Risk Taker

Today I was supposed to go to a much needed doctor appointment in Golden. It snowed last night, and the single digit temperatures make the roads extra icy. As I was making my way to Frisco from Breckenridge my car slightly fish-tailed twice on the same road I totaled my car on last year. Though terrified, I decided to get on to the highway anyway, only to soon realize the highway was just as icy. I wish someone could have taken a picture of my face, because I'm sure it looked like I had just seen the devil. Every muscle in my body was tense, both my hands were clenched so hard to my steering wheel my fingers were probably turning purple, and I could feel the anxiety carving wrinkles into my face by the second. I usually talk myself through things I'm scared of, but I didn't even give myself an option. I got off on the next exit, Silverthorne, and took Dillon Dam Rd. home.

I've been a risk taker my entire life. My parents tell me that when I was little I would always say,
"I laugh in the face of danger," a quote I learned from one of my favorite movies, The Lion King. In middle school I made a beaded necklace that said "No fear," and wore it proudly. I've participated in almost every extreme sport known to man, and I've never let a boy tell me he was better than me. Being a skier in the mountains, I take risks everyday. And it's not even the type of risk that a normal person is in everyday, like the risk of getting in a car accident on the way to work... I literally go out of my way everyday to put myself at risk, for fun.

I have always believed that those who live in fear for their lives are the ones that never really live at all, and I always told myself I would never be "one of those people" who had petty fears that controlled their lives way more than they should. But sadly, ever since my car accident on January 2nd, 2010, I have become that person I said I would never be.

It's amazing to me how one event can have such a significant impact on a person's life. For the first few months after my accident it haunted me, and I told myself within time it would get better, but it hasn't. To this day I still have vivid memories: what I saw out my windshield, the sound of my car smashing to pieces, and what I was thinking as it was happening. I could pick the face out of a crowd of the paramedic who first opened the passenger side door, though I saw him for no more than 20 minutes in my life.

I've gotten myself into a lot of "Oh S**t!" moments though, which has really made me ponder why this one is any different. I've been in worse sports accidents that physically affected my life a lot more. I walked away from my car with no injuries, and all the came from it was a new car. So why should something so insignificant affect me on such a deep level? It bothers me that I can no longer be on the road without being scared. It bothers me that I don't trust my friends who I know are good drivers. It bothers me that I don't trust or feel safe in my own car. But most of all, it bothers me that all of this bothers me.

Condolences to the Wolf Creek Family

As you all may know, the west has been getting hammered with snow the last few weeks. Tahoe got a storm that dropped 3-5 feet, Utah got a storm that dropped 2-3 feet, and Colorado has already gotten a total of 8 1/2 feet! All the snow has been beyond our wildest dreams as skiers and snowboarders. Unfortunately, will all the fun that amount of snow brings, it also brings dangers.

On Monday, November 22nd, Wolf Creek Ski Resort in Colorado closed due to a fatality of one of their own. Director of ski patrol, Scott Kay (seen to the left with wife Chantelle), was caught in an avalanche around 7:45am "while working to protect others," a Wolf Creek representative said. "To our great sadness, he did not survive." The 41-year-old was a long time employee at Wolf Creek and leaves behind a wife and two sons; 6 and 8. If you would like to leave a message, you can do so on Wolf Creek's facebook page.

My sincere condolences go out to his family and friends at Wolf Creek. You will all be in my thoughts and prayers this Thanksgiving.

I have expressed my strong feelings for safety equipment a lot in the past (avalungs, beacons, probes, etc). So many riders think they are safe when in the ski area boundaries because of avalanche control. But when such large amounts of snow falls in such a short amount of time, it doesn't matter where you are. It is true that sometimes safety equipment won't save you, but it's worth every penny to give yourself that chance.

I hope you all have a safe and fantastic Thanksgiving, and please continue to be safe the rest of the season!

UPDATE!

