More marital bliss...

Seems like I am always heading back to Wisconsin these days for weddings. I guess that is the thing with being from a small town. You know everybody so anytime there are weddings I seem to end up going back to participate. You won't hear me complain though, because good old fashioned Dairyland weddings are a blast. I always get to catch up with old friends and my family. I love it. I am still not quite in dancing shape just yet, but soon enough I will be able to be back out there tearing it up with my lady. If I don't she is out there all alone, and the horny single guys at the events get the wrong idea about her relationship status. Usually she can fend for herself pretty well though. Thankfully for my Delta Airlines job I can afford to make it back often for all the gatherings.


^ Taking in the view from my Delta Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 seat on my way back to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. I was lucky to finally get a seat on Friday and make it back in time for the festivities. Would have been a real bummer to have missed out on the weekend.


^ A great deal for me is the Chicago Metra train station that is right there at O'Hare that shuttles me right up to Antioch, Illinois, which is just a twenty minute drive for my family to come scoop me up from our home just across the border. It is a good gig with my travel benefits through Delta Airlines, and then just a six dollar train ride. Can't beat that.


^ The ride is a nice one too. The conductors are all friendly guys who love to have a conversation with any willing train rider. I usually take advantage of the nice quite ride to get some work done, listen to some tunes, or finish up a movie I couldn't finish on the flight. There is even Wi-Fi on the Metra trains these days.


^ First night back in town was topped off with some good fried fish at a local tap, and then some drinks with a bunch of old friends at another local favorite pictured here, the Lilly Lake Lounge. I love this little old bar on my hometown stomping grounds of Lilly Lake. I have made a lot of near and dear memories in this little bar, and continue to enjoy my time there every time I stop by. Often times I feel bad cause no one ever lets me buy them a beer when I am there, but I can't complain cause the pro skier life is not exactly that of the NBA. I guess it is just the nature of all the good folks that call this place home, and are always so willing to embrace a good friend that they may not have seen in a while. I love them all for it, but one of these days I will get a round, I promise.


^ My cousin Jeremy and his new wife Randi celebrated the beginning of their new life and family together with a classic outdoor pig roast wedding on the lake in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. The setting was not only gorgeous, but a total perfect fit for them. I had such a good time catching up with a lot of old friends from high school and some family that I hadn't seen in a while.


^ The sunset view from the steps of the lake house that was the site of Jeremy and Randi's wedding was the perfect ending to a really fantastic day. If the rest of their lives together goes anything like the wedding did they will be just fine.


^Next was the wedding of my one of my oldest friends, Matt. So much so that I still refer to him as a cousin, as well as his mom and dad my aunt and uncle. I was blown away at how beautiful his lovely bride Mindy looked in her wedding gown. I really like giving Matt a hard time about how he married up, because as I always put it to him, "she is way better looking then you". It is always good for a shy laugh and acknowledgement from him. This photo is a blurry dark shot from my Verizon Wireless LG EnV3 cell phone of Matt and his mom, Aunt Colleen, having their traditional dance together. The venue was really cool at the ski chalet of a local hill at Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva. Even though the LG EnV3 cellphone photo is dark and does little justice you can still get an idea of how cool the setting was with the lights draping down over the centered dance floor. I wish I had gotten a photo of the perfect sunset behind the chairlift towering over the evening's landscape. Best wishes to Matt and Mindy going forward in their lives toghther, and thank you for one hell of a good time.


^ Of course, as much fun as I always have back home with my family and friends it is always nice to get back to Salt Lake City, Utah with my beautiful fiance, Christine, and our fun loving pup, Murphy. Murphy is on her back in a little session of playing in the green grass field of our condo complex. Playing fetch is one of our favorite past times, and when she brings the ball back she always like to roll around on it and play a little keep away with me. I am getting her good in this photo with a belly rub and teasing her with her ball that I just got away from her.

So in conclusion, a big cheers to the new marriages, and much thanks for throwing two great parties to celebrate. I am glad that I was able to make it back to share the days with them, and I have best hopes and wishes for each of them for the future. Cheers.

Hiking with Murphy...

That is right. You read it correctly. I went hiking with my pup Murphy yesterday. I am healing really well and quickly. Yesterday I enjoyed a hike with Murphy near our home in Baer Creek Canyon in Farmington, Utah. It has been two and a half months now since I crushed my pelvis and broke my spine in that gnarly crash on Cardiff Peak. The doctors are surprised and pleased with my progress and I am chalking it up to another blessed experience for this young skier. I am looking forward to next season already and I am motivated to get back into shape.


^Muprhy is waiting for me to carry on up the canyon to her favorite spot. She loves this trail and loves hiking with her Pops. If I were healthier I would've climbed this small rock and Murphy likes to chase me up it. She can climb some pretty steep pitches. You'd be suprised.



