Ball Park Franks - My Final Rant

TWS has a Ball Park franks cover shot. When did Ball Park become a big player in snowboarding advertisement? Who in Ball Park figured out snowboarders represented such a palpable demographic? It must be paying off.

Personally, I am looking forward to Transworld’s Heinz Ketchup Issue, where the snow is died red and The Flying Tomato wins the pipe contest, pulls out a bottle of old # 57, squirts it all over his face, then deep throats a couple of wieners.

Am I the last angry man? Devo would quickly remind me that boarders have to make a living too. I guess he is right. Snowboarding has grown up and matured into American Pop Culture and will be marketed accordingly. But, that does not mean I have to follow suit. In my opinion, it cheapens the hell out of snowboarding mags. It will eventually make snowboarding blasé to certain kinds of people, mainly the people who loved it in the first place.

I am done ranting. There really is no good reason to rant anymore.

SHERM

Don't Tickle the Mountain

A couple of weeks ago, I went up to Ski Bowl on Mt. Hood. I got a late start and it was warm and rainy. As a foot+ of fresh turned slowly into glue, I decided to explore the Outback bowl area of the mountains. Ski Bowl is kind of like an epic back yard. Short, but great steep sections leading into a meadows of flatness, then steep, then flat, etc.

With no agenda other than to just ride, I decided to explore this inbounds bowl area called the Outback Bowl. I got some pretty decent turns considering, but flatness meant stopage so the fun was short lived. However, because I was forced to unstrap and hike to the next pitch, I made the most of my exploring and found some of the best turns I've ever made. The area I found was a couple hundred yards of wide open 50+ degree slope with two cliff bands at the top. The cliffs were off limits due to trees in the landing, but between them was a nearly perfect shoot. I went down the far side of the area the first time to scope it out. So now I'm standing on the top of the chute planning my turns.

"Toeside into it, quick heelside in the bend, then point it out for a big toeside slasher, and one more heelside out into the opening below."

Everything went perfect. The stoke was fueled and I put my high speed, pow wheelie down to scope the portion of earth that had just been shredded. I turn only to see an avalanche half as wide as the slope, and overhead height sliding right past me. I didn't feel anything slide while riding, but apparently at the top of the chute, there was a three foot fracture and the whole face slid. Luckily, my turns brought me out of its path, but damn! Never under estimate the mountain! Changing snow conditions are key factors in avalanches, but it was really the last thing on my mind. A long story short: snow fun was had, but otherwise, mellow area held a secret that could've been dangerous.

SoCal has the Trees

To be honest, as of late I haven't been as stoked as I usually am to ride. Spending a few days back east during the Holidays gave me a taste of what actually riding my snowboard feels like. Just going fast on a never ending wave, cruising with the homies, there are few things better in this world. 

When I got back to SoCal it was like I skipped the winter and went straight to spring riding. This is essentially what Bear Mountain offers, spring riding year round. It sounds great at first, I know when I was living back east I was always so happy when spring came around and I put away the puff. We would barbaque and session jumps and rails, and you could actually see the sky. I've come to realize that the reason I was always so stoked for this time of year was because of the time spent roughing it out through months of bitter cold and ice. 

In SoCal you really don't have to deal with this, so the spring conditions become the norm and you get jaded on it. I can really only hit the same rail so many times under sunny skies before I want to go do something more creative, more free.

Then this weekend, after a much needed winter storm, I got my wish. Sherman and I drove up to Big Bear and were greeted with piles of fresh all around us. We vanished into the woods and didn't leave for the rest of the day. We rode some of the most epic trees I've ever had the pleasure of voyaging through. Every run there was a new place to drop with fresh waiting for us to shred, and it all funneled into a snake run that never got old. This simpler, rawer way to ride the mountain sparked something in me that I had been missing since riding back east, the simple pleasure of really RIDING my snowboard. The stoke is back.

-Devino




Thanks to Karen for the photos!

Circulating The Stress

I feel a bit a jaded about snowboarding sometimes, but then, like it always does, snowboarding manages to completely redeem itself by stoking me with new amazing elements of snow fun. First, I was rewarded by being able to ride with a lot of my goods friends around Christmas. This crew was no short of legendary status. Any mountain should fear the epic path of destruction that this heavy crew leaves behind. The second gift was That's it and that's all. At first I wanted to quit. (Most 'pros' should probably rethink their game, by the way.) Then I realized, this is what is beautiful about the sport of snowboarding. The next time you think about putting on tight jeans and doing a rail contest in L.A., watch this movie, and learn what snowboarding was, is and always will be. And third gift and hopefully not the last, a mini That's It and That's All tree table top in the park. Check the next post for some pics...