February 2012
1 post
3 tags
She Jumps
She Jumps is a non-profit started by pro skier Lynsey Dyer and writer/skier/pilot Vanessa Pierce. The organization does a ton of inspiring stuff to encourage girls to get outside, help them build a community, and push them to accomplish their goals. This past weekend, She Jumps organized a “Get the Girls Out” campaign to rally female skiers and snowboarders at resorts all over the...
January 2012
3 posts
2 tags
Snow in Seattle
It’s not every day that it dumps snow in the city of Seattle. My neighbors Ainsely and Cam decided to knock off a first ski descent of 15th Avenue. Here are some images I took along the way.
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Brains in the family
I’m not sure why, but I often feel compelled to write something on this rarely-updated blog of mine when something bad happens. Maybe the best way I deal with tragedy is by putting words to paper or maybe it just doesn’t feel right to keep quiet. This week, pro skier Sarah Burke crashed in the halfpipe in Utah, doing a normal thing she does every day — nothing extreme or unusual, for...
Instawhat
It’s hard to keep track of all the latest in social media these days. As soon as you figure out one platform, there’s another one that’s all the rage. I was finally getting used to Twitter when all of my friends started using Instagram. I resisted at first (why would I want yet another medium to share asinine information about myself?), but after seeing some of the images people...
November 2011
2 posts
A Ferry Ride
Seattle is all about its ferries. And since I moved here last year, I’ve taken every opportunity I can to hop aboard one of these floating vessels across the Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula. Here are a couple photos I took this weekend on a trip over to Bremerton.
October 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Buena Historia
Photo by Eben Mond, from Sayulita, Mexico
The makings of a good story: A beach in Mexico, a mysterious drug injected by needles, an aging doctor who once killed a man in Las Vegas, and a skier from Montana who dresses like he’s from Jamaica. It’s not everyday I come across stories like this. But I just finished up one for ESPN.com that combined all of these components. The skier, of course, is...
Vintage inspiration
I’ve been on a kick lately of feeling magnetically drawn to antique stores, places that hold old-timey physical objects. Sure, a lot of the stuff in there is junk but there’s something about junk with history that makes it more appealing. That funky table and those old glass bottles almost seem to hold memories from the past. Plus, things made in yesteryear seem like such better...
6 tags
1,000 Words
I spend a lot of time writing, editing and thinking about written stories, but you know the ol’ saying: “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” And often, this is truly the case. One image can say so much about a moment, a person, a landscape. So, I’m going to stop filling this space with words for once and give you a few photos to drool over. These are from some of my favorite...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
A backyard wedding
I shot some photos at a close childhood friend’s wedding recently and thought I’d share some of them here. This wedding was actually held in the backyard of my mom’s house, the house I grew up in, so it was extra special for me (and that meant I had the unique ability to wander anywhere I wanted in the house to snap photos, including the upper deck while the bride and groom were...
1 tag
Talking with Drew Tabke
I recently shot and edited a video interview with Freeskiing World Tour defending champion Drew Tabke in front of the ski shop he works at here in Seattle. The interview went up on ESPN Freeskiing this week as a preview to the tour’s first stop of the season, taking place this week in Argentina. Enjoy.
July 2011
2 posts
Ode to Books
Mark my word: I’m anti-e-readers. I hope I never own an iPad or a Kindle (I also said this about cell phones until, of course, I finally got one). But books are different. I like pages you can turn with your fingertips and hardback covers. I like sitting in my chaise lounge, the world’s ugliest but most comfortable chair ever, and reading a real, tangible book that doesn’t need...
1 tag
A Trans-Atlantic Love
It’s wedding season again (which means this nifty chart on how to survive wedding season might come in handy). My cousin, Jen, recently got married in her background in Boulder, Colo., to a man she met while living in Italy. They have a beautiful story, one that crosses countries and cultures, one that survived three years of not seeing each other, one that involves immeasurable sacrifice....
June 2011
3 posts
Stories Worth Reading
[Photo from Theatlantic.com]
Figured I’d keep sharing stories that I’ve read recently that I really enjoyed. Here are two new pieces from this week that are well worth your time.
My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant, by Jose Antonio Vargas; New York Times Magazine: Vargas is a journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. He’s also an...
1 tag
Volcanic eruptions
[Photos from The Atlantic: In Focus]
Chile’s Puyehue Volcano started erupting on Saturday, sending ash over the Andes into Argentina, which could delay the start of the southern hemisphere ski season at resorts around Bariloche, Argentina. I am totally in awe of the images and video (thanks to the Adventure Journal) that have surfaced of the eruption.
It might be because I have a weird...
A few stories worth reading
(Photo by Chris Korbulic, from Outside Magazine)
I know, I know. It’s hard to make time to read long stories nowadays. Most people get their news in bite-size bits of information passed to them from Facebook, Twitter, or that scrolling bar across the bottom of the TV news station. But I still love sitting down, with a magazine (or my computer) and really diving into a piece of writing. A...
