On my way to work!

Heading up to the world cup course to check out the snow! No practice to film today. But i'm gonna pick up my credential!

Getting ready!

I'm tuning my skis for tomorrow! It's supposed to snow tomorrow, lets hope they are right!

We went skating!

Oh my god! We went skating! Figure skating! And them i put on hockey skates! I an in heavenly bliss right now! Its been years!

Assem world cup

There is the course! I get to ski on it tomorrow!

holidays in Aspen!

Its so beautiful! But its not snowing yet.

Tripple Bogey Dinner in Aspen and World Cup gear up!

Okay, I'm here! It was a loooong 14 hour drive, i got in at 5am. WHEW! I got to sleep in the next day, and gave some massage in the afternoon, which was lovely. The next day, I got to go up to Megan's house and make her dinner, not thinking at all about the fact that cooking is exactly like multi taksing, and that its been pretty complicated for me to multitask lately!!

Of course, I chose a recipe from the French Laundry cookbook, which i love to cook out of, Scallops on this amazing compote of mushrooms. So, I made a salad, corn chowder with bell pepper creme garnish, polenta and asparagus, and scallops, followed by pumpkin pie and flour-less chocolate cake.

The deserts were no problem, but the salad, soup and main course were NOT up to snuff. I really enjoyed cooking in her kitchen, and it was interesting to see where I was cognitavely, and it was amazing to have everyone's help at the very end. But its funny, the basic pasta dishes I usually throw together are much much better than what we had for dinner. Ah well. the point was more for the friendship and company, but I do love to cook, so, just like in my skiing, I like to have it all come out just so, so I strive to make it the best I can.

This was a good lesson for me in letting it go, because the only person at dinner who has eaten my cooking before was Kurt, so I guess I wanted to sort of hit it out of the park. It was nice to do the best I could and let that be good enough. I felt the urge to apologize, and fought it.

All in all, it was a great night, I got to hear some terrific stories from Weems and Katie and Megan about what terrors they were as kids, and we all reminisced about National Academy (Megan and Katies's 14+ years to my two), and I got to learn a little more about Jason, the incredible chef who was up at dinner. I offered to come chop vegis for him sometime, and he agreed, so i may occasionally be loitering around Megans house to pick up some tips from him! That's exciting!

Except I don't think he's going to let me chop. I'll probably have to watch and to dishes, but that is just as good!

The plan for World Cup looks like this: Thursday and Friday I'll be up video taping the freesking practice, Saturday katie and i will be a video/slip team, and Sunday I'll be taping, which will be great.

I've heard they are injecting the race course with water 10 inches under the surface, and when i asked what that meant, i was told "bullet proof ice". OH YAY! GuessI'd better learn to tune my skis tomorrow!

Its been in the 20s and they are blowin' snow every where every day.

Its great to be back in Aspen, this town is so beautiful and friendly, and its great to see friends and connect again. The trainers are out on the hill working their MA, I am so impressed with the dedication to training the staff and putting out a quality product at all four ski schools.

That's all for now, I'll keep you posted and thanks for reading!

At ink!

Waiting for a table at my favorite coffee shop in Aspen! Time to Blog, email and study!

Cooking in paradise.

It's like cooking in disneyland! Getting megan and Katie's bfax dinner ready at megan'S place. fun!

on the road in blackfoot idaho

I hate eating on the road! Where's my bell pepper and humous! Bleh. But gas is cheap! Yay!

Sunset in west Yellowstone

The road to Aspen!

Heading up the canyon to big sky, on my way to Aspen via salt lake!

Mason and friend help me get on the road!

Don't ask how i broke my door, but i had to hold it closed driving to school today! Worried i wouldn't be able to get on the road to assem today for many reasons, this just added to the list! Thanks bang tail heros for fixing my door!

Rockin' like Docken

Happy Birthday, Andy!!

Let's take a poll:
Andy Docken MOST resembles:

a. this guy

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b. this guy


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c. this guy


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d. The love child of all of the above!


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post a comment to cast your vote!
ps. bonus points if you can tell us who each of these people are and what movie or event they are in!

pps. ANDY! Thanks for making skiing always always fun, even when its (or you are) kicking my ass!

Happy Birthday, Amanda F!

I'm so glad you guys live across the street. Thanks for helping me see straight when I get lost. Have a beautiful birthday!

Totally Gratuitous

Look! I'm inside the gate! This is the day before I "fixed" the dumped hip problem, but hey hey hey, my feet are outside the gate and my body is in! Yippee!

Sunset.

five minutes ago in the back yard.

Sometimes, I feel like the list is endless, and I know I'll get through it, sometimes, it seems like theres obstacles falling from the sky (or coming at me at 45 mph from behind), but most times, there are beautiful friends, and an amazing world to help keep it in perspective.

Thank you Tiff, Ang, Kurt, Meg, Amanda and Stacey. Tough week. I'm grateful for you.

Donation Love!

