Привет Russia!

Somehow people found out about my little snowboarding diary and now I have readers in countries around the world- from Chile to China, and Latvia to Venezuela. Recently there's been a change in where my readers are from; outside of the US, the country who views my blog the most now is Russia. To thank my Russian readers for their support, I wanted to make a post that highlights Russian snowboarding. One of my friends I ride with, Nika, is from Russia and told me that snowboarding is growing in Russia and it's starting to be a big thing. Stoked for Russians! Keep sending it, and thanks for your support.

Here's a video from Olya Smeshlivaya, a rad snowboard chick from Moscow. I met her at Mt. Hood last summer and she's pretty cool. She rides for Dakine, Dragon, Gnu, Protec, Vans, and Betty Rides.




This one is from Denis Leontyev. He’s 19, and is sponsored by Academy, LRG, 32, Dakine, APO, Skullcandy, and Lil’ Kings. This video was filmed at some indoor arena in Russia. Wish we had one of those around here!

DIY: Action Magnets

If you're anything like me, every morning when you wake up, the first thought that comes to your mind is "What am I going to do with all my old snowboard magazines?" While cleaning the house today I found some flat magnets and figured out the solution to my problem: make some action shot snowboarding magnets. I'll be moving into my new apartment in a couple weeks and what better to decorate the refrigerator with?  I figured I'd share this project in case anyone else wants to get creative/kill some time.

Project Time: 10-20 minutes, depending on how many magnets you want to make
Supplies: Snowboard magazine, magnets, scissors, glue stick, colored paper

Just a few supplies needed before starting!

Step 1: Flip through the magazine to find some good "action" shots you want to use for your magnets. Look for ones that have the rider's whole body unobstructed and are 1" to 3" wide. Cut these pictures out of the magazine.

A couple of the shots I chose out of the February '12 Transworld

Step 2: Cut out the bodies of the riders and glue them on to your pieces of colored paper. The main reason for doing this is to make the pictures a little more sturdy. I used oragami paper so I had to glue a couple layers, but if you use construction paper only one layer is needed. Once your glue dries cut out the rider again. If you leave a little space on the outside it will put a colored boarder around the rider.

Step 2 in progress

Step 3: Once your pictures with the layers of paper behind dry, use your glue stick again to glue the magnets on to the back of the snowboarders.

Make sure your magnets don't extend outside the riders, cut them down if they do.

Step 4: Wait for everything to dry. And you're all set. Stick magnets to the fridge to hold up your favorite pictures and mementos from the season.

My magnets are holding up pictures from a rail jam in Reno, matches from the
Rome premier, a twe12ve movie ticket, and my Oregon liquor serving license.
What will you use your magnets for?

Optional Step 5: Make magnets of rails/mountain/trees, using the same process and create a whole snowboarding scene on your fridge. You can also bedazzle the magnets with glitter and rhinestones if you really want to go crazy.

Well, that's it. Simple and quick! If you make this, I'd love you see your results!
Let me know what you think of this DIY too and I might try to include more like this in my blog. :D

Gear for sale!

I've been trying to sell some of my stuff through facebook but I figured I'd make a post here as well.
If you're interested in something, either leave a comment on this post or contact me on my contact page.

Rome Detail Rocker 143 (2012)
Never used- still in packaging
$300














32 Vela Boot, size 7 (2011)
Worn about 5 times
$100

 Burton Escapade Binding, Medium (2010)
Used 15 times
$50

Arnette Series 3
New (without box)
$60

Rome Salient 3-in-1 Jacket, Medium
Lightly Worn
$50
















Other items and photos of my exact items can be found on my
Facebook album

First College Competition

This weekend I was supposed to have USASA half pipe and slopestyle, but because those got canceled I was able to compete in the first weekend of USCSA (US Collegiate Snowboarding Association) events. Originally Slopestyle was scheduled for this weekend but Sugar Bowl dropped the ball and we ended up having a Giant Slalom race at Diamond Peak instead.

The course was set on top of the run the skiers used for slalom that morning so there were huge mogul like bumps and ice patches which made the course a little challenging. I was like second to drop and didn't get a chance to tighten my bindings before I was practically pushed through the gate. I had set my bindings on my Rome Blue with a butter knife that morning so they weren't exactly solidly attached to my board. I think I kind of like riding with loose bindings though. Adds some danger.

Anyways, I don't understand slalom. I just tried to go fast (I'm pretty scared of going fast though haha). Guess it worked though because I came in first out of the girls and 7th out of everyone. Most of my team mates did pretty well too. Pretty stoked all around. Next weekend we're going to maybe have a slope contest around here and then go to Mammoth for boardercross!

HEY! Crew

I've been filming with these guys the past month and having a really good time. They're a super fun gang and filming has been a good experience for me. Here's an edit Josh Fricke just put out of the group. My part starts at 7:40- my first shots in a snowboard edit! Also, here's an article that Heckler Magazine wrote on our crew.

Colorado, I'm coming for ya

Wow, I can't believe Rev Tour is already here. My flight to Denver is tomorrow and I'm in the process of making sure I'm getting everything I need packed into my board bag.

I thought I'd feel really unprepared but I actually don't feel too bad. I'm kind of excited. I was feeling awesome on the jump line at Northstar today (btw, I got banned from Northstar today and then reallowed in the period of an hour), and now I don't feel so scared of Slopestyle. I can't wait to see what the slopestyle course is going to be- How big will the jumps be? How many? What type of rails? And of course I can't wait to ride pipe again!

I'm not expecting to place at the top, but hopefully I'll make it to finals for both events, and then maybe by the Northstar and Vermont Rev stops I'll have a shot at winning some money.

I'm just going to ride the best I can and have fun. See you tomorrow Co!

That's Reno for you.

Don't do it in the park.
Reno is such a nice place. I guess I should post one of those "Not Safe for work" warnings. It's fairly vulgar, but completely amusing. I had a guy go off on me for like 5 minutes in Mammoth about how the home owners were just "not down". But this definitely beats my dude by like 5000%. Reno always wins.



"I have no fucking life. I live in Reno. This is a shithole. Okay what do you think I have to do? Follow you guys around? Yeah."

"Shaun White you know. If he had a tight little vagina I'd bang him too. You know? Because I'm a whoremonger. Trust me."

Ahh so many quoteable quotes. Can't watch this video enough.

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. :/