bryonfriedman - Yardbarker Blogs

Nothing Right music video

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:58:15 -0500

Hey guys...here's a little video a good friend of mine put together while we were recording our second album "Matchstick Memories."

skiing, music, and everything in between

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:38:06 -0500

Hey everyone...I know I've been a bit of a hermit this winter but it was necessary for me to hibernate from the cyber world and focus on one task...skiing.

Wengen Europa Cups

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:51:20 -0500

So do you want the good news or the bad news first??? ?Bad news...ok...the bad news is I missed the podium by .10 seconds and ended up 4th today. ?The good news is the field was stacked with a few world cup skiers including Marco Buchel, Manny Osborne-Paradis, and a few others so the competition was tight. I was also 6th in yesterdays race and I'm currently 2nd in the Europa Cup DH standings so I will be training for a spot to race in the World Cup in Wengen next week! ?The other good news is that I'm in one of the most beautiful ski town in the alps. ?Wengen is a tiny village tucked away in the Swiss Alps that makes you feel like you are living in a winter fairy tale. ?For one, the sled is the favored choice of transportation (there are no gas powered vehicles except tractors that the farmers drive around and the occasional snow blower, and each hotel has a courtesy taxi powered by electricity. ?There is one grocery store, a couple bakeries, and a number of small pubs that cater to the predominantly English band of tourists. ?The other selling point is the Eiger towers over Wengen, which is one of the most prestigious mountains in the alps. ?Since I'm coming back next week for the world cup I promise to post some pictures soon. ??

Happy and Healthy after Bormio Crash

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:19:11 -0500

It was rough day at the office last Sunday in Bormio. ?After a rugged start and a couple costly mistakes throughout my run, I made the costliest mistake of them all when I lost control and crashed into a fence going 65 mph. ?Normally I wouldn't be that happy about crashing but this crash was an important one for me. ?Not only did I walk away virtually unscathed (a few bumps and bruises), but it was the first time I've crashed since I broke my leg 4 years ago. ?I needed that crash to trust that my body is capable of taking a heavy impact without injury and that is exactly what happened. ?It may sound like a strange concept and it's hard to explain but when I got back up and collected myself my mind was, "set free," in a way. ?I skied to the finish, waved to the crowd as they cheered for my being healthy, and immediately started thinking about the next race in Wengen, Switzerland. ?So...next week it's onto Wengen! ?
You can check out the crash at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxFxkL4JSMQ

-Xmas in Bormio-

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:58:22 -0500

First of all merry xmas and happy holidays to everyone...wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying quality time with your family and loved ones! ?As for me, I am enjoying this xmas with my family on the road ie...the World Cup Downhill Team. ?We are in Bormio, Italy and have a World Cup Downhill this Sunday which means we don't have time to go home for the holidays. Although I miss my friend and family back in Park City xmas in Bormio has a number of fun traditions. ?Some of these include: "borrowing" a xmas tree from the local market, a secret santa for the whole team on xmas morning, a White Elephant gift giving game, and our newest tradition....an 8 course Italian meal on xmas eve. ?
Today we also splurged and went to an old thermal spa in the mountain which has been around in some form since the 1300's. ?They had natural hot and cold baths, steam rooms, saunas, mud baths, the works! ?So if you ever make it to Bormio, Italy I highly recommend checking it out. ?
So...I will post some pics and video from our festivities and keep you informed about the race this Sunday. ?Once again...merry xmas and happy holidays!
Bryon ?

Greetings from Austria and a 2nd place Europa Cup result...

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:45:28 -0500

Hey all...
Just wanted to send a quick update from Austria. ?After a hellacious travel day (or days i should say...it took two days to get here after getting stuck in Atlanta for a day) I started my first Europa Cup of the season and placed 2nd! ?It's a great start and this finish will allow me to race the next World Cup. ?We have another race tomorrow and then I head back home to Park City to spend some time with the fam over the holidays. ?Hope this finds you well...
Bryon

First World Cup Downhill is tomorrow...watch it live!

