Tag Archives: Skiing

Epic Race Mountains 15 & 16 – St Christoph & St Anton, Arlberg, Austria

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This morning we all kind of struggled to get up and moving – except for Rhinehart who is always first and ready to go, so he made us breakfast – eggs, cheese and prosciutto – while we all got ready.

We thought the buses ran every 10 minutes, so we didn’t pay much attention to what time we were leaving, so at around 10:10 am, we realized the buses only come once an hour, so Francis had to drive us the short distance into town.

We got our stamps done at the tourist office in St Anton, and then parked the car and crossed over a “closed” bridge (not sure why it was closed though) to get into the village. We jumped on the brand new Ganzig Bahn gondola which is ridiculous – it’s huge, high tech, brand new, and has these humongous wheels that rotate the gondola up like an elevator before it takes off up the mountain.

Today was a perfect bluebird day, no clouds anywhere so the views were amazing. From the top we dropped into the village of St Christoph and ran into a couple other fellow epic racers again (we are roughly on the same schedule as it seems maybe 20 other racers so we run into them periodically at the photo/video spots at each resort).

The information office at St Christoph was super old and historic “hospice” hotel there that offers amazing ambience and fine dining, and is a 5 star hotel. The history of St Christoph dates back 600 years ago when a shepherd founded a shelter for wary travelers making their way through the Alps. History is so much greater in Europe!

From St Christoph, we made our way up the St Chrisophobahn lift, which takes you to the center point of the St Christoph and St Anton lifts, and you can see down from up there into either valley (a village on each side). It’s so hard to describe how grand this mountain range is, especially when you’re at the top overlooking everything from a 360 view.

We had some really fun runs after that, and kind of kept getting lost so we actually rode probably most of the lifts at the resort, which turned out to be pretty fun. It’s crazy how long the runs are here, and how steep even a normal groomer tends to be at these mountains.

The gnarliest lift I’ve ever seen was shooting up from the St Christoph area to a mountain peak that seemed like it wouldn’t really be skiable because of how intense the terrain was, but apparently they don’t give a crap here in Austria and will put a lift on anything. There was also a tram, which I believe is was one of the first trams ever built taking you almost to the top of the super gnarly mountain peak also. Neither were open but if they would have been, I know the guys would have wanted to ride it, and I’m not completely sure if I would have done it. The lift was a two or three person lift, shooting straight up to the top, and the terrain down from there looked pretty insane, probably would have been the steepest run I’d ever had access to, so as much fun as it would have been, I’m also a little relieved it wasn’t open!

Speaking of lifts, at the bottom of one of the runs on the St Christoph side, we were riding a 6 pack lift up – most of the high speed lifts here have lap bars, and then an additional plastic bubble cover that you can pull down in bad weather. Because of the bubble, I couldn’t put my arm around the back side of the chair like I normally do when I ride lifts on the scarier side, and um, all of the lifts here in Austria are pretty scary and way far off the ground. I kept asking the guys if I could put the bar down, and they kept insisting no way and that I needed to suck it up and that this was good practice for me since France is supposed to be scary also. But, we got to a point where I had a mild freak out and told the guys I didn’t give a shit what they thought, and I was putting the bar down. They all gave me crap and said I had to buy the first round at the bar because I wussed out, but I didn’t care, at least I wasn’t scared anymore! And, THANK god I did, because shortly after that, the lift stopped, and swung back and forth at a high point over the ground, ugh! And then, just to freak me out a little bit more, after the lift stopped, a guy came on the loud speaker in German and said something which we didn’t understand, and all I was hoping was that he wasn’t saying that the lift was broken and that we would all have to be rescued because we were pretty high up there!

After that, I started to realize that EVERYONE puts the bar down on lifts in Austria. It makes sense, they are a lot higher up than the lifts I’m used to in the states. So, I gave the guys crap back and said “hey guys look up, see that, every single lift that is going by has people with the bar down, bar down, bar down” so hopefully they will get the point and let me put the bar down the rest of this trip, or else I’m probably gonna be riding them alone on purpose!

