Summer's Snow Blog

How They Train: Snowboard Cross

2011-11-29T02:41:00.001-07:00

It would be so sick to have the money to train here! Maybe one of these days....

But for now I will be heading to the gym for the duration of time I still have a pass (until December 15th) -- going there with my coach, Stephen, tomorrow!!

On another note, we need snow! It was a nice bluebird day when I went skiing (yes, skiing! I actually haven't fallen yet on the skis other than taking them off and putting them on haha!) on Sunday but I'm super ready for pow!!

I'm hoping to somehow squeeze in a hut trip in the spring...doubt I will have a split board by then but I may perhaps have some tele skis...

I love the snow! Soooooo glad that winter is approaching! It's kinda weird that it's snowing in Tennessee/Georgia right now and it's pretty warm here...I'm hoping for a snowy Christmas with a lot of pow -- especially because my family is coming out the week before! I love family time :) Can't wait to ski/ride with them, have great food/wine, and play my favourite game, spades! "It's not a game, it's SPADES!!!" <3

As far as work goes this winter I am working as:

an EpicMix photographer at Keystone (since earlier this month)
an office assistant/photographer for High Country Tours Snowmobiling (since January)
doing promotions for different kinds of liquor through Premier Image Agency (since January)
doing promotions for Three Olives Vodka (since October)
at Fiske Planetarium as a Starlab presenter (since February 2007)

I've gotta pay the comp fees somehow!! I'm a busy woman but I (somehow) still find time to ride, spend time with friends, play video games, and sleep :)

I'm out for now, have to be at work in 7 hours!!

XOXOX Summ

Summer Glitter's Videoblog #2

2011-11-08T12:29:00.001-07:00

Video Blog #1

2011-10-24T08:39:00.002-06:00

Here's my first attempt at a video blog. Kind of weird talking to a camera, haha! It took me about 10 takes or so and then I still messed up! I hope you enjoy it, please leave comments on either my blogger site or directly on my YouTube video so I can hear your thoughts and if you have any questions you want me to answer than I can do that in my next post :)

If you watch the video you will notice I had a brainfart on the tour names (I think that's partly because the Hole Shot Tour used to be the Nor Am Tour and the Revolution Tour used to be sponsored by Chevy haha. The USSA comps that I am doing this year are:

o Hole Shot Tour

§ January 21-22: Copper,CO

§ March 6-8: Killington,VT

§ March 24-25: Mt. Hood –Meadows, OR

o Revolution Tour

§ January 8-9: Northstarat Tahoe, CA

§ January 29-30: OtsegoResort, MI

The Freeride Tours that I plan to compete in are:

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· Salomon ExtremeFreeride Championships @ Taos

o March 1-3

· Weekend Warrior @Winter Park

o Schedule Not Yet Posted

· Aspen/SnowmassFreeride World Tour

o February 17-19

Here's the direct link to my Phresheez page, please check it out! If you ski and/or snowboard (or do other outdoorsy stuff like hiking, dirt-biking, etc.) than I highly suggest that you download this App on your smart phone!!!

Here are some pictures from the first day of riding (September 15th) with Charlie! We went up Webster Pass about 3 miles past Montezuma:

I hope y'all are doing well and that you enjoyed my posts!!!

XOXOX Summer "Glitter"

Snow Season is Upon Us!!

2011-09-07T14:36:00.002-06:00

Well it's just a dusting, but Arapahoe Basin did receive a dusting of snow last night :)

It's officially "snow porn season" as I call it...the time when we are being teased by the snow either by small dustings like these or by premieres of skiing and snowboarding films that are played in theatres or other venues around Colorado (and I'm sure elsewhere). I'm sure that those of you in Colorado are like "duh!" when reading this description, but this culture is not something that my friends from back home (Atlanta, GA) are used to.

It's almost time for the 2nd annual SNOWBOARD ON THE ROCKS!!! This event is put on by mu buddy Adam from Snowboard Colorado, a sweet magazine (printed on recycled paper among other things) that is all about well what it sounds like, snowboarding here in Colorado! You can find a FREE copy of the magazine at their website: http://www.snowboard-colorado.com/

The event is going to be held at Red Rocks Amphitheater on Friday, September 16th. You will want to be there!! Not only will there be 3 snowboard film premieres, but there will also be live performances from sick artists including:

RJD2

Doomtree

Michal Menert

The 3 snowboard films that are being played are:

Standard Films' TB20

FODT & MFM's Familia 2

(teaser can be seen on their site)

Videograss' Shoot The Moon

(teaser can be seen on their site)

This is going to be an awesome event that you won't want to miss! Tickets are only $25 plus fees -- which can be avoided by buying at your local skate shop (in Summit: Big Hit in Breck or in Eagle: One Track Mind in Vail and many shops on the front range) -- tickets are going fast so buy one today!!

The other awesome stuff you get from coming to the show include:

A FREE LIFT PASS to Echo Mountain
2 for 1 lift passes to Copper, Sol Vista, Ski Cooper, & Woodward @ Copper's One Hit Wonders
Discount tickets to Silverton Mountain
FREE SUBSCRIPTION to TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING

Hope to see lots of y'all there, it's gonna be a ton of fun :)

SNOW PORN SEASON IS HERE!!!

XOXOX SUMMER

Most girls want to DO Jeremy Jones, I just wish I WAS Jeremy Jones...

2011-06-29T22:47:00.001-06:00

Deeper is thus far my favourite snowboarding film that I have ever seen, but it is just the first in an epic trilogy. Further and Higher are the other two films (not yet out) and I am soooo excited to see these premieres! Here's an article that has me wishing it were winter again...or that I had that money and resources to do what Jeremy does, on of these days...

http://snowboardmag.com/stories/going-further-june-jeremy-jones

Mmmmmmm, tasty!!

Workout Blog

2011-06-26T09:35:00.000-06:00

So there won't be many more entries in the snow blog until the fall but I have started a workout blog: http://motivatemesummer.blogspot.com/

I am trying to stay in shape this summer, it's been really fun being more active than I have been any summer since high school :) This is somewhat of a challenge for me, but I am very excited to do this!! I always say that I hate summers (ironic, I know) but living in the mountains has already started to change my mind there :)

To a great summer!!

xoxox Summ

Summertime Snow

2011-06-20T13:24:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to bed to a lightening storm and when I woke up, 6" of fresh pow had fallen up at A Basin!! I was planning on taking a sunrise hike but didn't have any company so bailed on that idea for safety reasons...heard that Eamon was going up to the pass a little later on (around 9am) so I got my gear together, grabbed a rock board and was out the door!

It was such a rush of excitement to see everything covered in snow this morning (even though I expected it), and driving up the pass was super exciting too!! Herman was happy to see snow during the summer time, and this much of it!?! Soooooo happy!!! I'm hoping to ride at least one more day this season (July 4th perhaps) and then I'll be content :)

Snow Banks are still taller than Herman!!

So beautiful :)

We were the first ones up there...I was shocked about that! We parked one car at the bottom and headed back up to the top where we met a kid from Boulder (Kevin) and he joined our crew for the day. There were 4 of us (Eamon, Chris, Kevin, & myself) and we had fresh tracks all the way down for the first two runs! The snow was pretty awesome (especially for late June) and the 3 laps we took were a nice morning workout...having 3 cars was great for a day when pass traffic is minimal :)

Scouting out the First Run

Overjoyed and taking Pics (Kevin)

Soooo Happy (Eamon)

Look at all the snow!! (Chris)

Hiking for our second run :)

Probably my favourite run (2nd run) :)

As for the rest of the summer, I decided to get a 6 month gym pass to the Silverthorne Rec Center and I started up with a nice easy 40 lap swim before work on Saturday morning :) I'm also playing on a soccer team and we play every Wednesday evening on different fields around Summit County, working on getting back in shape! I started playing volleyball (for fun) up at Carter Park in Breck whenever I have free time during the day and I'm really enjoying it :) I'm going to buy a hula hoop for exercising at home (I hear they are just $5) and I would like to get into doing yoga at least once a week. If anybody wants to do yoga with me let me know, that's something I'd rather not do alone :)

Relaxing for a bit and then contemplating a swim later on today!

