Keep an eye out for clips throughout the season. And for now, check out a cool little video Michael just put together HERE
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Welcome to the Team
Keep an eye out for clips throughout the season. And for now, check out a cool little video Michael just put together HERE
Friday, October 4, 2013
A Long Summer
Wow, it has been a really long time since I have written. My summer has been one wild ride, and up until now I have been distracted by my injuries and the recovery process. Rehab is still a large part of my life, and I have a ways to go until I am 100%, but I cannot wait for this winter. I am confident that I will be able to shred harder than ever and my motivation is pushing me to work extremely hard everyday.
For those who don't know what happened to me, I was in a couple serious accidents. The first happened on April 26. I was filming a longboarding segment for a company called Jase Boards. It was a simple segment and I crashed doing a simple trick. I did not have a helmet on at the time (I always wear helmets) and I got off balance and flipped 180ยบ straight to the back of my head. I cannot remember any of this, but the kid I was filming with took me to the hospital in Logan, UT and from there I was transported to a neurosurgeon Ogden. I suffered from basal and temporal skull fractures, a serious concussion, and a traumatic brain injury. This happened right before finals week so I missed every single final, but the professors all excused me and I passed every class. weeeooooo!!
I had a long first week in and out of the ER, but after about 6 weeks I was feeling really good. So I decided that it would be fine for me to do some speedflights with my brother (who I taught how to fly during my recovery). We flew 5 times over a couple days, and then on June 8th we hiked Lookout Mountain behind our house with our good friends Andrew McKean, Will Burks, Miles Daisher, Sean Chuma, and Marco Poko. Once again, I do not remember any of this; the info is all from talking to those who were there. I was flying Will's Bobcat 15, which I did not like to fly because it was super "rolly" and I was not used to how it flew. After taking off I decided to crank some big turns and since I was not used to the wing, I made way too big of a turn and dropped over 100ft and then got "locked-in" the next turn. This slammed me into the mountain really, really, hard. I have no idea how fast I was going, but it had to have been a terrible sight. I hit the mountain only about 1,000 vertical feet below the launch site.
My dad was watching from the backyard and he saw the crash happen. After seeing this, he called me and said, "hey somebody crashed, did you see them?!" I responded, "yeah, it was me. I need a helicopter." Somehow I was calm on the phone, but the pain must have been unbelievable. I was in shock.
Miles and Will flew and landed side-hill by me like the true professionals that they are, and Andrew ran down to me. 911 was called and the Ketchum and Hailey fire departments arrived at the base of the mountain along with the Wood River Backcountry Rescue team. I was still 2,000 vertical feet above the rescue teams and the rescue helicopter was 6 hours out. The rescue teams had to make a decision and that was to hike up and then rappel me down with a series of ropes.
Long story short, it took 10 hours to get me off the mountain and to the life-flight helicopter. I was flown the St Alphonsus hospital in Boise for emergency surgery on my leg. I had broken my right femur, sprained both my ankles, tore my PCL in my right knee, hit my head again (with an unhealed skull fracture), broke a finger, and smashed my face really good. The surgeons put a 2 foot long aluminum rod through my hip and down to my knee to hold my femur in place.
After surgery, I was released from the hospital the next day and the rod allowed me to walk with crutches. The healing process was pretty painful and frustrating, but after only 4 weeks I was on my bike. I got too excited and rode 20 miles in under an hour for 3 days straight. This ended up slowing down my ability to rehab because I got tendonitis in my right knee from doing too much too soon.
Anyways, I am back at school and rehabbing every single day. I can mountain bike really hard now which is a true lifesaver, but my hip pops out a lot so that is something I am really concentrating on right now.
I cannot wait for winter and I am so excited to start filming. I plan on doing a series of short films about my travels skiing and flying. My next post should be more on the happy side because I hope to be shredding soon! I want to thank everyone who has supported me along my path of recovery, you are all amazing and inspiring people.
To WATCH the VIDEO of my RESCUE that Fox New did. CLICK HERE
For those who don't know what happened to me, I was in a couple serious accidents. The first happened on April 26. I was filming a longboarding segment for a company called Jase Boards. It was a simple segment and I crashed doing a simple trick. I did not have a helmet on at the time (I always wear helmets) and I got off balance and flipped 180ยบ straight to the back of my head. I cannot remember any of this, but the kid I was filming with took me to the hospital in Logan, UT and from there I was transported to a neurosurgeon Ogden. I suffered from basal and temporal skull fractures, a serious concussion, and a traumatic brain injury. This happened right before finals week so I missed every single final, but the professors all excused me and I passed every class. weeeooooo!!
