Free 2 Be

Everything From a Touch of Wisconsin to Making Skis; It’s Been a Busy Month

2012-02-10T21:12:00.001-07:00

My Fantabulous Mustache

It’s been quite the crazy month. Looking back on it just makes me smile. Most notably I was blessed to have my best bud finally make it out to Utah for a visit and some good ole mountain schralping. Joey and his awesome wife Nicole came out and just in time to celebrate and enjoy some time on the mountain. Even though they didn’t heed my advice on when to schedule the trip and happened to come a week early and miss the 50” of snow we got, we still had an awesome time. Joey and I always just pick up where we last left off regardless if it’s been a day to a year. I really enjoyed having them out here and doing my best to convince them to move out west, especially since Joey is quite the strong rider and would be an awesome partner for skiing/riding. One of the fun moments was the last second birthday party at the Tavernacle piano bar. So since it was my thirtieth birthday, I had decided it was time to have a Dirty Thirty Mustache Party, and oh my, did I cut a good one!! I convinced Joey to do the same, but he unfortunately didn’t have as much cultivation time as me.

Joey and I doing our versions of bringing sexy back

So everyone of course bought a birthday song for me, “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake. I was so red in the face, but after being put in the spotlight and feeling awkward, I had a “Will Ferrell-esque” blackout like in “Old School” and completely rocked the house without knowing or remembering what I was doing. Unfortunately for me, since I was doing a good job and getting random tips from women in the crowd, the pianist kept playing and playing and playing. Quite frankly, good times.

After the awesome weekend with people that are truly family ended, the Wasatch Front was finally blessed with a magnitude of snow. We had four straight days of snow totally 50”. January 22nd brought 22” inches of goodness, and I didn’t let any of it go to waste. The video of that adventure is down below right before the pics.

The destroyed prototype ski

Now following that awesome storm I head out to Denver for a little bit of ski building, ski prototyping, SIA (Snowsports Industry Association) Trade Show time, and good times. It was quite the power weekend. I finally got to meet my ski sponsor in person and we did quite a bit of work. While I was laying up my edges and bases, I filmed Dave doing a layup of a custom ski. We also designed my topsheets to incorporate the Snowbasin Sun, and they turned out absolutely sick. I got to see the Grace Skis process and experience the principles first hand, even when I completely destroyed a pair of prototype skis that weren’t laid up using our primary process and we posted the pics on Facebook. Being brutally honest is all part of it.

I also got to catch up with an old friend from the high schools days in Madison while in Denver, Tayler Cabalka. It was really interesting to see how she’s grown and become more comfortable in her own skin not having seen her for 11 or 12 years. Plus she was a gracious host providing a place to crash. I've been so blessed this past month and I'm really loving life right now. The only thing needed now is more snow.

Oh and I finally got my car delivered a MONTH after buying it. Yeah let's not talk about that one, still kind of sensitive......but the car is amazing.

The video proof of the storm

Joey and Nicole

Sending Joey off at the airport

My Skis

Dave Laying Up Custom Skis

The Pre-Destroyed Prototype Skis

My Chariot

It Happened!!!!

2012-01-07T17:58:00.002-07:00

Today I had a huge non-groomer, traditional faceshot in a small patch of untouched snow. It was sooooo nice to finally get off the groomers. That is all.

A December to Remember???? More like one to forget

2011-12-31T16:45:00.002-07:00

This has been one crazy month; being more productive than I’ve ever been, chainsaw warfare, long days, cold nights, and no snow. Yeah I’ll repeat that; no snow. I didn’t see this as the way I would close out 2011.

But I can say that as of today we are finally done with tree work for the year. Typically, and our own plans, we were to be done the week leading up to Thanksgiving. And by all means we thought that’s what would have happened; the lifts at Snowbasin started to turn, the WROD (white ribbon of death) assault on the legs had begun and I was smiling as the chain saws were hung up in the storage with care, not a tree was stirring, not even above a house. But then one frightful Wednesday night, the wind began hollowing, the wind lasted all night. And then destruction loomed then next day and night, to last all month. Ok enough of the Christmas story rhyming and on to the details. We had a wind event to say the least, some have called it Windmageddon. The county I live in got pummeled. We had 65 mph wind gusts up to 102 mph wind gusts for an eighteen hour period. The main victim, pine trees, any and all types. Since the root system is very shallow in the ground and small in comparison to the tree, they didn’t have a chance against the winds. Most were just pushed over, but many were snapped at some point of the trunk. The devastation caused by all of the falling trees was incredible and vast. Trees on top of homes, cars, power lines, you name it. There were semi-trucks getting blown over on the freeway. I saw trampolines flying across the highway (which was kind of funny). It seemed that maybe 50% of the pine trees in the county went down. All in all it was crazy. Seth received over sixty calls on that Thursday. Needless to say we knew we were going to be busy for the next few weeks. We took a few days off the real jobs to focus on getting peoples home ready for power and clean up. We worked ten straight days late into the night cleaning everything up. You could hear chainsaws going throughout the night all throughout the county as if it was a war zone. As we are now done there still remains a few clean up jobs out there, but we are tired, and we need rest.

