Westbound Boarder

Like most in the Intermountain West (and more), we are desperate for some snow (except for you Jackson Hole, thankfully we will see you next week). Despite the slow start to winter, I have had a blast shredding the groomers and catching air off of rocks and dirt. Here are some of my early season pics. Hopefully more will follow that include white-outs and face shots. Until then, enjoy!

While the anticipation builds for my spring visit to Salt Lake City, Utah; Danielle sends me a snowboard video called “I Ride Park City,” a film by Jim Managan from 2008 at Park City Resort. It may be considered old school by now, but we just got our paws on it and it is worth the shout out. The line-up of riders on the cover is impressive. Shaun White, Heikki Sorsa and Aaron Biittner headline while Bode Merrill’s ever improving rail tricks and grabs are displayed.

Predictably, Shuan White opens getting gnarly in the half pipe.

Eero Ettala (my all time favorite rider)and Hekki Sorsa share some rad shots together, Sending it over jumps at the same time, doing front flips, 3s, 7s, high fives, and half pipe spins. With Kool in the Gang fittingly playing, Stevie Bell and Aaron Bittner share scenes with some hot jibs and dope style to enjoy.

The snowballs were flying and so were the Ladies. Erin Compstock & Torah Bright floated huge spins over a wood shed. With some more snowball fights and flips from the whole crew of riders in between.

And have you seen Bode Merrill do flips onto rails? Insane.

Since Torgstien Horgmo threw the first triple cork on film this year, it did not surprise me he had the ending part with some 1200’s, and some sick spins sans grab. This movie was stacked with riders, talent and great music. So happy to add this to my collection of snowboard videos. All and all, I can’t wait for the day I ride park city.

Hard to find this video, but let me know if you want one and we can try and hook it up.

Shredoloutions, goals, traditions, we have all got em. I have a number of snow related goals for myself. I have new tricks to master each season, new resorts to see, new continents to ride on, the list goes on. Some of these will take a life time, others I will conquer tomorrow. One of my fav shredolutions is that I will take a ski trip each and every year which I have done with out fail since 2001!

To share the love and to hopefully motivate some of our fellow shredheads to take a trip or two of their own, we are going to really focus on our Resort Reviews this season, starting with Heavenly this week and sharing a few of our favorite resorts each month throughout this winter.

Just wanted to give a shout out to all of the snow Gods and thank them for starting the season so early. We had opening days all over the place this week and I woke up to three powder alerts in my inbox this morning, a simple sign of the wonderful winter to be had. Resorts including Aspen Snowmass (peep their pics), Park City (my new home front), Mt. Hood Meadows, Alta, Snowbird, and I am sure the list goes on and on…Jackson Hole opens next week and many more to follow. Cheers to the kick off of the 2012 winter snowboard season!!!

Two years in the making, it is finally here! For me anyways as I get to check out the Art of Flight tomorrow night in Salt Lake City.

For those of you who don’t know, Art of Flight is a snowboard film, two years in the making with one hell of a line up; Travis Rice, John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Scotty Lago, Jake Blauvelt, Nicolas Muller, Gigi Ruf, DCP and Pat Moore. Apparently, the boundaries are pushed, redefining what is possible in the mountains. The Art of Flight takes us to the unexplored mountains in the remote corners of the world.

What better way to get stoked on the snowboard season? Hope to see you at the Art of Flight tomorrow. If not, check out the website for the tour line up or download the trailer here.

My overall impression of the Salt Lake Dew Tour was awesome. I witnessed crazy people, young and old throwing themselves through the air in a variety of sports. Truly amazing talent on display. The Dew Tour does a great job of keeping each day different and interesting and the village has stuff for everyone to get involved (food, beer, sponsor booths, local booths, skate demos, the list goes on!).

The one and only bummer of the whole even was the female involvement of the Summer Dew Tour. Ladies were definitely well represented in the crowd and at least half of the staff running the event were women. However, the glaring lack of women was amongst the competitors. We need to get girls more involved in these summer sports for sure! They are killing it in the snowboard world but not in the skate or BMX, at least for the Dew Tour.

The Salt Lake Dew Tour was a great event and so glad it happened in this town. We tip our hat again to the state of Utah for being the only place that hosts a stop of the Winter and Summer Dew Tours. See you at Snowbasin this Feb. for the Winter Dew out of Snowbasin Ski Resort in Utah.

Day four wrapped up the Salt Lake stop of the Summer Dew Tour, the last stop before finals in Las Vegas this October.

The Gatorade Free Flow Skate Vert continued to display the amazing talent of these skaters. The coordination and control of their boards is stunning and today, seven contestants took the Dew Tour vert ramp, and Jonathan Schwan topped the podium and became the 2011 skate vert Champ. This means that 14-year-old Schwan will travel to Las Vegas in October, to compete with the pros at the Dew Tour Championships.

From Schwan himself, ” I am super excited! Gatorade Free Flow Tour is the bigges am contest in the nation and it’s really hard to get a lot of good kids in the same area together to have fun and help progress your skating.’

