Check out this sweet video that Alta Mountain Productions created for our last fundraiser. A little shout out to our sponsors and something to remind you “It’s a new day!”

A skateboard movie from Wyoming? You betcha. Skating on the High IQ side of the Tetons. Full length documentary about this amazing counter culture and the longboard gem of the Western United States to release in 2011. Check out Alta Mountain Productions for more information!

I am so inspired by my friends up in Canada right now. My friend Holly Walker decided to “Re Think Breast Cancer” by creating a calendar full of rippin’ hot skier chicks and use the proceeds to raise money for breast cancer. You can purchase the calendar here.

Check out the site!  www.radboob.com

Hi there,

Claire here. Do people really read this blog? Either way, it helps me stay organized. I have to document all sorts of important things. Even if my camera is in cahoots, I can still share with you the fact that Utah is getting pummeled with storm after storm. Just skied another 10″ of fresh after 15″ the day before. I absolutely love it. Who doesn’t? It had been a while since we had seen the light and dry, and poofy and puffy, the larfy and lovely….Well, you get the point. I’ve been able to ski with some amazing people in the last couple of days, including 9 year old Sophie Howell from Massachusetts and her dad, Chester. Sophie wrote into SheJumps last year telling us that she is inspired to ski Tuckerman’s Ravine. Allllllright Sophie!! Well, I can tell you from skiing with her that she is well on her way!

More photos to come soon, big huge SheJumps event tomorrow night at the U of Utah. Can’t wait!! Also, a sweet video edit from my trip up north to them thar hills called the Tetons is on its way as well. Thank you invisible people who visit my blog without commenting….Check back again tomorrow!

Skier: Claire Smallwood Photo: Gregg Trawinsky

Sometimes there are people and places you just can’t live without. In December (I think it was the 18th) 2004, I decided that instead of going home for Christmas from college I would spend a month living with my older brother and two homies (Rhys and Brett) from New Mexico in Alta, Wyoming. Joey (my brother) was doing the ski-bum program there–skiing fun lines by day and working night laundry. It was definitely a “jump” for me. I had no idea what I was about to discover about myself and skiing.

The calm Teton landscape and general energy that those mountains hold is incredible. Waking up in the early morning hours to see a gentle pink light hit the grand and sense the large Teton valley below stir awake in an old-school cowboy style (ranchers feeding horses, hearing diesel trucks go rambling down the road) had me mesmerized from the beginning. The Targhee terrain had me challenged from the get-go. My first day there, I remember making it up the Scotty’s bootpack from the backside in what felt like 2 hours. I was so embarrassed to be the girl that everyone had to wait for. I was sinking to my chest in every step–obviously didn’t know how to use a bootpack! But like most challenging things, with a bit of time and effort I became to love the hiking and started to feel assimilated to this place I had only read about in books or seen pictures of. It feels cool to be able to see my progress as a ski athlete over the years, and use the Tetons as a way to judge that progress.

Over the past 5 years, my relationship with the Tetons and its inhabitants has only gotten more amazing. It quickly became more of a necessity than a privilege to go there. As soon as I got back to school for the spring semester I made plans to get back there. Pretty much every vacation since Dec. 2004 has consisted of begging, borrowing, or stealing (no, not really) a way to get there. My Craigslist ads always read “I left my heart in the Tetons.”When I got there, we were always going on some epic early morning or in-the-middle-of-the-night mission with cold PBR’s and even colder air all around us.

So why the sudden disparation of Teton trips? When I found myself there this time, it felt like nothing had changed, but it had been over 2 years since I had last set foot up the Mary’s nipple bootpack. Well, if you didn’t know, internet blogs are about truth and here goes a big one: I think I cut myself off because I was severely addicted but couldn’t figure out a way to LIVE there instead of VISIT there. As the Jerry Garcia so eloquently put it, “You visit your country but you live in your home.”

Yes, sometimes we are afraid of addiction. So afraid that we cut anything and everything off about it in our lives. My “pura vida” as it has developed so far has made Salt Lake seem like the best option for a budding social entrepreneur/pro skier/private chef. The smog here makes me sick, quite honestly, but the people do not. The community in Alta/Snowbird is overwhelmingly beautiful and sustaining…My idea for this trip was to get up there and bring some of that amazing Little Cottonwood Canyon love to the small area of Grand Targhee. I did a small SheJumps meeting while I was up there and got a bit of some programs on the horizon for the group of incredible women that hold it down in Teton Valley (more to come on that later).

