Whistler BC

During the Summer of 2000 my friends Stella (in the pic), Elliott, and I drove up to Whistler, rode and had a great time. Her mom couldn't believe that this was a real photo in nature, not a fake background. The drive up to Whistler is absolutely stunning, especially at sunset!

When we were taking the lift up the mountain over a grassy hill, a black bear ran beneath us! Whistler is so beautiful anytime of the year. The parking lot is often filled with people sleeping in vans, like me. There are plenty of places to poach a shower too.

How it all began

Yes, the baby is me and not so cute. Sort of goblin/elfish.

Rendezvous

When we lived in UT, my family got into the Mountain Man Rendezvous. We dressed, camped, ate, and played as they would have pre-1840.

This photo is of me holding my neice Sage when she was just a baby. Probably the summer of '99.

At Rendezvous we would have competitions throwing knives, tomahawks, and shooting black powder guns. I dressed like that on a regular basis for about 8 years. Now it's a great halloween costume.

Competition


Can you believe this is me! I must, by my nature, woo you with the major cool factor of having done Big Air at the XGames back in the day.

From the day I started competing I wanted to get into the XGames. I wanted to ride with the big dogs.

When entering the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom the season before, my peeps were telling me to register in the amature category instead of "Pro". I went Pro, I'd rather ride with the best and be challenged than get stuff.

The next season I sent my resume, videos and photos to get into the XGames, bad weather cancelled the XGame qualifiers. Got the invitation, used my mom's frequent flyer miles and went to NYC, took the train to VT. Met somebody on the ride who was thrilled to pose as my coach to get "backstage" access. So, he paid for the long cab ride to Mt. Snow from the train station and he got to go into the athletes lounge and up to the top of the jump.

That night I showed up with my gear bag and introduced myself to the man who put on the games. I told him that I didn't have a place to stay, asked him if he knew where I might crash and he invited me to his gigantic condo where there were 3 other riders crashing. I shared a room with a nice girl from Long Island, who ended up driving me back to the City with my broken leg, slept at her place for a night and then to the airport. One night in MN with a co-worker of my mom's, and then back to WA. My leg was casted 3 days later because of swelling. Broke my tib, fib, and maleolis off!

9 1/2 weeks non-weight bearing, in the chair in my parents living room. Met Ruby Ann, my new best buddy.

My Name is now Nicole Donnelly. I was still Nicole Sheets in the Summer of 2001, when I lived on Smoke Farm in this little converted chicken coupe. My Dog is Ruby Ann. When we met, she was homeless and pregnant, I had a broken leg. We are still together 8 years later, she has been through it all with me.

Earlier in the year, Feb. 4, 2001, I broke my leg in the Big Air Snowboarding Finals at the XGames in Vermont. Good times! Washing my hair became a challenge and I shaved it off! Ruby didn't mind.

Rewind a few more years to 1995, when I graduated from Weber High School and started at Weber State University. I studied German, History, and Photography, finished in '98 then moved on to Park City to live in my Honda Civic and snowboard full time.

The Honda Civic protected me from the elements that winter as I trained on the Park City Snowboard Team and started competing in local and international events. After the lifts stopped in UT, I drove to Tahoe, rode until thier lifts closed, then off to San Fran to visit my cuz. There are many stories from that month long road trip that ended in Washington state. To be continued somewhere later in the blog.

I'll quickly bullet point the next few years for future reference: (there will be a quiz on this)

-Lived @ Mt. Baker Ski Area '00

-Summer @ Whistler

-Winter @ Steven's Pass '01

-Summer @ Mt. Hood

-Winter @ Steven's Pass '02

-Summer @ Mt. Hood

-Winter @ Steven's Pass '03

-Summer@ ? too many concussions

-Winter off had Sara June '04

-Started BabyLegs June '05

-Got back on the snow, Sara's first ski day '06

-BabyLegs grew and grew, joined EO, rode more at SP '07

-Traveled the world learning about business '08

-On the EO Seattle Board as Accelerator Chair, sold majority of BL '09

Stories of the adventures between the bullets to come...Ciao!

Test

Test

--
Nicole Donnelly

Seattle, Accelerator Chair
www.EOnetwork.org