UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE – We all have challenges in our lives and the metaphors I use from climbing and riding connect with young and old folks alike because we all have hopes and dreams and sometimes turn them into goals. We all have ups and downs, highs and lows and my stories reflect some very high highs and some very low lows.

One example of a high I shared with the team of workers at Habitat for Humanity was summitting the Grand Teton for the first time in 1989 with the help of my mentor, Tom Turiano. After moving to Jackson Hole to learn to snowboard in 1987 to take a year off before college, I had dreamed about climbing “The Grand” and snowboarding down but knew I didn’t have the experience to safely get myself up there. Hence the need for a mentor. Mentors not only give value through sharing their expertise and experience but they receive as well. There is nothing more rewarding than watching the person you have been mentoring surpass you in skill and ability. That means you have done your job as a mentor well.

HOW TO SURVIVE – After somehow surviving the initial 2,000 foot fall after being hit and carried by an avalanche several years ago while climbing Mount Owen in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, I asked myself, “What is the single most important thing I need to do to survive now.” In this case it was to cough out the plug of wet, sand-like snow that was blocking my airway. Then was to evaluate my torn and battered body. Next was to move from where I was, in the throat, or choke, of the entire face where anything falling from above would funnel to. Moving with torn ligaments in both knees, a broken back and other injuries proved challenging. But by taking things one step at a time and doing what I could control I managed to move out of the way of more avalanches before being hit again and successfully descended several hundred more feet and survived a night out in the open with no shelter or warm clothing.

Making turns down the face of Mount Owen less than a year later was so very sweet. Some say I am an adrenaline junkie and take unreasonable risks. I disagree completely. I go into the mountains to feel alive, to feel and be happy. Climbing and snowboarding makes me happy. Being in wild places, in hazardous situations forces me to come to terms with what is really important in life. It helps me know myself, who I am and what I am capable of accomplishing. Being in the mountains brings me face to face with my own mortality, and in those moments I am alive, making life and death decisions and am completely present. That is not to say that I don’t experience fear. I do indeed experience fear. But I do not let my fear cripple me. I acknowledge my fear, discover the cause, analyze it, make any necessary adjustments and then let the fear go. Holding onto fear does not serve us well. Letting go, or releasing ourselves from the grip of fear is not only liberating but enables us to move beyond our self imposed limitations. After I let my fear go, a state of flow ensues as I begin linking one steep and exposed turn to the next.

You’re not going to learn these things from playing golf.

Following is a short video testimonial from Veronica Mulhall, Marketing and Volunteer Manager at
Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area, about my presentation.

One Day in Jackson Hole Film Trailer

One Day. 192 Countries. Thousands of films.
One Day on Earth is a global grassroots digital media project documenting the human experience in every country on the planet during the same 24-hour period. This is the project’s third and final year, with previous shoots on 10.10.10 and 11.11.11. On 10.10.10 over 3,000 hours of footage was collected from 19,000+ volunteer filmmakers of every county on the planet, then edited into a theatrical film that premiered globally (and in Jackson Hole) on Earth Day, 2012.
This year, in partnership with One Day on Earth: 12.12.12 the Wildlife Film Festival will launch a tandem One Day in Jackson Hole project. Working with classrooms, nonprofits, special-interest clubs and a broad spectrum of interested individuals, we will document our Valley in an unprecedented 24-hour community effort. Each of the novice and professional filmmakers participating will do so with one purpose in mind: to share a unique story with the world.
Incorporating local filmmakers, artists and performers, students and educators, nonprofits and clubs, One Day in Jackson Hole will be an integral element in the global “digital time capsule” and part of the story created by the One Day on Earth project. In addition to uploading all media to the global collection, each of Jackson Hole projects will be streamed on our One Day in Jackson Hole Vimeo channel and website. Finally, the entire Jackson Hole collection will be edited into a single film project! A work-in-progress short will be screened February 1, at TEDxJacksonHole and the completed film will premiere at a free community Earth Day event!

Robert Grosz, VP at Dish Network, speaks about Stephen Koch’s Keynote Speech that motivated his sales team. He goes on to say -

Stephen Koch’s speech was excellent, right on target and right on message. He completely motivated our team. Stephen’s message was relevant to what we’re trying to do as a company and as a team. I think that his experience in the adventuring world is perfect and very relevant to our experience in the business world.

I enjoyed speaking to his sales team, who has a tremendous goal to triple their sales in the coming years. I related my experience climbing new routes in Alaska with my partner, Slovenian Marko Prezelj, and how we developed as a team, learned to trust, put the team before the individual for the success of the team, and pushed our minds and bodies to their limits with the 8,000′ route Light Traveler on the southwest face of Denali. The route has still not been repeated. Marko and I utilized a type of climbing known as Single Push climbing. We took no sleeping bags or tent and committed to climbing to the top without sleeping. The risks are high but we reduced them by climbing fast and paring down our gear to the bare minimum – night naked. We climbed more with less. It was beautiful.