Photo Courtesy of Gatorade Free Flor Tour, Alli Sports

With the win, Schwan earns a prequalified spot at the Dew Tour Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. to compete with the pros. He will join yesterday’s skate street champ Brendon Villanueva, with the opp. to go pro! To wrap up the summer season these skaters will join the BMX champs

The last event of the stop was the Fre Flow BMX Vert finals. They ran format similar to the skate jam session which is a great way to keep the action going. It is still amazing how high they are going above the coping. There were a few nasty falls which seems to happen more in BMX events when you have to fall with your bike to complicate things.

RESULTS (Free Flow Skate Vert)

1. Jonathan Schwan, Colorado Springs, Colo. 2. Clay Kreiner, Simpsonville, S.C. 3. Jimmy Wilkins, Carlsbad, Calif. 4. Beaver Fleming, Knoxville Tenn. 5. Austin Gordon, Newnan, Ga.  6. Braden Stelma, Mesa Ariz. 7. Max Jenson, Rye, N.H. 8. Zac Rose, Raymond, Maine (DNS)

Today hosted the Dew Tour Skate Vert Finals and it was a great show. Shaun White rode well in his cut-off skinny jeans but took second behind PLG. Standing in the bottom of the vert ramp after the event hit me again how talented these guys are. Bucky Lasek took 3rd place this stop but showed why he one of the best ambassadors of the sport. He did the most interviews and stayed with the crowd the longest. He started signing autographs after he was told that it was a girls birthday and she wanted his signature. He is also rocking an amazing mustache.

The Gatorade Free Flow tour continued with the street finals, with sixteen competitors throwing down in SLC, hoping to compete in Las Vegas in October with the pros. The top am contestants in the country skated on the professional Dew Tour course today.  And at the end of the day, the three-time returning Finalist Brendon Villanueva took the title of Champion and secured his prequalified spot in the Dew Tour Championships (Las Vegas Oct 2011). After watching these guys I am pumped on the future of skateboarding, which is very bright if this is our next wave of pro riders. They we dominating that street course.

Brendon Villanueva Street Finals, photo courtesy of Gatorade Free Flow Tour, Alli Sports

From Villanueva himself, “I am super excited about winning and just happy about coming to the Finals, meeting new friends and getting to skate a bunch. It’s awesome that Gatorade give kids the change to come out here and show what they can do. Gatorade puts on one of the best contests!”

BMX Dirt was awesome seeing these guys flying though the air with a bike to maneuver with when they come back to the ground. There were double back flips and triple tail whips galore. After a quick course change to soften the landing, they used the first jump for a Big Air event. There were some gnarly falls but much bigger landings. A crowd favorite was Brett Banasiewicz was smooth and consistent but it wasn’t enough to take the $5000 best trick prize from Kyle Baldock.

RESULTS (Gatorade Free Flow Street Finals)

1. Brendon Villanueva, Poway, Calif. 2. Tyson Bowerbank, Sandy, Utah 3. Miles Canevello, McHenry, Ill. 4. Tyler Thomas, Baltimore, Md. 5. Fletcher Renegar, Ringgold, Ga.

Day 2 of the SLC Dew Tour did not disappoint. BMX Semis went down on the dirt and in the vert. Before the street skate semi finals. These guys continue to amaze. Salt Lake also provided two locals to compete in the contest. A standout rider for me was Milton Martinez because of his creativity using obstacles throughout the course that others just passed by. He also climbed into the stands and dropped into a ramp from about 10 feet above. The Jam session is definitely the best format for this event. Jam session style is how skating happens in the real world and its great to watch these guys feed of each other.

The most exciting event of the night was definitely the FMX Speed and Style contest. Four guys at a time would race through a course with one huge ramp for four laps. The competitors got points for the place they finished and style from judges. It was incredible to see these guys fly through the air of downtown Salt Lake City.

After the FMX guys wrapped up their event the crowd migrated around the course to the stage to watch a band from SLC perform. The Used put on a great show and put a great cap on the events of the day.

Tomorrow is day to see the big names in Skate Vert and the BMX guys hit the dirt for the Big Air Event. More to come. . .

So I moved to SLC last year and have loved every minute of my time here, this city is awesome. Great weather, which means there is always something to do. Something I have been hearing about all year leading up to this summer were all of the free concerts that this place has. I don’t know if it is because most of the families here have more kids than fingers, so free summer activities are pretty appealing, but whatever the reason is there really are a ton of free outdoor concerts.

Since I have already googled the hell out of these concerts I figured I would share what I have found so here are some details on the free summer concerts that are found around SLC.

Cool Concert Air Series: Saturday nights at Snowbird on the plaza and hey, coolers are welcome!

2011 Twilight Concert Series: Downtown SLC at Pioneer Park, as this concert is downtown and free the crowds can overwhelm and you cannot BYOB, but it is downtown so you can post funk, right?

Canyons Ski Resort Summer Concert Series: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the concerts at the Canyons. With an awesome grass hill to set up your chair and picnic, it is the perfect atmosphere. Park at the bottom of the hill and take up the (free) cabriolet and don’t forget to BYOB if you want!

This is the short list of the free summer concerts in the SLC area, hope to see you there!

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