Adam Jewell - Search & Affiliate Marketing

The 2009 PSIA National Academy ended two days ago already and now the Snowbird trip that included it is coming to a close. Upon waking up this morning, there was so much fog it was impossible to see anything out the window. A little wet snow fell last night and it was debatable as to whether or not it was worth going out to ski in the wet, foggy, sleeting weather.

At about noon, I headed down to the Snowbird Tram center to see if the ski pass from the PSIA Academy was still good. The ski school desk scanned it and said it looked like it was still good until April 25th, today! Another big thanks to PSIA for the extra days on the pass for the PSIA Academy! Since no cash outlay was needed and the slopes were waiting for another body to welcome with open arms, it was time to go venture out into the cold, snow, fog and wind.

The first ride up the tram didn’t look to promising. There was water dripping down from the poles in the tram. Obviously it was wet out there. Upon reaching the top visibility was fair at best and the first run down Mineral Basin was a little tricky, though it was possible to pick out some landmarks and see skiers scattered around on the hill. There was some fresh powder on top of crud but it was fairly well scraped and windblown off of the groomed part of the slopes.

After a run in Mineral Basin, the next area to to explore was the Little Cloud chair area. Visibility was getting a little worse. I hugged the left (uphill) side of the catwalk so as not to fall into the bowl area. It was virtually impossible to see the edge and much safer to hug the uphill side so as not to go tumbling off the side into steeper terrain. With such heavy snow and fog, it is extremely easy to make a wrong turn and get lost particularly in an area such as Snowbird with such diverse terrain. It didn’t take long for me to take a wrong turn and end up on somthing a little steeper than I had anticipated. It was not a huge deal, however the area I ended up in had about 12 inches of fresh powder on top and then about 12 inches of soft crud undernieth it. The snowboarders who ran out of steam and had to walk were struggling to get thorugh that thick stuff and I knew if I fell, I’d have some difficulties as well. Who knows if ski patrol would even find me if something happened? Slowly and carefully, I made my way down to the Little Cloud lift.

That run was nice and if I could only keep my sense of direction, there was an easier and safer way down to the Little Cloud lift. The next run down, I managed to stay on what had been the easier groomed trail back down to the Little Cloud lift. By this time I was in need of a pit stop. There were three options. Freeze my dick off and risk spraying myself by finding a tree to water, ski all the way back down to the Snowbird Tram, or go ski Mineral Basin and stop in the little shack attached to the ski patrol building. Mineral Basin was the choice!

Just as the first run down the Little Cloud area had me hugging the uphill side of the catwalk, I had to hug the right (uphill) side of the catwalk down into Mineral Basin heading in the direction of the bookshelf cliffs. The only difference was this time it was a TOTAL whiteout. Imagine if you stuck your head in a jug of milk and opened your eyes. That is what it was like. I could not see anything at all. There were a few shadows from the formations in the snow but it was snowing so hard that most bumps and ruts from previous skiers were quickly getting pained over by the snow so there was only endless white. I could see my ski tips and that was about it.

Luckily, I’ve skied Snowbird about 15 days in my life and had a rought idea where I was. No matter how well you know an area, however, when you have no reference points (trees, cliffs, lifts or rock formations) ou never know exactly where you are of what lies ahead of you. It must have been 30 minutes or more of slow going. I had to try to maintian my balance, stay upright on the skis and move in the direction of the lift all while seeing nothing but my ski tips and endless white all around me.

I stoped to ask a few people who were suffering the same vertigo and struggling more than I if they were ok. They were handing in there, some spending more time roling around in the snow in an effort to get back down to the lift rather than trying to remain upright and ski down to the lift. I can only assume they all made it down, though if they had significant trouble, ski patrol would have to get within about 25 feet of them to even know they were there.

Eventually I made it back down to the Mineral Basin lift only to find it shut down. At least I was back where I could see people and I knew where I was. Apparently out in Utah, sometimes lightning rolls in right along with a big snow storm and the Mineral Basin lift was shut down as a precaution so as not to have anyone on it if lightning struck. The 30-40 mile an hour wind gusts may have had something to do with it as well.

After riding the Mineral Basin lift back to the top, I was finally within a hundred feet or so of the bathroom by the Ski Patrol building. I made my way over there against a raging wind spraying snow in my face, secured my skis outside so as to prevent them from blowing down the hill and joined some other frozen souls inside the little building.

