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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Waves for Water

In keeping with my love for the ocean, the surfing community and my passion for helping others I thought it would be nice to take a moment to talk about an organization that does some pretty amazing things. 

The organization: Waves for water

Their mission: It is simple. To get clean water to every single person who needs it.  

Their current project hits close to home for me. As most of you know Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast late October of last year, leaving many surf-based communities in New Jersey and New York completely devastated. Waves for water normally focuses on clean water, but this project focuses on initial survival needs, from first responder assistance to rubble removal and rebuilding efforts. They will be focusing primarily on the surf-based coastal communities in Jersey and New York to start. The hope is that the Waves for Water effort will be a vessel for the global surf community to directly help fellow surfers in need of help along the east coast.


Don't want to donate? No worries. Check them out anyway: 
http://www.wavesforwater.org/about

No blog post would be complete without some pictures.

Here are a few pics I took during tonight's sunset session in La Jolla.


















Monday, January 14, 2013

Mammoth

I just got back from an amazing weekend in Mammoth Lakes, CA. This weekend was one of the coldest of the season, with temperatures dropping below 0 at night and averaging somewhere in the mid 20's during the day. Despite the cold weather, this weekend provided us with some pretty epic conditions. Lucky to get some fresh snow on the first night we enjoyed near perfect conditions throughout the weekend. Mammoth currently has the most snow in North America, with an approximate 192" base and deep powder is plentiful throughout the mountain. 

A few things you may or may not know about Mammoth...

Mammoth mountain is located along the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the Inyo National Forest. Mammoth mountain was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions that began approximately 200,000 years ago. The mountain is still considered an active volcano, with the most recent activity taking place 700 years ago. Mammoth releases high levels of carbon dioxide, which prohibit plant and tree growth in much of the southern section of the mountain. 

Mammoth produces an unusually large amount of snowfall each year when compared to other Eastern Sierra peaks. This is due to its location in a low gap in the Sierra crest. On average Mammoth produces around 400" of snow annually. The base of Mammoth is 7,953 feet and the summit reaches 11,053 feet. There are 150 trails and over 3,500 acres of skiable area.

Mammoth is known for it's wind. Sometimes this produces awesome wind blown snow that is referred to as "the buff". The buff is fine snow with a buttery texture that can make for some amazing conditions. If the direction is right sometimes it's possible to get fresh tracks on every run, if not it can lead to hard packed conditions or ice.

Here are a few photos from this weekend. All photos were taken and edited with my iPhone.


blue bird day 


Andrea, Kristina & I at the summit ~
 11, 053 feet


love riding with this girl 


Andrea dropping in on the half pipe 


Hanging with the boys on day 3 (Andrew, Ian & Steve)
~ backside of the mountain




cruising along the 395 ~ such a beautiful drive!