skiing and ice climbing

I have a bunch of pics to post from the past few weeks but I havent had any free time till now so here it goes. A few weeks ago...ok im not gonna lie it was way more than a few weeks it was back on the 14th, I went skiing with Garrett and a couple of his friends at the bird and took some crazy cool pics. Way too much powder for my GS skis though, the mountain pretty much pwnd me. Twisted my knee pretty bad and couldnt walk for a day but surprisingly it completely healed in only 2 days.





The clouds at the same level as the trail!







Ice Climbing II class in Ouray, CO.

Carpooled with a classmate. The drive was about 6 hours but we had the most interesting and random conversations so it seemed shorter. Went from religion to chocolate to drugs to southpark episodes, lol. Stayed in cool little cabins in town, I bunked up with 2 others. The first morning we climbed it was 11 degrees out. The next day it was a little warmer but not by much. After climbing and dinner at this awesome mexican place with monster nachos we went to the hot springs. Water was about 108 degrees :) Getting in and out was the hard part, it was still in the teens outside. My hair froze on the way back to the cabin, haha. There was a climb I did that day, hardest route ive ever done. It was completely vertical and had a little "cave" near the top that required some navigation to get around. On the way up I fell and dropped an ice pick, so my instructor, being the badass/insane crazy person he is, climbed it back up to me without being attached to a rope half the time, no big deal.
He eventually knotted sketchily onto my rope kindof...but I dont think it would have held him if he fell, haha. Hes a pro.
We were mock lead climbing that day and its good I was still attached to a top rope cuz I ran out of ice screws (the things you put into the ice to keep you from falling to your death if your not attached to a top rope) before the top, that would have sucked, lol. So on the way down I remembered the "cave" below me and the instructor reminded me to stay to the right of it while repelling so I didnt fall into it, and naturally I slipped and fell into it headfirst, haha. But it was basically just an indent in the ice/rock so it was shallow.














Nate the crazy instructor.


See the cave at the top? Thats what I fell into, haha.





Chocolate ice climbing sculptures at Mouses Chocolate.



The very first ice screw ive ever placed!


Ninja garb.


Downtown Ouray




The fire we made one night.

The almost demise of US Speedskating

This is overdue, but the power at the hotel was out. I shall explain:

The American Cup 3 in VA this past weekend was an experience. Mostly because it didnt happen. It was saturday morning and blizzard came in and dumped 2.5 feet of snow, which Virginia is not used to. We were warming up on the ice when we heard a loud noise. (Luckily) after a while someone noticed a support beam holding the roof up was no longer straight. It was brought to the attention of the officials and they put 2 and 2 together and got everyone off the ice and told everyone in the locker rooms to pack and get out because the roof was collapsing.
By this time the beam was twisted and bent at a 90 degree angle. We quickly got our skates off but as we were packing, we could all hear rumbling and creaking noises, part because of the stampede of people trying to get out, partly because of the roof. It was super scary.
Meanwhile, Jun is just sitting there sharpening skates in the corner like nothings happening.
His sister comes in and tries to tell him to get going, hes like ok let me finish.
She leaves, and most of the people in the room are gone. Im like JUN its ok, you can stop sharpening now. We need you alive, ok?? And he finally comes to his senses and packs out, hahaha. Crazy dude. Putting our blades over his life...
So we all leave and meet at the hotel. Only an hour or two later, the building is in ruins. Can you imagine if no one noticed the beam? All of Americas elite speed skaters except the Olympic team (which is in Vancouver now) would be dead or injured. The end of US Speedskating. Crazy to think about.
In case your wondering, the meet was cancelled and I know were lucky to be alive, but we all spent craploads of money for entry fees, airfare, food, gas, and hotel, uuugh. At least it was kind of a vacation...
Till the power in our hotel went out. All the guests except me and some of my teammates left the hotel, so we had it all to ourselves. We made the best of that by sitting in the dark in the hot tub till it got cold, then we played hide n seek in a pitch black empty creepy hotel, scariest thing ive ever done.

In the end we decided that everyone at the meet tied for first place, except Adam who is number 2, so we could all go home happy. The end.

Here are some pics Kelsey Schiel (skater from MI) took after the rink collapsed. So intense.

It started like this...


And ended like this.



This is around where the coaches and judges were standing.





And here are the traditional airport boredom photobooth pics.











Random pics I took:

Heres our favorite kiwi rockin the new look.


The blizzard outside my hotel window.


when your powers combine..i am..CAPTAIN PLANNEEEET!


Mustard sauce anyone? (engrish in VA)