Discovery Ski Area or “Disco”as the locals call it, is a beautiful mountain in the middle of the State between Missoula and Bozeman.  At the foot of the mountain is Georgetown Lake where a few people were ice fishing.

This mountain was basically empty on a bluebird Saturday likely due to the -20 windchill. That was a first for me. It was so cold that at speed you could feel your breath freezing to the baklava.  I did multiple runs where I did not see even one other rider on a whole run until I got back to the lift.  Fresh groomers allowed me to charge hard and really test my carving ability on the stiffer Bataleon Enemy.  I’m really starting to love this board.

There was some great powder on the gnarliest lines which were directly down the lift path.  Really good snow in the cold conditions due to the dry nature of it made for some great slash turns down those chair lines.

What probably was the most intense technical riding of the day was a tree line marked blue trail I found during my last run of the day 1/3 of the way down the main lines.  There was a marked trail on a tree that led to a really amazing technical tree run through some really tough mogul ridden tight trees.  This by far was the most technical riding I have done to date.  I only did one run in those trees, but it was the hardest to finish off the day.

#fiend

Super Bowl Sunday started like any other great day, we headed into the large hills of New  Jersey to go shred Mountain Creek. Mind you, these sorry excuses for a hill are one of only a few convenient options near to the NY metro area.

I was riding with some of my favorite people, so it was a phenomenal time.  I rode a Lib Tech with some Union Force bindings I borrowed from someone else. It was a stiff board with a rocker shape to the base.  It’s stiff enough to hold a big guy like me on those choppy east coast hills.  My nephew is getting better every time we see him. Looking foward to the time that he will be able to fully keep up with us when we’re charging near impossible lines.  He has NO FEAR… The younger one is coming along. He also is fearless, however he lacks the coordination of his older brother.  But I see his style developing. Really chill, more of a stylish rider looking for good turns instead of monstrous lines…

A fam day at Mountain Creek… enjoy

 

 

What an amazing Blue Bird day at Crystal… what can I say. I ripped hard and rode some of the most aggressive lines that I ever have including two cherry lines off Chair 6.  This was my first real big mountain line riding.  I’ve rode down a couple of faces, but more trying to survive then actually riding a line.  This was the first time I got a mere taste of what real big mountain riding is all about.

For once, I noticed the chatter in my board was a bit too much for any serious big mountain rides.  My Bataleon 159 Flight is a beast.  It will rip groomers with ease and can pop into and out of pretty much any turn.  It’s really nimble, however, it lacks the stiffness to hold an edge on rougher terrain, or steeper terrain.  Today was the first day I realized my limitation was my board given my style of hard charging.  I have a secondary Bataleon Enemy that was my daily rider last season. However, I was clearly not ready to control her as she is a board that requires real brute strength to muscle it into and out of hard lines.  I’ll pull her back out soon to put her back to the test with my improved strength and quality of riding.

This edit below is a over the course of one Saturday at Crystal ripping new lines in other parts of the park. ENJOY!

Went riding last night with one of my closest homegirls and my Yoga Instructor.  Yes, I do yoga at least once a month in a class and some stretch poses a couples times a week.  It’s great for flexibility on the mountain. Especially when trying to drop some big lines.

The snow was dry and fluffy. Very forgiving yet still fast.  We did about 8 laps and left our local hill to head home.  The roads were pretty terrible, but we managed alright.

It’s always a good, real time with my homegirl… def my most consistent riding partner… always down to RIP!

Starting off the year with a BANG! After a fantastic end of 2018, I’m getting back in the saddle tearing up the Pacific Northwest. Did another few back to back night sesh’s at my local hill before heading up to Whistler for some BIG MOUNTAIN riding.

Whistler is unlike any other mountain I’ve been to this far.  The sheer size of the resort is mind numbing.  I spent 2 days on the mountain. Saturday rode Blackcomb, Sunday Whistler.  Sunday we had a local to take us around a bit. Always a pleasure to ride the mountain with someone who knows it… found some great off piste powder stashes for the classic slash and face shots, whapow.

It’s tough to describe the immensity of this mountain resort.  If you’re looking for sweeping groomers that last for literally miles, you’ve come to the right place.  If you’re looking for steep chutes and the most technical terrain, YUP. What about a back country off piste skiing inbounds? SURE! Oh and let’s not forget one of the best parks in North America. Some of snowboardings biggest names call this resort home for good reason. It’s got it all…but…avoid the weekends like the plague if you can, the lift lines were impossible…

I made two vids as testers for The Gram…  ENJOY!

Really starting this year on a high note. Had a solid off season of training to get ready for another great winter in the mountains.  After dropping 30 lbs and getting much stronger in my lower body and core, I was excited as ever to strap back in.  I noticed immediately when I strapped in, how much of a difference it made in my riding.  I feel much lighter and the additional strength will be great for charging harder more aggressive lines.

I got 5 solid days in on the hill towards the end of December.  A few at my local resort in Washington, including one powder day, and a couple on the East Coast with my brothers and some great homies on Christmas break.   After a day at Camelback, me and my day 1 road tripped up to Gore Mountain for a slushy Saturday.  The mountain was half closed and was icy, cold, and flat light.  We still tore it up and ripped top to bottom for close to 20 runs over 4 hrs. Always great ripping with the homies.

