Yes, I was fortunate enough to be born in Colorado.  Even more fortunate, I was raised to “keep your eyes open for Big Horn Sheep or Deer….they are here, you just have to look closely.

To my excitement and surprise, I encountered my first ever antlered deer running right across a ski run in Vail.  I was breathless.

The next day, I was blessed enough to see the aftermath of frozen winds and snowing for 2 days with the beauty of the afternoon sun, warming the trees up for a bit.  Unbelievable and gorgeous.

Skiing for me is not just about the sticks on my feet and the wind in my face, it’s about the beauty I’m surrounded by.  If you ever lose sight of that, then, in my opinion, you are not enjoying the full beauty of skiing.  Don’t just stop and SMELL the roses (or in this case the Evergreens), stop and LOOK very closely at them.  They will astound you if you let them!

I’m always interested about skiing experiences when skiing with new people…people I’ve not skied with before. I had that opportunity on several occasions last year.

During my best days of skiing, I experienced those wonderful people who laugh with me, stop to take pictures, never pressure anyone to ski anything they are not comfortable with, don’t give un-solicited skiing advice, jump, ski the trees, introduce me to new equipment and techniques and compliment the ways in which I do ski well! These are the best people to ski with!

During my not so fun days, well, let’s just say they were “not so fun” because none of the above occurred.

So, in my entire 40 years of skiing, I will say this….my skiing childhood was full of giggles! I choose to carry that into my adult years. I will continue to giggle on the slopes, sing on the lifts, help others out when they are having an unexpected “yard sale” (it’s the Coloradan in me!), and always checking in with my skiing cohorts! THIS is how you make and get to know the best friends you will have on the slopes!

Don’t run your friends over or “leave them on a powder day!” Ski with them! Isn’t that why you are true friends in the first place?

Trust me on this one!

This is a question that has been haunting me for awhile. For the past few years, we have dropped wildflower seeds (native to the Colorado Rocky Mountains) from the chairlifts as we ride up. It’s a small gesture, but an important one, in order to keep the environment healthy.

During the 2006-2007 ski season, at least 61 ski resorts purchased wind and solar energy credits. Similarly, Jiminy Peak, in Massachusetts, became the first ski resort in the country to produce its own alternative energy, installing a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine that supplies one-third of its electricity.

Here in Colorado, Aspen has become an Industry pioneer in this area. Aspen Skiing Company, which runs the high-class resort, was the first in the ski and snowboard industry to announce a policy to protect the climate. Their eco-conscious efforts are not just aimed at the slopes but at the resort’s tourism industry as well. Some of its most significant environmental initiatives include using biodiesel fuel in its snow-grooming machines, and making snow that is seeded with a speck of dust to lessen the amount of water and energy consumed during the process. The resort was also a first in the U.S. ski industry to offset 100 percent of its electricity use with renewable energy from wind farms. Now, 45 other ski resorts have followed their lead. In other areas, the resort’s coke machines operate by motion sensors to reduce the constant compression cycles and two of the resorts newest buildings are heated and cooled by water from a nearby pond. Additionally, Aspen encourages activism through its own green website and employees have contributed $1 million to date for local environmental causes.

We recycle.

We compost.

We carpool to the slopes and do all that we can to help the environment in the ways in which we have become aware.

I think that the real question is what else can I do to help? Get me, as a skier, educated about saving the environment and the sport of skiing, and I’ll do it! Guaranteed!

So, do my small packets of wildflower seeds make a difference in the ski industry? I like to think that they do. It’s a small step, but a step…by one person, to help to protect the environment. Imagine what we could ALL do just one little attempt at a time…

I even had a notion to go up to Loveland and do a little teeny tiny bit of pre-season slushing through the snow…..a notion that had a short shelf life!

So to YOU Mother Nature….Keep it Coming!!!!

Peace, Love, Ski!

So this got me to thinking…

When skiing, and someone falls on the slopes, off the lift, loses a pole or other piece of equipment…do you stop to help, or do you just keep going?

