SHANNY.

I’ve envisioned this program since I was 17 years old. Growing up in Sun Valley we didn’t have a terrain park or halfpipe. We would write letters to the company begging for just a couple rails to hit… no dice. It wasn’t until I was in my final high school years that they began to add small jibs and a half pipe. At that point, your options for a freeskiing team was the SVSEF freestyle mogul team or alpine racing. No coaches with park or pipe experience were to be found in the small town of Ketchum.

This being my first year not competing, I was commited to helping bring to the resort what lacked throughout my entire teenage years.

With the help of Sun Valley Snowsports School and The Sun Valley Freeride Team I was able to launch a program called She Shreds.

She Shreds is a non competitive all girls freeskiing team. I teach the girls the importance of an alpine background with the addition of park, pipe and big mountain skiing. Removing the pressure of competition allows the girls to work on their tricks without overly pushing themselves just to produce podium results.

She Shreds will be skiing every Saturday morning from 9am-12:30pm. Most days will be spent on Baldy with a few sessions focused on park and pipe at Dollar.

Below is a video from the first two weeks of She Shreds.

Looking forward to a great spring!

If you have ever heard someone refer to “burning the candle at both ends” that is the story here. But I’ll tell you what……. SO WORTH IT!

I got a last minute invite to come out to the UOP (Utah Olympic Park) to jump with, and help coach a camp put on by SheJumps. SheJumps is an organization which helps women network and push eachother in outdoor activities.

I literally jumped on the opportunity to be a part of this. With not much time to plan ahead here was the insane sched. I had going….

12am- Get off work

12:30am- start to pack, realizing my skis are at my dads house

12.40am- Pick up skis

1:30am- Finish Packing

2am: Sleep

3:30am: Leave for Utah

6:30am: Arrive in Utah

6:46am: Give in and get a Redbull after having had 2 cups of coffee prior

8am: Realize it may have been cheaper to fly to Utah…

9:15am- Arrive at water ramps

9:30am- Start by working on the basics at the trampolines

SheJump’s Own Vanessa Pierce displays a nice backflip!

Myself working on some flat 5′s

Then we took our tramp tricks to the water…

AND FINALLY……

WE JUMP! 

I spent the entire morning jumping, while the girls got comfortable on the smaller ramp. I planned to jump the following day with PC FREE so I chose to spend the afternoon up top helping coach the girls.

I believe this is Vanessa taking her backflip from the trampoline to the water

And then came the rain…

Unfortunately, we had to quit jumping due to the rain and thunder but we made sure to finish off the day with some hulahooping.

One of the biggest reasons I’m in the sport is to help share my experience with others. More than anything, I love watchig other women commit and push themselves athletically. I was so impressed with all the girls this weekend. HUGE thanks to She Jumps and Fly for putting this camp on. Stay tuned on my facebook page for the next camp!

Now it’s my turn to push it! 

I figured while I was in town for the shejumps camp I would spend an extra day ramping with PC FREE. I’ve trained with Mick Berry and Park City Freestyle every summer since I’ve been in this sport. They are hands down the best team I’ve worked with and Mick continues to  push and encourage me everytime we work together.

I didn’t have enough time to learn a ton of new tricks but I wanted to get the ones I have cleaned up and comfortable again. I spent the afternoon with them working on my rodeo’s and both direction spins. I did spend a good amount of time working on some shifty 5′s and switch 5′s.
With Mick yelling at me about patience I got my flat 3′s on the tramp looking and feeling better than ever!

We were a little unprepared with the video set up but I did manage to get a shot of one rodeo via iPhone. Please excuse the quality on this one…

I’ll be back sooner than later to work on some new tricks with PC FREE for next season. I’ll be sure to make an edit on this next trip.

Monday morning came quick and it was time to head back to Sun Valley.

I made a quick stop at the SKULLCANDY HQ. I’m stoked to say I’ll be on the Skullcandy Am Team for the 2012-2013 season. Next year’s product is SOOOO SICK. Thanks to Rob Layer and the Skullcandy Crew.

and…matching Cassette headphones and hoody? #steeze 

The Trip would not be complete without something going wrong though.