However, I am yet to receive any. I just got back from a whirlwind trip home for Christmas. My travels started with a 4am wake up on Christmas Day for a 6am flight back to Madison. It wasn’t so bad as the first flight was quite spacious with all fifteen of us. I was good to be in Madison and great being with the family, especially my eight month old nephew Beckett. I ran all over with my family and also was able to hang out with family numero dos, the Kraemers, for two nights. It’s great to be with my best friend Joey, his wife, and his parents. We chatted, talked, enjoyed fine Wisconsin microbrew beers, played games, and hung out just as we have done for years.

Coming back to Utah happened after the furious annual Romashko Rummi Royale between my mother and me. Unfortunately this year’s battle was put on hold during the third and final round as we ran out of time before my flight. We’ll finish later on to determine who the better rummi player is.

But for now I’ll return to dreaming and praying for snow during this fourth worst winter of the past 40 years, while waiting for my Kylies to arrive. Of how I can’t wait to mount those up and take them for a spin. Enjoy the random pictures. Until next time.

Windmageddon Damage

Ice climbing with Clint (First time out in almost 3 years)

Home for Christmas

The Beard

New Sponsorship - Grace Skis

2011-12-10T18:44:00.001-07:00

I said in my last post that I had an exciting announcement about my new ski sponsorship, and this is it. I've been chosen to represent Grace Skis as their male telemark athlete. Let me tell you that this is a great opportunity for me, not only to represent this company, but to be apart of something special, and I mean that. This company is truly going to set itself above the rest, and it has barely even started to touch its potential.

Grace Skis was founded with a vision to build a high performance, durable, big mountain freeride skis for the informed skier, meaning designing skis for the skiers that are the top one percenters, those that are pushing themselves, their limits, and their skis' limits to the top. And that is exactly what I want, and who I want to be associated with. It's not about getting free gear. It's about working with a group of like minded individuals, giving feedback on the product, promoting something you truly appreciate, sharing ideas on progressing the company, the skis, and the team. I've always wanted to get in with a small or new company and become ingrained, getting a chance to prove myself and use my talents to help in whatever way I can.

The turning point in deciding between the various companies I was actively pursuing agreements with came down to talking directly with the company founder. During our conversation, Dave took more than an hour out of his busy schedule to intimately tell me about his vision, his struggles, his successes, and his quest in following his passion. Out of all the companies I've worked with and talked with, it was this conversation that set the highest tone and created the greatest desire in me to be associated with a company, even one that is just getting started. One of the most respectable things in my eyes as I try to establish myself in my career and my business, is when one ventures out from behind the walls of their comfort box to pursue their passion, which is what Dave is doing.

Grace Skis is being run 100% in-house with the skis being designed, prototyped, tested, marketed, etc. And Grace Skis is putting out a great product with incredible advances in ski technology. The staple ski for Grace is the Kylie Y180 core. The skis sports a rocker-camber-rocker profile and is utilizing the flip-core technology of pressing the ski with a rotated core 180 degrees lengthwise instead of tradition placement. Here's a quick peek on it.

Here's a video interview of Dave detailing his journey and vision for Grace Skis. Enjoy.

Opening Weekend

2011-11-30T21:46:00.001-07:00

It was a really good opening weekend at Snowbasin. Who wouldn't want to enjoy four days of getting back on the sticks and knocking the rust of your edges? The resort keeps impressing more and more each year. This year they brought in a new park specific groomer and absolutely crushed it for the first mini park. Now I'm not a park guy, but if I was, I would be super stoked for the new layout and the possibilities of what's to come.

