Had an epic Christmas slaying pow at Canyons in Park City, Utah!! Check it out …

As resort employees, Ryan O’rear and I spend our days teaching pizza wedges to new skiers and occasionally coaching the expert down a bump run.  It isn’t the most exciting skiing, but the smiles and first-ever turns absolutely make it a rewarding job.  Our clients find steeps to be intimidating, tree runs frightful, and new snow as a workout.  Every once in a while we find a fresh turn or two, but on those bluebird pow days you can usually find me lapping First Time from first to last chair.  Get some!  After two weeks without a day off, we were blessed with abnormally warm weather and a fairly stable snow pack.  Ryan and I decided we would try the easy to access backcountry gate off 9990 for a day of touring.  With low expectations for powder turns we navigated our way through the crowds at Canyons, a resort we were both unfamiliar with, toward the solitude of the backcountry.

After boot packing up from 9990 and consulting the map, we skied some green-light trees down to Desolation Lake.  As we de-layered and began to skin up from the lake, I realized how fortunate we were to have a day off, away from the resort, just us and momma nature …and lots of untracked snow!  I wasn’t expecting great snow when we exited the gate from Canyons, but was overjoyed to leave the crowded lifts and slushy ski trails behind.

To get to our second run we climbed up a mellow ridge with views for days across the valley.

Big Cottonwood and all her glory, snow capped peaks, and the sun. Wow – the sun was resilient.  We unzipped and stripped as we went up trying not to sweat our asses off.  But through the aspens we saw a gorgeous looking pitch of fresh on West Desolation Ridge.  We took a break and watched two skiers shred a similar aspect.  The wet slough seemed under control so we decided to check out our line and the views from the ridge.

Both of us ate shit at the bottom trying to ski out in the sticky sun effected snow, but the deep fresh turns were better than we thought they would be.  Next time,  when I’m applauding a five year old for jumping off their first ever whoopdie, I will look forward to another day off to explore the goods the Wasatch has to offer

I recently took a spontaneous trip out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to chase a deep winter storm.

January 27th: I was at Northstar Resort in 55 degree weather taking some really fun park laps when I rode up the chair lift with a couple of friends, Aaron Zook and Kim Reinhardt. They were telling me about a trip out to Jackson Hole and Park City, Utah that they were about to go on. I was super jealous since I knew that both of those mountains were getting some decent snow.  Luckily, they had one seat left in their car, and they said a tiny person like me could come along for the adventure!  I was so excited for this opportunity that as soon as I got home I got all of my shifts cover for work and packed my bag.

We left Tahoe around 11:00 p.m and our friend Paul drove the whole 12 hours straight through the night till we made it to Jackson Hole.  The 1st day we spent exploring the beautiful town of Jackson.  The following day we rose to fresh snow on the ground, all of us could not stop smiling except for Aaron.  He unfortunately decided to backflip off of a Jackson sign and ended up bruising his heal.  Aaron was put out of commission for a few days till he could force his foot back into his ski boot.

The rest of us rushed to the mountain. We stood in the tram line for about 45 min and got freshies all day. With a few days of riding Jackson Hole resort, Paul and I wanted to explore the Teton Pass.  We met up with his good friend Aaron who is a level three avalanche certified guide.  We wanted to be safe and of course ride the best terrain possible.  He took us to Teton Pass and we hiked the Glory Bowl.  We gained over 2,000 vertical feet with our summit to the top.  During the ride down I could not stop shouting with joy. I don’t think I have been that happy all season.  Here’s a video of just how good it was:

The snow was extremely light and deep, myself only being 5 ft tall it was a lot deeper for me than the boys!  Ha the joys of being tiny. Once we reached the road and got a ride back to our car we decided to hike another peak called Chivers.  This hike only took us about 15-20 minutes, a much shorter hike but the terrain was still untouched and deep.  During my trip out in Jackson, Paul and I did both of these hikes twice. I needed to get my hiking legs back and I am now ready for heading into desolation when I return home to Tahoe.

On January 28th we left Jackson and drove 6 hours to Park City. The next day Aaron Zook and I rode Canyons.  Canyons is a very large resort and we had a great time getting lost while dipping into the trees.  For some reason, everyone at Canyons just stayed on the groomers. I was in no way complaining about that. Finding fresh snow all over the mountain.  after a week of being on the road, I was ready to return home. With my luck I brought a little snow home with me to the Tahoe area.

Today I rode Heavenly resort with a fresh 16″. Winter is just about to start here in the Sierra Mountains and I could not be more excited!

I want to give a huge shout out to my sponsors:

Shoreline of Tahoe, Flow Snowboards, Akinz, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Shred Betties, Ra Optics and Honey Badger performance energy.   A special thanks to Shoreline of Tahoe for giving my board a fresh wax,  also lending me new poles and snowshoes. Your help really made my backcountry experience better!!

An afternoon of shred at the most fun place in Utah, Canyons Resort.