Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven’t blogged in so long, no excuses for that! I’ve been on a travel whirlwind lately, and honestly I’ve been loving it! The past couple weeks I’ve been in Canada, Mammoth, Stratton, and tomorrow I’m headed to France for the last contest of the season!

I was in Canada for a Nike 6.0 Women’s trip with Spencer O’brien, Elena Hight, and Bryn Valaika. Barrett Christy set up the trip and it was definitely one of the best trips of my season so far. We hit up Revelstoke in British Colombia. We scored with some good snow and blue skies; however, with the nice conditions we were in for some cold temps. We had three consecutive days of the coldest days I’ve ever experienced. The coldest day was negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit. OUCH! It was a great learning experience, I was out of my element but by the end of the trip I was getting the hang of looking for lines and landing better in powder. Barrett was a huge help. The last day Spencer and I were fortunate enough to get in some heli time. That was my favorite part of the trip. The FRENDS crew moved into the lodge we were staying at; I love those boys so it’s always great to see them, there was some good energy around because everyone was psyched to be on a pow trip instead of at a contest. Powder is good for the soul!

After that I flew to Mammoth for the last Grand Prix. I was happy to get back into my routine, it’s crazy how normal contest’s can feel after doing so many of them. Mammoth had some amazing weather days, and some terrible weather days. In the end we did the contest all in one day. It was a busy day but a very fun halfpipe. Everyone was riding well and it was a good atmosphere to be riding in.

The night the Grand Prix was over I flew straight to Vermont for the 2011 Burton US Open. I love the Open, it’s my favorite event of the year. I get to stay with my parents, and see my dog, and get home cooked meals. What is better than that? Well the Open didn’t go so well for me this year, but I still had a great time. I was able to catch up with a bunch of friends, teachers, and coaches, from Stratton Mountain School. I also did slopestyle and that made me really happy because I haven’t done a slope contest in about two years, it might have even been my favorite contest of the year doing slope! The downside of the Open was the rough weather. Rain, ice, snow, wind, you name it, we saw it all. During pipe semi finals competitors were considering it a success if they made it through the pipe without crashing because it was so bumpy. I still love the US Open though, Burton always does a fantastic job putting on the event.

Tomorrow I’m off to Tignes, for European X Games. I will keep you all posted, wish me luck!

Elles