I did happen to put together a quick and dirty edit of the weekend activities. Now this isn't my best work technically and I'm just not that happy with it as nothing really flowed through me as I edited. And I may have blown a few good shots or two (extremely underplayed) which contributed to the outcome. But here's the video, and feel free to share it and this site if you feel like doing so. One more thing, I have an announcement coming up soon about my new ski sponsor.

Still Alive and Still Adventuring

2011-11-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here’s an update that’s been a long time coming. That being said, it’s also been a very busy, busy year. And it’s finally slowing down just in time for the arrival of winter, which in my neck of the woods has just knocked on the door. I woke up to a wonderfully crisp morning in the 20’s. There was snow in the mountains and frost on the ground. And there is snow making going on at Snowbasin. That makes me really excited, to which I’ll explain more later.

So back to the catching up, it’s been a very good and busy year for Cutting Edge Tree Professionals. We have seen more business come our way this year than the previous season and an half. As we celebrated our two year anniversary, we also scored the largest job we’ve ever had; removal of 36 cottonwood trees and a willow. Now all of the cottonwood trees were in the 70-90 foot high category. We brought in a 60 foot boom lift for the job and combined with my rigging skills and techniques, we were able to get everything down, even those over fences and structures, without having to bring in an 85 foot boom lift. And now that we’ve finished up that job I’m finally starting to feel a little rested. You see it was a bit tiring working 72 plus hour weeks for a month straight and having to go from work to trees and changing in the car for a month. And to think, Seth put in even more hours on site than I did; I know he was exhausted and even happier to be done with the job than myself.

Now onto the exciting news with Snowbasin; the resort decided to put together a freeride team for the upcoming season and I was chosen to fill the telemark slot. It’s a great opportunity for me and I’m glad to be associated with such a good mountain and community. This will be my third season at Snowbasin and by far the most anticipated one for me. My team profile can be seen here.

In addition to Snowbasin, I’ve also started working with another great company, Flylow Gear. I love their products, both pants, jackets, and now finally bibs, oh how I love bibs. Flylow goods are technical, durable, and really stylish. I’m really blessed to have this opportunity to start a relationship with them and hopefully it’ll progress to a full sponsorship throughout the season.

And as for the visual treats, here are a few videos. The first is my promo video I created a few months ago with what little footage of myself I had. I definitely didn’t get much personal filming done this last year with the blood clot.

This is an edit giving a short glimpse into the work Ski Patrol does at Snowbasin. I had a good time creating this one.

And here’s one of stop number two of the Friday Night Lights Rail Jam Series that took place at Snowbasin last year. Another one that I was satisfied with producing.

Ups and Downs of the New Year

2011-01-31T22:57:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. I kept saying that I would post about everything and then I didn't. It's been quite the busy month and an half let me tell ya. A lot of good and a lot of not so good things have gone down.

Let's just start this back in December about 2 weeks before Christmas. Things were going good, I had film projects lined up with Snowbasin, there was fresh snow every few days, I had just taken a new job with ARINC, a definite huge step up from my previous employer of three years, and I was also starting to see a certain woman more frequently. Things were really good.

Now let's jump to December 21st; minor, very minor knee surgery to clean up some believed torn menicus, which was proving to be a more frequent issue than I could take for a whole season. I was back at work the next day after surgery and my knee was feeling good. It was only to be a matter of two weeks off a skiing and then back to training for the. Good........at least it seemed that way.

Christmas Eve finally came and I hoped on a plane back to Wisconsin. It'd been a whole year since I had been back and it was good to see my family. My little niece Masha Mae actually spoke with me and didn't just cry every time that I acknowledge her or looked at her. YESSS!!! Progress. She really is a very cute and sweet girl. I had an awesome Christmas in which my beloved mother got me not one, but two, yes TWO Warrior Nut Huts. I was sooooo stoked, to the point at which I put one on over my clothes and walked around. And my thoughtful awesome brother got me this really cool knife, against my mother's advice, which totally surprised me and is used almost everyday. I was able to head over to visit Jay and Jeanie Kraemer before I left and touch base with my other family. Every thing was going well, until I had to leave and I realized that 3 1/2 days a year isn't enough time for my family. At that point I didn't want to leave yet. I wanted to stay there and take care of my mother's needs with the house, my brother, the dogs, the yard, and whatever else I could do for her. My mother and I even got in our annual rummy game. Due to our crazy schedules we decided to head to the airport a little early and play in the lobby before my flight. Ah, it was good to the soul to beat her in a few quick games and remind her of how well and ruthless she taught me how to play.

