Initial Summer Update

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.