I had a long first week in and out of the ER, but after about 6 weeks I was feeling really good. So I decided that it would be fine for me to do some speedflights with my brother (who I taught how to fly during my recovery). We flew 5 times over a couple days, and then on June 8th we hiked Lookout Mountain behind our house with our good friends Andrew McKean, Will Burks, Miles Daisher, Sean Chuma, and Marco Poko. Once again, I do not remember any of this; the info is all from talking to those who were there. I was flying Will's Bobcat 15, which I did not like to fly because it was super "rolly" and I was not used to how it flew. After taking off I decided to crank some big turns and since I was not used to the wing, I made way too big of a turn and dropped over 100ft and then got "locked-in" the next turn. This slammed me into the mountain really, really, hard. I have no idea how fast I was going, but it had to have been a terrible sight. I hit the mountain only about 1,000 vertical feet below the launch site.
My dad was watching from the backyard and he saw the crash happen. After seeing this, he called me and said, "hey somebody crashed, did you see them?!" I responded, "yeah, it was me. I need a helicopter." Somehow I was calm on the phone, but the pain must have been unbelievable. I was in shock.
Miles and Will flew and landed side-hill by me like the true professionals that they are, and Andrew ran down to me. 911 was called and the Ketchum and Hailey fire departments arrived at the base of the mountain along with the Wood River Backcountry Rescue team. I was still 2,000 vertical feet above the rescue teams and the rescue helicopter was 6 hours out. The rescue teams had to make a decision and that was to hike up and then rappel me down with a series of ropes.
Long story short, it took 10 hours to get me off the mountain and to the life-flight helicopter. I was flown the St Alphonsus hospital in Boise for emergency surgery on my leg. I had broken my right femur, sprained both my ankles, tore my PCL in my right knee, hit my head again (with an unhealed skull fracture), broke a finger, and smashed my face really good. The surgeons put a 2 foot long aluminum rod through my hip and down to my knee to hold my femur in place.
After surgery, I was released from the hospital the next day and the rod allowed me to walk with crutches. The healing process was pretty painful and frustrating, but after only 4 weeks I was on my bike. I got too excited and rode 20 miles in under an hour for 3 days straight. This ended up slowing down my ability to rehab because I got tendonitis in my right knee from doing too much too soon.
Anyways, I am back at school and rehabbing every single day. I can mountain bike really hard now which is a true lifesaver, but my hip pops out a lot so that is something I am really concentrating on right now.
I cannot wait for winter and I am so excited to start filming. I plan on doing a series of short films about my travels skiing and flying. My next post should be more on the happy side because I hope to be shredding soon! I want to thank everyone who has supported me along my path of recovery, you are all amazing and inspiring people.
To WATCH the VIDEO of my RESCUE that Fox New did. CLICK HERE
Friday, May 24, 2013
On The Road to Becoming a Ski Bum
This upcoming winter I don't want to be held down to ski one resort with
a season pass so I am going to travel and chase storms as much as I
can. I haven't decided if I will take any classes yet, but if I do, it
will only be a few. Of course I want to save money, so I built this
sleeping platform in the back of my 4runner so I don't have to buy a
hotel. I hope to stay on friends' couches most of the time, but when
that isn't possible I have this awesome set up. It took about 5 hours
to finish and I love it. I like that I made it able to fold up in the back really easily.
Friday, March 1, 2013
DEEP
Brandon Schmidt and I knew that Snow Basin had gotten some snow, maybe a few inches, so we were stoked to wake up and get out of the house by 7:45. As we pulled up to the mountain, we could see that it was absolutely dumping. First thing we did was head straight towards the Tram, we knew that we could hike into some good snow no matter how deep it was.
When we got to the top, somebody called out to me, "where's all the good stuff man?" I looked over to see a guy in all blue and I replied, "well, with the new snow, all the steeps are closed but you can follow us, we are going to ski over here." A group of 4 guys followed me to the top of a little chute, and being from the flats of Colorado, they were psyched. After an awesome first run, we all decided to shred together for another lap. From the top of the tram once again, we hiked to "No Name Peak." Brandon and I had never been up there, but after only 5 minutes of hiking, we were at the top of a perfect field of pow. I dropped in first and was surprised at how deep the snow had gotten, almost waste deep already. Everyone was yelling and charging the entire way down, I knew today was going to be big.
After that amazing run, I introduced myself to the guys we were with. Jay just moved to Salt Lake, Jacob just moved to Ogden, and two of the other guys Jacob #2 and Dean (or something like that) were visiting from Colorado. They suggested we go to "Strawberry," another section of the mountain, and that turned out to be the best idea ever. We got over there to find absolutely no one in sight. We had the mountain to ourselves. Then it got even more incredible, we found the cache where all of the wind was dropping ridiculous amounts of snow on. Literally, I was chocking on snow as white waves of powder curled over me. At some points, the snow was at least to my chest deep. The day continued to be one of the best days of my life. We didn't stop to eat or even go to the bathroom all day. On the last run to the car (parked on the side of the road), I had Brandon take a picture of me so that we could remember how deep the snow was that day.
