A day of nothing.

Yes, you read it right! Yesterday I did nothing, or that's not totally true but I took a day of and just had a great time in the sun on main street in Telluride. I caught up with some friends and had sushi at the Steaming bean. Second day here where spring was in the air and people walked around in t-shirts with a big smile on their face. I were about to do a big tour today but weather are holing us up, witch is find. I don't feel great, I had a cold before the race in Aspen two days ago and think I triggered something more when racing. I do best staying slow and low for another day and than start hitting stuff again.

A good news is that a got my new computer all done and ready to use yesterday. It's a new Mac Book Pro 13 (of course) with 750 G memory and so on. What's make me extra exited is the new Photoshop I bought. CS5! I been working with CS before and that's about 20 years old. Actually it turn twenty year on feb 10, 2010. Hopefully this will take my pictures one steep further and I have a lot of new things to learn.

Thanks again everyone for reading this blog. Without you this would just be a waste of time and I try to spend time and keep this blog alive and appreciate every singel time you enter and read my stories. Thanx! Please feel free to contact me if you have any request about what You would like me the write about or anything you like me to try and do.

Aspen Power of Four!

Report from Aspen Power of Four march 3, 2012!
It is early morning and the alarm clock set of. By now you all know its Milow who take care of this task. It’s 4:00 am and the night was as it usual is before a race day. Restless and funny dreams and I'm a little relieved to finally get up and do something that I'm good at! Get tired through activity and play a games with my mind.
After a light breakfast, some fruit and tea, Melanie drive us to Snowmass Village. There, we wander around for a while before we find the right place, none of us had previously been there and none of us had asked where start was. We did not think it would be so big and so hard to find.

06:30, after the start was postponed they sent us of. 48 teams ran away. And literally ran away. These are real athletes, mountain guides that does it for motivation and professionals. The equipment and the appearance of everyone at the morning in-check gave a clue as to their quality. The equipment is worth mentioning again, however, a pair of skis weigh less than a milk carton and their boots are more flexible than traditional hiking boots. Everyone have special speed suits and everything is super light! Pretty geeky, but for a guy (and some girls) and after a few hours raceing, fully understandable.

The first pitch is quite mellow. Just one steep rise more or less. It took us 1:20 hours to the top of Snowmass. There waited a long traverse on a ridge that we got to ski. All had traveled the same track, so Himay and I took the opportunity to ride the incredible snow just a few feet off the track. So we got to do all day! =) In some places up to our thighs. After another short 40 minutes skin we stood on top of Butter Milk. After a flat but fun ride down to Highland the race began for real. Skateing over a bridge up to the first aid station in center town square. It started with a long and steep climb. Than it flattens out and just keeps on forever before you reach the top of Highland. 2/3 of the way up the wind peaked and it turned really cold on us . It all happens so fast so we both got frostbitten, one ear on Himay and my nose. The weather did not cooperate with us that day Here I got frustrated after I made a fatal mistake not being careful enough pushing my water back in to the camelback by blowing it, it froze and I had no more water readily available. Last pitch up is along another ridge, Big Big winds made this really tough and cold At the top we skied down the lee side, and after Aspen have had their best 2 days of powder skiing the days before we got some real goodies. More skinning waited down at the bottom; a short 40 minutes one took us up to this fun tree run we were about to do. It could be compared with Susabäcken in Åre or the skin track in Ophir, except it’s 10 times as long and a lot steeper.

Once down, our last skinning section where just infront of us. We past the houses were we stayed with Emily and Chason and got to the trailhead. A wonderful volunteer waited there with some banana bread and energy drinks. We happily eat it, had a quick chat and headed on. 7 miles (11,2 km) with a 3000 feet climb (1000 meter) took us 2,5 h. Following this old mining road we had in sight 5 other teams just a head of us. Once up at the top of Ajax, Sheraton, another volunteer that gave us great support through the whole day along the course gave us some hot chocolate and we skied down towards the finish line. We crossed it in 8,52,03 h. Both happy to finish! This was a great adventure fun with my dear friend Himay (Thanx Himay) and practice for our real mission on March 28. At midnight we start in Crested Butte and will do the same thing but skinning and skiing through the night with headlamps over to Aspen, finishing in the exact same place during the following day. It’s called The Grand Traverse! 

At the finish line this guy walk up to me and says; - Is that you Staffan, we met in Cost Rica and The Ruta, remember me!? And I did, great to see you again Brian. =) It's a small world we live in! He just finish the race to.

Today I went out for some hours skiing under bluebird sky and bright sunshine! That for the first time in more than 2 weeks and you could feel that the spring might be on it's way. In the afternoon I also had time to go ice climbing with Daniel for some hours, so much fun! 

Top of Ajax and we just had an awesome cup of hot chocolate! This after we made her boyfriend really happy and he accused us for cheating. She laughed about it and gave us another cup with chocolate. =)

At the finish Himay just wanted to take his boots of!

When people saw our gear, ski and boots they looked at us and said; - You guys are strong, that's heavy.  

Melanie a & Himay!

Daniel and I choping ice in Bear Creek today after some nice love skiing in the morning.

