An unexpected trip home.

I didn't think I'd be sending it back to the Bay again until May but a death in the family brought me back this morning. The funeral will be on Wednesday so I'm stuck here again for an entire week just w a i t i n g.
I was scheduled to teach snowboard lessons for the next three days which I was totally stoked about and then I was going to keep practicing for my first weekend of competitions and start training with the Northstar team. All that changed. Now I'll get back and have something like 7 days to learn how to ride pipe and build up the confidence to hit the big jumps. I guess I'll just deal with it. I believe it will all work out.
I feel totally at home being in San Francisco again, but also completely stir crazy. Just like an animal pacing around, waiting to get out. If I bus it back next Thursday maybe I can ride Boreal that night? And in the mean time I can skate. Kinda like the old days again: holding this date in my hands of when I get to be at peace in the mountains, and just burning time skating until then.
Ugh. I really have nothing else to say. My grandpa's death still doesn't feel real at all so all I can still think about is snowboarding, why I'm not currently doing it, and what I'll do once I'm doing it again. I'm not cold hearted- I swear. My grandpa was the most amazing and inspiring man I have ever known and everything is going to be weird without him. His death was a condition of love and it's unbelievable to me that he's gone. Death just makes everything change shape and become unreal... And because of that, all I can hold on to right now is snowboarding... as usual.

Some goods from Signal

It's been a while since I've posted a freebie but here's a new one from Signal. I found an ad of their's in a magazine with a phone number listed. I called the number and it gave me an email address to contact to get hooked up. I'm not sure what's coming, I think maybe a beanie, but call the number and check it out.
612-360-4530
Enjoy.

City kid on skis.

What's that? On skis??? Yep, I just spent my day on skis... for the first time in eight years.
Today was my first day of on hill training and it wasn't too pleasant. I've been hoping and hoping for some snow to replenish what's been melting away and the storm finally came today- when I had to be on the hill on skis all day. The skiing itself was fine. I was able to pick it back up and didn't fall. But the weather and the fact that I'm missing my gloves just made it miserable. I was cold and stuck doing something I could care less about. I'm not trying to skibash here, it's just not my thing. All I was thinking all day was about how the only reason that I actually wouldn't mind the bad weather was if I was on my board. I would have ridden all day if it wasn't on skis.
I think I'm going to find it hard to get excited about my job. I love working with kids, but the skiing part just throws me off. Skiing isn't something I enjoy, and it's not something I know very much about. If I was teaching snowboarding I'd be able to get totally stoked with the kids and I'd actually know what I was teaching. I can give pointers on snowboarding and spot when someone is doing something wrong. Skiing? No way. I'm no help with that.
So we'll see how this little stint works. I'm putting snowboarding first though and will take every day I can get off to ride. Until the 19th though, it's double planks every day for me. :/

H is for helmet.

What I did yesterday: Spent the day with a throbbing headache.
What I didn't do yesterday: Spend the day in the ER.

And that's entirely thanks to my helmet. I've never landed directly on my head before, but I always wear my helmet just in case. The inevitable finally happened yesterday and if it wasn't for the protection my helmet offered me I would have had split my head open for sure (and had to end the lesson I was giving to my wonderful new South African friends). I'm still in a bit of a shock from the fall because I know how bad things could have ended up for me.

Helmets are getting more and more common on the mountain but there are still a number of kids who are riding completely unprotected. According to the NSAA which has something to do with "National Ski Association" or something, only about 33% of skiers and snowboarders regularly wear helmets while riding. I don't understand how this number makes sense when stories of how helmets are saving lives are appearing everyday.

Heard of Cole Atencio? If not, read this. Note where it says: "Cole was wearing a helmet, and the doctors explicitly said it saved his life". How about the update on his health here where it says "Please be safe this season and don’t be too cool to wear a helmet. That piece of plastic is the reason he is still with us." If that doesn't do it for you, you must have at least heard of Kevin Pearce, who would have been a gold medal contender in the 2010 Olympics if it wasn't for his half pipe accident that left him with intense brain trauma and a bunch of other bad bad things. In this article, Kevin himself states "They're saying it's guaranteed I'd be dead right now if I didn't have a helmet on".

SO WHY WHY WHY aren't people wearing helmets???? Do yourself a favor and hook your head up with some protection. If you love snowboarding, why not take action to make sure you can keep loving it next season? The holidays are coming so if you can afford one yourself, ask for one as a gift. There are a lot of cool helmets out there that won't make you look like a n00b, and even if it did, why would it matter? I'd rather look like a loser but know I'll be alive tomorrow any day.

I personally sport a Salomon helmet which I love because it has fur inside the ear parts so it pretty much does the job of a beanie, but there are lots of brands that offer quality helmets such as Red, Bern, ProTec, and Smith. I'm not going to give you all sorts of stats and details here so sorry about that. Just go to your local shop, check out their selection and make some moves to keep yourself safe.
Smart style, yaddida? Don't let 10-11 be your last season. At least keep yourself going until the world ends in 2012.

Stuff about life.

It's been a little while since I last posted so I figured I'd make an update with everything going on. Like I figured, everything worked out (as far as the housing ordeal) when I gave it time. I got a call from Sawmill Heights at Northstar and I was approved for an apartment there. My brother is driving up from San Francisco in two days to help me move my stuff. I have no idea of who I'm going to be living with yet, but I'm not too worried about that. It'll be a surprise and I'm sure that situation will work out as well. I'm just excited to finally move to Northstar. Some people have warned me that it will get boring living there but being bored is for boring people. I'll find things to do.
As far as snowboarding goes, I'm pretty stoked. I went to my friends house a few nights ago and he had a whole park set up in his back yard including this huge a-frame rail. I've honestly never even done too much with regular rails but all my buddies were hitting it so after a while I worked up the nerve to hit it. After a few tries I was able to stay on for the whole thing which was a pretty big step for me. The next day I went to Northstar and with the left-over confidence in my system I went for their larger jumps and features that I hadn't touched before like the DC roller coaster box. Apparently snowboarding isn't very difficult when you just commit to things. Who would have guessed? Anyways, I'm excited and can't wait till I ride again, whenever that is.
The last little piece of what I've been occupying myself with is school. I've got one more final on Thursday and then I'm done with this semester. No more classes until next August. Say WHAT? I'm taking my first break from school in something like 13 or 14 years so this is a new deal. I can't remember life without going to school everyday. I may actually feel like an adult... Or not. Yeah, probably not. But whatever. That's it with that.
Oh, and I finally start work soon! I'm going back home with my brother on Friday, taking a greyhound back to Truckee on Saturday and then I have 7 days of training for ski instructing starting on Sunday. That means I'll be on the mountain on skis for an entire week. Oh. Jeeze. Maybe somehow it will make me better at snowboarding? Who knows? Even if it doesn't, I'd rather have a day on the snow on skis than a day stuck in the Bay just staring at a snowboarding magazine.
That's pretty much it. I really don't have a way to end this. Maybe I'll post something interesting soon? With a lot less words? haha. GOOD NIGHT SNOW WARRIORS.

