great white buffalo

i was invited to join the girls this past evening for a nighttime hike/skin/snowshoe up arrowhead, high above edwards, CO.

my lady, her puppy, and our german import, julia – who moves with sleek precision.

tons of fun – especially in the hot tub after – but no photos were taken of that part of our adventure.

last night was a 1st for me, after living in the vail valley for almost 4 years, doing something that the locals do on a regular basis.

climbed arrowhead on snowshoes with two buddies – jonesy & hoo-rah – after sunset. headlamps came out. skins were attached. sweat was shed. thank god for merino wool…

i also took out my new xmas gifts – my camera bag & gorillapod tripod (thanks melissa) – and began to really start to learn how to shoot at night again… been a long time. these are the 1st results of my 1st try.

arrowhead ski area – summit of edwards, co: 7,250′ – 1,800′ vertical climb.

so, as a result of the industry in which i work – i have’t really celebrated xmas in quite a while. i have also been single for the last 2 christmases – so there’s that.

this year i got back into the spirit. it wasn’t all about snowboarding & grilling a steak solo (or in the case of last year, a frozen pizza on xmas night) while watching Die Hard. i have a nice woman i’m seeing named melissa. got gifts from people not ONLY in my family… celebrated with a jazz tribute to “a charlie brown christmas,” went to a 5-star restaurant on xmas eve (i had no idea how expensive truffles actually were. note to self: ask about specific prices on specials), ripped open presents on xmas morning and even went ice skating! followed by chinese food, a new tradition… the duck – it’s smiling at me!

for those of you who choose not to participate in social networking, or would just like to see all the shots in one place. enjoy.

now, it’s back to praying for snow. and getting ready for 2012. it wouldn’t be complete without a video… more posts coming soon – including footage from the 1st SOS Outreach Ride Day (starring the courageous Funky Monkeys).

so, finally getting around to posting pics from my 1st triathlon; last saturday in Avon, CO. it was just a sprint – a 400m swim, 15k bike & 5k run. but it was a good start – and i’m ready for more! props to all the lovely ladies from class & a super shout out to Tamara, our coach.

couple quick hits: 1) i will not be swimming in nottingham lake again. ever. unless i have to rescue someone who is drowning. i am luck i didn’t catch something you can only catch in yemen. 2) i will be pre-riding the bike course for every tri i do in the future… a sprint up a hill for almost 2/3 of the ride – didn’t expect that. i will not be caught with my pants down again. 3) i will never wear a tri suit or speedo – but i now see the attraction of wetsuits in open water swimming.

all in all, a fun time was had – made even cooler by the fact that (some of) my fam was here to see it… gallery below. j

been a hot minute since i posted up. probably because between my full time gig & assorted freelance gigs, i’m trying to spend as much time unplugged as possible when i can. triathlon training proceeds – the race is saturday, august 6th. my mommy will be here to cheer, and my wicked stepdad will be there to jeer (and ask when the tee time is for the afternoon after the race). speaking of which, last weekend was especially epic…

last saturday was the SOS Outreach CO River Ride. i rode about 70 miles through the backwoods & gorgeous mountains of CO. the goal was to raise money for SOS Outreach so i can get all these kids some better gear… but nobody ponied up (fyi – it’s not too late – you know you got some expendable income). i still raised cash by adding my miles… but i thought i’d share some shots, for those folk who are not social media addicts.

after the ride, played 18 with my good buddy Mark C. @Gypsum Creek Golf Club. next morning, got up & worked on the Ptarmigan Sports Fall 2011 Patagonia Collection (updates coming soon) then played 27 holes @Red Sky Ranch Golf Club. went for a 5 mi run, made some mahi and, as Anne refers to it “peed-on” rice w/ grilled asparagus. then worked from 8pm to 3am. was back in the offive by 7am (yes, 4 hours later) and pulled a 12 hour day. went to a yoga class, since i didn’t have it in me to lift no matter how much red bull i drank. went home & knocked out…

go a book coming out soon that i’ve designed for a buddy: did his website too…

helping a friend who is a pro freeskier heading for chile & argentina in a few weeks get a site up & get her social media dialed in: if you use them, follow Rebecca Selig on facebook & twitter

lots of other irons in the fire, too. #spotify. get it. i have invites.

j

life is just good sometimes… work is nuts, super busy getting Ptarmigan flying @ full speed, as well as putting the finishing touches on #rootforthevillain: the book.

but this weekend was all about tee times, slush, pond skimming, sunsets, riding (bikes, boards & golf carts) and swimming.

freedom can be a wonderful thing… it is certainly something to celebrate. here’s a gallery of how i got down on the 4th – my 1st official CO triathlon (riding @ A-Basin > 20mi bike ride > 18 holes @ Eagle-Vail Golf Club) – and some assorted shots from the 5th. click here for the soundtrack.