We then headed over to the St Anton history of skiing museum (one of our epic race photo stops). What a cute little place! It had a beautiful historical style dining room downstairs, and upstairs was the ski museum. I’m so glad we went inside, it was cool to see some of the history of how skiing developed in St Anton, seems like this is where a lot of the history of skiing began!

And then, it was time to hit up the Mooserwirt – a world famous après ski bar that overlooks the Alps, is on the slopes (but within walking distance from the base if you want to hike up for a little bit). It was a trip to see this place – outside they had a stage, girls dancing, a DJ, live music, and it was so packed you couldn’t really walk unless you were trying to push your way through to get somewhere.

Inside was a little less crowded, but still very “club” like. We got a couple rounds of drinks (we had met up with Adam, fellow epic racer there also), and took it all in. I got hit on by a local Austrian guy who kept wanting to “make dance” with me and said “you good, I’m good, lets make dance” which was pretty funny. And of course, Hydle was “famous” throughout the club – people either were thinking he was Mc Fitti again, or high fiving him because he had the best beard they’d ever seen, or apparently he also got called out by a group of people thinking he looked like the guy from the hangover, not to mention every epic racer that was there knew who he was also!

After a couple drinks, we strapped on our skis, and skied down the hill to the base in the dark. Of course in Europe you can ski after the slopes have shut down, with no lights, after having a million drinks (if you choose to have a million drinks at the Mooserwirt). What a crazy place! Apparently it doesn’t even really get started until 10 pm or so, I can’t even imagine…insane!

Back at the room we worked on uploading our content, and had leftover spaghetti. The guys went out again late night tonight where I thik they are meeting up with Adam for a bit at Bar 37, and I stayed in to go to sleep! Tomorrow is Stuben, and then driving to Verbier, Switzerland!

Rhinehart’s Edit – St Anton
Hydles Video – St Christoph
Hydles Video – St Anton (Mooserwirt)
Cooley’s Video – St Christoph
Cooley’s Video – St Anton

Epic Race Mountain 12 Mt. Brighton, Michigan

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The flight last night was easy and we got some more attention through the airport in the form of Hydle meeting a fellow beard guy, so we took some pics with him and then were on our way to grab our rental car and head to Mt Brighton!

We got in to Brighton around 11:30, and decided to hit up Redddddddddddd Robin, yum! The guys powered down some late night milkshakes and dinner, and then we got to our hotel room, edited a bit and then slept like babies for the night.

This morning we took our time getting out of bed and the hotel because we knew we weren’t gonna need a lot of time on the mountain considering it had two lifts, one rope tow and a total vertical rise of 250 feet (elevation 1,100).

The hotel was 1 mile away from the hill – this seemed weird to me because it felt like we had stayed in a suburban downtownish area of Brighton, not a “mountain” town and there were by no means any “mountains” or really even any hills around town. So, on our drive to the hill, we were chatting away, and all of a sudden, Mt Brighton was in our sights and we all shouted out “whoah, there it is” in total shock at the same time. It was pretty hilarious, out of nowhere there’s literally just a big hill covered in snow when the rest of the surrounding area is flat and dry!

We grabbed our snowblades and not knowing that there was an actual entrance, we cruised down a dirt patch on the side of the building and onto the slopes. Our first run was up the most ridiculously fast rope tow, that was literally just a high speed rotating rope. I thought I knew what a small town “home mountain” was like until coming to Mt. Brighton – nobody was manning the rope tow, and the lift operators weren’t scanning tickets (we found out at the end of the day that they scan tickets upon entering the “entrance” like an amusement park (which we didn’t use).

We did some hilarious gaper laps on the rope tow, Rhinehart did a couple daffys off this run, and then we went over to their “high speed quad” – I guess when you only have 250 feet of vertical, you wanna move people up those lifts quickly

We took pics at the top of chair 3, and then cruised over to the magic carpet section where I took my video, and the guys talked to the lift operators who were working on the magic carpet. Even though it was fully dry outside and no snow anywhere besides the hill, it was dumping on this run because of all the snowmaking they were doing!

The last stop was at chair 1 and the race course. Imagine if you put a race course on your average mountains bunny hill and you get the idea!

