Earning my turns

They say that when you work hard for something you appreciate what you get much more- the berry is that much sweeter. Well, what they say it true. I found out about that first hand this summer, while taking part in the dig-to-ride program at High Cascade.

I never thought that I had any sort of physical strength, and in the past I have always made excuses or just plain quit when I thought that things were too tough for my body to handle. But that wasn't an option in dig-to-ride. If I quit, I didn't get to ride. So I pushed myself. And I was quite surprised at the results.

I'll admit, at the start of this summer I was pretty weak. I set up a great training program through, and followed it for a couple of weeks.

• Day 1: 2 hour hike through the forest. Don't follow paths. Hike over trees, through fields, over the rivers  
• Day 2: 1 mile jog, 100 lunges on each side, 50 squats, 50 1 legged squats on my bad knee. 
• Day 3: 35-40 minutes on a stationary bike, plus some core stuff, and hamstring curls if the machine is set up.

However, as soon as I started dig-to-ride, I realized working out extra was completely unnecessary. 
Every morning of dig-to-ride I got up to the HCSC park between 7:30 and 7:45 and started making trips up and down through the park carrying banners to set up. I usually finished the hiking and set up stuff around 10am, and then began to lap the pipe. We had to meet back up for noon rake (which consisted of hiking up to the top of the mini pipe and raking the walls all the way down, and then doing the same to the super pipe) at 11:45am, and that would end between 12:30 and 1pm, depending on if we were raking the super pipe. Then I got to ride again until 2:30, at which point I had to tear down the banners and put them back away. Most people would think that four hours of work in exchange for three hours of riding wasn't worth it, but I disagreed. Having the opportunity to ride High Cascade all summer was worth the hard work and sacrifice.

Plus, digging became a free gym membership. I think I got more physically fit this summer than I ever have been. I'm completely surprised at my own strength. When the summer started, carrying two banners at a time was exhausting, and I thought that setting up 8 banners in the morning was an accomplishment. By the middle of the summer I felt comfortable carrying four banners at once and had set up 21 banners in the morning before any other dig-to-rides had even shown up. I also learned how to get pretty good with a rake (I'm far from the best, but I can at least build a decent lip). Most important, I think I finally rehabilitated my knee.

I'm fully aware of how lame it is that I'm nerding out on digging to ride, but I honestly don't care. I learned how to push myself physically and mentally, and found myself taking pride in the work I was doing. The summer didn't go as planned with me being able to get a camp job, but I'm glad I experienced dig-to-ride. I can now fully appreciate how much work diggers put in to keep the park in shape for campers. I now also know that I can push myself a lot harder than I thought I ever could. Earning my turns wasn't as kush as it would have been if I had a sponsor pass or paid for a pass to just ride, but I think the whole experience I went through is a lot more valuable to my personal development.

RIP Collin

It's incredible how quickly a life can end. 

Just a couple days ago my housemate Casey was telling us about how earlier that day he was hiking through a tunnel in one of the crevasses off Palmer when the ice gave way under him. He jumped, clinging to the wall of the tunnel as the ground all around him crumbled down into the dark depths of the crevasse. We marveled about how he barely made it out of that situation. It was much too close of a call. 

Then today, my other housemate asked if I had heard about what had happened yesterday. Our friend was hiking down through the tunnels with some other guys scoping out a place to shoot some photos or something. The ice above them began to fall. Two of the guys got buried chest deep and one of them was smothered. They tried to get him out but it was impossible to dig through. My housemate relaying the story to me didn't know who it was that got killed so I jumped online to see if there was more to the story. 

My heart stopped when the google results came up. The guy who died turned out to be Collin Backowski. I couldn't believe it (and still can't.) Collin had been one of the nicest guys to me at camp this summer and we had hung out a number of times. Just a couple nights ago he had walked me home from the bar. How could I have even imagined that would be the last time I would ever see him?

I'm still in shock. His death doesn't even seem real. How could he be taken so unexpectedly? So quickly? They say our sport is dangerous, but you wouldn't expect someone out just scouting a spot to be taken by Mother Nature like that. 

More than anything I wish I could have told him how much he meant to me this summer. I wish I could have hugged him one last time. Seen his smile one last time. 

I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this. I can't change what happened. All I can change is how I'll treat the future. From now on I need to appreciate every moment I have with the people I care about- and let those people know how much I care. Any moment can be anyone's last. 

And none of it ever seems very fair. 

Summer o' Shred

Funny how quickly time goes by. I had planned on writing throughout the summer, but now I find myself at it's tail end without a single post.

It's been a pretty good adventure, and I don't really know where to start. Maybe I'll just jump around the highlights?

This night takes the cake for the best of the summer.

