Update my life

Hello all its been a while since a I posted here. There has been quite a few changes in my life since last January.

We'll start where I left off. I had interviewed for a company named Splore, in SLC. The interview went well and I was hopeful that I would be offered the job. It was a day back in February I was teaching a private ski lesson and we had braked for lunch. I got a phone call from my suprevisor Janine that Splore would like to offer me the job. I was so excited. The position is titled Northern Program Manager. My position is like the one I had in Vermont with Vermont Adaptive, only the program is bigger. I also have full time paid staff, and I still manage volunteers.

I started back in April 4th. Last 5 months have blown by. It was a real trail by fire. There is nothing like walking into a program you know little about, only 2 months before your busy season. I have done well. Our user days are up and all my staff are happy which leads to happy clients. So you all know how I like to feel bad ass. So what is more bad ass then being one of about three guiding companies in the Wasatch to have permits to use US forest service land.

I have also been falling back in love with a Miss Kristen Courtney. We had dated briefly back in 2009. Since then we have kept in touch and rekindled what was so meaningful to each of us. It has been a long and torturous road since we wrote letters in February. Lots of travel and periods of no communication.

Kristen had been living in Tucson, AZ then Durango, Co. Durango is about 7 hours from SLC, UT. Once things began to get more serious we decided to travel the long distances for visits. I hopped on a plane in February to visit the heated state on AZ. Total switch from the winter wonderland of UT. While I was there we visited the desert museum and the Bio Sphere. The place was cool and educational. If you are ever in AZ check it out. I was also able to see the southern most ski resort in America. There was still snow there, we didn't ski. The visit only solidified that fact we never stopped loving each other.

It wasn't long, March, before Kristen was up here and we got to ski together. We spent the day at Solitude. I probabaly snowed and we had a blast, as per ususal chasing each other around the mountain. Since March Kristen was back in Durango. This made things a little better. It was a seven hour drive and more managable on our wallets. This journey we have embarked on has been both hard and fruitful.

As time drew on Kristen was getting more and more burnt out with the company she had been working with. We were also wanting to be closer and not have to travel so far. After I got the job with Splore we decided Kristen would move in with me in SLC. She found a part-time job, a cute puppy and headed up to SLC in August. Its been a month and things are still good between us. We had always looked at having roots as a burden. As it turns out having roots is just a stable place to come home to after any adventure.

On to May. Scott and I have been talking about buying a house. We believed it was better to pout money into something that was ours and not somebody else's. I was away on my mountaineering trip, pictures on facebook, in Stanley ID. When I got back to my truck and checked my phone Scott had put a bid on a house. He did so because the house needed nothing done to it to live in. So we now own a house. We are always tinkering and have projects going on, now we have a huge project that will hopefully make us some money when we go to sell the house.

It is now September, the end of September. our house is more our home. We have painted, planted, remodeled, and made it our own. My partner, Kristen is moved in and I have a real and stable job that is challenging and fun. Now for the fun part of the story. About 24hours ago I had just gotten home from ACL reconstruction surgery.

I had partially torn my right ACL in Jan. 2010, while skiing. I missed most of that season. I ended up getting it scoped and the doctor thought it would be fine with some PT and a brace. Not sure why but it turned out it wasn't. In the year and a half til I saw a new doctor, I must have done more tearing and my new doctor said," If I was strong enough I could pull your knee apart." So yesterday I got a new ACL. The short time I have been post surgery has been fine.

I am motivated to give 115% to recovering and working out to be in better shape then when I got surgery. Wish me luck and feel free to ask how things are going. I could use all the accountability I can get.

Well now you have been updated to my life. Life is good and getting better. Hope you can say the same, if not make a change.

Time Keeps ticking, ticking, ticking...

So my Norwegian Ski School director reminded us yesterday in our morning meeting that there is only 2.5 months of the season remaining. We all cringed a little, the words were like painful and disheartening. Today I didn't work, so I got to ski all day, well at solitude a full day can be skied in about 3 hours. A few co-workers and I decided we would work for our turns. We took the slow lift and boot packed, hiking up "stairs" in the snow skis over your shoulder, up a ridge till we got to a nice open meadow. We took two runs up this ridge. These and a few others runs made the day. The snow was soft and fast, the sun was bright and the goggle tans dark.
So its been a full day and I have been reflecting on my season. The snow has fallen and stopped, but we have not cared. The snow came in deep. It has also lasted through the slow month of January. Now with the last weekend of January approaching we are looking forward to the snowy months. I would be satisfied with my season if the snow melted tomorrow. Good thing it won't. We have gotten about half of our average snow fall with 2.5 months left. I think it'll be a great rest of the season.