We finished up the day and had to get back to the airport, so after having more fun than expected at Mt Brighton, we packed up and headed to the car and then the airport.

It started snowing a ton on the way back to Detroit, where we started to realize that so far, every time we have left a place, it snows (or in the case of Tahoe, dumps) right after we leave! Wtf, we are due for some fresh snow with all this storm missing we’ve done so far!

We actually were really early for our flight, and Hydle didn’t know what to do with himself. He was equally as out of sorts being early as Rhinehart and I are when we are running late!

So we went into the sports bar at the airport, and quickly realized everyone working in there was cranky. But we rolled with it, had some lunch and the guys edited.

We got on our first flight – to Atlanta, which is ridiculous because it’s not anywhere closer to Denver, and now we are on our final flight to Denver, where the one and only D-Roge is going to pick us up again (thank you D Roge!!)

The Broncos won, and other than being overdressed and got wearing our onesies, it was all in all a really fun weekend full of skiing and traveling that we would have not normally ever done.

Europe on Tuesday, we are all getting really excited watching the other epic racers who are already out there. The snow and terrain looks great out in Europe not to mention the appeal of the villages. Can’t wait to go! Epic Europe time!

Heavenly – Operation Elevation Email to Todd Rudis

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Operation Elevation with Ashley Cooley, Greg Hydle and Chris Hansen

Aloha Todd Rudis!

I just wanted to send you a quick email and photo about how awesome operation elevation is at Heavenly!

It was my first time ever getting to ski the amazingly beautiful Heavenly yesterday … Although it was frigid cold, I couldn’t help but nearly freeze my hands off snapping photo after photo on this first day to heavenly adventure. The overlook on the way up the gondola is gorgeous, but the highlight of the day was definitely being selected to take part in your operation elevation experiment. Riding in “the beast” to the top of the mountain during sunset to experience all of what Heavenly really has to offer was a completely unexpected treat for Ashley and I. Chris Hansen killed it in giving us an awesome ride in “the beast” and I even turned him into a little photographer to help us document the adventure at the top!

I will have a complete write up and video of our experience available online soon as we progress our way around the world for Vail Resorts Epic Race. But I just wanted to reach out to you now and say thanks for the perfect ending to this Epic Day. Operation Elevation is the shit!

Check out this bad ass photo we snapped :)

UPDATE: September 1st, 2014 … unfortunately Todd still has yet to reply… WTF Vail.

Epic Race Mountain 08 Kirkwood

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The drive out to Kirkwood was gorgeous, it was a first for all of us and we enjoyed the crap out of the drive.

It was a bluebird day which has been rare for us so far, so we were pretty excited to get in some fun turns. We got the best parking spot on the mountain somehow, and then took a few photos in the village, and ran into #wherescoop and chatted and took a few photos with him.

There was one lift and one run open, so there wasn’t much to do on the hill, but like always the boys managed to make the most of it. Rhinehart found a spot to get in his signature daffy, and Hydle took an epic line that was “so huge” (um see the video, you’ll see what I’m talking about haha).

As Rhinehart was filming Hydle take his huge line, a kid launched off a jump and exploded into a gnarly yard sale. Rhinehart went over to help the kid gather his skis and stuff, and found out his name was Charlie, so he got the nickname Gnarly Charlie (see Rhinehart’s video for a rad slo mo shot of Gnarly Charlie’s yard sale!)

We took a total of 3 runs, and then headed to the bar at the bottom where we ordered a round of drinks in the sun and a fellow epic racer Adam showed up and sat with us. Once the sun went down we got cold, and decided to head over to the Kirkwood Inn for our final photo/video spot and have some après ski.

The Kirkwood Inn was awesome – super cute old cabin with a nice big fireplace, and a creepy photo of Zachary Kirkwood in the back corner. We sat next to Mr. Kirkwood’s pic and the fireplace and ordered some drinks and apps and took some more videos, and epic racer Adam caught up with us again.

We closed up the day by heading back home to my house, and had a bunch of friends over for editing, cooking, and drinks. Another fun day in Tahoe, and now we’re off for Northstar! Go Broncos!

