Gretchen Bleiler U.S. snowboard Grand Prix champion

Gretchen Bleiler (born April 10, 1981 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American professional halfpipe snowboarder. She currently resides in Aspen, Colorado and is married to Chris Hotell.
Bleiler aspired to compete in the Winter X Games from a very young age, and found her passion in snowboarding at age 11 (1992). She has been riding ever since and became professional in 1996. Among her accomplishments, she jump-started the invert revolution for female riders as the first to land a Crippler 540 in competition, and won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other female snowboarder. In the pre-Olympic season she won four of the five US Olympic halfpipe qualifiers and is also a four-time X Games gold medalist, most recently winning the superpipe at Winter X Games XIV.

Gretchen Bleiler Sportster
Gretchen Bleiler Photo
Gretchen Bleiler Image
Gretchen Bleiler
Gretchen Bleiler

In 2003, she was a U.S. snowboard Grand Prix champion, a U.S. Open of snowboarding champion, and a Triple Crown of Snowboarding champion.

She posed for the February 2004 issue of FHM, along with fellow snowboarder Tara Dakides and sportscaster Jamie Little.

Bleiler, who missed qualifying for the 2002 Winter Olympics due to a tiebreaker, won a silver medal in the women's halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Furry Fellows in Yellows

Yellow is  my new favorite color

See Through - Labyrinthe

Labyrinth - Numéro #120 February 2011
Photographed: Greg Kadel - Model: Julia Saner

SAO PAULO - fashion week inverno 11, day 2, 01/29/11

More photos of SPFW day 1 on my visual diary.

On the run

So flowy. Italian Marie Claire February 2011. Photographer Taki Bibelas

Gangs of New York

If these gangs really live in NY? I want to move back. 
For Vogue US February 2011 Photographed by Mario Testino, Styled by Grace Coddington

Trains - Northern Japan

On our travels between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido I became aware of the different types of trains one could take. I hadn't noticed this in Tokyo as I was used to going to a specific platform, getting on the train and then getting off at my destination. Rural train stations don't have as many tracks so trains going different places use the same track and it's important to know your train number and its departure time. Also in Tokyo most of the trains are very new looking while in rural areas many trains look older in varying degrees.




It was a chilly morning waiting on the track for our train. Those hot noodles looked good.



A local train (普通) on the track across from where we were waiting.



A newer train on the left and an older rapid train (快速) ,on the track we were waiting at. Not our train. The rapid train is slightly faster than the local train. We were waiting for a limited express train.


A limited express train but not ours as we were going to Hakodate in Hokkaido. I noticed as the trains progressed from local to express they became newer and newer.


The window wiper on this train caught my eye. This car has reserved seating.



Our train, the Hakucho.




A pastry with the shape of Hokkaido Prefecture on it. Tasty too.



Our train traveled through an underwater tunnel and this was our view as we left it and entered Hokkaido.