The bitter cold wind and snow at the peak of the mountain kept me captive inside the ski patrol hut for at least 30 minutes. I was soon soaked as all the snow melted from my baseball cap, jacket collar, pant and gloves. The snow and wind were not letting up but if I could at least warm up and dry out a little bit, I’ve have a better chance of making it back to the base as a human being rather than an ice cube.

There was to much moisture in all my clothes to have any real chance of drying out but I was able to get warm, let the snow melt off my beard, warm up the gloves a little bit and swap my soaked Winter Park baseball cap for the dry zip on hood I was lucky enough to still have in the jacket pocket.

The last run down was going to be a doozy. Ski patrol offered to let us take the Tram back down and a few people went for that. Maybe if it wasn’t the last day, it could have been an option but today it was not an option. I suited up, put on the warm (but wet) gloves, pulled the hood tight, strapped on the soaked goggles and added the helmet cam as the final accessory. If I was going to ski down through blinding snow, wind and fog, it might as well be captured on camera. After checking to make sure the cam was recording, I ventured out into the elements and started to make my way down.

The wind, snow and fog at the top still kept visibility near zero and had it not been for the trail signs and roped off cliffs, I probably would have fallen of one or at least into more difficult terrain that one would want to tackle with the sensation of being blindfolded. As I got off the peak and onto Chips Run, visibility gradually became better and the wind died down.

The bottom 3/4 of the run was the type of run all powder loving skiers hope for. It wasn’t perfect but there was up to 24 inches of powder in wind blown areas, there were very few tracks thorugh it, nobody else around and no rush to get anywhere. I took my time, enjoyed the run and didn’t notice the cold. The warmth of a great last powder run after a great 2009 PSIA National Academy was a great feeling. Upon getting back to the Cliff Lodge and up to the room, Hartley (roomate) ws sleeping peacefully, the Pittsburgh Penguins had just knocked the Philadelphia Flyers out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round and the Wildflower restaurant down at the Iron Blossom lodge at Snowbird had a pizza and wing special with my name all over it. Life is good. Time to go get some pizza and wings!

As part of the Captain Jacks Santa Barbara tour company tour I took before CJU 2008 started, Chris (the tour guide) and I went to the Circle Bar B Stable in Goleta, California for a 1.5 hour horse back ride. On the road up to the stable, it is a beautiful ride. There are great sights, lemon and avacado trees all over the place and views of the ocean and the Channel Islands.

I had a nice mellow horse by the name of Leroy. He was a little pokey and I had to give him some encouragement to keep up with the guide, Danny ahead of me. The hour and a half ride was on a windy trail that was fairly rocky and crosed a few streams. Athough he was a little slow, Leroy was a great horse. He didn’t stop to eat along the way, didn’t toss me off at any time during the ride, never got spooked and handles the somewhat rugged terain like a champ.

Circle B Stables offers various lengths of horse back rides ranging from an hour and a half to half day rides that go for four hours. There are group and private rides as well as sunset and sunrise rides as well. The tour I took included the 1.5 hour ride. Since no one else was booked at the time, I had a private guide (normally $65.00) but still paid the group rate of $37.00.

The tour was absolutely beautiful, very relaxing, and the guides and whole staff were wonderful and made sure the equipment and the orse were well suited for me. If you are looking for more than just a horseback ride, you can also check out the Circle B Stables packages. While that was not something I did while there, it would be a great way to get away for a couple days. When you are out in Santa Barbara and want to do something unique, be sure to head over to Circle B Stables and do some horseback riding. You might not be able to walk after being on the horse for even an hour and a half (it took me a while to feel like my legs were back to normal after the ride) but you’ll have a good time, see some beautiful sights and have a chance to take some great pictures and relax away from everything.

The day started bright and early with a 7am flight departure out of Philadelphia that left on time, got to Salt Lake City about 25 minutes early and the connecting flight landed in Santa Barbara right on time. You’d think an affiliate marekting conference in Santa Barbara would be be crawling with early arrivals since the hotel rate is good tonight but so far there don’t seem to be any familiar faces.

The hotel is just about sold out except for some outrageously expensive suites. CJ is still showing registration is available for CJU 2008 which is unusual since it usually sells out as much as two months before the conference kicks off. You’d think the down economy would boost attendance at a performance marketing conference but maybe budget custbacks are keeping people back home at the office.