COLORADO, I LOVE YOU!!! Atlanta summers are gross, hot, and sweaty!! The one thing that I miss about Atlanta (other than my friends and family) would be all of the outdoor pools!! We have great weather (though sometimes schizophrenic) here along with an amazing music scene! And in Summit County we have a gang of festivals...next weekend: Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour

Life is good :)

xoxox Summ

My Snowboarding Wishlist

2011-05-23T08:58:00.000-06:00

I just got my awesome new backpack that's perfect for day hikes and side-country riding!! Planning on doing a lot more of side-country riding from now on :)

But there are so many snowboard-related-ish things I want sooooo bad!! Here's my dream wish-list in no particular order (eventually I'll have everything):

Beacon
Probe & Shovel
Split Board
Woodward @ Copper Pass (going to finally learn to be better in the park to help with my all mountain riding and thus I'll hopefully do better in Freeride comps!!)

Freebord

Team KickAss Costume (I actually NEED a new jacket...mine finally bit the dust after 3 or so years)
HaberVision Highline Goggles (my goggles aren't dark enough on sunny days)

New Mittens (but I'm going to use Duct Tape as long as I can because I've never found mittens as awesome as the ones I rock before or since I got the ones I have been using for years!!)
More Smart Wool socks (you an never have too many)
Bindings (If I find good ones on sale...I have to switch mine too often with all of my decks!!)
Tele Setup (would love to learn eventually!!)

That's all for now...I'm set with my boards once Stephen, my "slash", gets my new race board ready to rock & roll after I try it out!! Oh what an expensive hobby I have...

xoxox Summ

Mini recaps of my day since 3.18.11:

2011-05-19T18:13:00.000-06:00

Well it just keeps snowing!! Looks like the seasons will change directly from Winter to Summer this year, Spring is being skipped!! Hahaha! Enjoying my last days of powder before my first beautiful summer in Summit County :)

March 18, Beaver Creek: Awesome pow run first thing and by noon it was all slush but it was a beautiful sunny hot day :) high quota today so a bit stressful but awesome day overall

March 20, Beaver Creek: Fun day of work at the Beav...sunny day, felt like surfing! Band at Red Tail Camp was good :)

March 24, Beaver Creek: Bluebird morning riding solo, work at 11.15, lunch with Kim & Scott at Red Tail, ran into JP & George there, after lunch it was pretty much blizzarding for a whle -- near whiteout conditions! Free champagne & then free beer with Lindsey, promo in Eagle with Jen...damn good day if you ask me :)

March 25, Beaver Creek: Day 100 on the hill!! Fun day working :) lunch with Joel & Kim, Happy Hour with Derek, Sean, & new friends :)

March 27, Beaver Creek: Great Sunday at work :) need to wax my Lib though!!!

March 28, Keystone: Faceshots, trees, & pow past my knees!! Fun morning pre-work workout on the UnInc :)

March 29, Keystone: Mouse Trap trees, Starfire with awesome pow past my knees, and even more fresh tracks with Ray :) Great morning before work!!

March 30, Beaver Creek: Fun day shredding with Rick, Cody, & Derek from other Marketing Research departments :) Stone Creek, Royal Elk Glade, trees, both parks (even did some 180s), cruisers.... all-together a good time and a much needed day off after working 23 days in a row!!!

March 31, Beaver Creek: Work

April 1, Beaver Creek & A Basin: Work at the Beav in the morning and an awesome Gaper Day at the Basin :) Lindsey up for the night and hung with Pete, Justin, Mike, Michael, Matt & company :) played some pool, met the 11-day-old boxer pups, etc. Great day, great night :)

April 2, Copper: Nationals practice day...love the course and feel pretty confident about it, but ran into a major issue, my boot broke!! Damn you, Boa system!!! Got my boot fixed and testing it out at work tomorrow...

April 3, Beaver Creek: My last day working at the Beav and a very weird yet awesome day weather wise! The highway from Dillon to Vail was horribly slushy and I was driving so slow because of hydroplaning!! It was raining in the morning and then it started snowing hard (I'm guessing corn snow) pellets and it was so windy during my milk run that I couldn't wait to get inside! Thunder came next and all of the lifts at the Beav were closed for about an hour!! Then the soft dry snow began accumulating quickly (~8" in 2 hours) which made for an awesome afternoon shredding at the Beav!!!

April 4, Copper: Tiring race day...got 1st at Nationals though :) I'm so happy I had so many great friends come and support me :) Thanks so much to everybody!

April 10, Keystone: Slush Cup (Jake won!!!), Shot Skis, BSG friends, Breck friends, Avon friends, park fun, Kickapoo, Dos Locos -- Great closing day at Key!!

April 13, Vail: Beautiful bluebird day with Amanda, Aaron W, & Brian! Theme of the day: JUST POINT IT!!

April 15, A Basin: Awesome powder day riding A Basin with Esteban and Erica Morgan! Palli chair, East Wall, avalanche blasting, Warren Miller film being shot, Bacon Bloody....ahhhh, schizophrenic April :)

April 18, Beaver Creek: Employee party day at the Beav

April 19, Copper: Copper with Autumn in the afternoon after work :) Heavy pow!!

April 20, A Basin & Copper: 2 laps at A Basin, a few hours of work at HCT, interview for SNG, rode Copper with Stephen, watched Nuggets lose :'( ladies' night at Johnny's with Amanda Montana, Erica Morgan, & Stephen....weather too bad for moonlight ride :( next month!!!

April 23, A Basin: Fun pow morning before work :) Kahlua promotion in the afternoon, gave away Kahlua Never Summer :)

April 24, Copper & Vail: Fun in the trees this morning at Copper!! Off to Vail closing day 10" at Copper (snow was best) and 12" at Vail and sunny is more than I could have hoped for!! Rode for a while and then hung out up at the top of Chair 4 before 4 because I wanted to see the pond skim...watched the pond skim at Vail (Jake made it to finals!) with Smiley, Pete, Mitch, Jen, etc. and saw Boomhower!! Rode with/Partied with: Anthony, his bro, George, Derek, Chase, (afforementioned), etc! Great closing day!!

May 1, Loveland: Awesome powder day with Curtis at Loveland!! Awesome resort, idk how I've never experienced it before (except a pre-season day) when I live so close!! Hit my first ever rainbow box and did some seemingly unnecessary hiking because we ended up on the wrong side of the tunnel...pretty sure it was a good mile...hahaha

May 11: A Basin: It felt awesome to ride this morning :) Of course there was a little crust underneath in some places but so much powder, face shots all morning!! Rode with Amanda Montana and Lisa :)

May 12, A Basin: Phenomenal morning at the Basin :) Zuma Bowl, cornice, and trees were great, definately doesn't feel like May with all this fresh pow!! Rode with new friends, Mick & Stu :)

May 13, A Basin: Great Friday the 13th!! Skiied half the morning and rode once I'd realized they opened up East Wall :) My riding buddies were my new friend, Levi, Mick, and his roomie (Pat?) Fun day, beautiful day!!!

May 18, A Basin: Fun day riding with my new friend Mac :) Found some good pow but definitely some dust on crust in areas. Snowed hard all day long! Was very wet snow though so I was soaked by the end of the day! The onesie is definitely not waterproof anymore, not even close!!

May 19, A Basin: 8" fresh snow in May!! Had an awesome day shredding with my girls! Rode with Miranda in the morning and with Erica Morgan in the afternoon :) Popped Erica's cornice cherry too! Rode my old (2004) Burton Custom today, nice little change-up :) I'm stoked for a powder day on my birthday tomorrow!!!

Day count this season:

A Basin: 18

A Basin/Copper: 1

Beaver Creek: 38

Beaver Creek/A Basin: 1

Breck/A Basin: 1

Copper: 18

Copper/Key: 1

Copper/Vail: 1

Key: 22

Loveland: 2

Loveland Pass: 1

Snowmass:2

Steamboat: 2

Taos: 3

Vail: 10

Winter Park: 2

Total Days: 123

I WANT TO DO THIS!!!

