Jesus would have stuck it

There is a sticker on the door of the locker room at work that makes me laugh every time I see it. It's a joke on Jamie Pierre's world-record cliff drop from a few years back. It says:

" 245 Feet - Jesus would have stuck it "

Here's the story behind the joke...

The Definition

Per my father's request... "What does send it mean?"



SEND IT
sent, send·ing, sends v.tr.

1. To cause to be conveyed by an intermediary to a destination: send by ski or snowboard.

2. To dispatch, as by a communications medium: holler "SEND IT!" loudly.

3. To direct to go on a mission: send it off large cliff or object (on skis).

4. To hit so as to direct or propel with force; drive: She/he sent it HUGE.

5. Slang To transport with delight; carry away: That rock pillow line really sent me.

v.intr.

7. To transmit a message or messages: SENT.

Phrasal Verbs:

send it

To go big.

sent

To have just [sent it] big.

Pork Loin in the Crock-pot

Tonight's dinner is a pork roast in the crock-pot.

Ingredients:
6 potatoes, chopped
4 carrots, cut into chunks
1 onion, coarsely chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 pork loin, 3 to 4 pound average
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. coarse-ground black pepper
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup wine (We decided to use the Little Penguin South Eastern Austrailia Shiraz)
1/4 cup parsley
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
4 bay leaves

Preparation:

1. First prepare all the vegetables—chop the potatoes, carrots, mince up the onion, and remove the hulls from the garlic. When they’re all ready, put them in a bowl until needed. We like to put the garlic in followed by the onions, potatoes, and then carrots.
2. Season the pork loin with the salt and pepper and rub it into the meat with your hands. Place the roast into a hot skillet that's been lightly coated with vegetable oil and pan-fry it on all sides until lightly browned.
3. Place the other ingredients into the crock-pot in the following order: first the carrots, then the potatoes, then the onions and garlic, and finally the pork roast.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, chicken broth, wine, parsley, bay leaves, and the onion soup mix and pour the mixture evenly over the roast.
5. Slow-cook on low for about 10 hours.
   
6. Enjoy!
   

And the cooking begins...

An early start makes a perfect day

Today was my day off. I woke up at 6:45 to prepare the crock pot with Dana for our pork roast dinner. Phil picked me up at 8:00 to head into the Village. It was blue skies and sunny.

[ Looking out the window early morning ]

On arrival to the Village, Phil's car thermometer read -22F. It was cold and dry. We got got onto the gondola shortly after opening and proceeded to hike the "Elevator" to the top of the Crags. There was nobody ahead of us so we broke trail. There were four of us; me, Jacki, Phil, and his roomate Andrew.

[ On the gondola ]

[ Cold and sunny ]

[ Top of the gondola - gearing up for the hike ]

[ Jacki climbing the elevator ]

[ Phil and his roomate Andrew ]

[ Nobody in front of us, nobody behind us ]

[ Jacki ]

[ At the top; Me, Jacki, Andrew ]

[ Everybody this time; Me, Jacki, Andrew, Phil ]

[ Putting on skis for the traverse ]

We dropped into a new section that I had never skied and it turned out to be amazing. We went through a section of rocks that opened up into an incredible wooded section. The snow was light and probably thigh deep. Perfect for dropping off rocks and stumps.

[ Following the ridge to the Crags ]

[ Jacki never stops smiling when she skis ]

[ Almost there ]

[ Me and Andrew getting ready to drop in ]

Afterward we took another lap up the gondola and then a lap on Thunder. We skied until about noon which worked out perfectly...that's when the clouds started to roll in.

I had a relaxing afternoon in town with Brandon. We ran some errands and hung out for a couple of hours. I think it's the first day I've been in town during the day in weeks. It seems like I leave before it's light and get home after dark most days.

An early hike was the perfect way to start the day.

SEND IT!

I decided to do some arts and crafts tonight. Our dining room elk needed some character.

Exploring Gros Ventre

Lot's of photos from today...

Brandon, Eric, and I decided to go on a backcountry touring adventure. We woke up early and cooked a tasty breakfast with eggs, potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and cheese. Delicious. Our original plan was to either go to Teton Pass or go out of bounds at the resort. After a long debate, we ended up going North of Jackson to Gros Ventre Road. Even with the early breakfast, we got a slow start leaving the house at about 10:30.

[ Where are we going? ]

[ View of the Tetons ]

Our first destination: Shadow Mountain. After arriving at what we assumed was the trail head, we decided that it looked like a long flat tour before reaching anything worth while. The only people we saw were on cross country skis. We turned around and kept driving. After heading down a long random road with incredible views, we reached a gate. Closed for the Winter.