I spent the first six weeks of the summer living in my car. It wasn't too bad, and it was nice having my home go wherever I went. I spent most of my time off the hill just hanging out in town and being social, which was definitely a positive. I also went out almost every night during that time period so I could spend as much time not in my car as possible. My party-animal ways changed once I got a house. My amateur-hour mistake was not bringing a pillow. Sleeping on something hard and not having neck support for that long really messed with my back and neck.

While other people were soaking up the sun and sand, I was hanging out on top of the clouds.

I rode every single day in June, which might be a personal best. I don't know if I've ever done every single day of a month before. I maxed out at 32 days before taking a break to go celebrate 4th of July in Bend. For the beginning of the summer I lapped public park all day. Then I started riding Mt. Hood Summer Ski Camp. When High Cascade sessions started I jumped on the dig-to-ride program and rode there for the rest of the summer (I'll discuss my digging to ride experience in the next post). Annnd every once in a while I jumped over to Windells and played there.

Beer. Flag. Roof-top. 'Murica. 

4th of July in Bend. Wow. First excursion out of Government Camp for the summer. We started off by floating the river, and then hung out in the park with all the "freedom-riders." After that we went to a party at a kid who works at Windells' house. It was crazy. At one point probably around 100 people were posted up on his roof to watch the fireworks show. It seemed like everyone from Hood relocated to Bend for those couple days. I'd say a good majority of the High Cascade and Windells work force joined together for the party.

Me and Mom outside Bellagio. I stole her hat. Sorry.

For one of the in-betweens I dipped out to Vegas for two nights. I blew it when I partied at the Ark the night before my flight and missed my 6am departure. I was supposed to leave for the airport at 4am so I tried to stay awake until then, but crashed around 3. I had to spend an extra $250 for another ticket, but it was worth it to see my mom. I met up with my mom at the Vegas airport and then we went out to the strip. We had a pretty good time seeing Cirque du Soleil, eating awesome food, and checking out all the themed hotels. It was nice to get completely away from snowboarding and the same old crowd for a little bit.

You wouldn't believe how many people squeezed into the van.

Speaking of Ark parties, yeah that happened. I mean an Ark party is basically just standing outside the buildings drinking, but it's nice to be around a different crowd for a bit. Seeing old friends, and making new ones. The night/morning I missed my flight was probably the sweetest Ark party I went to this summer. We canoed out to an island behind the Ark, made a giant bonfire, and then raged inside a van. Yeah, Michael Wick has the coolest rape-van ever. Carpet on the walls and ceiling, strobe/colored lights, intense sound system. Add 15 people into the mix and you have an out of control van rager.

The Drink Water Rat Race went down at Hood mid-July. It was 90% invite, so I didn't think I'd win, but I figured I'd give it a shot and have fun since the $35 entry fee went to a really good cause. It ended up being a really fun day, and I surpassed what I thought I was capable of. I'm glad I entered. Afterwards was a BBQ at Clear Lake where lots of food was consumed, and the awards were given. I ended up not doing so badly- I placed 6th behind some pro chicks, so I'm pretty satisfied with that. Leanne Pelosi's pro model Dakine gloves were one of the first pairs of gloves I owned, so I'm not bummed about her having a faster time than me at all.

I pipe jocked out for most of the summer. I spent all but 2 of my High Cascade days just riding the super pipe all day. I spent the first couple of sessions just getting as comfortable as I could with airing. Then after talking with one of the Canadian coaches, and former Olympian, Crispin Lipscomb, I decided to commit to "training." I worked with him and a girl he coaches, Katie, for the last eight days and had crazy progression. I got so much more comfortable moving in the pipe, tried back 5s for the first time (and locked them in- my new best and favorite trick), worked on getting my front 5s consistent again, and started trying cab 5s (land them every time, but they aren't very pretty or clean just yet.) He also helped me sort through the madness which I first alluded to in this post. I still can't say exactly what it's about, but hopefully I can reveal that soon. I'm really excited about whats going on with that whole situation and I can't wait until things are confirmed and I can officially announce what I'm up to.

Annnd now we're caught up to today- last day on hill for High Cascade. There's one more session but I'm cutting my summer early to head back home and see my physical therapist/doctor. I need to get some things checked out before I possibly travel to New Zealand for the World Cup/Winter Games. I'm really happy with this summer. Even though I still couldn't get a job at camp, I was basically part of it. I was on hill for every day of every session, and helped with some of the off-hill activities at camp. I'm stoked that I was fortunate enough to be able to snowboard all summer, but I'm also stoked to get back home and hang up the ol' shred stick for a week and then two months.

Hope everyone out there in the webosphere had an awesome summer. Take it easy this fall. Get pumped for the winter. :D

Till the Bowling balls,
CKOS.