If you are one of the less fortunate and have a "real job" hopefully this weather system will continue to bring us more heaps of "Cascade Concrete" for your weekend warrior way. You could always take one of those coveted paid sick days and, "cough, cough," not make into the office. If you are a Western student may I recommend sending your lab or group partners that aren't into the cold and deep pow to pick up your assignments, take copious notes, and GET YOUR ASSES UP TO THE HILL! For all of you "Washington State Ski Team Members," (i.e. seasonal workers collecting unemployment), UP YOURS. There is no doubt your slacker asses will be in line waiting for Chair 6 to open.
I happen to have an early morning appointment that I cannot miss and will be desperately trying to find a ride up once my duties are complete. Follow the links below to see for yourself, but I promise you this is not a lie. I repeat, this is not a lie. If I don't see you there on Thursday we shall ride on Friday! Hope to see all of my ski-bum friends up shredding the gnar pow-pow VERY soon!
Monday I went up to the mountain with a couple homeys to get some morning runs in. We found a couple of hits that we wanted to go for and did some major work on them. Carl and I hiked up to the drop spots and had our way with Mt. Herman. The first spot that we hit was pretty close to the ski area. Check out this video. I stomped the drop to the pillow, then it felt like my board grew a pair of wings.
After the first hit we went out and looked for some other things to ride. There wasn't much to get down on where we were at and the Sun was disappearing behind the storm clouds that were coming in. As we were searching for something fun to hit I saw a cliff band that looked pretty sweet. I decided on a line and went on a 45 minute hike up the mountain. The snow was getting pretty warm and setting the boot-pack was not very easy. At one point I thought that I was going to slip down the mountain backwards. The worst part about if that were to happen is that it would have been quite a ride, but a really bad spot to get pulled out of. I made my way up to the cliff band that I had wanted to ride and the guys mentioned that it didn't look as fun from where we had initially seen. They were able to guide me over to another spot to drop. The drop through the chute looked like it was about a 10-15 footer, but could have been rolled through without leaving the snow. As I started my turn down the chute I decided that I was going to pop an ollie. The jump ended up being about 30-40 feet from the point of my ollie to the landing. Check it out:
After that the clouds really came in and we headed back to town. It's beginning to look and feel a lot more like spring around here. Carl and I took a good walk through one of my favorite spots in town, Boulevard Park. The Sunset was pretty chill and made for decent conversation. Still a couple more weeks before the Ski Area at Baker goes to Weekends only. Then it will be time for hitting up the lakes and the bike trails on the regular!
The past couple of days have been absolutely stellar. Snow has been falling not only on the mountain but also in Bellingham. It is currently snowing in town and I had a great day up on the hill today. Yesterday I rode Mt. Baker with my homey, Avi. He is from the Ham and has been living in Hawaii for the past year and a half. We met a couple of years ago and he was my riding buddy. He leaves in four days so I have been trying to get as much time in with him as I can. This is a picture of Avi setting up his board in the back of his rig:
Mr. Avi Schwartz
We rode from about 10 until the final bell of the day. The snow was great and deep, but still very unstable. Baker had received over 8 inches and it was cold and fluffy. The pow turns were plentiful. At one point we had considered going for a hike but as we were heading out onto Upper Elbow we witnessed two slides. The first slide came from above onto the hiking path. There was a crew ahead of us and as they continued through the sluff another skier/snowboarder traveled above them and set off another slide. The second slide came down and almost buried the crew as they stood there watching. As two of the guys dug out a third we turned downhill. That was the end of our thoughts on hiking for the afternoon.
We lapped a couple choice lines and had a really great day. Here's a little bit of a run that we took through some deep trees:
Later on in the day we rode some other fun lines. Here's a wreck for your enjoyment: (please feel free to laugh)
After riding all day we decided that it would be a good idea that if I were to catch a ride back up with him in the morning I should crash at his rent's pad. It would cut off a bit of the morning commute and make for a much easier travel day. I came home, packed up all of my things for the day, and put together the things that we needed to be able to wax our boards. We hit the sack while watching a snow-porn. Over the course of the night it got pretty cold in the basement and I was lacking in the blanket department. On top of trying to solve problems and waking from very busy dreams several times through the night I was also a bit chilled. I awoke this morning a bit sore from riding, yoga on Monday, and a great workout Sunday night. It has all been adding up over the past few days and my body is ready for a rest. But not until after we rode today!