[ Eric works commercial fishing in AK during the summers ]

[ Our drive was amazing ]

Finally we decided to start touring up a hillside that had some tracks going up it. There was only a few inches of snow and we were probably on rocks. The weather was beautiful. We saw a wind-lip in the distance and made that our destination.

[ We decided to ski up the hillside next to the river and see where we end up ]

[ Brandon stopped to snap some photos. You will see his perspective further down... ]

[ Following ]

[ Spotting our destination ]

The three of us spent a couple hours hanging out in the sun and taking turns shooting photos and dropping the lip. We saw a fox and a herd of elk in the distance. Couldn't have been a better afternoon.

[ Checking out the drop ]

[ Eric being the guinea pig ]

[ Brandon hiking up after taking photos ]

[ Getting ready to drop in ]

[ Brandon's first hit ]

[ Round two ]

[ Eric throwing snowballs ]

[ My favorite photo ]

[ Eric getting ready to hit it switch ]

[ Nice try ]

[ Relaxing in the sun ]

These photos are from Brandon. He got some good photos of me today...

[ Me and Eric starting to climb ]

[ Dropping ]

[ Hiking up for another round ]

[ I'm just sending it ]

On our drive home, we saw a great view of the Tetons. Eric (aka Gramps) was rocking out to Lady Sovereign in the backseat.

[ Eric singing Love Me or Hate Me ]

Yesterday, a group of us did some beacon training at the resort. It was good to get some practice, but I was a little disappointed with the set up. There were only two hidden signals and they were fairly close to each other. Supposedly there is another beacon playground in Teton Pass. We'll probably go check that out.

[ Beacon Basin ]

[ Practicing ]

AvaLung Burial Video

I came across this video on the Anchorage Daily News website. Black Diamond turned it into an advertisement for the AvaLung. Thought it was scary, but interesting. Hopefully I never have to test my AvaLung.

On a heli-ski trip out of Haines, AK in April 2008, experienced backcountry skier Chris Cardello was prepared and knew the risks. He was also wearing a helmet cam. This footage is an intense first person perspective on being caught in an avalanche, riding it to burial, breathing through a Black Diamond AvaLung and being rescued by trained professionals. Be safe out there!

The Black Diamond AvaLung allows you to breathe fresh air directly from the snowpack, buying you precious time during a rescue. Rebreathing exhaled air when youre buried causes suffocation because the air becomes oversaturated with carbon dioxide and depleted of oxygen. The AvaLung diverts the exhausted air away from your fresh-air intake zone, considerably extending the time your partners have to conduct a successful recovery.

Day 14

I've skied or snowboarded everyday for the last two weeks straight. I'm on a roll. We've had a streak of high pressure, so it's been close to two weeks since we've had snow...hopefully that will change this weekend. It's been warm and sunny pretty much every day, especially at the top of the mountain due to an inversion. It's been around 20 degrees at the base and probably around 40 degrees at the summit. I really want some fresh snow, but I guess I can't complain about sunshine.

Yesterday I spent the morning snowboarding by myself. I'm feeling pretty confident on the board again so I was lapping groomers off the Sublette Quad. I took some photos on the old point and shoot and listened to music on my ipod. It was peaceful.

I snowboarded again today for just a couple of hours. I met up with Mike and Jacki. Jacki took a lesson yesterday and was killing it today. She's pumped on learning to snowboard. This afternoon on the bus ride home I met a lady who does interpreting here in Jackson. I guess she is fluent in four languages and does simultaneous interpreting. She translates word for word at the same time as the person (that she is translating) is talking. She has to listen and talk at the same time...pretty crazy. I was telling her that I'm trying to refresh my Spanish vocabulary for traveling and passing the CLEP exams. I guess she is looking at starting some evening language classes, so I might try and take advantage of that.

Most of the photos are from my solo adventure yesterday. One of these days I'll stop being lazy and I'll actually take out my DSLR to get some nice photos.

[ Riding the START bus with Mike the busdriver ]

[ Looking out the window ]

[ On the tram ]

[ Almost at the top; Corbets Coulior (on the left) ]

[ Clouds in the valley ]

[ Passing the Alta Chutes on the Sublette Quad ]

[ Looking towards Thunder ]

[ Cody Peak ]

[ The family headed to Bluegrass Tuesday at the Wort ]

[ Jacki shredding on a snowboard ]