The trip started with high density partying and low-density skiing. But hey, the snowpack wasn’t so great (I swear!). So this rant is about visiting the places that you love the most, (haha even if you aren’t skiing as much as you want to). Sometimes they are in your mind, sometimes you have to drive 5 hours and have your car’s thermostat inching up slowly while you coax it down with the heater cranked on high. Sometimes you have to hike up a bootpack that used to take you forever, only to boast your improvement by coasting up in a matter of minutes.

Staring off into the South Leigh Lakes drainage below the Grand Teton, I was reminded by my number one adventure partner up there (you know who you are) that the mountains will remain…something I had been telling myself for the past 2 years. The only thing that changes is your effort to get into them.

I want to send a huge THANK YOU out to Shannon Hamby at Grand Targhee resort for making my trip that much easier. Another huge thanks to Alta Mountain Productions, all the girls who came out to ski with me and go to the SheJumps meeting, the Gust family, Rhys & Mira’s amazing hospitality and last but not least, to the Tetons and their inspirational energy that recharged me!

Here’s to life and the beautiful ways we find to live it.

Big Thanks to my friend Megan Michelson at Skiing magazine for sending some SheJumps love our way. Here is an article she wrote about our upcoming event on January 21st.

http://www.skinet.com/skiing/fondue-party/ski-culture/2010/01/pro-skiers-turned-philanthropists

Yep, first time. Here’s what happened. December 23, 2009: Chef who I work for (Bob Allen), gifted me with a set of knives for Christmas. We were seeing how sharp they were and then he said “You should prepay Dr. Ken for some stitches for these! They are sharp!” Me: Hahaha, yeah right. I’ll be careful. December 28, 2009: Laterally slicing potato rosemary bread at my other job (Wasatch Powderbird Guides lunch chef) and I, well, yeah, just look at the picture. Gotta make sure it gets healed up quickly, I don’t want to ski without poles!

SheJumps raised more than $700 for our winter programs. Thanks to everyone who showed up to see the first all-girl ski movie ever made. It was amazing to see how the community motivates for a good cause! SheJumps to do more….

Whew, sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, but this time I am super pumped for the challenge. I have been honing my chef skills in Little Cottonwood Canyon for the past 3 years with local chef (renowned as “Best in the Canyon” by many), Bob Allen. When Bob asked me if I would be interested in cooking lunch for Wasatch Powderbird Guides, the first thought on my mind was, of course, HELI SKIING!!!! The second thought on mind was, “Do I even believe in heli-skiing in the Wasatch?” And last but not least, the third thought on my mind was “What an amazing opportunity!”

I am really excited to be able to expand my chef experience to provide for this local company. I just generally stoked to have been recommended so highly for this highly sought-after position in the canyon. I know it will end up sacrificing some ski time, but I think it will keep me motivated to be super organized and dialed for menus, timing, and being able to get a quick ski tour in before work…All part of the training!

Thanks Bob for the recommendation! I’ll let you guys know how it works out…

…I went a women’s beacon clinic at Alta today. It was super rad! I mean, who doesn’t need to practice with their beacon?! For anyone on this site–which is read by _______ (insert name below in a comment, otherwise I think it might be just me)–who doesn’t know what a beacon is…it is a piece of safety equipment that sends out a signal if you are buried in an avalanche and can be used to find the signal of a partner who is buried in an avalanche. My friend Chantel was one of the instructors, along with Evelyn Lees who will be speaking at a SheJumps event on Jan. 21st. More on that later. It’s late…I’m tired after doing beacon practice in 4 degree weather this morning and then skiing tram laps at the bird. I know, poor me. I laid in a lump for a while letting my feet regained feeling….about 6 of my friends got frostbite (not frostnip) today. It was COLD!!! I was thinking “Yep, low density snow over high density sharks (rocks).” Anyways, I look forward to being able to hold SheJumps sponsored beacon clinics/practices to get more women safely into the backcountry for a life-long pursuit of something that is nothing short of RAD!! (uhh, skiing without fear of dying by way of out-of-control-skier a.k.a. skiing in-bounds at a ski resort…and knowing how to use a beacon!!) good night internet! Más nieve este fin de semana….