This photo was taken by Jason Eichorst! It was the day after I got back from Alaska, the Surface crew was doing a photo shoot at Brighton. My legs were a little stiff from chilling in an RV for a few weeks but I tried to giver anyway… Surface Skis new site is looking real good! They put a blog post up about me that made me smile!
Vanessa Aadland has been vagabonding her way around New Zealand this year. Embracing being a broke ski bum to the fullest extent of the law. This week she placed 4th overall at The North Face Freeski Open in Wanaka, NZ. Wanted to congratulate her for crushing it and thank her for being an inspiration to us all.
THANKS SURFACE!!!! Honored to be in the FAMILY
www.surfaceskis.com
Posted October 28th, 2011. Add a comment
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.
April 10th the Causwell/ Surface crew went to Brighton to shoot!
Posted April 11th, 2011. 1 comment
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.
