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The last week has been more than amazing in Jackson Hole.  I am finally recovered and feeling good.  It’s so nice to have my body feeling good and confidence back!  More snow is on the way!  Yahoo!

It happens every year around my birthday, I start to dream about skiing again. Typically I head to South America, but this year I joined Spyder for a trip to New Zealand. I celebrated my birthday and 30 hours later landed in Queenstown, NZ.

View of Queenstown from the top of the Remarkables

Queenstown is known as the Adventure Capital of New Zealand. There are multiple ski resorts an hour away, bungy jumping, ski diving, jet boating, and the list goes on. My first two days were spent skiing the Remarkables.

A little gem on the backside of the Remarkables.

The snow was a little thin. It hadn’t snowed in NZ for over a month. I was still able to find some soft snow and the lines on the backside of the Remarkables were worth the flight. It felt so good to be out exploring on my skis again.

Daron Rahlves Doing a Little Scouting

And then it started to snow. It dumped for three days straight. The storm of the century hit New Zealand. I think this is kind of funny. The town received maybe 15 inches of snow, but it was enough to shut everything down. Apparently it doesn’t snow often in town. The roads were a mess and the city shut down. There was no hope for the bald tires on our rental van, so we set out on foot to see what there was to do in Queenstown.

We Found and Ice Hotel

A Warm Fire to Enjoy

And a Mechanical Bull

The streets were cleared and we were finally able to get our van out of the driveway. We headed straight for the Remarkables excited to ski the backside in a meter of fresh snow. The skiing was awesome.

The weather started to get warm and the snow started to melt, so we hopped in the van and went on road trip. The goal was to see as much of NZ as possible in two days before we had to fly out.

Sunset on the West Coast of New Zealand

Sunset on the East Coast

And a Little Bungy Jumping Along the Way!

New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen and the skiing’s not too bad either!

Volkl Shiro Can Do It All

It is still winter in Snowbird. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has been closed for a couple of weeks, but the skiing is still amazing. I have been skiing the resort everyday; skinning to the top and enjoying some of the best turns I have had all season. Even though the skiing has been great in Jackson, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to head down to Snowbird to ride lifts and ski powder.

Scott Markewitz working hard.

Scott Markewitz called me tuesday night and asked if I could be in Salt Lake City on wednesday for a Volkl photo shoot. I was really excited. Not only is Scott one of the best ski photographers in the industry, but it had been dumping in Snowbird. The opportunity was too good to resist. A blue bird powder day shooting with Scott Markewitz, of course!

Tyler Peterson Killing It!

I joined Jen Berg, Tyler Peterson, Tim Russell, Matt Philippi, and Scott Markewitz at 7am in the parking lot of Snowbird. The morning was gorgeous. Snowbird had received almost two feet in the last two days and the sky couldn’t have been bluer. We loaded the 8am tram and got down to business. I was a little nervous about shooting with five athletes, but Scott took charge and showed us why he is one of the best in the business. He new exactly what he wanted and directed us as if we were on a Hollywood set. We shot photos from 8am to 4:30pm. I have never worked with a more motivated photographer.

Jen Berg Stoked on the Day!

Not only was it awesome to see a photographer work so hard and efficiently, it was incredible to see how diverse the Shiro is. There were five Volkl athletes all on the Shiro. Jen and I are both Big Mountain skiers. The ski is awesome for big mountain ripping. The Shiro rips in hard pack, powder, and crud. It is lively and playful, but strong enough to charge down any line. I immediately fell in love with the ski, but had no idea that park and pipe skiers would love the ski as well.

This Ski is SICK!!!!!!

It was really cool to see what the ski could do when Matt, Ty, and Tim were riding it. Park and Pipe skiers have a very different style from big mountain skiers. The Shiro seemed to do everything they wanted. And do it well. Every athlete raved about the ski. The Shiro can do it all.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo By Chris Figenshau

I am back! “Fat Bastard” has been on my hit list for a while. After being injured this winter, I didn’t think it would be an attainable goal this year. I have been skiing for three weeks now and am feeling pretty good. It was a tough decision to not go to Kirkwood for the fourth stop of the Freeskiing World Tour. I decided it would be more beneficial for me to stay in Jackson and keep getting stronger. As it turns out it was a good decision.

It has been snowing in Jackson for the last week and the skiing has been amazing. I have been testing out my injury with smaller airs. I have to admit, pow skiing is great rehab. On friday, I decided to go take a look at “Fat Bastard.” F.B. is a notorious air in Jackson. It is 35 feet of sheer rock and has been a goal of mine for at least five years. The snow in the landing was a pole deep. Looking at the air and realizing the conditions were perfect, I knew it was time to truly test my injury. I made a few phone calls and a plan to hit the air the next day.

