Lel Tone researching the avy forecast in the morning…

Michelle Parker checking beacons prior to departure…

Elyse Saugstad practicing proper travel techniques…

Ingrid Backstrom assessing the snow pack in the field..

Jackie Paaso knowing how to due a proper beacon search…

Today I decided to take advantage of the beautiful New England weather and go on a small adventure up Old Spec. I hadn’t been up into Grafton Notch since I’ve been back home on this trip and I was pleasantly surprised to see some snow capped peaks as the notch came into view.  It was a cool crisp day and the trail up was a bit icy, but regardless it was a great day for a hike.

A map of the trip at the trail head.

Half way up, just before the snow line.

I preferred the snow instead of mostly just ice that I ran into mid way up.

Getting closer! The view along the ridge was great!

3.5 down...

0.3 til the top!

Made it!

The view from the top...

 

 

I don’t consider myself the biggest trick person these days. Over the past few years I’ve definitely put most of my focus on skiing lines and learning the mountain. I’ve wanted to get back to my freestyle background for a while now and I haven’t really had the opportunity  until now. Woodward opened a  new facility up at Boreal Mtn. this summer and it’s amazing! I finally made it over there a few days ago with Michelle Parker. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous. Trampolines, roller skis, foam pits all relatively new stuff to me.

The facilities

Dan demonstrating a misty into the foam pit

I found it was like anything, if you start with the basics and work your way up it’s not that scary and it’s really fun! We started with trampoline basics and worked on our air awareness as well as some tricks to take to the ramp. I’ve never jumped into a foam pit before and I really enjoy it now. It helps build your confidence while trying new tricks and it’s so much fun, minus trying to get out. I still haven’t figured out how to gracefully exit the foam pit.

The mega trampoline wth video play back

They also have a few video stations set up where you can either bounce on the trampoline or hit the ramp and the playback is delayed so that you can view it when you are done. This is a huge learning tool to be able to see a playback of the trick you just preformed.

Ingrid Backstrom trying the roller skis for the first time

After working on trampoline skills it’s time to make your way to the roller skis. You have to go through an introductory course before hitting the ramp. This part is very important because these roller skis are unlike anything else I’ve tried before. Once they get going in one direction they stay in that direction unless you hop or pick up one ski to adjust. This makes things a bit tricky. When starting off in the pump track you learn all the skills you will need to hit the ramp safely.

Kristen on the pump track

Of course there is a progression for the ramp as well. You start with a small mellow ramp and work your way up to the larger ramps. The first time I hit I was definitely a bit nervous, mostly worried about keeping my skis going in the right direction. Like most things once you do it you realize it’s a lot easier than it looks! It is so much fun I can’t wait to head up there again!

Back flipping the ramp

Bike off the ramp, I've got to try this next!

A few weeks ago Reine and I drove from Lake Tahoe to Whislter B.C. to some biking and to take part in one of the World’s largest bike festivals, Crankworx! I was hoping to get some tacky dirt and maybe even a little rain since it had been so dry in Tahoe this summer. As it turns out that was not going to happen. It was hot, dry and sunny! Just like Tahoe. That was okay though, we still had a great time. Whistler’s bike park is just amazing! There are trails for all types of riding up there. They are so much fun, I already can’t wait to go back.

My friend Adrienne convinced me I should enter a few of the races at Cranworx. I ended up signing up for the Air DH on the World famous A Line trail and the notoriously rough Canadian Open. I had a bit of trouble sleeping the night before the Air DH. I have to admit seeing names like World Champion Emmeline Ragot and others on the start list made me a bit intimidated. Especially since I’d never done a jump race before! Ha, I think I had just learned to jump maybe a few weeks ago.

Hitting the final drop on my way to the finish of the Air DH

This might be when I noticed my time

Even though I came in last for the Pro Women it was still fun and a great race for me. I can definitely see that I’m cutting time race after race and if you’re going to get last it might as well be to someone like World Champion Emmeline Ragot!

Emmeline coming in with the win!

The next day I headed up the mountain with Emmeline and Adrienne to walk the course for the Canadian Open to check out the lines. Seeing that I’m just getting back into DH racing it was really great to be able to walk through the course with those experienced ladies!

Course walk through with Emmeline and Adrienne

Later on the day in practice I ended up spraining my ankle during course practice. There was this one jump right before a section called Hecklers rock that I just kept coming up on wrong. Eventually it resulted in me tweaking my ankle a bit. That was the end of my riding time for me in Whistler. As much fun as I have DH biking in the summer I have to remember that the winter is still my main focus. I can’t keep pushing it like I do in the winter because getting strong and healthy is the main priority this summer. I have to say though, training for DH is the closest I can get to big mountain skiing off snow and I feel more ready than ever for the winter!!

