Mountain Rider’s Alliance Picture of the Week
http://www.mrablog.com/picture-of-the-week-60/
Pretty stoked! Great photo by Gregg Trawinski a couple of years ago near Alta, UTAH. I wish it was snowy like that right NOW!
Home…
As my feet wander more and more of the earth, I am always excited and grateful to return home to the warm red dirt and cold blue skies of New Mexico. Flying into New Mexico doesn’t look like much, unless you’re privy to its enchantment…
One of my favorite parts about coming home is definitely the CHILE!
This salsa is SOOOOOO HOT!!! But it’s damn delicious as well. You can’t stop eating it once you start! From El Parasol…(duh!) A little shameless (but congruent) sponsor placement…Thanks for all the support Hot Chillys…I love you in all forms…
Classic breakfast burrito at Tias Sofia’s in Santa Fe…State question that my grandfather actually petitioned as a legislator for 35 years…”Red or Green?” Me: Christmas (I started to take a bite when I realized I wanted a picture)
My visit was a complete surprise because it was only for 3 days and I knew I had to get North to see my brother and Estelle. Nonetheless, I managed to link up with 3 of my best friends for a night of (attempted) flamenco lessons from Jasper and hanging out with his infamous cross-eyed and drooling cat, Braveheart.
The next morning was sunny and beautiful…I took my family’s dog for a walk to check out the awesome view of Santa Fe from the Cross of the Martyrs. So many awesome memories from this spot!
Heading North…Good to see a patch of snow on the Santa Fe ski area! These mountains might look like hills but the altitude at this picture is about 8,000 feet…The top of the ski area is 12,000 feet! The old and beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains…
Classic Norteño Iglesia…
Finally at the destination! Joey and Estelle’s Garlic & Mushroom Farm! A nice paint horse came to greet us…
watching the sunset
The Garlic Field…
The abode…
Awesome door!
You can’t go wrong with coconut, red chile, steak, and salt & pepper…Boeuf à l’Estelle!
My parents and I have nothing in common except that we both hate laughing and having a good time. Here we are doing some garlic prep…
Good morning! Time to start work on the Mushroom grow house that Joey has designed!
My grandmother “Nona” stayed all warm and wrapped up in one of my mother’s beautiful quilts while she supervised!
Quick, take a picture it lasts longer! Me doing some manual labor building the framework…so much fun!
The framework…
My lovely grandparents and I out for a stroll in the garlic field…Nona & Papa are two of the greatest gifts of my life! Thank you for all I have learned from you…
Then we all cruised into Santa Fe for dinner at Tomasita’s! It was an unprecedented Bigbee-Smallwood event: everyone at dinner at the same table in the same restaurant! Guess I should come home for 3 day stints more often eh?
And of course, my two “little” brothers who are actually at least a foot taller than me. Matthew (right) is a baseball superhero and Chris just started his freshman year at UNM in Albuquerque. Taking it to Crushtown as I like to say!
All in all it was a fantastic trip and I’m so glad I got to see my whole family before the work season here in Alta gets into full swing. I came back to shred Alta the next day and start working as Brighton Chalet caretaker. Now if only we could get some snow….
Interview on PUSH.CA
So stoked to have an interview about SheJumps.org on Canada’s premiere snowboarding website, PUSH.CA…It just came out!! So cool!
http://push.ca/blogs/spencerfrancey/archive/2011/11/14/shejumps-women-in-winter-sports.aspx
Check it out!
PMGear Fundraiser for SheJumps with 179s
These are by far and away the most badass skis I have ever had the pleasure of sliding on snow with! They are lightweight (can’t beat it for touring with the Dynafit setup), STIFF, and they can handle ANY condition. I mean ANY condition…I skied them on some serious survival snow in South America, off volcanoes with sastrugi that would make your hair curl and I would just watch the rockered tip and stiff carbon fiber combination ride it like a cadillac…
The dimensions of the ski are 137/108/113 with the narrowest part of the ski sitting quite far back, which means that more of your power is transferred to the more powerful part of the ski—the stiffest part, right under your foot.