We finished in 8,55 h!

Yes, we finished the Power of four in Aspen in 8,55 h. I don't know what place yet and now it's way too late and I'm way too tierd to write more. You will get the full report tomorrow. But I wanted to post some pictures while you're waiting!

5.30 am, Melanie drops us of in Snowmass Village.

30 sek before the start.

And of we go. I'm closest to the right.  

Greatest snowbeard!

Here we are between Snowmass and Buttermilk along the ridge who runs between this to mountains. My nose got frostbitten here. It was a cold day!

Skating up to Highlands and the first aid station.

On our way up to the top of Highland, here it was superwindy and really really cold.  We did not have the best conditions this day.

On the top of Highland, it toook us 2,15 h from bottom to the top.Both really cold by this time.

Of course you have time to shot some nice ski pictures even though you race. This is real Himay action!

Just started our last climb, last looong climb...

Almost up but not really.

We had 20 min of sunshine for the whole day, Himay captured this as a reminder. Because we were cold. 

At the finish line, both happy!

Still at the finish area with the "Happy Skis".

We are here!

At noon, after a couple of runs in the morning, we head out town for Aspen. It was snowing and the roads where slick. 4,5 hour later we arrived Aspen, meet up with our Powder 8 friends that just finished their final day. Our friends Willi and Babsi had competet for 2 days with different partners. Willi and his partner Steven won the Powder 8 edition 2012! Babsi and Sarah Walls finished on a worthy and great 5th place. Congratulation to all of you, well skied!

After we socialized a little we had to run over for registration at Aspen expeditions in Highland. Now we having dinner at Chason Russell and Emily Morgan, just next to the course. They live next to the last climb for tomorrow. Thanks for having us and for your hospilaity!

Himay and I are exited and look forward to get spanked tomorrow!

Heading out, snowing!

Himay and I in the car, this is how we will look tomorrow. Looking forward and and just keep on going. Never stop, moveing is the key.

Start at Snowmass, that's the route up from Snowmass.

Skinning up Highland will be the mission tomorrow.

Driving in Aspen! 

Two happy skiers will arrive here tomorrow around 14.00-15.00. (2.00-3.00 pm.)

Happy news!

Happy statement came today at lunch. We celebrated Melanie's birthday and my phone rang. Pete Wagner was on the other side of the line. - Your skis are ready! Those who would not be ready rapids March 12. I don't have more time to think before he says; - You will get to compete on Saturday and needed a pair of skis, right?! He sounds happy when telling me, rightly so =) Now I've just been out and tested them and so far, so good! Both up and down. As it stands now my "Happy skis" will get to race on Saturday.
Compete yes, I believe has never been so ill-prepared for any competition ever. What I can remember is the Stockholm Marathon a few years ago, similar preparations and it went great. And my body feels relatively good and strong even all the traveling I done latley.
Going with Himay to Aspen tomorrow to registration and race meeting after some quick runs in Telluirde first in the morning. We are both exited and have good spirit about what is about to come up.

Not Aspen yet, but soon! Fisrt Telluirde.

In the shuttle on my way back to Telluride yesterday night snow was coming down hard. After a few phone calls the privity had reach me, 12 fresh inches (30 cm) had slowly fallen down upon the resort and people had had a great day skiing.

07.00 am, after a quick breakfast Ricky and I drove over to Valley-X. We both thoutgh we were meeting up with Himay for a morning tour. Instead Melanie joined up and we skied a fast and great run. This place is truly incredible, in five years I have never experienced a bad (or even close to bad) ski day in this valley. The tree skiing is world class and the pitch is sustainable and steep enought. And always, Always! Soft and powdery.

Once back in Telluride around lunch time I took care of some errands, I had to buy a new becon (transiver) after my old one gave up totaly on me the last day skiing in Niseko. Send an email about my Suunto X10 watch, that broke on me again. Third time now... Tryed getting us, Himay and me some sponsors for our race on Saturday in Aspen and the "big" race in late march, The Grand Trevarse!

I still feel jetlaged and are tierd after all traveling. Even though I had a great day. It never ends, traveling, sometime and MOST of the time I love it but yesterday I was so over it. I know how this sounds, like I'm a spoiled kid. But I take nothing for granted and appreciate every second, even when there is little setbacks now and then.

Melanie skinning up.

And getting some great turns in the "In between" trees.

Ricky prefer big open fields.

Thanks for a good morning! =)

Two Muppets in Tokyo

Yesterday afternoon we got the chance to check out a tiny bit of downtown Tokyo. The city is bigger than one can imagine and even though we have been travelling the world, visiting different countries and cities we were overwhelmed and blown away by Japan’s capital.

After checking into our fantastic hotel, we hopped onto the Metro, the fastest way to get around town, and managed to get to Harajuku in Omotesando. This area is full of young fashion designers, vintage shops, art galleries and street vendors. We strolled through the tiny back streets, peeking into one little shop after another. You almost feel like looking into some one’s living room! Once you step in, Japanese pop music is blasting out of every single shop corner and the sound is a mixture of video game sounds and a screeching cat. On top of all this, you will find about 100.000 tiny Japanese ladies in there, scanning the aisles for bargains, some of them looking like Anime characters, some like Geishas.