Epic Race Mountain 07 – Canyons Resort

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Our alarms went off at 2 am. Yep. 2 am. Hydle was struggling a little bit to get up considering he went to bed I think around 12:30 – at least I went to bed around 9 pm so I was doing alright. It took us a bit to get the car loaded up and out of the house. Rhinehart was getting frustrated because he also woke up at 2 am, but we didn’t reach his house until 3:15 am!

Once we grabbed Rhinehart, we were rolling by about 3:30 am. Hydle drove the first leg with Rhinehart keeping him company while I slept some more! At around 7 am, Rhinehart took over driving, Hydle went to the backseat to sleep and I kept Rhinehart company.

We arrived at Canyons right at Hydle’s goal of 10 am. This beat the navigation time estimates by about an hour and half. 6 and a half hours to Canyons in Park City, Utah. Not bad!

We took a series of really fun photos and videos in front of the Canyons welcoming sign, and then went to the parking lot which has a people mover that gets you to the village from the lot.

There were only two lifts open for their opening day at Canyons, so we had plenty of time to play with the staff. Hydle and Rhinehart chatted it up with the lifties, and we took some fun Epic Mix photos at the top of the first lift.

There were also really only two runs open so there wasn’t a whole lot to do other than play around on the groomers a bit. The boys were good at making the most of it like always and played around through some of the soft side runs, and Rhinehart did his signature Daffy in the park a few times also.

After a some laps we headed to the Red Pine Lodge outdoor bar and hung out with some super fun staff in the sunshine. Hydle ordered the “Triple Epic Burger” and Rhinehart ordered the “Most epically epic gluten free burger” – we had a blast hanging at the bar, eating burgers and making videos.

Then we cruised down and had to go take some pics and videos at the orange bubble lift, and met some more fellow epic racers.

By now it was about 2 pm and we had to get on the road, considering we had to make it all the way to South Lake Tahoe! I drove the first leg while the guys sat and edited on their Iphones,

When we got to Elko, Nevada, Rhineharts video was ready to be uploaded, but we majorly struggled to find fast enough internet in Elko to even upload his video to Youtube. So after striking out a few tims, we ended up at a Verizon store where the guys finally got it to upload.

Hydle was impressed with Rhinehart’s edit from the day, and they reviewed and re-reviewed the video lots of times, and Hydle offered his feedback, and then started filming “directors cuts” of his edit which was hilarious for me to watch them interact with each other.

The drive was a total of 1,100 miles, which we did in one day. 3:30 am through 12 am. When we got to South Lake Tahoe, my good friend Dwyer – who has a place in South Lake – kept asking us if we wanted to swing by for a beer. At first we thought we couldn’t pull it off, considering the day we had, but somehow we all got a second wind and headed to his house.

Dwyer poured Rhinehart and I some nice red wine, gave Hydle a Coors Banquet, and we hung out checking out the work he’s done on his house, played a little “island pong,” ate some pizza and snacks, and then finally decided to head back to my place around 1:30 am….and then still somehow decided to get in my hot tub back at the house. Holy crap. What a gnarly long day, but totally fun and totally worth it! We slept in this morning, and now are heading to Kirkwood for everyone’s first time! Feels good to be home. SAFE!


Epic Race Mountain 06 – Beaver Creek

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Happy Thanksgiviiiiiing! This morning we got up and I made a yummy breakfast casserole with our leftover Mac n cheese from the night before that Hydle said “tastes like Christmas”

Our goal this morning was to get to Beaver Creek, knock out our photos and videos, and then get back on the road back to town for everyone’s respective Thanksgiving dinners. Hydles Mom gave us specific instructions to be back for dinner by 2 pm or the turkey goblins would get us!

When we got to Beaver Creek we got lucky by asking the parking attendant at the full parking garage if we could get in and he let us in and we got the most VIP spot in the garage!

Our first goal was to go directly to the brand new 2 day old escalator to get some footage taken for our videos – um, we had a lot of fun on the escalator! We were making all of the employees laugh because they couldn’t quite figure out why we were doing laps on the escalator with our skiis and poles in hand, and of course hilarious looks on our faces…we were cracking ourselves up in the meantime also.

