Whistler 4/20

This was the most memorable 4/20 holiday celebration yet.  I jumped in a car with Halo, Karim, and Ellie. We made our way through the northwest and over the boarder of Canda and the U.S. to make our final destination in Whistler, B.C.  On 4/20 we got to go ride even though it was socked in and difficult to see. Shredbetties,com was nice enough to be able to help with lift tickets making the day and the whole trip all that much better.  

Post riding, we celebrated further by lazing about the pool and hot tub as the sun graced us with a few moments of sunshine.  Eventually, some how, Mark Frank Montoya joined our shit show and drank some vodka and grape cool-aid "Grape Drank!" with us to kick start the night.  

A nice stroll over to the Aussie house solidified the purpose of celebrating 4/20 and rejoined some good friends for a good time.  Well intoxicated at this time, I thought it would be a great idea to go long boarding with Josh, which turned out to not be a good idea.  I was left with a wonderful scar the size of my shoulder blade to forever remember this day.  

At this point the rest of the night beings to become a fuzzy mess, but a few more drinks later and a few bars later we ended up at Buffalo Bills dancing our asses off to a Led Zepplin cover band.  With all of us doing air guitar, one could have guessed we were all having a great time.  Thankfully, Erykah showed up to help us drunkies make it through the rest of the night.  She helped us purchase food to eat and baby sat us like a bunch of little kids.  

The rest of the trip panned out to be just as fun.  I had a great time riding with Erykah and Ellie.  It is not too often I have the opportunity to shred with those ladies. Karim was really sweet and was nice enough to take photos to document the event. I think spending 4/20 in Whistler may need to become a yearly tradition.    

Road Trip Across the Country

I had the opportunity to drive across the country from Pennsylvania to Oregon in a large Dodge Durango.  Of coarse I had to raid my parents house and completely fill the truck with stuff.  Jeff and I hit the road on Monday March 23 at about 5 p.m. with a mission to get to Colorado State University by Wednesday morning, less than two days later.  The Campus Rail Jam tour had a stop there and I really wanted to participate in the event.  The drive out there was long and tiring.  We really couldn't stop to sleep for two reasons.   First, there wasn't enough time.  Second there was no room in the truck to lay down.  We had a chance to catch a few hours in and there, but overall it was a straight long drive to Ft. Collins.  I showed up about two hours past registration, but the guys putting on the event were cool enough to let me compete.  The girl vibe there was great.  I had a chance to meet Amanda Poindexter and Charlotte Trundle, both really great girls.  The comp was a success, I took first place and walked away with $100.  The next stop was going to be Salt Lake City.  We headed north and went west on I 80 until about two hours later we hit a block in the road because of weather.  Jeff was a strong person for being able to drive through the storm, but it was crazy, gnarly.  We had to turn around and figure out a plan for the day.  We decided to head back south and try to make it to Breckenridge for the night so we could visit a good friend Aaron Thompson and have a warm place to sleep.  Thankfully, we made it there safely and had a wonderful night of comfortable sleep.  The next day Aaron showed us around and took us on some sweet runs.  On our way out we had to stop at smoke shack tucked away.  I'm sorry locals, but it is too cool not to mention.  The shack was so well built and not appropriate for people with a fear of heights.  

The next day we started back on the road with Salt Lake as our destination.  We got there and spent our time with Steve Pierce and Sam Driver.  Many pow turns were created at Brighton and in the back country.  I had a great time.  I also had a chance to catch up with my friend Abby Johnson. 

Once we left Utah we started to head towards Spokane, Washington but stopped in a small town called  Mcall in Idaho.  Jeff and I spent a night in a nice resort and had a wonderful opportunity to relax and catch up on some chill time after being on the road for so long.  We enjoyed a good home cooked dinner and a few cocktails, but we had to get to bed early to get on the road early the next morning.  The drive to Spokane was long because of snowy road conditions, but thankfully I made it to Spokane in time again to compete at the next stop of the Campus Rail Jam tour.  This stop was at Gonzaga State University.  I'm so glad I got to compete at this event.  Mt. Hood local Becky was there and I had a chance to meet a girl named Kendra that is from Canada.   The competition was a lot of fun and I walked away with first place again and some cash to put gas in the truck.  We took off after the competition and drove till we made it home to catch an amazing night of sleep, in our own beds.  

Mamafest 2009 at Summit at Snoqualmie

On March 14th, a non-profit competition was held for the cure for cancer called Mamafest at Summit at Snoqualmie. There was about a foot of fresh powder and it was completely silly to be doing a competition since the rails were caked in snow and the jumps were super fluffy, but regardless the comp was on.  There was a great group of girls that came out for the event and local rider Raelynd Tarnove took first place followed by myself.  She had a sweet 540 and sweet style on the rails.  Overall the event was a great time. Since this benefit has a great cause, there was a great group of spectators and sponsors.   I hope that Mamafest will be held again next season.  

