Tag Archives: snowboarding

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Friends on a Powder Day

Yesterday was the first time I saw the sun in almost a week. Did I care? No, because it has been snowing for days and days, leaving only one thing to do. Shred pow.

My mission? Vail.

I packed my bags, stopped by the office then made my way through a blizzard over the treacherous mountain pass. I planned on riding until 2pm and then getting some work done around Vail, but that didn’t happen. I met up with some friends, turned on my GoPro and we went hunting for the deepest snow we could find. Before I knew it, it was 4pm and the mountain was closed for the day. It turned out to be one of the most incredible days I’ve ever had on my snowboard.

I put together a short edit of the day so I could re-live the glory over and over. Check it out.

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Change. Again.

It’s been a while, since I’ve written anything in my blog. Not because I’ve had nothing to share, but because I’ve been having too much fun. Excuses, excuses. Well I’m going to try to do better… Correction, I WILL do better.

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My life has changed a lot in the last few months. In fact, everything has changed. But unlike last time I changed my life, now I wasn’t running away from a bad breakup, or finding  “myself” or chasing after boy. I was simply following a feeling I had when I spent time in Breckenridge. Following my heart I guess you could say.

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In two weeks I quit both of my jobs in Denver, signed over my lease, moved to the mountains, and found myself living an amazing life in Breckenridge. I landed a great job that supports my snowboarding habit and my need for challenge, competition, and growth. I make my own schedule, so naturally I plan my work around my snowboarding…. kidding… kinda. But I do ride a lot, and work a lot.

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I’ll spare you the details of how awesome my life is, but let’s just say I couldn’t be happier. In order to keep my posts more consistent, I am going to keep them shorter and more to the point. Sometimes I like to go on tangents when I write…

Anyways, enjoy some more pictures of my life lately. #BreckLife

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Face your fears

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog. Maybe I’ve been busy, maybe I’ve had nothing to say, or maybe I just lost motivation. To be honest, I think it’s a little of each. But a recent wave on inspiration triggered by boredom from a debilitating muscle strain in my back has forced me to stop long enough to reflect on how my life is going and actually see what really matters. I decided it was time to start writing again.

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The two weeks leading up to my back injury were some of the best of days of my life. I spend every possible moment in the mountains snowboarding, sunbathing, and enjoying the beautiful Rocky Mountains life. Sometimes I move so fast that it’s easy to forget how fortunate I am to live the life I love, have the friends I do, and live in such an amazing place.

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As a competitive person, and even more competitive with myself since joining CrossFit, I decided it was time to get over my fears and throw down some new tricks on my snowboard. Not just any tricks, but tricks I’ve been afraid to try for years: riding boxes switch, spinning on and off boxes, and handplants. I’ve attempted handplants several times over the years but always got beat up by the massive 20 foot tall ice-wall they call a quarterpipe.

For some reason I woke up this past Monday morning determined to conquer my fear of getting inverted on the wall. After hiking the feature a few times I got one! Then two… then three. My friend Hilary and I must have hiked close to 20 times before we were so banged up and exhausted that we decided to call it quits for the day. I didn’t care. I handplanted! Screen shot 2013-02-18 at 2.54.00 PMScreen shot 2013-02-18 at 7.29.31 PM

I also managed to learn a few new switch tricks and stepped up my skills on boxes. I dialed in a switch 270 to front board to fakie as well as adding an extra rotation on the exit making it a 270 on 270 out. After this is it was a piece of cake to learn cab 3 (switch front 360). Next step is going bigger and adding a grab! Needless to say, I’m looking forward to being all healed up and back on the hill this weekend for the Burton US Open of Snowboarding championships.

I put together a short video of my newly aquaired skills, but unfrotunatley I am having technical trouble getting the video onto here. I will keep trying.

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Switch it up

Do your friends like to jib but you don’t know where to start? Try learning how to ride switch. Have you ever heard the term (or actually tried) to throw a baseball with your non-dominant hand? Well, I have and it’s a lot like learning to ride switch. Your muscles are accustom to a certain motion when you are snowboarding, but when you switch around you basically need to re-learn to snowboard.

If you want to do 180’s, 540’s or just become a more versatile rider overall, just follow these tips and you will cruising switch in no time.

1. PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON YOUR FRONT FOOT. Leaning back will make it much harder to gain and maintain control, so if anything lean slightly downhill.

2. LOOK and point to where you want to go. This will help initiate the turn for you. Remember that speed is your friend.

3. Once the turn is initiated, KEEP YOUR CHEST AND EYES UP, shoulders should stay directly over the hips, and heals. Your tendency will be to look at the ground, and you will end up leaning over and falling.

4. Ride switch at least half of each run for the first day or two. By the end of the day you will be comfortable linking turns switch!

5. Now that you can turn switch, you can start your 180’s on flats, small rollers and piles of snow. For a front side 180, ride on your toe edge, and jump a half spin landing on your toe edge again. You will open be spinning towards downhill. Only you will now be landing switch. Swing your arms from one side of your body to the other for extra momentum. Practice this often, and make sure you ride away switch.

6. After you are comfortable popping off your toes in a frontside 180, it’s time to try the backside 180. This time you will be spinning toward uphill. The most challenging part about spinning backside is that you land blind, so KNOW WHAT YOUR LANDING LOOKS LIKE.  It’s best to learn these on small piles of snow, rollers, and hits on the side of the trails. You will start to notice them everywhere. Ride up on your toe edge, and bend your knees. As you push off and leave the ground, swing your arms across your body and rotate your shoulders but DO NOT ROTATE YOUR HEAD! Trust your feet to catch you. You should land looking up hill. These take a while to get comfortable with, but keep trying! Before you know it you too will be jibbing everywhere!

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Today was the day! I slipped on my socks, base layers, sports bra and hoodie. Put sunscreen on my face, cooked a quick breakfast and double checked my bag. I had everything… in fact I had two of everything. I always get nervous on my first day of the season, and feel like I’m forgetting something. After double checking my gear I grabbed my snowboard and ran out the door. As I drove the hour and 10 minutes up to the mountains time passed so slow. I couldn’t wait to be there and make my first turns of the season.

Though I drove up alone I was confident that I would run into some friends. I was right. As soon as I got to the parking lot, I jumped out, tightened my boots, strapped my new helmet to my head and was off. I felt a huge smile overtake my face as I leaned down to buckle my ankle strap for the first time in months.

As I made my first turns I was instantly overcome with excitement, joy, and a renewed sense of peace and passion. *Sigh* It had been a long summer; a life-changing summer. Now I was home. Home in the snow.

As if the day wasn’t awesome enough, I ran into different friends every run (it seemed) and before I knew it I had a crew of 10 people with me! I made a point to attempt nearly every trick I learned last year as I slithered my way through the crowd at the top of the park and dropped in. I ended my day feeling accomplished, excited and ready for more.

It’s just the beginning. Let the adventures begin!

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Day 1 – A-basin

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Let it snow

Only 9 days until snowmaking starts and I can barely contain my excitement! I had an amazing summer, but now I’m ready for an EPIC winter. Last year was the driest year I’ve ever seen, and I did not get my powder fix. But what can ya do? After all I can’t make it snow, so decided to work with what I had and step up my freestyle skills instead. Here is a short edit my friend put together for me last spring. LoRidin’ 2011-12