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:31:11 -0500

This week I'm referring to Lake Louise as Lake Bormio. The reason: Lake Louise is traditionally one of the easier downhills on the world cup circuit while Bormio is arguably the hardest...don't worry Kitzbuhel, you're hard too. Either way, Lake Louise is far from easy this year as the course crew has prepared the hill a little differently this year. They injected water into the hill nearly the entire way which makes for rock hard ice and bumps along with added terrain from the man-made snow. Today the course was littered with ruts and holes from the ice breaking up after each skier and made for a rough day for a lot of us. There were a number of crashes due to the tough conditions which prolonged the training run and made for an interesting psychological experiment going up for my run...it's never fun to watch your competitors crash! The good news is regardless of the tough conditions I put down a solid run and qualified to race my first world cup in two years to the day. Going into tomorrow the Americans are looking strong. Bode Miller has won two of the three training runs and Marco Sullivan, Scott Macartney, and Steven Nyman have all posted top ten results in their training runs. Andrew Weibrecht has also been putting down some fast runs into the top 20 along with T.J. Lanning. Also, be sure to check out World Cup rookie Jeremy "Worm" Transue in his debut performance tomorrow. Race coverage starts at 1:30pm est. and will be viewable live online at www.universalsports.com (here is the actual link: http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?CLIP_ID=48961&_MODE_=EVENT&db_oem_id=23000). Hope you had a happy thanksgiving!

Chile...Part two

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:09:12 -0500

Its been too long since my last post but I have some good stories and pics to share from our second trip to the Southern Hemisphere this year. After a month off snow we flew back down to Chile and hung our hats in a place called Portillo. Portillo is perched high on the Andes Mountains (10,000 feet at the base) and is home to 5 chairlifts, 4 rocca jacks (I'll post a picture to give you an idea but it's basically a 5 person palma lift), one hotel, and some of the best skiing in the world. Aconcagua, the largest mountain in the Americas, towers over Portillo at 22,841...it's a special place. Fortunately we had two weeks of training all to ourselves and we took full advantage of the epic spring conditions from a strong Chilean winter. I personally had a great camp and skied well throughout so I'm excited for the upcoming season, which is just a month and half away (The World Cup Downhill season starts Thanksgiving weekend in Lake Louise, Canada). Check out some pics from Jonathan Selkowitcz (www.selkophoto.com) who was there the entire two weeks documenting our camp.

Meet and Golf with the Men's Ski Team

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:48:39 -0500

Hey everyone, Just wanted to give you a heads up that the SFI Foundation (a non-profit for winter athletes) and the Park City Ski Team are co-hosting a Golf Tournament Fundraiser in Park City, Utah next Monday...September 15th. Most of the Mens Alpine Ski Team, including Gold Medalist Ted Ligety, will be in attendance, so if you play golf or would just like to hang with the Ski Team guys this is your chance. All proceeds to go funding unfunded athletes as well as the Park City Ski Team program. You can find more info on our website: www.mensalpine.com or for registration contact: Ciara Bell 801 891-9679 ciarabell1978@gmail.com www.mensalpine.com I will be traveling to Park City for the event so I hope to see some of you there! If you have any further questions don't be afraid to ask.

Summer Powder Day

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:40:14 -0500

Although 3 feet of fresh Chilean Powder isn't ideal for training, it's ideal to appease the mind and soul. During our training camp in La Parva we were lucky enough to get both decent Downhill and Super G training as well as some great days of powder skiing! After a big storm socked us in for a couple days we were antsy and ready to take advantage of the blue bird day and we charged the mountain as a team. Even though there are "no friends on powder days;" Marco Sullivan, Scott Macartney, Steven Nyman, Erik Fisher, Chris Beckman, Rewk Patton, and I stuck together for most of the day. After a few runs in bounds we decided to take our chances off piste and head over to some steeper and more challenging terrain in the Andes back country. It was so good we kept going back for more and I couldn't help but throw on the head cam and capture it. The video is of our hike that took us above 10,000 feet and into some chutes and bowls you dream about on a powder day. The view was incredible and we could still see Santiago, Chile's capital, below. After a few runs we decided to stick around and do one more sunset run before dark. Enjoy...

Heading South!

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:29:52 -0500

It's that time of year again. Time to trade in my board shorts and sandals, pull my ski gear out of the closet, and head to Chile for the first big training camp of the prep period. This coming thursday I depart for La Parva, Chile, where I will be speed training (Downhill and Super G) for two weeks with the U.S. World Cup team, as well as two guys from the Swedish team (Patrick Jaerbyn and Hans Olson). Since Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere it's full blown winter, which allows us to train in winter conditions. This camp is the first big test since the end of last season and will measure how well we have trained up to this point in our prep period. Training in Chile is always a good measure of fitness as we will be training hard (likely two sessions/day) at high altitudes (approximately 9,000 ft.). For me this is going to be a big camp to further test and get more used to my new equipment. After the end of last season I decided to part ways with my former Austrian ski sponsor Atomic, and move to Fischer, another Austrian ski powerhouse. So far I'm really happy about the product and look forward to testing everything more thoroughly in Winter conditions. I am also excited to be skiing alongside some of my best friends and Olympians, Scott Macartney and Marco Sullivan. I'll be sure to keep you posted and bring more in depth reports from Chile, including some video from on and off the mountain. If we're lucky we might even get a couple powder days to boast about!

