On Dec 31st I pulled in some extra vertical around the ski hill and celebrated with everyone. It was  amazing to see and feel how many people were psyched on my achievement.  It was a great celebration and so rewarding to finally be done. Waking up on the first of January I felt a huge relief, no more goal. No more putting my watch on and thinking about how much vertical to go. I had actually accomplished it. All those challenging moments, those struggles were worth the final tiny number…I now know my physical potential in a year. Never will I try and beat that goal.

I relaxed for a bit and enjoyed some free vertical, touring a little but really feeling drained. A thousand feet appeared huge above me, far away and challenging. But I filmed with reelwater productions and focused on family. Eventually the Trade show in Salt Lake City came and I had a blast. Again the support from so many people on my goal was encouraging. Exciting. Backcountry.com hosted a party for me, with support from Arcteryx, Dynafit and Suunto. This party was a huge success with tonnes of people coming. Testimony is that Glen Plake came out and partied.

Then I came home and faced up to something, I have not wanted to face for a long time. Shoulder surgery…. Latarget shoulder surgery. Full human carpentry, with bones being cut, shaped and screwed back on.. I have had a dislocating shoulder injury for 10 years, a climbing injury that led me into ski touring.  But after years of ignoring that weakness it was time to address it. The Surgery went really well and was done by the best, Dr. Heard. In the photo you can see a fairy bandaid and a spider man; both have extra powers to help me heal.

So I have been healing and dreaming. Plus working on my professional stuff, editing, slideshows… plus hanging with the family.

I finally got my first cover on a magazine, thanks to S-magazine for their coverage.

I will heal now, and work on lots of stuff. And ski again in Norway and Sweden in April, when I head there to do some slide shows.

I chose the Bonney area because it  would be the only place that had absolutely no sun on this -18′C day.. No, I chose it because i knew that lots of people could hike the 3500 feet in and we could all enjoy untracked powder all day.

I pulled in a couple of great laps, did some simple math at the top, 2 000 000-1998500= 1500 ft, skied down 1500 ft and then I hiked back up and met Tracey, my mom, Don, plus some great friends on the top just as my watch was ticking over. I thought I was going to be fine and that this imaginary 2 mill line wasn’t going to be so real. But watching it tick over,  thinking about all the time and effort that has gone into that tiny number, and  all  the fantastic support that my friends and family have given me over this ordeal, it all summed up into me crying at the finish. So much was invested into this silly goal that finally achieving it was overppowering and having Tracey there to witness the final moment, with friends and champagne, it was incredible.

It was such a cold day that we did not want to wait too long at the top so soo enough we all skied down.  Was my 2 Millionth foot turn any better because of all the effort? Perhaps..

But what felt even better was getting to the bottom of the run and putting my skins back on for another lap…. a carefree lap that was simply to do extra. My legs felt light, my pace free and the turns great of course.

A great ten thousand foot day to finish it off. Well kinda finish it off since, today is the 31st and I still have some time and energy to raise the bar a few steps further…

I only have just over 9 grand. Hell ya. And I hope the final turns are going to be like this.

I bet it will be hard to fall asleep if I wake up in the early morning. Probable just lie there waiting to get up and go, and if I dream it will most likely be weird dreams of me some how not accomplishing my goal.

But don’t worry when I wake up I will get out there and accomplish this…

Well amazing since each descent is fantastic. but probable around 8 expletives per thousand feet up. Words that I will not write here keep escaping my mouth as I dig deep to head up that next pitch. The psych is great but its been a super long and huge hike, one that I want to be desperately done but also would like to go on indefinitely.

Every morning the first four thousand feet, the engine is super slow to get going.

But soon enough we are at the top of another wicked run and I am dropping in and dropping off whatever is in my way.

The turns today were so great. As a group we headed up to Avalanche crest, and lapped some shorter runs but then set up for the 3500 foot drop off avalanche. Dave, Joey, Shannon, Kirsten and Tommy. Tommy is up from Salt lake to help and document the last stretch of this mission and ideally to get some great turns in along the way.Today it was amazing. Easily 60 cm of light fluffy powder, which blew up and into your face on every turn.

We ripped down to the bottom and I convinced Dave and Joey to head back up for a repeat in the dark. At 5.30 we were back on the top and pointing our skis down and into the dark. Ultra headlamp on and we were off shredding to the valley floor.

9 grand today and 18 to go….

Photos courtesy of Tommy Chandler from Backcountry.com

Great powder, and fun times with the headlamps on.

10 200 ft of awesomeness, with 7800 ft of trail breaking…..

Exhausted. There is not a lot of ummmfff in my steps these days, I am still able to pull of big days but it is requiring many hours. 10770 ft today but it took close to 8 hours. Wicked skiing though, faceshots and power sluffing. Such a great way to finish off this mission.

Each day I am pushing the daylight hours and right now I am using a Petzl Ultra for the night skiing. It is so much fun, to get a faceshot and watch it get lit up by my headlamp. Pretty amazing really, shredding fast in the dark. Ok time for bed.  37 536 ft to go….

Merry Christmas to all, we had a great Christmas yesterday and a fantastic dinner to finish it off. I hope everyone out there took time out of their lives to enjoy family and friends.

It’s hard to believe that I am this close to the end of my mission, and that it seems feasible. Lots of great skiing to be had and  still lots of psych left to hike for my turns.  Last night I had a dream that my watch stopped recording the last 5500 feet and never registered the 2 Mill. I had no time to do another 5 grand so I had to accept that I had made it but never saw the actual 2 million on my watch. Its such a small number on my watch but it means so much to me and I cannot wait to see that little number tick over.

So much in fact that I have to stop writing this blog and get out there…

Coming out of the gates I was super tired, aiming for my fourth 10 thousand footer in a row I was fatigued and not pumped about the amount of skinning ahead. 4600 feet later and I was starting to get into the rhythm. Then we had our first run, it was epic, settled powder, small cliffs, pillows and a continuous pitch of OOHHHHHH YAHHHHHH. At the bottom of this line my energies were up and we headed back up for another.

I have skied this area but not that  frequently so for our second run Conor and I went exploring. Which did not work out in our favor, the top pitches were excellent but then we got dragged into the tight hemlock forest, so tight you couldn’t ski, only side slip or ski sideways. We worked our way down and then headed up with thoughts of lapping our first run. With Cliff shots, bloks and psych we made it back up. Another epic run and we were at the bottom around 4 pm. Light fading we donned our headlamps and skinned another 2 grand.

Nearing the top the winds picked up and we worked into the 112 chute, a 4000 foot gully that crashes to the valley floor. Headlights on we shredded the deepest and best run of the day. 4 grand of perfect powder skiing.

A great 11 thousand foot day.

A big heartfelt thanks to Jeff Colvin for his donation. I think he was worried that I did not have enough money to buy Tracey any Christmas presents! thanks Jeff.

Francois, a seriously good friend, spent hours making this movie on my goal. So great to see someone else’s perspective on me and my mission. Its great to realize the support I have, and how I better send this challenge. Enjoy.

Anyways, tired and ready for 8 hours of sleep.