My buddies took off early this morning on a single-day road trip to the Grand Canyon.  I slept in.  Check the picture.

I missed out.

But you don’t have to miss out on some sweet FREE gear at Backcountry.com!  Just check out their Facebook page and wish for an item from their site.  If you guess what they’ve picked out to give away, they’ll ship it straight to you.  It’s like Santa has died and gone to the Internet.

I asked virtual-Santa for a new sleeping bag to keep me warm on those cold nights poaching internet from inside the TatsVan.  After chatting with a ‘Gear Expert’ we decided that my midnight stumbles from the van into the wilderness would be best equipped with a North Face Dark Star sleeping bag .  Since those stumbles into the dark don’t usually travel very far, weight wasn’t an issue: the cold is.  With a -40 degree tolerance to keep me warm, I know I’ll be safe sleeping in that beautiful, soft snow that beckons me from outside the van in my sleepwalking dreams.

Hey, at least it’s not sleep-driving!

But in all seriousness, if you don’t get what you want, you can still buy it.  And if you click through from ChrisTatsuno.com from now until December 31st, 2008, I am pledging 2% of anything you spend on gear for you and your loved ones to SheJumps.com .  Put that in your stocking and warm it!

Stay warm in this TNF Dark Star sleeping bag

2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org

December 7th, 2008: A proud day has been made of one that has previously lived in infamy. Today marks the naming of a Japanese American as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in our newly formed U.S. presidential cabinet. It also serves as the anniversary of the Japanese army attack on Pearl Harbor.

As a Japanese American citizen of our beautiful country, I have often considered the devastating impact that unfortunate event had on our nation’s understanding of civil liberties. My family was one of thousands who were rounded up along the Pacific coastal regions and whisked off to the desolation of internment camps scattered throughout nearby interior states, all as a claimed matter of ‘national security’. Since then, apologies have been offered, accepted only through collective strength and honor of a proud community and nation. Aged photos, contraband films, and personal recollections from my own family members have served as a constant personal reminder that our country has made mistakes, but it is where we all learn as a nation to never let it happen again.

Then September 11th happened and we lost sight of those lessons, finding our own citizens being held without their civil liberties intact yet again. But a new page has been written, and the next chapter of history will only be proven with time. As president-elect Obama continues to name his dream team of cabinet members, we can only hope that this time around the blood, sweat, and tears of those sad lessons are not forgotten. With his recent appointment of retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki – a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war and member of Japanese American ancestry – as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, things are looking up.

So let December 7th no longer rest in infamy. Let it rise up through the dense fog of uncertainty and stand amongst the tests of time. Change is in the air and boy it sure smells fresh.

Click here to read what CNN.com had to say

2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org

This past season, I found myself recovering from a minor knee injury right in the middle of comp season. I had already missed the Jackson Hole Freeskiing event by the time US Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, UT was rolling around. With my knee at less than full capacity, I decided I would take it easy and keep my feet on the ground. What I thought would be just a quick fun-run in the qualifier, with no chance to advance, turned out to be an epic weekend full of high-speed adventure!

Editor’s note: I can’t seem to embed the video right here on this post, so CLICK HERE to watch the hot skiing action!

Get yourself a pair of Blizzard Titan Zeus IQs and ski fast!

2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org

Here’s an interesting article on avalanches with some discussion about who is more likely to get caught in a slide. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE courtesy of SkiPressWorld.com

I like to think that we are learning as a community, and as the numbers show, fatalities are decreasing in the overall use ratio.  Without any solid leads on a ski pass this winter, I plan on skiing a lot in the backcountry.  It’s a little unnerving to know that I fit right into the ‘most at risk’ demographic.  I guess, I’ll have to put in some time and dust off those avalanche safety skills!

Get out in the backcountry with these Black Diamond Ascension Nylon STS Skins

2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org