Looking forward to a GREAT SEASON…

 

The end of the snowboard season has come.  After 31 days of shredding on 10 different resorts stretching from the Pacific Northwest mountains in Washington (Snoqualmie, Stevens, Crystal) and B.C. (Cypress) to the Midwest ranges in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho (A-Basin, Brighton, Targhee) to Northeast small hills of Pennsylvania and Jersey (Camelback, Mountain Creek) and even as far away as Northern Spain (La Molina/Masella), I’ve had a great season.  My goal was to shred 10 different resorts with 50 days of riding. But really the goal was to improve my riding and spend a lot of time in the mountains.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Looking back on the season, there are definitely some things I could say are true.

1. I’ll be riding for the rest of my life as long as I can stand upright.
2. The best riding companions can determine the best days on the hill.
3. Assuming you have a base line skill level, good gear spec’d to one’s own physique and riding style can make a BIG difference.
4. The more you ride, the better you’ll get.

Some of the best days I’ve had on the hill this season have been in mediocre conditions, on mediocre hills, with my favorite people.  That said, one of my best days on the hill was a solo morning mission to my local resort after 24 inches of snow on a weekday before hitting the office.  That aside, it became clear this year that shredding was more enjoyable when with other people.  Out of the 31 days up this year 11 were solo missions, the best of which was a 2 hour trek via SkiTrain from Barcelona to La Molina/Masella for some GREAT shredding on vast open chutes in the northern reaches of the border of Spain, Andorra (yes it’s a country), and France in early March.

The video was my first stab at using Premiere Pro for content creation. It’s much more robust than the other app I’ve used historically, iMovie.  With that said, iMovie is perfect for the hobbyist whereas Premiere Pro is a professional tool with an unlimited array of usability once you get comfortable with the interface.

The vid features the best and last day of the season at Camelback in the Poconos, PA with fam.

Til next season, enjoy…

#powfiend

To the Victor go the Spoils…

Got my 30th day on the hill in this past Monday (April 2).  So I decided to extend my Easter celebration (He is Risen!) to the mountains for a day of powder shredding.  Doesn’t look like I’ll hit my goal of 50 days up for the season, but I can’t complain.

The hill at Stevens Pass was epic with 12″ of fresh snow at the base and closer to 16″ up at the top.  I hit the mountain with some homies by 10:30 am. I’d been trying to ride with my homie Coleman all season but never had a chance to.  He knew the mountain well and showed me some dope spots.

I rode my standard board, which was a mistake. My go to for this season was my Bataleon Flight  (157 cm, 5 hardness). I should’ve rode my last season board: Bataleon Enemy (163 cm, 8 hardness). I would’ve faired much better on the longer stiffer board in the steep deep backside.  The Enemy also is about 4 cm wider at the bindings so would’ve made for much better stability in the powder. Lesson learned.

The snow was a little on the moist side making it a bit heavier.  I tried reminding myself to lean back all day to avoid nose diving beneath the top few inches.  Despite this knowledge, I kept nosediving basically all day summersaulting down the steeper faces a couple rotations before coming to a stop in an white room explosion.  This was the most I fell in a single day all season, by far.

We rode in the chutes and trees between Southern and Jupiter chairs picking a new line basically every run.  We cut new tracks up top the first several runs and found some really epic powder pockets in the trees of Orion Chutes all the while keeping an eye for the ever present tree wells.  The buddy system is a must on days like this. The wind blown drifts made for some amazing natural features up and down the faces.  Nothing but FULL SEND all day.

This was likely the last powder day of my season and it did not disappoint.

#powfiend

The bitter crisp cold of winter fades as the sun rises higher in the sky paving the way for Spring conditions.  There’s nothing quite like spring riding. Soft snow and Sun make for a great combination. It marks the end of the season and the last chance to hone my newly acquired skills before hanging up the boots for Summer. Whether it’s riding solo or with a group of friends, the Sun and Snow combo bring out the best conditions on the hill: sun, soft snow, and neked trails…

The Spring Weekend short features riding spread out over 2 days on Crystal Mountain and Stevens Pass on the last weekend in March. Crystal Mountain got 18 inches of fresh snow over 48 hours before I arrived making for some great conditions and really awesome powder pockets in Green Valley. The first run was the steepest of my runs and completely new terrain that made for some tough riding and great views.  Stevens had 6 inches of fresh snow and was snowing throughout the day.  The back side of the mountain had some great snow in the trees and made for some really awesome shredding in Mill Valley.  The second part of the footage shows two separate runs down the backside.  Fast and steep…

I got some new gear including a Karma Grip and a GoPro Hero 5.  The 5 improved picture quality drastically.   I also tried some new settings including 1080 Superview (WOW).  The gimbal tech in general really changed the game up for my vids.  Although in this clip I feature some gimbal and non-gimbal footage, you can really see where I played with some different vid settings and really tried to explore new terrain to get great shots.

enjoy….

Day 27 and Day 28 of riding on the season…  (27.50 and Day 28.50)