Initially, this little Eskimo was just slightly bummed to be leaving an epic Alaskan winter for the hit or miss snow of Europe. The Alps got a pounding of schnee … but it still weird to be leaving the daily face-shots of the Chugach Mountains for the pistes of Europe. As the plane descended into Zurich though, my apprehensions were appeased. The Alps that are seen as you approach Zurich are so beautiful and impressive, pink silhouettes of jagged peaks packed together. And the first sip of Swiss coffee after a trying day of travel reminded me of how much I missed my old friend Switzerland. At one point in the drive from Zurich to Veysonnaz, from the German to the french side of Switzerland, the road takes you to a train that you load your car onto in order to navigate the parts of the Alps that roads can’t wind through. Another novelty of this radical country that I’m reminded of. As a snowboarder its hard to leave the places that are hitting with snow… but as a person, I’m reminded of the incredible opportunity I’ve been blessed with to travel the world and experience these things. I cannot believe the journey. 6 years of traveling around the world, thinking of it gives me butterflies. Thank you to all of the people who have been there with me through it all. Especially my momma. <3

(Grayson West/Park Record) Alaskan Callan Chythlook-Sifsof prepares to take a run down the new boardercross training hill as teammates look on during Wednesday s morning training session.

Tucked below the imposing welcome sign at the Utah Olympic Park, Jeff Archibald kneels down on the hardened snow, piercing the adolescent snowpack with a drill. Once complete, he places two portable automatic timers near the end of the improvised snowboardcross training hill.

http://www.parkrecord.com/summit_county-sports/ci_19367478

We were accompanied by pro downhill bikers from Utah and were shuttled up and down the radical bike park for a strait 8 hours. After slaying it with the boys on the “mellower” parts of the park we moved over to some bigger step down features that I had no intention of taking part in… but after watching them boost off these jumps I couldn’t fight the urge to do it. All the heckling I got from my teammates for just hanging on the side watching probably was a good motivator, needless to say I nailed it. : )

Unfortunately there were a few fallen soldiers. One teammate came up a little short on a very sharp and scary looking wooden feature, which ended in a separated and droopy shoulder. Another slipped off track and ended up with 8 stitches. It was a pretty gnarly and epic day of pushing the limits… which happens to be pretty standard among this crowd. Amen.

At one point during the event I was urged to showcase my athletic talents on the skateboard and put on a good show if I say so myself… got a little too excited from the rad crowd support (maybe a little over confident haha) and thought I’d try a new trick on the skateboard ramp into the foam pit. Although I successfully landed safely in the pit of foam, my skateboard flew 20 feet in the air strait to my noggin. But as we all know, you can’t hurt steel… needless to say, I backed off of the skateboard tricks for the rest of the day. ; )

Good job you young fast females! It was a lovely day.

In the mean time, I was invited to be a speaker at the National Indian Health Board Conference in Anchorage, Ak on September 29th. After that its back to the gym in Park City to sculpt my guns for two weeks and back to Alaska for the Alaska Federation of Natives and Elders & Youth conferences. Its looking like a pretty full fall.