Latest and Greatest...

The latest and greatest refers to the latest news in the wild flowing journey that is my winter, and the greatest is in reference to the hardworking soul of a Wisconsin dairy man. The last couple of weeks have been a classic ying and yang experience for me that has taken me from the flatlands of routine, to the valleys of the shadow of death, to the peaks of pursuing achievement. Its been a very wild river, but that is how it flows sometimes.



^The bossman is filling a truck on another work shift at Delta deicing airplanes. Daryl is refilling this truck before we head out to the taxiway to start spraying. This is my day to day routine these days that I have been growing accustomed to and seeing time melt away watching the clock.


^The crew is spraying down a Delta 737. They are probably about 40 feet in the air spraying that tail. It can be pretty exciting when you are up that high spraying. However, even a task like that can start to become routine when you do it as much as I have in the past months. Hours watching the clock is bad for your health and I struggle to stay above the senselessness of it. That is a task in of itself.


^I went back to Wisconsin for the services for my Uncle Leroy and I was crashing with my brother, Tyler, and his fiance, Nicole. They have two new little wiener dog puppies that were so much fun. This is me and Oatis in the mirror trying to figure out who that other dog is in the reflection.


^This is a prayer card from the wake of my Uncle Leroy. Leroy was a lifetime dairy farmer in our hometown in southern Wisconsin. The life of a dairy farmer is a hard one and he took it on every day of his life with unmatched determination. My aunt and him built a life and family together that was a real inspiration to see come together over the couple of days of remembrance and tribute to his life.



^ I left home early in the morning to head back to Utah and my ski industry demands and labors. Riding this lonely train into Chicago to catch a plane was a humbling experience as I sat and contemplated the past few days. Home is always an inspirational place for me and these people are my backbone. Though we pass through this deep valley at the moment we will appreciate the sun that much more when we reach the new peaks to come and we can celebrate as we look back across the vast landscape at the peaks that we summited with him in the past... and he had many.


^With my head and heart in the right place I was ready to approach the OR tradeshow back in Salt Lake City, and Murphy and I are hitting it hard in this picture at the on-snow demo day at Snowbasin. I have a lot of goals and deals for this show that I am going for. So far, it is going really well for me, and also Murphy(believe or not). With the deals in development I will not delve into it too much just yet, but soon enough I will be able let you all know how it turns out for me in my quest to keep this crazy adventure moving along... and funded. Cheers.

Murphy has been coming up big...

My little pup and everyday assistant has been coming up big for me lately. From a handy tour partner to wingman she has taken each role and ran with it. She does everything with me and Christine and is a real trooper throughout. She has been a bit out of shape this winter with the black out dates in one of our season passes at our favorite morning walking spot before resort skiing. That is all over now though and we have been getting after it and whooping her ass all over the mountain. She has been a good sport and is starting to get back into game form.


^Murphy is resting up at the top of our hike up Pole Line pass to one of our new meadow skipping spots near Basin. It was a new zone for us and we found some good prospects for a few walk to shots that we could score later in the year without lift tickets for my four legged tour partner.


^Some gnarly sufrace hoar that I found on my morning hike with Murphy. Huge. Remember that layer


^This is the northeast face of what I am calling warm water canyon at the top of pole line pass. It looks like a cool little subridge pow shot that gets good morning light this time of year. Just needs a little more snow, but could be promising for morning pink light before lifts turn.


^This pitch is the other side of the canyon and is a southeast face that keeps good light throughout the afternoon and has a killer background. Could be some good shots with more snow, but is a bit more of an exposed slope. Good scouting Murphy.


^Then the next day Murphy came up real big with some wingman work for me. I sent her into the house this particular morning with a little X-mas box for her momma Christine. I followed her in and when Christine looked in the box I got down to one knee and asked her to be my wife. She actually said yes and I think that having Murphy with me helped my cause. Nice wingman move Murph.


^Murphy decided to celebrate the engagement with some good old fashioned snow bank playing on our back patio snow pile. She earned it.


^The morning view on my way up to Alta the next morning with my new fiance Christine when one of my all-time favorite songs came onto the radio and gave me a classic moment. Loving it right here.


^Christine is enjoying some lunch on the patio at the Goldminer's on a really nice day at Alta. We had some fun smashing some bumps and working our lazy asses into shape. The snow is not coming, but we are getting ready for it when it does.


^We finally got a little bit of new high density snow which was pretty good looking and we got to work with an early up at Alta with myself, Steve Lloyd, Jason West, and Candy Froerer. In this photo Jason and Candy are getting geared up at the top of Collins while Steve takes care of business in the Patrol shack. We headed out toward Rocky Point to find some goods.


^Here Steve is framing up his shot for Jason on a little backlit subridge while Candy watches and learns from the master. "Yes Grasshopper".


^Jason West slashing the turn and making it look like art. That is how it's done.


^Candy is all smiles at the sight of Jason's turn and is pumped to get back up for another lap of that goodness for herself. She's lovin it.

Feeling pretty good about everything right now and all the help that Murphy has been in making it happen. Getting into shape, a little scouting, getting engaged, and then getting a few shots done with Steve on a gorgeous morning. Things are going rather smoothly here in Utah for the mean time. Riding the flow.