Saturday was beautiful. As I opened my eyes in the morning and saw the blue skies, I knew it was time. Bryce Newcomb and Jeff Leger joined me for the air. We decided to climb the south ridge to access the line. The hike was scarier than I thought it would be. The snow was unstable and we were extremely exposed standing on top of the line. As we prepared to ski, a large crowd gathered. It looked like we were going to have to put on show.

I dropped into the line. The snow was perfect. I made three turns before getting to the take off of the air. I was feeling confident until my last turn. As I came into the take off the new snow blinded me. I love face shots, but not right before a take off. Luckily, the snow cleared just as I reached the take off. As my skis came to the edge, I popped and was airborne. It felt so good to be flying through the air. During the free fall, I spotted my landing and went for the stomp. I thought I had it. When I landed, I bounced and rolled forward. Luckily, my skis stayed on and I came right up to my feet and skied away.

It feels so good to have my confidence back. It also feels great to have attained another goal safely! I’m back!

Hops Have More Antioxidants Than Green Tea

Sierra Nevada has joined forces with the Freeskiing World Tour. Last weekend Sierra Nevada invited 9 athletes from the Freeskiing World Tour and North Face Masters Tour to fly to Chico to learn more about the company and the brewing process. This what I learned at Beer Camp.

1) “Hop Harmony” – Sierra Nevada cares about the environment. From 10,000 individual solar panels to hydrogen fuel cells the brewery generates 1.5 MW AC of clean, emissions-free power. It can produce almost all of it’s own power. Sierra has their own waste water treatment facility onsite. All of the wastewater is treated in a state-of-the-art, two stage anaerobic/aerobic digester. A portion of the water is then used to irrigate their 8 acre hop field. The spent ingredients used in the brewing process are sold locally to provide a nutritional food source for local farmers and livestock. The brewery also maintains its own herd of naturally raised cattle which are fed the spent grains, hops, and yeast and used in the restaurant. Which I might add are delicious. The wasted cooking oil from the restaurant is converted into biodiesel fuel which is used in local and long-haul delivery trucks.

2) BREWING BEER IS NOT ONLY AN ART. IT IS A SCIENCE.

Harvesting Barley and Hops

Malting, Milling, and Mashing

Wort Boiling - Which is really sweet and good!

Hop Addition and Steam Boiling

Refrigeration, Pitching Yeast, Harvesting Yeast

Cellaring, Filtration, Racking, and Dry Hopping

Celebration!

3) HOPS CONTAIN MORE ANTIOXIDANTS THAN GREEN TEA. JUST SAY’N.

Griffin Post Getting His Daily Dose of Antioxidants

4) THERE IS A BEER LIBRARY. The beer library contains a sample of every batch of beer that is made at the brewery. This is part of the quality control process. If a customer complains about a beer, the brewery can go back to the library to, find that specific batch, and try to find out what is wrong with the beer. The beer is tested for pathogens. It is tested by the sensory lab to see if it has been exposed to sunlight, oxygen, heat.

Griffin Post and Dylan Crossman Soaking it All In.

5) Sierra Nevada Brewery Bottles 600 Beers a Minute.
MVI_3760

WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO SPEND THE DAY LEARNING AND PARTICIPATING IN THE BREWING PROCESS FROM START TO FINISH.

Step 1 - Nicole Greener After the Hops Have Been Harvested

Step 2 - Milling Process

Step 3 - Mashing

Step 4 - Wort Boiling

Step 5 - Adding the Hops

Step 6 - Refrigeration

Step 7 - Cellaring and Filtration

Step 8 - Racking and Dry Hopping

Step 9 - Celebration!

I loved Beer camp! Thanks MSI and Sierra Nevada!

Scoping Lines in Chile

I wasn’t in Aspen. I was standing at the top of my first film line with Warren Miller. The helicopter was circling around, Chris Patterson was hanging out the door holding a 16mm camera, and it was finally happening. I slowed my breathing and prepared myself for one of the biggest opportunities of my ski career. I was filming with Warren Miller!

Chris Patterson Doing What He Does Best!

I watched the heli circle around. It was almost time for me to drop in. I reminded myself of the advice Chris Davenport had given me. “Filming is just like free skiing. Do everything the same, but faster!” I stared down my line. It was a beautiful couloir. There was nothing difficult about it. The snow was perfect and all I had to do was rip it! Really fast. The heli came around full circle. I waited to hear 3.2.1. Drop. The radio in my pocket started to crackle and out came, “Aspen! Aspen! Aspen!” I didn’t know what to do. Aspen? Aspen? Aspen? My mind raced as the heli came over head. Aspen? Colorado? What? I didn’t move. I had no idea what Aspen meant.

Helicopters are sooo Cool!

