Merry Christmas!

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Hopefully soon mother nature will get the memo. Its been raining a bunch out in the mountains and there haven't been any legitimate powder days yet. Actually not too bummed that I missed the first few weeks of the season from a knee injury. The rehab has been great as of late and it shouldn't be much longer ! These guys are ready

Ankle weights have been my best friend as of late !

The powder weapons are ready~

Yikes. looks like the Holidays are in full swing. Screen grab from the shoe webcam. No thanks !

Hello Winter 2014-15

So ready to get snowed in again .

11/14 WInter is knocking on the door.

With frigid temps in Mid Nov . the earliest start of snowmaking to date at Wintergreen Va is taking place today . Snowshoe and Canaan have the guns on blast as well and even some natural snowfall to give the landscape a beautiful look.  

 (Above photo taken Nov 2 2012 after Hurricane Sandy up in West Va)

Fall reflections 11/08

Hampton Va

Halloween

NN Park Namaste. Rehabbing a knee sprain out in nature  vs my living room or a gym sure seems to make the recovery process much more relaxing and successful

10/13 Working for the weekend.

If the current forecast holds there looks to be favorable winds for the swell.Those red dots are category 2  for Fri + Sat . Fingers crossed!

10/04 Nags Head

Classic fall surf in the water today on the Outer Banks.
Water temp was still holding at about 73 degrees (board shorts  still midday!) and there were plenty of sets a few feet overhead and thumping on the shallow sandbars.
 Snapped a couple pulled back lineup  pics  from about 150 yards away from the peak before I spent most of the day  in the water .Once I saw a couple waves break I couldn't stand there and wait any longer to take pics


The  left on the second wave out the back  in this pic came in and broke all the way to pier  .All I needed to see before I ran to the car and got suited up. So much fun !

 Glassy lefts and rights with some hollow sections on the good sets. Gotta love this time of the year in Dare Co

Late Sept. Camping trip to West Virginia

Overnight temps in the  low to mid 40's. Daytime highs in the mid 60's. Perfect hiking +biking weather to  get out  to the mtns .and take in some of the colorful  fall foilage.

The second I pulled into a parking spot near the Canaan Valley  refuge  a  fellow peddled by me and saw that I had a bike with me and asked If I was headed up the hill .It happened to be the owner of Whitegrass  ski area Chip  and up we went. We climbed up hill almost 1000  vertical ft on the forest service road. It was an honor to go on  about an hour and 1/2 guided tour by this knowledgeable outdoorsman up on  part of Cabin Mtn and the edge of the Dolly Sods .  Part of the  trail we rode on isn't on  any  trail maps and in fact even part of an old abandoned railroad track . Thoroughly enjoyed the history lesson during the ride as well.

 Pretty magical cotton grass field on the edge of WhiteGrass and the Sods.

 Down we went through the cross country network of  trails non stop for a couple miles crossing a  couple  small streams  and fern covered slopes. I had to pay close attention to keep up!  As we were reaching the bottom of the Mtn we cross a bridge constructed out of old trees and timbers  and pop out of the woods right  at the front door of his house . One hell of a start to picture perfect   long  weekend in WV. Chip is such welcoming guy who truly has one of the most amazing backyards imaginable! It was a huge bonus  to get an invitation to come back and try out my splitboard this winter on some of the steeper pitches of his cross country ski area .

 .A pretty cool point to add to this was that  I surfed some chest to head high waves in VB in boardshorts Thursday morning before heading out to the Mtns. So this   bike ride  with the  owner of Whitegrass was the same evening. .What a great day !


The next morn I headed out to the Sods to check out some of the landscape.

 Looking East from Bear Rocks towards the Shenadoah

Looking West over the Plateau

Then out of the sods passing Mt . Porte  Crayon which wasn't quite in color but still hulking taller than   Cabin Mtn

 Morning coffee at Timberline.

  Blackwater falls

Then headed back up on  another tour up hill to the top of Bald knob from the valley  and back down through the WG trail system to the bottom of the hill.

The last night of the trip was spent down at Snowshoe with a stop at Spruce Knob on the way. Some of the Spruce tunnels reminded me a lot of some of the thick spruce in the woods at the Shoe.

The village  and MTN bike trails were  packed with a huge bike race  + concert but it was nice and quiet up here up at 4800 ft above Silver Creek  with amazing views of the WT.

 Ready to ride some lifts ?