Growing up in Colorado, and raised by very caring parents, we watched our mother and father stopping on the slopes to help those in trouble. I even watched my father helping some who were on a run that was too difficult for them to get down more easily…always making jokes and giggling along the way. This was not necessary for him to do. It was the RIGHT thing, in my opinion, for him to do. We live in Colorado and have many opportunities to ski here, so taking the time to help others out on the slopes is part of what we do, here.

I think you can tell a lot about a person by whether they ski on by a person who has had a “yard sale” or whether they stop to pick up the pieces and ask if the individual is ok. It may embarrass them, but it certainly shows them that it happens to the best of us. I think it’s good to say that, too.

For me, I will always stop to help someone out of their element. I will always check to make sure that they are ok. I will always shout from a lift if I see a horrible wipeout, just to make sure they are ok. This is just good practice, and for the most part, it is what those of us who grew up skiing were taught to do.

So, thanks, Mom & Dad, for providing a great model for how to act on the slopes. It’s the right thing to do…and it represents what TRUE Coloradans are all about.

Powdery snow falling!
Skiers & Boarders carving and riding in EPIC conditions!

It’s all over my tv, and I can’t WAIT for the snow to start falling!

The coolness in the air is an indicator that it’s on it’s way, but the commercials just solidify the fact. I have never been a fan of television commercials, but I could watch these over and over again when the temperatures are in the 80′s and 90′s and my boots, helmet and quiver are collecting dust.

Let it snow!

Do you know that name? You should. You may know names like Picabo Street, Susie Chaffee, Lindsey Vonn, and even Debbie Armstrong. These are phenomenal female skiers who succeeded in their chosen sport…Skiing. They are our heroines. They have gold medals and records. They were able to achieve their dreams

The woman who may just be responsible for paving the way for all of them, however, is a name you should know well…Gretchen Fraser. Gretchen had it a little more difficult for her journey. Not only was she trying to shatter the proverbial “glass ceiling”, she had to remain at the top of her game through a boycotted Olympics in 1940 due to WWII.

Gretchen was born in Tacoma, Washington on February 11, 1919. She was the daughter of Norwegian and German Immigrants. As with most of us, her mother was an amazing influence on her life. In this instance, Gretchen’s Norwegian Mother was a skier. Gretchen skied her first time at Paradise on the south slopes of Mount Rainier in December 1932. She was coached by Otto Lang (a legend in his own right) and became a very competitive ski racer and later competed on the ski team at the University of Puget Sound.

Later, she settled in Sun Valley with her husband Don Fraser, a 1936 Olympian and Northwest ski champion whom she met on a train trip to central Idaho.

In 1937, she was the stand-in for ice skater Sonja Henie in the movies Thin Ice (1937) and Sun Valley Serenage (1941).

Since she couldn’t compete in the Olympics in 1940, she skied in Otto Lang’s military training films and helped to rehabilitate wounded and disabled veterans through skiing, setting the stage for a lifelong commitment to working with disabled skiers. (I TOLD you you should know her name!)

In 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, just a week before her 29th birthday, her dreams FINALLY came true. She won the Gold Medal in Women’s Slalom and a Silver Medal in the Women’s Combined event.

Gretchen (Kunigk) Fraser served as an ambassador for the sport of skiing both for women and men, and mentored aspiring ski racers suchas Susie Corrock, Christin Cooper, Picabo Stret and Muffy Davis, a skier who is disabled.

Gretchen was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1960 and the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in Park City in the inaugural class of 2002. She has also been inducted into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Puget Sound Hall of Fame.

“Gretchen’s Gold,” a ski run at Sun Valley’s Seattle Ridge is named for her, as well as a restaurant in the Sun Valley Lodge, “Gretchen’s.”

Gretchen Fraser died at age 75 in February 1994, fittingly during the Winter Olympics held in her mother’s homeland of Norway. Her husband of 54 years, Don Fraser, died a month earlier.

Gretchen serves as a heroine and a phenomenal role model for any woman who enjoys the sport of Skiing.