But it was really sad and hard saying goodbye, especially as she sat in front of the security area at the airport and watched me the whole way through. I kept looking back and seeing her loving and concerned eyes watching over me, trying to get one last glimpse of me before I would be gone, heading to my home in Utah. I couldn't help myself from letting a couple of tears roll down my face as I returned her gaze.

Now moving onto the following Wednesday, post-op follow up visit with the Doc. "What's that Alex, your calf really hurts does it? How about when I squeeze here? Wow did you really just hit your head on the ceiling?" Yeah not good. I was then sent down to get an ultrasound for a D.V.T., a deep vein thrombosis, or POS blood clot, as it's commonly referred to around my place. Yeah at the moment the doc confirmed it, even though I knew I had one before the results were read to me because the rad-tech couldn't keep her eyes and demeanor from divulging the truth, I sank. How does this happen to a fit, active 29 year old? Why does this have to happen to me, when I'm getting ready to compete this year, when the season is just starting, when I'm to start filming for a with Telemark Skier Mag, when I just started talking to SkiLogik about riding for them?!?!?!? ARGH!!!!!!

I was absolutely devastated. When everything was going so, so well, it came crashing down on me....so it seemed. So you're telling me my knee looks great and it wasn't as bad as once thought, that I'm a healthy person and strong enough to ski, but that there's this little itty bitty thing sitting there in my calf that could kill me if I slip on the ice?!? Great........no skiing, no lifting, no work, and no hockey. Now Alex, you have to sit at home for two weeks, shoot this lovenox in your stomach twice a day, not eat any of your favorite greens, and also wear these tights 24 hours a day. Deal? Oh do I have a choice? Haha.......not so funny. It really bummed me out and was kind of hard to deal with at first.

The good thing that came out of this is the awesome amount of time I was then able to spend with Mercedes. She decided that she was going to take care of me, keep me company, and keep my spirits up. This girl drove through a blizzard to come up and make me dinner the day I found out about the clot. She even brought up her spare TV from the corporate apartment so I could watch movies while I laid around for the first week. This wonderful woman seriously dedicated the last bit of her vacation to making sure that I was well and comfortable. But I couldn't let her sit in the house when there was good snow falling in the mountains and had to kick her out a couple of times. Now I want to talk more about her and how awesome she is, but I'll save that for a later post, one just about her.

So you might be wondering how I got the clot. Some think that it was the plane ride after surgery that eventually caused it. But after thinking about it and finally understanding that it was a blood clot causing the pain, and knowing that I had that pain since the very next day after surgery, I eventually put some things together to figure out what happened. So two days before the surgery I had a bad crash that bruised my calf pretty good. I dropped a small cliff that I do all the time and dropped it to a surprisingly hard landing, which was due to the slope beneath the cliff naturally sliding under the weight and temperature of the new 10 inches of snow. So I landed, bounced with the harder than expected surface, rolled forward, came up going backwards, only to have the tails of my skis dive down under the snow surface, get stuck, and throw me backwards over the tops of my boots. I hurt my calves so bad that I couldn't ski down to the car without unbuckling my boots and also only take a few turns and then stopping to rest. I couldn't even straightline down the groomer without being overcome with pain. Now imagine the deep tissue damage that was done, fast forward two days to the surgery, and think about all the broken blood vessels in my calf just waiting to clot up. And now where was this clots you say? Well it's right where I bruised my calf, where the boot top jammed into my calf.

So what have I done since then. Well I have helped Mercedes move into her new apartment, installed a shelf in the laundry room for her, and put up an arc shower rod, spent way too much time at IKEA for my first visit, put furniture together, and shopped for countless other items that she needed to get for her new place.

And just this last weekend I finally got OKed by my physician to go ski some groomers. Oh how nice that was to not have to work Friday and get to go ski. I can tell you that it was truly a calming to my spirit. I needed that more than anything else at the time. I felt so rejuvenated while trying to use my legs that had not received any ski conditioning for 6 weeks. And to top it off, I got to ski with Mercedes on Saturday while she worked up at The Canyons. I skied the first two hours by myself ripping up the groomers and probably going faster than I "should" have, but I was still conservative nonetheless. Then I got to head all over the mountain with MAV for the next three hours. It was fun watching her shred and carve all over the mountain. She made me smile and laugh every time that she tried throwing a shifty or would throw spread eagles with me as we goofed off of the groomers. What a good day to spend together before having to send her off to Connecticut for two weeks work trip.

