Bears Gone Wild!

No this photo is not of some campsite in the wild getting trashed, it is at the zoo. This past Sunday, Martha and I went to Woodland Park Zoo to see the two grizzly bears that live there. They had set up a "bear safety" demonstration with a campsite and various food items strewn about their pen. Then they let the Bears out and they get to go to town on the whole thing. Pretty interesting to watch. That is a box of cereal in a zip-lock bag, intentionally hung in the tree that he is going after. Personally, I really dig these two grizzlies and think it is by far the best exhibit at the Seattle Zoo. Well worth the trip just to check the big fellas out.

Charging it, Colorado Backcountry, March 2007



20 Years and Still Riding

This spring marks my 20th season of snowboarding. I made my first turns at the Arizona Snowbowl on a Burton Split Tail, with Sorel Boots. I do believe the board was a cruzier? The road from the highway to the mountain was still unpaved and the time. I took a lesson from the one staff instructor at the time, who later went on to have a short pro career. I even had a collision with one of the ski-wee kids, no damage done. Snowboarding has opened up a whole world for me. I have had seasons with five days and seasons with over 100. I have ridden all over the US, even worked at Snowbowl, Bear Mountain (SOCAL) and Vail, Colorado. Most of all snowboarding is about enjoying the mountains. The sport led me to climbing/ mountaineering and subsequently my career at Outward Bound. I have no plans to stop or let up. In fact my future plans are to spend more time in the backcountry and develop my snowboarding mountaineering skills. I now have a full backcountry setup; split-board, beacon and everything else I could think of. I am even studying some locations for tours next winter in the Cascades. I wanted to take a moment and mark this milestone. Hopefully, I will be making a post when I hit the 40th anniversary!