The ski is for sale for $999.00 right now with only limited pairs left. 10% of sales go to support SheJumps.org and all sales are done directly through PayPal with sales@pmgear.com as the address. Please consider investing in what is quite possibly the best female-specific ski ever produced. In 21 years of skiing I have yet to find a ski that performs as well in all conditions.
This is THE ONLY PAIR OF SKIS I BROUGHT TO SOUTH AMERICA! They were the lightest and burliest skis to handle the job!
First Day Back on Skis in North America
I was a little hesitant to charge out to Alta because of fear of hitting rocks after one in Chile nearly dislocated my shoulder…But my friends Bob and Mike Birch got me all stoked despite waking up with a fever…Sweat it out, right?
Super mellow cat track to start…no big plans just skiing low-angle pow today due to avalanche concerns…
On our first lap, I saw my friend Selmer, shredder extraordinaire…but wait…what’s that he’s got? It’s a swallowtail noboard!! With carpet for the pad! Nice work Selmer!
Liguria is an awesome restaurant in Santiago, CHILE. Check it out if you ever go there…This pin was on my backpack and put a smile on my face when I saw it today…A bit of the South America still sneaking in there…
Ran into some old friends…Meredith! Just back from Tanzania…what a culture shock!
And on our 2nd lap, a 5.10 skin move through the trees…Usually there is snow here I think…
Stoked to be wearing my Banff Mountain Film Festival BUFF! What a treat…
And there go the guinea pigs…Skiing in the protected gullies is still the safe bet. The pow was super dense for Utah style but it’s going to build a great base.
We did cut this slab off at the end of the day…NW facing aspect around 9000 feet. Wind slab about 6-7 inches thick…Avy danger was CONSIDERABLE today. Be careful out there!
And for my afternoon project, my first time (of many, many times) shoveling both decks of the Brighton Chalet. I’ve GOT to get my time down!
Quote of the Day
“If you follow your bliss, you’ll have your bliss whether you have money or not. If you follow money, you may lose the money, and then you don’t have even that. The secure way is really the insecure way and the way in which the richness of the quest accumulates is the right way.” –Joseph Campbell
I Jump: Avalancha en el Volcán 2011
I distinctly remember telling all my Hood River friends that my trip to Chile this year was going to be short and sweet—“I’m only going to guide for a couple of trips for CASA Tours and then be home.” I just started getting into kiteboarding this summer and the Columbia River Gorge is known for its amazing windy August and September days. I wasn’t lying until I actually got down to South America and started to ski powder. Then I forgot all about summer as I knew it before.
I had a great time guiding for CASA Tours (my second year, amazing tour company for ski and snowboard vacations in Chile and Argentina). We had great snow for almost every group and I even had time between trips to go to the Pichilemu and catch some waves.
I was just beginning to wonder what it would be like to actually leave on my scheduled day of departure—September 20th—and head home, when I was contacted by Rodrigo Vera, a professional climber and instructor at one of Chile’s top eco-tourism colleges in Pucón, Chile. Rodrigo, or “Negro” as he’s known to most, offered me a position as the Director of Marketing for a competition he had been dreaming to create for years—a timed race from the top to the bottom of Villarrica Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in South America—Avalancha en el Volcán.
My immediate reaction was “Yes! Of course!” and then the reality set in that I wasn’t going to be writing press releases and contacting my media friends in English, but in Spanish—and not any Spanish, but Chilean Spanish. As the time drew closer to the day of the competition, I realized how far I had come by throwing myself into the position. I was proud of overcoming the desires to quit and say “Wow, I have no idea what I’m doing!” and continue to work at the level I envision for any project in my life.
When the competitors started showing up in Pucón, I was the person to meet and greet them, register them, give them all the beta about the competition and make them feel welcome and proud to be involved the competition. It was an amazing feeling to put faces to names and ask them, “How did you hear about Avalancha en el Volcán?”
The day of the competition I hiked up and raced with all the competitors. It was a great feeling to see everything through start to finish. I ended up in first place for the women and really feel vested in seeing more people have the amazing experience of sharing a day on an active volcano with people from around the world….Avalancha en el Volcán 2012!
What an amazing experience!! Thank you to all who made it possible!!