My skiing life

So this season started back in October. It was almost 10 months to the day since I had been on skis. Back in the fall I can't begin to explain the dread and hesitance that loomed over my knee. I was also so excited to be back. My emotions were playing a game of war over how I was going to ski.
It started with headed up Alta with a few work friends. When we got to the top of the slope I asked " Hey can I not go last, in case my knee is a problem?" They all let me go first. I had new and the stiffest boots I have ever owned and huge anxiety over my knee. On the uphill it was fine, held up to the two two laps. On the way down It was scary. First turns were way less aggressive then I usually ski. I thought the boots were too stiff and I made the worst decision of the season and the season was over before it began. I ski hard and I love to ski hard. after the first run I was devastate, crushed and wanted to cry the reach of the way down the hill, MY SEASON WAS GOING TO SUCK.
Then I left Second Nature, and become a ski bum. I got a job teaching skiing to kids at solitude ski resort. The snow continued to fall and it was a great early season, for skiing. For work it was slow and that was compounded by the fact that I have forgotten what is was like to be in an industry reliant on tourism. We, the locals were revealing in the the early snow and some of us could not imagine why we didn't have any ski lessons. It was some of the veteran instructors who had to remind us that good early snow doesn't equal lessons. Then came the Christmas vacation came around and so did the tourist with more snow. I planned on working the whole 20 days over the break. It was a time to make money and I wanted my share. I worked groups and private lessons with families. When I worked with the families it was like a movie, Aspen Extreme to be accurate. I got lunch everyday. Once we walked into the slope side bistro, boots on and all, it was fancy. I put my ski school jacket over the chair and tried not to grin too wide. At the end of the meal, in which I had one of the best club sandwiches ever, we got a discount because of my jacket. Man I was living the life. After that I was told I was given another private because I was working hard and doing a great job. I was give the opportunity to establish a client base for the following season, again living the life. It was a wild ride over the break. I even got sick I was working so hard. Then the lessons stopped. And we are all waiting for the next big ski weekend, Martin Luther King weekend. To this day I have skied 400,000 vertical feet at solitude in 33 days, that is 12,000 vertical feet a day on average.
And that is only the front country, or like my great grandpa said "On the yo-yo" referring to the lifts. Today I went out and toured in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We skied about 3000 feet today. This is my 9th day in the backcountry. The avalanche conditions have been fairly mellow all season. Which has made the challenge finding the good snow to ski. Since it hasn't snowed much in the last 2 weeks, we are very spoiled here and you can hear us whine about it too, the southerly facing stuff has a sun crust (http://www.fsavalanche.org/Encyclopedia/sun_crust.htm) about an inch thick. This makes for some hard turns and not fun skiing. So today were hiked and skied some of the best untracked snow that region. It was so fun and the turns so good, even the tired wanted more. Those endorphins that pumped through us made us crave for more good turns, made us push our empty tanks uphill one more time for those most coveted turns.
While in bounce, in resort, I have been mostly on my alpine skis. I have become aware of my bad habits on my alpine skis and on occasion I can make a run look good. When we don't teach we head out and do clinics, free ski lessons and tricks to help us teach. Which has all made me a better skier. It is a funny switch from one setup to another, teles to alpines.
Life has been good and money has been on the fence, but for the type of life I'm living I can't complain. Money will come and that is that. Hope all is well with all of you and enjoy what you are doing, or find something you do enjoy.

Its a New Year

Another day in Paradise
Scott on yesterdays tour in Silver fork in BCC


Self portrait in grizzly Gutch in LCC...nov 18th


Well things have been a bit crazy for the last few weeks. I have been working way harder than my paycheck says, ski instructors like waiters live of tips. My tips have been more than my paycheck, but I have been skiing on all the good days. I have acculminated over 350,ooo vertical feet at solitude and about 8,000 vertical feet of back-country skiing. UT is my back yard and my playground.
It was weird working on the holidays like I did in Vermont and strangely ok. The days are short as a ski instructor, at least in hours, but long when things are hard. Life can't be bad when you are skiing for a living. I do have my complaints, cold boots, wet gear and not skiing on powder days, but that is only when its busy. When its not I get the whole mountain to myself. So come on out and visit its ski season.