As I was getting ready to head up to the mountain this morning I unpacked my clothes and realized that I had forgot to put a key ingredient into the bag: MY THERMAL PANTS! As I told Avi of this fact he mentioned that he had an extra pair that I could borrow for the day. I am 5'9" 1/2 (the 1/2 matters) and Avi is about 6'Large". I have a 28" waist and assume that Avi's is not in the same area code. This was proven by the amount of times I had to roll the waist of the thermals like a teenage girl rolls her booty shorts before going to the swimming pool. It was actually quite humorous.
We got up to the mountain after a very long drive. The roads were icy and people were having a lot of trouble getting up the hill at a decent traveling speed. At one point we were driving 25 mph before we even hit Glacier. Once we got to the hill we scraped our boards and headed out to the hill. I honestly believe that having on Avi's "Big-Boy Pants" helped me do this:
Did you notice the skier crash? Stop laughing. It's not nice to laugh at skiers. They know not the error of their ways. =)
The day was a success and riding with Avi was a blast. It will be sad to see the homey take off in a couple of days, but hopefully we get to ride again before he bounces back to the islands. As for now, I am beat and need to get some much needed sleep before a long day of work, webinars, and business meetings tomorrow. Life is pretty great when you think about it. I am blessed to be in this wonderful place and have so many great people to share it with. Thank you for reading and enjoying my life as I put it out there.
Today, January 17, 2011 was the Martin Luther King Jr. Local's Qualifier for this year's Legendary Banked Slalom at Mount Baker Ski Area. The last few days have been pretty wet and in a bad way. It has been really warm and rainy up on the Mountain and I was half expecting to need a snorkel to ride. I carpooled up to the hill with my friends Brandon and Maggie in his Subaru station-wagon. I arranged the ride last night after not being able to confirm one with some other people over the course of the evening. Thankfully he was willing and able to come and swoop me up from my house even though they both live on the other side of town.
Brandon and Maggie arrived at my house at about 730 and we made the trek up to the mountain with two stops on the way. The first one was at Maple Fuels so they could get some breakfast and gas. I highly recommend calling ahead if you plan on grabbing a sandwich on your way. They make a pretty mean breakfast croissant. I like to get sausage, egg, pepper-jack, green peppers, and onion. I snagged a Clif Bar and some juice. Since I have quit drinking I don't buy beer but it is a good stop to grab yourself a sixer of tallboys if you want to save some cash on beer at the lodge. If you do plan on drinking in the parking lot, which is illegal and you could get a fine if the troopers and park police catch you, the law is that you must be inside your vehicle. Remember: keys out of the ignition! The second stop was to drop Maggie's little dog off at a friend's house in Glacier.
We got to the parking lot at White Salmon Lodge at approximately 9. Brandon and I went up to the third floor to sign the necessary paperwork (waivers). We were both given our bibs that were to be taped to our front leg and headed back to the lot to get on our gear. Once suited up we hopped on Chair 7 and rode down to Chair 5. The course is set-up in the Natural Halfpipe with red gates on the right bank and blue gates on the left. All of the riders were allowed to side-slip the course one time prior to the event beginning of the race. Brandon had signed up for the Pro Men category and I the Older Amateurs. The Pro Men raced at 1050 and Older Ams were supposed to begin at 1230, which meant after we slipped the course we had some time to kill.
