Carlos and I have been filming “The Bump Club” for six weeks now, and for six weeks, I’ve been experiencing déjà vu on the regular. We’re following a path I vividly remember taking my eighth grade year. That year, a close-knit group of eight of us began our ski season in late October with dry land training at the base of lift 7.  As winter arrived, we took advantage of the limited opportunities that we had, making zip turns on misty maiden, and building a jump on upper plunge as soon as ski patrol let us, practicing helis and twister spreads.  Caleb and Harold drove us to see some world-class mogul skiing in Deer Valley, where we watched Jeremy Bloom dominate duals and Bump Club product Kate Reid compete in Aerials.  We followed the Rocky Mountain Circuit through Steamboat, Winter Park, and Aspen. We built the course on Lower Plunge, the first time a Rocky Mountain event had been hosted on LP since the Bump Club left Rocky some years back.

But then eighth grade ended. Carlos and Page moved on to boarding School (but Page returned back a year later).  Jimmy and Joe reached the next level, earning NorAm spots.  Lindsey, Lane and Wade kept training with Caleb and Harold, but I chose not to go back to competing.  I lost a lot of my passion for skiing after eighth grade.  I felt out of place with ski school, and didn’t feel comfortable rejoining the bump club without the full crew.

I graduated from Telluride High School in 2008, and moved on to Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  My first winter back from school, Powder healed me.  Two foot deep powder days after my return, my love for skiing was reinvigorated.  I told Carlos I’d join him in making “The Bump Club” this winter. 

This past September, I had surgery to repair my torn labrum in my hip. Then, my winter started in October this year.  I began doing physical therapy daily at the base of lift 7 (Peak Performance Therapy). Once I was healed, I moved on to lift 4, where I started making zip turns again.  I moved on to shooting the bump club hit the annual upper plunge jump.  Carlos and I went back to Deer Valley for the World Cup this year.  We’ve been traveling to Rocky Mountain Events, filming the new Telluride talent.  The Lower Plunge mogul course is being sculpted, the Rocky Mountain event is back this weekend.