Monday, January 18, 2010

Crashing Jackson with K2




After an extremely busy holiday in the stores, I was flying off to Jackson Hole for a preview of the 2011 K2 skis and K2 Snowboards. I was really excited. Since I've been buying for Porters, I've been fortunate enough to snowboard at some of the top resorts in the world. One of a handful still on my list was Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The resort is amazing. It's one of the steepest resorts from top to bottom. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has the longest continuous vertical rise of any ski area in the U.S rising 4,139 feet from the valley floor to the top of Rendezvous Mountain! The snow wasn't the best, so you could only go off trail on the top half; however I had an amazing time. On one of the runs as we were cruising through a closed area of the mountain, a moose jumped out of the bushes. It freaked me out. I was lucky enough to snap a few shoots of it running away for evidence.


K2 once again looks amazing for 2011. After each day of riding we had to do some work. The first day was a 3 hour presentation on ski. Followed by the same for snowboard the next day. K2 put us up slope side at the Hotel Terra the resort was top notch. If I wasn't on the hill or in a meeting I was in there amazing saltwater pool overlooking the Teton Village. If anyone is looking to go to Jackson, I would highly recommend the Hotel Terra.


Due to snow on the night before we were leaving, our plane was delayed 8 hours. Once we arrived to the airport we found out they were not fully loading to plane due to the weight of the ice build up on the plane and slick runways. Chappy and I volunteered to stay a extra night. They put us up in a hotel, gave us a $400 travel voucher and bought us dinner, breakfast and lunch. Not a bad deal. We were both able to just set up office and work from the hotel room. The next day we were able to get home. It was a short, but great trip. I would love to come back when the mountain has more snow.


The next morning I jumped in the car and went to Oakland to look at Burton and Forum snowboards. It was a short trip there and back. I manage to See John, Ginger and Ryan we had a quick bite to eat before heading up the hill. I was worn out for the weekend.

Two days later I was back in the car going to Sacramento. For the ski and snowboard preview show, to look at 2011 product for the stores. I spent 3 days and was booked from 9-6 checking out all I could. This show is put on by the local sales reps, it helps save time for when I go to SIA in Denver next week. It's hard to see all the lines before I have to make my buy.

I'll try to get back on doing post more often. Danielle has been helping me out. Check out the new blog title.

Love and miss you all.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Happy New Year 2010!




After putting in about 100 hours in the last two weeks at Porter's we were pretty lame and fell asleep around 10:30pm. Although we didn't stay up to ring in the New Year, we were grateful to have a busy holiday season. We hope that the rest of the winter continues to be successful. Happy New Year all! Hopefully 2010 brings joy and happiness to you and yours.

Christmas Visits 2009



Because of our busy holiday work schedule, we headed down to see family the weekend before Christmas. Our first stop was Grandpa Don and Thelma's. Next, we at dinner at Grandpa John and Grandma Irene's along with the whole gang. It had been several years since we have everyone from my Dad's side all together. After having a wonderful dinner we spent the night at Gail and Treacy's. A morning breakfast and a visit from Danielle's parents Dave and Diane made the weekend complete. We headed back over the hill on Sunday afternoon to prepare for two weeks of non-stop work. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!