We decided that we were going to take some turns in the meantime so we headed back up Chair 5 and rode back down Sam's Ridge to a fun descent through the trees. The snow was pretty soft and there were some open spots with water rushing below the snowpack. It was a little bit disconcerting, but all in all still a lot of fun. Once we got to the bottom of the run we went over and took some runs down Chair 6 in the trees in an area called "Hidden Wave". I'd tell you exactly where that is, but that takes the fun out of the name "Hidden." The snow was still pretty fun and there was a lot of the hill that had some untouched terrain and good-ish powder.
Brandon made it up to the start of the course in time to watch some of the other guys take their runs and see what was and was not working. We waited around for a bit before deciding to take a couple more laps to keep our legs warm. Brandon was the second to last racer in his group which meant we were all hanging around and cheering on the other riders for quite sometime. It was a lot of fun to watch on as the other guys were trying to stay on the course and make their way down to the finish. Maggie and I moved down the side of the course to watch as he left the gate and she was able to set up to take a photo as he rode the course. Brandon did really well and made every gate in pretty good time.
There were a lot of categories that went before I was able to go. I saw a bunch of friends and was able to root them on from the sidelines! After Brandon's run we took a little break and I got a cup of coffee in the lodge. I met up with a couple friends that were up to cheer me and the other riders on and we hung out while I thawed out and let my gear dry from the rain/sleet/snow. It wasn't as miserable as I was expecting, but was still pretty wet.
I took a couple more runs before heading up to the start area while the youngsters and the ladies took their runs. I was able to get my legs warm again and had a lot of fun pushing the snow around the mountain. I made it up to the start and since there had been some delays for the patrol to smooth out the course I had a bit of time to stand around and wait for my turn.
The first time that I tried to race the qualifier two years ago I had been drinking beers and smoking some greens the whole day. As you can probably assume I didn't do that well. I finished the course and didn't miss any gates but I came in DFL. I think it was not only due to the substances that I had taken in, but also because I was pretty new to the sport. This time was a bit different. The course was a lot less icy, however as the day went on the temperature had been dropping and the snow was falling a lot more than in the morning. I have been feeling pretty good about my riding ability since quitting the booze and herbs which played out rather nicely. I was really in tune with my body and breathing. I stayed low, powered through the rutted turns, and made it through every gate. This is my run:
Overall the day was a success, but since Brandon had to be at work by 5 we took off before the awards. I don't know exactly how I did in the very large and competitive division that I had signed up for. It is pretty tough to figure based on the amount of guys that have been riding for two to three times as many years and in the age group of 20-29. Next year I will be able to race in the Masters or Pro Masters division. I think I will shoot for the Pro Masters. As for now I will be checking the Mt. Baker website to see how I did over the next few days. If you raced today or know someone that did you can also see the results when they are posted. I am not super competitive when it comes right down to it but this event was a lot of fun and there was definitely a lot of cheering and camaraderie for all of the racers. I love the vibes at Baker!
Great job to all the people that showed up to race today. Thanks to all the friends that didn't race but were still present to cheer on the homeys! A huge thanks to all of the people that made the course and maintained it during the day!
This weekend, rather Thursday through Saturday night, it snowed up on Mt. Baker for the first time in a couple of weeks. The snow was pretty light on hardpack in the ski area Saturday and got tracked out rather quickly. I attribute a lot of it to the first weekend of school buses running up to the hill. There were a lot of people up that don't normally ride the ski area and this was made readily apparent by the fact that I saw four chairs of people that missed the unload spot on Chair 3 (a lift that serves both sides of the mountain.) There were quite a few collisions that I barely escaped and I saw quite a few go down that could have ended rather badly. I managed to find some sweet powder stashes in the ski area and was able to get a little out-of-bounds with poor visibility. It was tons of fun smashing pillows on some steeps. I took one line that I thought was going to have a decent transition but turned out to be about a 20 foot drop off of the back side of a rock cliff. I didn't exactly stomp the landing. I was startled in the air as I passed over the rock face and when I hit the flat on the other side my knees came up to my face. Thankfully I choose to wear a helmet at all times and saved my brain from another concussion!
