November Colorado Edit

Colorado Edit 2010- Angeli Van Lannen and Ashley Battersby from Ashley Battersby on Vimeo.

Credits:

Skiing by-

Angeli VanLaanen

and

Ashely Battersby

Filming by-

Oakley Shea

Editing by-

Ashely Battersby

Opening Day at Alta Edit...

Adventures at Alta, Day One from Pip Hunt on Vimeo.

Featuring:
Shaun Raskin
Molly Ellowitz
Pip Hunt
Vanessa Aadland
and
Angeli VanLaanen

Filmed by:
Re Wikstrom

Edited by:
Pip Hunt
and
Angeli VanLaanen

"Angi Shows Lyme Who's Boss"

I did a photoshoot with Riley Snyder recently that included limes and a organic Park City setting. This was the most creative and unusual concept for a shoot that I've done to date. It all started as a joke...

Riley and I were brain storming ideas for the shoot and he began by asking me about myself and anything that is prevalent to my life as of late. I blurted out, "well, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, we could have me crushing a bunch of limes!" My dear friend Ashley Battersby laughed out loud, loving the metaphor and play on words. Riley agreed it was a unique idea and we should give it a shot. And that's where the idea was born... "Angi shows limes (Lyme) who is boss."

Here is assistant Oakley Shea and I rolling limes, to make crushing them a little easier.

"Let the crushing begin." Me with lime in hand.

It was such a fun shoot thanks to Riley and Oakley. Toe stand was a must!

To check out the finished products, go to Rileysnyderphoto.com and click on Portraits. Scroll through and you'll find me at photo 6, 18 and 30.

Recently EXPN posted an article on me written by Molly Baker (talented journalist, friend and fellow skier & Atomic team rider), where I open up about living with Lyme Disease. Check it out at http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/news/story?id=5681374

Enjoy :-)

Faces

A collection of candid portraits I took over the past year...

It's hard to believe that most of these photos were taken with my

i-phone! Fancy camera, coming soon...

Katal Inc.

This spring I was in my favorite place to spend the month of May, Mammoth Lakes, CA.

With rock climbing galore, mountain biking, great people, delicious food and not to mention plenty of snow to provide the best spring park and halfpipe around, Mammoth Lakes has it all. I spent a few weeks with Kristi Leskinen hitting the Katal Inc. Landing Pad. I was able to work on new tricks and inverts for the first time, to prepare myself for progression in park and halfpipe. Kristi inspired me to jump outside my comfort zone and work on off axis spins and flips. I had done a few backflips off backcountry jumps when I was younger and more daring. But attempting them on a park jump was WAY outside my comfort zone.

Look for me in the video at the top of the article ESPN wrote on Katal Inc, doing my first back flips on a park jump. I was extremely stoked to say the least!

The guys who invented this contraption are outstanding human beings and engineers! And the people who brought the "pad" to Mammoth and made it possible to train on it this spring are exceptional as well!

BIG thanks to Mammoth Mountain, Oren, Loz, Kristi, Aaron, Steve and Ryan for a fun and productive month!

Ryan's "movie trailer voice" for your viewing pleasure...

South America

My South American adventure started 2 1/2 weeks ago, arriving in Santiago, Chile and continuing on 5 hours South to Chillan. Atomic sent Molly Baker and I on a mission with Grant Gunderson to shoot the 2012 product line. We stayed right at the base of Termas de Chillan for a week in the Grand Hotel. The hotel brought zest as well as many opportunities for practicing my Spanish speaking with the staff. We were somewhat stranded on the mountain without a car and there were few guests midweek... I began to feel very at home, walking to breakfast in my pj's & slippers and greeting the staff by first name. This luxury was wonderful but I was feeling we were missing out on the rustic South American experience. Hmmm but with a hot tub the size of a pool, who's complaining.

We skied all day from open to sunset, making the most of the powder that greeted us. When the storms turned warm in Chillan, we headed further South to follow the snow.

The next leg of our journey was a polar opposite experience. We stayed at a friends house in town and got a feel for the local scene in Bariloche, Argentina. Meals weren't catered and rooms weren't cleaned daily. The snow kept coming and we enjoyed the abundance brought by the Santa Rosa.

I feel we got the best of both worlds on the 3 week trip. Molly Baker sums up our experience fantastically on "The Ski Journal" blog.

I am ecstatic to have finally made it to South America! Here are a few images from my adventures.

Me enjoying the snow at Termas de Chillan, Chile.
(top two photos credit to: Forrest Burki)
Street Art in Santiago, Chile.
There are many stray dogs here in South America. They all melted my heart and I adopted a new one everyday. This lil buddy appropriately named "Zorro" (fox in Spanish) was my favorite of the trip.

We visited the Patagonian Museum in Argentina.

These hieroglyphics look phenomenal. I would love to see them in person someday.

Tango night at the Grand Hotel.
Seafood in Chile was amazing!
Grant gives this $7 bottle of wine two thumbs up.
More seafood... with papitas fritas (mini french fries) on top, curious but yummy.

Molly flashing her wad of pesos.
The bus terminal in Santiago, Day 1... "we've got two first timers here!"