After fun times on the escalator, we were eager to get on the slopes as it was probably the best day yet we’ve seen on the mountain so far – sunny, crisp, and the snow was surprisingly soft on top of nicely groomed groomers.

We rode the chair up with a fellow epic racer who is doing the race solo named Jason – and then took a couple epic mix pics with him.

After that we rode again all the way up, and cruised down to the Raptor downhill race course which was in full race mode, lots of people and racers in their speed suits at the top of the course. We grabbed a pic there and then headed down to take some more ridiculously sweet (probably our best yet) epic mix pics.

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We took some more footage cruising down some great runs, and by that point we all decided in order to make it back to Thanksgiving on time, we needed to head out. We totally wished we could have stayed but turkey goblins don’t wait for skiing!

Hydle said we made record time driving back to his house – 1:10 flat. And then he informed me that in order to make it to Thanksgiving on time, I would not be allowed to go inside the house to a) change out of my ski gear b) put on makeup. I was not excited about showing up to Thanksgiving where I was about to meet about 25 new people wearing stretchy ski thermal pants, ugg boots with ski socks, and an underlayer top with no makeup on. But we were on a time schedule, so we showed up to Thanksgiving in our ski gear – definitely a first for me on many levels!

We agreed with Rhinehart that in order to ski Canyons in Utah Friday and then Tahoe Saturday, we would need to get on the road by about 2 am.

So after a beautiful Thanksgiving meal with Hydle’s family (and Rhinehart said his was great also) we got back to Hydle’s house where I got ready for an early morning departure, and Hydle edited probably the best escalator video of all time. Epically early ass morning tomorrow, goodnight!!!


Epic Race Mountain 05 – Keystone Night Skiing

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Rhinehart had to work again today (the day before Thanksgiving?!) but we all had decided ahead of time that in order for him to maximize his hours at work and also maximize getting days knocked out on the epic race, we would utilize night skiing at Keystone on their opening night of skiing.

Rhinehart put in his time at work while Hydle and I did some more final chores and errands around town. The Touareg got a new “rack” – a sweet Thule setup, and then we went to Christy Sports to meet up with Mo and get mine and MOM’s new VJJ’s mounted up with new bindings. Hydle and I also were able to grab a quick lunch at Machetes in Cherry Creek with some friends – Maggie & Clayton – who were in town for Thanksgiving.

Rhinehart showed up in a full suit straight from work around 4, and we got on the road to head toward Keystone.

The sunset through Loveland pass on the drive up was breathtaking enough that we had to pull over and take some glamour shots of it. Driving into town seeing the full Keystone Mountain lit up with the village holiday lights twinkling was pretty spectacular, I had never seen a mountain that pretty at night time!

Since it was of course, “Wear a Bow Tie Wednesday” for Rhinehart, Hydle and I had to step up and participate in “Onesie Wednesday.” This was a great decision because I actually have not ever skied Keystone NOT in a onesie, so good thing I was able to keep the streak alive!

We got on the mountain and I was reminded again how fun Keystone is to ski all the way from the top all the way to the bottom – it’s huge!

We had some fun taking pics and videos around the mountain, got some much deserved compliments on the amazing onesies (Thanks D-Roge!) and suit, and basically just played around all the way up until closing time at 8 pm!

I realized tonight that Rhinehart and Hydle are perfect teammates for each other in this race. Hydle needs someone who can play and interact with him in front of the camera on the spot, and Rhinehart is really good at reading Hydles mind and playing back. They’re also a great match because Rhinehart is learning alot from Hydle in terms of new techniques in editing, and it seems that Hydle enjoys showing his “apprentice” some new tricks. It’s fun to watch from the background :) On the flip side, it’s fun to see Hydle learning what the “real” world looks like through the eyes of Rhinehart – and managing this trip through a “Paid Time Off” schedule, something Hydle has no comprehension of whatsoever.

We closed off the night by making some friends around the fire pit in the village for a bit, and then headed straight back to Rhineharts family cabin (Thank you again Rhineharts!) for some mac n cheese, editing, and laughs.