Giving thanks.

Ah, Thanksgiving: The American holiday of being thankful for what you or others have/had. For everyone else around the world, there may not be a holiday, but that's no reason to not be thankful. Almost every day something comes to my mind that makes me think "wow, I'm so thankful for that". And now as I watch the Charlie Brown thanksgiving special with my parents in a hotel room somewhere in Truckee, all the different things I'm thankful for are coming to mind. I figured I'd share them and see what everyone else is thankful for as well.

Things I'm thankful for...

That I’ve reached a point in my life where I can roll with the punches and not sweat the small stuff.

That I can wake up in the morning with a positive outlook and look at the day as an adventure.

That I live in beautiful Lake Tahoe

(View from Mt. Rose, early November 2010)

That I have parents who are healthy, and love and support me.

(Mom's birthday, 2010)

That I was born healthy and have managed to remain that way.

That I’m able to snowboard.

(Half cab, SNC, November 2010)

That I have never gone hungry or homeless

That there is music in the world.

That doors keep opening for me to charge through

That there are good people in the world.

That I feel no need to hate.

That I’ve been able to travel and see incredible lives around the world.

(Mazatlan, 2010)

The beauty of sunshine and glitter on dew drops

That I go Sierra Nevada College and I can get an education while doing what I love.

For the opportunities I’ve had growing up

(Inauguration, DC, 2009)

Nature, because the energy in living things is amazing.

That no one can prevent me from finding happiness in life.

For the innocent joy of children.

(Cousin Hailey at her birthday lunch, 2010)

For warm clothes.

For the ability to love.

And last but not least, for the friends that have become family, and family that become my backbone.

(Hunter & I, Six Flags, 2010)

What are you thankful for?

This is what snowboarding is all about.

I wasn't so thrilled when some yelling and screaming outside my window woke me up at 1am, but I was psyched when I saw what was going on. 5 or 6 kids were all outside still hitting the box and messing around. I grabbed my camera but the distance/darkness/snow falling freaked it out and by the time I had found my phone there were walking back in.

But still, this is what snowboarding is about: hanging out with friends, doing what you love, and just having a good time and enjoying life... even if it's one in the morning.
Snowboarding isn't about trash talking, judging, trying to look cool or bashing on people who want to enjoy life. This sport doesn't need hate. Let's have a good time and keep the fire in our souls dancing.
Keep the shred alive.

Chip off the old board.

I got back from Truckee yesterday afternoon to find that campus was completely covered by a beautiful white blanket. And that kids had taken advantage of that blanket and set a box up on the hill right outside my window. So naturally I threw on my gear and headed out. I had a great time hitting the box. I was able to get 4 new tricks I had never tried before and that totally stoked me out. After a while I went digging through the snow covered shrubbery to find a rail that I had acquired and hidden a while back. I set it up as a pole jam over a large boulder-like rock and hit it a few times while some guys I was with built a booter. The pole jam sketched me out a bit so as soon as the booter was done I switched over to that. It ended up being pretty sick. I was throwing really clean front 1s off it which doesn't sound that awesome but I've never done regular front 1s before. I used to feel weird spinning that way so I'd only do back sides. Anyways, I had an awesome day and it was all good.
Until I went back out at night and noticed this when I went to strap in.

Well. Huh. This is the first time that's really happened to me. And I have no idea how that happened either. It's a bummer for sure because my I know my board's RIP-date is going to be closer than I thought. I was hoping she could pull through until mid-spring. I mean, I can still ride her, but I don't know if that's going to mess me up or get bigger at all. This happened to me about a month ago and my buddy Alex tried hammering it out but it's still not back to normal.

So now my baby has two wounds. I don't know if it's weird how I call my board my baby, but we have a very close relationship so I don't care. This is my fourth season with her and I have taken such good care of her over the years. She didn't have a single scratch on her base or edges until summer of 09. And the two months I've been riding her since I've been at school I've just completely thrashed her up. I remember back when I was 15 or 16 just sitting on my bed for hours waxing her by hand. Now I just hand her over to a shop employee and let someone else take care of her. I wonder if she feels abused? Probably not. I think boards are meant to be used and thrashed. I know when I finally retire her I won't get rid of her. I'm starting to think I'm going to be getting new boards fairly often (in comparison to 1 board for four years) now that I'm riding every day. I guess my plan is to save all my boards and do something neat with them.
But anyways, my poor board isn't going to make it much longer but I'm going to push through until she's completely unridable. But Rome, I just want to know, why do you make boards with copper edges when copper is such a soft metal? Save me the pain and make a board who's edges won't get bent at the single slam of a rail. :/

NO-rthstar

Today's word of the day is "NO-rthstar": This is when you want to go to Northstar for opening day and they say "No. No No-rthstar for you."

So, I made that post about how excited I was to go to Northstar today for opening and how I was going to make a post about opening day and such. WELL, I got all ready to go and was about to find a ride when someone goes "Are you going to Northstar? Well you can't." Apparently my friend Lloyd went up this morning and they wouldn't let him ride. They told him that employees were blacked out for the first couple of days. I called bullshit on that and called HR. Here's the conversation:

Me: Hi. So I was about to head out to Northstar to ride but I heard something about employees not being able to ride today.

