It was a late spring day, not a single Jerry in the way.
We went to Stevens Pass, with Kevin Curran who’s full of sass.
Scott Skis on the feet, looking mighty neat.

Last Saturday was International Women’s Ski Day at Solitude. That’s right… a whole day dedicated to ladies who love to get after it on the mountain! The Spread Stoke crew rolled up to Solitude to join other organizations such as She Jumps, Utah Avalanche Center, and K2 Alliance to help celebrate female empowerment.

After exchanging phone numbers with local rippers, I headed up to the top of the mountain to meet an array of bright colored jackets, flower leis, and pink tutus, all ready to charge down the hill together. As we glided down the hill, I couldn’t help but feel the exciting energy that I was immersed in. Every other turn, someone busted a dance move or yelled a “waaahooo”, “hehe”, and “ya girl!” Don’t get me wrong, the “dudes”, “siiiiick”, and “hell ya’s” were just as abundant, just in a higher pitch and with a cute giggle to follow.

That’s what it’s like skiing with girls. The energy is high because not only are you shredding among incredible and talented female rippers, but you are also experiencing this collective, supportive energy. It’s the energy of girls encouraging one-another to hit a drop, try a certain technique, or even blow a kiss at the cute lifty. Growing up in a ski town, I always thought girls were few and far between, with so many baggy pants, hefty beards, and bros of the snow on the mountain. But, the more I dive into the community and industry, I am finding that notion to be less and less true.  There are TONS of girls out there – those who rip and those who are just discovering this thrill-seeking lifestyle for the first time.

Whatever their skill level, these ladies bring a beautiful dynamic to the mountains. A lighthearted, but determined one. We want to get after it, and also laugh our asses off on the chairlift. We want to go fast, ski hard, send that cliff, and do all the gnarly little tid-bits, but we also want to blast music in the parking lot, put on lip gloss, and talk about where we got our jackets. International Women’s Ski Day was filled with this vigor. Not only did a crew of lady shredders show up, but lots of guy friends, boyfriends, husbands, dads, and sons all showed up to support the women they love (the free beer helped too)!

Casey busting some dance moves in the Spread Stoke booth.

In between turns on the hill, everyone stopped by the parking lot party to grab a hot dog, beer from EPIC Brewery, Silver Bean Coffee and warm themselves up by the bonfire. Stoke was spread at a huge raffle with ladies walking away with awesome Eider jackets, an Elan ski bag, Solitude passes, and SLC Fitness Collective classes. The day concluded with worn out legs and lots of hugs. For those who missed IWSD, don’t be shy and come shred with us some other time! We’ll make our own dance party!

Boys, if you feel left out… you can come too!

The Pit Viper crew, looking amazing as always.

Check out these awesome Spread Stoke Lady Hats!

These hats make great gifts for the Holidays! Check out all versions in the Spread Stoke Store.

All photos courtesy of John Alberts.

For more information on the incredible Women of Winter (W.O.W) Series that Solitude is putting on the entire season, check out their schedule of events here. 

Out of the seven days of the week, Monday probably takes the cake for least favorite day. The weekend is over, the hangover is rough and the average Joe goes back to a world full of people they spent the last three nights trying to forget about. Back to the stinky hallways and claustrophobic cubicles, forced conversations and the all-important meeting that for unknown reasons, requires your attendance. Mondays mark the return to the hell hole.

It was just another Monday morning as I scarfed a jelly donut while waiting for my carpool to pick me up from the parking lot at the Park City Dirt Jumps. Dustin Orem’s mini-van rolled up, so I downed the last of my coffee and took a seat next to Jonesy Fedderson and Riley Smith. We had one more stop in Coalville to pick up Matt Beringer before we’d be on our way to the Hell Hole. Not the same hell hole, however, that most people were commuting to that morning. None of us were agonizing over the thought of sitting at a desk for 8 hours, or correctly filing TPS reports. We only had thoughts of drinking full strength domestics and shredding some BMX bikes at the Hell Hole full pipe in Wyoming.

