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.

A little catch up...

I have been working out technical issues with my new cell phone/digi camera and therefore the blogging has been at a halt until I had a chance to figure it out and get all the pictures I was taking off my phone. I got it all dialed in and now I have to catch this blog up to current events.

Over the last month I have been a very busy bee getting things in order for the kickoff of the season and actually making my ideas come to life. I have done everything from throwing a premiere party in Wilmot, Wisconsin and making my first turns of the season there, to an insane dream sequence on some crazy LSD induced Disney ride. The stories are rich and the photos can help tell it.


^This is my brother's new pup, Otis. I went to Wisco in the first part of December to throw a premiere party for Josh Madsen on his Telemark Skier Magazine tour. However, the first order of business when I got into town was to go meet little Otis. Such a little shit, I just love'em.


^My cousin Jamie, who won the grand prize DNA setup in the raffle at the show, is pictured here donning his new attire. Glad it went to someone who will get good use out of it getting snowmobile face shots in the U.P. this winter. The party went off with 150 people coming out to celebrate the beginning of the new season. Wilmot was blowing snow and opened up the next day. I love it.


^So of course we skied it. They had only two runs open and I was in an ensemble of gear that my cousin Tom and my Dad put together for me. My brother Tyler, cousin Tom, dad Mike, and I all got out to make our first turns of the season. It was a blast as usual and we even ran into our old friend Sam Barranco in the lodge bar where his daughter Dawn was tending the bar. It was an ironic and nostalgic experience to make my first turns of this season back home in Wilmot. The ski industry is a tough place to be doing business this year and the hard knocks had been getting to me, but going home has a way of putting things back into perspective. Thanks for that everyone back home, I needed it.


^I got back to SLC for a few days of work and then was off to Orlando to meet up with Christine to for a run at a childhood vendetta with Space Mountain at Disney World. I was greeted at the hotel entrance by this guy which if I didn't know better was trying to flash me a crotch shot. Weird how you see things a little differently through jaded adult eyes many years later.


^The classic castle scene at Disney with Walt and his little buddy Mickey enshrined in bronze in the foreground. It was interesting to see this place now as an adult many years after having ripped it up as a youngster back in the day. Christine and I had a lot of fun checking the place out again and settling her score with Space Mountain. When she was young she waited in line with her mother for hours and then chickened out at the boarding area. Since that day she had vowed to avenge herself and we carried it out only twenty-plus years later. Nice.


^Christine enjoying the parade with a new sense of accomplishment and exacted revenge. We had a lot of fun with the whole experience including a dream sequence on a Winnie the Pooh ride that was one of the most clinically insane things I have ever seen. This was a kid's ride too and this scene was straight out of a Beatles Yellow Submarine LSD moment. It was crazy. Seeing it now with a few more years under my belt is a way trippier experience then I imagined. Hilarious.


^After Disney madness I was back to life in Utah in an AAI avalanche level 2 course getting edumacated in the ways of the dragon. The class is taking it all in right here from UDOT forecaster Chris Covington. This was a really great class and I really did learn a lot of valuable information that I am looking forward to putting in my backcountry dragon fighting bag of weapons.


^This is an actual unintentionally triggered avalanche that we had pop on us in our class tour on the second day. A student took a short ride when he jumped in to dig a test pit. I guess the pit would have said that it can run. No one was hurt and the student was off the slab on his feet skiing onto the flank rather quickly. I think it was a real eye opener for some of the people in the class who have not really seen the dragon before. As most of you know I have fought the dragon many times now and it was really interesting to me to see the reactions from the dynamic group after the slide. The next day an instructor got washed out in some hangfire too, thankfully uninjured. Again, a bunch of students got to see the dragon's bite, and even swallowing a legendary guru of the snow science industry. If you play this game you will have to pay your homages to the dragon at some point it is only a matter of time before he finds you. They key is to be as prepared for battle as a soldier going into war with as many tools as you can acquire. I am doing everything I can to diversify my bag of weapons for another season's battles.


^Christine is looking back up at me from a gully at Alta where the avalanche danger is relatively low and moguled. This was exactly what we were looking for though to whip our asses back into shape with the late start of the season weighing down my legs. We had a good leg burn and got then got all set to head back home for X-mas.


^Deep into a long traverse across the country back to Wisco for X-mas and I am starting to feel the fatigue of it on the train ride from O'Hare airport up to Antioch where Christine's dad, Phil, is picking us up. I really have this route dialed these days. Which is good cause I am getting back home more often these days which is a real blessing.


^And this makes it all worth it. The gathering of generations all in one room for a evening of love and laughter with the best kind of people in the world. I always come back to Utah from home with a fresh outlook on my life and endeavors because of these people that are my inspiration and support. These moments are the best and I love them all.


So that wraps up a good month of running around and chasing down. I am back in SLC and back in the saddle now. I still have a lot of work and training to do to get ready for the even faster approaching "go time" of the season and I am ready to get after it with a new attitude adjustment and motivation for the winter. Check out some of my old blogs about the "Flow" from last season because this season is dedicated to it once again, and I am ready to ride it wherever it takes me. Here's to it.

Candy Froerer

Candy Froerer is a Utah native that is a freeheel phoenix in the Wasatch range. She has been a backcountry partner of mine for several years and is now shooting with Vertical Integration among others. She is a top level extreme competitor and is poised to explode onto the scene. Check out her skills and lookout for her this year, she'll probably be passing you.

Candy Froerer from J.T. Robinson on Vimeo.