Sunday Reflections: The Minturn Mile, Studio Upgrade and Cupdate!
On Sundays I reflect. I didn’t drink alcohol this week.
My shoulder is finally feeling better, so I’m back on my snowboard. First day back out with Rob, I sent it full speed into a small tree. It did not feel good.
The Minturn Mile
Snowboarding has been feeling like a metaphor for my life lately. When you’re out there the possibilities are endless, and decisions are made in the blink of an eye. Do I have enough momentum to hit the fresh powder, or do I need to stay in the track set before me? Will there be enough space to slow myself down if I send that cliff, or will I land in a dense field of trees and rocks to avoid on impact? Sometimes it’s easier to follow the path ahead, but often the reward comes for me when I blaze my own trail even if that means hitting a few trees along the way.
"You Could Die" - the sign
As you ride a mountain over and over you start to learn the routes. I’ve got a route for powder days that I rarely adapt from. I know where I’ll be challenging myself, and where I’ll be able to catch a break. Often other routes are proposed, and we settle on the same runs we know and love.
Yesterday I rode with my friend Emma, and I intentionally tried to take some runs I’m not used to that she’s more familiar with. We had a blast, starting with one of the best fresh powder runs I’ve ever had in my life. We got first tracks on the way to Blue Sky Basin and my line was just perfect. It gets a bit scary when you’re sending full speed through powder and you’re not sure exactly what’s ahead, but I hit all the turns I needed to keep in under control while floating across a field without any tracks but ours.
I wrapped up the day with Seth and Michelle at the Minturn Mile, a side country route out a gate on top of Vail. The hike to the gate was exhausting, up a boot packed ridge. It was my first time taking the legendary run through its own bowl and into one of the most beautiful (but challenging) single tracks along a creek in the valley and feeding out into the front of Minturn just minutes away from my studio. J. Cost was there to pick us up and drive Seth and Michelle back to their car in Vail, but we could have been at the studio from the bottom in less than five minutes. After an overcast morning and light snow the sun came out and conditions were absolutely perfect. If only we had a lift in Minturn we could ski in and ski out from the studio! Nevertheless, it’s quite a dream come true.
Studio Upgrade
My dude Jeremy (Old Greed) came through the studio yesterday to paint another Hunter S. Thompson mural on the garage door. I love having Jeremy in the studio and can’t wait to have him back for the Vail Cup Collectors Club next month. He’s even working on a small wood painting in collaboration with J. Cost that will be available at the show!
CUPDATE
I’ve been blowing glass almost every day, working on collaborations for my show. This is without a doubt the best work I’ve ever created, and things are going more comfortably than ever. The combination of my shop getting into a flow as a team, and having almost all the tools we need (and a flat press on the way from Taglia Tool). Things are hectic but feeling great and I’m full of excitement for my show next month!
We sold out of Jason Gordon’s fumed pints but we have a box on the way with ten more of those and half a dozen fumed mugs! I can’t wait to see what those are like and I think they’ll all be $150 and under!
Ed Wolfe mugs sold out again, but don’t worry we have another batch from them coming too! I finally kept one for myself to go with the few pairs of their tumblers I’ve already added to my personal collection. They’re truly some of my favorite cups on the market.
Ned Glassman hooks us up with almost all his blue cups (we have two listed and three more waiting on photos) but we’re trying to lock down some greens. These are pretty rare I’m told and his answer was “maybe” before telling me all his green tubing from this batch was spoken for. Keep your fingers crossed he adds us to the green list, but if we do get any don’t expect them to last long!
Thanks for tuning in! If you can’t make our show next month but you’re interested in purchasing work please contact us to be put on a list of first looks after the weekend wraps up. We’ll do our best to get everybody what they want from the show, of course VIP ticket holders have first dibs followed by Saturday GA ticket holders so your best way to lock down the piece you want is to come out for the show!
Thanks for tuning in,
BB
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