Helly Hansen

Well, the ski season is finally over here at Red and after a slow start it turned out to be a good one. Simon Skied 94 days this season and only had to miss his 1/2 day kindergarten on 6 big powder days. He is still skiing at a level well above his age group and amazes everyone who sees him ski. In the Nancy Greene Ski League Zone Finals for 5-12 year olds, Simon finished 16th overall out of 90 racers and he beat all of the 8 yr and under kids.(and lots of the 9-12 year olds). It was an amazing 2nd run he had, I got it on video and will put it on the DVD. The only thing holding him back from going faster is his weight, he needs more mass! He also won the E1 class outright in the club final fun race. (See photo) Simon also spent a lot of time in the terrain park going for big air, riding the rails and hitting the wall. Pretty amazing stuff to watch. Simon is attracting a lot of attention around the area and it will just be a matter of time before he gets some media exposure. Simon has now skied most of the most difficult lines on the mountain, except the really big drops. He can ski these with complete confidence without regard to the snow conditions. Even in conditions that are rather poor by my standards ,Simon finds them just fine. He can change his skis between any of the 4 pairs of K2's in his quiver, and then go out and ski any terrain. His equipment was really great this year. As he gets bigger he has more choice. He attracted a lot of comments about the 119cm Bad Seed's being so fat for such a little guy, but boy did they float in the powder! And powder is Simon's favorite! We had first chair on at least 10 powder days and were on one of the first 10 chairs on at least another 30 days. The early skier gets the POW! (or the corduroy for that matter!) His Helly gear was awesome this season and we cannot thank you enough for providing everything on Simons wish list. Simon was never cold or wet this season and this was a direct result of his HH gear. Oh yeah, He was also the best looking little ski bum on the hill, all dressed in red. Although I took a lot of photos this season ,I do not feel that I got many really good ones. This is why I was not sending photos all winter. I kept thinking I would get better photos the next time. In the end we got some OK photos. As Simons speed in the trees increases, I have found it more difficult to capture the perfect moment with my present camera equipment. This has made me realize that I will have to upgrade to professional quality SLR and lenses for next season. This is the only way I will be able to get photos with digital files large enough to publish. It is a large investment but necessary. I missed way to many great shots this season because of the camera. Sometimes I forget that he is still only five years old so I guess the photos are not all that bad. At the beginning of the season I could not seem to get enough contrast in the photos but we came up with a solution we think you might like! We put a large HH sticker on the top of Simon's helmet and it jumps right out at you in many of the photos. Thanks again for supporting Simon with such great equipment. If any of the equipment designers are interested in more feedback, we would be happy to talk to them. Kind regards, Peter and Simon Hillis