Hurricane Cristobal Swell 8/28/14

Hurricane Cristobal  delivered some great surf to the Outer Banks . On the morning of 8/28   the storm was parallel to the coast a few hundred miles offshore. As luck had it the winds were blowing  west (straight offshore) at 10-15  MPH at first light and then dropped off to  10 MPH  mid morning  and stayed this way until about 3 PM when the cold front finally blew in.  In case any one was unaware   the best thing about living in Hampton Roads isn't Va. Beach or Williamsburg. Its the close  proximity of  the  Outer Banks . Roughly 2 hrs  to Hatteras Island and only about an hr to an hour 1/2 or so  to town considering what part of the 757 you live in 

Pulling into town (Kitty Hawk) just after sunrise to reveal beautiful glassy conditions and a nice swell in the water.Looks real fun but keep driving down south a bit farther to find a spot that is barreling.

Don't let the number of cars fool you here. On this day the entire town of Rodanthe was breaking well and not just a few standout spots  so the crowd was spread out and everyone got barreled!

Welcome to Rodanthe. Overhead with very makeable barrels . I spent just a couple minutes checking the waves with cam in hand and snapped these 2 pics right  before I ran to get my board and head out.

Look close  there's a guy about to get pitted on an Over Head one


Firing!!

After about 3 hours come in to hydrate and fuel backup  up for another session. Decide to take the go pro out for some shots this session. A touch smaller but user friendly and super glassy still.

Still  breaking perfect with some lengthy cover ups in about waist deep water.


Playful little pits just off the beach. Air temp 85 .Water 78. 

Hard to air drop in on some steep pitching waves  with the cam cupped in my hand and get the shot . Gave it a go a few times and almost got the tube shot I was looking for but instead some Johnson + Johnson shampoo treatment.Lots of fun trying though..

Another fun one coming out of a little cover up and eyeing up back dooring the next little tube on the same wave. .Only played with the water camera about one hour out of the six I spent surfing that day .Always nice to get the cam out in the water for a few shots though.. Next swell hopefully I  can grab the shot I'm looking for. Dream day on the Outer Banks!

St Patricks Day 2014

The little Leprechauns delivered around a foot of light dry  powder to the WV highlands .

Celebrating by practicing some surfy turns .

WV March 3

 March 3 + 4th  .. Gotta love early March in the mountains of WV . The base on the hill is deep and the crowds start thinning out. Usually can catch a good late season snowstorm as well and ride powder a few days  afterwards  in some of the secret spots.Of course the views to the West from Shays Revenge never dissappoint.

 I love  riding untouched  powder  on the mountain biking trails with  my snowboard.

Tahoe

The annual trip to my fav. place to snowboard came through . Tahoe was off to a very slow start this season with a huge drought affecting California. Luckily for us 2-3 feet fell a week prior to our trip and upon our arrival an atmospheric river dropped anywhere from 5 -8 ft of snow the first 3 days of the trip. Yep almost 100 inches . Hardest I've  seen it snow .Ever. Hard to get some good pics due to the lens getting belted with snowflakes during the height of the storm. One night it snowed 40 inches in 12 hrs .A true powderhounds dream when arriving for first tracks to see this. It was deeeeeep, and the tree runs were phenomenal.

 Pulley floating in the powder above and I finding some fun jumps exiting the woods below.

Took hundreds of pics with plenty of keepers! In true Tahoe fashion , after snowing for 4 days the sky went completely bluebird . Mind blowing !

Have absolutely no problem sightseeing from the occasional groomed run  here either

WInterstorm Leon in Hampton Roads

6 -10 inches of snow from Winterstorm  Leon  has shut this place down for the last 3 days. No school, public trans. etc.  Cold temps and hardly any melting .Even went below the  zero degree  mark night before last . Frosty has been out enjoying himself thoroughly on all the slopes of the  local golf courses. Mentioned he was a bit   tired without a  lift to get back up top though.

Winterstorm Janus

Im actually on the other side of the lens of this one . Photo credit to my buddy Phil who lives up at Snowshoe.Powder day during Winterstorm Janus.!! So fun....

West side

Wintertime Happy place.Western Territory .Upper Shays Revenge Top and Cupp Run here .Powder days have been a bit hard to come by this season so far. Second best conditions for snow sports in my opinion are blue sky, light winds days with cold temps and a fresh groom and some pretend powder turns from the guns . Actually really good conditions.