The passenger rear window in my truck may have been masking taped on for this trip. I was feeling confident after the 90mph drive there and the rain storm that it survived through.

I made it until 4 miles out of Snowville on the way home when i started hearing a whole lot of wind start pouring into my car. I had enough time to take a picture of my window falling off my truck…but not quite enough time to stop. Right after I GTS, the window set sail to the interstate….and shattered. Laughing my ass off I didn’t even look back, and I kept driving. It was bound to happen. Farewell window!

I’ve lagged on blogging for months so this HUGE post makes up for it. If you’ve read all the way to here i’m super impressed and I thank you! Please subscribe to my blog if you’re interested in all the chaos of my life.

xoxo

SHANNY.

Splurge: noun

The act of spending money freely or extravagantly.

The older I get the better I am at doing this. If you’ve read my previous Athlete Bio’s, you will see that one of my dreams is to own all the toys.

Well I’m starting to achieve that goal a lot sooner than I thought. And in a extremely expensive manner of buying brand new toys.

No, i’m not talking leggos and barbies here. I’m talking about working 60 hour weeks, snowmobiles, trucks and dirtbikes.

I’ve wanted a sled ever since I got into Freeskiing. Two years ago when I made the decision to move from Park City home to Sun Valley, I saw some hope. I worked all of that summer and put a down payment on a RMK 600 155” that fall. It took me a year to get it paid off but damn it feels good. It’s still brand new….with a whopping 467 miles on it.
That spring I also decided I wanted to buy another Dirtbike. I got into riding back in Highschool but sold my bike when I ran out of money living in Park City a few years back. Well, before putting myself deep in debt I played it safe and paid off my sled.

Since paying off my life (pictured above) I’ve been saving for a new truck to park it in. My bank account was starting to look decent again. Of course right when I feel good, why not feel better?

Current day: This is where the impulsive buying comes in…. Yep that’s right. Bye Bye Bank Account! I made an overnight decision that I needed to get back into riding. I withdrew the cash I was putting towards a new truck and instead drove to Rexburg Motorsports where they had exactly what I wanted. A brand new 2012 Kawasaki KX 100 Motocross Bike. I was in a major debate between this bike and the CRF 150 that I had ridden a few years ago.

What sold me on the KX?

1. It’s a 2 stroke 2. It’s BIGGER than the CRF 150 and 3. It’s a bike I could begin racing on if I chose to.

Fortunately for me, some of my ski sponsors also make moto gear. Thank you to Alex and Trisha at DRAGON ALLIANCE for sending some sickkkk MX Goggles and Maxx at Pow Gloves for summer bike gloves.

http://www.dragonalliance.com

http://www.powgloves.com

I need to thank Rexburg Motorsports and Gear Head who are my newest sponsors for this summer. They have the top quality product and pricing.  Thanks to them I’m  looking good in brand new gear to accompany my bike! STOKED

Keep tuned for some summer edits of dirtbikes, wake surfing and all around madness. I feel so fortunate to have the support of all my sponsors in this life I am so grateful for. Thanks for making it happen!

Living the Dream <3 

SHANNY. xoxo

December is the best month of the year…and I will tell you why

1. My birthday is Dec. 2nd

( I got poisoned with horse radish at my birthday dinner)

2. It’s the first real month of skiing…

(I pretend to know what i’m doing for 3 weeks)

3. Holiday Parties

(like the Powder Prom, w/ Ashley Otte from Powder Magazine)

4. Clean Slate for a new year ahead

(resolutions… where to begin?)

From Florida I was supposed to go directly to BEAUTIFUL Buffalo NY but, my best friend happened to be in NYC…so I detoured.

Believe it or not, I had never been to NYC. Once I arrived I made sure to find the $45 flat rate cab to the city. I had heard about how crazy the cab drivers are in NYC but I was not prepared for this man’s driving. Not to mention he didn’t speak any english. I have NEVER in my life been so terrified being in a vehicle. (In the 3 days i ended up spending there, not one cab driver came close to how frightening this guy was) So, my first impression of NYC was unforgettable.

