Learning to Tele Ski

This year Christina and I decided, with the help of Kellie and Tyler, that it was finally time to learn how to Tele Ski. For those who do not know, here is a little history...

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Christina learned to Alpine Ski at the early age of 9 years old. Ranging from mountains in good old New Mexico all the way to our beloved Mt. Bachelor. Once she moved to Sunriver Oregon the skiing life took off for her during the winter months with Alpine Racing, Training, Lessons, and more hours than you could count on skis. Anyone could watch Christina on the slope and know she should be somewhere in the Backcountry finding a run that challenged her skill. With such a rich background in Alpine Christina knew that Tele Skiing would be a hard but fun change.

For me it was entirely a different upbringing in terms of skiing. I found my way to the Alpine slopes thanks to my mom. Throwing me on some skis at age of 2 I cried and whined my way down those good old bunny hills of Mt. Bachelor. As time progressed and my Step Dad entered my life we moved to the other side of the parking lot, THE NORDIC SIDE, Dun Dun Dun. Here is where I raced my way through life all over the West Coast until the fun age of 16 years old. At that point in my life I found other "more interesting" things to do and left that part of my life behind.

So, now that everyone is caught up on our fun filled life back to learning that fun thing we call Tele Skiing. This new challenging sport Christina and I have chosen to take on his started to kick our butt. Those good old blue runs don't look so flat anymore to say the least. Our legs never stop burning down the hill as we try to hold proper form. And most of all our back leg never seems to stop wobbling.

Well enough typing and back story... I will let a few photos from Ski day 3 and 4 fill in the rest. (Kind of a lack of "Action Shots" due to us just focusing on learning, but next week we will get more!)

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Foggy!

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Trying to Learn

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Christina's Mom and Dad enjoying the Moutain

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Makita and Tyler Joining us on Marshmellow!

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

My sister and I on the lift

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Sliding in with Poor Form

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Rescue Dog Makita and Tyler!

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

The Fam!

From Skiing Day 3 and 4

Parting Shot

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Skiing with the Family!!

This year Christina and I got some Mid-Week Ski passes. With being back in Bend it was important to find some fun stuff to do in Bend during the winter. As we all know Skiing is the best thing to do in the winter! Check out the 2nd day of skiing we had with everyone.

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

The Mountains!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Sharon and I one lift at 9:30am!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Ski's Up!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Top of the Skyliner

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Christina and Her Mom!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

We are Nerds...

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Pose for the Picture!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

All Smiles!

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Resting and feeling tired :)

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

<3

From 2nd day of skiing with mom and debbie

Parting Shot

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Rogue River Engagement

So below is just a few of the pictures that Christina and I took on our 5 Day trip. I need to get some of the better photos that we took with our other camera uploaded. But for now you can enjoy the few I took with my Phone Camera. The first night on the Rogue was when I proposed to Christina. My idea (thanks to some encouragement) was to make sure to sum up the courage to do it on the first night so that we could enjoy the next 4 days by ourselves being newly engaged. Thankfully everything worked out perfect! It was a very special and amazing trip for both of us in many different ways!

From Rogue River Engagement

The Ring!

From Rogue River Engagement

The Rogue Day 2

From Rogue River Engagement

Our Campsite Day 2/3

From Rogue River Engagement

From Rogue River Engagement

Aire Raft! The Best!

From Rogue River Engagement

Looking for a hike!

From Rogue River Engagement

Camp 2/3

From Rogue River Engagement

Camp 4 :D

From Rogue River Engagement

Pretty Night

From Rogue River Engagement

Christina!

From Rogue River Engagement

Pretty Night!

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Copper Creek, WA

With Christina on break from Nursing School we have been able to get out 2 days this week to paddle on some fun Class 5 runs. Hagen earlier this week and now Copper Creek. Thankfully we have had a good amount of rain to bring both in for an entire week. This time around we meet up with Adam and Susan to do our second run down Copper Creek ever (it has been over 2 1/2 years since our last visit). Enjoy the Video and Photos will be posted later!

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Hagen Gorge

Hagen Gorge is located in Washington is a fun Class 4/5 creek. Here is a video showing off the crew running down the section at a medium flow around 3200cfs. The video is a mixture of headcam and HD Camcorder showing off all of the falls on the run.



Paddlers: Josh McKeown, Christina Russell, Nate Herbeck, Heather Herbeck, Adam Elliot, Nick Jacob, and Seth Swallen.

Filming/Editing: Josh McKeown & Christina Russell

Stay Tuned for an extended write-up and PHOTOS!

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East Fork Lewis River, Washington

So a few friends and I got out today to do a little kayaking on a fun Class 4+ Run. The EF Lewis really has mostly class 2/3 except for; Sunset Falls, The Gorge, and Horseshoe Falls. The drops (depending on the flow) are mostly class 4 to 4+. At really high flow they can dip into class 5. Check out the video below to see some good old video of the action!

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