The 2009 Baldy Bash was a blast! The competition consisted of coming up with, and singing a team theme song loudly to everyone in the Lodge, a Photo-op Scavenger hunt all over the Mountain, and finally costumes were judged as well. Needless to say our amazing team (YMCA): Riley Berman, Lily Debray, Lynsey Dyer, Madi DuPont, Allegra Gordan, and Conor Davis(me), won the days events. I cannot wait for Baldy Bash 2010.
Hot-CoCo CanCan
Conor’s Amazing Tail Grab
All-Star Team!!!
Conor Davis|Big Mountain Telemark Skier and Ambassador
I honestly cannot remember a time in my life before snow or skiing. My first memories seem to be mental recordings of me sliding past the snow banks of our driveway on little plastic skis from the local drugstore. I remember the hours I spent in our backyard, playing in the snow, never feeling wet or cold. My mother would always have to drag my brother and me back into the house, away from the jumble of backyard ski runs and jumps we made. Skiing has always been a way for me to connect with the world around me, a way to live in the moment. When I’m skiing I’m free.
 Photo: Chris Holmquist |
 My First Time Skiing |
I believe that my skiing career started when I was old enough to stand(2-ish), when my ambitious father pushed me, down the driveway on cheap little plastic skis. As I became skilled enough to make my way down the slopes of the “bunny hill,” i was retrofitted with “edgy-wedgies” and “racer-chasers.” Soon i joined the early stage of ski team, which was more like a super cool after school daycare, where i got to ski with all my friends. As time progressed, my friends and I became alpine racers on the A-team. We would head to the mountain almost every day after school to run gates and occasionally free-ski. By the time my first year in high school came around, I was pretty bored of the monotonous routine of training for alpine races, so I made a radical shift and I joined the Cross-Country/Nordic ski team. I had always been a great endurance athlete, and I was a varsity cross-country runner my first year in high school. I stuck with the Nordic team for two years, until an unfortunate health issue forced me to quit. However, the Nordic team instilled a life long passion of the outdoor-fitness, and made me want to lead and active outdoor lifestyle. After Nordic team, I knew that I wanted to continue to downhill ski, but I wanted something new and exciting, something unique, and I took up telemark skiing.
My father has always been a Telemark skier; he is from an era of leather boots, three-pin bindings, and big long wooden skinny skis. He was the major influence in my decision to lose half my binding and free my heel. Telemarking came very naturally and quickly to me, I had some difficulty letting my knee drop at first, but I slowly felt more and more comfortable. I fell in love with the fluidity and beautiful style of the “tele-turn.”
-I haven’t gotten back in my alpine boots since…
“We got a young ripper here named Conor Davis. Conor is super passionate about Telemark skiing. He has been one of our youngest racers for years. He represents the total youth movement: rails, high speed and has been competing in the Big Mt Comps for a couple of years. Did I mention he is a fitness freak. Remember the days…” -Danny Walton
Goals for the Sport
I want to tear down the traditional views of telemark skiing. With ever-evolving gear and technology, there are more possibilities to push the sport than ever before. I strive to ski faster, go bigger, get in the park and invent new tele-tricks, and ski better than my alpine companions, and have an amazing time doing it.
Photo: Buck Naked Films
