Life in Whitefish...

View from summit looking at Glacier National Park

So I made it into Whitefish, MT about a week and a half ago and let me just say that life here is pretty good. The first day I was here I went up on the Mountain to hit the slopes. On my way through Wyoming, my cousin Sarah (who lives in Whitefish) called and said that she had just received an email from the resorts ski shop letting everyone know that they would be selling last seasons performance demo skis for $100 with bindings. Cha-Ching! I am not sure how I am going to get them to Salt Lake but they might fit in my car.

The mountain going into the clouds

On Saturday night, we decided to drive into the mountains to check out a local band. We went ahead and got a hotel room so we wouldn't have to drive back from this place in the middle of the night, drunk and swerving to avoid deer.

The next morning when I woke up I walked outside to steep mountains, wide flowing rivers and not a cloud in the sky. After we got back to Whitefish, I grabbed my fly fishing gear, bought a licenses and  headed straight back to where we were the night before.

Me fishing on the South Fork River

After about 2 hours of fishing, the game warden came to check my permit. He told me about another fishing hole and let me follow him there. Like a idiot, I assumed the the Accura could handle anything... I mean come on, it's got a Honda engine. I managed to get stuck for about 45 minuets until my beastly car got its act together and pulled me out of the tundra.

Game Warden - check out his freaking gun...

Monday (Valentine's day), I went skiing with Sarah and her boyfriend, Patrick. It was a "bluebird day" meaning there were blue sky's so the view from the summit was amazing. I wore my blaze orange Patagonia pullover that I picked up in Minneapolis, so there was no missing me!

Sarah and myself on the summit

On Thursday I put up my ski's and tried out snowboarding. As suspected, snowboarding is not my forte. I had told Sarah that I wanted to try it out and she told me about a deal the mountain has going on where you can learn to ski/snowboard and then you get 8 half priced lift tickets, after the 8th ticket you get a free season pass. I don't think I have been as terrified as I was standing at the top of the bunny hill with a single board strapping my feet together. I am glad I wore a helmet and I am very excited to be back on my ski's.

Cold!

As of right now it is 3 degrees here in town and -30 on the summit with a windchill of close to -50 so they closed all lifts that take you to the top of the mountain (frostbite warning). Tomorrow is supposed to be a good powder day but I have to be off the mountain by 1pm so I can drive to Big Sky, Montana to ski with my cousins Lee and Sarah for the weekend. We are also going to celebrate my birthday on Monday and what would have been my sisters 30th birthday tomorrow. After Big Sky I am heading down through Yellowstone and into the Grand Tetons to ski in Jackson Hole, WY with my friend Derick. I went to the Tetons a while back during the summer so I am pretty excited to see what they are like during the wintertime!

View of the sun through the trees in back yard

Found Jesus at the top of chair #2

Ohhh - Almost forgot... So the weather here is pretty crazy. The other day we got dumped on then right after it got really warm so all the snow melted on the road up to the mountain. Right after, there was a cold snap that refroze all the melted snow causing the road to ice down. All this happened over about an hour and a half so they couldn't get out and salt before it all refroze.This was taken from my car on the way down the mountain.

Sucks to be this dude...