So that thing I said about bad early season snow a few weeks ago....totally not true.  The snow gods gave us all a little more to be thankful for this weekend, with a big early season thanksgiving snowfall!  And while travel was a bit sketchy for folks, the snow at Cannon was unreal!  We were lucky enough to receive a foot plus of freshies to shred on Friday, and some beautiful sun to lay arcs under on Saturday!!  Needless to say there were quite a few happy skiers this weekend.  This weekend I also was lucky enough to extend my partnership with Cannon Mountain for another year!  I have been a Cannon skier since I started skiing, and with opening days like this years, I don't see any reason not to be!  I am incredibly lucky and proud to have a home hill that boasts some of the best terrain and snow in the east!  Cannon truly is a legendary place. 

Be sure to head over to my gofundme.com page to support my World Cup  season, and perhaps get you, or your organization's name on my helmet!  

Also check out the Hintertux YouTube page for some awesome video from the FIS Telemark World Cup Opening!  Congratulations to the winners!

There is no better time for skiing than the fall.

Ok, so that might be a bit of a stretch.  In all seriousness, skiing in November is a magical time of year.  Although you may be skiing with 2000 of your best friends on one run of crumby, man-made, east-coast, we-call-it-snow-but-it's-really-ice snow, stuff...it might as well be a three foot pow day in March.  Everybody is excited, the atmosphere is incredible, and people are stoked to ski. 

I've been lucky enough to have three days on snow, four if you include tomorrow, and I feel so good about skiing this year.  I made a switch to Atomic Skis (they rock, check out their stuff here http://www.atomic.com), and I feel terrific about the year to come.

If you get the chance, go ski on some terrible east coast snow, you won't regret it.

 This past FIS congress, held in Barcelona, Spain, was quite fortuitous for the telemark community indeed!  The FIS council has decided to accepted telemark skiing as event to be presented to the International Olympic Committee.  This list will be presented to the IOC after finalization of their road map for future Olympics, "Agenda 2020."  While this step doesn't mean that we are in, this is the closest that we have ever been, and by 2022, telemark could very well be an Olympic sport!  

Exciting as this is, it means that these next couple years are incredibly important as far as performance.  I have already begun to outline long-term training plans, because you can't win Olympic gold sitting on the couch.  That being said, I'm also going to need to do some serious fundraising.  One of my biggest problems the last few years, has been finding time to adequately prepare physically, while working double time in order to finance a season of racing.

In an attempt to solve this issue, as well as to make it easier for potential sponsors to actually give money, I've created a "Go Fund Me."  By going to www.gofundme.com/telemarksnyder you can easily make your contribution to help me be the best skier I can be.  Your donation will only be used to pay for expenses directly related to World Cup Telemark competition, such as flights, transportation, lodging, and equipment.  For larger donations, feel free to contact me first, as the front of my helmet is open this season!!