Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I last posted but there has fortunately been a TON going on! My life is wild and I'm glad I can share it with the rest of the world. I've been through a bunch since I last posted about West Coast Sessions. Since the end of West Coast sessions I've enjoyed some time at home, learned some new tricks at Windells, participated in a wicked photoshoot, broken my arm, and braved a ski mountaineering camp in Tioga Pass California. It never seems to stop. I'd like to give you a full re-cap on what's been going on this past month. Lets start with my time at home.
Immediately after West Coast Sessions, I caught a plane from Portland back to Indiana to visit my family for two and a half weeks. It was a great visit. I was ecstatic to finally re-unite with my friends and family back home after a wild winter. There was only one problem though. I came home with the UGLIEST goggle tan from the slopes. My parent even forced me to endure church one morning with me looking like a fool. My little brother can vouch for me on that.
After Hanging out with friends and family for a while, I flew back out to Windells to start my summer skiing season. Although, at first it sure didn't seem like summer...
Eventually, the weather cleared up, the campers started flocking in, and it started to finally feel like summer. The first few weeks of the summer with the Windells Academy went great. I've been learning new tricks every week on hill and I even have been skiing some halfpipe. Here the first two skiing edits of the summer that the media crew at Windells has produced. They're great!
Session 1, 2011: Skiing from
Windells on
Vimeo.
Session 2, 2011: Skiing from
Windells on
Vimeo.
Unfortunately, when I was nearing the end of the second camp session last week, I came up short on a jump and broke my arm. I had a mountaineering camp planned immediately after the second session Tioga Pass California but that didn't stop me from going. The mountaineering camp I attended with Alpine Skills International from Lake Tahoe was an experience I'll never forget. It was difficult and physically demanding but well worth it. Me and a group of about 9 kids along with 2 mountain guides explored and conquered all kinds of different zones in Tioga Pass. The highlight was our overnight climb on the Dana glacier. Here are some photos
The famous Dana Glacier. We skied the Dana coular which is the big coular to the left of the bowl. We climbed of the center of the bowl into one of the entrance chutes on to the top of the ridge.
A view from the top of the bowl
Sherpa Galgin helped us with the cooking and set up of the camp throughout the camp.
Following the mountaineering camp was a series of doctors appointments and a surgery and lots of laying around waiting for the pain to subside in my arm. The pain is gone and the days are back to normal again here in Oregon. The healing process is underway and not it's just up to my body and time before I can get back to 100%. I'll be skiing in about a week but keeping it mellow. Check back to the blog for more updates soon.
My time spent down in New Zealand so far has been well worthwhile! I've been having a great time with my buddy Lyman Currier whom I traveled down with. The past 4 days have been non stop skiing and having a great time. Unfortunately, the weather gods decided to poop on New Zealand the majority of the last week, but the last two days it cleared up and the weather has been sunny and perfect.
These next few days are going to consist of EXCESSIVE pre calculus. I'm really far behind and in order to be school-free this summer, I need to catch up. The Red Bull camp last week in Squaw Valley was fabulous. Although, we didn't have very favorable weather, I had a ton of fun and got my foot in the door with red Bull. We did get two solid days on snow where I learned some new tricks and skied some halfpipe. I arrived in Portland Oregon two days ago to come back to Windells for a week. Next week we have the West Coast Sessions shoot planned at Timberline ski resort. West Coast Sessions is an annual film/photo shoot event held at Mt. Hood every year. Usually, a number of highly ranked skiers are invited out to participate and get shots. I participated last year and got to ski in my first ever sunset shoot! Hopefully the same thing will happen this year and we can produce some good results. They're building some crazy features for us on the mountain right now! Here is a shot from last year. Stay tuned for more coverage. 
Today I picked my first major win of my career at the Dumont Cup in Sunday River Maine. It was amazing! All of my good friends were out here today shredding with me. Semis and finals took place today on a perfectly manicured course that Simon Dumont himself designed for us. Mother nature played a huge role today throughout the contest. Wind gusts were blowing the flags sideways during the contest. I'd like to thank all of my sponsors, WINDELLS ACADEMY, VOLKL SKIS, MARKER BINDINGS, SMITH OPTICS, UNDER ARMOUR, DALBELLO, DAKINE, AND SCOTT POLES. Also, big shout out to the big guy up stairs watching out for me!
Taking a six hour bus ride through the alps packed in like sardines with people isn't the most comfortable journey in the world. And on top of that, having to pay thirty dollars for dinner at the airport hotel that same day isn't the most comforting feeling either. Me and my coach Mike are exhausted. We left Tignes France this morning at 12:30 via bus ride and arrived in Geneva Switzerland at 6:30. Our plane departs tomorrow for the states at 10:30. I'm sitting in my hotel room right beside the Geneva airport reminiscing on how great of a week I have had in Europe. The European X Games experience has been surreal. I'm definitely looking forward to coming back next year. I don't think I have ever eaten so much good food in one week before. The French sure know how to cook. I'll be doing another post soon with TONS of photos from Tignes. Don't take the creepy picture to the right to seriously haha. 
