"It's All Coming Back"

Go ahead and admit it. You know that Celine Dion song. Matter of fact - it's planted in your head and you can deal w/ how to get rid of it now too.

I've been dealing w/ it all day since I told Lance me how my skiing came back to me today while on the lift at Homewood. And then he dropped the chorus.

Yeah - he knows the words I didn't know.

I've been excessively conservative in the way I've skied for nearly two seasons now. Well that's shedding away and today was really the first time I started getting after it again. I honestly believe a lot of it has to do with the geography. I'm really familiar w/ Tahoe - the terrain and snow type.

I finally spun a three on my new JJs, got crazy comfortable on my ARGs and learned how to ski that JJ in absolutely any condition. I can feel my weakness in my legs, but so much more in my core. I have nearly no abdominal or back strength. It's time to hit the gym and keep going harder. This season is going fantastic thus far, but my physical condition is limiting what I get done for sure. Doing my physical therapy wouldn't be a bad idea either. It's a priority upon my return.

The most important thing is my comfort level on my gear at this point - finally.

Storm Chasing

It's now a family activity!

The Tross Family used to be right in the heart of the storms. Well that was then and this is now. And now we storm chase!

Just look at that monster coming in this week!

Today is Sunday and the Tahoe area is forecast to get 10-14 inches today, 20-30 Monday, a mere 10-18 Tuesday, 32-40 on Wednesday, another 10-16 Thursday and 1-2 on Friday. And in true California fashion - the sun is scheduled for a cameo appearance.

Lance should arrive late tonight and we'll all leave early tomorrow a.m. in the hopes of catching a rain window at Mt. Shasta and heading south through Lassen National Forest. If we miss the window, we could be waiting in McCloud, Calif., for a while. I've got a good feeling about this one though.

Timing couldn't be better to take a mulligan on my busted Expedition Kirkwood story attempt from December. This time I've got more snow, time and resources - minus my photographer. I'll have to find one but it shouldn't be too tough. I have an entire week of killer storm days and sun breaks over the weekend.

Those lucky weekend warriors - haha. Seriously. The Californian weekend warrior is among the most fortunate. But the early bird gets the worm so we're taking off super early tomorrow morning for California. Hoping to shack up at the Coast Guard station on Lake Tahoe. If not, it's commuting from Reno.

Now it's off to base to work on the fabled Subaru. New oil, knock sensor, spark plugs, wipers, fog bulb, floor mats - and of course a couple new car freshener scents Lindsay likes. FUN!!

How Canadia Won My Heart

Operating here under some deadlines and lots of work today, but still forcing myself to log this assignment's highlights for everyone before I move on to another insane assignment - both in Canada.

The people, the mountains, the snow, the terrain, the skiing, the parties and the events over the past three days came together to make covering the Freeskiing World Tour stop here in Revelstoke, BC, the best assignment I've ever been on.




I could go on forever about this place and hopefully I come back soon.

We're headed out in a few hours, but not to worry. It's off to Mustang Powder Cats on the way home with Level 1 Productions. Time to drink some Kokanee, check out some peelers and git keen to give er,' as Mcconkey would say.

Weather Delay

No comp today. And because of the venue change - I might not get to go in the heli. However, I'm still allowed to go as forerunner if I want, but I'll have to hike if I want it that bad.

Whattaya think? Should I go for it?

That's the Venue right up there. I'd have to hike up that far-right ridge. Hmmm. Doesn't sound so appealing anymore.

I'm trying to follow an athlete, who shall remain unnamed until tomorrow's results and I post my final story. If that goes through I won't be doing the forerunner honors, but I'll have to pick a line down this thing. I cna't even see where I wanna go. And from the looks of today's avalanche conditions, tomorrow will be insane.

As of right now - the answer is yes!! Of course I'll go because I'd be insane not to.

The Forerunner

You know what that is?

Me neither - till about two hours ago at the last bar we hit up.

The forerunner is the first person to take the heli to the top of the course and ski down - basically kicking off the event for the day. Well tomorrow is the finals of the Freeskiing World Tour and guess who gets to go first - it's me.

Now I've been able to participate in all kinds of stuff that's made me feel small or stoked - but this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that you'll remember forever. I can't even sleep.

Whether it's tomorrow or Sunday, depending on weather, I'm going in the helicopter to the top of the most difficult course in freeskiing. This is like throwing out the first pitch of the World Series. I'm just blown away at the honor of being the first one after so many of my friends and the other competitors have given so much more than me - not to mention how much more skilled they are than me.

No wasting the opportunity though. I'm in it and I'll just ski the way I know how - but all these incredibly talented people will be (and have been all night) cheering for me.

How did this happen??

For sure to write more in the a.m. afterward.

Canadian Freeskiing Championship at Revelstoke: Day 1

First day in town for Tyler and I was pretty chill. We slept in and spent the afternoon feeling out the town of Revelstoke. We paid a short visit to the Canadian Avalanche Center (awesome operation!) and got ready to spend the following day on the course while KC, Chris and Courtney put down their qualifying runs for the Freeskiing World Championships.


Chris and KC both fell on their runs, but Courtney made it!

Strategy

There's just more to it than planning. There's the execution phase and lots of strategies have phases of execution. But then you have several strategies with their own intricacies and timelines. They independently start and finish on their own linear time lines.

However - they overlap each other and that's where the trouble starts. Those lines are starting to blur and cross and it results in chaos. Organization is the key, but simplicity is quite helpful to good organization.

I probably just answered my own problem right there. Of course that's easier said than done.

When it comes to challenges in the ring - I didn't prepare for this kind of challenge on account of not knowing it existed. I guess those are the surprise hits we need to prepare for. The only thing you know is that there will always be something you don't know and can't readily prepare for aside from being conscious of the fact we don't know everything.

In this case the Champ needs to fall back on the grind to make it through. As in many other situations w/ many other opponents - it's the grind of work that is uniform across opponents to wear them down. He who works harder at the right points will win. This is that part of the fight where the fighting is ugly and the win is important.

All the super-romantic uppercuts and knockouts aren't going to happen. Someone is going down because they couldn't hold on any longer. This is going the distance and tomorrow is no exception.

Be here while being there - all while being available during the pursuit of new matches. That's been the name of the game for quite a while now and will continue.

I just realized an interesting analogy. Landing accounts is like picking fights - it's the easy part. Being strategically superior, being in shape to execute, executing and having experience are the hard part. The successful execution is the hard part. That's the difference between good fighters and great fighters.

The Canadian Marathon

Finally made it - after more than 12 hours on the road. I'm back in Revelstoke for a follow-up story to my report last week on the resort's preparations for the Freeskiing World Tour stop here.

The drive shouldn't have taken the 12 hours it did, but I managed to forget my suitcase in Olympia. So you guessed it. I got across the border only to turn around ten minutes later and head back to Seattle where my lovely wife met me with my stuff so I could get on my way back up here. What a mess.

Furthermore, I woke up early yesterday morning to get a jump on the work I know I need to get done my first day of this trip. Here I am up 24 hours later and one country to the north.

I'm nearly delirious from the drive, but made the whole thing and even managed to get the better portion of what I needed to done yesterday. I've got the next few hours to finish up and then get some sleep. The secret lies in Chai tea - you can do anything on that stuff.

I'll be here for the next few days trying to tie up at least three stories and get them off my plate of things to do. Then it's submitting my school contract, figuring out my MGIB status and sleeping - in no particular order.