Life is good.

Chris and Me in Wisco

The Mother and Me

Family

Mercedes and Me

Trying to smile with my teeth...didn't quite work out.

Snowbasin Friday Night Lights Rail Jam Series Stop 1 Video

2011-01-14T19:47:00.001-07:00

I know it's been awhile since my last post. I have one in the works. But for now here's an edit of Snowbasin's new rail jam series called Friday Nights Lights. The comp was held Friday December 17th.

Snowbasin Friday Night Lights Stop 1 from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Another Great Weekend Come and Gone

2010-12-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today marks the end of another awesome weekend of skiing for me. I was lucky enough to get another 4 day weekend to ski, hit some fresh pow, ski new terrain, drop a few cliffs, test out some new sticks, and get above and out of the nasty inversion in the valley.

Friday started out with a film day at Snowbasin. The new PR Director, Jason, had scheduled a shoot with some local pro and up and coming riders. It was my first shoot with solely snowboarders, and I enjoyed the riding differences and opinions on terrain that they brought. The plan was to show the early season riding promoting Snowbasin, and to send the video to Transworld Snowboarding Magazine. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side and we shot in a grey bird setting. The footage turned out decent despite the lighting, but we're planning on getting a reshoot later on. We'll use the reshoot footage to send to Transworld.

Saturday was great with Snowbasin finally opening up the John Paul lift. I was so toked to finally get off the flat groomers and be able to ski the steeper terrain. The snowpack was only about 12"-24" deep but it still allowed for some great riding. After a short session I headed to Scout Steed's brithday bash up in Farmington Canyon. Her two year birthday party was a sledding session high up in the mountains. It was a lot of fun playing in the snow, eating chili, drinking wassel, and sitting by a fire with friends and family. I built up a jump for the sled and ending up launching everyone, including myself, about 10 feet off the ground, which made for good laughs and heart pounding excitement.

Sunday brought in another full day of skiing followed by a good game of hockey. Boy do I love my Sunday night hockey games.

And yesterday was spent skiing at Solitude. I had good company and good snow which made for a great day. I skied all over the mountain, enjoying all that there was to offer. The snow was soft and deep enough in some places to hit some cliffs. I finally dropped my first cliff of the season on a series of three 10 foot cliffs.

Now after all of that, of course I'm in a great mood. Here's to my last week of work.
Sunday was

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-28T21:57:00.001-07:00

Talk about a busy extended weekend; the most over-hyped storm of the season, two Thanksgiving dinners, the Holy War, sliding on snow, and getting a new mattress. Buy but it's been a good four days off of work, especially with the lifts now spinning.

Trying to get my legs back in shape after sitting in an office for months on end has definitely not been easy, specifically because the only open runs at Snowbasin are pretty flat. Not that fun. But overall opening day was pretty awesome. There was boot to knee deep powder covering the slopes. Best opening I've ever experienced.

Saturday brought in the annual Holy War: BYU versus the University of Utah football game. This year I spent the afternoon watching the game with Andy, Vanessa, and Andy's parents at Maggie McGee's Sports Bar. I finally got lucky with the Maggie raffle and won the halftime prize; an awesome Utah bomber's wooly winter cap. I was stoked to get it and sport the colors of my future alma mater as they ended up winning the game by blocking a gimme field goal as time expired. Good times.

Even better than all this, I finally got a new mattress and box springs. Andy and Vanessa bought a new bed and decided to give me theirs, which is in great condition. I'm so stoked to have it and slept great last night. Now getting it home from Salt Lake City to Layton was quite humorous and daunting. I mean how many times do you see a Subaru driving by on the highway at 70 mph with a matterss and box springs tied to the top.

Here's some pictures to let you know how it was.

Opening day pow turns

Me at the end of opening day

Loading up the mattress on the Subaru

Andy tightening things up

How Shall This Winter Be??

2010-11-21T14:37:00.001-07:00

Waking up to a beautiful white blanket of heaven's finest this morning brought a smile to m face. Winter is finally here in a three part storm cycle that is sure to bring a couple of feet to the mountains. And it's doing so in great fashion; just in time for the lifts to start turning this Thursday at Snowbasin.

And with that comes another year's worth of goals to shape up and guide the season.

