The Never Ending Winter

Winter 13-14. It was a long one. The snow hit my hometown of Syracuse hard, with noreasters dumping tons of snow on the local hill, Lab.  The riding was prime. I didn’t keep an official tally but I’m guessing I had 50-60 some odd days this season. Crazy considering I work 5 days a week and have a full time college schedule on top of that, but hey thats what I live for.  Over the past month I was very fortunate to do quite a bit of traveling.

It all started out with a trip up to Whiteface on the drop of a hat. Another rep, Greg, and I arrived there around 4am, and slept in the parking lot for a couple of hours. It was my first time there and is quite the mountain. Our first run waiting in line for the gondola we got to personally meet Josh Boise, one of the ATA team members, as well as Richmond Harvey, who quickly earned his spot next to Josh. These two kids are 16 and 14 and absolutely kill it out there on the mountain. The second trip up was even more eventful. We got to ride the slides, which are a different part of the mountain, the backcountry. Once you cross rope you’re on your own. The traverse was about 20 minutes and pretty sketchy at some points. The powder was past our knees, and guided by a couple of Greg’s friends that I would like to give a thanks to we made some nice lines.  Later on that day we spent some time down at the airbag. I had been dying to hit one and finally had the chance. We spread the word about ATA a little bit, I seshed the bag pretty hard, and even had to coach a couple people that have never hit a jump before.

 

The next weekend my college’s ski club took a trip to Mont Tremblant in Montreal. I was with a member of the Mob, FatMike, what a crazy time it was. The conditions weren’t the greatest and it was pretty cold, but we endured. The crew was anywhere from me getting split up and riding solo, to riding with 10 others tearing the mountain up. Ski patrol even tried to yell at us for not making turns. Tremblant is a pretty big mountain, when you go up the gondola you can ski down the other side of the mountain. Some of the woods the crew and I found had some dope hits in them, and lead to a shack  that serves some bangin’ soup, stew, and beer. They also have some great terrain parks, with the biggest one being named Adrenaline. Then there was the partying. We had Canadian police, EMT’s and security guards in our condo until 4:30 A.M. on saturday night. You know what they say though,  what happens in Canada can stay up there.

And finally the weekend after that I ended my season with a trip to the one and only, Killington. FatMike and at this point Pat, aka The Walrus, are regular members of the Killy crew now. The riding was springtime slush at its finest. The Timberline park was filled with fun features, including a double-pipe, some nice smooth rails, and some fun little jumps. The walrus and I did some filming, and are working on putting some of it together so look out for it in the near future!

It’s going to be a long summer without being able to ride, but next winter will bring bigger better things. Keep your eyes peeled for some ill new winter products that will be hitting the shelves come the time. And any requests you might have be sure to email me [email protected]

I would like to give a huge shout out to the Whiteface Park Crew. Their a bunch of chill ass dudes who love to shred, have a great time, and make super fun features in their parks. I hooked them up with some shirts, stickers, and a stencil which I saw a couple of days ago on instagram that they had sprayed it on one of their downrails. Good looks guys! I look forward to working with you guys in the future.