in the air, the perspective on San Francisco was incredible.

I also got to snag a shot of snowy Lake Tahoe when I accidentally opened my shade and looked outside.

But this last view was the one I was anticipating the whole flight. I remember so vividly when our family moved out to Utah in March of 1995--I was a curious little 11 year old, waiting to see what this new city would bring to our lives. When we began our descent towards our new home, I peeped out the window and I felt my jaw drop as I looked around at all the majestic, snow-covered mountains surrounding the urban sprawl. That memory has stayed with me all these years, and although I exclusively take aisle seats these days on my journeys, I will always opt for the window when I know I'm coming to Utah in the winter. The magic is still there.

Looking forward to a week full of old friends, new events, and stunning scenery.

Oh Canada, I will miss you!

Well, I'm on US soil again in Seattle, waiting for my flight home to SF. It was a fantastic weekend and a great way to kick off my winter travel schedule.

It was absolutely freezing this morning in Revelstoke, but the air was clear and the sunlight hitting the range was a soft, inviting pink.

As I sat in the terminal booking through emails from the week, I looked up from my laptop just in time to catch an amazing sunset over the airport in Seattle. I think it's really important for all of us to savor these little moments in the middle of all the craziness of our daily lives. If you can't take a second to catch your breath and enjoy it all, what's the point?

Wishing you all some quiet moments this week to soak it all in.