What I've Been Up To

Honestly, it's been hard to even check my email with the chaos that I have going on in my Jackson life. I wake up early, eat, go snowboarding, come home and head off to work. Sometimes I get a full day off in which the work part of the day is replaced with late night chats in my kitchen with friends. Regardless of this tough life that I lead, I get to have some fun every now and then...haha.

Saturday morning was spent out in the backcountry shooting this beautiful backcountry kicker at sunrise. It took hiking up in the dark in sub zero temperatures and nearly freezing my fingers off fiddling with my equipment all morning, but I guess you gotta be committed to get the shots. Robin Pitt and I shot photos, while David, Matt Arvidson, Halina Boyd, & Ed Dujardin got after it, taking laps from sunrise on. I'm gonna keep some of the shots concealed, but just to give you and idea of what ideal conditions we were shooting in......

The beauty of these mountains never ceases to amaze me.

Ed hikes back up to give it another go.

Robin takes in the view.

Not the most mellow of hikes back to the top.

Robin searches for new angles.

Soaking up the morning sun.

Early Season at its Finest

La Niña years typically equal snow for the Northwest and Northern Rockies. To much delight, those predictions have rung true and brought us Jacksonites an early Christmas present in the form of massive amounts of snow. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort secured record pre-season snowfall and opened "wall-to-wall" It's been amazing so far, and besides the fact that people are just barely in-shape enough to ride, we've had a blast.

Rock Springs powder turns - Day 2 of JHMR.

First time we've seen Cody Peak in a while. Gorgeous day.

New to the resort this year is a series of terrain parks design by Burton called the "Stash Parks." They are placed in random locations all over the resort and contain (fairly massive) terrain park features made out of natural materials...aka tree jibs, bird's nest pillows, wall rides, etc. I thought the wall ride would be pretty sweet to shoot on a random snowy day.

David hittin' the Stash Park.

Finally, we started our morning right today with a "dawn patrol" up at Teton Pass. My friend Julie had an early appointment so she and our friend Robin convinced us to get up for a sunrise lap. Needless to say, it was totally worth it. Who needs sleep anyway when you can snowboard?

Sunrise behind Cache Peak.

Earn your turns -- you won't be disappointed.

On another non-snowboarding related note, I've had some pretty sweet views from work lately. The elk are migrating back to the elk refuge and I guess the Amangani is on their way. I've been checking out these guys for the past week or so. Such beautiful animals.