Time for change...

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:52:00 -0500

First of all I want to thank yardbarker for giving me this platform to blog and speak my mind. I had no idea how viral my last post would be and that it would reach so many interested parties. Its been exciting to read all the replies, ideas and concepts everyone has posted! I truly hope that some of these are expounded upon and incorporated into USSA's operations, as well as Ski Racing as a sport. My intentions were, and still are, to raise awareness of what's going on at USSA and how the athletes feel about specific parts of the organization's approach to athletics. Although I can't speak for everyone, I can assure you that there are many unhappy members, both current and retired, that would like to see some changes made. There is an obvious disconnection between the athletes and the executives and a lot of us feel that our best interests are not always looked after. That being said, I will be the first to say that the Ski Team has given me a lot of great opportunities over the years; in athletics, education and even music. I have traveled all over the world skiing while attending Dartmouth College (the Ski Team provides $5,000/year scholarships to college students on the team), and been lucky enough to open up for Train and the Doobie Brothers at the New York City Ski Ball (courtesy of the Foundation entertainment coordinators), all of which I am grateful for. USSA even helped distribute my CD, "Road Sodas," which is on their online store, again I am grateful. So how can someone like me, who has received a lot of support over the years, be so upset with their handlings? I'll give you one word...accountability. Who is held accountable for these decisions, and why isn't the board aware of most of these decisions? I make this claim in light of Gary Black Jr.'s attempt to bash my previous post by saying that Marolt's salaries were nowhere near what I proposed. If "nowhere near" means I'm way off then support your claims with the real facts you speak of. As a board member and friend of Marolt's I'm sure Gary knows what Marolt makes so lets hear it. If not, then there is an obvious fundamental problem that exists in the communication between the board and the executives. Either way, I stand by what I said until proven wrong, and if I'm wrong it doesn't change the fact that USSA needs to make some fundamental changes, specifically with athlete funding. The athletes are ultimately held accountable for their own performance on the hill, but my question is who can the athletes rely on to fully fund, manage, and provide the necessary resources needed in a program that claims they are "best in the world?" Nobody seems to know who has the answers to our questions and if we do get a chance to meet with Marolt or Jesse Hunt (Alpine Director) our questions are rarely answered directly. Instead they tend to dance around them and give us vague political responses that leave us with more confusion than resolution. This lack of communication and state of confusion is a big reason why the situation perpetuates itself and athletes like Erik Schlopy, Dane Spencer, Jake Zamansky, Caroline Lalive and I are wondering where it all went wrong, who ultimately makes these decisions, and why they make them. Again, I cannot speak for everyone but this type of communication is upsetting, which leads to frustration and is the fundamental reason why these problems exist. The good news is, since my last post I was told that the C-Team is now fully funded and will not have to pay $10,000/each to ski this year. This is a great step in the right direction and I am happy to hear that athlete funding is starting to take more precedence. I also want to reiterate the fact that USSA has made an amazing turnaround during Marolt's tenure, which has set a strong foundation and accounted for great successes. Again, my intentions are to ignite positive change by raising awareness to the situation at USSA. I welcome all supporters to help see these changes through and keep up communication, whether it be on yardbarker, ski racing magazine forums (although I prefer yardbarker), or directly with the organization. Finally, I would like offer an alternative to those of you who would like to donate DIRECTLY to the athletes called the SFI Foundation. The SFI Foundation is an 501 (c) 3 tax exempt organization that Erik Schlopy and I started. The organization is dedicated to providing the necessary funding and resources to high level skiers both on and off the National Team. If you are interested in participating in our next fundraiser I attached the information below. If you cannot attend and would like to help out donations can be made through paypal on the Mens Alpine Team page (www.mensalpine.com) or by check to: SFI Foundation P.O. Box 682632 Park City, UT 84060 Tax ID # 20-4647706 I hope to hear from everyone soon! Thanks for listening.... Bryon

U.S. Ski Team Comes Up Short... again!

