CURRENT MISSION - Aloha, Hawaii!

I live in Oregon for the summer and otherwise living it up in Utah for the winters and finding new locations for the summers. SLC is my home base but I tend to do a handful of ski trips all over the map in the winter for fun and for freeride competitions.

ABOUT ME

Ciao!

I'm Katie, from Steamboat Springs originally. I graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2015 and during the winters I️ live in SLC / work at Alta. I'm a pretty big ski fanatic.

PHILOSOPHY

I think so few people get the opportunity to leave their personal bubble and see what the rest of the world is actually like. To see that the world doesn't revolve around whats going on in their town and also to learn to not let little bumps in the road (like having to sleep in a train station) bother them so much.

My dad backpacked around Europe and ended up staying for 2 years. I'm thankful he let me take a trip for 5 months in college and doesn't (completely) hold it against me that I ski bum in the winter now. I think people need to take themselves outside of their comfy little bubble, spend as much time outside as possible, meet new humans, and challenge their beliefs.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've surfed many places while I was studying abroad spring 2014 through Europe. I am able to host but as I live with roommates the final call on couch availability comes down to them.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have couchsurfed in Freiburg, Germany at two different houses and had an amazing time at both. In fact because of that trip I am contemplating going to graduate school in Germany. Also in Barcelona, and Amsterdam. Excited to see other amazing places!

Interests

Skiing, dancing, food, travel, photography, sketches and doodles, meeting other travelers, comparing Hot Toddy recipes, annddd... anything outdoors. I also play some electric bass.

• books
• photography
• dancing
• education
• dining
• cooking
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• skiing
• rock climbing
• cartography
• hitchhiking
• mountain biking

Music, Movies, and Books

I have an extensive book and movie list I am always adding to and I can never catch up with it. I'm just going to have to go with any movie with Tom Hanks is a keeper, and any music that makes you move. I'm pretty eclectic, almost anything goes with music and movies.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I survived my first solo train / ski expedition from Italy to France via bike, train, bus, car, and hitchhiking

Got time to kill? For the whole (long) story read on!

Alright SO, my first big mountain competition in Europe was at Chamonix FWQ 2* event. Also the first time really operating the train system (in Italy mind you) by myself. After biking to the train station with my skis on my backpack, of course I take the slower train by accident to Milan so I miss the next train to Domodossola which then connected to Vallorcine in France. That was the last train that would have let me make the Vallorcine connection (which is super close to Chamonix and why I needed to go there). Instead I had to take a train to Aosta and a bus to Courmayer. Also very close BUT on the wrong side of the Mont Blanc tunnel.

On the bus to Courmayer I was very lucky to meet a woman who spoke English who drove me to the Mont Blanc tunnel. This connects to Chamonix but costs a LOT of money if you drive through as a passenger vehicle and is the reason I couldn't convince anyone to pick me up there.

In the meantime, the people I was meeting up with (who I hadn't actually met in person yet) didn't have functioning phones, and my Italian phone only had minutes in Italy. AND it was a flip phone with zero data so I couldn't even look up addresses or maps. Yea those ones with the "Abc" typing option - luckily I remembered how to change that to "T9" and unlock the part of my memory that allowed me to type on such a machine. Then this nice woman, Nikki, ends up letting me use her phone to try and figure out where the hostel is that I was meeting these people at. Did I mention it is already... about 10pm?

So Nikki brings me to to the tunnel and helps me knock on random peoples windows who are waiting in line in their cars to drive through. Quasi-hitchhiking? A very nice couple said they would take me through to the other side and even drove me around for a bit trying to find the hostel. Now I am in Chamonix!... But my phone doesn't work in France. We couldn't find the hostel (their phones didn't work either) and I told them thank you and I'll try to find it from there.

Of course I walk the wrong direction, but I run into a guy who asks me if I'm lost. He turns out to be from Canada originally but living in Switzerland (Christian was his name) and he had stayed at my hostel before and even offered to drive me there. Wow. I'm alive after all of this. Finally I walk into a random room at the hostel which luckily was the correct dorm and met up with everyone I was supposed to several hours before. Now it is close to midnight, I had been traveling for about 12 hours with my ski equipment and I had successfully triumphed Murphy's Law! Sort of... (shout out to Eurail passes).

Teach, Learn, Share

I know a chunk of Italian and I'd love to learn any other language, I can ski (ski instructor at Alta as well as competitor in big mtn and freestyle) I love to doodle/sketch etc... I make a mean PB&J and a cozy Hot Toddy. I can operate a film camera, and develop and print my own pictures (thank you grandma Shirley!) I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to learn to cook and bake without following a recipe to a T. I can play bass and I'd love to learn up some Spanish guitar and dance moves.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Bizarre stories from abroad, endless conversations about skiing and what I love about being outdoors, I enjoy talking about business (dad is a business owner), new places to go in the world, and most of all I love learning about what people do and what brought them there.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States