On Saturday night, after a day of skiing (Chelsea) and snowmobiling (Trev), we decided we should go watch the Jackson hockey team, the "Moose", whoop up on a team that traveled out from New York. We are a little embarrassed to admit that it is the first game we have gone to see since we have lived here, I don't know why because we have always wanted to go, but just have never made it happen. Well, it ended up being an awesome time, those guys have some skills!, but the Moose ended up losing 2-5. Better luck next time boys! We will try to cheer you on more often!
Still searching for snow with the snowmachine! Chels is working out at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort all day on Saturday's this winter ski coaching, so, it's turned into my day to go sledding without a guilty conscious! Saturday I went up Cliff Creek in the Wyoming Range about 45 minutes south of town with a big posse of both guys and girls who were awesome riders, some of which ride on a semi-pro basis on the Hill Climb circuit. It was really fun riding with them and trying my best to keep up.
Overlooking Bondurant, WY and onwards to the east with the Wind River Mountains way off in the distance
Last year at this time we were in Europe...Wengen, Switzerland to be exact to watch my brother ski in the Wengen World Cup downhill! What an amazing place, so beautiful with the Eiger looming above and the only access to the town is to take a train up to it, so no cars. It is so pretty there, look at this and this and this and rodeling!! Can you tell I wish I was there?
Check out this video I made, it gives you a little feel of what watching a World Cup race is like over in Europe, the Swiss Army flying overhead before the race, everyone setting up their fondue pots on the side of the hill, trains to the start, this place is amazing! Plus Marco got 3rd which made the whole experience even better!
Anyway, tomorrow Marco races there again! Go Marco!
If you want to watch the race LIVE, here are a few options:
1. You can watch live video shown on Universal Sports. Race starts at 4:30am Mountain Time, 3:30am Pacific Time. (Look on the right side of the page to find Live Alpine Skiing - Men's DH from Wengen)
2. If that doesn't work for you, there is always Live Timing, not as exciting because you only see times and not the racers.
Just returned last night from a two day trip out to Worland, WY (5 hours to the East of Jackson) for a work related trip to the Wyoming Boys School. It was a fascinating trip on a lot of different levels as I have been wanting to go out there for years to see what the highest level of detention for juveniles in the state of Wyoming looks/feels like. The catalyst for going out to Worland was to visit kids from my work region of the state who are placed there and by law, are required a face to face visit from a social worker of the state at least once a month.
The Boys School was the real deal! Without getting into the details too much due to privacy matters, suffice to say they run a very tight operation at the Boys School and it is a place that instills discipline. Enough said.
Pretty classic Wyoming picture here of the old and the new. You have the old water tower on the right side of the shot only to be replaced with the new face of Wyoming, the oil derrick bobbing up and down plying the inner earth for liquid gold.
Desolate stretch of road between Worland and Tensleep.
Tensleep, WY is a cool place!
Thought this was a cool shot on a lot of different levels. Most of all, I like it for the horse shadow being cast on the barn on the left side that looks just like a real horse.
Ahh, Black Betty, my pimpin state vehicle.
So, I guess this 8 mile road out of Pavillion, WY is different than the one Emenim famously raps about in Detroit?
The only thing that quantifies as a traffic jam in Wyoming. Just outside of Moran Jct, WY, on my way home yesterday.
Today was a great day, I took my friend Mindy's daughter out for her first day skiing ever! Sarah is 4 years old, so she got a free ticket and we rode up the beginner lift at the Village a handful of times with one hot chocolate and whipped cream break thrown in for good measure. You have to give the girl credit, it was super chilly this morning, of course with an inversion happening, it was something like -2º at the base and 27º at the top (another reason Jackson Hole is NOT a good beginner's mountain, all the easier lifts are at the bottom!).
I am happy to report that she was fearless and kept wanting to go faster! Now that is what I like to see Sarah, keep it up girl...we will have her racing in no time! : ) Here are some pics of Sarah in action....
So I decided to coach the J4/J5 team this year for the Jackson Hole Ski Club. This is a group of awesome 10-12 year old ripping little racers. This weekend was our first race and because Jackson is kind of far from anything, a lot of travel is involved to compete with other race teams. This weekend we drove to Boise, Idaho (6 hours away) to race up at Bogus Basin, a ski area that sits a half hour and up the turniest, most car-sick inducing 14-mile road ever, above Boise. The kids ended up ripping and skiing really well, but man it was a hectic and tiring two days! Here are the couple cool pics I managed to snap...
We stayed up on the mountain, thankfully because I do not like long turny roads! This was walking out our condo in the early morning, moon is still up and the fog is just lurking and looking cool.
On Saturday the whole mountain was fogged in all day, but Sunday we woke up with a view and just a light layer on the race hill that you can see across the valley in this pic. That is one of my kids waiting there for me to ski over there with her.
Skiing down to the race course, isn't it neat and eerie-looking?
I ended up taking these shots while skiing down! I figured I brought the camera, so I had to document something, but I got so busy that I only found time for these quickies as I was skiing and holding my gloves in one hand, camera in the other and trying to capture how cool it looked!
Later in the day when the fog burned off. It was pretty up here, Boise below. The worst part? Driving the 6 hours home and crawling into bed at 1:30am...ugh.
Another sweet day riding with buddies in the backcountry! I know some of you might be sick of snowmobiling shots, but it's my newest passion, so, too bad! As soon as we start getting more snow, then I promise there will be some ski shots!
Cody and I rode up Mosquito Creek in the Snake River Mountain Range today. Bluebird and awesome!
Cody managing to steal a gaze at the camera all the while ripping a right hander!
One of my favorite attributes of snowmobiling is that I am still pretty new to the sport. Every time I go out I learn something new and improve, which is fun! I never have any problems getting excited to go skiing, but with the little snowfall so far this winter, I certainly have been more motivated to sled and improve with this new pursuit!
Love this shot. Color coordinated and looking rad, Cody!
When I got my first sled a handfull of years back, I thought it was going to be as simple as sitting on the thing, giving it some throttle and all the rest would be easy. Not so much! It requires an immense amount of strength (the sleds weight over 450lbs), balance, and agility. Of course riding on groomers is like skiing on groomers, it doesn't take a huge amount of skill. But when you get off the groomers, a whole other world exists of sidehilling, creek crossings, sharp turns, et. et.
The shot above assures you that sledding is as big of an exercise as anything! We call this "trench warfare". Cody is in a trench close to 5 feet deep that his sled dug while we were continually trying to get him unstuck! Getting stuck sucks!
Cody with an up close and personal shot of me.
Seeing my new rather bright outfit reminds me that I am sporting the colors of the Slovenian World Cup Ski Team! Oops, sorry Marco. Still rooting strong USST all the way!
This is why Jackson rules! Went for a sunset ski yesterday afternoon after work up on Teton Pass and managed to catch the sunset just right. All the boot top deep, fresh pow on the way down had this awesome pink and orange hues to it.
It's has been brutally cold, with temps in the -30 range and below. Anything below zero is just damn cold the way I see it. One nice attribute of the cold here is that we usually get an inversion with the cold, so, all the cold air gets trapped down in the valley where it might be -20, but if you get up high, temps can be a pleasant 20 above!
Cold and Clear. If it can't snow, might as well be bluebird!
I need some light lenses for what has now become customary early morning or late evening skis.
Overlooking Bondurant, WY and onwards to the east with the Wind River Mountains way off in the distance