As soon as I arrived I called my oldest friend Chyna. She took us on a tour through central park and joined us for lunch at The Boat house. I’ve known her since we were a couple weeks old!!

 Ali and myself(thanks to her family) shared a beautiful room with a balcony at The Kimberly Hotel in Manhattan.   I felt like showing you our skin colors. PS. We are the same ethnicity…. i think?

For our first dinner we headed to Frankie and Johnnies Steakhouse. It had been suggested to us by the front desk. Let me just tell you that if I go out, I usually order steak. This was hands down the best steak I’ve ever had in my life. Ali’s dad and I split the $95 Potterhouse cut. It was AMAZING.

For the dinner guests they provided a complimentary limo ride back to your hotel. ANOTHER FIRST… I had never been in a limo. No, I never went to high school prom.

We also ate lunch at the famous “Serendipity” Ali had their famous frozen hot chocolate while I indulged in some insane chocolate brownie with ice cream… Thank god for portion control. 

For something on a little more important note of the trip, 9/11 memorial. I remember waking up that morning when the first plane had hit. My mom was watching it on the news and I didn’t really understand the severity of what had just happened. I didn’t know enough about the World Trade Centers at that age either. By the time I got to my 6th grade class, the 2nd plane had hit. Seeing the tears through all the eyes of the adults, I started to realize these were some very serious attacks happening to our nation. To see people literally jumping out of the building to their death was one of the most horrific things I have ever seen. Nearly 3,000 people died. I made visiting the memorial my number one priority in NYC. Here is a picture of the only tree that was still standing after the attacks.

 The 2 Waterfall pools are located where the buildings were. They are the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. The names of the people who were killed are engraved surrounding the pools. The next important place we had to go was The Empire State Building. I’m usually not the one for tourist attractions, but I got this one checked off my list now! Here is a view from the top  And a group photo… what an unbelievable shot hey ?   Next tourist attraction… TIMES SQUARE!! We went after dinner at 11pm on our last night. I wasn’t expecting all the stores to be open, but i was pleasantly suprised. If you’ve met me… you will know my addiction to espresso and how much I love Sephora. How perfect for me ? 

AND THAT’S A WRAP.  Well, at least as much as I want to write about NYC. Ali and I headed out the next morning for BUFFALO, NY together. Check back for that post…. If you’ve never been to Buffalo, don’t worry.. you’ll never have to go! Just read my blog instead.

SHANNY.

What better way to prepare for snowfall than soaking up every last ounce of sunshine you can?

Fortunately for me, My mother lives in Sarasota, FL. Being on the road makes it hard to keep on my fall ski training the way I would like. My mom does’t own a car down there so at least I got to bike everywhere we went. I can’t say i had the most deluxe of cruiser bikes, but it did get me where I needed to go. Where I NEEDED to go was Lido Beach. I spent the majority of my time there laying in the sun, trying to conquer my fear of water and birds. I picked up a new hobby; shell collecting. While we are talking about birds…i visited the Bird Rehabilitation Center where they have rescued  injured birds. This was actually really sad and made me feel bad for these birds I was once scared of. This guy had a broken foot and it was so sad to see him try to jump around

It’s heart warming to know that there are places like this for animals to rehab from injuries. Even if some may never leave the facility, they can at least start to recover. It felt really good to donate after seeing the birdies On a more humorous note, I did get to check out DRAG QUEEN BINGO. I took some video that is honestly so offensive I’m not going to post it. It was more of “drag queen performance” with a bingo number drawn every hour. I walked out after and hour and a half. Here is a picture at least… I guess one exciting thing was when an ” O-69″ was called they would pass out free jello shots to the song “shots shots shots…(you know that really annoying one?)” I think you had to be pretty intoxicated if you were to sit through this DRAG QUEEN “BINGO”.

I got to ride my bike by the protestors everyday. I love the statue in the background !

More than anything, it was great to spend time with my mom and all of her friends.

Having my flight itinerary read: SV->SLC , SLC->DEN, DEN->ATL. ATL->SRQ i’m astonished I made it. But this wasn’t the end of the trip. SRQ->ATL, ATL->JFK awaits me. NYC HERE I COME!!