big ups to paulie “hoo-rah” & marky mark. paulie has proven to be an excellent cinematographer:

big, big fun…

j

been awhile since my last post up here…

busy with work + play – still snowboarding through the this coming weekend… only the 5th time in history that there has been a resort that opened @ halloween is still open on 4th of july in the great state of CO. finally have an official golf handicap (which will not be posted here until it is under 20) & playing in my 1st weekly league. began training for my 1st triathlon and had 2 of my best friends come visit…

jay aka j-zone rolled through and we laid out his 1st book entitled “root for the villain: rap, bull$hit and a celebration of failure.” launched the website @ the same time – check it out here. did some photos for the book as well… sample chapters will be up shortly. check back. still designing the cover.

j-zone smells your bull$hit...

we kicked it like old times, attacking all the old topics with vigor – women, music, rap, politics, race & class. watched a documentary where we learned all about black women’s hair from the foremost authorities: chris rock, ice-t & rev. al sharpton.

after jay left town, i had 4 days to try to crank through a truckload of work back @ the office. the all new Ptarmigan Sports Online has some new visuals & a whole lot of new content. tell your friends!

this past weekend carl aka los the long lanky cam to town. we rolled around boulder, across and up vail – in & out of the hot tub and up & down the bowling alley. lastly, we took a ride down the CO River over the weekend – with the rest of the men of the Rushing family… then i took a little leap of faith:


oh, and sunday, june 26th, 2011 was 1 full year sober for me. if life stays like this, i hope to see many, many more…

Ahhhh, well it has apparently been more than 2 months since my last post here. Life gets in the way – after 370+ hours in the last 5 weeks, the Ptarmigan Sports site is live – just not being publicly disseminated quite yet. Much work left to be done… but it is coming along.

Vail got a couple feet of fresh this week – and I finally edited together some footage from my GoPro helmet cam. Set it to music, but YouTube has now bowed to the copyright gods. This is a broader issue for me, most definitely… Simple question: why shouldn’t I be able to use content I purchased for personal use other than listening?!? When I pay something, the content is mine – the artist doesn’t get a royalty check because Mr. & Mrs. Lieberman decided to set their family vacation photos to the tune of “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate? Google makes it a snap for people to use images I have shot for their personal or even professional use – and YouTube is their video arm… What’s the deal?!?

Thankfully, Mr. Zuckerberg has hoverboard $$$ – and would rather tell people to screw. So enjoy my PERSONAL videos as I intended, set to the sounds of Curtis Mayfield & Cut Copy. Sergei, Eric & Larry can kiss my a$$.

first time in almost a year since one of my beantown homies has made it out to visit CO. this one is actually a seattle local now, but once a maine-er, always…

top of highlands bowl, aspen

frank the tank brought the OTOI crew to aspen, and congrats – they are now the digital agency of record & will be pimping out aspen’s web presence… i was introduced to this guy david aka “digi-dave” amirault. marketing guru, tech nut, entertainment personality & all around cool dude.

after an unbelievable sushi dinner @kenichi (thanks dino) and good vibes @silverqueen and @littleannies – a short night’s sleep was had. and while we slept, the snow gods smiled on us…

early call for the lift, the opening bell rang and the phrase of the day was “lick the stamp and send it!” fitting…

auditioning atop highlands to be hammer's hype-men

we hiked the highlands bowl @aspensnowmass. we slid down the snow like champs. we ate like – well, tourists – at the lodge. good times were had by all…

we rocked out on highlands ’til the closing bell rang. we sat by the fire reflecting on just how incredible the steeps are… and what a great powder day we had. the françois & i hopped in the ride & headed back to @vailmountain. i took him out for his birthday for a luscious, juicy steak @russell’s. we got a good night’s sleep – and hit what have to be the longest lift lines i have ever witnessed. see, aspen had a powder day – about 7″-8″. vail got 13″. after a week of 41″ – apparently, the world had heard all about the 54″ @vailmountain and decided to forgo tailgating for the packers butt-whupping of da bears. but we just went further & further out to find the freshies… they didn’t nickname the glades W.F.O. for nothing – they ARE “WAY the F&*K OUT”. but the pow was epic – however, somehow frank the tank managed to snap his board. ah well, it was still truly epic…

WFO trees is THATAWAY...

such a terrific weekend… and after a week of unreal snow, i now have 37 days on the mountain. that is more than i got all last season. chuuuuuuch.

more snow & more ink this weekend…

j

after the celts knocked orlando out late the other night, keeping the visual theme going just felt right. today was day 34 @vail mountain.

the truth, not a fable

oh yeah – there was approximately 34″ of new snow on the hill since tuesday, too. fourth chair – closest to the first chair i’ve ever had on a true powder day:

all that fresh snow, and i still managed to find a way to bleed. oh well – good times had by all (charles, jimbo, junior & bang – with me, that makes us the five fingers of death).

j