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When we got to the top, somebody called out to me, "where's all the good stuff man?" I looked over to see a guy in all blue and I replied, "well, with the new snow, all the steeps are closed but you can follow us, we are going to ski over here." A group of 4 guys followed me to the top of a little chute, and being from the flats of Colorado, they were psyched. After an awesome first run, we all decided to shred together for another lap. From the top of the tram once again, we hiked to "No Name Peak." Brandon and I had never been up there, but after only 5 minutes of hiking, we were at the top of a perfect field of pow. I dropped in first and was surprised at how deep the snow had gotten, almost waste deep already. Everyone was yelling and charging the entire way down, I knew today was going to be big.
After that amazing run, I introduced myself to the guys we were with. Jay just moved to Salt Lake, Jacob just moved to Ogden, and two of the other guys Jacob #2 and Dean (or something like that) were visiting from Colorado. They suggested we go to "Strawberry," another section of the mountain, and that turned out to be the best idea ever. We got over there to find absolutely no one in sight. We had the mountain to ourselves. Then it got even more incredible, we found the cache where all of the wind was dropping ridiculous amounts of snow on. Literally, I was chocking on snow as white waves of powder curled over me. At some points, the snow was at least to my chest deep. The day continued to be one of the best days of my life. We didn't stop to eat or even go to the bathroom all day. On the last run to the car (parked on the side of the road), I had Brandon take a picture of me so that we could remember how deep the snow was that day.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Canyons and Park City With the Fam!
The Presidents Weekend tradition of skiing as a family at Park City continued this year, and Michael and I got to ski at The Canyons on Friday also. It was so much fun to be able to shred with my lil broha again and he was killing it! The best part of the day was hiking up above the 9990 chair lift and hitting a cornice Michael found. I was amazed at how much he has progressed in his skiing (he started last year)! I can't wait to see where he takes his skiing in the next few years.
He isn't even scared.
Me doing a 360 off the cornice that Michael found.
Michael's first hit on the cornice. Killing it!
Michael's first backflip off a natural wind lip. Nailed it!
Stomping a Legendary Road Gap 2013
2013 started off great for me, on January 1st I went up to Balde and did
a few ski speedflights before going skiing with my family (a New Years
tradition). It was an amazing day of flying with the wind coming from
the North. On my first flight I came into the landing zone a little
short and hit the top of an aspen tree. I got slammed into the ground
and was bleeding a bit but I continued up for some more flights. On my
second flight, I did my first 360 and it felt amazing! I was so stoked
to progress my speedflying and I can't wait to do barrel rolls! Here is a video of that New Years Day.
The Galena Gap is one of the most iconic road gaps around, a 40 foot cliff with an over 100 foot gap. It has always been a dream of mine to do this, but I never imagined I would be hitting it this year. On January 2nd, I convinced Adam Potts to come join me and I am so glad he did, because without him I would have never even gone. So, after a great day of skiing The Burn with Michael, Adam, and Logan Johnston; Adam, Michael, and I drove north towards Galena Summit. This was the first time we had ever seen an actual jump built over the road and we were pretty excited. My mom and dad were up at Galena earlier that day and they checked out the landing and were encouraging us to go hit it, they said it was perfect.
It hadn't snowed in a while, but with the spring conditions, the landing was a field of perfect corn snow. Adam wanted to hit it first and he stomped his straight air. My first hit was a little different; I got thrown weird by the jump and landed on my side, hurting my ankle pretty bad. I was upset that I didn't even land it, so I limped back up and hit it again. After a few minutes of thought, I sent one of the biggest backflips I have ever done and stomped it!! Landing perfectly. After that, my ankle couldn't really hold me anymore so I was done.
Adam was pumped and he sent a backflip also, but landed literally 12 inches from the guard rail, it was scary. He crashed but was determined to land it and sent few more attempts. He was able to clear the railing but kept landing on his back. We were both so excited to have successfully hit such a big, high consequence gap.
It hadn't snowed in a while, but with the spring conditions, the landing was a field of perfect corn snow. Adam wanted to hit it first and he stomped his straight air. My first hit was a little different; I got thrown weird by the jump and landed on my side, hurting my ankle pretty bad. I was upset that I didn't even land it, so I limped back up and hit it again. After a few minutes of thought, I sent one of the biggest backflips I have ever done and stomped it!! Landing perfectly. After that, my ankle couldn't really hold me anymore so I was done.
Adam was pumped and he sent a backflip also, but landed literally 12 inches from the guard rail, it was scary. He crashed but was determined to land it and sent few more attempts. He was able to clear the railing but kept landing on his back. We were both so excited to have successfully hit such a big, high consequence gap.
Thanks to Michael for taking awesome pictures and videos!
Adam and I checking out the gap before our first hits.
My backflip.
Sequenced shot of my backflip.
Awesome picture of Adam's backflip at sunset.
Video of My Backflip first, and then Adams.
Cool view of the jump from above.
Monday, February 11, 2013
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