I rocked the ski area again today, Sunday, and had a lot of fun. I rode up with my "newlywed" friends and took a couple quick runs with them. I then hooked up with a couple other friends and hiked up to a sweet powder stash with a wicked drop. We rolled the drop the first lap and had to do it again. Here is a little video of the second time I hit the drop.
After we hit it a second time we headed over to the zone where The Mount Baker Mountain Safety Education Center had set up a training course for the "Baker Beacon Rally" at 11. There were three sections set up for single avalanche search, multiple burial, and a set up for a search race. I wasn't pre-registered for the activities and was told to come back at 1230 to see if some of the 400 people who had pre-registered didn't show. We almost headed over to the Arm to take a lap, but as we started to take off I started talking to my buddy who was doing some of the training and he let us bypass the wait and took us out to play/train.
After working the three stations that had been set-up we hung out and waited for the raffle. There were some pretty sweet prizes from REI, Otovox, BCA, SPOT, Pieps, and American Alpine Institute. There might have been a couple more, but I am not too sure at this very moment. Anyway, if you have interest in getting to know some very basic backcountry travel safety keep your eyes peeled next year for this event!
Yesterday morning I woke up and went out on an early ride. I hopped on my bike with my sissy pants on, outer shorts of course, and headed out. I rode into Bellingham from Fairhaven and stopped at my bro's lady's pad to pick up my water bottle. Her car was locked and she was at the YMCA with her keys. I rode to the Y, back to her place, filled the water bottle, then headed back out on the road.
My initial plan was to ride from Bellingham to Ferndale and head East on Hovander Road. I entered Marietta and started to feel pain in my knee. Normally I have constant issue with my left (I ride regular and front for snow, skate, etc), but yesterday it was my right. I made it to about 13 miles into the ride and turned around due to the growing pain and growing concern. I am going to assume that my knee suffered some acute injury while I was riding the 105 mile Tour De Whatcom. Sadly we didn't get the fist bump in there. Of course my legs were sore after that ride but it went away and I thought I was all good.
As I was riding back into town I tried to distract myself by taking in the scenery. There are some really nice mountain views of Baker along the course I had selected. At one point I glanced to my right into the deep ditch off of the side of the road and to my surprise I saw a large white object. Upon closer investigation I realized it was a washing machine. A FUCKING WASHING MACHINE! Seriously? About a quarter mile further I saw another object. This time it was the partner appliance to the previously mentioned. I almost wrecked my bike. Normally I try not to let the ignorance of mankind get to me, but yesterday kinda messed with me. It's one thing to accidentally drop your beer can off of a chair lift, or a cigarette butt slips from your hand while out on the water. There is no excuse for accidentally leaving your clothing cleaning devices 10 feet in a ditch off the side of a country road!
Now I must let the leg rest for a couple days. Saturday my good friends Terence and Alyson are getting married and I am going to need my leg to be in dancing condition. No better time to cut some serious rug than at a wedding!
Sunday was Mt. Baker's last day of lift riding for the masses. The weekend was a good one, complete with powder on Friday and Saturday that turned to soft slush by the end of Sunday. Not too bad for what most were calling a pretty shitty year. I didn't agree, and still don't. I feel that this has been one hell of a season! I took some of the most amazing lines that I could have ever imagined, saw some of the nuttiest lines dropped by some rad rippers, spent some time with great friends, and managed to meet some more amazing people.
For the record: Total Days Riding = 50
Total Days Hiking = 11
I'm pretty stoked to have that as my counter for a season in which I was obligated to spend quite a bit of time up on WWU campus dreaming of snow!
Now that I am transitioning to my climbing state of mind I can't stop thinking about how much fun it will still be to go and ride the areas that I can access by foot before I totally give up the board for the Summer. There is still a chance that I might have to head up on the glaciers and slide around, too.
Thanks to all of the great people that make the riding possible up at MBSA: Management, Operations, Admin, Patrol, Mountain Hosts, Medics, but especially the people that grind it out all season for next to nothing, bumping chairs, cleaning up after all the people that never seem to notice you hanging out in the lodge or bathrooms, behind the grills, and ripping around the parking lot parking cars.