In any case, it is beautiful Santa Barbara weather, maybe 70 degrees and sun. The beach is right across the street with some kite surfers taking advantage of the sun and wind. As usual there are tons of sailboats out in the harbor, bikes and a number of variations out on the beach and the sidewalks. The hotel is great as always, definitely one of the best places I’ve stayed over the years.

The Stelers are set to take on the Browns tonight starting in a few minutes so I’ll probably go get dinner and maybe a few beers and watch the game. Tomorow should be AWESOME. Since the conference doesn’t start till Tuesday, tomorrow is a free day and I’ll be doing some horse back riding, going to some wineries (which has never been a big thing for me but it sounds like this might be prety cool) and then out on a sailboat. There is supposed to be some Danish villiage that there will be time to go through and misc other sights to see. The tour will be with Captain Jacks Santa Barabara Adventure Tours and the specific tour will be the “Captain Jacks Top Deck Tour” that should provide a pretty good sampling of a nice chunk of the cool stuff to do around here. Since CJU doesn’t really get going till the welcome reception on Tuesday at 6pm, I may line up some other adventure stuff on Tuesday as well, maybe head out the Channel Islands for a little kayaking. Well, it looks like the Steeler game is starting so it’s time to sign off and go watch the game. Tomorrow should be an awesome day.

High gas prices have been a budget killer for some. However at the same time, they have finally forced us to acknowledge that a dependency on oil can be a dangerous situation. As noted in IOUSA “We don’t do anything until something becomes a crisis” and a surge in gas prices seem to have finally made us realize we need to do something. Since the surge in gas prices, there has been a frenzy surrounding alternative energy and new vehicles are in production. One of the newest vehicles coming to the US is the A2B Electric Bike from Ultra Motor. It looks like a very cool toy. It comes with a battery pack that supposedly has a 20 mile range that may be extended if you do some pedaling along the way. A second battery can also be added to increase the range to 40 miles. The top speed is supposed to be 20 miles an hour.

Other features include an oversized seat and a full suspension frame. Engadget reports an estimated price of $2,675 for the A2B electric bike.

$2,675 seems like a reasonable price for an electric bike so long as it is built well. You can easily find medium to high end mountain bikes without motors that cost more than that. Before you buy, you’d do well to at least take a test drive to see how it feels and if it is indeed better than a regular bike.

Since it has a motor, will it need a licence and insurance, can you ride it on the sidewalk? It is about half the price of a Segway I2 but is likely to have a slightly shorter range than the Segway I2. It also doesn’t have the WOW! (or geek) factor of the Segway. Check out the Ultra Motor website for the Ultra Motor A2b dealer locator and go check one out today!

The latest adventure trip offered by Terramar Adventures in Philadelphia was a whitewater rafting trip to the Poconos. At about 12 noon we all met up at Pocono Whitewater rafting. The run rafting trips through the Lehigh River Gorge which has class I II and II rapids. The trip was about 5 hours of time on the river, a little overview of safety and what to expect, about a 20 minute school bus ride to the trail to walk down to the river and about a half mile to a mile hike down to the river. After about an hour of setup, intro and travel time we hopped in a raft and shoved of down the gorge.

It has been 20+ years since I went white water rafting and was excited to be going again with a great group of people. There were seven people in the raft, a bail bucket, a lunch bucket (minus the lunch) and of course we all had paddles and life jackets. This particular weekend was a dam release weekend which means they let a ton of water out of some dam upstream somewhere and there is enough water in the gorge to create some rapids and go rafting.

The water seemed to be lower than the last dam release trip becuase they didn’t release as much water from the dam. Despite this, there were still some great rapids but also a number of shallow spots where it was a little rough going. While going thorugh one set of rapids and getting a litle stuck, I fell out of the raft and held onto the raft as my butt and feet bounced off the rocks while we went down the river. The other people in the boat did a great job of helping me get back in the raft as I also tried to save a bunch of our paddles from floating away down the river. There was a bet going with Sarah who had been on the previous trip. If either of us fell out of the boat, it would cost the victim dinner so she got a free dinner at the BJ’s place a few miles down the road. It was a long day & I was exhausted. After watching a little Warren Miller, back at her place I went home and hit the sack. The next day was outdoor laser tag at a state park not to far away. It had been ages since I played laser tag and it was quite a struggle to get up and get to the park the next day.