^Murphy is the stickhunter. Her favorite activity on our hikes is to fetch sticks out of the rushing creek. She always tries to pull out the biggest sticks she can get her mouth around. Even some that she can't. It is pretty funny to watch her try to pull some of these monsters out. Spring runoff is running good right now, which makes her task even more challenging for her. I am really looking forward to getting back into shape with the help of my mini-motivator, Murphy.

greybird... classic

greybird... from J.T. Robinson on Vimeo.

One of my favorite nostaligic VI edits with original music from San Diego based Aqua Beat. Back then they were Pablo y Oscar, that has since changed, obviously. I always like this one at the end of the season when I am beat down and tired. This year a little more then most. Still snowing here in Utah. Late start and late finish I guess. Need the water.

the crash...

This lifestyle is a constant balancing of the probabilities of the risk/reward function. We have to make decisions on acceptable risk throughout our day, every day. Avalanches, rocks, speed, snow condition, line, trajectory, and on and on. Also, no one factor exists in the definite at the time the decisions have to be made. Balancing odds at 2 to 1, 10 to 1, or 100 to 1. There is always that 1. This crash that has broken me off for a good spell was on a cliff that ranks into the routine for me. A 35 foot lincoln loop like this one is part of my everyday as a pro skier. Miscalculations in trajectory, rock exposure, snow pack depth, trick choice, and probably other unforeseen factors tipped the balance of the situation for me in this decision. Steve Lloyd was the photographer that I was with and he has let me use the photo sequence of the crash to tell the story.



^Here I am coming into my last turn before the take off.


^Laying in that last edge before flinging myself over into the lincoln loop rotation over the cliff.


^At the start of the rotation I am looking towards my landing zone, and I am still confident that my landing will be smooth and deep.


^So I go into the blind part of the rotation, and as you can tell my body positioning is still relatively tight and confident.


^At this point I am turning my head around continuing to lead the rotation, and starting to look for the landing. Still confident and relatively tight.


^Now I have my head around enough to start to realize the trajectory of my flight is slightly off to the left and I am heading towards a rock spine that was on the skier's left side of my landing zone. I still appear to be in the clear, but closer then I wanted to be. You can notice my legs start to open up some as I question myself.


^Now I am really starting to realize that it is going to be much closer then I really wanted, and I am opening up more and beginning to brace for what might be coming.


^At this point I am totally opening up and even moving my left hand down into a position to try to possibly brace myself against the rock that is going to be really close to where I am about to land.


^In this frame I am actually figuring out that I am not going to hit the rock that I could see to my left, and I had a clean snow landing coming under my feet. I am tightening up and beginning to get the landing gear back underneath me.


^My confidence is restoring and I am touching down for what I thought was going to be just another close call landing, and I needed to try to stick it enough to at least ski away from it. Then chalk it up for another "almost moment".


^This is the point of realization that all is not okay, and I am actually hitting a rock deeper under the snow with my left buttcheek. If you look closely at my skis you can tell that my left ski is up higher then my right ski because the left ski tail is up on the rock that my butt is now hitting. The rock bounced me out of the bomb hole into a couple cartwheels. I knew right away that I was pretty busted up when I stood up out of my fall. A quick and dirty assessment of myself and I made a snap judgement call to avoid a helicopter rescue and ski the mellow skin path route back down to the road. This route from Cardiff Peak is relatively mellow and all downhill from my crash site. So I yelled up to Steve and said," I am broken, and I know I am breaking the rules, but I am getting out of here now before I start to stiffen up." I gave Carsten Oliver my pack and headed down. I got all the way to the road relatively quickly and easily. However, when I got to the line of cars along the road I could not get in between them. I had Carsten and Eliele help me with my skis, and they shouldered me through the tight space between the cars. Then they laid me down in the snowbank. At this point we called the ambulance for a ride to the hospital, and a wild scene of what seemed like 30 doctors and nurses running around me poking and pinching me all over while shouting instructions. After the dust settled I found myself in a hospital bed with a large stiff brace around my torso, and a real pain in my ass. Final prognosis was three fractures in my pelvis, and a compression spinal fracture of my L4 vertebrae. Luckily the spinal fracture was such that my disc blew out in three pieces in opposite directions like an exploded peace sign centered on my spinal chord. As a result there was no displacing movement in my spine and therefore no spinal chord damage.


^Determined to remain positive I slapped a big FlyLow sticker on my brace and prepared myself for the long but possible journey to recovery. I believe in the power of positive energy on the human existence, and I was determined to get my mind right to be able to set myself up for a quick and quality rehabilitation. This crash did not take my legs or my life and I should be thankful for that, and as a result pursue the rest of my life with corresponding zest and appreciation. I am blessed, but I know it and I live my life in tribute to all the powers that have delivered me to my charmed existence.