Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 35: The Ranch Wake Park

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Fly with Katie at The Ranch Wake Park in Newmarket, ON Canada. Filmed with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC HX5

Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 34: Underwater Fun

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Katie has some underwater play time with friends and family. Filmed with Sony T series cameras

Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 33: Surfing Muskoka

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Katie Tsuyuki surfs Muskoka on the endless wave!!Sponsored by Sony Canada

Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 32: Global Cutter

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Katie speaks with Brett Nakamoto, lead hand at Whistler Parks, about the Global Cutter. ;Filmed with Sony Cyber-shot DSCHX5 and Handycam HDRXR150

Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 31: Whistler Springtime

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Katie shreds Blackcomb park in Whstler, BC. Filmed with Sony Cyber-shot DSCHX5 and Handycam HDRXR150. ;

Camping Weekend!

Have you ever been to natural hot springs? Ones where you can see the boiling water spill out of a crack in the earth? That’s where I went last weekend with Berto and my good friends from Whistler Yohann Melissa and Astro Boy (dog).    

They are called Sloquet Hot Springs and are about a four and a half hour drive from Squamish.  First we followed highway 99 through Whistler, Pemberton, D’arcy, and until it starts to climb towards the Duffy.  Then we took a logging road on the right, there is a sign for Lilloet Lake Lodge, and followed it south for about 80kms.  It was another 8kms of a rough pot holed filled road into the camping site.  It’s a trek, but worth the drive.

When you get there it’s a camping paradise with plenty of lots and a huge tree canopy that covers the whole grounds.  We were lucky to get one with a big tarp already set up because the forecast was rain for the weekend. 

Setting up camp was easy because we were car camping due to the rain.  Blowing up an air mattress is quick with an electronic pump; I guess not really roughing it.  We had enough food and drinks to feast like kings and queens.  With camp set it was ready for the springs.

The hill down is long and a bit rocky, but the view of the huge evergreens against the near snowy peaks was breathtaking.  Before I knew it I could hear the babbling of the small river that flows beside the springs.  The land drops down beside the river and we followed the pathway, already we could feel the heat. 

The rocks are smooth around the pools, but the waters themselves are shallow.  The deepest parts are about two feet.  Blue tarps with rocks on and around them form barriers that separate the cascading pools from the heat source to the glacier river below.  The pool up top is almost boiling in temperature and we needed to sit a good distance to be in comfortable hot water. When you get too hot you can just jump in the river…if you can stand the frigid cold. I did.   

Nature had grown around the pools with fallen trees, moss, ferns and the budding trees of spring.  Night time is especially magical when tea candles are put on the wall and you can watch the shadows dance.

We had a great camping weekend with campfires, smoores, good conversations and relaxing in the springs.  The road out was long but good friends always makes the journey go by quicker.    

Back in Action

It’s great to have internet back.  It’s amazing the things we take for granted and access to the web is one of them.  When I got my modem on Friday I was so delighted to have my Shaw Cable debacle over with.

Saturday was a wet but awesome day at Whistler on Blackcomb Mountain.  Roberto my coach and I rode jumps and pipe most of the day.  There was also some hiking of the pipe to get down a few tricks in the slushy spring pipe.  It’s a good thing I had my goggle wiper blade to get all the water off my lens because it was raining/snowing a bunch. 

After riding we headed over to Crispin Lipscomb’s house in Pemberton just north of Whistler.  We had a great barbeque and watched the Canucks in a Play Off game against the Nashville Predators.  Sadly the Canucks lost the game but not the series.  It was a heated battle though and we all ended up getting into it. 

Sunday was great with broken cloud providing lots of sunny breaks.  The Blackcomb Park was in full swing and busy.  There were many decent laps riding jumps and hips.  The ride down was full of natural features and spins off the edges of snow groomer roads.  The mountain really is one big play ground. 

