a few pics

 fire works at the base for the world cup

 the hours of  a snow cat that i got into to start i drive,   pretty much just mine  todd has driven it about 16 hours since  and the temp on the lower right

 no hippies allowed

 the quick silver park outline i will be building

 training day for the europa cup

 comp day for the europa cup with chris turpin in the orange sittin  down

the only way to watch an event while its snowing   in the cat heater on your own music  just needed a chick to watch it with could of better but not a bad way to enjoy the show

busy busy busy

i havent taken too many photos lately just been busy with the two comps in the pipe  but have been makin new friends.   i guess im more russian then i thought  they kicked marc out of the boarder cross because he is a foreigner  but brought me in because i am not.   an american...    went drinking with the instructors in there lounge and got hammered on vodka fell in the mud and hit my head and was bleeding all over my self.  i dont remember but good fun and i made some good eye contact with a chick which is a good start she made sure i had some food and knows my name.  today at the competition i had my first offer of  a russian bride   through a translator she said she wanted to come to america and leave russia  she said if i didnt take her with me i could get her mailed over.  no shit.    she said i was attractive and gentle her name was svetlana  it through me off gaurd,   later a 19 year old wanted me to give her my number so we could hang out if given a chance she wants to learn english better.   and  a girl kate who rides the pipe lives in sochi gave me a kiss on the cheek good bye two days ago and gave me her full name  today so we could be friends   i think she knows i think she is cute but at this time i speak more russian then her english which is funny i almost think she is more frusterated then me,   crazy days but i almost fit in this crazy place for what it is worth and not speaking hardly any russian im still a loaner in my own right but more people know me at least and know i dont speak russian but have fun with it and do they have fun with it 

so now its wake up at 230

 here is the cutter cat which is an everest winch with a wheel not sticks to drive  i thought it looked cool with fresh snow in the dark

 razor wire fence  around the freestyle complex with police, army and security

 the pipe today first day of training  its official it has a fence and blue on the coping

a shot from the bottom
tomorrow should be early its going to snow and we have the womens worldcup race i think its a down hill race.  and a halfpipe comp also so we get to be up there at at 300 am and sort out the race course, then i get to go sort out the pipe for its first event.    tired of waking up at 330  sweet now its 230  crazy times.  i will be sending photos to transworld snow and they will be doing  a gallery and q & a with me.  

tired of waking up at 3:30

well here she is start to finish with a cool shot on v day morning   im off to bed to see what christmas present i have waiting for me tomorrow.                 i had a sarah burke tribute in the pipe about ten min after i finished it.   me dustin and todd sent three  gerber baby food jars with tissue paper and nailpolish remover lit   on fire down the pipe in honor of sarah and her contribution to the world and this pipe.   dustin has it on video and hopefully will be getting it from him.    Celebrate S.B.  ski in peace

ground hog day

 the morning sun making its way through the trees next to the pipe

 the beast the largest snow cat on planet earth with the wings open on the blade it is 20 feet wide weighs 15 tons uses a cat motor  (c13) and costs 500,000 in the us 1,000,000 in new zealand,  there are 4 free groomers and 2 winch cats of this type  the winch cats are too heavy to do what they are doing with them and have had problems but the free groomers are ok.  i have taken over number 18 from kate nimmo who i trained to groom in nz 2004  since it seams to be a good cat and all.   we were sharing it on different shifts but now were are both on days and now it seams that i drive it every day.  only has 344 hours on the dial,  it doesnt seam to big once in it but seeing it come at you doing 12 miles an hour it seams real big. 

 the pipe yesterday after chainsawing the coping and startin to step it out

 i rode on sunday from the top 4 xs  and once from the middle of the mountain  almost 20.000 feet of vert and was tired after the first run,  the last run i went to cross the crek at the bottom the snow bridge had been sketchy so i tried a few feet down ...  i went for a swim  feet in the air  my ass in the water and trying to get my board off  was pretty wet  by the time i got out but was stoked on how refreshing it was to be atleast on the last run just a few from the bottom.  i had to groom the run out the day after i rode which was funny to actually know where i was so thought i would take a pic

the pipe this morn at sunrise   ground hog day like the movie  every day is the same push from the top and go to the bottom drive to the top and push to the bottom its like the indy 500 but clockwise and im the only car on  the track .  

mystery mobile

our pride and joy  pretty soon it will be brand new due to all the new parts  its better then walking,  new clutch, new starter, new brakes, new alternator new battery  and the headlights only work when they want  frog drives normally for the day crew  and fish drives normally for the night crew, nice nicknames,   frog, fish, straighty,  flip the pimp, tbag. and p ditty, and boy oh boy am i going to have a messed up accent when i get home.   there is only one american and i only talk to him about every other day for a few min.   one canadian, 10 kiwi's, a shit of russians, two italians and a partridge in a pair tree.   the funny part is i still dont think kiwis have an accent  but the canadian sure does.  and brian the american sounds hella funny now.  the only normal speaking one

baby steps

we always seam to lose an hour or two a day somewhere.  today the mystery mobile headlights didnt turn on.  we drove about 1 kilometer and got stoped by the cops  they dont speak english.  hans tried to explain we they didnt work  the cops messed with them and tried to help they put on the flashers and i gave my flashlight to paul riding shotgun.  so they let us on our way at 415 am with no lights hazards on and a flashlight  for headlights.    we made it another 2 clicks and a cop passed us no problem. another click and the feds as best we can tell  have  road block set up and as we get close the lights turn on  they pull us over and we sit for about 45 min in the van just chilling  they dont speak english and hans tries to ask if we can go through but they say no, we can see the resort.  we finally make it to rosa kutdor and the security is real lax for once.  next the lifty is removing all the gondolas and wont let us on.  we kinda help take them off and put different ones on  only a 30 min adventure.  finally we get on and get to work.   the first pic is a hotel or something they are building and snow covered trees the pic doesnt give it justice how odd and cool it looked,   the second is two days ago riding the upper gondola down from helping with the race hill in the morn after frog had a hydro leak.   funny it is the first time i have ever winched a run.  i have only winched the terrain parks and pipe but not an actual run.  dont worry it was only for inspection for a world cup race in a cat i have only driven once before here, the everest.  the last is my pipe coming along during sunrise today i had to take a pic and enjoy the sun coming up.  this is the sight for 2014 olympics the only bummer is it will be a night event then and the big show wont show how amazing the views are when you can see the whole thing but that makes it special in a way also since i get to enjoy it and not the whole world, so i thought i would share with yall.