Moral of the story from today is for those of you who thought pulling off the Epic Race with a corporate job wasn’t possible, the proof is in Rhinehart’s pudding, sending it straight to the mountains in a full suit just to get in some epic turns!

All in all it was quite the relaxing, enjoyable evening full of fun skiing. Beaver Creek and Thanksgiving tomorrow! Epic!


Epic Race – Corporate Never Takes a Vacation

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Today is our 5th day of competition, and unlike many others in this race, the corporate stud, Nabor Devin Rhinehart had to return back to his day job to remain in good standing with his company and boss while still staying sharp and competitive in the competition.

Some may wonder how in a race of this caliber our team could be taking a day off, or rather, a day to go back to the office, but since Vail Resorts has confirmed since day one of releasing the on mountain locations…

“Photo/Video Locations for Brides-Les-Bains will be announced on December 20th – a) posted to the website and b) available for pickup at the Brides-les-Bains tourist office that morning”

…this allows for a few days for the hard working life balanced competitors like Nabor Devin to maintain a successful career, grad school, and compete in the #epicrace! What. A. Badass.

So, Hydle and I took a day off for errands, chores, and logistics planning while Nabor Devin put in some solid hours at the office. I am sure he epic raced harder than anyone out there today. Work Hard. Play Harder.

Epic Race Mountain 04 – Eldora

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Day 4 started off with Nabor Ryan (Nabor Devin “Rhinehart”s Dad, who has so much personality he could be straight out of a movie) cooking us up some of the best gluten free pancakes and “links” that I could have ever imagined!

After our delicious breakfast, packing up, and a goodbye wave off from Nabor Ryan in the driveway, we were on our way to Eldora for the first time for all three of us! This is not significant for me being a California native, but it is significant for my two coloradoan teammates, considering it is actually one of the most accessible ski resorts from the Denver area!

After road tripping – with Miley Cyrus’s Bangerz album on repeat) through Central City (note: this town is worth revisiting, as it is a super cute gold rush era town with casinos and an adorable Main Street) and then taking some sweet team photos in front of the welcoming Eldora sign, we arrived!

Upon arrival, our first task was to take a photo by the Nordic center sign, where Hydle proceeded to spin some donuts in my car around Rhinehart…and then we were off to gearing up and getting on the mountain!

We parked three rows from the lift, and then cruised up a sweet two man chair called “Cannonball Lift” – dude, what is better than a resort that has a two man chair from the base camp! We also learned that Eldora has a lift that is the oldest lift in Colorado (unfortunately didn’t get to ride it as it was closed but I’d like to!)

We took some video footage and then rocked out a few super super fun, soft, groomer runs. My favorite mountains are the small local ones and we were having a blast at Eldora.

As is standard, I was ready to take a break before the guys, and headed to the Corona Bar to enjoy a delicious beer alone!

Once the guys showed up, we had a round of drinks and some lunch, and then headed back out for one more glory run and then skied back to the car!

After skiing, we drove through Nederland for some happiness and smiles, which we achieved in full ski gear while riding the famous Carousel of Happiness! The happiness level on the Carousel of Happiness was at all time highs, which kept us elated on the drive back to Golden!

As we were driving through Golden I asked Greg what his favorite restaurant was and he said “Sherpa House” without any hesitation right as we were driving right by it. Rhinehart quickly agreed and we called Lauren to see if she could meet up for dinner which she also agreed to.

We posted up in the corner and got lots of attention from the staff considering Hydle is a local Golden celebrity! We chowed down on the best chicken tikka masala and the guys edited their videos for the day, with plenty of laughs while reviewing the footage.

Super super fun day, we all loved Eldora and capping it off at the Carousel of Happiness and Sherpa House was a great way to finish off our 4th day of epic racing!

Epic Race Mountain 03 – Breckenridge

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This morning was super early so we could get up to Breck and get some turns in before the crowds started. Thanks to Mary, she knew it would get crowded and she was right! Started the morning off with Ryan’s untouchably fluffly and delicious scrambled eggs, bacon and toast… and then off to the mountains.

