April Snow Storm

Last weekend I packed up all my ski gear and called it a year. I know A-Basin and Loveland are open until June, but I'm not really a fan of slush riding on groomed runs, so I figured I wouldn't go again. It started snowing Friday and hasn't stopped since. This whole weekend was supposed to be dedicated to school work, but with the snow I couldn't resist. I decided to go to A-Basin yesterday and it ended up being the best powder day of the year for me. I got there around 8:30 (the chairs start running at 9), and parked right up in the front. I was one of the first chairs up and had fresh tracks all day, with absolutely no lift lines. I decided to leave around 12:30 because I knew I had school work, and I also knew I wanted to get a few runs in this morning too.

This morning I got up at the same time, and left at the same time. Apparently everyone else in Summit County finally got the memo about the snow storm. I got to Keystone and traffic was at a dead stop... with another 9 miles to go to get to A-Basin. I was shocked. I realized I didn't have enough gas to get there and back if I was going to have to sit in a traffic jam, so I drove about 8 miles back to Dillon. By the time I got back the traffic jam hadn't moved, but I decided to try and wait it out anyway. I sat in it for an hour and a half, and finally decided to go home.

I'm bummed I don't get to ride today, because it's the most snow we've ever gotten in one day all season. But I'm happy I got to go yesterday, because I didn't think I'd even ride again this season, much less get a powder day. Besides, finals are next week and school work is what's most important. I'm 19 years young, and I have plenty of powder days ahead of me.

Powder Tree Runs at A-Basin, April 23rd.

A-Basin, April 23rd.

Outside my friend's house last night in Silverthorne, CO.

Attempting to drive up to A-Basin this morning.

Roommates and Housing

Lately I have been getting a lot of emails regarding roommates and housing, I guess it's that time of year! Though I cannot personally get you set up with a roommate or a place to live, I can point you in the right direction!

Craigslist is probably the #1 spot to look for roommates or housing if you live out of state. A majority of my friends live here in Breck in houses with 3-7 people, while others live in apartments (like me) with just one other person. There are also some friends who live out in Blue River. The upside to living in town is that you can take the bus or walk virtually anywhere, but rent is going to be more expensive. The upside to living in Blue River is that the rent is going to be cheaper, but you have to drive into town because the buses don't go out there. Blue River is known for it's big nice houses, while Breck is known for convenience. It all depends what you're looking for!

If you live in Summit County or are visiting for the day, you can always get a Summit Daily Newspaper. There are always tons of listings for roommates or open rooms, and then you can go meet the roomies and check out the place before you move in!

If you are looking for a job as well as going to CMC, you can try and get a job at any of the Vail resorts and live in employee housing until you find a more permanent home. Employee housing is on Airport Rd, just a short 10 minute walk to CMC! Rent is month to month, so you can leave at anytime... and it's actually pretty darn nice for employee housing! On top of that, it's probably the most affordable you'll find in Breckenridge. I have a friend who lives there, so I'm there quite often.

Here's some advice:

• Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into when you sign a year lease. There are not a lot of job opportunities here in the summer and a lot of people leave.
• If you are looking at an apartment, make sure you have a roommate before you sign the lease. A few friends signed without a roommate, and ended up paying quite a few months rent until they found one. That, and a few roommates have bailed because they were not on the lease, therefor not responsible for rent.
• If you don't have a vehicle, try to find a place in Breck. The free bus does go all around Summit County, but it's not a short ride. The free bus does not go to Blue River, either.
• If you have pets, make certain with your landlord that they are allowed on the property. When me and my roommate signed our lease our landlord told us it was fine we had my roommates 90lbs chocolate lab. After moving in we met our manager and she informed us only owners were allowed to have pets, no matter what our landlord said. 

That's all I can think of for now, happy house hunting! 

Liberated

I have always loved riding the bowls, chutes, and powder at Breck, but I have always struggled doing so on my park skis. I decided that before the season was over I wanted to demo a pair of powder/ big mountain skis for the day, and I finally did. I went to a local ski shop called Colorado Freeride and got a pair of Liberty Helix big mountain skis. They were 176's, which I was worried would be a little big for me, but I went for it anyway. We had a good 8 inches of fresh powder so I was incredibly stoked, so stoked I ended up getting first chair up 6 chair and imperial bowl.

What shocked me most about these skis was the fact that I could hit powder full speed from a groomed run and not lose any speed, unlike my park skis which are so soft they roll up on me and I end up somersaulting. I floated like a boat through over the powder, but could still dig my edge in and cruise (and I mean cruise!) down the groomers. I was also very impressed by how light they were for their size, and found that because of that the length was superb. The weight also made it a breeze to hike.