2011-04-23T12:41:00.000-06:00

Video: Ski BASE Jumping + A Class 5 Avalanche + A GoPro = #Winning - France, Teton Gravity Research Blog post

STRAIGHT UP AWESOME!!! AHHHHHH!!! :)

USASA Nationals @ Copper

2011-04-06T17:39:00.000-06:00

Saturday was the practice day for Nationals at Copper. I registered and then met up with Stephen to check out the course. We looked at all of the different features and discussed the best way to hit everything:

I was pretty confident about the course and I was stoked to hit it...I met up with Christine and Rascha (2 rad girls from Boston that were in town for the comp) and Charles and Papa Joe and we took a few runs together :) By the time 2pm rolled around I was sooooo ready to hit the course!! I hit the course and had an issue with the Wu-Tang at the beginning and I didn't know why...then I realized my boot was loose which made riding the course difficult even though it was just practice! When I got to the bottom of the course, I realized that my boot wasn't just loose, my Boa system was completely broken!! What great timing...

Needless to say the next practice run didn't go too well and I was left very frustrated....thank goodness for meeting up with AJ & Ryan & company to party that night because my day was not fun!!

Sunday was an awesome powder day (after 11am) at Beaver Creek and my last day of work there...bittersweet! Vail pass was closed for a while so I chilled with Clay for a while and then headed home to pass out :)

Monday was the big day, very exciting!! I got up to the course and inspected the course on my LibTech (I race on my UnInc) and I felt super comfortable on the Lib...which was strange because when I practiced on the Steamboat course on my Lib it was waaaayyyyy too poppy but it just seemed right for some reason for the Copper course?! I called Stephen and told him I was feelin' the Lib but that I wasn't sure...I mean he waxed the UnInc the night before to get it ready and the Lib hadn't been waxed for a few days...and not with racing wax...Stephen told me to take a run on the UnInc and then decide. I took a practice run on the UnInc and decided that the LibTec was the one! Stephen crayoned on some of the White Gold Hertel wax ($100/oz) that AJE Promotions hooked me up with, corked it in, brushed it, scraped it, and I was ready to ride!!

Team Kick Ass...ready to rock and ride!! I am so happy to have so many people show up to support our team!!

Me hugging Papa Joe before the race

Me & Acker

Denise (on crutches), Dave & Acker

My awesome "slash" :)

Our team is small but mighty!! We have 1 "slash" as I like to call Stephen because he's our coach slash wax tech slash photographer and we have 5 riders (as far as I know) : Autumn, Charles, Denise (injured), Skyler (injured), & me. I met all of the girls in my comp group and we waited around until they were ready for our group (a lot of groups were ahead of us) to do our time trials :) The way they set up our comp groups' bracket was that all 6 of us were going to race (6 at a time) 3 times. 1st place got 1 point, 2nd place 2 points, 3rd place...you get the picture. To figure out the winner they would add our scores from all 3 races and the one with the lowest points wins and so forth. We lined up for time trials and Justine started feeling sick so she peaced out (despite our best efforts to get her to race) and we were down to 5 competitors...

Elaine, Me, Ale, Ali, & Katy

Time trials went pretty well...I got a time of 76.99 which was the top seed, the girl behind (Ali) me was close with a 78.66. Getting the top seed in time trials means that you get first pick for gate choice. Some people are very particular on which gate they want but I generally just prefer an inside gate in general. I picked the 3rd hole (3rd gate from right out of 6) for the race. Here are some pics from the first of the 3 races at the top of the course (thanks to Acker):

Waiting...

In the start gates...

I really need to work on my starts...arm work outs during the off season it is!!

Rocked my ass over the Wu-Tang this time and really reached (thanks to Stephen's great coaching) to get over this feature in 2nd place...

I got 1st place in the first race and watched Autumn come in 1st in her only race...she knew she had the Gold right away...as for me, 2 more races...

"Champion Sandwich" as Acker called it :P

I managed to take 1st in all 3 races so I went home with the Gold, pretty sweet, huh? Oh yeah, then it was Pizza Carlo time to begin the celebration of course!! After Carlo's was the ceremony where I got my sweet medal (and of course got a bit overwhelmed and went up on the podium from the wrong side, forgot to take my goggs off, etc. lmao

Sick, medal, right?!

From the moment I stepped up onto the podium it was like woah, paparazzi!! I got off and got on another photo op podium and then made it back to my friends where I thought the pictures were due to subside...uh, negative. Flash, flash, flash!

The Turneys (family friends I went to church with when I was growing up) were out on vacation from Atlana and though they didn't get to see my race they did make it to the awards and took me out for a beer after, it was great to catch up :)

Went to Storm King for sushi with Tony, Alex, and ?Tyler? and as soon as I walked in the rest of the crew (Dave, Autumn, Denise, Brad, Acker, Charles, Papa Joe, Stephen, Olivia, etc.) left for Incline so I joined them after a bit :) Great day it was!!

"Hello, can't you see I need a beer?!?"

Little Boomhower!!! <3

Friendsssssss!!!

Well that's all she wrote for today...I'm headed out to Boulder to see some old friends, since I've been so busy competing and working 3 jobs I haven't been to the front range in I'm guessing 2 months!! Have a good night, y'all :)

xoxox Summer

Photos from Taos :)

2011-03-24T06:28:00.002-06:00

Ok...I suck, I promised a post about Taos by Wednesday night and...epic fail!!! I blame it on Mr. Jim Beam!! I was planning on having a PBR and then the keg was blown -- Buck's went through 5 kegs in 4 nights (damn you bro brah spring breakers!!!) -- so Jim and that was early in the night...I'm riding tomorrow morning (yay!!) at the Beav before I have to work (day 18 in a row -- and 9 of those 18 nights on top of the days!) in the "afternoon" at 11.15am :) Double black moguls here I come!! Oh yes, there is a shirt I really wanted from Taos (that I didn't end up getting) that said "Black Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" -- love it!! Ullr, pleassse bless us with more snow again!! Looking forward to shredding the gnar, seeing Kim at Red Tail Camp for lunch, and just being at the Beav in general :) So no real post from me as I'm gonna go back to sleep for another hour or so but I did take time to get pics up!!! Enjoy my pics from Taos and a real post is coming soon :) The bruise pic you see in the lot is before the bruise fully developed so be looking forward to the story and here's the picture of my bruise and of part of my board (before the wonderful Stephen fixed it) to keep you on your toes!!

Accident happened on Saturday, this pic is from Sunday...

And this pic was taken Monday...

And here's the core shot...

Oh yes, Herman really enjoyed coming along! <3 ya, buddy :)

And here's a pic of the first sunrise I saw in Taos:

Ta-ta for now and enjoy the albulm of pics I posted!!!

xoxox Summer

USASA BX @ WINTER PARK: PHOTOS!!

2011-03-22T08:34:00.001-06:00

BX photos from Winter Park!!

Enjoy, closure of Taos update to come before tomorrow night (I promise!) :)

xoxox Summer

So excitied for USASA Nationals!!!

2011-03-16T13:39:00.000-06:00

Just got my USASA BX Nationals invitation, going to the website to register now!!

If you're interested in coming to watch, the event is held at Copper and the dates for my comp group (Senior Women BX) are:

Practice Day: Saturday, April 2nd

Competition Day: Monday, April 4th

Winter Park USASA BX Day 2: Saturday 2.27

2011-03-15T17:46:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's taken so long, life has been crazy!! Today is day 9 in a row of work and my next day "off" is April 2nd which is practice for BX nationals!!

Just a few pics from Day 1:

Here is the last paragraph of my 2nd to last post (Winter Park BX Day 1) and the recap of the 2nd day of competition:

As the next morning arrived all too soon I found out that Autumn's knee and lower leg were in immense pain. We all had waffles for breakfast (and yours truly of course made a huge mess and ruckus -- though I didn't burn my waffles!!) and then Stephen and I left for the mountain.

Stephen and I managed to go down the wrong run once we got there -- which meant I was too late to do an inspection run. I talked to the other competitors and the main thing I heard about the course is that it was faster than Saturday, which made sense since there was less snow overnight.