Taking it easy in Whistler during Crankworx is not the worst thing in the world. There are so many events to spectate that keep you occupied. I’m also pretty sure Reine didn’t mind because that meant he got to ride my DH bike. He’d never been on one before and now I’m pretty sure he knows why I had to have one!

Red Bull Joy Ride, AMAZING!!!

These guys are just amazing at the Red Bull Joy Ride event. It was pretty cool to see this event in person. At the same time it was a little scary. The winds had picked up some and I’m pretty sure they would not of been out jumping if it wasn’t for this event.

Red Bull Joy Ride

The last day of Crankworx was when the Canadian Open took place. Since I opted to sit this one out I was able to get some great spectating in. This race looked like so much fun, but the course was definitely a tough one. Maybe next year I’ll take part. We shall see

Nothing like finishing a DH race with a 70+ gap jump!

A week ago Reine and I traveled up to Shasta to go white water rafting on the Upper Klamath. We decided to take the scenic route on the way up there and check out Lassen National Park. It was a quick little detour that was definitely worth the trip! We decided to get out of the car for a bit and take a quick hike into one of the thermal areas.

I thought I’d share some shot from the trip.

Lassen Peak in the clouds

I walked away from the Red Bull Cold Rush this season with a few new injuries. Initially I thought my left shoulder was the main problem, recently I discovered my right may be just as bad if not worse. I’ve been away from home for most of the season. In fact since the new year I have been in Tahoe for about 6 nights. Finding a good place to rehab when away from home isn’t always the easiest.

The past 6 weeks I’ve been spending most of my time here in Åre, Sweden. Luckily enough Reine got me in touch with Åre Naprapaterna, Sports medicine and Orthopedics. Magdalena Waller Dahlgren who specializes in shoulders has been able to help me rehab my shoulder with massage, acupuncture and more!

If you find yourself in Åre, Sweden and you are in the need of some rehab check out Åre Naprapaterna!

www.arenaprapaterna.se                      

Well it’s been a while since I’ve updated my own site. For those of you that haven’t been following me on hellyhansen.com is been a great winter. I’ve had some up and downs but I think the ups have over weighed the downs. It felt really great to get back on my skis feeling confident again this winter.

Once again I’ve walked away from the Red Bull Cold Rush with some injuries that have made the rest of my season a bit difficult but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

Since the contest season has ended for me I made my way back to Are, Sweden with Reine Barkered. There was a part of me that was looking forward more to going to the beach for some warm sun but it was important for Reine to get back home after his recent victory.

Here in Sweden it’s felt more like mid winter than late spring. So we’ve managed to get some good skiing in still. A few weekends a go I decided to take a trip to Bakvattnet to visit my good friend Marja Persson. I had been there last fall and it was a great time but we were pretty unlucky with the weather. This time it was a different story. I couldn’t of asked for better weather!

This time instead of hiking in we got to snowmobile in. After setting up the cabins we went out again to meet up with Marja’s father and set up salt licks for the local Moose in the area. I’ve spent some time on a sled but never really had my skills tested like on this trip. It was definitely easier than deep powder but instead I had to maneuver through tight tree’s and melting water crossings. It was a little stressful since it wasn’t my sled but still so much fun!

After every salt lick was set back we made it back to the cabins for some dinner and a beautiful sunset. Marja and I decided to ditch the sleds and cross country ski back to the cabins. This was something I hadn’t done in years! To make it even more interesting I had Marja’s dog harnessed up to me. I thought I knew what I was doing, as it turns out I didn’t. Apparently I really need to brush up on my XC skiing skills. I’m pretty sure the dog did more than I did.

The next day we woke up to another sunny day in Bakvattnet and headed back to the main cabin where I had my first try at ice fishing. We set up some lines and then headed off again on the sleds for some lunch and exploring.

After lunch Marja showed us around the area. We got some great views of a beautiful place. It was so clear we were able to see pretty far off into the distance and where able to get a chance to check out some mountains that I hope to head to one day with Marja for some ski touring!

It was another great weekend in Bakvattnet with Marja and friends! I can’t wait to get back there again!

It’s been a bit of a road trip since the contest in Chamonix took place. Right after the Chamonix I found myself packing once again to head to Courmayeur to watch the men’s third stop of the Freeride World Tour. I wanted to cheer on Reine and my friends. It’s always a good time to be able to watch all of the men’s runs!