Today the mountain was a cloud sandwich.  Clear in the valley, cloudy in the middle, and bright sun shine up top.  Unfortunately the park sits in the middle of the mountain.  It was nice sitting in the sun up top, but there was no work that could be done in the park, that was a white room.  I met up with pro snowboarders Alex Duckworth, Caitlyn Irwin, and Sarah Conrad at the top of the lift where Alex and Caitlyn were sun tanning.  It was good to catch up and chat for a bit, however I couldn’t sit still. 

I headed back down to Squamish and hit the gym, where you can always get work done now matter the weather.  I had a great satisfying workout. 

Now time to catch up on computer work.  Blogging being one of them.  Still, I can’t complain, it was a great weekend.      

Katie Tsuyuki's Video Blog 30: Powder Riding @ Vail

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Take powder turns with Katie Tsuyuki at Vail Resort, CO. ;Filmed with Sony Handycam HDR XR150 and Cyber-shot DSC HX5

Shoot Away

I am so happy my site is finally up and going.  Thanks to all of those who have visited and if you got to this blog from there…thanks for checking it out. 

Days have been going quickly and I was able to get in a photo shoot this week.  My good friend Shannon August came out to shoot and we had great weather for it. 

The Focus Snow boys were out in full force slaying jumps and rails in the beautiful sun.  They were able to get some shots too.

Here are a couple extras, but the good ones are going to Allian, my snowboard sponsor and Anakie whose outerwear I am in. 

Lastly I am happy to get out my new video blog of the bowling that took place last Friday.  It was great to see a great mix of international people.  Check it out on my site. www.ktathletics.com . 

Day off tomorrow, which I am happy to take.  There’s another snow storm outside and around a foot of snow is expected.  Although, I never trust the weather people.   

Sunday = Day of Rest

It's great to have a day off.  Nothing is better than a winter storm to warrant the time for relaxation.  This is a great time to catch up on knocking off levels on Super Mario Bros. WII and going to see a movie.  I think Limitless is going to be the selection for the afternoon.
The weather looks great for tomorrow and my photographer friend Shannon is coming up to take some pics on my new Allian board.  Sunny days are great for fun and photos.

I am waiting for my site to go live, my web guy said it would be going within 24-48hrs, waiting for the DNS to clear.  But, that was on Friday.  I'm excited because it's going to be awesome!

Living by the Bar

I am SO hungry all the time! What a pain it is to be eating every 3-4 hours every day.  I am thankful to have gone to all those Dew Tours, which are sponsored by Power Bar, I managed to get a whole shopping bag full of an assortment of the latest and greatest in Power Bar technology.

I must admit that it is convenient to just reach into my bag, pull out a bar, and have a snack on the chair.  My favorites right now are the Prima 100cal bars..mint chocolate.  As I type I am munching on the Protein Plus, cookies and cream, bar to replenish after a vigorous workout.

And how far have the flavors come...I remember when they all tasted like different colors of chalk...

Although all these bars are an easy fix with no cooking required and a quick clean up; I wish I could just eat Japanese food all the time.  I highly doubt they will be making miso flavored bars anytime soon.  Japan has ruined me for all other food.  If anyone trained in traditional Japanese cooking wants to come be my personal chef I would be in heaven.      

Skier Halfpipe is in 2014 Games!!!

Today IOC announced that they voted a YES to having freeskiing halfpipe event in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  This is such good news for all my skier friends who have been training for this since skiers started seriously riding pipe...about 10 years ago.
This means I will be seeing more friends at an already amazing event.  Thanks IOC for seeing the light...To all my skier friend...Enjoy.

Try Katie's Workout!!

For all those workout savvy people, here are two weight workouts I did this week.
Since I have taken some time off I decided that volume is more important to get back into it!!

