Ready for a Stillwater Preserver Mission

Well, it seems that the last six or so weeks of my life have existed in that place between ‘holy shit, that was awesome!’ and ‘wait, what just happened?’, leaving me in a fluttering state of mind.  Going into it, I knew my time in Canada would pass quickly, but ninety days flashed right on by.  The last few weeks were chock full of new experiences and wild stories.  I had a chance to ski from the summit of Mt. McKenzie and cross Arrow Lake on an inland ferry with my van in the same day.  I drank a boilermaker shot with some Canadian Legion members and skinny-dipped with fellow ski bums Leah Evans and Dersh later that evening.  I swam in hot springs – commercial and natural, with tunnels and diving boards, hot and cold dips – all around the Kootenays , from Ainsworth to Fairmont, Halcyon to Radium. 

It’s been a full two days since I received the best call of my life.  I was sitting at an early dinner in Irvine, CA with my mom.  She was planning on coming to the Warren Miller ‘Dynasty’ show we were playing on the UC campus, and we met up ahead of time to hang out and grub down at a café just across the walking bridge from the theater.  We ordered some turkey/avocado/chorizo sandwiches with side salads, and took our time to chat up a storm about all sorts of topics.

Caught this little clip online thanks to a Facebook page from my friend Marielle. The three athletes in the clip – Jonny Mosely, Daron Rahlves, and Jenn Berg – also star in the Warren Miller movie I’m currently MCing. The three of them showed up at the San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts show and I was lucky enough to interview them on stage in front of about 1000 ski fans.

Click here to watch the ski fitness clip on ABClocal.com .

Jenn Berg rocks Tecnica ski boots, do you?

2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org

The Elsinore Theatre, Salem, OR

Kyles ipod connection thingy is our vehicle for excitement and as with any vehicle worth owning, its giving us hell. Fuzzing in and out of transmission, the music pumps out in rift with our bumpy ride in the truck down the tar-black highway. I hear hurricanes ablowin blare the lyrics from some old song on the classic rock playlist Kyle had set some ways back.

Not here Kyle chimes in, looking around at the bursts of color the deciduous trees around these parts flash into almost overnight. With beautiful blue skies and some wispy clouds above us, we were on a road trip from Portland, where we had just spent a week and a half touring a ski film to Oregonian mcstonian audiences, and heading to a place, for me as yet unknown, somewhere called Eastern Washington. The drive through the Hood River area was just as beautiful as I remembered it from that summer spent coaching ski racing up at Mt. Hood. We had spent a week up training on Palmer Snowfield, and by the end, we all knew it was time to go play in the river. We even jumped some cliffs and jet-skied.

Or, there was that other summer, when Collin and I had sent an amazingly crazy trip to Seattle to visit our good friend Visco. Ahh, yes115mph on the drive from Portland to Hood River, OR, passing cars and trucks as if in a video game. The pure thrill of it all alone was more than the minds of some 18 year-olds could handle, much less the rash of lowly establishments we were leaving behind in our wake.

But, this time, I was on a trip to tour a ski film. As Kyle and I take in our surroundings, the reality that this little trip of ours is actually a job and were getting paid is enough to keep the high-fives going. Though, the bumble and grumble and mumble of the trucks jolts and shudders sure made for an interesting ride. The show in Salem went as planned, and nothing really stuck out of the ordinary. So, here we were, ready to pull a few stints in Washington before shipping out to the San Francisco Bay area for the next month.

Capitol Theater, Yakima, WA

Free gas! Kyle rings out as he steps on the trucks accelerator and guns it after Al and Evan in the Jeep. Were in a race with them, they dont know it, and no one knows whos winning.

The life of a roadie, I think to myself, as I look up from the computer again to soak in some external stimuli that does a body good. Not so bad at all.

My attention soon turns back to the flash of scenery out the passenger window, and my thoughts drift to what adventures lay ahead. Yakima, here we come!

Skullcandy G.I. Headphones

Kyle and I wish we had some sweet headphones to rock out to on our bumpy drive in the Budget Truck, so to avoid our mishaps with the radio, get your own pair of Skullcandy G.I. Headphones and get to rockin’!

Click here to upgrade your audio steeze

Evan Levine, Sponsor Liaison

This episode features Evan and Tats as they drive to their first show of the Warren Miller Film Tour. They’re looking for the Deb Fennell Auditorium located at the Tigard High School.

‘Nervous anticipation drove me to find things to keep myself busy on the drive, and what better than to shoot a little interview with our Sponsor Liaison for the tour,” mumbled Tats as he edited the footage in his hotel room later on.

Evan, on the other hand, is the busiest of the worker bees on this tour, as he deals daily with sponsor requests and fields phone calls left and right. Mucho kudos to you Evan…

[youtube]“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-mCtZlYVg4″[/youtube]