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Powder Week–Jackson Hole

February 28th, 2008

I’m up here in Teton Village for Roxy and Powder Magazine’s ski test week, although it’s not really a ski test because the skis are not ranked and there are no cards to fill out.  It’s really just ripping around trying out all the new skis on the market. 

I got up here on Sunday.  We drove up through a huge snowstorm so the drive took extra long, but I was able to sleep soundly through part of it.  Monday morning we got up super early to ski Grand Targhee, because Powder week didn’t officially start until Monday night with the kick-off cocktail party.  Targhee was really cool.  It’s always fun to check out a new resort.  We found some sick pillow lines off the Sacajawea chair and the snow was so deep! 

 

On Tuesday morning I woke up really early because I was so stoked to ski Jackson for my first time ever.  The 48 hour snow totals here in Teton Village were 26", so I was chomping at the bit to get out and make some turns.  I skied with Kathryn Brackenridge, a Jackson local and Powder contributor for the morning.  We ended up meeting up with "Sick Rick" Armstrong and some others and headed out for a tour in 4 Pine.  The terrain at Jackson is mind-blowing!  There are so many big cliffs and steep chutes and long, long, wonderful powder runs, both in-bounds and out! 

 

In the afternoon, I headed out to Granite Canyon for another tour with some Powder folks and filmed some video for the website.  I was seriously in awe of the magnitude of the mountains back there.  The snow was amazing, and our line choice was superb, soft, powdery, pillow drops alongside a 2,000+ foot couloir. 

 

Today (Wednesday) my friend Drew Stern came up from SLC to ski with me.  We began our day with a hike to Cody Peak, skied that, skied Powder 8 bowl then headed to Couloir restaurant for a scrumptious lunch put on by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.  Skied another Granite lap in the afternoon, then came back to the hostel for a nap.  All the hiking has made me extremely tired, so I’m hitting the sack early for another day.  Check back soon for pictures! 

Tomorrow is the last official day of Powder Week, but Friday I’m planning on hooking up with photographer, Jackson local, and fellow Roxy Mountain Project team member, Alexa Miller to shred the resort.  Saturday, we’re thinking about hiking Teton Pass in the morning and then heading back to SLC in the afternoon–Plans could change however!

 

Still trying to figure out my plan for March–debating about possibly doing some competitions (Snowbird Freeskiing Comp–and then Gelande in April), maybe heading to Tahoe or Telluride — we will see what happens. 

 

Some things I LOVE:

Thermic boot heaters–

These little devices have totally saved my poor toes from frostbite on this trip.  They are super easy to use and charge and can provide 20 hours of heat. 

 

Thermicare Refresher

This little guy packs up super easily, and dries my boots and gloves so I don’t freeze in the morning.  The tubes are flexible, the fan is quiet and it uses UV-light to reduce bacteria (which means my boots don’t have their usual odor-a very important thing for my carpool buddies).  These dryers are such a life-saver! I’m not leaving home without ’em.

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Freeskier Ski Test

February 18th, 2008

February 13 I headed up to Solitude with the new Roxy skis for the Freeskier magazine ski test.  The conditions were prime for testing big-mountain skis, and I came equipped with the Roxy Helter Skelter’s (our expert, all-mountain ski) and the Shazam, another advanced all-mountain ski.  The morning was bright and clear and I made sure to get all the women to ski the new skis.  In the afternoon, the clouds started to roll in and it started to snow, which was very much needed after the few days of high pressure.  We had a super fun day, ripping around the sweet big mountain lines at Solitude and BBQing burgers and hot dogs for lunch.  Here’s a pic of me, Nicole, Pip, Tom and Dave hanging out in the tent.

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The Y-Couloir

February 18th, 2008

After a string of storms dumping over ten feet of snow in the Cottonwoods, it finally cleared up.  The past couple days have been the first that we’ve really seen the sun all winter.  With all the new snow finally settled, it’s been nice to get out on some tours.  On Tuesday, I decided to go ski the Y-Couloir, a chute rated 3 stars by Andrew McLean in his book, The Chuting Gallery, a Guide to Steep Skiing in the Wasatch Mountains.  He describes it, "Ta die for, A classic.  Major in every sense.  High quality.  A must ski.  Do it now."  Every since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to ski this line.  It only stays filled in for a few weeks out of the year, so I knew I hate to nail it while it was good. 

McLean further describes the chute:

"One of the more amazing and accessible chutes in the Wasatch.  You can get a great, but exceedingly foreshortened view of The Y as you drive up the Little Cottonwood road, but until you’ve climbed it, it’s hard to believe that it’s really over 3,000 vertical feet.  The most impressive aspect of The Y is that it hits 40 degrees immediately and never varies more than a few degrees in its entirety.  It’s wide enough to turn where and when you want and the scenery across the canyon into the Lisa Falls couloir is spectacular."

We started hiking at about 7:00.

Here’s me at the beginning of the boot pack.  Whoever put in this boot pack must have been really tall, because the steps were chest high for me.

Still climbing–it was steep!  I really wish I had those Black Diamond whippet poles–they have little ice axes attached to each handle to help on boot packs and also to help self-arrest if you were to fall.

Great view from the top.

So there it is!  Read more about my adventure on powder.com.  Here’s the link to the story:

http://www.powdermag.com/features/onlineexclusive/Y_Colouir_Utah_08/

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Sneak Peak, OR and SIA

February 18th, 2008

The past few weeks have been very busy indeed!  Here’s a little recap:

 

January 14-17 was the Sneak Peak, Roxy’s debut of their 08-09 ski line.  About 70 women from shops across the country flew into the Canyons to test out the new skis and rip around.  We split the women up into groups based on their skiing style and abilities and then assigned them to a group with a Roxy team rider.  My team was the Shazam, which is Roxy’s new all-mountain ski for next year.  I met so many awesome girls throughout the week and we had so much fun.  We stayed in fancy condos in Park City and had a fashion show and sushi party!  Here are some photos from the week:

Me in the fashion show–the new outerwear is so cute!  You’ve gotta love the polka dot pants.

 

January 23-26 

Right after the sneak peak, the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow came to Salt Lake City.  My hat sponsor, Shred Alert, asked me to help out in the booth modeling the hats and helping to promote my own signature model.  At first, I wasn’t really looking forward to 4 days of the convention, especially since it had been snowing, but it ended up being really fun!  All the buyers were stoked on my signature hat, and I learned how to crochet too.

 

January 29-February 1

As soon as OR ended, it was time to head for Vegas for SIA.  My job here was to work the front end of the Roxy booth, to give assistance to buyers in setting up appointments and to generally promote the Roxy vibe.  We also had a penthouse suite at the Mandalay Bay for all the girls.  It was like a big, fun slumber party every night.  I flew down on Monday and stayed for the entire week.  Vegas was absolutely exhausting for me, but it was great to meet many of the people who work for Roxy in Huntington Beach.  I’m even looking into doing an internship down there this summer for school credit–stay tuned!

 

Sue and I in Vegas, getting ready to go out

Carissa and Katie are our new talent scouts and promotional reps, and of course Sue, our denmommy and sales rep

 

In between all the events, I have been skiing everyday.  We’ve had an epic season here, and I’ve been shooting with photographers Lee Cohen and Brent Benson primarily.  I’ll be posting pics soon.

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I heart powder skiing!

February 11th, 2008

Here’s a little glimpse of what I’ve been up to!  Enjoy!

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