May 2011
2 posts
North Cascades Highway
A few friends and I recently went on a trip to Washington’s North Cascades. The highway that runs across the mountain passes from east to west normally opens in early May but due to the massive La Nina winter that hit the Pacific Northwest this year, the highway opening was pushed back to allow the Washington Department of Transportation to continue clearing the road and doing avalanche...
South America
Ski season is just getting started in South America, and here’s some inspiration from my friends over at Sweetgrass Productions, who are working on a two-year project filmed entirely in South America called Solitaire. The filming and narration are, simply put, art. I recently interviewed Sweetgrass’ Nick Waggoner for ESPN Freeskiing. You can find that interview here.
On the Road...
April 2011
2 posts
Another sad day (and a message about Facebook)
I don’t know why but my blog seems to have turned into a bit of a downer lately, with news of tragic deaths and stories about those who’ve lost loved ones (it’s been a rough year in skiing, that’s for sure). And well, I bring you a few more tragic stories today. Devon O’Neil recently wrote a touching piece for ESPN Freeskiing on Angel Collinson, the girlfriend of Ryan Hawks, who died at the...
1 tag
Oh, Canada
I made it to Whistler last weekend during the resort’s World Ski and Snowboard Festival. Due to the festival, the mountain was crowded (a first-time skier actually collided into me while I was standing still) and there was a rumor that the village was going to run out of beer, but the snow was soft and the backcountry was relatively empty. Whistler local Holly Walker and my friend from...
March 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Sherry McConkey
Last winter, I visited Sherry McConkey, the wife of the late Shane McConkey, at her Squaw Valley home. I had met Shane only casually, but his death in a ski-BASE accident in Italy in 2009 hit me like it did most skiers: profoundly.
So meeting and interviewing Shane’s widow (and meeting his adorable daughter, Ayla), needless to say, was both an incredible privilege and completely...
1 tag
Oregon Yurt Trip
I just returned from a four-day yurt trip in eastern Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. When most people think of eastern Oregon, steep lines and deep powder probably aren’t the first things that come to mind (potatoes and flat plains, perhaps?). But, picture this: 35 inches of snow in four days, a forest of perfectly-spaced burnt trees, and a two-story yurt that sleeps 10 comfortably in...
The hardest day
Most days, I love my job — how could you not love writing about skiing? But there are some days — like today, March 1 — when I wish I were an accountant, a hair dresser, anything but this. Today, a fellow skier died. And I was tasked with the heinous job of reporting on his death.
I didn’t know Ryan Hawks personally, but we shared many mutual friends. And like me, he’s a skier....
February 2011
1 post
Double Chairs
Maybe it’s the quality one-on-one time you get with your fellow passenger. Or maybe it’s the fact that six seater chairs just lack personality. Or maybe it’s because in many cases, a ski area’s best terrain is still accessed by a double chair (case in point: Snowbird’s Little Cloud lift, Stevens Pass’ Seventh Heaven chair). But there’s something I love...
January 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Trailer Wars
It didn’t take long after my older sister and her husband heard about my new vintage trailer that they went and bought one for themselves. Theirs is a 1957, and looks similar to my Canned Ham-style one, only theirs was decorated with cowboy motif when they got it. Anyway, here are photos of my sister’s new vintage trailer. And below those, shots of my trailer again, which now has some...
1 tag
In a House by the River
I’d mentioned a few months ago that I was working on my first feature story for Outside Magazine. It’s a story about the death of my stepdad, Jerry, who was killed 16 years ago at a remote kayak lodge on California’s Salmon River. Jerry got into a fight with the caretaker of the lodge, who shot Jerry in an act the court later determined was self defense. I reported the story last June, and...
1 tag
Powder Magazine Video Awards
When I was 23 and just out of college, I worked as a newspaper reporter in Tahoe City. The best assignment I had all year (not that covering city council meetings wasn’t a learning experience…) was a piece on female pro skiers who called Tahoe home. I spent the day at Squaw Valley, trying to keep up with Ingrid Backstrom, Michelle Parker, Jamie Burge and Jenn Berg. The story I...
December 2010
3 posts
2 tags
Telemark Skier Photo Annual
Telemark Skier magazine’s Photo Annual recently came out and in addition to a number of articles (check out my Clips page to read those), I got my first spread photo published. This is a shot I took last April of telemark skier Paul Kimbrough skiing off Thompson Pass, Alaska. This line was one of the most scary lines I’ve watched someone ski in person - it had a double fall line,...
The trailer: Before
As promised, here are some shots of our recently-purchased vintage trailer. This is how it looked when we first got it. Stay tuned for more shots of how it looks after a bit of restoration and updating.