I was a true giant in this environment and all I did was trying to duck these super low ceilings. Trying on clothes was impossible as every single garment was too small and there were no suitable sizes for me.

After walking around all afternoon and evening, we got back to the hotel, had a shower and while discussing our plans for this night (Sushi and Karaoke singing were a given) both Babsi and I totally passed out…

When we woke up this morning, neither one of us could quite understand what had happened to us last night and why the heck the sun was already up or where we actually were?!

So we packed our bags and off we went on a mission to see the “real” Tokyo, Imperial Palace and some more sights by foot. I was in charge of navigation and thought I had everything totally under control after checking our maps. We both thoroughly enjoyed the walk through beautiful parks and clean streets. After a while, we walked up to this big white gate with some sort of palace in the background, took photos, joked around. Both of us quite happy about getting a great shot of the Imperial Palace and gosh, how close we were able to get to it! There were NO other tourists around, just us, unbelievably lucky!?!

Babsi asked me how to get to our next stop – Ginza – and that is when we both realised that we were COMPLETELY lost! North, south, east, west – who knows???

So we pulled out our maps and guidebooks while standing in front of another huge map and believe it or not, we were not able to figure out where the heck we actually were! Me, trying to navigate with maps, i-phone and Suunto watch, Babsi just looking around with that guide book in her hand, trying to catch some one’s eye hoping that person would speak English and help us.

In order to get our heads sorted we needed breakfast and we ended up walking into a real Japanese restaurant: there was no English what so ever, so pictures of the food or English menu. The owner/waiter could not really speak English either so breakfast ended up being a true surprise: we had lovely tea and two bowls of rice and tempura (deep fried vegetables and shrimp) with Japanese pickles and miso soup with mussels! Yum! There were about 15 different credit card stickers on the door and I thought, I would treat the lady this morning but of course they did not accept cards and we both had NO cash… So, I ran up and down the streets of Tokyo trying one ATM machine after another, walking into banks trying to communicate that I need money and where to get it! Finally, I found a cash machine in the post office and I was able to square the bill. That alone, took a good half hour. So much for VISA being a card that is accepted around the globe, obviously Japan is different. They are cash-only people here and they don’t trust cards!

The rest of the day, we spent in Ginza, after finding the “real” Imperial Palace. Ginza is a wonderful and very lively area with lots of high-class shops and galleries.

Our overall impression of Tokyo is: do not attempt to walk anywhere – use the Metro, only use cash as credit cards and not accepted anywhere, the city is so clean, it puts places like Singapore or Switzerland to shame and it is dead quiet! There is almost no noise pollution, the cars are silent, people are silent, even the police cars have silent sirens! And on top of that, Japanese are the most disciplined humans we have ever seen – they obey to every single rule and very much respect personal space and others.

Finally, when on our way to Tokyo Narita Airport, we thought we had it all figured out, we thought we understood a little more of the Japanese culture and they way you travel in this country. So, we rock up at our luggage storage counter get our bags and were hellbound on changing terminals! While on the bus we realised that we are just on our way to the wrong terminal and our flight was leaving in 1 hour. Both of us started to sweat a little as Babsi had to be back in the US on time!

After doing a loop on the bus from one Terminal to the other, we ran to the check-in counters, taking out millions of little Japanese people on the way cause we had such huge bags. When we finally found the Continental check in desks, both of us were dripping with sweat and dead! Of course, the desks were closed but I found a couple of lovely ladies who made it their mission to get us on the flight! While one checked us in, the other one took all our bags personally to the drop off so we could make it. With the boarding passes and passport in our hands we ran to the security check, taking the staff line and Singapore Airline flight attendants, who let us pass, were helping us unpacking our bags and laptops! That was probably the fastest security check of our lives! Then quick passport scan and off we ran to our gate – we only had to go from No 10 to No 47! Babsi hanging on the white Kenyan sprinter in front of her! By the time we got to the gate, both of us were about to throw up but we made it!

We can not thank those two ladies at the check-in counter enough for their effort, we definitely would not have been able to get onto the plane without their kindness and help!

So now we are on the plane heading to Aspen, where I will be competing on March 3^rd with my dear friend Himay!

Japan was surreal and so much fun! I would love to come back, catch up with new and old friends, especially the mighty Macca, and explore more of this unique country!

View from our hotel room. 

Big square in front of the real palace.

A part of the real imperial palace.

Everything is perfect set up.

One of my favorit pictures on the whole trip, love the shadows.

We were in Hello Kitty land.

Local Japanese street food.

We both loved this, the two bottles to the right you buy hot, so you get hot tea in a can.

Subway.

Great picture Babsi, I'm here taking a night picture of Tokyo. 

Our fejk palace with where the National Graden.

Had to snap this, we manage to find a trash bin. Can understand how the keep this city soooo clean but there are no trash bins around....?

Lot's of people covering up their mouths, even when skiing.

One of Babsis and mien favorits, right here through this geat we saw so many runner so I got a little inspierd. I  caught up and passed a few. =)