It's you guys that make it all possible at the ski area!
Here I am, at the Apple store, in a MALL, on a Saturday. Not just a Saturday, a beautiful Saturday. Talk about some BS. Right now I am waiting on getting my iPhone looked at. I had to drive an hour and a half to get here. Why? The Alderwood Mall is the closet Apple Store to Bellingham. The other option would have been to drive over the boarder to the store in Vancouver, BC. All I want to do is get an iPhone that will connect to the ATT service that I pay way too much money for. I have had dropped calls and intermittent service for about a month now. Lets see if this works out in my favor.
I just want to go SNOWBOARDING!
Yesterday was amazing at Baker. People were charging the mountain super hard with amazingly light, soft NW snow. Not exactly what any of us had expected to happen in April, but alas, we hit it with smiles. Forrest Burki ollied over a chute on the Beast that was about a 70 foot gap/drop. Nick Ennen was spinning his heart out. Tarek Husevold and many other of the local shreds were taking on the avi danger with extreme care as the light snow from the Thursday night was releasing on the steeps. Pay close attention to the WildCard Movies and Funner Snowboarding YouTube pages for sneak peeks at all of the action from the late Winter/ early Spring storms!
Update on the wait: Been here for 30 minutes, with an appointment, and still not being helped. Why? Everyone and their mother is here for an iPad. WTF?
The past two weeks have been pretty phenomenal at Mt. Baker. We received a ton of snow. I believe that this might have been one of the best storms of the season. My entire Spring Break was riding, minus two rest days. Last week was the first week of classes. I went from Tuesday to Thursday, then rode the mountain on Friday with my friend Seth. He came up for the weekend from Port Angeles. We killed amazing powder with almost no one at the mountain. Lines for days with free refills! I rode some chutes that I have never been through, pillow drops, powder valleys, and secret "staches" that will remain on the down low.
Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt at Baker. There were almost one million people on the hill, not really egg-agerating. The lift lines were insane and the powder that had fallen Friday and Friday night was gone within a few hours. Pretty much an epic day two. I tried to ride some of the same crazy lines that I had ridden on Friday, only to find the pillows had been smashed and the run-outs were chopped. It's pretty amazing how people manage to ride across the landing areas and run-outs of super sweet chutes and pillows causing one hell of a bumpy ride for those of us that actually hit that shit and try to bomb it.
Yesterday was Easter. There was hardly anyone at the mountain. The lift lines were non-existent and the powder lines were endless out on the Shucksan Arm and Hemispheres. All of that good snow from the days prior was holding to the snowpack amazingly and there didn't appear to be much if any movement and sliding. I took three laps out on the Arm and had probably the best straight vertical dropping fall line of my life on the last trip out, but no helmet footage to go with it. I wussed out of hiking anymore after that due to lack of recuperation from riding and Big Sexxy's birthday party the night before at Plan B Saloon. Austin Jenkes killed it and we all got smashed. Jenna was asked to leave the establishment early after we were swing dancing and raising hell. Sadly, I forfeited my afternoon pow-lines for a sissy nap in Seth's truck.
The weekend was a success, alas I must hit the books and return to the life of a college student. Hopefully we get some more snow this week up on the mountain for my return this coming weekend! I'll try to get some photos and video up on the web to go with this post later on.
Deep pow turns, glistening tree-tops heavy with mountain fresh precip, whumping sounds galore?
Yep, that's right it's Spring again in the PNW. We got that March new snow over the past week and it has been a really great ride. Time to take another day and head out on the Mountain. The past few have been totally loaded with fun and exciting lines, drops, and of course everyone's favorite:
POWDER SLAMS!
Get outside and enjoy the fresh air. I'll be back inside soon enough to blog about the adventure!
Over the past two weeks I have been completely immersed in my studies. I have been on WWU campus an average of 10 hours a day. By average I mean most of the days I have spent more than that, but I am considering weekend days, too. This busy schedule of learning, followed by more schooling has been a pretty big downer for me. My only real saving grace has been that there really has not been a whole lot of snow hitting the Pacific Northwest.