THANK YOU Amanda! I got this note this morning, along with some gas money into my training fund!

"I've contributed a bit of dosh to the gas money fund, since you've lost so much time due to yr diva brain stem."

I have indeed had to cancel more than a dozen massages this week and miss school due to the little tiny ER snag, and this really helps! Thanks so very much for your help, Can't WAIT to stand on the World Cup course and see how its done!!

Unfortunately I won't be slipping the course and working on the course crew, as its long days of super hard work on ice, and you have to get your ass out of the way before the next world cup skier comes rippin' down the course, but I'm grateful that there is a helpful job I CAN do that will let me make some easy turns, be on the course, and learn a lot.

Bringing my table to Aspen, email me if you want a rub! (Thanks Dennis and Kurt for helping me fill up my schedule, its great to work on the road!!)

Full Cert Free Ride Petition: Grass Roots, Lets GO!

This is what your pass might look like, good ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY, if we can get this program going!

For an FAQ on this proposal, and more info, click HERE

To sign the petition, click HERE

For more info on what the heck this is, READ ON!

You'd ski all over the country if you had a free pass, right? You'd make friends at these places and crash on their couch... you'd bring back the dirt bag community ski lifestyle!

You'd be able to tell clients at your resort where they should go when they tell you, "We are going to be on the East Coast in February, but with our kids, where should we ski?" You'd know what to say, because you would have GONE THERE!

And you would have gone there because you'd be welcome, the lift ticket would be free, and there would be a community of instructors who have open couches!

You'd be able to help level the National Standard because while your division would be individual, you'd be traveling, talking, learning, and bringing back ideas from other locations, and sharing your stuff with them!

If you could have a nation wide free pass if you were full cert, you'd have a REASON to join PSIA, commit to your training, and get through. You'd want to road trip with your friends, so you'd encourage them to train, too!

Membership numbers would rise, people in training would rise, numbers of people taking exams would rise, and number of overall full certs in this country would rise!

And you'd have friends all over the country! (Pssst, think we could talk Canada into joining this program?)

This is a GRASS ROOTS MEMBER BASED EFFORT! PSIA knows were talking about it, and they are curious how many people would be into it!

I've talked to lots of ski school directors, and while the scope of the program is logistically difficult, they are interested and open to the idea, every single one of them.

Here's the thought: Pass your 3, get a card with a barcode. Present your full cert PSIA card at any ticket window nationwide, and get your comp lift ticket.

Meet other cool people who love to ski, make friends all over, learn from them, teach to them, and love your ski community.

It may start smaller than that, but THAT'S THE GOAL. The industry is intrigued and PSYCHED to see how many people would be into this. I spent a lot of last season and the season before "floating" the idea with POSITIVE results, so lets keep it going!

Sign up to "attend" this event, send it to everyone you know, skier, snowboarder, instructors and non instructors. We want to see JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE would sign up if they knew this was the carrot at the end of the stick.

If the petition goes well, I'm gonna hit the road and start "interest" meetings at individual resorts.

Lets DO IT!

Kate Howe
Bridger Bowl, MT
L2 Alpine

TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THIS LIST: either join the PSIA Facebook group HERE and click to "attend" this event, or comment below with your name, city, and whether or not you are a PSIA member or instructor. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A CURRENT MEMBER OR INSTRUCTOR to sign this petition! We just want to know how many people would be interested in joining if they knew this were the prize at the end!!

MRI Results, 7 days till World Cup

Okay, here it is: My brain, apparently, is fine (ha ha ha) thank goodness. My neck, on the other hand, not so much. They are considering doing a full spine and pelvis MRI of me, but currently:

The disc between c5/6 is bulging and impinging the nerve roots coming out of the spinal column, and possibly occasionally the spinal chord, although we can't be sure. The disc between c6/7 is also bulging, but not as badly.

I have been referred to an orthopedic surgeon to do injections into my discs to relieve the pressure in those sites. At this time, no surgery seems necessary. At this time. (Do they really have to stress it twice??)

I talked with my friend Kurt, who has several fused discs in his back, and apparently the injections, while scary sounding, are great, really helpful, and I should be fine a couple of days after. YAY!

I'm supposed to drive to Aspen on the 22nd to go work on the World Cup course there, but I am going to have to step off of the actual crew and do video for Katie instead, because I don't think I should be carrying heavy loads and skiing hard on ice all day under pressure. I don't mind being on the course on my skis video taping, that would be great, and seems appropriate for where I am right now.

So, checking to see if I can get injections on Monday or Tuesday, so I feel better by Friday! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Wanna see a picture of my BRAIN?

I got some images from the MRI of my cervical spine and head, this is a very very strange thing, to see what your actual brain actually looks like. Click here to see more if you are a big medical geek. I haven't got them read by anyone yet, still waiting as the hospital is backed up. But, WOW, Hi, cerebral cortex, how are you? Look, look, its my brain stem! And there's my EYEBALLS!