Hello Everyone,
What a season I've had so far, the snow has brought in Matt Sterbenz from 4FRNT last week and this week Scot Schmidt showed up on our doorstep for a project he was working on where he needed a lot of snow. I had the chance to spin a quick Mr. K lap with him and his family a few days ago, but today I was lucky enough to really get out and ski the mountain.
We had the whole family and the film guys spent the morning shooting Scot making turns with the kids. We started with the freshly groomed Calamity Jane, which despite not having any snowmaking on it, has incredible coverage for early December. With all the recent snow the run is as good as you'd want it, corduroy in the middle and untouched pow on the sides, plus the soft snow's holding your edges perfect for arcing turns. But when skiing near Scot, it's tough not to develop a bit of an inferiority complex as he effortlessly performs for the camera on a spots notice.
As much fun as we were having, it was sort of an underutilization having the "original" pro skier in town and not really getting to shine with what he's best at, steep terrain, so the crew worked their way further up the hill to play around in the Bowl. They were focusing the project on quick moving little clips so we spun a few laps having Scot place his signature schmear turns in and around the trees off the tree clump up there. He must have been recognizable, or it could have been the film crew, but each time he went through, he was generating hoops and hollers from the triple chair riders getting glimpses of the show.
I've skied with Scot before, but it never ceases to amaze me what a professional this guy is and the good vibe he brings to the sport and the people around him. He's genuinely the nicest guy you'd ever get to meet and is still one of the best ambassadors we have for our sport. Talking to him about growing up in Helena and learning to ski with family vacations and ski races at Big Sky encourages me with my own experience of getting the good fortune to be able to learn to ski on the same terrain. I've still got a lot to learn, but who knows, maybe one of these days you'll see me laying down confident, Schmidt schmear turns off the steeps at Big Sky.
We'll see you out there,
Dax
