Campus Rail Jam Tour - 2010

The Campus Rail Jam Tour was a blast this year. The set up included a down flat down rail, a gap to down box, and a rainbow to down box. The first stop I did was in Spokane at Gonzaga University. The girl turn out wasn't very large, but that stop usually doesn't have the largest turn out in general. It had been a while since I had some good practice on rails and I was feeling really rusty. At the end of the competition I was stuck on trying to land a tail 270 out of the rainbow down box. Unfortunately, I couldn't land the trick and the judges were bored watching me try so I ended up leaving with second place.

One stop was added to the tour last minute and unofficially in Bend, Oregon. Considering the event wasn't really broadcasted with advance notice, there was a really good turn out. There was at least more than 10 girls there ready to throw down. Plenty of familiar faces were there including Krysta Pelchner and Ashley Thornton. The battle was fun and in the end I left with first place. Since the stop wasn't official, I didn't get one of those cool totem pole trophies...Boo. Those totem poles look pretty cool and are way better than the Jackalope heads I got for trophies last year....oh well.

The last stop that I went to was in Corvalis at Oregon State University. This stop was the last one before the finals in Portland. Mt. Hood usually draws a large crowd for the summer and with the last stop being so close to the summer there is a really good crew of people that show up. This stop had girls from all over the place, like Colorado, Utah, Tahoe. I really had to work hard to take second place. I was throwing switch tricks with different variations of switch ups and front boards. Emily Blewitt took first deservingly. She also was throwing down switch tricks and a sweet 180 swivel through the kink of the down-flat-down. She was keeping me well on my toes and motivating me to the fullest. I loved it!!! Being able to compete with girls that rip is a thrill and makes snowboarding more fun.

The finals in Portland was held Friday May 28th and it was such a wet day. The rain just did not stop poring, but for how much rain fell, there was still a great crowd of spectators. This was the best of the best. There were ladies from all over in Portland ready to take a stab at the title and cash up for grabs. California, Utah, Colorado, and your very own Oregon were being represented. It didn't take very long for me to take a nasty spill. My second hit on the down-flat-down rail I came off a little early and left the scaffolding heading fast first into the concrete. Instinctually, I placed my hands in front of my face to protect myself, but there was nothing I could do about the scorpion that was coming next. Regardless, I got up with so much adrenalin to finish what I started. Krysta Pelchner ended up taking the win for the day. I saw her land a really clean 270 onto the gap to down box and Ashley Thornton was super clean with a variety of tricks on all of the features. To see the top three spots being held by Oregonians was awesome. It just shows that that the Northwest can produce talent and there'll be more to come. Having all of the ladies in Portland was a really great time.

Spring has finally arrived!!

The spring season at Mt Hood is usually the best time to practice jumping. Visibility is finally available, the sun comes out, and Timberline puts up a killer park that has a good line of jumps that lead right into a full run of jib features. This year spring has been as unpredictable as this winter. One week we have 50 degree weather with beautiful blue skies and the next it is a socked-in rain marathon. However, for that 9 day stretch of solid weather, all the locals were out building, snowboarding, and taking photos.

Ever since I broke my neck from over shooting a jump, I've had a hard time overcoming my fears. The sun brought on some good feelings within and with the help of some friends I was able to flush away those fears. My friend Jimmy Weisgerber helped motivate me to hit the largest jumps that Timberline had. I was really grateful for the motivation because it helped lift some of the barriers that I was placing on myself. Thanks to Karim Hadid (www.karimhadid.smugmug.com) I was able to get a few good shots on Paintbrush's jumps.

Madison Blackely recently arrived to the Mt. Hood area and was staying at my house. Having her around was a great way to get pumped about jumping. Madison is coming back from a gnarly injury to her arm that resulted in surgery. Her motivation to regain strength and get back into the game is outstanding. Her energy is hard not to feed off, thus making shredding 'oh so much better'. She's making a killer comeback and will be kicking ass soon enough.

Megan Ginter has also been making an appearance in these parts. Of course, we all know that Megan is the Queen of jumps so having her around is always a motivating treat. I can't think of anyone else that can through back 7's on giant kickers, so her advice goes a long way. We both participated in a photo shoot for POW gloves. We were getting sled rides to hit the features which is spoiling.

One day really stood out as one of the best days of the spring. Good friends Matt Kratzer and Ryan Faulk a.k.a "Rick" took the time and energy to build this awesome feature over a river gap. The snow was still melting out so the walls to the river were well over 10 feet and the gap over the river was no less than 20 feet from lip to landing. Even though the gap is not that large, the experience was overwhelming. My first time over made me tingle so much I had to sit down for a few minutes and let myself calm down. The consequences of coming up short could have been fatal to myself and the photographer below, who trudged through the river to get "the shot." All I could see myself doing was coming up short, smacking against the opposing wall, and falling backwards into the rocky, shallow river. This all while slicing the photographer's head off since he was standing at the bottom of the opposing wall. Drew Smalley (www.DSimagery.com) is a really talented photographer and it wasn't until he showed up that I decided I had to man-up and hit the feature. Thankfully I did because Drew took some amazing photos.

I guess this is a shout out to all of my friends for always being so supportive and for pushing me in snowboarding. This spring has been a blast so far and I look forward to the summer shred at Windell's snowboard camp.