It might not be the secret spot it once was, but no one will tell you Hell Hole has lost its appeal. There’s something different, something special about venturing away from the perfectly sculpted concrete parks and over-sessioned street spots in urban neighborhoods. Sometimes we get trapped in our comfort bubble. Smooth transitions and effortless flow are hard to find in the middle of farmland, America. But, if you’re up for a little adventure and a challenge, spots like Hell Hole can not only humble you, but remind you of how rewarding it is to put in work for a few tube rides.

We arrived to find some newly installed gates blocking the service road that parks you right at the pipe. Perhaps a sign of the developed popularity of the spot. A little hike is always good for getting the blood flowin’ though, that, and some house cleaning. Lurkers find it amusing to toss rocks down the mouth of the elbow. Can’t say I wouldn’t be tempted myself if I wasn’t aware of the hellish nightmare I would create for anyone sessioning the pipe. Matt will tell you first hand, that nightmare sucks when it becomes a reality.

A quick sweep was all that was needed before the session was on. Everyone took turns charging up the tube, high marking the elbow before carving the 200 feet back out of the snake. It was all smiles, with every run feeling better than the last. Each new high mark was raising the stoke, and every fresh skid made a lasting impression. Jonesy threw down a couple flares and over-vert hand plants while Riley stacked some clips for an upcoming edit. Matt was typically creative in-between speed runs, rocket sliding the belly of the pipe from the elbow all the way out the spout, and Dustin couldn’t get enough flow rides, pumping the walls all afternoon. It was tiring just to watch him, but his energy never faded, nor did his big, bearded grin.

By afternoon, we had cranked enough pedals to clean any gunk out of the lungs. There were no more man-cans to crush and the graffiti lining the pipe was getting blurry, so we loaded the bikes back in Dustin’s van. High-fives for the good times were in order after some hard work on a Monday. No deadlines to meet today though, just the tough decision of what photo to gram on the drive home. There was only one thing left to do before we crossed back over Brigham’s border. A quick stop at the discount liquor store in Evanston was necessary to fill all the empty space in the van. Enough full strength to last until the next Monday!

We are SUPER excited to announce our brand-spankin’-new Spread Stoke promo video. It’s taken lots of coffee, late-nights, a few shots of whiskey and some AMAZING talented & brilliant friends who volunteered their time and energy to help us get our dream off the ground. So without further ado…

Here’s the story behind SpreadStoke.com; a passionate community of friends, athletes and co-founders, built upon the foundation of doing what you love, sharing what you live for, and spreading stoke to others.

As you know, we built SpreadStoke.com to create a corner of the internet where inspiration, passion, and stoke could flow together. Our goal in building the site is to bring together a community who shares their passions, and in return, encourage others to live a life doing what they love.

We are actively looking to grow our reach out as far as we can. That’s why we’re asking YOU to help us grow. You can help by sharing this video and what we’re doing with everyone you know. This video represents both our company and the people behind it, as well as the mind-set that connects the outdoor community and industry as a whole. By helping us share this video and our company’s vision with your friends, family, and via social media, we hope to grow our community of contributors and continue to pass the stoke forward. We sincerely thank you for helping us reach our dreams and being a part of the site’s growth.

If you know someone who would like to be a part of Spread Stoke, we’re looking to grow our team. We’re currently looking for contributors, ambassadors, an intern or two, and athletes who want to be a part of our community. You can learn more about us on our about page or contact us directly via the contact us form.

We also welcome you to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

A massive thanks to everyone who has helped us launch Spread Stoke & create our promo video:

Shot & Edited: Andrew Braden (zultansarmy.com/)

Music: Jarryd Wark | The Planetaries “Stoke is High”. DOWNLOAD HERE: soundcloud.com/theplanetaries

Featuring Athletes & Athlete Footage Contributed by: Andrew Muse, Annie Agle, Matt Hundhammer, Sierra Quitiquit, Casey Sowul, Tori Sowul, and Kevin Smith

Thank you to our partners & friends listed in the video credits for helping us along the way and all our early contributors for sharing what they live for.

