Planes, Trains, and Race Cars?

It has been an amazing three weeks.  My adventure started in Revelstoke for the first stop of the Freeride World Tour.  As soon as I arrived in Revelstoke,  the snow began to fall.  I didn’t see the sun for ten days.  I was starting to wonder if it was possible to see the sun in Revelstoke.  I finally asked a local on the chairlift and he said, “I think we saw the sun a couple times at the end of the season last year.”  It was looking like we might not get the finals off for the Freeskiing Competition, but on the very last possible competition day, I woke to a beautiful beam of sunlight.

The day was amazing.  Mount Olympus is one of the most picturesque venues I have ever competed on.  The day couldn’t have been more perfect.  A heli shuttled us to the top of the venue, a knife edge peak.  The venue was stunning and the feeling at the top of the mountain was powerful.  It was one of those moments when I felt incredibly lucky to be a professional skier.  I skied my line exactly how I had planned and came flyin into third place.

Riding my high from the day, I returned to my hotel room to receive a text message on my iphone: Jess can you be in Telluride on sunday.  Sorry for the short notice, but it is the only time Regan Smith and his team have time this month.  It was thursday.  My plan was to drive the 15 hours back to Jackson, recharge my batteries, and fly to Chamonix on the following thursday.  It felt like a quick turn around without a trip to Telluride, but it’s not every day you get an opportunity to ride in Regan’s Furniture Row Race Car.  So, yes of course, I can squeeze a quick trip to Telluride before I fly to Chamonix.

I can’t begin to describe the feeling of sitting in a race car.  The feel of the engine is powerful.  As soon as Regan started his engine, my heart rate jumped to 170 and that was before we went 200mph.  I have never thought of myself as a motor head.  And I never thought I would watch a Nascar Race.  Never say never.  After spending two days with Regan and his team I found myself watching Nascar on my flight over to Chamonix.  And I can’t wait to go to my first Race.

It started to snow as soon as we arrived in Chamonix for the second stop of the Freeride World Tour.  My timing couldn’t have been better.  It snowed so hard the first night I arrived that the mountain didn’t open the next day.  Luckily, the competition was postponed because as soon as I arrived in Chamonix I came down with the stomach flu.  I was my first time catching the stomach flu and I never ever want to have the stomoach flu again.  Thirty hours of sleep later, I emerged from hotel room feeling like I had been hit by a truck and “ready” to compete.

Chamonix Competition Venue 2012

I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling my best, but I rallied to the top for my competition run.  I chose a winning line, but it wasn’t my day.  I choked when I arrived at my biggest feature.  Why did I choke?  I wish I knew.  What I do know is that I don’t like fourth place.  It’s time to head back to Jackson, recharge, and get ready to kick some ass!

Storm Skiing and Fat Bastard

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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!

Shiro Shoot in Snowbird – This Ski Can Do It All

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.

Fall Training for an Epic Winter

Chilean Freeskiing Championships

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.

Volkl Kuro Named Outside Magazine’s Pow Ski of the Year

Outside Magazine writes, “Our favorite powder ski, the Kuro just might redefine the class. Whereas most rockered skis are surfy by design, the Kuro effortlessly blasts through powder like a more classically shaped fat boy. Credit Volkl’s elongated low profile design – essentially less rocket in the tip and tail – which lets you put it on edge and power it through turns like a traditional ski. The result; They hold so well at the apex of the turn there’s no longer a speed limit. Only Caveat; You do have to bring the Kuro up to speed before it feels loose. ”

Finally, a magazine gets it right. The first time I skied the Kuro, I fell in love with it. It feels like a downhill race ski that rules in the powder. The Kuro floats high in the snow and likes a nice cruising speed of fifty. The Kuro will make a 3 inch day feel bottomless. It is hard to believe, but it is also rips on the hard pack. I loved skiing along side someone on the Pontoons and watching their tips flopping around their ears as the Kuro rips by them like a race ski. The one flaw with the Kuro is that it is a lot to throw around at slow speeds, but who wants to go slow anyway.

At the end of the day, my friends and I would always have a friendly race down the Hobacks in Jackson. The Hobacks are around 2500 vert of wide open terrain. Before I skied the Kuro, it was a toss up who would win. On the Kuro’s, no one could beat me. My friend Bob would always say, “I don’t want to race if Jess gets to use her cheater skis.” Bob already has his Kuros ordered for this season.

If you ask me, the Kuro is a must have for this winter. I would also recommend buying a Jester binding. The Jester is the strongest, lightest binding on the market and it will make a difference when you are in the backcountry. If you don’t want to wait for the ski shops to open, go to www.backcountry.com and get yours now.

Las Lenas 9/10/08

Today we went to ski one of my favorite coulairs in Lenas. It is about a 1.5 hour skin to the entrance of the coulair. This is the view from the top. Isn’t she beautiful?

The snow is still a little weird in Lenas right now due to the cold temps and of course the wind. We expected the top of the coulair to be breakable crust, but hoped that once we were in we might find some corn.

As expected, my first three turns were breakable crust. Did I mention how much I like breakable crust, especially when I’m dropping into a steep coulair. Everything was going pretty well until my fourth turn. On my fourth turn the snow started to move, not super fast, but still started to move. I made one more hop turn and tucked myself next to some rocks. When I reached my safety zone, I turned around to see all of entire slope slide past me. This is not the best pic, but maybe you will get the idea.

The slide wasn’t scary. It was a slow moving wet slide, but it did continue all the way down the 3,000 foot coulair. And then we were left with a lot bed surface to ski.

Skiing the bed surface of a slide isn’t that much fun. As we skied to the middle of the coulair we found some protected snow in the shade that was almost like skiing pow, It had a little crust on the top of it, but pretty good snow.

It was nice to find some good snow!

The coulair eventually choked again. We were forced to ski more bed surface and the breakable crust right next to the slide. Did I mention breakable crust is hard to ski. I wish I had brought the Kuros. They rip in breakable.

All and all we had a great day! We skied one of my favorite coulairs in Lenas. I’m not sure what is going to happen to the snow in the next couple of days. It is so close being corn, but a storm has moved into Lenas. Maybe we’ll being skiing powder tomorrow.