HR lady: Yes that's correct.

Me: So... I can't ride today?

HR lady: Employees are blacked out until further notice.

Me: Oh. Bye.

BLACKED OUT TIL FURTHER NOTICE? WHAT? We got an e-mail from the ski school just four days ago saying "Please feel free to ski/ride on the hill prior to your start date." And then they didn't say anything about not being able to ride on opening. I guess a few people got an email this morning, but I sure didn't. Nothing sucks more than living right here and not being able to ride.


And now people are starting to come back to campus with their gear saying "Northstar was sick!" GRARRRRR! I've had a few people tell me that this is how Vail works. My RA worked for Vail for 3 years said that that's just how they are and I'll have to deal with "corporate madness". I hope he's wrong and it's not going to be like this all season. If it is, I'll completely understand all the kids who were pissed off about the Vail takeover. But I hope it's not. I have faith in Vail and am really excited to see what happens. Apparently the park is going to be off the chain this year (yes I just used that phrase) and I'm excited to work at a resort for the first time. I'll just have to wait until next week to ride there... 


I guess I'm done ranting. I'm going to try to get to Boreal or Rose today instead. Probably won't find a ride though. That's how things work around here. I'm not stuck in the city anymore, but I'm still not on the mountain. If anyone wants to give me a car that'd be cool. Let me know. Until then, I'm just watching the snow fall outside my window, wasting my days away. 


[[BTW, if you've been living under a rock and don't know about the Vail takeover read this.]]

snow-close!

It's snow close to opening day! Er, I mean, so close. The opening day I've been waiting for is coming up on Friday: NORTHSTAR's. Not only am I excited to ride there everyday this season, I'm working there too. I'm not scheduled to work until December 12 so until then I just get to ride and have fun. Yeee! It's a bummer that I still don't have a positive cashflow, but I'm just so excited to ride Northstar that I don't mind too much.

I went to Northstar yesterday morning with my friend Maddy so we could finish our paper work and get our passes. We were walking around the village and I was starting to get really stoked. The village at Northstar is just so awesome. It really adds to the resort. I've been looking for places to live but I think I'm going to put in an application for the employee housing at the village because it would just be so cool to live there. They've got the ice rink, stores, restaurants, entertainment and so much life. I think it'd be sweet to live right there in all of that. Never a boring time! So that's my plug. Come to Northstar, hang out in the village, and have a good time.

I don't have much more to say for now, but I'll definitely make a full post on Northstar's opening day this weekend. And if you're in Tahoe right now, I'm sure you'll be there for opening too. So in that case, I'll see you there! Let's take a run!

Beers and Spliffs at Mt. Rose

Some buddies of mine made this awesome edit the other day and you should check it out. These guys are all really awesome, and fun. This is real Tahoe. The kids living here and starting their seasons in October. Lots of more edits from them to come. I think this was November 12th?



Peter Hodgins, Ian J. Daly, Keenan Cawley, Stephen Wojciechowski, Tyler Arthur, Garret Creetin, and Spencer Reeves

Like an ass's behind.

Uhm, I don't know what the title of this post means really, as it is five in the morning and I'm not all sane at this hour, but it has the word behind in it. Pretty much, I've somehow managed to slip up on these posts again. A lot of stuff has been going on and my blog has just taken the back burner. I've been riding a lot though and I'm really excited about all that. I went to Boreal's opening day and then a few days after that. I've been up at Mt. Rose too quite a bit. I'd write more about everything going on up here being it's all very exciting and I'd love to share it, BUT- I'm leaving for Mammoth (opening day is today) in fifteen minutes and I'm still in bed. So I need to get a move on pronto.
I do have time for two things before I get off. One: I'm actually progressing and that makes me really happy. When I first came up here all there was to hit was PVC pipes and I couldn't even hold a 50-50 for more than a moment on it. In the past few days though I've just been getting them so I moved on to boardslides. Just yesterday I started locking in boardslides. Last night I had my first ever just fucking STOMPED boardslide. It was awesome! I also did a few where I shifted to 50-50 while on the rail and then rode away fakie. I felt so good about them. I was starting to get bummed that I couldn't do anything but now I'm back in the game.
Secondly, I need to move in less than a month now and I still don't have a place to live. I responded to a few craigslist ads last night so I'll see how that works out. It's fairly important that I get a house so I hope one of the ads I responded to works out. One of the houses is 3 guys who are working at Northstar and are looking for someone chill to live with. The thing with them is that I'll have to share a room with a dude. :/ Which is fine but whatever. The other is two dudes and a girl so that would probably work out better for me. But I don't know because I like guys better than girls anyways so I don't think it matters. The only thing is that they're both looking for someone to move in immediately and I still have 20 days before I want to move.
It'll work out though. I'll find a place to go.... I hope.
ALL RIGHT! MAMMOTH Time. Slaterrrrr!

Snowboarders are so COOL

What's with everyone trying to be so cool these days? It's like everyone is trying to call everyone else out for "trying to be cool" just so they can look cool. How does that even make sense. "I look cool because I'm acting like it's not cool to be cool by calling someone else out for trying to look cool/ not being cool enough"

What has stemmed this rant?

On Saturday we got some fresh snow up on Mt. Rose and I wanted to go up to the summit to ride a bit. Well, everyone was too hungover to drive (or so they claimed) so around 2pm I started hitch hiking my way up the mountain. I eventually got up there and there weren't too many other people up there. It was pretty much me, my friend Ryan from Reno and a few of his friends. I needed to get to Reno that night to go to the Forum F-It premier and I figured it'd be easier to go straight there than find a ride back to Incline and then to Reno. So I got a ride with Ryan and went out to the Forum BBQ. After that we went back to his house to drink/hot tub/ etc. and then left for the premier.