Billabong's Flaunt-it at Mt. Symoure

Canada was quite the adventure.  Halo and I started our way into Portland to meet up Karim Hadid, who was rad enough to come with us to shoot photos.  From his house we hit mad rush hour traffic so we scoped out some stuff at the zoo.  There we chilled in the train, drinking beers in mailing envelopes and killing some green.  Our final destination for the evening was Bellingham, WA at a friends house to post up before crossing the boarder the next morning.  The next day started out amazing.  We made it through the boarder to Mt. Seymour with ease and the morning was sunny and splendid.  Billabong was holding a competition called Flaunt It for female riders only.  There was a huge turnout, I thought, with 30-35 girls.  The slopestyle course was really fun. There was a pseudo stair feature at the start going into one easy to clear jump into an impossible to clear jump.  The second jump needed to be pointed straight at from the first.  I went for the large side, only to case it and bruise up my heel.  From there I stuck to the small side.  Halo was killing it.  She has been recovering from a knee injury and I thought she had a great performance.  The second part of the day was dedicated to a rail jam that was held on the pseudo stair features.  The comp was based on best trick, not overall performance, so I focused one doing my best stock trick...tail 270 out on the flat down box.  That landed me a spot on the podium in 3rd.  From there we drove to Whistler.  Thanks to a group of Australians, we had a place to crash and people to party with.  The village was a riot that night.  Halo and I got our dancing shoes out for the occasion.  Did I mention we polished a bottle of 151 prior to going out.  Unfortunately, I lost 20 canuck dollars and my hoodie.  Where they went?  I wish I knew.  At least I didn't loose myself.  We were expecting fresh snow the next day, which was a total deception.  Due to the lack of snow and our major hung over state, home is where we found ourselves late that night.  

Nikita Chikita

The road trip to Mammoth from Tahoe was awesome.  Halo, Diana, and myself caravaned down there and stopped at a skate park and hot springs on the way down.  A few beers later and some rips, we were ready to hit the road again.  Nikita Chikita was a lot of fun this year...a challenge as well.  Since I broke my neck, the northwest hasn't had a jump over 25 - 30 feet, so going to the comp was really intimidating.  Getting the right speed during practice was impossible.  The second jump had a giant wedge to a short steep landing with very little table top to clear, so it was sending the girls easily past the landing to the flats.  One girl was taken to the hospital on a back board during practice.  This caused the jump to be closed for the majority of practice and watching her go through what I did, deterred me from wanting to hit the big side of the second jump.  I had planned on hitting the large side of the first jump, then the small sides of the last two.  Oh how quickly my mind changes.  Once the comp got underway, just about every chic in the pro was hitting the big sides.  How could I enter a comp in the pro division and ride like an amateur? So of coarse I had to go and hit the big sides to make sure I didn't make an ass of myself.  I am so glad that I did.  The pressure of the comp helped me overcome some jumping fears that developed from my injury.  I did not place well, but I was proud of myself personally and Ashley Thornton.  Ashley placed 4th at the comp and I think that is oober.  Thanks to Diana and Shred Betties for being so supportive.  Diana is a killer team manager.  

Tahoe

I was planning on competing in the Nikita Chikita at Mammoth Mountain, so I decided to drive down to Tahoe prior to the comp to visit friends and get some shredding in.  After rolling in late at night, we got to ride Squaw Valley thanks to some help from Candice. The pow was incredible that day.  I totally understand Tahoe now.  Big storms followed by lots of sun.  We were there early and the snow was good until about noon.  It started to get warm and the snow was getting really heavy.  We  checked out Donner pass with the hopes of building some stuff the next day, but with the snow warming up so quickly, the avalanche danger was really high the next day.  Friday I had planned to go to Kirkwood for a photo shoot with shred betties, but on my way there from north lake, the highway was closed because of an avalanche.  I would have had to go all the way around the lake to make it there, which would have been a 4 hour drive. I was bummed that I didn't get to go to the shoot with my fellow lady shredders, but everything happens for a reason.  Noble and Driver were nice enough to invite Jeff and I to hit feature with them that night.  They set up a wall ride on a post to a high bridge.  I am really grateful for the experience.  Riding with a bunch of legit guys was really intimidating, but I am glad I got over my fears and joined in on the fun.  We had wanted to stay through the week, but mother nature brought us some rain instead.  It was dumping at Hood, so we called it, and drove back to Hood for some major freshies.  Thanks to Christine and Candice for letting us crash.  

PB&J at Snoqualmie

The PB&J was a super fun event.  The set up was awesome.  There was a box line set up as a flat down with a gap to the down.  There was a corrugated pipe that was set up as a down feature.  The last feature was a pole jam into a down box.  The girl turn out was really good.  I have to say after doing comps in the northwest for a few years, there is more and more of a girl turn out every year.  I think that is awesome.  I had first place going into the finals, but I ended up with 5th in the long run.  There was a group of chics from Canada rolling through. The level of riding for girls snowboarding is stepping up every year.