Ski at least 45 days both frontcountry and backcountry
Ski at least 600,000 vertical feet
Ski the south face of Ben Lomond Peak
Drop S&S at J-Hole
Ski Superior
Continue filming and putting edits together
Enter a big mountain competition or two
Call in sick to work at least twice for a 15 inch or more storm
Solo Willard Peak ice drainage and ski down into Liberty
More photos
Throw more 3's
Throw more front flips
Stop being a girl when it comes to back flips
Nail my line through the blond cliffs
The usual male skier dream

I think that rounds the potential season up. I'm really stoked to ski a resort full-time for two consecutive seasons. This will be the first time ever doing that and Basin has a lot of hits waiting to happen. But I am also super excited that I managed to get a full season pass up to Grand Targhee for $250, so I will definitely be hitting that resort up a couple of times this year in addition to my six days up at Jackson Hole, which I couldn't find it in my heart to forgo this year.

Now it's just time to keep the moment from Portillo going.......

Where Has The Time Gone

2010-11-12T09:40:00.003-07:00

Once again, as if clockwork, having the stars align, and the seasons change, it appears as if I have disappeared. Not necessarily, but I just haven't had much that I feel is exciting to post about. But as we roll into winter and the lifts at my resort are about to start turning, it's time to get back to posting.

I have been thinking about goals for this ski season and am about finished with it. I will definitely post those here in the next few days. But for now here are two edits that I have completed for two of the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp first week campers.

The first completed goes to Ian Scobe. This kid was a hilarious jokester and made this fun with his carefully executed comments.

Ian Scobie - Mad Ballin' from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

The second edit out of the gates is for Matt Tilleard. This Aussie was such a great guy and funny nontheless. I love Aussie sarcasm. Here ya go Matt, I love this song you recommended.

Matt Tilleard - Aussie Power from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo

2010-09-27T22:24:00.001-06:00

So here's what I've been working on in all my free time for the past cople weeks. Thank goodness it's FINALLY done. I really enjoyed filming, being filmed, and editing this promo. Another cool thing is a shortened version of the promo is going to be apart of the Powderwhore TELEvision movie tour. The promo will play during the premovie pleasantries while everyone is arriving and getting their seats.

I've also been working on a new website for Free 2 Be Productions. That'll be finished soon (hopefully).

Well here's the edit. Enjoy.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Pics n Stuff O'Chile - It's about time I post this

2010-09-23T23:10:00.000-06:00

Alright I know that it's been a little while since I posted anything.....ok more like a long while. I've been working on a video promo for Nick and Kayo's Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp in between work trips, a Six Flags and Atlantic City day, skim boarding at Destin Beach in Florida, and setting up other business ventures. It's been quite the busy 8 weeks; the time has flown by and been one big blur. I'll be posting the camp promo video here next week, promise. And there'll be more posts of additional edits that are in the works.

I just totaled my stats from Portillo and this is what I got:

Ski Days: 13 (out of 15 potential)
Vertical Footage: 155,770 feet

I already have a good jump on my ski days and vertical footage for the season.
For now here's some pics of me in Portillo courtesy of the talented Luke Lubchenco.

My absolute favorite

Yes I know the camera looks funny on my helmet


At work


First week powder goodness


First day of Roca Jack

More Roca Jack


Lake Run Slash

One last sweet lake run shot

Time to End........

2010-08-09T21:50:00.004-06:00

As the snow turned to a hard, technical medium from the soft heavenly blanket of bliss with the raging winds of the upper Andes, the reality of our required departure and return to a world two weeks forgotten also blew in. The two weeks of skiing, touring, yoga, hot tubbing, joking, bonding, and constant schenanigans were now soon to become memories and experiences of the past instead of the daily routine that had become life for two weeks.

During that time everything else was forgotten and put aside. There were no worries of work, of bills, or of the summer heat. There was just living, living in the moment. All that mattered was skiing, fresh turns, food, partying, sleep, and avoiding falling prey to the next prank; life was good.

The days were spent honing an upright tight stance and embracing speed, invoking the style and technique of Nick DeVore. Both of my ski weeks started with a fresh dump of soft snow. The fresh turns to be had each day came under the coaches' requirement of doing so with speed and fluidity. My legs were pushed to new limits and given a pounding that I'm still recovering from.

Both of the groups were awesome even though they differed on many levels. The first group was mainly juniors (under 17) and just full of so much energy and laughter, which was truly contagious; I felt like got a little younger that week, and we all know that I don't need anymore excuses to act immature. It was constant joking and laughing. Honestly just an epic combination of personalities, energy, and skiing.