My plan was to find a ride back to Incline from the premier, and I knew that'd be possible because a bunch of kids from school were going to the movie. But, because I wasn't going to be going back with Ryan I had to carry my board and boots with me. And I was still wearing my snow pants. I knew I'd get crap for carrying my board at the premier but I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. If someone said something I'd be like "I was just riding, I haven't been home" and it'd be over. But no, these kids were too cool for that. I got SOO much shit from so many people. Mostly guys. Guys I didn't know, and even guys I was friends with. It's funny how quickly a friend will sell you out to look cool in front of their "pro" friends. I got so many "Why do you have your board with you?"s and even more "Ohhh you have your board and boots at a snowboard premier. You're SO COOL"s. I had to tell the story of how I was just hitch hiking all day a million times. And then some of the guys at the bar thought it'd be funny to pick my board up and pump it in the air. There were so many various nasty comments sent my way it almost killed my night. Why is there so much hate?

I mean, I'm not butt hurt on all this, I just think it's really dumb. Just let people be themselves and just live. Everyone complains about people being fake and trying to be cool but when you call people out to look cool it's just encouraging this fake broish behavior.

I don't know where I'm going with this and I'm just kinda over the whole situation. I think I'm just gonna ignore it all from now on. I just hope people stop being so obsessed with trying to call other people out. It's becoming cliche how much I've been saying this recently but JUST LIVE. Let people be. Have fun. Stop the hate.

The Tahood 37

So my friend Dan lives and rides up in Oregon and last night we were talking about the tricks we wanted to get this season. He said he wanted to get handplants, and I said I wanted to get a 540. He goes, let's make it a game. Whoever gets them (documented) first wins, and loser buys sushi. I go "Deal. Let's make it a whole list though." And the thing evolved. So now we have a list of 37 tricks and whoever gets the most by the end of the season is champion. We've got a youtube channel set up so you can follow our progress.

Ahhhh, The Tahood 37. A quest for dominance between an 18 year old Tahoe chickadee, and an old man from Oregon, the "ten months of snow" state. A simple "Let's see who can get a handplant and a bs5 first" evolved into a balls out championship of snowboarding might. Whoever knocks the most tricks off the list by May 15 wins. Loser buys sushi. Stakes will probably rise as the season gets underway. Game on.

Rules: No boxes the size of beds. Get it clean. If it’s questionable, it doesn’t count. Get it on video.

JUMPS

1. Nose grab
2. Tail grab
3. Method 
4. Melon
5. FS180
6. BS180
7. Half-Cab
8. Switch BS180
9. FS360
10. BS360
11. Cab
12. Switch BS360
13. FS540
14. BS540
15. Cab540
16. Switch BS540
17. Any 3 off a cornice/cliff
18. Rodeo
19. Misty
20. Backflip
21. Frontflip

JIBS & SHIT

22.Nose press

23. Tail press

24. 180-out

25. 180-on

26. 270-on

27. left hand-Handplant

28. right hand-handplant

29. fast plant

30. Stall 180

31. Stall 270

32. Front lip

33. Back lip

OTHER

34. Big air out of half pipe

35. Cartwheel

36. Tripod for at least 20 seconds

37. Full run, switch, regular front not strapped in. 

Dear Dan, You're going down. Youth conquers. 

Ps. Here's #27.

PeepShow/Transworld Premier

Last friday was the Peep Show "Let's make better mistakes tomorrow" and the Transworld "In Color" premieres.  Take a trip back to July to see the Peep Show teaser. They gave away a lot of awesome product, which I unfortunately did not collect. Well, besides a hat and tee shirt. But my friend Sophia won a new pair of boots which is totally awesome! I had fun at the premiere, seeing friends and such. The movies were okay, but I need to stop watching snowboard videos because the wait for snow is really starting to kill me.
After the premiere I went to some parties in Reno with some of these kids, egged some frat boys, and went back to Truckee. I got stuck in Truckee until saturday night when an Incline friend of mine picked me up. From there we went to a party in Kings Beach but I was just wayy too tired to party. I found a ride back to Incline, assuming I was being brought back to campus. Instead we went to someone else's house so I decided to sleep on their couch until my group was ready to go. Well they didn't wake me up and I woke up the next morning like "Shit. I just want to be home." I found a ride back to campus around 11am and was so relieved. I need a car. Being stuck all over the place sucks. The weekend was too exhausting. I don't know how many more of these adventures I can force myself on. Whatever. Just live right?

So much room for activities!

So I talked to my parents and they're letting me take next semester off! Annnd they'll pay for my rent too. Nice. The only thing though is that I told my parents I could find rent for like $300 a month and I'm having trouble actually doing that. I've been looking in Kings Beach and Truckee, but no cigar. Half of the searches result in "vacation leases" that are like $200 a night. As if.
Since I can live wherever I'm trying to find somewhere close to Northstar and that means I have no reason to buy a Diamond Peak pass. So now I'm just gonna get Northstar and Boreal. I mean, I could actually move to Oregon or Utah or Colorado really, but I like the kids around here too much. Tahoe is the place to be you know?
But anyways, it will all work out. I'll find a place to live and I'll be on the snow every single day. And it will be amazing.
Oh, and applying for a job working at the ski school at Northstar, which I think I may have a chance at getting because I could instruct skiing too. And if I don't get that job I'm applying at Boreal for their ski school. So yeah. This winter/spring will rock, whatever happens.
STOKED STOKED STOKED

Season Pass Time

It's about that time to start buying passes. Which is super new for me because up until this past season I rode two days at most a year. I'm definitely getting Diamond Peak because it's less than a mile from campus. People have told me that they don't buy DP because we know everyone who works there but whatever. I'll play it safe and just get a pass there because I'm planning on being there something like five days a week. Then I'm going to get the Northstar pass even though it's $$$. I'm going to get the hella limited restricted one because I'm only going to go there when other people go and for filming and stuff. I don't have a car so I'm stuck tagging along with friends. I'm going to try to get a job there (maybe) so I may get reimbursed. Which would be sick. Lastly, I thinnnnk I'm going to get the Boreal pass. It's a little ridiculous for me to have three season passes but Boreal opens first, closes last, and has night boarding. And I can get a Monday-Friday pass for $99.

I'm so excited for all this riding. You'd think the snow has already started to fall.... Well actually it has. A few times. At a couple thousand feet higher than me. But that means it's on it's way for sure.

