Its all down hill from here

 i had a quick personal ceremony for sarah in the  pipe one year after her death

 i tried Cavour for breakfast

 pushing on the pipe

 and in the rain

 the mechanics thought they would help me out by cutting off some winch cable

 destroying the pipe before it even got ridden

 and a few of the security in the morning

 the pipe in the middle of destruction

 and i acquired a translator which helped alot, not to mention is attractive as hell

 one of the blower cats i used to rebuild the pipe

 cutting at sunset good thing i can only see the sky

 the rental zaugg i think it is only the 12th on the planet

 and thought i would feed to cutter  it looked hungry what a pain in the ass it was to get this thing out

 the pipe getting ready for competition

 the fog rolling in

 the zaugg cutter and 350 sherpa snow cat

 the ditch ready to go

 me claiming victory in the pipe

 an early morn sunrise with the fog

 cutting the ditch

 a few americans  i picked up and took up the mountain,  then one broke his leg,  some uber pro skiers

 The HAM venue  half pipe, ariels, moguls, pretty close together but the only events you can start to finish here

my russian wife

 then it snowed and i went riding.

It has been one hell of a month so far i have taken the good with the bad, the rain with the snow, the loneliness with the comfort, the easy with the hard, and the no food to the free buffet. I have pissed people off and mad some laugh, i have gone without sleep and slept for 15 hrs, i have given my all and sat back and watched, i have been denied vip access and got some one in to it, i have seen passion, discomfort, pain, and love.  i have wrecked a home and built a pipe, i have broken my machine and fixxed it my self, i have given away my last coke and drank the red bull,  i have given away my sponsorship glasses to my team, i have given socks to the needy, i have passed on the vodka and taken apple juice, i have free groomed, winched my 2nd run of my life, driven 8 cats in a week, and given my american change to a security guard,   given chocolate to my celebrity dream girl, and also to some no name volunteers, i have had my picture taken with some homies, and been put on the big screen to go across the world on tv. i have wondered where i am in this world and found my place for a week,

now on to the next competition which is in a few days,  if anything i have got from this month is i was told here in russia either you get used to it or give up.   HELL NO,  i choose option C  punch on ahead with the determination, focus and passion that i am on a mission from god to do this, and i think it is all down hill from here.

on to the next chapter of this crazy life, the next few pages will be interesting to say the least, no matter how it works out in the long run im stoked for the moment.

ill be a cartoon by the time i leave

 installing the lights

 a beatuiful morning at the base area

 the russian way of transportation

 a portion of the build

 the road to crazy khutor

 looking at the black sea

 the bus ride to work

 the dirt from the tracks of one side of this cat

 the pipe again from the bottom

 more dirty tracks

 from the top

 from the bottom

 from the top

 a beast

 an everest

 the left deck

 from the inside looking out

 the pipe

todd fixing number 8


After putting in 450 cat hours into this pipe build, going through many cats a few snow blowers, washing cats with fire hose, running a a chain saw in the rain,  5 meetings, building a digger massage in the rain,  working the longest week of my life 118.5 hrs in a week, canceling the competition 2 days before im done building it, being told im just somebody's bitch and not in charge, told they arent going to help me get a paper to use a car to go to the market, running out of food, getting a washing machine that doesnt have any water connections in the wall that work, being basiaclly striped searched to go to work, eating buck wheat for lunch,  buying food from a ghetto, living off red bull and instant mash potatoes, having no information on my mail,  talking to a girl to find out she has a man, letting someone use my cat to have them rip off both fenders, asking the mechanics to check out the winch pressure  and having them screw up the winch and take the cutter off and the told to put it back on then leave for the day, and now find out this week will be even longer then the last one the competition is cancelled and my clothes are locked in the washing machine it wont unlock...

i will have so much character by the time i leave russia i will be a cartoon... 
WELL BACK TO WORK...

DO YOU WORK FOR GREEN PEACE?

 a look at the top of the left wall of the pipe they have done alot of work and still more to go, with 19 days left to open the pipe  when it took this picture i think they should start making snow

 and when i say work left to do the most obvious is maybe put some bolts in the light towers it seams maybe the missed a step

 like this guys who is snugging the lock bolts down with a 10" wrench and a sledge these bolts are as big as my arm i believe to do it the right way a ten foot bar attached to this would maybe get close.  if you look close there are two guys on the lift tower above him doing work... i would of thought they would of tightened the bolts first, not in russia

 so much work to do it is hard to tell what they are doing maybe fixing the broken snowmaking lines.  16 of them so far in this area which is why there is no snow yet

 do you work for green peace?  i was asked that 2xs in one day, i guess i am more of a hippie then i thought.  as i found an over whelming amount of trash  in this one area it makes me a little sad to be apart of this but its not my place its not my country they do as they do here

 im glad to know its not in my back yard as they say

 is it better to burn it so the workers can stay warm or just leave it under the snow?

i am at least keeping busy. a picture from inside the cat. bison x #17