Overall, I rode like my pro friends do yesterday. Those skis made me hike runs I would never hike, bomb runs I would never have traversed, and take my skiing to higher levels. Colorado Freeride closes at 7:00pm, and I waited until 6:45 to take them back. To say the least, I was devastated. I felt like I was taking my puppy to the pound. Not only did it make me sad I didn't have the money to buy them, it made me sad the season is ending. If it weren't for my two knee surgeries this summer from preventing me from working, you can bet your bottom dollar I'd be saving up for those!!

Thanks to Liberty for the best day of skiing I've ever had in my entire life.

Park City

This post in long overdue, and I apologize for that. Time gets away from me now that the year is quickly ending.

This past weekend I went to Park City, Utah. I have been having some nasty health problems and was kind of stressed with school, so I decided a mini vacation would be nice. The drive was very long, and there wasn't much to look at for most of it. I never realized how interesting nothing could be to look at, ha! The 5th Annual Queens Cup was being held in Park City, which is an all female ski and snowboard competition. I stayed at my friend Ashley's house, and her father and his girlfriend were soooooo sweet to all 10 of us girls and 1 boy. They made us delicious meals and welcomed us like we were family. It was really cool to ride a new resort, the terrain was so much different than Breck. And it was even cooler that I didn't have to pay for any lift tickets because PowderCorp owns Park City and Copper, where I work. To say the least, I missed the greenery. The competition was awesome, and all my friends did awesome as well, but after 4 days I was very happy to be back. I wish I had taken more pictures, I guess I was just too caught up having fun!

My friend Ashley in black and my friend Maddie in pink coaching their team before the competition.

Papa bear Mr.Bill Battersby cooking us some breakfast!

Gus, the only guy of the group, hanging in their even in the wee hours of the morning to cheer on his girlfriend Eli! Awwww, what a guy!

The sunset just outside of Steamboat on the drive home. So beautiful!

As you all know yesterday was April Fool's Day, which for Breckenridge locals means "Gaper day". Gapers are what we call tourists who dress, ski and act funny. April Fool's Day is our day to make fun of them. I was in school and had tons of homework, so I didn't get to participate... but I have some awesome photos my friends took. It looked like it was a blast.

From left to right: Kaitlin, Ethan, CJ, Derek, and Ian in their gaper gear! Too funny!

As school is coming to an end I'm realizing how fast this year went by. Most of my friends are moving back home for the summer in a month, and I don't know who is all coming back. It was by far the most fun year of my life, from cliff jumping, to longboarding, to skiing, hikes, and going to the Dew Tour and X Games. This year was way more than I ever expected it to be, and I'd like to thank CMC for that. Our youth goes by so quickly, so why spend all day in school wasting it away when we're going to work the rest of our lives? CMC gave me the freedom to do what I love during the day and go to school in the evening. It was the perfect balance.

I will for sure be coming back next year, because I can't see myself living anywhere else. As the commercial says: "Colorado is the only place you'll see a $2,000 mountain bike on top of a $200 dollar car, and it's the only state where people will drive 2 hours to ride 12 inches of powder, but can't get to work when there's 4." The people here believe in slowing down and enjoying their lives, and not sacrificing that for work. It's no wonder we're the skinniest state in the U.S. And speaking of skinny, I started this new 40 minute pilattes work out, I'm so addicted I do it twice a day! 

As much as I love skiing and school, it will be nice to get a change of pace. I skied all last summer too, so after doing it for a year straight, I'm ready for a break. I'm excited to get home and see my dogs, and my extended family, and get up to our family's summer house for some fishing and jetskiing.

Man, I sure do live a rough life... Ha!

March Madness

If you were not in town this past week, you were very lucky. You missed the busiest week I've ever seen in Breckenridge. Here's a picture taken by a local CMC student, Alexandra Fowler, on Peak 8. Can you believe that lift line?!?!

Besides that I have been doing a lot of school work. It seems my professors are all in sync when it comes to the larger assignments. Next Thursday I will be doing an on-camera interview at CMC with a production crew, so that should be pretty cool. Then the next day I will be leaving for Salt Lake City for the 5th annual Queen's Cup. I'll be staying at my close friend Ashley Battersby's house, who got her first X Games medal a week ago in Europe! Congrats girl!!!! It should be an extremely fun weekend with my girls.