My parents are coming up this weekend because my birthday is on Monday and I'm going to have to have a hard talk with them about not going to school in the Spring. I'm already a semester ahead so I need to take one off at some point. I couldn't get on the snowboard team this year because I haven't competed before but I'm going to start competing this winter so I can make it on the team next year. Once I'm on the team I need to be here year round so I won't be able to take a semester off. I hope this argument makes sense to my parents. I'm way looking forward to couch surfing and boarding every day. THIS SEASON IS GOING TO BLOW MY MIND. as long as I don't do something dumb and fuck myself up.

Deeper

So I went to the Deeper premier on Friday night and it was pretty sick. Liked it a lot better than the Volcom video actually, which is weird because I didn't think I would. There was a cool story to the film and it was really easy to get into. I felt like I was part of the adventure. And there was definitely an abundance of "Oh. My. God." moments. The only downside I guess was the length. It was a biiiiit long but it wasn't too bad. It was just hard to sit outside on the grass until past 10pm. Anyways, I'd recommend that everyone goes and sees it. Here's the trailer, which isn't half as amazing as the real thing.



Teton Gravity Research and Jeremy Jones put a pretty sick video together. Besides JJ, this film features Travis Rice, Xavier De Le Rue, Josh Dirksen, Ryland Bell, Jonaven Moore, Forrest Shearer, Johan Olofsson, Lucas Debari, and Tom Burt. Look out for Ryland Bell. He's pretty awesome.

Triple Fucking Cork

Time to step up your game, kiddies.

torstein.net

I has HAPPY THOUGHTS

wow wow wow.
This movie from the bHappy kids is so fucking rad. It's one of the best things I've seen in a while.

FEAST YOUR FUCKING EYES.


These guys (and girl) are sick. That's all there is to it. They've got the sickness.
And while we're on the bHappy subject, major congrats to Cole Atencio and Zander Blackmon who are new technine AMs

9191 Premier

Hey Hey. Had some good fun the other night. Before the premier started they had a product toss and I got hooooked up. I got a jacket, a hat, a tee shirt, gloves, and a long sleeve shirt. And a rad frisbee and a bunch of stickers. This is the only way I can support my addiction. Anyways, the movie was ok. It seemed a little short and it was all big mountain stuff. I'm more of a park person but there were some cool shots. The soundtrack was awesome though. Lots of people came out and it was cool because I knew a lot of them.

 I'm definitely stoked about how I know so many people. Like, back in my "city kid" days I'd come up by myself on those buses, ride alone, and see no one I knew all day. I feel like every run I'm going to see people I know now. And that'll be swell.

So in case you haven't and can't make it out to a premier, here's the link to the trailer.
TR41L3R

First few weeks.

So basically, living in Incline Village has been amazing. College is amazing. These kids are amazing. I couldn't ask to be in a better place. There is so much fun to be had in Tahoe. I'm getting too stoked for winter though. Like,  I feel like I'm just waiting waiting waiting for the snow. It's all I can think about. And I'm sure my plans for tonight won't make it any better. Tonight I'm driving to Reno for the Volcom 9191 premier. A bunch of us from the school are going and it's gonna be loads of fun. Oh and hellllo free stuff. There's definitely gonna be a product toss so I'm looking forward to some new gear. Anyways, I'm gonna get going because we're planning on getting to Reno an hour before the doors open in case there's a line. Lame post. Whatever.

bHappy shredfest edit

I made it into a bHappy film! I feel like a celebrity. My glorious backside can be seen at 1:04. check it. ahah. These guys are obviously a lot rawer than me and my excuses for my pathetic jumping abilities on this day seem to be invalid now.
If you don't know about bHappy, you should. They've got a bunch of pretty sick edits out there floating around the interweb, aka vimeo, and a blogger that they post stuff on. Go shreducate yourself.

Canadian friends!

So, I mentioned my friend Jodie in an entry once before (here) and now I'm gonna do it again. She's living up there in America's baseball cap with my other bud Deja and they've put a number of pretty sick videos together of their numerous adventures. Think of them as Canadians on Shred. Jodie and Deja are both ultra raw and I hope I can film with them at some point... and not have the back of my head humped by a redhead. Go search for them on youtube by typing in "Jodiesg".  If you like snowboarding and people with funny accents that say "American" like "UhMURicun" check their videos out.

College is coming!

I'm getting so stoked to go to Sierra Nevada. It's definitely the coolest school and this year is going to be awesome. So here's everything happening up until I move in.

Tonight: Skate in a competition at Skatechurch. It will either be raw or a disaster. My skating is hot and cold these days. I figure I'll collect some free stuff though. Which will help because all my clothes are already packed away. haha

Tomorrow: Fly to Massachusetts. I'll be there for an ice skating competition which I won't be skating in. I kind of wish I signed up for an event or two. It probably would have been my last competition with that for a while. I guess I'll hang around Boston and Salem causing trouble. Oh, I need to write about my fight with this mall cop at some point. Anyways, I'll bring my board and try to find some places to skate. My BFFL Alanna lives in New York so I'm going to try to meet up with her one day and destroy some shit. The only problem is that she lives in UPstate NY (basically Canada) so we'll still be four hours apart. But I'm four hours away from Tahoe and I still made it happen all winter. I think it'll work out. I haven't seen her since Windells last August and I LOVE her. She's going to Windells again for sesh 7 and I was supposed to go too but it's just way too much money. I have a tenative plan to drive up to Oregon during the sesh and chill at camp and tear up Tline. But IDK if it's happening because it'll be like a week before I leave for college and I'll probably have a lot to do still. 

Oh and sometime while I'm in Boston I need to finish all my work for Tahoe Community College. I'm taking two classes to get some credits out of the way. Digital Imaging is cool and isn't too much work because I know how to use photoshop already. Abnormal Psychology is killing me though. We have to write soooo much and my book never came so I have no idea of what I'm talking about. :X I'm going to try to finish the majority of my class stuff today because it'll suck to have to be on my lap top the whole time I'm in MA.

August 1: Fly home from MA. Pack my stuff for the move. I have soooo much stuff. I don't know how I'm going to get rid off it all. I've been accumulating items for 17 years and now I have to part with them all. And I have to make sure I dispose of anything I don't want my parents to find. That's the main part.

