Back To The (mt) HOOD!

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.

High Fives

This past weekend I participated in the Annual Volkl High Fives Trains event at Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe. It was probably one of the most fun contests I have done all year. Spring slush, sunshine, friends, and epic chicken wings make for a good time. High Fives is a local organization in Lake Tahoe dedicated to aiding injured or underprivileged skiers back to full time. They throw a big air contest every spring to help raise money for charity. The whole day is full of big tricks and big trains. Especially big trains. Here are a few photos from the experience and a video to enlighten you.


We were team purple! Nick Goepper, Jared Karon, Lyman Currier, and two other fellows.

Steadily gettin blunted (almost)

 Me and Lyman Currier having a blast. Tandem switch seven mutes. 

Screamin seamons anyone?

Team purple gettin inverted. You know how we do.

Right now I'll be at Squaw Valley for the next week training at the Red Bull performance camp. Expect big things! It's already off to a good start! (knock on wood)

Spring Cat Skiing is Pretty Sweet.

It's great to be back in Lake Tahoe. I love it here. The last time I was here was in January for the first stop of the North Face Open Parks and Pipes Series at Northstar resort. Well let me just say that since then, Tahoe has been getting TONS of snow. The main reason I'm in Tahoe now is for the annual Volkl High Fives big air event at Alpine Meadows ski resort along with the Red Bull training camp at Squaw Valley. Every year Volkl Skis sponsors a big air competition put on by the non profit organization called High Fives. High Fives is a group that originated in Tahoe to help disabled skiers continue to do what they love out on the slopes. Volkl usually brings out some of their athletes every year to partake in the event. I was fortunate enough to be acknowledged by Volkl to join the High Fives crew this year.

As part of being invited to High Fives,  I was able to tag along on a private cat skiing day with the rest of the Volkl team in the Tahoe back country. I had a BLAST cat skiing for the first time today. Cat skiing is the same as skiing at a resort with epic terrain, EXCEPT without all the people and the chairlifts. It was my first tome on non-park skis since November. Pretty hard to believe huh?























































Check back for more update on High Fives and the Red Bull camp!

France Digitally Documented

I'd like to show you some awesome photos from my experience to France. I probably just looked like an ignorant tourist while taking most of these, but they'll provide good memories to come. Read the captions above the photos to inquire what they're about.


These are the alps from the aerial view of our plane, pretty small right?

 Lake Geneva

I wish my hometown in Indiana was situated in a landscape like THIS.

The remains of a mid evil castle. Pretty cool right?

The East facing slopes of Tignes, France form our hotel room.

Me and the renowned president of Windells Academy, Mike Hanley.

The Alps are kinda cool I guess...

The X Games Venues

You could have fit a whole 3rd grade class on these chairs.

If you know don't who Kevin Rolland is, he is a French halfpipe skier and is practically worshiped by his fans. Here they are staging a parade for him as he enters the town.

They have these things in France called funiculars and they are basically underground subways that take you to the top of the mountain. CRAZY. 

Top of the tram at Tignes, pretty cool view eh?

Flying back to the states, we passed over the frozen, ice capped waters of the norther Atlantic. I'd never seen the ocean like this before.

I'll be in Colorado for the next week or so shredding my face off with friends. Remember, don't forget to bring a towel! (south park tribute)