Backcountry Safety

A 20 year-old was killed in an avalanche yesterday a mile west of A-Basin. He moved out here in November from Spring Grove, IL to work at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Him and his two other friends did not have any back country gear. Colorado has some of the most unstable snow pack in the world because of low moisture content and wind. With the heavy snow fall in March followed by spring-like temperatures in April, it makes it even more dangerous.

Most of us live here because our passion is skiing and snowboarding. I, myself, am always willing to spend money on new skis, boots, etc if I need them, because this is what I live for, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way. What I don't understand is how some people can have 6-7 different pairs of skis and no back country gear (that is unless you don't wonder out of bounds). Yeah, it's expensive, but it will save your life. I don't have the means this season, but next season I hope to start acquiring my own gear. Until then, I will use friends gear or not go out of bounds, period. (Even though there's a chance it can happen in bounds, too.) Riding in the Rockies is not a joke.

Here's a list of general back country essentials. You can find all of them at www.backcountry.com.
You can also buy avalanche survival packages.

1. AVALUNG ($100-$300)
If you want to survive an avalanche, you better have an avalung... or chances are you won't. It's a pack that holds oxygen and allows you to breathe while waiting for rescuers to dig you out. There are two kinds, one is small and can be worn on your chest, and another includes a backpack.

2. BEACONS ($180 - $450)
An avalanche beacon, also known as an avalanche transceiver, are used to find buried people under the snow. If you are buried, rescuers (whether that's your friends or ski patrol) can use their beacons to send signals to yours to locate you. It's very important for everyone on the excursion to have one. It does no use if someone buried doesn't have one and someone unburied does. A beacon can greatly reduce the time in which you are buried, or will get you rescued when you may have never been found at all.

3. SHOVEL ($20 - $80)
Small, light, and sturdy, the shovels are made for backcountry excursions. They're short enough to be able to put in to your pack, or attach to the back, and light enough that won't even know they're there. It's not only good for greatly reducing the time your friends are buried under the snow, it's also good for helping you build those back country kickers.

4. SKINS ($100 - $200)
Skins are long strips of synthetic material (formerly animal hides) that are attached to the bases of skis for uphill climbing. The skins run smoothly over snow in a forward direction, but have texture that prevents the skis from sliding backwards. I would personally chose skins over snowshoes any day. You don't have to carry your skis on your back up the mountain, and you don't have to carry your snowshoes on your back down it. It saves a lot of energy and time.

5. Snowshoes ($100 - $300)
Whether you're a snowboarder or a skier who isn't a fan of skins, snowshoes make life a whole lot easier when the snow is thigh deep (and I can tell you that from first-hand experience). Snowshoes have been around for thousands of years and make deep snow trekking a breeze. Snowshoes distribute your body weight over a much larger space than your foot, giving you the ability to "float".

6. Multi-Tool ($15 - $150)
My dad bought me one of these when I was younger, I still to this day have it, and use it at least once a day. Never in my right mind would I go on an excursion without it. You can buy them in a miniature pocket size, or a standard hand held size. 

7. Heatsheet ($4.99)
The Adventure Medical Heatsheets Two Person Blanket reflects 90% of your body's heat to help keep you and your buddy warm through an unexpected emergency. It's 2.8-ounces, it's bright orange so you can be easily spotted, and it's $4.99. If that's not good enough reason to buy one, you might deserve to be cold.

8. Lighters ($1.00)
I've had people argue with me that a lighter won't last forever, won't work if its wet, and that you should learn how to start a fire without one. All of those statements are true, but here's my theory. Once you start a fire, you can pretty much keep it going indefinitely... Unless a huge storm were to hit. It only takes one short flame to start a fire, and that won't use much fluid. I have reason to believe I would expire before my lighters would run out of fluid. Besides, I rather be able to start a fire with zero effort and save it for other things.

9. Steel Water Bottle ($15 - $30)
I know their are some plastic water bottles that are BPA free, but a plastic water bottle can't be held over a fire. It may seem like a fantastic idea to just eat snow to hydrate, after all, it is water. The problem with snow is that it's composition is at a 10/1 ratio. That means that one inch of rain will equate to roughly ten inches of snow. Basically, you'd need 160 inches of snow to get one bottle of water at 16 ounces (as picture below). The rate at which you will burn energy by eating the snow is more than that of what you will gain. If you hold a water bottle near a fire to get it warm (not hot, we don't want it evaporating, either) it's easy to keep stuffing snow in it until it's full.

I know I haven't mentioned food, or hunting for food... or anything like that. But if you aren't planning on going to an area where you could get rescued within 48 hours, chances are you shouldn't be coming to my blog for input, and you probably aren't ready for that, anyway.