August 6: MAYBE drive to Oregon with my old girl scout troop. I really hope this happens but it's not looking too good.

August 13: Driving up to Tahoe and starting my Wilderness Orientation. I'm excited but they still haven't told me who my roomate is and I'm really curious. We need to plan out who's bringing what and it's getting close...

So thats it. Oh and if you're not a member of stillnotsponsored.com sign up and vote for my video so I can win a hoodie and stuff. It was just supposed to be 30 seconds so I used a few shots from Shredfest at Boreal. They said they don't want to see crazy tricks but just want to see kids having fun. That's pretty much what my video is. Drunken drug fueled fun. But I never said that.

July Snow

Wow. What a weekend. The one run was tiny but it was still fun to be boarding. It got majorly slushy out there in the afternoon but the first few hours of each morning were pretty good.

Summary of happenings:

• Met boy who became boyfriend. (How did that happen??)

• Got too drunk. (Look up Pass Out. It's the greatest game ever)

• Got totally stoked on moving up to Tahoe. (Kid won't be stuck in the city for much longer)
• Destroyed a 7-11 slushie.

• Pulled some bs180s out of nowhere. (I had never tried but guess I can do them.)
• Attempted bs360s. (Ended up as 320s because the jumps were so small/sticky)
• Slashed up my shin on a rail. (both are now fairly bruised and swollen)
• Went back to that rail and did a clean 50-50 shifty.
• Got nasty boot bruises

So yeah. That was it. I'm so in love with snowboarding AHHHH I want to snowboard again now. Those two days were such a tease. Oregon in August? Hopefully...

SO STOKED

OMG I'M GONNA BE SNOWBOARDING IN LESS THAN 12 HOURS! I'M SO PSYCHED! 

This is what I love about snowboarding. I get so stoked on it. I'm going to do a 360 tomorrow. I just know it. Backside 3. I can feel it. Yeah the only 180s I've done have been half cabs. So what? I can pop a 3 flatland in my living room. Without a board I can do a 7 on the floor. A 360 should be nothing. I'm bringing my camera and Valarie is going to film a bit for me. This is going to be sick. I'm stoked. I feel it. 20nofear10. I've got this. Shredfest here I come.

:D

Teaser time!

We've got a new preview from the ladies at Peepshow. I watched it. I liked it. It got me stoked on snowboarding. You should watch it too. I love watching other girls rip it up because it makes me think that I can be like that one day. One day it'll be me in those videos. But for now, I'm at home just lurking the peepshow website and watching their videos.

And now I present,
Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow

Featuring Terra Michilot, Laura Hadar, Marie Hucal, Robin Van Gyn, Desiree Melancon, Esthera Preda, Colleen Quigley, Jess Kimura, June Bhongjan, Nicki Slechta, Laurie Gauvin and friends. Filmed by Pat Barraza, Colin D. Watt, June Bhongjan, and Matt Charland. Edited by Esthera Preda

MPORA Action Sports >>

Shred Fest

So, Boreal is opening back up for two days. July 10-11 from 10-2. Tickets are $20. I am most definitely going. I'll take any summer boarding opportunity that comes my way.

Yeah. That's it. I really don't have much to say. It's summer.

I think the main reason I'm not going totally crazy is skateboarding. I've got my buddies that I travel around a bit with and they're all super sick skaters. It takes my mind off the snow. I was actually starting to think I loved skating more, but I sat down with an old issue of transworld snowboarding and was reminded of how crazy I am for the snow. As soon as I started flipping through the pages I was reminded that while I love skateboarding, it doesn't even come close to snowboarding. Some of the guys I skate with hate on snowboarding hard and I don't get that. I thought we were cousins. I don't know any snowboarders that hate on skateboarding... Why is that?

Wintertime Animation

Okay, so this seemingly has nothing to do with snowboarding but I stumbled upon this video and really enjoyed it. And if you're really looking for a snowboard conntection, how about this: 1. Theres snow. 2. Theres tagging, a practice that a number of snowboarders partake in. 3. The girl is wearing a tall tee. Well, tall thermal. 4. The girl is sagging her pants quite low. 5. The girl is wearing a beanie 

Yeah. So There.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Free Goods from Ride

Alright, whenever I find something super amazing awesome I just HAVE to share it with you all. Ride has this program right now where you sign up and use their search engine. That's all you have to do. Search for stuff. Sometimes your searches will earn you points, which you click on to claim. When you get a certain amount of points you can redeem them in the Ride store for product. That simple. I'm so stoked to use this. They've got stickers, backpacks, bindings, boards and more. Sign up and start searching!

Okay, I've been lagging again.

It's been almost a whole month two months since my last post. My appologies. I've been doing that dumb thing called high school. But in a week its over! Whoop! Anyways, I've got three things to cover in this post. ( I know, not much for a month without posts. I be slippin'.)

1. I told my buddy Johnny Tsunami that I'd post this for him so here it is

Nice little edit. Watch it. Support the Tsunami. Yadda dadda. 

2. I sent my deposit in to Sierra Nevada so I will be definitely going there. I'm also going to take 15 credits this summer at Lake Tahoe Community College so I can go in with transfer status and get extra scholarship moniez.

3. Eh. It's not that important. I'll post it later.

Niiiiight snowbabes.

Successful Denial

Well, my dream school has denied me. I will definitely not be attending USC next year. And oddly enough, the letter I received yesterday was a relief. See, USC is the perfect school in my mind. It's my favorite school in the universe. The only problem is that going there would mean I couldn't pursue my passion, snowboarding. I've spent the past few months debating whether I should follow my dream, or my dream school. Being accepted to USC and not attending would mean that I may have regrets or "what if" wonders in the future. But I know I would regret not following snowboarding if I were to attend USC. Part of me has kind of hoped that I wouldn't be accepted just so I wouldn't have to make the decision. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when I read that first sentance last night; "Dear Jenise, we regret to inform you...." Now I can follow my dream with no regrets at all. I'm free! Snow, here I come.

Catch up.