Whenever a ski movie premier rolls around, it isn’t uncommon to bump into free stuff. Who doesn’t want beanies, stickers, lanyards, and what not? “Days of My Youth” proved to be no exception. At Snowbird’s Cliff Lodge on Saturday, October 11th, after stuffing my pockets with Subaru propaganda and as many Powder Magazine copies as I could fit in my pants, I ran into my favorite free souvenir of the night: SpreadStoke.

It isn’t very common to score a good website while at a premier. But this website may in fact be the one of the best freebies I’ve ever recieved. The stoke definitely needs a little spreading these days. Going to high school downtown shows you that too many people are lost in the Concrete Jungle, and everyone needs to experience a little life in the outdoors. SpreadStoke is that tool. So cheers to the woman who gave me the pitch about it on Saturday night: you did great and you did your job. Too many people are lost to the true meaning of stoke, and reorienting ourselves and helping others through a site like this will remind us all why we get out there.

EDITORS NOTE: This contest has officially ended. To see the results and read about the stories who won, please click here: “Overcoming Obstacles: Contest Winners!”

The desire to be outside, to be free, to laugh till our stomachs hurt, to cry with joy and to have fun is at the core of being stoked. But sometimes life, injuries, mental boundaries, and unforeseen obstacles leap in our way and bring the stoke-factor to a unexpected halt. Overcoming fear, injuries, self-doubt and other life-changing barriers is often a difficult road to go down. It takes both mental and physical perseverance, incredible courage, and often the support of friends and family who can help pick you up when pick-up duty is needed. It also takes doses of inspiration, and that’s why we are here. To get and keep you motivated to take that step forward, no matter how difficult.

That’s why we are throwing a Share Your Story Contest:  ”Overcoming Obstacles” is the theme this month: August 2014!*

We want YOU to share your story, photos, and/or videos of how you’ve overcome an obstacle. Whether you’ve had to push aside the daunting fear of failure, mental illness, chronic disease, physical pain, life-changing injuries, gnarly crashes, financial hardships, or simply decided to skip a “normal” career path to pursue your dream…sharing your story can offer a catalyst for friends, strangers, and other adventure seekers to do the same. Go ahead and pass the stoke forward.

CONTEST PRIZES:

We want to thank you for sharing your story and helping us encourage others to keep pushing themselves. So we are giving away 10 pairs of Skullcandy Navigator Headphones this month! To enter the contest, simply share your story with us between August 1st – August 31st by midnight (mountain time).

Here’s how it works…

In each category, 1 winner will be selected by “Most Liked” post and the 2nd winner will be an “Editors Pick”.  Share your post on spreadstoke.com with friends, family, and fellow athletes to have them like your post on our site. On Sept. 14th, our deadline hits and we will tally up which posts have the most “likes” & which posts will be considered for the “Editor’s Pick”. We will announce the winners via our social channels (@spreadstoke), on our email newsletter, and on our site. We will also contact the winners directly via email to get their information so we can ship them their brand spankin’ new Skullcandy Navigator Headphones. 

HOW TO ENTER:

We have 5 categories on our site: Bike, Climb, Snow, Air & Water, and Lifestyle. You’re content will need to fall into one of these subjects. Don’t forget that there are 2 ways to win in each category, so you can share different stories for different categories if you like.

STEP 1: Sign up for a Spread Stoke Account (or simply sign in if you already have one).

STEP 2: Create a new post! Give it a catchy title and tell us your story. Pictures & videos are worth a 1000 words and can often add to the depth of your tale.

STEP Hit submit & let our editors do the rest. You’ll receive an email once your post as been pushed live. You’re now entered!

SHARE: Once your post is live, you can share your story on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, & via email to your family and friends to get the word out. Readers can “Like” your story by clicking the “thumps up” icon on the post.

We can’t wait to read and share everyone’s amazing stories and adventures this month! If you know someone who would love to participate or would like to contact us directly, please share this with them. We are always looking to cover inspiring stories to share with our community! A massive shout-out to Skullcandy for helping us hook-up our contributors. You guys rock & your headphones kick-ass!!