Stephen waxed my board and had me do some stretching before time trials. I slept on my hip and shoulder funny the previous weekend and the hot tub seemed to have (finally) made my hip feel better. As for my shoulder it was hurting when pulling out of the gates and even just while I was racing...ugh! Anyways...I was amped about time trials and then as I headed down course I realized that the lighting was sooooooo flat!! I was doing a lot of speed checking this time because seriously I couldn't hardly see the snow; rollers were popping out of nowhere!! I made it down the course alright until the very end where I washed out on the very last roller and slid to the finish line on my ass. I was really worried about the flat light...as awesome as my goggles are, I still couldn't see the snow!! They really needed to spray more blue on the turns, burms, and rollers and I don't know why they didn't!?!

Hung out in the lodge with the crew until race time and then headed to the top of the course. Thankfully they not only added blue to mark the snow but the sun came out enough so that we could see the course. The race was intense...at the bottom of the first hill Denise and I crashed, here's the sequence:

I took a nice "ass-ripper" as we call it (self explanatory) and even ripped my favourite PJ pants (bottom layer) ;(

Not to mention that my ass hurt for...well...until my next fall (stay tuned). Denise bumped her head pretty hard and we had to get back up and on course which was tough because we crashed in a relatively flat spot. The rest of the race I was in front but I had no idea by how much, I always assume the people are right on my ass. Pushing the pain aside I charged on and then when I got to the finish line I realized Denise wasn't directly behind me and I didn't know why she wasn't right behind me...turns out where I'd fallen in time trials is just about where she fell...Tib Fib....and instead of getting pow turns at the end of the day DH went down in a sled and I spent the afternoon in the clinic with her :\ She got surgery about a week ago and has something like 3 plates and mad screws in her ankle! So sad we won't be racing each other at nationals ;(

Time to have a good night...work tomorrow at 8am...long crazy days working in a ski town over spring break!!

xoxox Summ

Mini Recaps of My Days Since 1.28.11

2011-03-14T16:50:00.000-06:00

January 28, Beaver Creek: Work day :P

January 29, Keystone: A few night laps at Key with some new friends in-between promotions :)

January 30, Beaver Creek: Workity work work work

January 31, Keystone: 2.2 miles on morning Courdoroy...top speed 59.4 mph, not a bad way to get ready for work :)

February 3, Beaver Creek: Working in the cold...witnessed a 56 y/o Aussie woman crash hard and had to help her...sled and all...I hope her arm is OK!!!

February 4, Beaver Creek: work. Top speed of 59.1?!? Felt like I was relaxing today...

February 5, A Basin: Palli day full of faceshots with Struebs, Brad, Kim, & Becca :) Ran into Michael Abel too :) Oh and a famous Bacon Bloody!!!

February 6, Beaver Creek: Worked in the am and then took tree and (shocker) park laps with Ryan, AJ, & Justin :) the pipe at the Beav is so tiny and cute!! (but scary cause you'll shoot right out!) I wanna get a trick there this season!!! Powder is the best thing in the world <3

February 7, A Basin: Another epic pow day at the Basin :) Strueber, Brad, Doug, Peter, Bill, Becca, and new friends :)

February 10, Snowmass: GPS turned off for a bit but had an epic day at the Mass with J Fish :) hiked two epic runs and rode some sick trees...super soft pow, no people around :) And made a new friend, Chris after I lost J in Hanging Valley lol Great day, Umphrey's tonight at Belly Up!!!

February 11, Vail: Half-day after drive back from Aspen. I rode with all new friends who I met on the lifts and I took one run with Peter after he got un-lost, great tree pow!!

February 15, Keystone: 6 runs, 11.3 downhill miles, 55.3 mph max speed

February 16, Keystone: Good morning ripping Courdoroy...4.3 miles in before work, top speed 63.8 mph

February 18, Beaver Creek: Work and then 2 fun runs at the end of the day :)

February 19, A Basin: Fun day backcountry off A Basin...until Struebs got hurt...time for some burgers and hot tub :) Too many gapers today anyway...

February 20, Beaver Creek: Blues for work...

February 21, A Basin: Awesome day riding mainly double blacks with DH (Denise)...we got some sweet pics and then hit up Dos Locos :)

February 24, Beaver Creek: Errands this morning, one fun run and then work this afternoon :)

February 25, Beaver Creek: work at the Beav

February 26, Winter Park: Race day at WP (1st)

February 27, Winter Park: Race Day at WP (1st) Collision today, ass ripper (even ripped my pants!)...as little painful but not a biggie...should heal soon. DH in the ER for a fall that happened after the collision near the end of the course ;(

March 3, Taos: Freeride comp day 1, met some awesome new friends...then Bloodys with Carlos and Autumn :)

March 4, Taos: Freeride comp day 2, great run!! Intense hour long hike (Kachina Peak) and some great turns with Autumn, Greg, and Mateo :) great apres and hot tub after :)

March 5, Taos: Finals day (Kachina Peak)...another good hour long hike...met a lot of new friends and had a stellar time even though I ended up falling hard in the finals!!!! Coming back next year for sure :)

March 10, Beaver Creek: Fun morning with trees, moguls, and a top speed of 56.7 mph :) great morning and a fun afternoon working for a total of 22 downhill miles and it was warm enough that I didn't even wear a jacket!

March 11, Beaver Creek: Good day at work :) another warm one, felt like surfing by the end of the day!!

March 12, Beaver Creek: Workin'

March 13, Beaver Creek: Another day at my beautiful outdoor office :) Powder day!!! Nice workout :)

Day count this season:

A Basin: 11

Beaver Creek: 29

Breck/A Basin: 1

Copper: 15

Copper/Key: 1

Key: 19

Loveland: 1

Loveland Pass: 1

Snowmass:2

Steamboat: 2

Taos: 3

Vail: 9

Winter Park: 2

Total Days: 96

Taos Freeride World Tour: Part 1

2011-03-07T21:26:00.002-07:00

Autumn and I got to Taos on Wednesday evening around 5.15pm…we thought we were late for the riders’ meeting but turns out it was at 6pm so we were actually early J We were stoked to find out that they had a pasta dinner ready for all of us when we got there! Everybody that we met seemed really nice and we could not wait for the competition the next day. A lot of my friends (and even my parents) seemed confused about the logistics of this event…this event was NOT a race, but it was a freeride competition (part of the FWT -- Freeride World Tour) and this was the first time that either Autumn or I have competed in a freeride competition. Freeride competitions aren’t brand new but they are new to letting boarders ride and this is only the 2^nd year that this particular freeride event had any women snowboarders. Grassroots, baby!

That being said, this is what the FWT has to say about the nature of a freeride comp:

“By definition, the term freeride is contradictory to the word competition. Some riders refuse to enter contests because of this definitional clash or simply would prefer to not be judged. Though for some riders, freeride and competition fit together. They wish to compare themselves to other riders from time to time and have someone decide who produces the best show.

Therefore, we need judges. When it comes to freeriding, we all know that there is different terrain and different ways to express oneself within this terrain. The goal of this judging system is to allow any style of riding to win on any given day. Whether a rider’s strength is steep terrain, big airs, technical tricks or speed, each style should be able to win if on that day, the rider simply showed the most impressive run utilizing his own strengths. Riders shouldn’t have to adapt their riding to a system; the system should be adaptable to the riding.

So how can we create a judging system that is both fair and not restrictive? Freeriding encounters the same dilemma as other disciplines such as surfing, skateboarding or freestyle skiing/snowboarding have. These respective sports have all gone through their own distinct experiences and it is interesting to see that they all ended up with similar judging systems. Systems with overall impression scores, given mostly by former riders respected by the new active generation, based essentially on emotions rather than mechanical descriptions. This handbook is a work in progress; it will evolve and change to better accommodate the sport and the riders.”

The FWT has a very long handbook in which they explain the judging criteria, but here is the overall summary (for more info on judging please refer to the website and download the judging method packet):

“There are 5 main categories for which the judges have to pay special attention to and for which they will have to answer many questions:

1. Line: Is the line original, easy, steep, has big jumps, well thought out or with much criss-crossing around?

2. Fluidity: Is the rider going fast compared to where he is in the face? Is the rider following his line without hesitations? Does he slow down too much or takes unnecessary stops before jumps? Is he lost and searching for his way?