The second group was all adults and a good bunch of mountain rippers. We had a blast hiking around and shredding pow. And they all definitely knew how to have a good time both on the mountain and off.

As I now depart my little bit of heaven and return to the grind, my muscles ache and my joints are pained a little. Yet I smile with each little ache and pain. The soreness and the aches serve as a reminder; a reminder of the adventure had and the friendships made. But it also serves as a reminder of the hard work and long days of cutting trees down after sitting in an office for nine hours a day to pull together the extra funds needed to make this trip possible, the late nights, the stresses of a financial commitment, the doubts and worries........and oh how it was worth it.


Rocking out hard at La Posada

Beautiful sunsets every day

Enjoying the sunset during my daily hot tub session with my mustache


Slackline session

Final dinner group shenanigans

Parting our ways at the airport. I was bracing for the payback wet willey to follow.

Winding Down

2010-08-05T12:22:00.000-06:00

As this great camp and experience is about to finish up in less than 30 hours, I can't help but think how great it has been.

Check It Out

2010-07-28T20:12:00.004-06:00

Check out the blog post on thewinterlife.com blog for some cool shots and a good write up of what's been going on.

"So Good When It Hits the Lips: 2 Days of Blue Skies and Powder at the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp"

First Day Out

2010-07-25T12:22:00.002-06:00

Sweet sweet sweet day. Did I mention how sweet today was. We woke up to a good half foot plus of new snow. Energy was running high and we couldn't believe that we're skiing pow on our first day out. Nick and Kayo declared it to be a schralping session. It was a care free day of lapping some light snow. We did 23 laps and scored 15,840 vertical feet.

I did break the cam out and filmed a buch of the group taking laps. We're going to surprise everyone with a short edit of themselves after the camp. It's going to be hard for me to get it out before the camp concludes, but I'll get something out to each participant. Here's a couple of shots for the day. I'll have plenty more photos to share after I get back to the states.............I may try and delay that for a month or so...........

The scenery

Fun Chair shots with the GoPro

Chile!!!!!!!

2010-07-24T22:39:00.001-06:00

First day in Portillo down and out. I managed to get a shuttle before I even checked out of customs. I did have to wait around for an hour for the driver and other scheduled riders to show but it was all good. The two hour ride definitely felt just as long. Since there was snow in the mountains and all throughout the pass from Portillo to Mendoza, the Chilean Carabineros (police) had deemed it too dangerous to drive and had the road closed off. Luckily we had a Portillo sign in the van window so when the diver told the cop he should let us through because he is "an expert driver that runs this road every day and could do it in his sleep", the cop believed him and let just our vehicle pass.

The road was definitely not scary, but merely slushy in most places, with the temperature being at or above freezing. But since most don't grow up driving in snow and ice in Chile, it could be considered scary.

With the road being closed I didn't have to deal with a huge rush of incoming skiers. As I stood in the freezing lobby getting accustomed to my preferred season, all I could think about was getting some lunch and then skiing. I clammered all my stuff over to my 15' by 6' room for 4 and tried to unpack with organization. I finally gave up and just went to lunch.

It wasn't until I had clicked into my skis and started to ski toward the lift that I experienced my truly excited state. At that moment I just had the biggest smile push it's way out and I hadn't even made my first run yet; I was completely ecstatic. FINALLY. It took so long for me to get to this point.

The visibility was pretty bad as a storm was moving in and whatever light we did have was completely flat. I got some nice "knock-off-the-rust" turns in some nice milky maritime powder. It felt so good to be home but somewhat awkward and foreign at the same time.

After skiing 7 laps, somewhat successfully dodging the just barely buried rocks, and notching 5,000 vertical feet, I called it a day. As I walked in to the lobby after checking my skis and boots, I first saw Luke Lubchenco, and then the rest of the group. Kayo Ogilby and Nick Devore, the coaches soon came up and introduced themselves as I chatted with Luke. I can already tell that this is going to be a blast and a great learning session.

We had a short introductory meeting and then proceeded to finally eat dinner at the ripe Chilean time of 8:30 pm. We sat, ate, and joked around in the cafeteria while snow continued to fall. Spirits and aspirations are high. We'll be having a bluebird powder day in the morning.

Dropping into Santiago

Getting my visa

Our LARGE room for 4 people

First night storm sure to bring the goods in the morning

It's been a while.

