Unofficial Squaw - Reporting Daily From Tram Rock

The winter of '09-'10 has been mighty fun, and it's still not over!  Looks like after getting hammered on all throughout early April, Tahoe is due for more snow this week

It's that time of year, however, when the wonderful sport of skiing can start to take it's toll on our bodies.  Unfortunately for some, a sick season of shredding can leave you with more than a perma-grin and a goggle tan.  Tweaked knees, 6th toes, and a other aches and pains are common this time of year.  I have one friend with a bone spur the size of a newborn baby's head on his heel, and I'm not exaggerating.  Do yourself a favor and and unwind a little bit.  There's still a lot more shredding to be had this season and you just might enjoy it that much more if you give your body some TLC.

I'm a firm believer in the benefits of practicing yoga and what it can offer to skiers.  After getting a bit too agro in the KT line and then crashing on your nose to fingers lap, what's better for you than a little stretching and breathing?  (I guess besides a few beers at the Chammy...?)
I checked out Mountain Lotus Yoga this month in the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City.  $89 for unlimited classes for the month.  The great thing about Mountain Lotus is that it's a heated room (classes range from 80 to 100 degrees) which allows for your body to get deeper into stretches, as well as to release toxins by breaking a sweat.
 
There are a handful of other studios around that offer yoga at a regular room temperate.  Being a Tahoe City loc, I frequent the classes at the Asante gym as well.  Although I hear that Truckee has some great classes taught by some awesome instructors.

My friend Mel, who has been practicing massage therapy for many years both independently, and at the Squaw Valley Lodge, just opened up a new studio above Blue Agave.  Mel offers most different types of massage, and if you're not into the yoga thing, she can help you with some more mellow stretches while on the massage table.  She's super strong, really friendly, and offers cheap rates compared to all other local spas.  So do yourself a favor and give her a call!  You'll be glad you did!


Here's to a healthy spring full of lots of sunshine and good skiing in one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Tahoe was in a warm weather cycle, which proved to be great timing for a 10 day trip to Utah (and a little bit of Wyoming too).  Snowbird is like Squaw in that "it is always good".  If it didn't just snow, it's about to, or its windblown, chalky, or soft... always something good to ski!  I even warmed up to the tram.
I drove out to the 'Bird with the Big Mountain Team, and lucky for the juniors, they skied their comp runs on Silver Fox and North Baldy in POW!  I stuck around Monday for a day of freeskiing to follow a long weekend of coaching.  Sunny, lightly tracked pow, and slopes getting blown in nicely :)  I met up with my friend Michelle Manning, local ripper and Alta patroller, and scoped some lines out for the "big kid's" comp on Silver Fox and N. Baldy the following weekend.



A quick 5 hours drive North that night and I found myself in Jackson Hole, WY for some more tram rides, and quintessential spring skiing.  And it was REALLY spring in Jackson!  Mid-March and they were hanging on by a thread, hoping to make it to the first weekend in April when the resort was due to close.  Like Snowbird, you can't really go wrong visiting Jackson Hole.  The place is beautiful and different, and offers mucho vertical.  I had the pleasure of skiing with Kit and Rob DesLauriers one afternoon.  They make a non-stop 3,000 vertical ft run down the Hobacks look too easy.

Back to Utah on Thursday to register for the Freeskiing World Championships and try my hand once again in my last ski competition for the 2010 season.  Visibility was non-existent when I arrived, and it remained so on Friday as well.  Day 1 of competition was pushed back until Saturday.  Lucky for me after catching a nasty cold while on the road.  One more day of rest, relaxation, and finalizing where I wanted to ski.
I had a pretty good run down Silver Fox, placing 9th and qualifying to ski on Day 2.  I was pumped, I skied fast, and it was fun!  Oh yeah, and I didn't crash!  It felt really good.  Mike Vaughan, John Lange and I grabbed dinner that night at the Wildflower Lounge at the Iron Blossam Hotel.  Our server Gayle was pretty awesome and offered us a world of friendly encouragement after finding out we were competing :


We couldn't have asked for a nicer 2 days for a ski contest at Snowbird.  The venues were freshened up a bit with about 5 inches and it was bluebird!  I ended up placing 8th in the comp, and had a great day Sunday watching some awesome skiing and seeing a few friends I haven't seen for a while!

Vaughan, Lange and I made the drive back to Tahoe on Monday, without running out of gas.  Spring time in Tahoe is pretty much the best thing in the world in my opinion.  I'm happy to be back here for a couple weeks and just take it all in!

Squaw Valley's Big Mountain Team made a great showing at the 2010 Jr. Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird.  Podium finishes include: Emily Nall, 3rd Place, 15-17 girls.  Zabie Elmgren, 1st Place, 12-14 girls.  Natalie Bogardus, 2nd Place, 12-14 girls.

15-17 girls:

12-14 girls:

Click here for more pictures and full results: 

http://freeskiingworldtour.com/article.php?id=172

http://freeskiingworldtour.com/results.html?id=18\\\%22&resultID=207

The team will be competiting in the Targhee Tee-Off this upcoming weekend 3/20 and 3/21.  Updates to follow!

Last weekend I jumped in my Subaru to head to Kirkwood for the North American Freeskiing Championships. This was my second time competing on the Forbidden Cirque at Kirkwood, a permanently closed face that the patrol/ resort opens solely for this freeskiing contest.
A few words to describe it that Saturday: steep, lots of features, peppery, powder, volcanic rock, a privilege to ski!
Here is a shot of the looker's right side of the Cirque, the Day 1 venue:Day 2 is held on the looker's left side, which offers even bigger features. In order to preserve the snow, the competitors were allowed a mostly visual inspection. The event organizers held us to a set traverse track from which we could peer over features and scope landings.
After not much success in contests this year, I was nervous and hoping for a good one. A powder comp looked promising. I competed on my Prophet 130's! I was looking to have fun, ski fast, and hit a couple cliffs on the way down.
My inspection was not ideal, for a few reasons, but I was prepared to give it a go. My head has been in a different place each time i'm up in the starting gate. And even though I coach kids on how to compete in Big Mountain Freeskiing Competitions, I can't always seem to follow my own advice this year. My friend Robyn was a great source of encouragement up in the starting gate!
Well, I dropped in, realized I was slightly missing my line, and figured I had to send something. I came off a cliff into a flat landing, struggled to hang on, but quickly lost the battle, going over the handlebars and into a few somersaults.
Whenever I crash in a contest I always seem to be laughing a little bit and thinking "Hah! Woah, what the heck just happened? I just ate it big time!" The worst thing about this one was that I lost my skis, one of which shot pretty much ALL the way down the venue. So, I didn't even get to ski the pow! I one-skied down to my other ski, and was given a TDQ for exceeding the given time limit.
A few friends down in the finish corral pointed out that my helmet looked a little beat up. My head must have came down on something (my skis/ rock?) while tumbling. At that point I was feeling lucky I didn't get popped in the mouth or something... knock on wood. That really would have been icing on the cake!



Well, back to the old drawing board of Squaw Valley for a sore day of coaching on Sunday!

Congrats to all 5 boy Blasters for skiing well and making it to Day 2!