We got our first shot of the day at the overlook over Breckenridge the town, and then headed up the gondola to the lifts.

Right off the bat we hit some really good and fun groomers, but the day was cold, so Hydle and I bailed out to the T Bar for a couple beers and a quesadilla.

After lunch we did some laps through the park where Rhinehart did some rad daffys and some other fun tricks while Hydle filmed. We also met up with Rhineharts brother Colin who ripped through the park also. There were tons of guys ripping it up in the park, pretty fun to watch, but apparently it’s also rider beware, the jumps supposedly are not user friendly if you don’t know what you’re doing!

Lauren and I worked on improving our turns throughout the day, and the guys did a lot of filming in the park and on the groomers.

The mountain was a little crowded and it was pretty cold, so we decided to call it a day around 1, but not without first deciding to hit up the Gold Runner Coaster – it’s a roller coaster, on the mountain, that you self control on how fast you want to go. Um, probably the most fun thing you can do on the side of a ski mountain (at least for me so far).

We rocked out that roller coaster harder than anyone else today for sure, and then called it for the day.

We’re staying at the Rhineharts cabin again tonight (thank you again) and have been editing all afternoon.

And nooooooow, it’s time for the Broncos game, some white bean chili and guac, and possibly a hot tub, and possibly some other fun games. Tomorrow, we ski Eldora! Go Broncos! Epic!

Cooley’s Video:

Rhinehart’s Video:

Epic Race Mountain 02 – Vail Resort

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Rocked out Vail today for mountain number 2 of the #epicrace. Beautiful bluebird day early resulted in complete awesomeness all around the mountain with our stellar team. Ashley Cooley’s turns are coming around and Devin Rhinehart continued to warm up some acrobatic maneuvers while sipping on fresh home made coffee in the air. So EPIC.

Rhinehart’s Video

Cooley’s Video

Cooley’s Update:

“Day 2 – Vail
Day 2 started off early with arising to the quiet sounds of Ryan Rhinehart stirring in the kitchen making us his famous pre-skiing oatmeal (thanks Ryan!), accompanied with him dropping his hilarious one liners all morning, like “shouldn’t you guys be on the road already” “wait, I thought you guys were going to be on the road by now” as Mary was pushing us to get going and out the door.

After a later than desired start, and a little photo op with Ryan destroying us in the “I look so amazing nobody can handle this” competition while shoveling snow, we got on the road and headed to Vail.

It was a beautiful morning with sunny groomers, and we took a few laps through the park to also get some of our video content.

Next up was a gondola ride to the top, and then somehow we stumbled upon the mountain opening chair 2. Everyone was lined up at the ropes, and then when the ski patrol opened it up, it was a gnarly Chinese Downhill straight to the chairs (see Rhineharts video for proof!)

After that we hit a sweet powder run that had some of us struggling but was fun and worth it to get to the burritos and gluten free burgers at Mid Vail!

After lunch, we cruised down some more groomers and Hydle decided it was time for some “drills” as some of us are not as advanced of skiiers as he is! So we unbuckled our boots, and snowplowed through a bunch of runs, which teaches us to “turn” and stay forward on our skiis.

The drills were a success (although Lauren won the award for not listening the most lol) and then we called it a day and headed back to the Rhinehart cabin.

More editing and flight booking for the night after another fantastic meal of bratwursts and mashed potatos, and then calling it a night early for a big day 3 at Breckenridge tomorrow! Epic!”

Vail Resorts Epic Race – What is it? We’re doing it!

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We might be crazy…or ridiculously out of control awesome, but somehow Hydle, Rhinehart and I decided to go full force and enter the Epic Race… The “Epic Race” which means we’ve decided to try to be three of the first 10 skiiers to ski all 26 Vail resorts in the 2013/14 season!

Our group consists of the following “team”

Cooley “The Chick” – self employed, living in Tahoe, ‘learnable’ skier level, never skied 26 days in a season, let alone in a row, but ready to try…and will 100% chance definitely sleep more than anyone else in the group, or at least get grumpy trying!