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:30:01 -0500

As they say, History repeats itself, and once again the U.S. Ski Team cannot afford to fund their athletes, including me. After one of the best seasons in the history of U.S. Skiing (2 overall World Cup Titles, 3 discipline titles, 15 World Cup wins, and 37 Podiums) the National Team, led by Alpine Coordinator Jesse Hunt, does not have the financial backing to fully fund their team. What's wrong with this picture? As of now the athletes who are not funded include Erik Schlopy, who happens to be one of our best skiers and a 3-time Olympian, 7-time National Champion, World Championship Bronze Medalist, and 3rd place overall World Cup G.S. skier...again, what's wrong with this picture? Dane Spencer, also one of our best skiers, is coming back from a near fatal injury and happens to be a 2-time Olympian and National Champion. Oddly Dane was not even named to the team, even though this was his first year back after breaking his neck and crushing his pelvis. Dane and I were both given access to train with the National Team on our own dime, which is proposed to cost between $20,000 and $30,000 for the Season. Furthermore, Jake Zamansky (currently ranked 5th in the U.S. and 54th in the World in G.S.) who earned a World Cup spot by winning the Nor Am G.S. standings has been ostracized from the U.S. Ski Team and is not even allowed to pay his way to train with the World Cup Team...once again, what's wrong with this picture? Just wait; there's more. Recently the entire Men's C-Team was told they have to pay for the competition portion of their season, which will cost each of them $10,000. The C-Team includes the best up and coming athletes in our country including Will Brandenburg, who is ranked 1st in the World for his age, and Travis Ganong, who is one of the best 4 event skiers I have seen since Bode Miller. Do I dare say it again...what's wrong with this picture? I'll tell you what's wrong. Our organization, or "company" as upper management likes to call it, has lost site of their core values. To put it bluntly, Jesse Hunt (our Alpine Coordinator) summarized it best by saying "the organization is not going the direction of the athlete/individual." This was a direct quote that I received from Hunt when I asked for help in my recovery from my injury. If the organization is not going the direction of the individual (keep in mind skiing is an individual sport, not a team sport) then where is it going? I'll tell you where. It's going to the pockets of the upper management, specifically CEO Bill Marolt, who egregiously recorded a $300,000 bonus this season on top of his already high $700,000/year salary (up from $559,880 in 2004). That's right, over $1million dollars for the CEO of a non-profit organization that can't even afford to sufficiently fund their own athletes...that's what's wrong with this picture! (Although I cannot find this year's accounting information as of yet, I have a reliable source within the organization that backs this claim). Either way you look at it, Marolt is overpaid, and although he is entitled to a good salary due to the stellar results the Team posted this year, his athletes are suffering. What makes the problem worse and harder to swallow; is that all of us were told by Hunt that the Ski Team is downsizing because he believed it was best for "everybody." By everybody I'm assuming he meant executives like himself and Marolt, so they could cut athletic funding yet maintain his astronomical salary for a non-profit organization *(I make this claim in light of study done in 2007 by Charity Navigator, which keeps an eye out on non-profit organizations, and found that the average salaries for non-profit executives fell around $145,270). Hunt's poor excuse for a cover-up did not resonate well with current Ski Team members, as none of them agree with his philosophy to downsize. Furthermore, every single named athlete protested Hunt's decision to cut Dane Spencer, Jake Zamansky and myself because it was unethical and downright illegal in Zamansky's case. I say illegal because Zamansky actually made the Ski Team's published criteria for his age, and is entitled to a spot on the team regardless of any individual criteria he was given. That's what's wrong with this picture! So, to answer any questions about my position with the team here it is. I am not a named athlete, but I am able to train with the World Cup Team on my own dime, and compete for World Cup spots next season. My plan is to solidify my comeback and attend to the unfinished business I left on the hill after my injury. If you are interested in joining my comeback I welcome any and all support. Thanks for listening... Bryon

Heal The Snow

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:11:11 -0500

Just wanted to share a short documentary on Heal The Snow with everyone...my music is actually featured in it too so let me now what you think.

The Shred Wagon

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:55:57 -0500

Hey everyone...I wanted to tell you about a really cool organization that is dedicated to helping ski areas and companies within the industry become more environmentally friendly. The organization is called Heal The Snow, and their first project was the Shred Wagon. I will attach photos so you can get a better idea, but the Shred Wagon is basically a mobile hostel powered by solar energy and bio diesel. It's purpose is to travel from resort to resort and provide affordable lodging for ski bums who can't swing resort prices, all the while keeping it environmentally friendly. It's a great alternative for young skiers and the Shred Wagon followed a lot of Freeride and Big Mountain competitions throughout the winter. It even came to my last race series in Mammoth, California where I got a chance to hang out and play some music for a couple hours. Their website is www.healthesnow.org, so check it out and let me know what you think!