Crispyhouse

To everyone that has followed my wanderings and endured my inanities I have been gone far too long. Since I last wrote here several months ago I have twice traveled across the country in my car and spent a summer working and adventuring on the coast of Maine in Acadia National Park. Lets not forget an epic weeklong canoe trip down the raging Saco river all the way to the ocean. Many tales and photos to come as I catch up on my writings and photos. 

And people claim there is nothing to do in Wichita, KS. On my grand tour through the states this summer I recently made a stop to visit cousin Kristian Strom. Running an online book selling business out of his basement and general entrepeneurship that he has been rocking since we were kids. Great to catch up after not seeing each other for several years we were only urged on in the craziness upon discovering that Indiana Jones was premiering at midnight on my last night in town. So of course we dropped all plans and got costumes together, not that either of us are huge Indiana Jones fans but rather immense fans of dress up. Of course we were the only people in costume and I even almost got arrested as a rent-a-cop nearly took me out for wielding a plastic cap gun, of course, only in Kansas. A great visit and a great chance to see a place in this country that people seldom think about, it was beautiful and even though tornados roll through the Kansas plains all the time, what's life without some excitement. 

pretty tough when this is the view from you bedroom window. This mountain constantly provides new amazing views. While beautiful the winds at the peak right there are gusting over 50mph sounds like some good skiing huh!

Well the new year has come and gone but we made the most of it. Last chair of 2007 rewarded us with a spectacular ray of sunshine for one last rally. December was a great month as we got several good storms and even a couple of early powder days. Its been so great to be back in Montana hearing stories of everyones summer adventures, only whetting my appetite for more traveling. For now though I am more than content to enjoy the snow and relative calm of the slow part of the season where the mountain is all my own and fresh lines are always waiting. 

The snow is falling in Montana. Kicking off a great early ski season and heading into the holidays with the entire Mtn open, and a few powder days already under our belts, the extreme sledding season is also kicking off like gangbusters. This saucer jib over a retaining wall was highly anticipated and poorly executed but thats the hard knocks of free-sledding. 

Well we made it. After being taunted by its pinnacle peak towering over Montpelier VT Dad and I have conquered the great Camel's Hump. We tried to get off early but seriously folks this is hiking not an everest expedition. Our biggest hike this fall, and also the second in two days, we got to hike in early winter as a late fall snow had blanketed most of the mtn. When we got to the top it was clear skies and almost no wind, awesome 360 views, you could see all the way to New Hampshire with Mt. Washington and across lake Champlain to New York. Sweet as. We even broke out the camp stove and had a cup of hot chocolate to celebrate. Overall an awesome hike, dad even took a sweet digger on the way down and bloodied his face, what more could you want! Now its time for thanksgiving and gearing up for the move back west. Being back in New England has been fantastic as I've gotten to re-appreciate the landscape and hamlets in contrast to the giant peaks and enormous prairies of the west. But seriously its snowing in the rockies right now and there is skiing to be done so lets go and get this season started. Coming soon...new skiing section of Crispyhouse!!! keep your eyes out for some crazy ski photos and new Crispyhouse sponsored stunts.

So they only missed Bike Week by a couple of months but Devon and Becky were in the full spirit of things when they came by for a visit last week. Fully decked out in leather and chromed Harleys I met them in NH for a tour de force of my homeland. Starting with a trip on the boat out on squam lake for a taste of New England lake life and some foliage views. Then they got to see the ivy league high school that is holderness, seeing both their jaws drop as we walked the pathways past the library and the new turf field was fantastically hilarious. Then I took them to see Crispyhouse in all its glory. To finally be able to show Devon, whose house I was at when the fire happened, was a great moment for me to connect my life in the west with my world in the east. Hopefully now he better understands some of my stories and quirks. 

Starting to get more advanced with this blog thing as I have added a brand spankin new feature to the site. Now there are more photos than ever!! I know aren't you as excited as I am to escape the photographic doldrums of the single photo I use to encapsulate every post? I know I am so new for this fall I have added links to picasa web albums. Just click the link beneath the post photo and it will take you to the gallery of photos, you can even view a slideshow. Sweet huh? I'll work on updating old posts and everyone know as I go, but for now enjoy the barrage of pictures!

Had to get out in this wonderful Vermont foliage. I have decided to go in true tourist fashion and be a shameless leaf peeper. This hike was a bit more than expected when we decided at the peak of Mt. Hunger that White Rock summit wasn't that far away at all and we should make it a two peak day. My legs now remember what that choice entails. Regardless a great kickoff hike to get out in these woods again and get dad to sully his pristinely clean hiking boots. 

Whoa I didn't know that I was coming back to the last throws of summer! Went over to NH to pick up the truck and snagged a couple of hrs on the boat with dad. I think that completes my trip from Lake Wanaka to Squam Lake one week and one half of the world, same obnoxious glasses. No worries there will be several more lake excursions before winter but for now I gotta find a job, bummer.

