December 9, 2010 21:23 by
Sethso week one in colorado is coming to a close. i started off with two days in beaver creek to see the men's alpine ski world cup and take some sprint clients out on the hill there. we lucked out with some early season powder on the west side of the birds of prey course and i was overjoyed with my first day on my new team8 fish board that i had grabbed hot out of the press in an early morning dash from the loaf to pwm to catch a 7am west bound plane.. the drive to the airport was a special one for me.. those early morning hours that i have logged over the years speeding south on route 27 have always been moments of solitude and while i did have a moment of panic when he was running five minutes late at 4:10am i was so fired up when the lights of alex tuttle's dad's truck swung into the driveway.. it has been since i was a cva postgrad that i had anyone from home to travel with and the drive south was much shorter with the excitement of alex riding shotgun.. my first trip with him was to new zealand this summer where he took home third at the junior world championships and to be delivering him to the airport for his first us team camp was an even better feeling.. i had to just sit back and smile a day ago when he posted the fastest time in a roller drill training session. to hear the excitement in his voice in those early morning hours was worth the wait of these 14 years of driving alone as i truly see the new career of a fellow loafer being launched!
so unfortunately the downhill was cancelled due to wind at beaver creek.. see loafers we aren't the only place that has wind holds.. and after another night of delivering my olympic story to the sprint crowd i headed out early the next day to fly to park city for a fund-raiser for the waterkeepers alliance.. a non profit founded by robert f. kennedy jr. to fight the legal battles of the polluters of public waters world wide.. after an impassioned speech from RFK jr. i got to take the stage to do a live auction item for a surf trip to fiji next summer and to talk briefly about the ways in which the travel i have been exposed to has shown me first hand some of the devastation to the natural world that bobby is fighting to protect.. a true honor to share the stage with a man like that who is fighting the hard fight on behalf of the health of all citizens of planet earth.
a six hour drive back to colorado the following day and it was right into training mode. telluride despite having been missed by all the snow i have been hearing colorado has been getting pummeled by has done a great job creating a practice course and we have been using the days effectively. this afternoon the whole team went and rode with some local school kids and it was a posse of mayhem that quickly degenerated into a battle of spray wars but the kids were smiling ear to ear and we all had a blast.. last day of camp tomorrow and then a rest weekend before we get into the world cup week..
i have to admit though while i was looking at the trail reports online today at home i am a bit jealous to have missed out on the loaf's first pow day but i am psyched for all of you that we are really turning the corner into winter at home.. enjoy the snow loafers. see you soon. signing off from the road. seth..