2011 Going Big! Safely.
The 2011 Edition of Going Big! Safely. was another great success! We gathered at Snowbird Resort‘s Conference Center at the Cliff Lodge for an evening of learning from the pros about what has helped them become successful skiers. The lineup of skiers was World-Class, with Julian Carr, Jeremy Nobis, Jen Hudak, Jamie Pierre, Grete Eliassen and Cody Barnhill all taking the stage to share their experience. Each of the skiers spoke about the practices they use to help keep them prepared and safe on the big lines and big airs. The evening also featured Grant Helgeson, a forecaster from the Utah Avalanche Center, who spoke about the unique elements of risk in the backcountry, and how to manage those risks. Dr. Scholl, spoke on ski related injuries and discussed prevention strategies to minimize injury on the slopes.
The presentations were genuine and showed very clearly that beyond their amazing skiing talents, the members of the panel all have looked at their skiing careers as a process of learning. Each of the skiers was able to share lessons that they had learned about how to prepare for the risks of the mountain, some lessons were from injuries, some from close calls and some from being a keen observer of conditions both on the mountain and internally. There was a fascinating discussion on how to read your internal anxiety and adrenaline in an effort to determine if this was appropriate excitement and something to harness in your performance, or a red flag anxiety telling you that you should bail out on the run or trick you are thinking about hitting. Jen Hudak, shared a very personal story on motivation as she spoke about her Dad’s diagnosis of Leukemia and how he looks at the process of treatment as a challenge similar to conquering your own personal Mt. Everest. She shared something from her blog that she had written for her Dad about driving yourself to excellence on the path to Conquer Your Everest.
After the presentations and panel discussion, many of the audience were lucky to take home some great new gear from program sponsors: Discrete Headwear, Smith Optics, ProBar, Skullcandy and Obermeyer. Some of the winners got their SWAG from a winning raffle number and others performed a talent or took on Julian Carr in a handstand contest to grab their cool gear! Grete Eliassen proved herself a natural with the microphone as she went M.C. on the gear giveaway as easily as she had talked about keeping skiing as part of a balanced life earlier in the program.
After the program, we received great feedback from the audience and sponsors and we are already looking forward to next year’s event! Special thanks to those who helped get the word out for this event and build our growing audience, including: KALL 700 Sports Radio, Park City TV and ESPN Action Sports.