The Year from my iPhone

I know the year's not over yet, but I was looking through my iPhone and noticed there were so many awesome photos, 400 to be exact, and I haven't shared hardly any of them. I got my newest iPhone this past summer, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites starting from then, until now. (You can click any of the pictures for a larger view.)

My two dogs, Dillon and Dan. Dillon (top) is a 1-year-old Golden Doodle Pug, and Dan is (7 in this pic), but now an 8-year-old Yellow Lab.

The staff dock at one of my favorite places in the world: Lake Owen Camp in Northern Wisconsin.

My first tattoo. Fibromyalgia awareness.

Another one of my favorite places. Our family's summer house on Minocqua Lake in Northern Wisconsin.

Where I spent a lot of my summer. Copper Mountain, Colorado.

I took a bike ride to the Frisco Marina before a storm rolled in.

Clinton's Gulch, a short drive from Copper Mountain.

One of my favorite views. Copper Mountain on the right.

Colorado Mountain College on the left with Baldy Mountain in the distance.

A rainbow from the patio of Colorado Mountain College.

The sky chutes, taken from Copper Mountain, Colorado. Can you see the word "sky"? You're looking at the backside of Breck. I heard it's illegal, but in the winter you can see tracks where people rode down them.

My friends longboarding on Boreas Pass Rd. I would follow them down the entire mountain, at the bottom they'd all pile in my SUV and we'd drive back up. We'd do this all day long...

The mountains looked so majestic when the smoke from the California wildfires moved in.

My friends getting ready to jump in at Green Mountain Reservoir.

Taking my roommate's dog Chaco for a walk on Baldy Mountain.

HAHA! My friend Rachel in business class. How does THIS happen?!

When my friends Paul, George, Tony, and Mark moved into their place they didn't have a lot of furniture. Here's Paul getting comfortable in a storage bin.

Fall starting to arrive in Copper Mountain.

Mother nature does beautiful things. Can you believe this is real?

My friend Jason parked his car outside a party not realizing his front right tire was not on the ground. He came outside to his car rolled into a tree, luckily it was completely unscathed. Everyone thought it was so funny we moved the party outside.

The hallway leading into a friends house. 5 people live here... so do 30 pairs of skis.

I didn't want to forget the date of our first snow storm.

My 2nd tattoo, which is just as meaningful as my 1st. This way I will always have a piece of winter with me!

My friend Paul fell backwards into a tree that was full of snow. It's the tree directly behind him that no longer has snow on it... Hmmm, I wonder where it all went?

My friend Ashley's car broke down in Silverthorne, Colorado. She lives in Park City, Utah. It's okay, I rescured her... and Taxi'd her.

My roommate Raven feeling mighty sleepy while getting ready for surgery on her broken wrist.

Rachel, I, and CJ having some fun in the gondola at Breck.

My roommates twin brother, Ryan, is a deep sea diver. We bought him this costume hat and he wore it the entire night while he cooked us dinner. To say the least, it fit perfect.

My friend Blake had an Audi. Had an Audi. He popped his tire and was too lazy to get it fixed so it ended up getting towed. I guess that's what happens when you're a lazy ski bum who can walk anywhere, including the mountain. He didn't care, he just hoped the towhees had fun digging it out.

My Romanian friend Alex took me to an Indian buffet restaurant and made me try EVERYTHING (not kidding). I've never tasted anything like any of it in my entire life.

No one really rides through the park at 8:30am, haha!

My friend Jason getting ready to drop a small cliff on a double black diamond run on Breckenridge. This picture does not do justice how gnarly that run was. It was an amazing powder day, and one of the most memorable riding days of the season.

The morning after a big snow fall from my deck.

One of the many hidden forts throughout the trees on Breck. It is terrifying climbing the ladder up to this thing in ski boots. I'm a chicken and take them off on the way back down. It takes a lot of skill to get them back on when you're on the last step without putting your feet on the snowy ground. HAHA!

I installed blue lights in my new X-Terra.

Me and a bunch of close friends hanging out on top of another one of the many hidden forts.

Me and my friends having a late backyard session.

Going through one of my favorite tree runs on peak 9 on a powder day.

Early morning at X Games in Aspen.

Glenwood Springs Canyon on the way back from Aspen. Just this morning a massive rock slide destroyed this part of the road. It's expected to be closed for months.

We snuck my friends dog, Tibby, into Northside, a restaurant we regularly hang out at. What? She likes to hang out, too!

After doing this blog, I can honestly say I am extremely blessed to lead this life. I am loving every single second of my college experience, and will never forget any of these moments. These are truly the best days of my life... and I thank God for that!