IT"S SO WARM!!!

So after returning home from Taos it's been pretty insanly warm in Colorado. The snow already feels like April's and stores are starting to switch from selling skis to bikes. I'm certainly not ready for this global warming BS.

But it has been a fun couple of weeks... if you remove work.

Last Saturday was the Roxy Metal to Medal rail jam at Copper. I always love coming to little events like these where there are some people who are experienced and others who are not because it creates such a wonderful atmosphere of people simply out there to support each other. Despite the fact that it is a competition, there is no sense of needing to "beat" anyone. You're there to have fun. Add to pro Roxy snowboarders and Jess Cummings as the judges... Followed by a "spring (includes swimsuits) fashion show" in a wet blizzard and free wings and beer and you had a great afternoon. Let me just take this second as well just to tell you all how wonderful of a person Jess Cummings is. Sure she's got all star pro status in the alpine skiing world, but she's totally chill just to talk, chat, and be a normal person and a great roll model for all these younger women getting into freeskiing. I am constantly surprized just how amazing some of the people in the "pro" alpine skiing community can be. (oh, i got second)

I also had a Smith photo shoot. Hot weather, hot dogs, and free PBR's and Mtn. Dew... = FUN AFTERNOON... except I sprained my back a bit. booo!

So in my own attempt to give back to this wonderful skiing community of ours I went out with a young tele chica the other day for her first excursion into park skiing. Her mother had seen me at the Roxy jam and had commented on how she wanted to see her young daughter develop a passion for skiing beyond the "ya sure... i ski... blahh." I cannot begin to describe how GREAT of an experience it was for me. She learned SO quickly and had so much determination the whole afternoon. Now she wants to go out every day and try new things... even get a pair of park skis (ooh yes, i did it... i made another lady park skiing punk... and they told me there was no market... ppsshhh).

I still find it so strange that people actually want to ski with ME... because I'm somehow something "special." That's ludacris! I think at the end of the day after teaching Nadia, I had on a bigger smile than she did. And it lasted the whole afternoon. I will be going out again with Nadia before the end of the season and I cannot wait. I only hope that I get the opportunity even more to share this amazing experience called skiing with other youth, women, or EVERYONE out there.

Taos Salomon Extreme Freeskiing Championships

This weekend I competed in the Taos Salomon Extreme Freeskiing Championships on my telemark skis… And I couldn’t begin to tell you all the things I have learned and am taking with me from this trip.

I started this trip not knowing what to expect. I’ve done three telemark big mountain competitions, but never alpine ones. Judging from my experience in other telemark competitions and against other telemark women, I chose a line that would be conservative, but still a top five run in the telemark world. I went near the beginning of the women’s field which, although an advantage for snow conditions, a disadvantage to an inexperienced competitor. Watching the other women come down after me, I saw the error of my conservative run. These alpine ladies charged hard, screw the idea of being conservative on qualifiers; they were out for it all. Although I had skied their runs that the took the day before and know that I can do it, the aggressiveness and strength in which they skied their runs was of such a higher caliber than I was used to in telemark competitions.

I come away from this knowing that I CAN compete against these girls. As the youngest women in the ladies competition, I understand that I have time to hone and enhance my skills. Sure I was disappointed with my performance this weekend, but I am extremely motivated and wanting. I want to go back up there today and show these alpine fellows that I can ski those line and I will ski even harder and better lines in the future.

I also leave with the knowledge that what I am doing IS harder and unique. But not only is it physically harder, but professionally harder. I am facing a wonderful opportunity to push the preconceived notions of women’s telemark skiing and reinvent the sport for younger generations. Although I am and will continue to face resistance from telemark companies and the community for not being “traditionally telemark” and from alpine companies for simply being a telemark skier, I am also perhaps one of the most stubborn people I know. When I am told something I dream of cannot be done, I will persevere until it is. When I fail, fall, or place at the bottom of a competition, I only want it more. I want to go out there and ski; to become better and stronger; to show that anything can be done.

But the most important thing I have learned how to do is lose. To give what you consider to be a good performance and still realize that you have so much farther to go. In the telemark world I had almost begun to reach a plateau. Doing these alpine competitions this year like the US Freeskiing Open and this competition in Taos, I am humbled. But not only am I humbled by my abilities; my competitors humble me. Unlike the telemark community, where those who are at the top typically have always been there and will stay there, those in alpine community know what it is like not to be the best. They know what it is like to place at the bottom of a competition. And most importantly they offer their compassion and understanding to others who experience it.

Although I do not have the funding to attend competitions every weekend to continue to push myself like this, I can hope that I can rely on my own perseverance to remember these lessons and progress my own abilities and influence over the industry.