Enjoy!

Please Check it out and share it with as many of your friends as possible!

Waking Dream

Here are a couple images I am super stoked on that are a part of the issue. Check em out! Then go get your own copy so you can experience the best Issue yet!!!

Thanks To Telemark Skier Magazine for publishing this image in a format that does it justice!

Thanks To IceFall Lodge, BC for giving us the opportunity to be there!

Thanks to Paige Braidy, Candy Froerer, Martha Burly, and of Course Photographer and Great Friend Re Wikstrom For Capturing the Biggest Cliff I have ever hit.

The next Image was the only day I went out to shoot photos last season before tearing my ACL. The first sizable cliff of the season. The first run of the day.  And the first shoot and first shot that I have ever done with Grant Gunderson.

I’d say it turned out pretty well!!!

The Photo Annual is just dropping! With more great content written by fellow athletes and advocates, it marks the culmination of a lot of hard work by last years TSM Crew.

It was a wonderful team to be a part of and I think we all crushed it last season! Looking forward to seeing what the new Crew creates.

I am truly lucky to have such amazing sponsors that hook me up with the hottest in threads and gear. Here is a little sneak peak of what I will be rocking this year…

The boys over at Trew have got it going on! Their outerwear is insanely technical yet beyond stylish. Bringing a little bit for everyone from loud colors to mellow tones, they have what you are looking for!

Smith Optics has been a leader in eye wear for much longer than I can remember. From fun sunglasses that will flare up your day or night to super technical goggles that will have you seeing clear through the storm these guys do the job right!

Hestra makes some killer gloves and I just love the way they feel. Whether skinning up on a cold morning, or skiing epic blower they keep my hands dry and warm.

CW-X has been helping me come back from tearing my ACL last season. With there anatomical fit that supports muscles both as they develop and to help aid in fatigue, these keep my body warm and muscles feeling strong.

I have been working with Scarpa for about 5 years now and there is no other boot that I would trust to hold up to the big airs, steep lines, and long skin tracks that make up my days, weeks, and months of the ski season. The T-race is the best 75ml boot on the market hands down. If you like to charge hard and haven’t gotten on a pair I say give it a whirl and you will never look back!

The boys of 22designs have been leading the charge on the big mountain circuit for quite some time. The Axl is your do it all free pivot touring binding, that is agile enough for those long approaches, yet burly enough to ski whatever you dare on the way down.

BCA has been a leader in snow safety equipment for quite some time, but recently they have started really building on their backpack line. Offering comfortable, smart pack designs which have obviously been built by and for people who spend much time out of the resort. Whether you are looking for a small Stash pack for your slack country adventures or you are going full boar with a Float airbag pack you will not be disappointed.

Head on over to www.backcountry.com to view more styles and get your fall gear geek-out on!

As many of you know I have been working my way back from having torn my ACL in January. Over the past 6 months I have been doing a lot of thinking about what skiing means to me? what it represents? and how I have come from being a little girl with a crazy dream to a grown woman now in the midst of that dream.

I decided, since I did not have much footage from this past season, to go back to my 2009-10 season where I played all over the mountains of North America with some of my best friends in the world and had a blast with each turn!

The edit is a celebration of the beauty, freedom, and exuberance that skiing offers!

Today Telemark Skier Magazine announces the formation of TSM Crew, a first-of-its-kind athlete/content creation team.

While traveling throughout North America for the upcoming TSM film Loyalty, Crew athletes weren’t just skiing for the camera; they were writing, shooting and researching for magazine and online projects and hosting the TSM Demo and Movie Tour.

“We carefully selected these athletes based not only on their on-hill talent and industry cred, but also their abilities to edit video, shoot photos and write,” says TSM Editor Josh Madsen. “Our target demographic at Telemark Skier really identifies with pro athlete culture, so we wanted our pros to back up their on-camera performance with thoughtful material.”

Telemark Skier Magazine is the only dedicated source for all things telemark in all mediums: Film, print and online. With a talented and motivated team of athletes, TSM will have continual updates throughout the season to help passionate telemark skiers keep their stoke high. Check out Loyalty and the TSM Gear Guide dropping this fall, and be sure to keep up with everything on telemarkskier.com, and on Facebook facebook.com/telemarkskiermagazine.com

Crew athlete Alex Paul breaking new ground at Breckenridge for TSM’s new film Loyalty p: Kjell Ellefson

The new Telemark Skier Magazine recruits include:

J.T. Robinson – J.T. is a jack-of-all-trades, who can throw Lincoln Loops off of 40-foot cliff one day and the next he’ll be behind the camera directing a video shoot.

Weston Deutschlander – Weston’s standout segments in the last two TSM productions have cemented his spot as one of the best up-and-coming freeheelers on the planet.

Kjell Ellefson – Kjell is an exceptional photographer who moonlights as a college student in Boulder Colorado.

Shaun Raskin – Shaun is known for going bigger than all the guys, whether it’s in big mountain competitions or in front of the lens.

Alex Paul –Alex is a multitalented freeheeler who has appeared in films from Sweetgrass Productions and in the pages Telemark Skier Magazine.

The long and Windy Road to Recovery (aka little cottonwood)

Last I wrote I was well on my way to diving into teaching AIARE Avalanche courses through White Pine Touring, I was looking to Shadow some backcountry ski guiding companies in the Wasatch, and I was just about to sign a contract with Telemark Skier Magazine.
Well, as life often does… I got thrown for a BIG loop and many lessons to follow.

While doing some soul skiing up at Alta with Weston D. I tore my ACL.
No, it wasn’t that simple, but it was that strait forward. Before you ask- No I was not hucking my meat or skiing some spectacular line, I was simply enjoying the first significant storm after our January dry spell. We had about 15″ of fresh, slightly wind affected snow on top of a sun/rain crust. I simply hit the icy layer underneath and sat back, giving a bit of a butt check, when I stood up POP!

