Ten Tricks at Mt Snow

Ten Tricks

This past weekend I took a trip down to mount snow with my good friend marc. I had been to Mt Snow before but never enough to really appreciate it. This has all changed as I decided to purchase a season pass. With a day ticket costing $90 and a season pass costing $360 it only made sense to buy the season pass.

   Mount Snow is home to Carinthia  which is the first and only all park mountain face on the east coast. Recently redesigned Carinthia is home to 12 parks for all skill ability. The face features over 125 features, a half pipe and a superpipe with 18 foot walls. Carinthia was the host for the 1^st annual winter dew tour stop, redbull buttercup finals and the Freeski Open.  Their park system has been on the receiving end of praise for its amazing conditions and adaptability to these big name tours. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pro skier or a novice, there is something for everyone to ride at Carinthia.

   We hit the road Saturday Afternoon for the 3 hour drive down to West Dover VT where we were going to be staying. It was hard to sleep but when we woke up we immediately headed to the mountain. This was my first time skiing as a season pass holder, not much has changed besides the fact this is going to be my third home mountain.

   We started off the day on the main face where we took some nice warm up laps to get our legs back under us. This was my first day out for the season so my legs were doomed either way. After shredding the main face we ventured on over to Carinthia where the fun began.

   The first couple runs blew my mind, I could not believe how nice of a park setup they had for just opening. As we were taking laps we ran into Aaron, Phil and Tyler and we continued to take laps on the park.

   The day went on until it was closing time and all of our legs were beat. Carinthia had drained me of all my energy. As we went home and reviewed the clips from the day I couldn’t of been more stoked to have bought a season pass to Mt Snow. By just spending a day there I was able to realize how much better I was going to get this season. Carinthia is a perfect training ground and I’m so glad I bought a season pass.

Life at Mt.Snow

For my final project i am going to be telling a story on what its like to be a season pass holder at mt. snow and what its like to be able to ski the best park on the east coast whenever you want. i am going to be making  video to tell this story.

Illegal Art

Art is a medium that has no limits.

The techniques, interpretations, and functions associated with this realm come and go and change every day—however what it will always hold true to at the core of its existence, is that it is a free expression.

 It can capture emotions and ideas that mankind could never form into words and cements them into cultures and history for centuries to come.

So why, are some forms of art frowned upon? Why is it that when a great painter sits down to contemplate the beauty of a landscape, paintbrush in hand, he is seen as genius but when a street artist decides to enhance the public’s viewing experience and provides a mural or message he or she is viewed as not an artist, like the painter, but an offender?

There are several reasons behind this mindset. The first is simple. Many members of society view street art and graffiti as a defacing of private and or public property. They wish to see art hanging on a wall, printed in a magazine or posted on a blog. In the eyes of much of society, to walk down the street and suddenly see a building livened with color or decorated with design is to recognize it as a nuisance. They will rarely be awed by its beauty or struck by its difficulty and effort.

But why is this?

Again the answer is quite simple and comes in two parts. The first is comfort. The majority of human beings do not thrive well during change. They prefer to remain in control of their surroundings and become caught off guard and sore to the idea of individuals, in this case graffiti artists, dictating the appearance of their residence and work areas.

The second reason is due to the association that comes along with graffiti—and that is gangs and violence. This type of graffiti is generally used to ‘mark turf,’ or display signs of violence or threats of that to come. Of course this type of graffiti is relevant and possesses a greater problem than simply artistic taggers however this is only one branch of the graffiti world.

There are so many artists who take to the streets and adopt the public setting as their canvas in order to deepen the thinking of the society in which they take part and express to the greater public the world in which they find their joy and creativity.  

Graffiti

For Our video assignment Sarah and i decided to do a video on Graffiti. While i'm home over break I am going to go with an artist, film and interview him to see why he likes graffiti and how he feels on the issue of it being illegal. For Sound we are going to use the interview and maybe some music to fill in some shots.

iReport

I recently discovered CNN's iReport which is a citizen journalism initiative that allows people from around the globe to contribute pictures and videos of breaking news stories. When i first stumpled onto iReport i didn't know  what it was and i was confused until i did some research and exploring around.
   Overall i think the sight is pretty cool because like any social media page you can favorite (like) someones story and vote on how good it was, you can share it to your facebook as well. If you like the story a lot you can rate it saying it should be on CNN. If you don't like it you can rate it as inappropriate.
  iReport also mentioned how you can meet other reporters through their database and see what stories they have reported or shared. What i don't like about this sight is that it is just like facebook, twitter, myspace basically any other social media platform except its for the news. Its a good idea but i don't think i would use it.

The Best Week Of My Life

Jackson Expedition - Video Maker

We walked into the airport, 6 ski bags and about 10 bags filled with gear, as far as anyone else knew we were pro skiers. At least we looked like we were. We handed all the gear over and made our way to security. As we waited for everyone we noticed Chris was missing. Chris had been brought back into security because he had left a snow saw in his carry-on. 20 minutes later we were on our way to the gate.
    As we walked through the airport it still hadn't hit me yet, we were on our way to Jackson hole! We got to the gate and boarded the plane to fly down to Texas, it was going to be my first time in Texas and it was going to be a short stay. Have you ever heard someone say everything's bigger in Texas? well its true, as i order my medium drink they handed me what had to be a gallon of soda, i thought to myself "i cant drink this", so i shared it with my buddy as we walked to our next gate.
    We loaded onto our next flight, ski boots at my feet. This was going to be a long flight as we were flying right into Jackson hole. I was tired but i couldn't fall asleep so i got myself a coffee and started day dreaming about what the next week was going to be like. We made our way over Colorado and i got my first birds eye view of some of the mountains below, I couldn't help it as a big smile appeared on my face, I was Stoked like a little kid in a toy store.
    We finally got over Wyoming, the mountain ranges were crazy and at this point i was wide awake with excitement. As the plane circled down we landed and this was my first time unloading off a plane right onto the runway. As i stepped off the plane i looked to my left and the Grand Teton was right there in my face. My jaw dropped, my dream was becoming a reality, i couldn't believe it. We made our way to the front where we met our guide Jake. Jake was just as stoked as we were. We loaded up the Van and left the airport. As soon as we left i looked to my right and there were 3 moose, we continued driving and then on the left there was a herd of hundreds of elk, i had never seen anything like it. I knew right from that point, this was going to be the best week of my life. The only thing between me and skiing was avalanche training and a 6 mile hike up 2,800' to our yurt the next day. I went to sleep and the whole week was a dream turned reality.

The Dream Week In Targhee National Forest

   Last year I went on a trip of a lifetime out to Jackson hole Wyoming to ski some backcountry with some fellow students from Lyndon State. We Spent a week living out of a yurt on Baldy Knoll about 5 miles into the Targhee National Forest.

    Ever since I was a kid I would dream about going out to Jackson Hole to ski some powder, its where all the pros were skiing and the best lines were being thrown down.  When I got to go last year I was like a little kid again, my dream had come true.  This dream didn't come easy, it took a lot of hard work and training so I was in prime physical condition for the trip.

   I can specifically remember dropping in on some “Hot Teton Pow” for my first time and I couldn't help but holler with joy.  Each turn was fluffy and smooth, the best run of my life is by far our trophy run which took 6 miles of hiking to get to and 6 miles to get back from, it was incredible. That whole week was like living in a dream for me and I can’t wait to share the experience .