Rhinehart “Third Wheel” – corporate job engineer guy who still is going to make this trip happen on paid time off, everything he knows about skiing he learned from Hydle…gluten free

Greg “The Beard” Hydle – “Skiing is fun, and that’s about all!”

The rules are that you can only ski one US resort per day and two Europeans resorts per day, and the estimated day that we could be winning/finishing the race would be December 20 in France, as that is the resort that has the last opening day this season.

The most likely scenario is that there will be a tie up until this final day/final 26th resort (it doesn’t open until December 20, so the assumption is that there will be a LOT of racers that have completed the previous 25 resorts leading into this final opening day, so everyone who has will be ready to win on this final day.)

So, unless we fall behind, we will most likely be tied with the winners all the way up until the final day.
Each day you ski, you are required to document your day of skiing with (1) :15 second video, and (2) photos – each taken from a different location on the mountain that is on a list that is predetermined by Vail Resorts.

So, on the final day, we will have to be in line first, ski to the three locations we need to get to first, and upload our photos/video first. The winner is chosen based on when the actual content is UPLOADED, not when you actually have skiied – so we will have to figure out a good solution on the final day on how to access internet FROM the mountain, ideally from the final spot that we take our photo from.

For those who would like to follow along and aren’t already doing so on Facebook, you can follow our travels and ski days via the following links:

Overall Epic Race Leaderboard – #epicrace

Ashley Cooley Epic Race Profile Page #epicrace

Greg Hydle Epic Race Profile Page #epicrace

Devin Rhinehart Epic Race Profile Page #epicrace

Wish us luck!

Kevin Pearce – “The Crash Reel”

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[YouTube] <— 3,789

The Crash Reel

Fifteen years of verite footage show the epic rivalry between half-pipe legends Shaun White and Kevin Pearce, childhood friends who become number one and two in the world leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, pushing one another to ever more dangerous tricks, until Kevin crashes on a Park City half-pipe, barely surviving. As Kevin recovers from his injury, Shaun wins Gold. Now all Kevin wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear this could kill him. We also celebrate Sarah Burke who crashed in Park City and died January 19, 2012.

I find it difficult to write about this film – simply because I strongly believe ‘the crash reel” is something everyone should just watch… and pay attention to. The soundtrack continues to get better with each viewing and the enjoyment of seeing other people finally learn about the severity of brain injuries and the consequences behind them is mind opening.

Love Your Brain - #loveyourbrain - Tee Shirt

#loveyourbrain Tahiti Blue Tee Shirt

There are so many levels of integration as to why this documentary hits so close to home with me…

  • My mom is a brain injury specialist
  • I practically grew up at Craig
  • Half pipe half pipe half pipe
  • Stephen Murray
  • Sarah Burke – CR Johnson
  • Action Sports
  • Directing and story telling

[Interview with Director Lucy Walker]

Level 1 Productions – Partly Cloudy Trailer

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[Vimeeeeooo] <— 61,691 About Partly Cloudy: Everything is baked. The snow has turned to mush and that burn is starting to peel. Fortunately, for those seeking cover from the glare there is a reset on the way. Hot on the heels of Level 1’s award-winning film Sunny comes a slightly different forecast. No major disturbances or low-pressure fronts, just a healthy mix of skiing, music, and personality with a low ultraviolet index. Partly Cloudy. Featuring: Chris Logan, Will Wesson, Ahmet Dadali, Parker White, Adam Delorme, Tanner Rainville, Wiley Miller, LSM, Tim McChesney, Banks Gilberti, LJ Strenio, Torin Yater-Wallace, Josh Bibby, Niklas Eriksson, Logan Imlach, Sammy Carlson, Sig Tveit, Magnus Granér… and friends. Shot on Location in: Utah, Sweden, Whistler Blackcomb, Alaska, Colorado, Wisconsin, New York, British Columbia, Les Arcs France, Kansas, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, Finland, Sun Valley Idaho, Mt. Bachelor Oregon Directed by Josh Berman and Freedle Coty Produced by Josh Berman Principal Cinematography by Josh Berman, Freedle Coty, Darren Rayner, Jake Strassman and Ante Olofsson Edited by Josh Berman, Freedle Coty and Blake Kimmel