Chasing Powder

Thus far, my trip has been filled with both amazing people and snowboarding conditions.  I have met up with numerous good friends along the way, all having been so much more welcoming than I could have ever hoped.

COLORADO

Blue skies of Breckenridge, CO

 Snowmass Mountain, CO. Kerri met up with me for a long weekend here.
Here is the video I made from one of our runs. https://vimeo.com/85739157


MONTANA

After driving through Wyoming and stopping to visit my cousin, Ben Beaman, I made my way to Bozeman, Montana.  My good friend from college, Amanda, is from there, so we stayed with her parents and snowboarded at the local mountain, Bridger Bowl, where we were fighting approximately -15 degree weather.  Talk about brrrr...and a short day. Jeff, a friend from Arizona, lives in Big Sky during the winter as a instructor/guide, so I received quite the full mountain tour along with some fantastic powder.  Below is a picture of him in an old gondola that was placed in the woods halfway up the mountain. And as you can see in the bottom picture, I ran into some car problems too.  Somehow both headlights managed to go out at the same time (I am blaming the -25 overnight low) and a day or two later my tire went flat.

UTAH

Dad and I had an awesome time staying in Salt Lake City and skiing/snowboarding Snowbird and Park City. We happened to be in town at the same time as a hunting expo so we stopped by for a walk through.  The sunrise below is from our hotel balcony downtown SLC.  Here is a video of Dad on the mountain. https://vimeo.com/86923916

WASHINGTON

I stopped in Spokane, Washington, to visit Serra, Megan, and George.  These are climbing friends that I met when they were visiting/climbing in Arizona.  The top left picture is George in his climbing/training gym in the garage of his house.  The top right is Serra on the hang board at her house. It was my first hang board workout, and well, let's just say I was sore afterwards! The bottom left picture is one of Serra's horses on her property.  On my way up to Vancouver, I stopped in Seattle and had lunch with my friend Laura (bottom right picture).  Laura studied abroad in Australia with me in 2004.  It is crazy that it has been ten years since I have seen her! We both agreed we look the same...if not better! ;) She did a comparison photo of before and after which I will not be including due to my attempts at forgetting how chubby my cheeks were when I returned from Australia hehe.

BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

First stop - Vancouver.  Friends were trickling in from across the United States to meet up in Vancouver and head to the mountain town of Whistler to get first-hand experience what all the hype is about at Whistler Blackcomb.  Let's just say I will definitely be returning!  The mountain is massive, the terrain is phenomenal, the snow was amazing, and the lift lines were small...all the things I look for in a mountain...if only men were as easy to evaluate and read;).

Driving across the border and into Vancouver.

From left to right: Amanda, Ryan, Kerri, Jessica, Pasha

It's hard to get a good representation of size in this picture.  The "pillows" of snow are snow covered rocks and can be a blast to snowboard through or over or whatever suits your fancy.  They were out of bounds but Ryan and I were too tempted and ended up having to hike out afterwards.  Let's just say it was a bit of an exhausting hike in waist deep snow, up hill, without snowshoes.  We both agreed it was well worth it though.

These pictures are from our hike to the top of Flute bowl.

This view is from the peak to peak gondola

View of Whistler Village

Time Traveling

My friend from Vegas, Amanda, flew into Phoenix and rode with me to Denver.  We pit-stopped in Santa Fe for a night and visited Taos Pueblo.  The Indian Reservation was a trip back in time to the life of the Taos Indians.  We made friends with a man named Jerry who grew up there.  We bought fry bread and dessert from his wife and hung out inside for awhile. I have been slacking on stories and writing on this trip, but hopefully the pictures will make up for it all!

 Santa Fe, NM

 Somewhere in between Santa Fe and Taos, NM

 Museum in the middle of nowhere, NM with lots of cool old things.

TAOS PUEBLO

 This church is about 150 years old.

These houses are over 1000 years old.

 Jerry's house

Cemetery

The Homestead

I bought a new toy last week and couldn't wait to use it.  In fact…I took a portrait lens with me climbing because the wide angle I ordered hadn't arrived yet.  Nonetheless, I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the images I captured.  Impressed enough to inspire a blog entry from Arizona!

Since arriving back in the US to start work in June, I have managed to continue to pursue my climbing, traveling, and exploratory dreams within the country from California to Nevada to Kentucky, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, and [of course] Indiana.  I am still a wanderlust.  My travels earlier this year did not fulfill my desires to see the world but instead fed them.  I know it is hard for many to understand this and at times very stressful for my family.  I only ask that my family and friends be open-minded, be supportive, and trust that I am experienced and know what I am doing!

As much as I love seeing other countries and cultures, I am excited to say that I have finally made a decision to spend a few months traveling around the Western US for ski season this winter.  And I plan on doing it similarly to how I travel other countries. I am staying with some friends in certain places but plan on winging the rest and am so eager to see what the US has to offer.

Now back to the topic at hand…last weekend!  I spent many of good weekends last year at a climbing area called The Homestead, a couple hours drive from Phoenix.  This was my first weekend to go back there in a year, and I was able to spend it with most of the same people.  I know this sounds cheesy and disgusting, but it was absolutely splendid! :-)  And here are the pictures of the weekend that I have promised.

 My friends the big horn sheep.

 Dr. Nick hanging around

 Dan was super excited for the rock we found!  We were both calling dibs on the tufas :)