Madsen and Weston D. hanging out post surgery

That was the end of my season. It took about two weeks until my denial and that of my physical therapists broke down and we decided I should go in for an MRI. Of course the outcome showed a full tear of my ACL, with surgery and the inevitable end of ski season being the outcome.
It has been exactly one moth since surgery and I have been on a wild journey of sorts. I am not going to dive into the dark places I have gone or the emotional roller coaster that has been the product of a super athletic and physical being, being kept from the only form of meditation and emotional outlet they have ever known, but I will say it has been a struggle, one that I was not really prepared for, but I guess no one ever really is.

Behind the Lense

Since tearing my knee I have managed to do a few cool trips. I went and supported the Telemark Freeskiing National at Alpine Meadows. There, I was able to catch up with a bunch of my friends that I only really get to see when competing. It was actually a really cool experience getting to go to the comp, cheer on all my friends, film a bit for Telemark Skier Magazine, and have a place in the community even though I was on the sidelines (which has never really been my favorite position).

Lunch fest at the ski test

Last week after being cleared from using crutches I headed up to the Telemark Skier Magazine Ski Test in Powder Mountain. Of course I was not able to partake in the physical test, but after expressing my need and desire to stay as connected to the goings on of the industry to Josh Madsen ( friend and editor of TSM) we decided that I would head-up the writing of the 2012 Gear Review. This meant I would take notes at each nights debrief, compile all test sheets, and create an incredible list of the most tantalizing gear you must have! It was a super fun four days of obligatory libations being funneled through a plastic flamingo lawn ornament, AKA the BeerMingo accompanied with great new faces and tons of laughs not to mention a bunch of skis, binding, and boots that I am drooling to get on next season.

Weston D. filing out his test sheets

Tony Gill feeling the affects of a late night and an early morning

The Crew

Madsen and Cody Smith Pondering life

BEERMINGO!!!!

What's a Tele gathering without some dirt musicians. Alex, Zeph, and Madsen getting after it!

Alex scerinading the crowd

Again, being in the periphery has been a challenge, but through a hopefully increasing sense of clarity I have found that if I truly love this sport, then I just have to push a bit harder to make my physical inactivity disappear behind my motivation and drive to continue being relevant through other means.
There are so many lessons and realizations that I have had through all of this. That is not to say that I have become enlightened though it, more like dumbfounded by my own habitual behavior that now doesn’t work. I have gained a new awareness, that I have to learn some new tools, because the old tricks don’t work so well when trying to bend with the braided lattice that is life. So I am on another sojourn and I am sure lessons will continue to trip me along my path, but with each stumble I will gain more balance and continue to gain strength and perspective.

Huge thanks to all my friends, family and sponsors who have been so supportive!

Photo: Re Wikstrom

So that has been my attitude and with that my skiing has been at an all time low. I have managed to fall down more lines, have more slope side melt downs, use combination’s of curse words I don’t think anyone has ever come up with, and have literally climbed into my truck to go home choking back tears of frustration and a sense of morning for the freedom and love skiing once offered.
But like any dark time, or any artist, writer, or person who has truly found there spirit in what they do, give it time and it will come back.
So here I am sitting in my house after my first day reunited with my true love, skiing.

“How did this transformation happen?” you ask, well I took some time off (only two days to be exact) but in those two days I was able to get away from what I thought I should be feeling, doing, and how others were looking at me- because truth be told they weren’t and if they were they could careless. I reflected on how I got to this point where skiing was no longer a source of inspiration and tried to pin point when those feelings shifted- and just like that there it was, laying there like the IPod you dropped in the snow bank waiting to be found; somewhere along the line I became so wrapped up in performing for photo shoots, film, and even for who I was skiing around that I just lost myself. I became self conscious and that lead to feeling insecure which intern lead me to that feeling of doubt and dread about doing something that I absolutely love.
So with that fabulous nugget of new awareness I thought back on how skiing use to make me feel and how I use to feel heading out to ski for the day. I remembered the excitement and the freedom and the way skiing always made me feel like a kid and allowed me to express every thought and emotion through movement and I remembered all of the laughter, hooting , and hollering in that unadulterated, unbridalled manner-And that is when it all started to click!

I began focusing on my attitude and tried to do things that would remind me of those more carefree days. I gave some time to reading and going to my local book, bead, and crystal shop (yeah, I know…I guess I am a bit of a heady tele chick). I even bought some rocks, which starting this past summer, I have began to believe in their power to change or infuse different energy and focus your intentions (again very heady, I am aware).
With my rocks in hand and my mind moving into the more playful spirit, that is me, I went home and got ready for work.

Today I woke up and kinda felt that I had lost a bit of that excited energy that i was starting to recover the previous day. So I started back doing the little things that remind me and invigorate my sense of play. By the time I was feeling back on track I was excitedly putting on my ski pants, emailing vigorously about getting a Canyon’s day pass (as that was the mountain I use to ski at when skiing was fun) and making a little pouch necklace to put my little “energy rocks”.
The pass came through and I headed up to the canyons with my headphones and huge desire to go ski whatever appealed. As the sunny afternoon went on I could not help but find myself singing to myself, dancing on the lift, and loving the playful movements with the mountain. The conditions weren’t epic, there was nothing outside of myself that made today awesome or rad or legit, it was just my attitude that created an absolutely spectacular day out of a quite ordinary one.

It would appear, that while I know I have to keep reminding myself to focus on the basics, that I have fallen back in spirit and I am truly inspired and in love with tele skiing once again:)

*As a little aside, I know this was a different sort of post for my blog; however sometimes it is important to drop the curtain and express what is truly going on. Hope this gives some insight and might even help in some way.