Joanna at the Kees (pronounced KAYS) Brennenkmeyer Foundation was a treat to work with. She not only helped with the application process, which involves detailed financial information as well as medical and work history, but was invaluable as a liaison with the doctors and their staff at Steadman Clinic. Previous to her current position at Kees Joanna worked at Steadman for several years and seems to have a great relationship with everyone there.

A little history about the Foundation from their website: The Kees Brenninkmeyer Foundation is a non-profit resource for alpine industry professionals seeking orthopedic medical care. The foundation is inspired by and created in memory of Kees Brenninkmeyer, who passed away while actively pursuing a career as an alpine ski and mountaineering guide. It is established to financially assist alpine guides, patrollers, or instructors who require surgery in order to continue their career.

Now my words…Kees hurt his knee while Heli-guiding in AK. He was Canadian and was covered under their national health plan. He chose what he thought to be the best and most respected Orthopaedic group in the world, the Steadman Clinic, to have his surgery. He was impressed with Steadman Clinic. Kees lamented that his American counterparts (guides, patrollers and mountain professionals) don’t generally have the opportunity to receive outstanding surgical intervention when necessary due to no national insurance in the USA. Also, most guide services do not offer insurance for their employees and the cost of health insurance is too expensive for many mountain professionals to afford.

In 2007, Kees and his girlfriend Claire Dixon passed away in a mountaineering accident while volunteering as hut custodians in the Wapta Icefield of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The Kees Brennenkmeyer Foundation was established in his memory.

The Kees Brennenkmeyer Foundation has been known to pay for surgeries in full even when a grant recipient has insurance because of the difficulties of dealing with insurance companies. The Foundation is very generous with this grant application. If you are a mountain professional – mountain guide, ski patrol or even a ski/snowboard instructor, you can apply. The Kees Brennenkmeyer Foundation is helping me get back to my work in the mountains. Maybe they can help you too!

I tore my ACL in June and had surgery in July. This was the first of two surgeries needed to properly repair my ligament. This being my third ACL tear my bone was compromised from being drilled to anchor the previous repairs, to an extent that offered a limited chance for a successful repair. The better option for me for a complete recovery is a two stage repair. The surgery I had in July was to repair a major meniscus tear, clean up a lot of scar tissue in the knee and bore out and fill in the old bone holes with bone paste to have a clean and strong place to anchor the new ACL. The new ACL will be put in sometime early in 2013. I will receive an allograft (ligament donated by someone who no longer needs it due to being dead). I have had a hamstring repair and several allograft repairs in the past. I recommend an allograft repair over using your own ligaments for the following reasons: harvesting your body parts is traumatic and recovering from that alone can be challenging. Also, with a hamstring, once removed it never grows back. I still have an indentation where my hamstring was harvested for my first ACL surgery 14 years ago. I was inaccurately told by a doctor that it would grow back. It doesn’t and hasn’t.

So I am recovering from this past surgery to get strong for my next. And biking is the best thing for recovery from knee surgery. I started off a few days after surgery riding a stationary bike with no resistance at physical therapy. And at (about) six weeks was on my road bike, riding the new bike path from Jackson to Grand Teton National Park and back, a sweet 40 mile loop. I am very much looking forward to GTNP officials following through on their commitment to continue the path from Moose Junction to Antelope Flatts Road, which will keep riders off the busy highway where drivers are often distracted by the beautiful mountains and abundant wildlife. For more on the progress of the Jackson Hole Bike Path system check out the great work my friends at Friends of Pathways are doing.

My ride last week was the longest of the year because I have been recovering from surgery. But it was great to finally get to ride through the burn area from the Horsethief Fire. Interesting that the person who started the $5 million fire was known to bemoan government involvement and taxes. Now the taxpayers (government) are paying the price for his breaking the law by burning trash when there was a fire ban in effect. There has been trail work done and it was interesting to ride over scorched earth and through burned trees. The smell was intense but not overwhelming. In a sense it was too bad the fire fighters did such a great job keeping the fire out of Cache Creek. Had the fire run its “natural” course (for a man started fire) it would have burned the steep northeast facing trees rolling into Cache Creek, burning the downfall and thinning the trees which would have led to some great ski runs where currently there are few to none due to the thick trees and downfall.

Check out The Mountain Pulse for wonderful information on fun activities to do in Jackson Hole, including mountain biking. For the map of Snow King and Cache Creek it is the second link on the right under View Quicklinks.

My ride is mapped out on Endomondo, a great resource for tracking and sharing your activities through a smartphone.

Now it is time to get excited for skate skiing, an activity that I took up last winter by skiing with my best buddy Odin several times a week.

And a few photos from my adventurous mountain bike follow:

New trail on the backside of Snow King

Heading down on the backside of Snow King

Scorched earth from the Little Horsethief Fire

About to head into West Game Creek

Last ride of the season...

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