Don’t forget to follow @spreadstoke on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay in the loop for future contests and daily inspiration. Use hashtag #spreadstoke to be pulled into our feeds. 

If you have specific questions about the contest, submitting content, or just want to say “Yo, What’s up!?”, please reach out using our CONTACT FORM HERE. Cheers!

*Official Contest Rules & Regulations (aka legal stuff) can be found here. 

Check out Spread Stoke’s interview with Salt Lake City Weekly, courtesy of Gavin Sheehan.   Gavin’s Underground has the best, inside scoop of whats happening in Salt Lake and surrounding areas! You can read our interview on City Weekly here.

We are really excited about the interview because it gives us a chance to express why we built the site and lets you in behind the scenes of the website!  Get to know us, get to know spreadstoke.com.

Enjoy!

After spending the last two years of my life in auto-drive (wake-up, brush teeth, drive 45 minutes to work, bust out spreadsheets, drive home, eat dinner, earn decent pay-check twice a month, squeeze in some outdoor time, rinse & repeat) I finally woke up and noticed I was seriously on the wrong path. With much debate about how I want to continue the remaining x number of years I have on this planet, plus a minor bout of existential crisis, I decided the only solution was to screw the salary, quit my job, and take hold of my future before it’s completely out of my grasp.

So that’s exactly what I did. A few weeks ago, I told my company that I’m done with the 9 to 5 grind and that I’m spending the next 6 months chasing low pressure storm systems across the country, skiing with my friends and family, and spreading as much stoke as I humanly can. As soon as the words “I’m taking a 6 month sabbatical” ever so slowly stumbled outta my mouth, I was overwhelmed with a complete sense of fear that I was making a huge mistake. But at the same moment, an unfamiliar feeling of freedom and possibility smiled down at me, saying “OH HELL YEAH!”

There are few things scarier than quitting a good paying job with a solid career path and endless opportunity to move up the ladder. It’s really hard to let it all go just because you have this gut feeling that something, undefinable and unknown, just doesn’t feel right. It’s like when you decide to break up with someone. You don’t know why you fell out of love, you don’t even know if/why you want to end things, but what you do know is that the magic is gone, it ain’t ever comin’ back and if you don’t do something right away, you’ll never find who you were meant to be with.

And that’s what leaving my job is all about. I don’t think of it as “quitting”, but rather forcing myself to expand my life, my mind, and collect as many experiences as I can, while I can. It’s proactively taking control of a situation. I’ve always felt that life is about who you spend your time with, what you do with your days, and how those experiences define you. You are the sum of your stories, your fears, your dreams, your beliefs, your enthusiasm, and those who you surround yourself with.

Now that I’ve justified my hedonistic plunge, ‘tis time to get some personal shit done that I’ve been putting off for far too long…

Stuff I plan to do in the next 6 months:

1. To ski no less than 100 days this winter season. I’m hoping that Mother Nature just nukes her brains out from Dec. 1st through end of May, but regardless, I’ll be out on the mountain, getting after it.
2. To start writing again, as much as I can.
3. To open my mind. I want to meet as many awesome people as I can while on the mountain, during après ski, and through online trip reports.
4. To travel. A lot. I plan on exploring and getting to Jackson, Big Sky, BC, a variety of places in Colorado, Tahoe, and anywhere else that has a couch to sleep on and snow to ski on.
5. To get in better shape from 2 years of being lazy, eating like crap, and sitting at a desk all day.
6. To get back into a creative mindset, work on some photography, edit all the go-pro footage collected over the years, and spread some damn stoke!
7. To learn how to paraglide with my husband. It’s been on his to-do list for a while and those who play together, stay together. Plus, I totally need another excuse to continue gear whoring!
8. To be a better person, in general. Simple enough, right?

So that’s it. I’m just another person on the road to discovery now. I hope to meet many more wandering souls out there, who are looking for unique ways to fulfill their dreams and find their purpose. Cheers to an awesome season!