Red Bull X-Alps update from Team USA 1. Been in Europe now a week. We've been scouting from Mont Blanc south in the Maritime Alps along the Italy/ France border. Some thoughts. Actually...one thought. SNOW. There is a LOT of snow. And with more cold and wet weather in the forecast we don't see things changing much in the next three weeks. The high terrain and the passes are going to be really full on. Glad I had all that practice post holing across the Alaska Range for 37 days back in 2016! Maybe I should bring gators this time:)

Weather has made air time tricky but we’ve been making the most of small windows and watching Reavis Sutphin-Gray work his magic on the computer with Google Earth, Gaia and our new wicked resource FATMAP (shows current snow levels, trails, slope degree, etc all in 3D) is as entertaining as watching Game of Thrones. Dude is a Sensei! The hard physical training continues for another week and then finally the taper begins. One of the things I absolutely love about the race is all the preparation, anticipation and training but we are really, really excited to put it all behind us and get to the start line in Salzburg on the 16th. Keith Cockrum has been keeping the van between the lines through all the windy roads, and Ben Abruzzo arrives on Thursday just in time for the weather to turn right for a few days. STOKED AND READY! One thing is guaranteed- it’s going to be one hell of an ADVENTURE!