3. Control: Is the rider in control at all times? Is he in control in the air? Did he control his landings? Did he manage to link turns in steep narrow places or did he slide down?

4. Jumps: How big was the jump? How did the rider enter the jump? What happened in the air? How good did he stick his landing?

5. Crashes: Crashes have to be looked at in an overall impression as well.”

After a great spaghetti dinner, we met up with our Couchsurfing host, Kind, and his son and friend north of town. After a long 6+ hour drive and stress from credit card issues (that were not my fault!) I was exhausted and passed out almost instantly.

Thursday morning rolled around quickly and I headed to the mountain with Autumn. Got breakie from the cafeteria…hash brown plate made by the awesome grill man, Tommy J After eating we headed to get on the lift and realized that our credentials card was not an actual ticket and we had to pretty much run to get tickets on time! The stress of the getting to the site on time really made me miss having Stephen there with us more than I was already missing having him with us!! Didn’t realize that we still had to buy tickets for each day, more credit card issues (that still weren’t my fault…), took the wrong lift, etc. I really don’t get very nervous during competitions (maybe a tad, but nothing major) but I get super nervous and stressed in the morning before getting to the comp sites, even when nothing goes wrong!!

When we got to the top of the correct lift, we heard that we had only 10 minutes to get our inspection run in! We hiked up the short hike to the top of the West Basin Ridge and checked out the mountain…really weird snow. I’ve ridden at many mountains in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Austria, North Carolina, Vermont, etc. and I still had never felt snow this strange…the snow was kind of like Colorado’s spring snow but more dry than spring snow and also smaller icy crystals than our spring snow. Hard to explain, but it was weird to us for sure.

We decided that we didn’t like the run that we’d inspected and borrowed some binoculars to scout our line. We chose to ride St. Bernard (the run furthest lookers’ right that was in bounds for day one) because it reminded us of Palli chair at A Basin.

The event was run much more smoothly than USASA events are with a short time in-between riders/skiers. Thus buy the time Autumn and I made it back up to the starting area it was time for her to go already! We hadn’t yet made it to St. Bernard and Autumn hurriedly decided to take the run we were at when she heard the announcer calling her name from the bottom. I debated taking that run but decided that since I was the last woman rider that I should try to make it over to St. Bernard. When I got a good distance hike down the ridge I freaked out because I wasn’t sure if I’d gone too far over and I didn’t want to DQ on my first freeride run ever so I hiked back up to where the starter was. Extremely out of breath, I found out that I was not next but that I was on-deck. The starter asked if I was taking the run we were at the top of (the run Autumn took) and I said that it wasn’t my original plan but that I guessed so because of the aforementioned reasons. The starter told me I had time to make it to the other run if I strapped in and he sent me with a radio-equipped guy over to St. Bernard.

By the time I made it to the top of the run I was already so out of breath!! I took a minute to strap in and then jumped over the cornice. I had some good carves on the steep but I unfortunately had a hand plant on one of my turns. I felt good about my run but not amazing. Getting to the bottom of the run it felt wrong not seeing Stephen there after his awesome coaching last weekend!

I watched for a bit at the site and then I took a run with new friends Smiley, Jake, Pete, & George. I then met Autumn at the bottom for a bloody and we decided to just stay at the Martini Tree bar and socialize instead of tiring ourselves out by riding hard the rest of the day. Met Carlos (the bartender), who became a good friend over the weekend, and some other cool dudes who were also in the competition J

Went to Crossroads pizza joint for dinner because they have PBR there (I love the Martini Tree but they didn’t serve my beer!) and enjoyed some slices with some fellow competitors before seeing the results from day one (they take an annoyingly long time to post them). There was one girl with a bye (which means she was pre-qualified for the competition) and there were five other girls competing. Autumn took 3^rd on day one and I took 4^th. Headed back to Kind’s spot and passed out early (7pm-ish) on the couch while watching Semi-Pro. Woke up rejuvenated around midnight to everybody passed out cold and started playing Angry Birds. Decided I needed to do something instead of playing that silly (but fun and addicting!) game for hours so I went to hang out with my new friend Carlos for a while.

The next morning we headed to the mountain, got our ticket (still credit card issues…), got another hash brown plate from Tommy J and then made our way to the course (and took the right lift!) in much better time than the day before. For day two, they opened up more runs on the West Basin Ridge (in addition to the runs that were already open for day one). Did inspection run with Autumn on a run called Waterfall. Had the snow conditions been better this would have been a sweet run but we seriously felt like we were going down a frozen waterfall at the top and couldn’t even make a safe turn until we were about a third of the way down! Took some jump turns and got to the lower third of the run that was more open but the snow at the bottom was super sun-baked and thus had a crispy layer on top…not fun to maneuver through…

Part 2 to come (including pictures) as well as Part 2 of Winter Park!! Just too tired to do it right now...

xoxox Summer

Winter Park USASA BX Day 1: Saturday 2.26

2011-03-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

It was an eventful weekend to say the least! I've made some really awesome racing friends this year (Olivia, Meredith, Kim, Amanda, Charles, Joe, Denise, Alex, Stephen, Cameron, etc.) and I've had the chance to reconnect with some old friends (Tim, Wade, Autumn, etc.) as well :)

Going to WP for the race brought back fond memories from when I was on the CU Snowboard Team...we practiced at WP the first year I was on the team, that's the park where I hit my first line of bigger jumps and where I learned how to hit the half pipe. College wouldn't have been what it was for me without CUST friends, CUST trips, or without Pat A -- my coach during college.

Friday was training day but I wasn't able to make it because of lack of funds and because I had to work at the Beav. Autumn said the course was awesome, but I was too worn out from my week to stay awake and ask any questions about the course so I went to sleep (before 10 as I tend to do quite often these days) so I was rested for the next day.

Earlier in the week, Stephen had offered to come along as Autumn's and my wax tech. As I soon found out, Stephen would be tripling as our coach and photographer!!

Saturday morning seemed to come quite quickly....I saw 5.30 on my alarm clock and decided to snooze it until 6am. Stephen was at my place before 6.30 and we were out the door around that time. We got to Winter Park around 7.45am and were at the course no later than 9.15.

I went on the course for inspection with Olivia (who had been at training the day before) and checked it out. The course had an old-school downhill start, had a tiny jump at the top and then went into a good roller section before the first turn which slowed you down a lot because it was on such a flat area! After the first turn there was a good sized roller that brought you over the next one quite quickly (and abruptly!) and then the course went downhill and turned left into an area of some more rollers and then took a sharp U-Turn to the right where you could either hit this really intense hip or stay high and go around it. After the sharp U-Turn there was a step-down and then the course curved to the left and went down hill. Olivia and I pulled over here and moved to the side of the course to talk about the hip. Denise rolled up and the three of us sat and watched a few people -- including a guy (who was one of many) that was flung from the hip and into the orange netting on the side!! The three of us and Autumn decided to go around the hip for safety reasons. Moving on, after the course curved to the left and went down hill, there was another sharp (~90 degree) left turn that went into a section of four rollers and then there was an even sharper right turn, a slight downhill, two large rollers, a fast but flat section, and then a big roller and two smaller rollers and then the finish line!! This is definitely an absorption course. Stephen told me that I needed to absorb pretty much every feature and that I needed to pump my arms in the newly coined (thanks to Autumn) "monkey summer" way to get all I could from each roller. I took a practice run (or two?) through the course, and then it was time for time trials.

There was a lot of waiting around as there always is on race day, but WP did a good job of organizing things and trying to keep things moving. Unfortunately one of the course holds was because of my friend Cameron's crash which kept him from racing this weekend...but the good news is that his wrist isn't broken, just some torn ligaments. The bad news...his board broke in the crash.

