It wasn’t more than a week ago in Minneapolis that I could walk outside in an unbuttoned without a chill. I could bike home from work without gloves, crack a window and night and hear the crunch of leaves underfoot. Things are different now. Winter coats are required, sidewalks need to be shoveled and that crunch underfoot is ice and snow. Winter is here. I’m happy. Mountain Hardwear put out the call this fall for winter athletes to celebrate the best of all seasons.

Applicants were asked to provide links to their blog and Instagram and Twitter profiles. Also included in the application were a few open-ended questions, where they asked things like how we plan on finding winter this season, qualities we value most in outdoor gear and how we plan on sharing adventures with our social networks. After a few weeks of constantly refreshing my gmail inbox, I received word from Mountain Hardwear that I have been chosen as a Finding Winter Athlete Ambassador. I can’t express how stoked I am to be a part of this. Follow along here this winter. I’ve got a snowy fly fishing trip planned for this weekend, construction of my ski waxing room next week and days and days of skiing and hiking ahead. Please also follow #FindingWinter on Instagram. I’ll be using the hashtag there and on Tumblr. Winter is here. Go outside. Get stoked.