Jort Ski day at the Bird

Season Recap of a Happily Tattered Ski Bum

It’s may 9th and I’m curled up in my sheets watching in rain galore on SLC. Apparently it’s snowing up canyon piling on the our record breaking snow pack. Looking back at my season I immediately picture a roller coaster of events. Humm, whats new? My season was packed to the brim with unexpected road trips and hang overs, bear hugs and bad jokes, tremendous heart breaks and pain, an array of different couches and floors, hating being single, loving being single, down days and days the sun couldn’t be brighter. There was much lost and more gained and as usual, I am overwhelmingly grateful for every second of it.

I suppose my season started in August in Chile where I placed 6th in the first stop of the Freeskiing World Tour. Fall rolled around in SLC and winter didn’t want to wait dropping some epic storms opening Alta with an awesome base. It was only the 2nd day Alta was open I broke vertebrae T 11 attempting a back flip, hence the “tremendous heart break.” I spent only about 3 weeks on the couch, decided I wasn’t hurt anymore and stubbornly skied groomers until the comp in Revelstoke arrived. Pushing the trip on my self, thinking there was no way I would miss it, was reckless but welcome to bloody-minded me. I ended up being mostly a spectator at the event and got frost bite on most my toes.

As I struggled to get my strength and confidence back I skied lightly around Little Cottonwood Canyon. I met my now very good friend Nat Segal who started to push me off cliffs again. We then took a fun trip to Kirkwood where the ups and downs only got bigger. We both qualified but fell in semi finals where our friend Ryan Hawks also crashed. A day after Ryan was air lifted to a hospital he died. We were all stunned. I didn’t want to believe it for a long time but eventually it hit home and I felt squashed with the harshness of reality.

Powder week in Jackson Hole was a good get away from frustrations where I skied some great snow with close friends and confirmed with my self life is beautiful and good. Then came the Bird comp, every one’s favorite, where I placed 9th. EH, I’ll take it. At least my back wasn’t sore any more and my confidence was lifted. There was just one more comp to my season…ALASKA.

I finally made it up to Alaska, my dream for many years. Although the competition (World Extreme Skiing Championships) never happened I made the best of it, met some funny locals, went ice climbing, slept in random RV’s and snow caves and best of all, went blue bird, Heli skiing in blower Alaskan Pow!

To wrap my season up I switched ski companies from Fat-ypus Skis to Surface Skis. I had a great go with Fat-ypus, I only have positive things to say about that company. As my first sponsor ever they believed in me and encouraged me through my ridiculous amount of injuries, created a women’s ski (named after me) called the V-rock, gave me full page ad’s in Freeskier, and made an awesome poster of me and my ski. But all things come to an end and I’m stoked as ever to work with the fast growing ski company Surface. I’m loving the skis and feel more playful then ever on them.

After enjoying the spring slush and pow at Snowbird I’ve booked a 1 way ticket half way across the world to Wanaka, New Zealand, where I plan to spend their winter skiing, working, partying, surfing, bungee jumping, and whatever else those crazy Kiwis talk me in to.  Then, who knows! I’ve always wanted to go deep water soloing in Thailand. Plans first, the rest will follow. Like they always do.

(S)he Jumps into the Canyon!

The third annual “(S)he Jumps into the Canyon” has once again been a huge success! An event created to empower teens to get into the beautiful Wasatch Mountains! This even introduces inner city teens to the passion of skiing from professional and recreational female coaches! It was awesome to experience the community working together to show these kids some real outdoors! Thanks so much to the sponsors Alta Ski Area, a North Face Explore Grant, Billy Poole Memorial Foundation, Solitude Mountain Resort, The Deep Powder House, Alta Ski Shop, and The Alta Peruvian lodge. We couldn’t have done it without you! It was an honor and a total blast coaching some appreciative and enthusiastic teens~ CHeck out upcoming events from She Jumps at www.shejumps.org

Subaru Freeskiing World Championships

The last stop of the Freeskiing World Tour brings us to my home resort, SNOWBIRD! I was so excited to compete on my home turf with so many friends there supporting me! The event is so big they have two full days of qualifiers. I ran on day one and placed 4th, barley good enough to get into the big show! Day 1 of the comp on silver fox was amazing! Thankfully the ski patrol closed off the venue so it got wind blown smooth and creamy just for us! I skied really well, stomped my line cleanly and flew into the finish feeling on top of the world! Unfortunately the judges did not score me as well as I expected and my run put me in 10th place. I was stoked to have made it into finals but along with everyone else was bewildered by my score. Even the announcers claimed, “surprisingly low score given to Vanessa Aadland.”

I decided in order to learn from it I would ask the judges the reasoning for the confusing score. Good friend Jim Jack said that I had a great line (most important category) but I was sliding my turns. According to him, Instead of a racer carve I have a laid back  slide turn that the judges just don’t like. He literally said that “I make it look too easy!” I personally do not see a problem with this if I’m skiing fast  and stomping my airs.

Finals came up quick and I hadn’t slept hardly at all the night before. I couldn’t stop thinking about what the judges said about my turns! To be honest I was very frustrated and kind of bitter about my results. Literally every person that saw my run was baffled by my score. I should have put it behind me but for some reason I couldn’t. I know it’s a judged sport and it’s some thing you need to know going into it… its subjective, but I couldn’t help but mope. I dropped first on finals day. I came out of the gate overly amped. I jumped off a small cornice, popped over a bump and went to shut it down and some how immediately washed out. Before I knew it I was sliding down the venue head first . I was finally able to swing around to my feet. So much frustration surged through me. I wanted to ski away down to my house haha. I eventually gathered my self skied down and decided to hit one last air in the amphitheater and stomped it. Overall it was a really fun comp! I ended up 9th in the comp and 16th overall in the tour, hopefully pre-qualifying me for next year! I’m so so soooooo thankful to all my friends for the love and support. Stomp or not, it was all for you Ryan!

Freeskiing World Tour/ Freeriding World Tour: KIRKWOOD

With the most stacked line up that the Freeskiing World Tour and The Freeride World Tour has ever seen, there was a lot of pressure going into the day. I had all my heroes in skiing lined up next to me at the start gate. With a fresh, extremely intense venue, I was feeling very excited and very nervous. This was my first time doing a visual only inspection but I was able to pick a fun line that fit my style and strengths. Plus, I was dropping 4th so I knew I was going to ski pow the whole way down!  I came out of the first chute hot and made some slashy pow turns in the sun. I saw my next feature and skied confidently towards it. As it came closer, without hesitating I lined up my take off and popped. Once I was air borne I realized the actual size of the cliff was much larger then I thought. I didn’t stomp it but I was stoked. It was a great take off and a soft landing. I wish I could go right back and hit it again. I skied pow the rest of the way down and gave all my friends hugs. I ended up 16th and honestly I’m still stoked! It was a beautiful fun day of skiing with my friends and heroes.