Not that type. I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. I really think I typed an entry at some point and never published it. A month without a post is a little ridick. My bad. Anywayyyys. My snowboarding season is pretty much over. I found out that I have (or had) mono and that means I can't do anything "dangerous". Basically, if I have a fall, my spleen will rupture and I'll bleed to death from the inside. Fun right? Yeah, so I'm not taking that chance. I've been skateboarding almost every day though. I think I'm getting pretty good. I have a crew that I skate with and travel around with. That's pretty cool. I feel like I'm part of something and not just a high schooler trapped in this boring snowless city. I've been doing lots'o photography too.

I went to Kirkwood with Sean and his friends Duncan and Delphine two weeks ago and it was really nice. Kirkwood always serves. Bluebird once again. I've been really lucky this season. I haven't really have a bad day.

Other news, I'm visiting Sierra Nevada College in a week and a half for a few days. I'm pretty stoked on them. I also got accepted to CU Boulder, and University of Utah. Utah doesn't seem like they have anything really special going on and Boulder has issues with communication. That's what I really like about SNC. I email, they email back. I call, they call back. They do everything they can to accomadate me. Which is something a college should be doing if you're going to be paying 30k+ a year to go there.

Anywhooooo, I'm going to start searching for a ride up to Tahoe so I'll end this here. More posts real soon, scout's promise!

My little secret: Sierra Summit.

Sierra Summit Sierra Summit Sierra Summit Sierra Summit Sierra Summit
Okay, don't laugh at me, Sierra Summit is my new favorite resort. I get major hate whenever I mention this little spot out of Fresno but it really deserves more credit. Most people I know automatically think less of it because it's not in Tahoe but really, who gives a shit. Tahoe is the bomb. We all know that. But the magic can be found in the places that we don't all know about. I went to Sierra Summit last Sunday with some doubts in my mind. I figured it'd be a little crappy but I didn't care because I was going to get to snowboard. My mind was blown when I got there. A few factors played into incredible day.

1. PERFECT BLUEBIRD CONDITIONS. Ah. It was awesome. I ditched two layers and was still pretty warm. The sky was bright and blue. There was a foot of fresh pow covering the mountain. It was also what the locals called "busy" but what any Tahoe kid would call empty. No lift lines or anything. No one getting in my line as I boarded (except one skier who guerrilla attacked my jump line). The runs were also very open. There weren't really any paths that we had to stick to. It was easy as pie to cross from one run to another whenever we felt like.

2. Sundays are $20 ticket days for 6th-12th graders. Cha-chinggg.

3. I went with my old friend Gina. This was my first time boarding with just another girl in years, besides camp. I'm always going up to the mountains with guys are by myself so this was a new experience. I've been friends with Gina since babyhood but we haven't hung out recently. It was cool getting back together with her. It was also cool because she is basically the same level as me. I'm a bit more advanced but that made it super cool. I didn't feel pressured to go faster than I wanted so I could take my time and just have fun. I was also able to teach Gina some tricks. I love teaching people. I get super stoked when I learn something new and when I teach someone else something new I get super stoked FOR them. Side note; I met this little kid who was just learning to board and I helped her with turns for a while. I had a ball. Anyways, Gina was super fun to board with and we were able to push each other. Good stuff.

4. This place is an intermediate boarder's paradise. Most of the runs are intermediate and the parks are too. Usually I have issues with parks at other resorts. The beginner parks are supppper beginner, with boxes that are like a max of 3 inches above the snow and jumps that are like four feet high. And then the next level parks are too advanced for a medium level rider to comfortably attempt anything. This is not the case with Sierra Summit. The parks were a perfect medium. I felt like I could safely attempt the rails and such but I was still challenged and forced to progress my riding. It was sick. Another cool thing was that almost all of the snowboarders/skiers on the mountain were lower levels so I felt like I was one of the better riders on the mountain. There was definitely no intimidation factor there to affect my confidence.

So yeah. I was pleasantly surprised by this place. I'm trying to convince my friends to go to Sierra Summit with me on Sundays now but it's hard work. People just don't believe that there's good boarding in that area....

Bluebird at Sierra photo cred: this guy

New love.

Since I haven't gotten to go snowboarding for a few weeks I've gotten back into skateboarding. I've been skating at Red Morton in Redwood City and just keeping it steezy you know? Anywayyss, I've also gotten more into photography and have decided to do skateboarding photography while I'm not boarding myself. And so here it is; FLICKR, my first every skateboarding album. I've never shot skating before and I think I got a few cool shots. I learned somethings that will help me get better shots next time as well. I just can't believe it took me all day to process the batch. Ahhh. The one draw back. Whatever. MGT. Look for a special skateboarding surprise coming soon, featuring the soon to be legendary 820 House.

LOCALS ONLY

Sick day at Sierra

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been kinda sick. :/ Here's the story;

I drove over to Sunnyvale in the wee hours of the morning to catch the Bay Area Ski Bus. My stomach was feeling kinda funky but I was like "whatevs. I'll get on the bus, go to sleep and it'll be all good." So at 4am I boarded the bus and tried to sleep. I made it for like a half hour before I had to go to the bathroom andddd I puked. Lost all my yummy dinner from the night before. Oh and I hadn't eaten lunch the day before either. So all I had left in me (if anything) was the pancakes I ate for breakfast at 8am the day before. But those were probably gone too. Anyways, I go up to the front of the bus and I was like "Do you have any snacks or anything that I could eat right now. I'm not feeling good." And this old guys is all "Well I have some airplane peanuts" and this Asian mom is like "I have some juice." I took those, ate a few of the peanuts and half the box of apple juice and still wasn't feeling good. An hour or so later I was in the bathroom throwing those up. Unpleasant. Oh an I was totally sweating up a storm too. I stripped down to my long underware in the bathroom because I was like dripping in sweat.

By the time we got to the mountain I wasn't feeling so hot. I thought about not boarding and just hanging in the lodge but I was like "No way. I paid $115 for this day. I'm boarding." So I strapped in and felt better once I was on the mountain. I was having an okay time at the park but I wasn't really about to go full out because I had no energy at all. At like 1pm I was seriously having trouble staying conscious on the mountain. Like, as I was boarding I was getting dizzy and having to concentrate on keeping my eyes open and staying up. I figure it was time to take a rest. I was dehydrated and all that crap. I went to the lodge and got a cup of water. I didn't want to eat though because I didn't know if it would make me sick and there was no way I was going to throw up while boarding. I grabbed me a cup o' water, drank some of it and laid down to rest for an hour.