Meredith wasn't able to race this weekend because of a knee injury (~2 or so weeks ago) but the good news is that she just had sprained ligaments and she said she'd be back in the gym this week :)

My race with Denise was a very intense and close race with a lot of lead changes (at least 4) throughout the race. We're quite a good match on the race course!! I ended up taking 1st but it was a close race for sure!! Other firsts for Saturday include Olivia, Kim, & Autumn :)

Saturday night we stayed at the Pinnacle Lodge in Fraser (just past WP) and we had a crew (Dave, Autumn, Charles, Joe, Stephen, Denise, & myself) at Azteca (great Mexican restaurant in Fraser) and celebrated the evening with awesome food, margs, and then took a dip in the hot tub!! All before I passed out at 9pm...

As the next morning arrived all too soon I found out that Autumn's knee and lower leg were in immense pain. We all had waffles for breakfast (and yours truly of course made a huge mess and ruckus -- though I didn't burn my waffles!!) and then left for the mountain.

This is going to have to be continued though (with pics and details on Sunday) as I need to get Herman ready to go to Taos, New Mexico for the Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships!! Autumn and I need to be at a rider meeting tonight at 6pm!!

xoxox Summer

New Sponsor: Skins!!

2011-03-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

As of last night I am now sponsored by Skins™, which is body-moulded gradient compression performance equipment with built-in BioAcceleration Technology™ which will enhance your performance in training, competition and recovery. The future of technical wear is engineered gradient compression. When compression is engineered to apply a balanced and accurate surface pressure over specific body parts, it triggers an acceleration of blood flow. This increases oxygen delivery to working muscles to enhance their performance. The circulation improvements also help the body to eliminate lactic acid and other metabolic wastes. The combination of these effects allows you to work at a higher rate for longer. The improved oxygenation is most marked in recovery from exercise. As a result, muscle repair is accelerated, with a greater effect if your Skins™ are worn for longer, The best effects on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which can last for more than 48 hours, are seen after 8 hours during which time pain, muscle weakness and alertness are dramatically improved.

I decided on the new A400 series which is a newer series and the world’s first compression equipment designed specifically for the human body in motion. Using archaic and outdated measurement devices, most compression manufacturers take compression readings on their subjects in the passive state, and publish these readings in millimeters of mercury – or mmHg. These measurements present an obvious – yet previously unresolved – problem when applied to the body; athletes don’t stand still. In the dynamic state, the human body works in ways many (if not all) compression manufacturers disregard; limbs change diameter with blood flow, muscles get larger and smaller with contraction and extension, and joints operate in 3 dimensional planes with both linear and rotational movements. Through the use of our proprietary warp-knit microfiber material, a feature in ALL SKINS compression equipment, in addition to a wide array of revolutionary fabric technologies and product innovations, SKINS 400 Series is the world’s first compression equipment designed specifically to provide engineered gradient compression to the moving body.

Here are the tights I chose :)

Excited to wear my Skins for the freeride competition this weekend!!

xoxox Summer

Taos Ski Valley Weather Report...

2011-02-27T04:49:00.001-07:00

So I was checking the snow/weather report for Taos and realized that it's gonna be a warm one while Autumn and I are there!! It's supposed to snow 3-5 inches today (Sunday) and then it's unfortunately not supposed to snow at all until after we leave!! That's good as far as the judging situation goes (the judges will be watching us through binoculars according to the website) however I was hoping for some fresh pow!! We will be getting in Wednesday afternoon and the competition starts on Thursday and Thursday's the weather forecast is this: Hi 51°f / 11°c (base) & Lo 20°f / -7°c (base). I'm gonna talk to Stephen (my wax tech/coach) to figure out the right wax to get our boards ready!!!

That's all for now...a post on Winter Park BX after I get home tomorrow night! It's been a blast thus far and Stephen got some great pictures of us too!!!

xoxox Summ

USASA Rocky Mountain Series BX Comp this weekend in Winter Park!!

2011-02-22T18:03:00.002-07:00

USASA Boardercross races #3 & #4 of the season (Rocky Mountain Series) will be taking place this weekend (Saturday & Sunday) at Winter Park. I'm stoked for the races and I'm hoping that the races will be better organized than the races earlier this season at Steamboat. Stoked for some more BX action!!

A few photos from Steamboat BX:

The ladies!!!

Team Season (Summer & Autumn)

Timessssss...

Waxing in the hallway!!

Me & My Roomie, DH (Denise)

Our hotel :)

What kind of hot sauce does Summer love?! CHOLULA!!! XOXOX

STOKED FOR THIS WEEKEND!!!

xoxox Summ

Team Season is headed to Taos for the Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships!!!

2011-02-21T10:02:00.001-07:00

Super stoked for the competition in Taos...it's going to be my first Freeride competition!! Autumn and I FINALLY booked our plane tickets to ABQ for this comp: Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships

Team Season is headed to New Mexico....our first time ever riding at Taos...send us good vibes, we are gonna rock this shit!!!

Taos_Freeride_2010 from cory bixler on Vimeo.
Highlights of the 2010 Freeride Event at Taos Ski Valley. Shot and edited by Log Mahal Productions.

This is one Premiere I am NOT going to miss!!!

2011-02-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my BFF, Kellie Balu, for sharing this with me <3

Lazy morning...maybe riding this afternoon...then off to Aspen!!

2011-02-09T11:01:00.001-07:00

Decided to stay in yesterday...there was powder everywhere (including almost 6 feet in our driveway thanks to the dousche snowplow driver....thanks to my roomie Doug for taking 2.5 hours to shovel it so it was gone before I knew about it!) and it was hard to stay in but I was just feeling soooo terrible and had no voice!!

Going to get my errands done that I was to sick to do yesterday and then I'm gonna wax my snowboard so I'm ready to shred the pow in Aspen!!

Going to Aspen with J Fish to see Umphrey's tomorrow night at Belly Up (my fav CO venue) and to shred tomorrow :P Haven't yet decided if I'm gonna ride Highlands Bowl or Snowmass but all I know is that I'm stoked to shred in Aspen and to see my buddy Joe!!

Came across some old photos from the CUST trip to Mt. Baker in March '09...sad I didn't get to go this year but can't wait to hear how the trip and the race went for the rest of the team!! Here's the link to those old photos (taken by Sean Sullivan) of Luke H. and me: http://djsulli.powweb.com/lukeandsummer/photos/

xoxox Summ

Epic Pow Pic

2011-02-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

Photo by: Kimberly Stenzel

One of many amazing pow days we've had recently!! Ullr has been amazing to us this year...and It's only early February!! Feeling under the weather and trying to rest up but I'm gonna need to get at least a few runs in today even though I wasn't up for first chair!!!

xoxox Summ

Mini recaps of my days since 1.4.11:

2011-01-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

January 4, Keystone: Fun afternoon of mostly trees with my girl Paige and her buddy Kris G :)

January 5, A Basin: Fun steeps and moguls with Autumn, Eric Agel, Pizza 101 Greg, Doug, and 2 new friends :) Nice and soft snow :) Great afternoon after a lazy morning!!

January 6, Keystone: Eric's last day, 14.7 downhill miles, top speed 47.1mph, Eric buried in a snow drift, and my first time hitting my face on a tree...good day? I'd say so :)

January 7, Beaver Creek: Work

January 8, Beaver Creek: Work

January 9, Beaver Creek: Sick Powder Day, much needed :) Lots of trees and moguls in the morning with J Fish...then took a lap with Kim, AJ, & Ryan H before working in the afternoon :) Hooray for snow!!

January 10, Keystone: Coldest day of the season!! Sticky riding when your board has all temp wax on!! Way too cold at -9!!

January 11, Beaver Creek: Damn GPS got turned off for a few runs!! Rode the new stick, it was awesome!! So worn out though, this board is legit! Sweet poe, chutes, drops, etc.

January 12, A Basin: Fun easy day after a nice bloody with Erin, Marya, and a new friend Matt :) Happiness :)

January 13, Beaver Creek: Fun morning with Autumn and Jacob and then rolled 6 deep with bosses (Bryant & Doug) and coworkers (Kyle & Scott) for a few runs and worked solo for the rest of the afternoon before our monthly meeting :)

January 14, Beaver Creek: Work, mellow day :)

January 15, Beaver Creek: Sweet day shredding with Aaron (popped his Beav cherry!) but pretty short day because of babysitting :)

January 16, Copper: Krahooligan Cash Cow: Time trials in the morning, first two features were the hardest ones I've ever hit!! Just had time for 2 runs after that and a beer...not to mention energy...and visibility!! Love to Dave, Rach, & Dave for showing moral support, coaching, and video taping!! And of course love to Autumn, GO TEAM SEASON!! RACE ON TOMORROW!!

