Burke Alder Adventure and Outdoor Blogs
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Utah is home to the best snow on earth and the best backcountry skiing runs in the world. Since winter is knocking at the door and I can't wait to be back on the skis—this week's adventure post highlights a fun backcountry tour I did last winter with my friend Spencer Posey. Our tour was to the Toledo Chute. The Toledo chute is located across the street from Alta Ski Resort. This is a quick tour as long is you don't take the long loop like we did. More exercise right?
I never regret waking up for an run, but I regret every time I turn off my alarm and go back to bed. Set a goal to get up on your first alarm. It helps to be consistent by going to bed and getting up at a consistent time. If you do this—it will get easier and easier. It will become a habit. A habit that will have a positive impact on your life. This is easy when you're at home, but how do you continue the habit when you're traveling on business?
What would you do if you started to lose your eyesight and go blind? Would you give up on life and lay down. Would you complain that life isn't fair? Would you get angry? Or would you push forward until blindness became your strength, your way to inspire others to not give up when life gets tough? That's what David Brown did. He pushed through blindness to become the fastest blind sprinter in the world.
Reaching a mountain summit on skis isn't easy and there's power in the last steps before you reach it. You get a second wind and once you reach the summit, you feel complete satisfaction. The rush of the summit makes the journey worth it. All the hard work and motion forward to reach the summit brings with it a state of gratitude and thankfulness. You're reminded that difficult times (the climb) won't last forever. You're reminded that you can arrive at any summit, over any mountain by simply moving forward six inches at time.
Let me set the stage. Henrik was in first place at X Games Big Air competition. As he walks up to do his final jump, he gets a pep talk from Tanner Hall (7-Time X Games Gold Medalist). Tanner understands Henrik talents and skills. The exchange between Tanner and Henrik was recorded behind the scenes on a GoPro and is inspiring to watch.
Behind each successful athlete is a great coach. These coaches train, guide, and inspire each athlete to achieve strong performance and individual greatness. As a former competitive freestyle athlete, my coaches played a huge part to my success on and off the ski hill. This blog post covers five principles coaches use to help their athletes achieve success.
About a month ago, my friend Alec was in a bad mountain bike accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Everyday I read updates on Facebook from his wife Emily and brother Eric. Their messages are of love, hope, faith, and courage. They inspire me to stay focused on the important things of life and to never take a day for granted. Each day prayers are answered and little miracles occur for Alec. It strengthens my resolve to do better in life and look for ways to be strong like Alec.
I love to trail run. I love the feeling of leaving everything behind and embarking on a trail with my shoes, heart, and mind. During my recent runs, I've been thinking about the principles to overcome challenges. My friend shared with me a speech by Wes Brown, a popular motivation speaker, on the five principles we need to apply to overcome difficult life challenges.
Each moment of this life is precious. We must live a life without regrets. Dieter Uchtdorf, former Lufthansa Airlines executive, gave a great talk about living a life without regrets. In his talk, Uchtdorf reflected on a nurse who cared for the terminally ill. The nurse would ask her patients one question as they prepared to leave this life, "Do you have any regrets?" Many of them had regrets. As I read about these life regrets, I wanted to write a blog about them.
Mogul skiing has taught me so many valuable life lessons. And even though it's been 12 years since I've retired from competitive mogul skiing, I reflect back on the positive impact it's had on my life. A sport that not only makes you a strong skier, but a better person. Here are five life lessons mogul skiing has taught me.
