Where in the World did I go?

Writers block perhaps… after a full year of blogging and going hard my creative well dried up. Finally the enthusiasm has trickled back in.

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.  

The 2 Mill day

It started off as it should, I got to the parking lot first, dilly dallied around till a few girls got ahead.  Passed them and then I broke trail for 2 thousand feet up onto the Bonney moraines.  Although I was super driven I still had to make sure the skin track was decent to follow since I knew many friends and family would be following my track today. By the time I was at the top of the moraines I looked down and I could see lots of people heading up. So I skied down a quick lap and saw quite a few friends. We toured back up to the top..

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…

2millHill

All right, hit it today with lots of friends and family, lots to say and write but I have things to do. Photos and such following.