January 17, Copper: Krahooligan Cash Cow Day 2

January 18, Vail: Sick pow day (16") at Vail with Struebs, Anthony, & Brad :) Cliffs, trees, moguls, beautiful blue skies!!

January 19, Keystone: First time night riding this season :) Props to Aaron for dragging me to the slopes at night even though it was wicked cold, it felt great!!

January 20, Copper & Keystone: Rad day with my new friend Stephen and with my girl Caroline!! Somehow only the first part of our sick powder day was recorded but rode Copper and Keystone!!

January 21, Beaver Creek: Workin at the Beav :) Top speed of 52.2mph on just blues when I need a wax...not bad!! I love my job!!

January 22, Steamboat: USASA Race 1, 1st place points. Frustrating day, more on that later. Dropped one 15' cliff with Autumn & Denise to release tension though :)

January 23, Steamboat: USASA Race 2, 2nd place points. Rode a bit more pow but lots of waiting around...race day...

January 24, Keystone: Nice morning riding solo at Key :) Kinda cold but no complaints here!!

January 25, Vail: 60.9mph max speed, 18.9 downhill miles...rode solo in the am & met a new friend (Phill) who I rode with int he afternoon. Good day :) Bart & Yeti's, Pinnacle Whipped Vodka promo with Autumn & Darcy, recorded for Autumn's commercial...sprayed the shit out of her multiple times!! Good pow, good people, good times!!

January 26, Vail: Nice relaxing day at Vail (first time I've slept in...to 9am...in a long time!!) Skiied with Pete for a bit then rode solo :)
That brings my totals to:

A Basin: 7

Beaver Creek: 16

Breck/A Basin: 1

Copper: 15

Copper/Key: 1

Key: 15

Loveland: 1

Loveland Pass: 1

Snowmass: 1

Steamboat: 2

Vail: 8

Total Days: 68

Haven't taken a day off since New Years Day....rock on!!!

xoxox Summ

Krahooligan Cash Cow: Day 1 (Part 1)

2011-01-26T16:29:00.001-07:00

I’ve met some awesome new friends over the past two weekends and I’ve had the chance to reconnect with friends I haven’t seen in a while, it’s been great!!

Last weekend was the Krahooligan Cash Cow, the first Boardercross (BX) race I’ve ever entered that has had a cash purse. The race was at Copper and 11 women entered the contest (which was limited to 40 women).

First things first…I’m soooooo excited for the first race of the season but I’ve been waiting on my new race bindings (Burton CO2s)…they were finalllllyyyy delivered on Saturday night (the night before the race) and boy was I stoked!! I woke up early the next morning to get my set up ready….and I couldn’t get the bindings to fit on my race board (Burton Un Inc 160)….I had the original plates that came with the board and 3 other sets of plates that came with the bindings though!! Autumn (my race buddy and best girl friend up in Summit) got to my house as I was starting to freak out about the situation….I had her take a go at it and still no luck!! We rushed over to Copper and decided to get help from someone at a rental shop there. So I’m carrying three boards (2 with bindings on them) and the box with my race bindings in them…in a slight run…oh, it was ridiculous, check tha pic:

For those of you wondering why I had multiple boards, it’s because I want a fresh wax on my race board so I’ll ride one board to the course and carry my race board there. A lot of riders do it; I’m not the only one!! I brought three boards this time because I wasn’t sure what was going on with the CO2s!

So we get to the rental shop at the base and met a rental tech there named Eli…hoping he could help us?! No luck!! It’s crunch time by now (even though we were planning on getting there early!) so we’re rushing to get the Cartels (same model different year as bindings I raced on last year – remember I broke the old ones opening day at the Beav) off my Lib Tec…team effort with me and Eli and Eli’s setting me up with the Cartels on my UnInc!

We rushed up to the course and it was time for inspection…here’s the pre race interview we made:

I know I’m wayyyyy behind but I’ll be all caught up soon!! More from the Cash Cow coming up soon!!

Xoxox Summer

Camping For All

2011-01-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

This is Autumn's fake commercial for her fake REI type store, Camping For All. I'm the sprayer in the video, it was pretty fun to shoot :P

I LOVE ULLR!!!

2011-01-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Been meaning to update but there's been so much snow that I've pretty much been riding and sleeping!! Will post update on the BX Cash Cow race tonight and hopefully on Vail dump day <3

I love my life!!

xoxox Summ

Mini recaps of my days since 12.12.10:

2011-01-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

December 12, Vail: Had a blast skiing with Sean Girvan and Clay, but dealt with some interesting weather...couldn't see from the snow sticking to our goggles...got to demo a sweet Burton board though (Sweet Talker) and had a blast in Northwoods as always :) The snow consistency was extremely heavy though which is weird for Colorado...

December 13, Keystone: Rode with 2 cool chicks I met that day (Christie & Terra) and then by myself :)

December 15, Keystone: Booking it on Mozart and playing a bunch on the back side :)

December 16, Keystone: Some fun solo pow runs and then helped out a buddy (Josh) from the golf course in the afternoon (he hadn't ridden for 2 years)

December 17, Beaver Creek: Good times with Brad and Jon Ludwig at the Beav, problem that needs to be solved though is battery life on my Android (I run GPS all day long with my Phresheez app)...I can never record stats for a full day of riding! :\

December 18, Vail: Beautiful powder, cliff drops, great times with great skiing buddies :) (Strueber, Ludwig, Brad, Alex, & Curtis)

December 19, Keystone: Took a few turns solo before leaving town for my first ever business trip (with Fiske Planetarium)!

December 22, Beaver Creek: Fun day with Curtis, Paige, and my mum :)

December 23, Vail: Other than Sun Down bowl (that Seth Schy somehow talked us into doing...and then he ditched us), the snow was great! Especially the pow in the trees!! Rode with Curtis, Girvan, Becca, Josiah, & Doug :) 6 deep!!!

December 24, Vail: Didn't get out until ~11.30 because of a fun night out on bridge street with Becca & Girvan...still had a blast with Girvan and Andreas though!!

December 26, Beaver Creek: Training day with Stu :) (on-hill surveyor for marketing research) Not much time on hill b/c we had to go to HR at Vail and do office stuff....love it!

December 27, Beaver Creek: Was babysitting in the am so only rode 2 hours but it was fun :) Did get bailed on though by the person I was supposed to meet...oh well, cest la vie!

December 30, A Basin: Snowy, cold, low visibility!! Fun times with new friends from Breck though (Spankey and 2 of his friends) and hit a few small features in the park :)

December 31, Beaver Creek: Was working at the Beav...it was so ridiculously cold though, -5 without the wind chill!

January 2, Beaver Creek: Rode solo in the morning (snow wqs kinda sticky because it was still frigid out) and worked the second half of the day :)

January 3, Keystone: Tracking turned itself off for a good hour or so, so I didn't get everything...but the powder was soooo good and champagney :) Took some runs with Eric Agel (finally! he's visiting from ATL again!) and some runs solo...no friends on a powder day :P

That brings my totals to:

A Basin: 5

Beaver Creek: 8

Breck/A Basin: 1

Copper: 13

Key: 10

Loveland: 1

Loveland Pass: 1

Snowmass: 1

Vail: 5

Total Days: 45

Here are a two photos from December 17th @ the Beav:

(Me, Brad, & Jon Ludwig)

(Moving my mums' stuff to the new timeshare, thanks to Brad for packing up Herman!! There were sooooo many boots, skis, and boards in there it was ridiculous!!)

And a few photos from December 18th @ Vail (more photos to come soon, I promise!):

(Me, Curtis, & Struebs)

(Lovers' leap)

(Our couch in the woods: Struebs, me, Brad, Alex)

(side view, same spot)

Hope you're enjoying my blog! Now I'm off to Key!!

xoxox Summer

My First Sponsor!!