I then went back out onto the mountain and took like five more runs before I had to get back onto the bus. When we stopped for dinner I still didn't want to eat so I just got a piece of bread from Subways, which they gave to me for free. All in all, the day wasn't horrible. I lost three pounds and wasn't able to go as hard as I would have liked. It was still time on the mountain though so it's okay in the end. I'd give the day a C-.

FREE Magazine Subscriptions

Ahhh the lovely world of snowboarding magazines. What better to do when you can't board than sit down and gaze at the majestic sites of other boarders. But, being a student and a self-supporting snowboarder, I have no money to spend on these magazines. However, I always say, where there's a will there's a way. I have sailed the seas in search of deals and I now subscribe to Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboarder Mag, without paying a dime. And now I'm letting my lovely readers in on the deal too.
Click here to subscribe to Snowboard Magazine
For card # type in "snow1970". Use this code to register for a Tahoe card on snowbomb.com if you wish as well.
Click here to subscribe to Transworld Snowboarding

ENJOYY

SO FRUSTRATED!

Oh my freaking God. I am so pissed off. I hate people who ruin snowboarding plans. Going up to the mountians is a big deal for me because it had to be planned like a week in advance. So, my boy friends goes "Hey, my mom said she could drive us up this weekend" and I'm like, "Sick, my school is taking a trip to the school on Saturday but I'll go with you instead." Well, it turns out that my boy friend never asked his mom and she can't drive us and my school has already left so I can't go with them either. I look online, contact everyone I know, and NO ONE can go up because it's so last minute. So I'm stuck at home for the weekend, not snowboarding, while the rest of my friends are. AHHHHHH! I hate life. Of course, every person I talk to goes "I can't this week but you can come with me next weekend." Really? Does everyone have to go on the same weekend? Lame. Ah. Stranded. Snowless. I go crazy without the shred. I hate when people bail. I should've just gone with my school. >.< I can't wait to be done with highschool so I can live in the snow and go everyday.
Oh, bright note; I got accepted to Sierra Nevada College with a $6,000 a year scholarship. :]

Look at those deals

Hello fellow snowpeople! It's Free Friday!
Well, not really, but alliterations are neat. Anyways, I'm about to head out to the skate park so I just wanted to leave you with a short post so I could share a link.

http://www.brociety.com/

Check out brociety. They've got a bunch of deal on snowboarding stuff. So yeah. Read more about it on the site.

----------------UPDATE---------------
Brociety is now gone, but deals can still be found at http://www.whiskeymilitia.com/

Almost Bummer

So I was planning on snowboarding like every weekend for the next couple of months but that's not gonna happen apparently. I just got my schedule for my school's spring musical and it blows. I've got rehearsals EVERY SATURDAY FOR THE NEXT THREE MONTHS. AHHHHHHHH! This is ridiculous. Things were starting to look up for this season! Arg. So my plan of driving up on Fridays after school and coming back on Sundays isn't going to work. I figure that I've got a solution though; drive up on Saturday after rehearsal, ride Sunday, drive back Sunday night. It's gonna be tiring but hey, if it's what I've got to do I'll do it. A city kid on shred will do what it takes. All this means is that I probably won't get much filming in and I won't get to compete either. :/ Whatever though. I'd rather be shredding than not.

Chick Flicks

A snowstorm hit Portland and left me stranded in a car for over 7 hours. In this excessive amount of time I was able to view multiple snowboarding videos on Danny's iPod. Two that I hadn't seen were "Asthetica" and "That's it, That's All". I must say I was disappointed. I mean, it was good snowboarding but hellllloooo? Where were the chicks?!?! I mean, come on? Either girls need to step up their game or the guys need to take some notice. I prefer to think of the latter. So yeah, absolutely no girls in That's it, and Priscilla Levac repsresented the entire female shredder population for Asthetica. Let's get some more girlies up in this place.

I was talking about this with my homie Jodie Gordon who's out there with her shred stick in Canada and she suggested a few movies to me. The first was See What I See, Runway Film's 2008 video. I must say, those girls tear it up. I'm so glad I went out to Zumiez and bought it. I love watching girls shred. Seriously, it's cool watching guys but when its girls it just hits home, ya dig? The second video (series) she suggested to me was Peep Show. I've only watched the first video but this is pretty sick as well. If you want to watch some girls tear it up, get these videos.

See What I See trailer
Peep Show channel

20NOFEAR10

Alright lovelies, I'm back from the O-R, or California's beanie. I could type up my day by day experiences, or you could head on over to Shred Union and read my snowday log. Yeah. I'm going with the latter. He's a few things that didn't make it into my log though.

• Danny's mom chiropracted me.
• I have an ultra persona as a deaf person.
• I'm so stoked on airblaster. This jacket more specifically. Dinosaurs rock.
• Skiers get pissed off when you make Dinosaur noises.
• I'm applying for a job at Windells.
• Tim Windell ate it big time on a box in the baby park.

Time to talk about my NYR, that's New Year's Resolution to all you uncool cats. I call this 20-No Fear-10. Or, my Year Without Fear.
I have a history of backing out of things I should be able to do. I ride slower than I could, don't commit myself to tricks, etc. So I decided that this year there would be no backing out. I wrote my slogan on my arm and went out to ride. I decided that my first jump of the day would be a half cab. Now, I've never rotated jumps before because of my holding myself back. There would be no backing out. I went at the jump, picked up speed and flew. I didn't fully commit myself to the rotation though so I only made it half way. I hiked and did it again, completing the rotation. I completed the line, hitting every box, jump etc. And then I rode the pipe, going as far up the sides as I could, rather than my usual going up as little as I could. I had such a sick day hitting all sorts of things and jibbing all over the place. I almost lost my love for snowboarding but this day brought it back. I was able to relive the thrill of getting a new trick or landing something sick. I'm still addicted and it's great.