As I wrap up my classes and get set for my finals schedule to commence next week I find that I am in a great need for a snow-day. My last day of riding was February 27. (eek!)
The past few days have dumped approximately two feet of fresh on the local mountains. This means that tomorrow, Saturday March 13, I am going to wake up mighty early and try to beat the masses of people who are just like me, snow depraved and itching, up to Mt. Baker. My roommate rode today and informed me that it was super heavy and got a little bit sticky. Tomorrow is going to be a good day for me to work on some much needed relaxation by way of powder slashes and hopefully some epic lines.
As for the hiking, the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center is calling for some High and Moderate Avalanche conditions in the area. My buddy is thinking about heading up from Port Angeles to take some turns. He and I have not ridden together in a couple of years and we have both progressed in the interim. My backcountry access is pretty limited as I don't have snowshoes or a split-board. On the fly snowpack analysis and careful route planning are going to be the key to a fun and exhilarating day on the mountain away from the masses. If you plan on heading out of bounds know your limits and know the snow!!!
Good luck to the competitors at the Summit at Snowqualmie tomorrow competing for 35k worth of cash prizes at the Ride Shakedown! I would be there if I didn't have to hit the books more tonight and again on Sunday. If you can't make it to the Summit and aren't going to be hitting the slopes yourself you can catch all the action live from 2 - 930 PM (PST) on FuelTv!
Why hasn't this dude been blogging lately? I can tell you that one of the reasons is definitely not because I have been snowboarding all the time. That would be one thing I would love to be able to tell you. I would love to say that I have been hiking, building sick jumps, hiking some more, maybe even shooting some photograpy of some rad people hitting said sick jumps. In reality the answer to the question at hand is that I have been cruizing the halls of higher education.
Here are a few things that I have learned while I haven't been blogging:
1) The Mt. Baker Banked Slalom should be named the State Police, Sheriff, Park Police Slalom.
2) The LBS (short for #1) is a rad time to meet up with people that you haven't seen in a while, but only if you are racing or hiking. Don't roll if you are looking for a nice time without way too many people for the 8 chairs!
3) Unless you have endless cashflow steer clear of anything that is in the path of the Olympic Torches. Bellingham is about to get f'n nuts.
4) I have too many ideas to be in school right now.
5) Always have a metal water bottle. (Just for water)
6) Companies comprised need at least one person with an educated background in Business.
This is my homey, Scotty. He is going to show you how to exit the starting gates at the Baker Banked Slalom. 2010 Locals Qualifier.
Behold the power of the iPhone. . .
After riding the past three days at Mt. Baker my ass is beat. I am completely exhausted. I went to school today and had one hell of a time trying to keep my head up and be positive. I really do not like complaining and it is one of my worst character traits, so I had to try REALLY hard not to bitch and moan about how completely drained I am. I think that I over did it to the point of actually being angry at myself. Lets go back and evaluate the events of the weekend to see where I may have screwed myself over.
Friday Night:
hung out at the house and drank beers.
Saturday Morning:
woke up at 530 to go to the mountain.
700 got pulled over for "speeding" (the cop was a dick and I'm gonna fight it, but that's another story)
I guess there are two major factors at play here. First and foremost, not enough water. Second, I need to eat. Third, I left out all of the nonsensical cigarettes that I smoke, to which there would be too many pauses for a smoke break whilst, trying to read between all of the smoke breaks.
I hope you enjoyed my photos and have learned a very valuable lesson. Get outside and play as much as you can, just remember to eat plenty of food, and drink lots of water! (Good beer, too!)
I am always looking for new and interesting perspectives on Snowboarding, Skateboarding, Rock Climbing, Action Sports, and Marketing. Along with those topics some related issues that interest me are Sustainable Marketing and bridging the gap between the growing nature of businesses and the goal of enhancing the current sports industry business model to a healthier design for all!
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