Day 1 - Legs and Shoulders
8min warm up
Round 1
Deep Squat with 95lb barbell Paired with Push Press 25lbs dumbbells
7 Sets for 10 reps
Round 2
Dead Lift with 95lb barbell Paired with Bent Over Fly 10lbs dumbbells
7 Sets for 10 reps (Dead) and 15 reps (Fly)
Round 3
Sumo Squat with 95lb  barbell Paired with Alternating Lateral and Front Shoulder Raise with 8lbs dumbbells  
6sets of 10 reps (Sumo) and 20reps (Shoulder raise)
Round 4
3mins of Death (30s burpies, 30s deep squat jump, 30s alternating lunge jump, 30s skater hops, 30s 1 leg hops and turns, 30s other leg hops and turns) for 2 sets
Round 5
Core and Stretch


Day 2 - Chest and Back
8min warm up
Round 1
65lbs Bench Press Paired with Chin-Ups
7sets of 10 reps (bench) max reps (chins)
Round 2
25lbs dumbbell Chest fly on bench Paired with Bent over row with 65lb barbell
7sets of 10 reps
Round 3
Push ups Paired with Inverted Chin ups
4sets of max
Round 4
Spin Bike 10 sets of 30s on and 30s rest
Round 5
Core and Stretch

These are just two days out of my workout week!! Fun Fun

WARNING!! Only for advanced athletes!! OR try with personal trainer!!

Allian Girls Donates

Great News from the Allian team! 

A charity event took place last Sunday at Kagura, Niigata organized by Allian girl rider Sae Kawasaki and her shop Global Crew!

Over $5,000 were donated to relief efforts from the girl snowboarders participated!

Great Job SAE!!

I'm proud to be with Allian!!  

My Dew Tour 2010:I'm Obsessed!

Just found this! It's about the Winter Dew Tour. Enjoy

My Dew Tour 2010:I'm Obsessed!: "Create your own video at: www.mydewtour.com"

Summary of 2011 Competitive Season

This season started with a bang! Almost literally, I hit a tree and severely sprained my ankle and tore some tendon from the bone. I missed the first Winter Dew Tour of the season and was crutch ridden for about a month. Luckily I have a good doctor who patched me up to heel and I was back on snow 7 weeks later.

The second Winter Dew Tour was at Killington in Vermont. The turn out was great for this invited riders only contest, I got in on a wild card spot. Almost every female pro snowboarder was there, including the famous Kelly Clark. I placed 9th in the contest, which I was happy with because I took all that time off snow.

The next, and last, Winter Dew Tour Stop was in Utah at Snowbasin and I again was the wild card. This place was baller, with a huge base lodge and a world class half pipe. The last contest was the championships for the series and everyone was here for the big pay out. I still held my ground to grab a 10th place overall finish and an invitation to next year's series. A coveted spot to say the least.

After Utah I traveled to Japan to check out Tokyo, Nagano and ride at Oze Tokura. My time there was amazing, Japan is such a cool and advanced place; you should take a look at the video blogs about it. My travel from Japan to the Burton US Open was hectic.

I went from Heneda, Japan to LAX; had a six hour layover then hopped on the rest eye to Toronto. I landed in Toronto at 5:30am and went to my parents place to sleep. I woke up at 12pm, said hello to some family, ate and was on the road driving to Vermont by 3pm. Hit a snow storm at 9pm and had to stop driving due to freezing rain and winds at midnight. What was supposed to take eight hours to drive was extended to twelve hours of driving and a overnight stay. UGH!

So, the Burton US Open was the last stop for this season. This contest is one of the biggest and attracts the largest number of riders. This year I had to qualify for the contest and out of 32 riders for qualification I placed 2nd. This meant I moved onto the next round with 16 invited riders. Semi-finals was a wet snow and low light day; after my last run the course was put on hold for two and a half hours because of fog. I placed 12th, which is my best finish at a US Open. The fact that my family came down from Toronto in a snow storm to support me was the best part of the weekend. I was grateful.

Overall, I'd say the season went pretty well. Minus an injury, which is just part of the game, I had a lot of fun. Now it's spring and I am starting the season where I learn new tricks, hit the gym more consistently, and enjoy the soft snow and sun. This is the best time of the year!