It's been way too long since I've updated, and I apologize for that. It's been a very busy few weeks! Since I've updated we have got snow, snow, and more snow! There have been a lot of records that have been set in the last few weeks with early openings of certain runs etc. Keystone and Breck have opened and it's been so fun to be skiing again. My best friend Ashley has been staying with me for the past two weeks from Park City, Utah. Her and my roommate Elise are going to be in Dew Tour in a month so they have been working hard on the jumps and rails.

My friends Ashley, Angeli, Riley, and Oakley came from Park City for opening weekend of Keystone. I hadn't seen any of them in months besides Riley, so it was really awesome to see them. That's the hard thing about being a skier... you have so many great friends that you don't get to see to often because of all the traveling and living in different states. It was our friend Ryan's Birthday so we made him a Birthday Cake with a Tall Tee on it (it's a style thing for skiers, don't ask). We also made home made pizza's and salads and had a great night.

Oakley and Riley being goofy

 

Ash the pro skier trying to be a filmer... haha!

Angeli hiking some features in the park.

Ryan's Birthday cake!

Angeli cutting the pizza!

The next week Breckenridge opened and it couldn't have been a nicer day. There was fresh snow from the few previous nights and it was beautiful out. All my roommates were there and it was probably the most snow Breck has ever opened with.

 

This past week we had a storm that dropped I believe around 46" in 72 hours. It was a crazy storm that moved in really quick and CMC ended up canceling all classes for the Summit and Eagle campuses. 

My friend actually took this picture but I happened to be driving at the same exact time this picture was taken... the storm moved in so quick and visibility quickly turned to practically zero!

This was actually taken a little bit before the storm hit... you can imagine what it looked like after.

The night the storm rolled in I parked on the street so my friend Ashley could park in my spot. Never in my life have I had to walk up a snow mound to get inside my car. I almost got out... until I backed over a huge pile of snow that bottomed out my car.

Luckily one of my neighbors was out helping other people, so he stopped and pulled me out. As he was driving away he yelled "Go bears!" and I was confused until I saw a Chicago Bears sticker on the back of his SUV. He must have seen my Wisconsin plate... HAHA!

Just as the first storm cleared up another one started to move in... This is going to be an amazing season for snow!

Me and Ashley took a day off skiing yesterday and went out for lunch, shopping, and then dinner. She is going home Wednesday but will be back in a few weeks. I love having her around. She's one of those friends you don't find very often- the kind you meet and you instantly know you have a friend chemistry. We have the same values and beliefs about religion and life and the same taste in food, clothes and music. We went to one of our favorite stores Claire's and after an hour of debating, ended up leaving with almost all the same jewelry as each other. She is an incredible skier, one of the best pro's in the world actually, and my hero. I wish we got to spend more time together, but she's busy traveling to all the places I'd kill to go. I'm so blessed to have her as a friend. You can actually check out her website and blog here.

Ashley being goofy at Claire's trying on glasses and ear muffs.

Oh yeah, it's not even Thanksgiving yet but my friends all decided to get into the Christmas spirit! I came home to find a Christmas Tree and Stockings in our living room!

Double Take

The 2010/11 academic year marks the fourth anniversary of the common reader program at CMC. Every year a book is chosen from those books nominated by faculty, staff and students across all campuses. Last year we read the book The Translator by Daoud Hari, a native Darfurian who intimately describes the terror and horror he witnessed of the genocide in Darfur. He then came and spoke at the Breckenridge campus and answered many of the questions we had.

This year the book was called Double Take by Kevin Connolly. Kevin Connolly was born in Helena, Montana in 1985. He was also born without legs. He went on to win the X Games in mono skiing, and with his earnings, decided to travel the world... via skateboard. He traveled to 17 different countries and took 32,728 photos of people starring at him as he rolled past. Unfortunately I have not had time to read the book yet, but from what I have heard, his journey will change the way you look at the world and yourself. This week he is traveling and speaking at different CMC campuses, and will be in Breckenridge on Wednesday from 7-9pm. If you're a student at CMC and are free, make sure you pick up tickets at the front desk before tomorrow. After that, tickets will be offered to the public and they will sell out.