2010-07-23T19:24:00.001-06:00

As I sit here, finally relaxing without the weight of my carry-on bag, computer bag, and ski boots stuffed with energy bars and underwear on my shoulders, having walked from Terminal A to the end of Terminal E in the Atlanta airport to combat the soon to be pooling of blood in my legs as a result of the overnight flight to Santiago, I, one laugh at my current run-on sentence, and two, am still yet to feel the "excitement" of skiing high up in the Andes during summer.

Why is this I wonder?

Maybe it's because I'm still feeling the drag of three straight weeks of tree work that mainly consisted of large tree removals with huge heavy trunks. Maybe it's the barely six hours of sleep I had last night holding my excitement at bay. It could be the long duration of stress endured making sure that I stayed healthy enough to make the trip. Or quite possibly, I'm just not excited to ski at all.

I'm sure it's not the last reason.

There are three hours remaining in my planned layover. The people watching isn't as intense in the end of Terminal E, and is not enough to hold my enjoyment as the Georgia thunderstorm has ended. As my thoughts wander and I think about the time leading up to this point of my summer, I must admit that this trip wouldn't be possible for me at this time in my life if it wasn't for Seth. His desire to start a tree business and bring me in as a partner has lead to be the main source of income for this trip. I am a little concerned about my conditioning as hockey hasn't been a frequent enough activity these past six weeks and with tree work disrupting my workout schedule. A few times I did manage to hike up waterfall canyon and then run/jog down to simulate backcountry touring and the impact I would feel on my legs while skiing. Hopefully that helped.

I guess we'll see during these next two weeks.

My up at the waterfall getting ready to run down

Andy's "New" Office - Small Office Prank Repayment

2010-05-14T09:11:00.004-06:00

I've been labeled a "One Upper", a habitual line crosser, and jokester. I never let a prank go without repayment, even the little ones.

When Andy, and a few others that are yet to get theirs, decided to saran wrap my desk (with industrial saran wrap) on April Fool's while I had been out for the day, I just smiled, laughed at the joke (it was good), and made no mention of prank repayment. Here's what they did.

Then when Andy was out on vacation in Hawaii enjoying his time, not concentrating on work, I made my move. This is how it went down. And this wasn't full throttle on my part just to let you know.

Here's video followed by pics.

Andy's "New" Office from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Spring Fling

2010-04-25T12:49:00.001-06:00

The month of April always seems to bring some of the best storms of the year. I always look forward to this time of the year as coverage is usually good and the snowpack is pretty consolidated and safe.

This edit is up there for the level of fun had during editing. It definitely isn't the best of skiing I've had all year, but the edit is fun to watch.

Here's a little bit of the spring madness.

Spring Fling from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Time For Upgrades

2010-04-23T13:48:00.004-06:00

Since I've really gotten into making short film edits and want the best quality I can get, I've started thinking about upgrades more and more. The first thing to do, other than get better at editing and video capture, is to get a better broadcast channel. I recently moved all of my videos over to Vimeo under a Plus account. I have thoughts on a new camera to use next season and most importantly I need to upgrade my processing hub with a new iMac. But since that'll be upwards of $2800, that'll have to wait.

My channel link for Free 2 Be Productions, which will hopefully be an LLC by the end of the summer, is:
http://www.vimeo.com/free2be

So to show you the visual quality of Vimeo, here's a short edit I put together of ski buddy Ross sending it on a very fun line. Ross is about 42 years old by the way. Just another testiment of mind over matter.

Ross MacD Sending It from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Breakfast of Champions: Powder Before Work

2010-04-15T09:04:00.001-06:00

I like most people, want to get each day of work off to a great start. I've always been told that you must start the day off right with a good breakfast. For some people it's Wheaties or Raisin Bran, maybe pancakes and eggs, or my favorites cream of wheat, grits, and bacon.

I had the opportunity to change things up the other day and I've never been more determined, happier, and successful in a single day of work. And I was a pleasant person to be around. Ah what did I change to get this way you ask?

I changed my breakfast. Introducing Alex's Breakfast of Champions: Powder Before Work

Yes I Hit 50!!

2010-04-14T13:47:00.000-06:00

I hit my 50th day skiing for the season this past weekend. I know that's not a lot by way of the Rockies standard, but for me working a desk job everyday and also doing tree work heavily during the fall and spring, this is a good personal accomplishment. I'm pretty sure that I won't make my vertical footage goal, but this year I've started to really look at quality versus quantity and keeping myself healthy by not pushing too far after fatigue and exhaustion set it.

Very "scrumtrulecent." That is all