Awaking to the brisk morning air of Salt Lake City, I drove myself to the airport at 6am. After finding self parking, and taking the shuttle bus to my terminal, I was incredibly tired. A sleepless night, full of anticipation before, I went right to sleep on my plane. About an hour and a half later, I touched down in Orange County. The time was 10am, my mom came and picked me up, and we started the commute to Mountain High.
We made extremely good time on the way up to southern California’s closest resort, it took us about an hour. A couple of my other friends from Utah had traveled down to compete, and were kind enough to take my snowboarding stuff in the car with them, so I wouldn’t have to fly with it. After meeting up with the boys, I stopped by registration, got my bib, and headed to the hill to practice.
The wind was blowing so hard on the course the boys were having a hard time clearing the jumps, so I realized it was hopeless for me to even try. Having lightly sprained my ankle a couple days before this contest, I already had reservations about hitting 70ft. jumps, and I wasn’t about to end my season due to poor conditions. I ended up not even hitting the course once on Friday, instead I practiced some stuff on the other features that are offered on the mountain. We rode hard until about 3pm before we drove back to our hotel, which was right off the freeway. I got to spend some quality time with my mom, who I rarely get to see, and it was quite enjoyable and relaxing to literally have NOTHING to do. 
Saturday, February 5th, Mountain High hosted the 13th annual Cholula Triple Air contest. We woke up to a beautiful sunny sky, light winds, and about 55 degree weather. Perfect! With a newfound confidence, I was ready to begin. We had an hour and a half to practice on the course, in which time I had hit the first and second jump, but not the 3rd (which was the 70 footer.) It wasn’t until the contest started, that I actually rode the whole course. 
I dropped 4th in the starting line-up. It was really fun to see all of the girls being so supportive of one another, and it’s always fun to see my friends from mammoth! We had to drop in from way above the actual drop-in point due to the wind. First run I took was solid on the first two jumps, as I approached jump number 3, I went to do a shifty, when I brought it back around, the wind caused me to over-rotate into a backside 180. Fortunately, I landed it, and then I sat down. Thrilled I was still alive after accidentally spinning over a 70ft. jump, I realized that was way less scary than doing a straight air! It is amazing to push yourself and see what your body is capable of. After surviving that, I now know I can push a lot further within myself. They ran everyone all the way through one time, before starting the girls in our second runs. Since there were only 7 girls in the contest, we were being judged on the best of 2 runs, with no finals. After washing out a little bit on my first run, I was determined to put down a clean run. I dropped into the first jump with as much speed as possible, and spun a backside 360. Pointing into the next two jumps, I did two clean straight airs to make sure I landed a clean run. Relieved it was over, and I was alive, I went and got my GO PRO and started getting some shots with my friends Kim, and Nirvana.
We tore up the mountain and had a blast being total goofballs for the rest of the day. I’m pretty confident we were having the most fun on the mountain, therefore, we were shredding hard! After a long day of competing, filming, and having the MOST fun, we were all anxious to see what the results were. They announced the women first. Props to Melissa, and Mikayla for taking 4th and 5th. They had Nirvana, Izzy, and me come to the podium to build up the suspense of the order we had placed in. In the end, Izzy took 3rd, I took 2nd, and I’m happy to say Nirvana took 1st! She was riding very well, and definitely deserved it. Congrats girls! Thanks to all of the sponsors of the event, and Mountain High for always putting on great events. After the awards, my mom and I drove back to Orange County to meet my stepdad for a delicious celebration dinner at Thai Bros. Thanks Ricky! With our bellies full, we drove up to my sister’s house in Newport Beach. There is never a lack of fun, or laughter when my family gets together. We know how to have a good time :) Finally midnight came around, and it was time to go to sleep before my flight at 8am the next morning. Another quick turn- around for me. I landed at 2pm, had to be at work at 4:30pm, pack, then leave the next morning for Aspen. Busy, busy, busy, but I LOVE my life and all of my supporters. THANK YOU!
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