Well the sadness has come I have left the dear adventure of New Zealand and returned to the bustle of good ol' America. I'm partway along right now, taking a few days to lay low in LA before continuing my trek back to the homelands of the East Coast. The goodbyes in NZ were hard and it is a place that I already miss. While it was not the most successful or smoothest of trips it is going to be a special one always. The grandeur of the land and the kindness of the people encouraged me to explore and the friends I met along the way opened my eyes to so many more doors. I leave behind Dave and Amy with an unfinished expedition, the hardest part is that we won't finish together as we set out, but overall this too will work out.

Now that I have had a few days of perspective to look back at my time in the south south pacific I am realizing that I did far more than it really felt like. Almost every week was a new adventure, a new traveling challenge that always paid off with a beautiful vista or a crazed event. I am wiser and more confident after my season abroad, almost more importantly though I have learned to value my sense of wonder. The ability to remove your logical thinking and appreciate something for its standalone beauty without needing reason or purpose. A continuing sense of wonderment mixed with unquenched curiosity keeps me moving and discovering new people places and myself. Thank-you New Zealand it has been an influence that will happily shade me for the rest of my life.

There are so many incredible beaches in this country every turn presents a new private cove and perfect settings for evenings on the beach. this one is called Giesepies beach and is on the west coast. Was a great place to rest after a hard day visiting the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Its the trips out of Wanaka that have let me fall in love with this country. Every time i visit another place there is so much beauty and peacefullness.

A few weeks ago Dave, Amy, Katrin, and I went skiing at treblecone. It was the first time that it had snowed here in over a month. An absolutely whopping 15cm! So it was a kiwi powder day, and in fact with the tussock grass that is planted all over the slopes on these mountains, they don't need nearly as much snow for the terrain to be really skiable.

There were still a few grassy spots but overall it was a wonderful day. I was in a great mood as I jumped off of almost anything I could find. There were so many natural terrain features to play with, small cliff drops and great gullies. We even did a short hike up to the summit to get some fresh powder turns. It was the first day in New Zealand that I felt like I had skied hard. Today I woke up sore in the back and felt good that I was tired after an actual workout on the hill.

The day warranted an apre beer of course so we sat on the lodge deck and looked out over Lake Wanaka and the Southern Alps. It was a beautiful mtn to ski on. Not the most challenging of terrain but loads of fun and the views were a constant reminder of how much beauty we are surrounded by in this country.

This week, after another snowless week, Dave, Amy and I decided to go on an adventure to Jackson's Bay. The bay is on the west coast of NZ and is nothing more than a wharf and about ten houses. We went on the recommendation of Jeremy, my boss in Montana. I couldn't have found a better trip to pick up my spirits. Just to get out of the routine of Wanaka and and to explore the grandeur of New Zealand reminded me of how incredible this part of the world is. The 2.5 hr drive took us past deep blue lakes and snow capped mtns. a highlight was a huge waterfall adjacent to an arctic river. I braved the river and explored the waterfall, rewarded by a brilliant rainbow in the mist.



Upon getting to Jackson's Bay we took a short hike through a jungle trail and found a deserted cove to fish and watch the sunset. I threw out a makeshift line and immediately hooked a fish. WOW. Within 30mins all three of us had caught fish and had our dinner. Not to mention I got to see a wonderful orange sunset over the Tasmin sea.

After sunset we met some fisherman unloading their catch of lobster. Their boat was teeming with spiny lobster apparently the fishing in south NZ is amazing right now. After making friends and getting tipped off to a great deal on free oysters in Bluff, the southern tip of NZ, our new fisherman friend gave us two kilos of top grade blue cod that he had caught that day. We were set for a Feast!


Finally we found a campsite on the beach and grilled our catch over an open fire enjoying being under the bright southern stars and crescent moon. It was a cold cold night with about 1/2 inch of hard frost covering us by morning we woke to another clear sky day and fished some more off the end of the wharf before heading back to Wanaka to relax and get ready for another week at Cardrona.

Here is a photo that Dave, Amy and I took the other day on a walk by the lake. As depressing as the snow situation is right now it is consoling that there is so much beauty surrounding us and it keeps my spirits up to get outside and walk around.

We are now in the third week of the season and its starting to look bleak. While we are finally open there is only one run with snow and now we are in the middle of what is supposed to be the two busiest weeks of the season and there is still no work. This is not good. In the world of ski instructing, to lose these busy times is to lose the money you depend on to make it through the rest of the season. Talk has begun of abandoning ship. While we are all used to being impoverished ski bums it makes everyone acutely aware of finances. If work doesn't pick up in the next two weeks many people, including myself, won't be able to make the season and are faced with the grim reality of leaving.

While it is a bleak perspective on the situation those are the risks that you take when living this lifestyle. Sometimes things just don't work out and you have to find a way to keep afloat. So now with optimism that things will pick up and it will work out, I must also be realistic and begin to look at my other options. Bummer I know but thats just the way it works sometimes.