Sean Hartel

Hey everyone!

So I'm packing up my stuff and getting ready to take off from New Jersey. I've been super busy out here getting things rolling for the winter and spending lots of time with my rad family. On friday I'm flying out to Colorado, where I'm picking up my car and headed for the Utah Olympic Park to coach and train for a few weeks.

I've been pretty out of touch for the last month or so because I've been dealing with some big changes in my life and taking on a big challenge. For those of you who haven't heard the tragic news, my coach and mentor in skiing, Clay Beck, just recently passed away. He was a great guy and played a major role in our sport. He coached a team of some of the most talented young skiers in the world, who he was very close with and cared a lot about, and I was his right hand man and assistant coach. Most of these kids had their careers and plans wrapped up in his doings, and would have had the rug ripped out from under them if someone didn't jump in to fill his shoes. So I stepped up to the plate to help these guys out. I started a business called the Tahoe Freeride Company, which runs a freeride ski team and snowboard team. These teams are geared towards riders between the ages of 15 and 20, who are pursuing skiing or snowboarding as a career. Along with the technical skills needed to be tomorrow's top pros, we teach the skills needed to be successful, professional athletes. The coaching is focused on backcountry freestyle, park & pipe, big mountain, creative jibbing, and competitive mentality. We also offer similar services as a sports agency, but teach the kids how to do it themselves and encourage self advocacy. It will definitely be the most progressive team to date in freeskiing and I am super stoked on it! I will be putting a ton of effort into helping these kids succeed and a fair amount of time into coaching, but don't be fooled... I will be working towards my own personal goals as hard as ever, and I think this program will open a lot of doors for me as an athlete.

Enough about that....

Check out www.newschoolers.com. If you aren't familiar with it, it's proved to be one of the most powerful media conglomerations in all of skiing and it's kind of like an internet magazine, but with lots of forums and media posts. I think it's an awesome source of information for athletes and fans, and can be an incredible marketing tool for businesses in the industry.

Well anyways, I just got the Cover Shot on newschoolers. It's a pretty big deal for me because I'm so new on the scene and the other handful of guys who have gotten cover shots this last year are all rockstars in freeskiing. Check it out and let me know what you think... it's one of my favorite shots from this year. It was shot by Ben Meester on Donner Lake, at 5am before the sun came up when there was fog covering the lake. It took a lot of work to get the shot and it definitely paid off... the parking lot was plowed, so we had to carry in snow late at night(wouldn't want to ruin the shot by taking the snow on the dock) to build a drop in ramp and runway to the rail, then we came back at 4am to build the lip to the rail and set up (I remember it being 6 degrees out), then the fun was on... hit the rail a few times, dodge those posts, land on the dock, and hurry up and stop before I skied into the water off the end of the dock! FUN STUFF! The photos picked for the cover page are the cream of the crop and supposed to be some of the best photos of the year, and I'm really stoked because this photo got especially good reviews. Ben is an incredible photographer and he along with Moment Skis (who submitted the photo) are rockin my world!

Also check out the September issue of Men's Journal, which should hit stands later this week. There's another ad I'm in for Team Fuel put out by Twinlab, who is also rockin my world!

I hope all is well and you're having a great summer!

Thanks for all the support!

Sean