2011-01-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

Good news!! I got my first sponsor, Haber Vision...Check 'em out here: I'll be rocking some new goggs soon!!

All of their lenses are polarized and they have some sweet products including:

The Haber Eliminator, a no-fog fan:

And for those of you who ride with glasses:

I've got more to write, but it's late so I'll make sure to update again soon!!

xoxox Summer

2010-12-25T14:10:00.001-07:00

Testing out mobile posting....

Opening Day at Beaver Creek...POW POW POW!!!

2010-12-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Opening day at Beaver Creek was November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving, and it was an epic beyond epic powder day!! This year we've had great snow in the early season...we deserve it from how screwed we were last season!! Beaver Creek is one of my favourite mountains...thus I could NOT miss opening day!! I rolled over to the Beav with my girl Autumn to shred some serious pow pow :)

What better to do on a sick pow day than hit up the trees for some awesome stashes...we went up Centennial Express (Chair 6) and then took Cinch Express (Chair 8) up to the top where we then cut into the trees skiers left almost immediately. (For reference feel free to check out the map here: )

We had an awesome adventure through the trees in powder that was as deep as our knees and at some places was up to our waist!! It's definitely a workout cutting through all that snow!! I led the way through the trees...found a cliff that I was excited to huck...but then I found out that there wasn't enough coverage on the cliff and did an accidental flip into the snow below!! Going into the trees takes me into another world where I can be alone with nature and really feel connected to the sport I love...it's magical, you should try it if you haven't (after you have enough skill and control)!

We were in the trees for at least 45 minutes before we came to a trail...we looked around and not only was the trail empty but there were NO tracks anywhere around!! We took a long powder run on an empty slope....it should have been in a movie! When Autumn and I got to a flat right above Red Tail Camp we saw signs that said "STOP! Winching In Progress" Well winching is when they are grooming the run with huge winch cats which are extremely powerful...they have a 350 horse power motor (a Ford Explorer's is about 180). These cats are powerful enough to safely climb up slopes over 50 degrees! These cats are pulled up the hill by huge cables...they could cut a person in half!! We stopped and unstrapped and stood there wondering what we should do...

The cat operator hopped out of his cat and asked what we were doing there and I simply told him that we hadn't ducked any ropes but that we were in the trees a really long time...turns out that the area was closed off because they were preparing it for the World Cup downhill race!! Needless to say it was an amazing adventure...and it was only 11am at this point! We got a ride back to the main base in a sweet truck with tires I'd call caterpillar tires :)

Epic day...hopefully way more to come this season!!

xoxox Summer

A few photos (per request)

2010-12-14T00:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to find my uploader cord but here come some pics from early season!!

A Basin Opening Day (wearing my onesie in October!):

Up to Day 29...

2010-11-27T18:22:00.001-07:00

OK so I know I haven't updated this thing since the first blog but I have so much to write about and the Internet been cut off due to insufficient funds...the move and the time in-between golf season and Snowboarding season has made the cash hard to come by! Not to mention a whole lot has changed in my life this week. I got lazy at counting days but I'm doing my best to remember...

Wednesday the 17th I rode at Copper with Autumn, Nikki, Nikki's man, and a few other people :)

The 18th I rode the pass with Autumn & Willow (her dog)...Willow was running so hard through the snow that she ran her sweater off!!

Saturday the 20th I took some early morning laps at Key solo :)

Sunday the 21st I rode in the afternoon at Copper with some buddies...I think Autumn, Hope, and a few more...

Monday the 22nd: Copper

Tuesday the 23rd: Copper

Wednesday the 24th: Beaver Creek opening Day with Autumn!! Met up with Clay for 2nd half of day :) In the top 20 days of my life for sure...details to come soon!!

Thanksgiving (25th): Copper (they opened Super Bee!!)

Sunday the 28th: Beaver Creek

Monday the 29th: Epic pow day in Vail with Kaelyn, Peter, & crew! First cliff drop (~10 feet) of the season!! Fun times with a crew that likes to party :)

Tuesday the 30th: Keystone

Wednesday, December 1st: Keystone

Friday the 3rd: Copper

Saturday the 4th: Copper with Rachel G & Justin Gibbs!! Two people I'd never ridden with before that can keep up!

Sunday the 5th: Snowmass in Aspen...still early season conditions there but I rode with some skiers that were beyond fast...these kids were throwing back flips in the park like it was their job!!

Monday the 6th: Copper

Tuesday the 7th: Sweet morning pow at Copper :)

Wednesday the 8th: Copper

Friday the 10th: Keystone with Strueber and Mark...soft pow pow and sweet runs with my fav ski buddy and a new riding buddy!

I may have missed some days but that's as best as I can do!! Here's the running total...

A Basin: 4

Beaver Creek: 2

Breck/A Basin: 1

Copper: 13

Key: 5

Loveland: 1

Loveland Pass: 1

Snowmass: 1

Vail: 1

Total Days: 29

Day 10, First Real Pow of the Season :)

2010-11-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

Today seemed like the day to start my snow blog. I've had so many epic days and awesome adventures on the mountain that it seemed silly to not write about them! I'll be writing for my spiritual growth, to save and share my memories, and for the entertainment of others :)

I've ridden 10 days so far this season (4 @ A Basin, 1 @ Breck/A Basin, 3 @ Copper, 1 @ Keystone, & 1 @ Loveland) and the race to open this year was won by Loveland...they opened on Sunday, October 24th (last year it was October 7th) A Basin opened a day later (and of course I was there) with an epic pow day!!

Copper opening weekend was epic riding with Kellie, my BFF, Nikki (BSG), teaching Karin (long time BFF from Atlanta) how to ride, and a few others :)

I got the flu last week and was bedridden for a fair amount of time thus missing many days...but the snow has been accumulating and we now have a bigger base at most of the mountains than we did last year in February!! I feel an epic season coming on!

This season my goals include: filming a lot, getting sponsored, getting better at riding switch, learning at least one trick in the pipe, improving at boardercross (BX), and learning more about the different waxes for my board and the appropriate times to use which wax.

Today I rode with 4 BSG (Boulder Snowboarding Group) members at Breck for a few hours...soft pow, nice weather, good times! I met a new skiier friend (Julian) and gave an old buddy (Justin) some pointers one one run and he's linking turns now! I love helping people getting better at riding....it's a huge passion of mine! I love snowboarding and I love to share the wonderful feeling the mountain gives me with others :) I can't wait to start my job as an instructor at Copper!

I left Breck around 1.30pm to head over to A Basin...I hadn't ridden there since Lewanee lift opened. I got there and it was windy and cold but I felt good about it...when I got on Lewanee my face was getting blasted by super small intense snow crystals and I just wanted to ride! When I got off the lift it was legit whiteout conditions!! I strapped in and headed down...at times not being able to see even 2 feet in front of me! I was confident on my board and headed to my first black run of the season...it felt great to be making some real pow turns...and to be on a steep slope! Wow. The season has finally started! I got stuck in the powder it was that deep!! Pulled myself out with the help of a tree and headed up again for some more action! When I got done with that top-bottom run I headed to my car and it was whiteout conditions at the bottom by then!!

The drive home was one of the scariest drives I have ever driven but I drove safely and made it home...passed a car stuck in a snow bank and had to call 911 for him. My top speed down the pass was 15mph (I think highest speed limit is ~45mph) and there were no visible cars in front of me. The rest of the way home my top speed was 25mph (and I have a great mountain car!) and the speed limit ranged from 40mph-55mph! I heard on the radio that I-70 was closed in both directions as well as the pass (that I had just come down)!

It was an epic day and I can't wait to wake up early for some more powder!!

xoxox Summer

P.S. A skiier tried to start a fight with me on the lift at Breck...he was ~50-60 years old...I'm shocked I handled it so well...it's a lot easier to walk away from a (potential) fight when you are on the ground!! Among other things he told me that my generation was flawed and when we got off the lift he flicked me off! Wow...I am still somewhat in disbelief...