Reine getting interviewed after his run in Courmayeur

After Courmayeur we had to some how make our way to Munich for ISPO. For those of you that don’t know what ISPO is it’s a much larger version of SIA the winter sports trade show that is held in the U.S. However we soon realized the morning after the contest that we had no actual plan for getting to ISPO. We had a crew of four, myself and Reine, fellow American Matt Annett’s and another Swedish Freerider Erik Sunnerheim. After many hour of trying to work out a plan and seeming to come up short the whole time we were fortunate to find help from the French! Julien Lopez, Seb Michaud and Carl Guichon were kind enough to squeeze us and all or luggage in three cars so we could make our way to Chamonix to pick up a rental.

Since it took much longer than expected to get on the road we all decided to brake up the trip a bit and get some skiing in Engelberg, Switzerland. It had been snowing there and were hoping to get some good powder skiing in!

The snow was great but visibility was far from good. We did find one spot that was so much fun even though we found ourselves lapping the same area over and over. It was nothing crazy but it felt so good to get some freeskiing in. Despite the high costs of Switzerland Engelberg seems like a great place to come back. I recommend you check out The Ski Lodge for a place to stay, or if your like me and that’s a bit rich for your pocket it’s worth stopping by for a some Apre Ski…

http://skilodgeengelberg.com/

A few days later we finally found ourselves in Munich, Germany for ISPO. I personally am not the biggest fan of cities but it’s sometimes nice to get a change of scenery. At ISPO I had a chance to check out the sweet new Kastle skis for 2013 as well as get to meet some of my new sponsors. Over at Helly Hansen I was able to get a look at their new line. I’m definitely looking forward to getting some of the new gear!

Happy models at the Helly Hansen fashion show!

After ISPO it was straight to Garmisch, Germany for the night to say hello to my good friend Marja Persson. Then off again the following day to Innsbruck to stay with one of Reine’s friend Floh. Next stop after that was to Lech, Austria. Reine had to meet up with Dynastar to try out some new skis. I got to do some amazing powder skiing as well as check out the Kastle Mountain Museum that just happened to be at the top of the mountain in Lech!

Kastle Mountain Museum, Lech Austria

Chris Davenport, Kastle Pro Team

After a great day in Lech it was back to Innsbruck to pick up some new skis from Kastle. I’m pretty excited to try them all out and play around on some new skis! They all look like a ton of fun! We spent some days in Innsbruck and checked out one of the local ski areas called Kuhtai. Despite the extremely cold temperatures it was a great time. We found some good snow and saw some amazing views down in the valley. The mountains around the resort look like they will make for some great touring. I definitely want to make my way back to that area sometime soon. The friends we were with told us that area is known for some great touring and is only accessible by human power, so despite a few skin tracks the area remains

pretty untouched.

The view from Kuhtai

Now I find myself in the Zillertal valley in Austria. It’s a down day and the plan is to head out tomorrow to get some jumping in at Mayerhofen and a chance to try out my new back country freestlye skis from Kastle, the West’s!!

I would be fooling myself if I said I didn’t want to win the first comp of the season. I’m a competitor and I would of loved to win Revelstoke, but sometimes it’s just not your day. Yes, some disappointment sets in and I go over and over in my mind where my run went wrong. Did I pick too challenging of a line? Should I have just sent that cliff and hope it was good to go? Could I have made the turn towards my original plan and been okay? The reality is it’s over and dwelling on what I did wrong is not going to help me for the next comp.

Getting ready to watch the finals

I’m trying to look at the positive side of things. What went well? Well, my first hit I came into with no hesitation which has been something that’s really important to me. Also, I would rather be here healthy and ready for the season because I skied smart and was cautious in an unknown area to me instead of just sending it into what could of been rocks. Even though a long pause on the top is a little embarrassing it’s a lot better than jumping blind and ending up hurt.

Of course I wanted to ski this venue. Look at it!

At the end of the day all that really matters for me is if I’m still having fun and if I’m still working towards my goals. For me skiing is about pushing myself to be the best I can be and having fun. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me to get where I want to be but every little step helps get me there. When I do have my next victory it will feel so good because it will be with a line that looks fun and challenging. So I’m going to keep chasing the guys

Beautiful B.C.

This season I’m very proud to announce two new sponsors. For outerwear I’ll be working with Helly Hansen. You can follow my adventures this season here and also at:

You can also visit Helly Hansen’s You Tube channel where you can find product reviews from the great group of Pros at Helly Hansen:

And last but not least for eye wear, helmets, body armor and poles I’ll be working with SCOTT!

I’m very excited to be working with one of The Freeride World Tour’s sponsor as well.

I’m currently in Bellingham, WA hoping for the weather to change back to snow while in route to Revelstoke for the first stop of the Freeride and Freeskiing World Tours for the 2012 season. It should be a fun and exciting season! I can’t wait for it all to go down.