The heli circled around again. I knew that when it came back over head I was supposed to ski, but I had no idea what Aspen meant. The heli came around full circle once more and again, “Aspen! Aspen! Aspen!” I watched for another sign, waiting to hear 3.2.1. Finally Chris waved his foot and I dropped in.

The snow was awesome! Perfect pow and I sent it! I arced two beautiful turns and then dropped into a straight line through some rocks. Out of the straight line, I laid down a fast turn on the side of the couloir. The snow was flying out behind me. I was having a great run. Everything was going well until the snow changed. I was 100 meters from the exit of the couloir when the snow turned from perfect pow to bullet proof crust. I remember thinking, “Oh no, Jess! You are going way to fast!” I knew I had way too much speed for the conditions, but I was also going too fast to try to shut it down. I decided to try to point it towards the good snow. My skis started to vibrate and then wiggle and then it was all over. I went into a full tail spin; hitting my head on the concrete like snow and then my feet and then head and then feet. I came to an abrupt stop upside down in the snow. I was sick about it. My first real line with Warren Miller and I blew it.

The radio crackled again, “Jess are you ok?” I thought to myself, yes I’m ok, but my psyche has been bruised. I called back on the radio that I was ok, just needed to pick up the pieces of gear that I had yard sailed all over the mountain and then I would ski down. Chris Patterson was so worried that he picked Dav up in the heli and dropped him on ridge close to me. I was really embarrassed when Dav skied up to me. I couldn’t believe that I had just blown it. He asked me if I was ok. I him told yes, just really bummed. His next sentence was so encouraging, “It’s no big deal. It happens to everyone. And if it makes you feel better, I just cliffed myself out on my line.” This coming form a man who has had more film time than I could ever dream of, it did make me feel better.

Dav and I filmed one more quick line on our way down to the heli pickup. I was feeling better. We joined Chris Patterson and talked about the next line we would ski. I drank some water and tried to decide how hard I had really hit my head. After taking a few minutes, I decided I was fine, but I still didn’t know what Aspen meant. I turned to Chris Patterson, “What does Aspen mean?” He looked at me like I had completely lost it. “How hard did you hit your head? Are you sure you are ok?”

“My head is fine, but when the heli circled around you kept yelling, Aspen! Aspen! Aspen! I don’t know what that means.”

Laughter filled the mountains. And the joke was on me. “Not Aspen! Aspen! Aspen! Action! Action! Action!” I couldn’t help but laugh! Of course. Action! Action! Action!

The Andes are Incredible!

The rest of the day was incredible! We worked for four more hours. It is a day I will never forget. Aspen! Aspen! Aspen!

Standing in the starting gate, I couldn’t help question my decision to enter the Chilean Freesking Championships. It had been four months since my last turn. One of my biggest fears is that I will forget how to ski over the summer. It is kind of like the dream we have as children when we show up to school naked. I know it is nearly impossible, but I am still incredibly scared that it could happen to me.

My first day on snow was spent inspecting the venue. I chose a line that I thought would put me into the top five for the first day. With competitors like Jackie Paaso, Angel Collinson, and Jacque Edgerly I knew I would have to ski my best to be in money. Not knowing if I still had what it takes after the summer, I chose a line that was relatively safe. The snow was bullet proof in the morning and would warm up as the sun heated it through out the day. As a competitor, all I could hope for was that it would warm up before it was my turn to compete.

Max's Face - El Colorado, Chile

Standing in the starting gate for my first run, I had to convince myself that skiing is like riding a bike. As I left the gate, I had to quiet my inner fears and go for it. I was psyched after my first run. I stomped my big air and skied into second. Now I was in the running for first.

So close to winning the first run, I knew that I wanted to win the competition and I was pretty sure I could. It would take a lot of courage to ski a winning line after taking four months off, but I wanted to win. I stuck to a similar line as my first run, but added a spicy air at the bottom of the venue. It is always good to end your run with a crowd pleaser. The air was technical and if I blew it, I would pile drive right into a some huge rocks. Sometimes you just have to believe in yourself. As I approached the air, I knew there was no turning back. The take off was blind, I couldn’t see my landing. The landing was bullet proof and the runout happened fast. I felt and heard my feet smack the snow as if I had landed on concrete. I saw the rocks flying past me and I knew I had stuck it!

I wasn’t sure the line was enough for the win, but it felt so good to challenge myself my second day of skiing. Needless to say I didn’t forget how to ski! It feels great to win my first competition of the season.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am excited to announce that I have joined the Spyder team this summer. It is an honor to be a part of such an elite team of athletes that include: Chris Davenport, Julia Mancuso, Julian Carr, and Daron Rahlves. This summer I will join the team in Portillio for a photo shoot and an opportunity to film with Warren Miller! Yahoo! Thank you Spyder!