Here are a few more blog posts from our trip:

The Ski Journal

ESPN ski

Sharing strength.

Motivation.

I know we all fight an inner battle with motivation... or at least many of us do.

Motivation to stop eating unhealthy, motivation to work out every morning, motivation to keep going through the motions of our day when we feel less then 100%.

What is it that keeps each of us going?

For me, my motivation in life is my passions. Passion for skiing, passion for dancing, passion for learning and teaching. The list goes on and on. Usually I would elaborate on this list, but today I want to flip it around.

I am interested to know what drives us... I am interested to know what drives you.

I was informed recently of an event this September to support a family battling Lyme Disease right here in Bellingham, WA (my home town.) I know from my own experience, that finding motivation when you have a painful disease can be a struggle. Any and all inspirations shared with me this year have helped tremendously.

I would like to ask anyone/everyone to write in with thoughts and inspirations for people going through hard times. This could be a poem, a quote, a photo, a story, anything works. For example, my friend Brittney sent me photos of her adorable dog to cheer me up. It not only made me smile but helped to put positive thoughts in my head. Positivity is one of the greatest healers.

My end goal is to compile a journal to share with others.

Please send entries to : Angeeski@gmail.com

Thank you and I'm very excited to hear from you,

Angeli

Dance, Sing, Love!

Has anyone ever snuck-up on you while you were dancing all out to an ipod?

Well, it actually happens to me all the time... seems I dance a lot :-)

These candid photos reminded me of a quote for the day:

DANCE like no one's watching,

SING like no one's listening,

And LOVE like you've never been hurt.

Drink of the day:

Strawberry juice

Clean and cut strawberries.

Place in pot of water and simmer for 60-80 min ( The time simmering depends on the amount of water. Your goal is to let the liquid absorb the juices and then thicken up into a syrup. Make sure not to boil the berries, the syrup will burn to the bottom of the pot.)

Strain liquid and let cool.

Place in the refrigerator to chill.

Mix with water or lemonade & agave or organic cane sugar to taste.

(It's fun to serve strawberry lemonade with a few cut strawberries on top of the ice.)

Enjoy.

♥Ang

Summertime drinks...

~After spending a month in Alaska, 2 weeks at Mt. Baker, WA and a month in Mammoth, CA skiing, I was ready for a short break from the ski world. A change of scenery always gives me a chance to pursue other passions and meet people outside of the mountains. I cherish these breaks in between skiing adventures because they deepen my appreciation for all walks of life, as well as recharge my batteries and excitement for skiing.

Me on top of a heli line in AK

Mt. Baker Road Gap

In May I was offered a job by a family friend, to work for pre-fair at the Oregon Country Fair site. For those of you whom have yet to experience the Oregon Country Fair, I will do my best to sum it up.

Think: 3 days in July of music, art, handmade food and crafts, theater, circus, beautiful land by a river and a bunch of happy hippies.

I have been attending this festival with my family since I was young, but skipped a handful of years for sports and summer adventures. In the years away, I had forgotten the magic of this festival and the last month of my life was truly like COMING HOME...

My home in Veneta, OR

For all of June and the beginning of July I worked right outside of Eugene, OR, in a little town called Veneta. My job was in an outdoor organic kitchen that fed the crews building the festival. I got to dabble in all areas of kitchen work but found my niche at the drinks bar.

I spent most my days mixing and boiling healthy and delicious drinks. I made everything from chai tea, to cold water infusion coffee, to watermelon juice. And when I say "made", I mean from scratch.

The beauty of my job was the freedom to create whatever drink I dreamed up.

In the next few blogs I will share some secret recipes and new ideas for summer drinks.

So, from me to you... Yummy liquids :-)

Drink 1:

Ginger Lemonade (simple yet perfect for a hot or chilly day)

Grate ginger (skin and all) and place in a pot with water (amounts depends on how strong and the quantity of tea you want.)

Boil ginger for 30 min. (you can reuse ginger one more time before composting.)

Let ginger tea cool...

(You can either squeeze lemons or use lemon concentrate for the next part)

Squeeze a bunch of lemons and mix with ginger tea.

Add agave or organic cane sugar to taste.

Add water if brew is too strong.

Serve HOT or COLD.

Easy as 1, 2, 3 and extremely good for the digestive system and immune system.

Enjoy :-)

♥Ang

Twitter take over...

Hi

Joining Twitter (http://twitter.com/angeli_v) has made it far easier to update everyone on my travels, adventures and interesting thoughts/ideas... however, this has left a gap in my blogging. I hope to change that this month by sharing a blog every few days.

Let the blogging begin!

Skating in Mammoth

After a lengthy hiatus from blogging, I am back. And here is a quick edit of me skating for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

(intro credit: my dear friend Alice Gong)

catching up...

To catch you up on the past few weeks starts with the She Jumps fundraiser. It was a HUGE success! Fun, productive and informative. I walked away with a shovel/probe set for half of what the retail price asks and extremely inspired to continue gaining mountain knowledge. We are never done learning, no matter how many avy courses we have taken.

Me and my prize

Manning the She Jumps Table: "donations welcome" :-)

More to come on Xgames 14...