Winter has Arrived

So, it was Tuesday at about 6 o'clock. A co-worker was holding the door open for me at base. He asked me if I was skiing on Wednesday, I said heck yes. So we met in the Goldminer's Daughters parking lot at Alta ski resort at 8am on Wednesday October 27th 2010. There was 3 feet of snow and all of it the kind you can only find in the state of UT.
It was a stiff start to a new season. New boots, recovered ACL, and a cold to top it all off. We hiked up about 2,500 feet to the shoulder of Baldy ridge, above the Wildcat lift at Alta. We checked the snow pack and found that is was stable and ready to get shredded. I voiced my concern about my knee and asked not to go last in case it was to give out and I needed help down. So i got to go first.
I cursed my decision to get the stiffer boots once I couldn't make a left turn. As the day went on I was mislead. My climbing bail, a piece of metal used to aid in skinning up steeper hills, was still up and prevented me from making a turn. The next run was way better. Fearing my legs getting weaker I made more alpine turns. Then the last run. After a short break for well deserved views, we headed down the east side of the wild cat lift. This run I skied for Julia. We had done this one our first season out here. I killed it, tele turns and all. I did manage to pull off a great summer-sault where I landed back on my skies to ride away. The day was prefect. The ones where you say things like "I live here". So I can say I took my first turns of the season on October 27th, it feels like it will be one of those seasons, epic that is.

Bob Dylan was right

Logan hanging out on the base of a climb at Indian Creek
Me attempting to boulder at Big Bend boulder in Moab. I never made it higher that that move.


So the times they are a changing, says Bob Dylan. And he is right. I have two shifts left at Second Nature and I'm still in limbo about what is next. I have two ski instructor positions I am gunning for and a seasonal warehouse job at Backcountry.com. Its weird that I have allowed myself to be in limbo. The rational part of me wants to freak out, which I have done already, and the irrational part of me is enjoying the fact that I might struggle for a short time. I want nothing more then to be outside, teach and be on my skis for a living. By living I mean paying my bills, rent and have a little left over for food. It has been a while since I have been a full fledged ski bum.
I have spent 3.5 years at Second Nature and I'm in need of a break. I have spent the last few weekends going on adventures. Just last weekend I went done to Moab last weekend to climb and get away from the big city. It was fun. Bouldering, swimming, hanging out and climbing in Indian Creek for a few days. I got a taste of the "dirtbag" lifestyle and I enjoyed the flavor. We camped out of my truck and get up when we got up and did what we wanted.
When we were in Indian Creek we camped with the rest of the climbers who were there to enjoy the rock. A sea of cars and trucks all ready for camping and "dirt bagging". We all pooled our resources for a potluck style meal, sharing all that we all had, and sleeping till the sun came up to climb before it got hot. We had a fun and relaxing time in the desert.

So I'm writing from my friends house in Park City, I'm dog sitting. Its really fall up here and I'm itching for ski season. If I get the ski instructor jobs I will be asked to alpine again. I haven't done that for about 5 years. I know I'll remember, the muscle memory from the last 20 years will kick in and things will be fine. God just let it snow and snow a bunch, can I put my order in for another 700 inch year???
I got enough money to get by for a few months and I'll looking forward to the challenge of the pay cut. As one of my co-workers said this week, DIRTBAG engaged.
Wish me luck.

Another week another dollar

Well it was wet out this week in the field. I found out the hard way that my rain jacket needs a new layer of weather proofing and I also found out that my pack is broken. Guess that is why it felt funny all week while we were hiking, I just couldn't get it to fit just right. Other than that it was a normal week of managing the youth at risk.
I just finished my last visit to my physical therapist today. No more funny excersices that seem to have no relavance to my knee. I'll miss going. The atmosphere is inviting and motovating. I have learned a lot from all my sessions and hopefully will be able to continue with a routine for ski season. Now just sitting around killing time till the snow starts to fall. Hopefully only 2-3 more months.