So last weekend I got the opportunity to represent Sun Valley at The Northwest Ski Film Festival in Boise, ID. They had just printed the press release on the changes for the 2011-2012 season and I got to spread the word about the new additions. I signed some posters while I was there as well  

I think that every type of skier will be excited for the changes next year…. Let’s start with the Terrain Park and Pipe.

They have finally consolidated ! The Half Pipe will now be moved to Dollar in “The Old Bowl”. AKA…where the two big jumps up top have been. 18ft walls for this year, bigger next year. Pipe will be at least 450ft.

Which means, they will be moving the two big jumps down. I’m stoked for the jumps to be put in a place with a little more terrain and sunlight. They will still have a “medium size” set of two jumps again in the same place as last year. I think they have added around 30 new rails/jibs as well for next year. Sneak Peak? Oh, okay 

and for the children…. 6 ADVENTURE TRAILS on Baldy. Scratch the children comment…i’m pumped for them.

They also thinned out some trees near limelight and central park. 30 acres to be exact !

Month and a half to go….. Countdown time? This is what Sun Valley is looking like right now. Rough Life living here… i know

Of all the movies I saw last fall it was “Light The Wick” by TGR that left the biggest impression on me. I had the opportunity to see it in Aspen during “The Meeting” where I  got to meet one of the founders of TGR Todd Jones. So needless to say, when It was suggested to me to come to the Premier of this years movie “One For The Road” in Jackson Hole I packed my bags.

I hadn’t been to JH in about 5 years and I have never been out this early in the fall. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to 1.escape slack and 2. see Jackson before the snow falls. One of my best friends Ali was on board for the quick trip.  We left Idaho at around 11am hoping to get to JH by around 330.

I had remembered a gas station that served Square Ice Cream in Swan Valley…perfect lunch spot right? 

Once we arrived in town we went and got some real food at Bubba’s BBQ. That place is LEGIT….. just sayin

We made our way to The Village to window shop and meet up with some of the locals.

TGR had an awesome crew in Jackson for the Premier. I got the chance to talk to a bunch of athletes I hadn’t met before.                                                                                                                                                                  Without spoiling the movie for those of you who haven’t see it yet, I’ll just say that It had the most insane big mountain lines I’ve ever seen skied. Some of the shots of Mac, Todd Ligare, Dana Flahr, Sage and Griffin Post really blew me away. 10 years ago I never thought it would be possible to ski the lines these guys did in this movie.  INSPIRED! Awesome to see Grete in there and Rachel Burks going HUGE as always. Of course on the park side Wallisch was so clean, making his tricks look effortless.

  I got to hang out with Dash Longe (and cute Sara Bunny)  for a little bit at the after party. He Kills it!

Before the night was over I made sure to spend some time chatting with Greg Epstein- TGR Supervising Producer. He may have had the best coat of anyone last night. 

I really want to thank Sara Bunny Hjort and Matty Moo Herriger for encouraging me to make this quick trip.

We got 3 hours of sleep and headed back to Idaho at 6am.             I spent the entire drive obsessing about winter. Once the movie premiers start going I feel it’s inevitable.

To all the athletes and the  TGR Crew: Todd and Steve Jones, JK, Matt Herriger, Greg Epstein  and everyone else who made this movie happen, the hard work definitely showed. It was great to meet everyone!

We will be back. Next time with my sled in my backbed and no return date. 

Sneak peak photo: 

Hit up http://www.tetongravity.com/one-for-the-road/  for Trailer, Tour Dates, Athletes etc.

SHANNY.

I started to work on a website last fall and never made a commitment to finish it…. so after almost a year I am starting over!

I have a lot of travel plans this fall and I’m planning big things for this winter. I want to be able to share my photos, reviews and experiences with everyone.

I am going to Jackson Hole on Saturday for the TGR Premier so I will be taking pictures and doing a blog on that… then “The Gathering” In Sun Valley the following weekend.

So please keep checking back as I will be updating this daily right now.

SHANNY.