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 .

THE TOP GRAPH IS OF JOHNSON STATE COLLEGE EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS LYNDON STATE- For our Data Story, Eric and I thought it would be interesting to investigate some of the statistics that we are surrounded by on an everyday basis—our peers. It is easy to say that Vermont exists as a state that is not extremely ethnically diverse. In fact the United States Census Bureau for Vermont shows that as of 2013, Vermont’s population has consisted of approximately 95.2% white individuals and less than 2% of every other ethnic background. That being said, Eric and I were not entirely surprised but still interested to see that the student body of Lyndon State College is made up of 90.8% white individuals, 2.2% African American individuals and less than 2% of every other ethnicity. After investigating these statistics, we were left with the curiosity of what the ethnic makeup of other Vermont colleges consisted of. We decided to compare our Lyndon State to Johnson State College, seeing as the populations of these two schools are slightly similar. Our findings were not entirely what we expected as 83% of the students attending Johnson State had reported identifying as white, 7% as American Indian, 3% Native Hawaiian, and less than 2% of every other ethnicity. Because the numbers for both Vermont, as a state, and Lyndon, as a reflection of Vermont, had proved to be so dominantly White, we were surprised that the numbers for Johnson did not reflect that same pattern. However, what Johnson’s numbers included that neither Lyndon’s nor Vermont’s did, was a large number of unreported ethnicity. About 8.2% of students had never reported what background they identified as, which left a great deal of room for speculation. Continuing to search for interpretation behind the numbers, Eric and I sought out the admissions office of Lyndon State, to better understand what drew certain ethnic groups to particular places. The admissions office informed us, that while Lyndon may not be extremely diverse, the college is always working on programs and different ways to attract people from all over the country and even the world to its facilities. They also mentioned that despite the number of ethnically diverse students, Lyndon State does in fact have the largest amount of out of state students, then all other state colleges within Vermont.