1 tag
Trailer Trash
I recently became the proud owner of a 1950s vintage 11-foot-long travel trailer. Yes, that’s right: I’m going to live in a trailer. At least on the weekends, parked at the base of a ski area. I’m calling it a ski-in, ski-out condo more than it is a trailer. The trailer itself is a “canned ham” style, as they called it back then and it still has a lot of the original...
November 2010
4 posts
First turns of the season
There’s something about that first run of the season. Standing at the top, you worry, for a fraction of a second, that maybe you forgot how to ski over the course of the summer. You feel the pinch in your toes from being crammed into ski boots after months of wearing flip-flops. And you wonder if you’ve done enough to stay in shape since last spring – the bike rides and those squats on that one...
1 tag
WatchMy dad, who’s a documentary filmmaker, recently checked out some my latest web video edits (see below). He’s always been a good critic of my work and I appreciate his feedback. His last email to me said, “The videos are looking good, your choice of music and timing in general are cool. You do seem to have a head room problem on many of your videos. General rule is to allow 10%...
2 tags
WatchAs a kid ski racer, I used to despise dryland training in the fall. All those box jumps and wall sits and push ups. But now, lunges at the gym mean that winter is coming and that’s all good news in my book. I went to Park City, Utah, recently to follow around X Games gold medalist Jen Hudak during her regular workout at the U.S. Ski Team’s training facility. Here’s the video I...
4 tags
15 tips for PR people
An outdoor industry public relations firm recently asked me for some tips on PR do’s and don’ts for a company guide they’re working on. I thought it was a fun project and ended up writing way more than I originally planned. I guess I’ve had a lot of both mediocre and stellar interactions with PR people over the years to see the difference between what works and what...
October 2010
5 posts
Evo Interview
Bryce Phillips is a pro skier and a business owner. In 2001, he started Evo Gear, an online retailer for ski equipment and action sports lifestyle products. Now, the business is one of the biggest online retailers in the country and has a bustling shop in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle that not only sells gear but also hosts events and community gatherings. I met up with Bryce the other day...
Gear video
My friends at Flylow are applying for an ISPO Brand New award and they needed a promo video that featured some of their new products for this year to send over to the German judges of Europe’s biggest ski trade show. I figured it was a good chance for me to practice making gear videos. So, we set up an amateur studio and got to work. If you’re in the market for a new ski jacket or...
WatchMy jam-packed summer of weddings finally came to an end in late September, when I went back East to attend my college friends Ryan and Ami’s wedding in Ami’s hometown in New Jersey. The wedding was all heart: hand-written vows, vegetarian dinner, Vermont apples as the centerpieces. I shot video of the wedding and put together a short edit for the bride and groom. Here is is.
Photo in Backcountry magazine
I apologize for the black and white scan — this photo actually does have color (you can see the actual photo on my photography page). But here’s my second published photo this month, a three-quarter spread in the September 2010 Gear Guide of Backcountry Magazine. This is a shot of Black Diamond boot designer Derek Gustafson, taken in Iceland last spring. We were there on a BD media...
Photo in Inc Magazine
The latest issue of Inc Magazine features my dear pal over at Flylow Gear on the cover: Yep, that’s right, Dan’s mug is right there under the text, “How to Launch Your Dream Company.” That alone is awesome and I’m really proud of Dan and Greg for the nod of recognition from a national magazine like Inc. But, selfishly, there’s another thing I’m really...
September 2010
6 posts
1 tag
Thank you, Julia Mancuso
My story on ski racer Julia Mancuso is on the homepage of ESPN.com today. It’s my first byline on ESPN’s page 1, which is pretty exciting. I spoke to Julia over the phone a few weeks ago when she was staying at Chile’s Hotel Portillo (seen here, in this shot taken by Jonathan Selkowitz) and we talked about her potential future career as a pro freeskier (after the 2014 Winter...
“If you want positive reinforcement, go to Richard Simmons or Oprah. Both of them...”
– I wrote a feature story on The Anti Gym and its tyrannical owner Mike Karolchyk for the February 2009 issue of Men’s Fitness. Right after the issue came out, news broke that Karolchyk’s gym was shut down by the IRS. “For two years I’ve been fighting an IRS claim for back taxes,”...
WatchI have about half a dozen friends getting hitched this summer and fall (insert whining about the cost of travel and the dresses I’ll only wear once here). I’ve found that in between the champagne toasts and the cake eating and the dancing to Beyonce’s ‘Put a Ring on It,’ weddings are great opportunities for me to practice my photography and videography. See, I am the proud owner of a Canon 5D. And...
My first feature for Outside
I’m working on feature story for Outside magazine right now. It’s my first feature for Outside — I started as an intern and an assistant editor there, but the most I ever wrote for them was a front-of-the-book blurb here and there. So the fact that it’s a feature (and potentially a 6,500-word one) is a big deal for me. It’s also a big deal because of the nature of...