Wednesday, February 17, 2010

PB&J at Snoqualmie - 2010


Volcom's peanut butter and jelly rail jam was being held at Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington on the 13th. With anticipation of the competition, I decided to head to Washington a bit early to so some repping for Cilla and gather my 2011 products from sponsors...Ride, Pow, and Spacecraft. The first day I was there I had the chance to ride Steven's Pass. Stevens is probably my favorite resort in Washington. Great terrain and a well maintained park make this resort a really well rounded place to shred. The second day of my trip was one of the best highlights of the trip. Zumiez had taken the time meet with myself, Priscilla Levac, and Alexis Waite to check out the 2011 Cilla line. Kate Craig, buyer for Zumiez, and some of the marketing team members hosted us for dinner that evening. Two bottles of Saki later and some delicious sushi we were well into an enjoyable evening. The third day of the trip brought about more snowboarding at Stevens Pass followed by a day of rest prior to the PB&J. The competition was held on Saturday evening under the lights. There were three features, two of which were dance floor oriented. So naturally there was a lot of dancing going on. There was a good female turn out. About 12 - 15 girls were there to take a stab at the top five spots that advance to the finals. Raelynd Tarnove and Megan Middleton were two familiar faces. Both girls are local northwest shredders that kill it. With so many contestants in each category the night was long, but in the end I took second place with a tail 270 out on one feature and a switch 180 to frontboard 270 out on another. All three of us made the top five so it looks like we will be road tripping together to the finals in Mammoth Lakes, California in April.


SIA /X-games 2010







Sia 2010 was a much different experience in Denver this year than in past years in Las Vegas. All of the booths were about half the size, except Burton. Burton's booth had the intentions of bringing Las Vegas to Denver. There booth included real gambling, except with chips only...no real money. The Nidecker booth also drew an extensive crowd by brining in Pamela Anderson. However, I was there to take on the role of being the Northwest Cilla rep. Getting to know Pricilla Levac and Alexis Waite was one of the highlights of the trip. Both women are amazing and down to earth. Molly from Evo gear was there to add a wonderful familiar face and to support Cilla. All of my sponsors were there. Pow, Spacecraft, Cilla, Ride, and Smith had booths. Catching up with everyone was great. Shredbetties.com was also there doing coverage on next years products. Thankfully, they were nice enough to get me involved in the coverage. Connections were made and I was meeting new people with potential leads for other sponsorships.


Reed Silberman of Ink Monstr was nice enough to host myself and my Partner in Crime (PIC), Ellie Huffman. Granted the couches were already taken by Moss and Katiah so Ellie and I slept on the stage. Stage you ask? Yes the stage. The Ink Monstr warehouse was the location of the Deltron party friday night that was hosted by my sponsors, POW and Spacecraft. The warehouse had two levels. Thankfully since I was staying at the house, we were permitted to go to the second floor where the view of the show was awesome.


The night prior, Burton hosted an extensively large party. However, the Bonfire party sounded more fun because there was a skate ramp available there for shredding. Of course when I rolled in there, all the boys were having fun skating and I didn't see a single girl. We can't let all the boys have the fun, right? I had to jump in there for some turns and I am glad that I did. Mark Frank Montoya was there shredding with us for most of the night until he went to the DJ booth and starting laying down some killer beats that kick started my dancing shoes.


Saturday I ventured my way to Aspen to get a chance to see my good friend Megan Ginter in the X-games. Luke of South America Snow Sessions was kind enough to give me a ride after being arranged by Scotty Conerly, TM for Dakine Gloves. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Megan compete. Saturday was the qualifying round and she missed finals by less than two points. They take the top six and she got seventh place. Although, Megan is a solid rider with a killer competition record this season, so I am confident that she will kill it in the x-games next year. She was kind enough to let me stay with her in Snowmass where many of our other friends were staying as well. The house was amazing and the company was fantastic. Megan's mom and dad, Stephanie and Cal are always a good time. Having the opportunity to be there with all of my friends, Megan, and her family was really nice.


Monday Megan and I ventured towards Denver to catch our flights. I was heading back to Oregon while Megan was heading to Vermont for the third stop of the Dew Tour where she took 4th place. Overall the weekend was a huge success with hopefully more success to come out of it soon.