Westbound Boarder

Saturday was supposed to be the “Active Sponsor Me” competition at Mt. High, and I figured, “Hey, I haven’t done a comp. in a while, this one’s laid back and fun; why the hell not?”  So I arrive to the mountain and ask where I can find the registration table, only to find… the competition was moved?!  To Sunday?  A few days prior.  Seriously, who just moves a competition right before its about to happen (and not bother to change any of the posters - wait, correction, apparently the “Web site was updated.”)  I was a little irritated, especially since I now had to pay full price for a ticket on an 85 degree day (think: snow = lake by 11am).

So I was waiting in line for a ticket and this lady comes up to me holding a stack of tickets and says, “Hey, I see you’re waiting in line for a ticket.  Do you want a free one?”  Say what?  Thinking this was some sort of trick to get me in trouble by the snowboard mafia, I proceeded to grill her on the origin of these so-called “free” tickets.  “I got them for free when I put my kids in ski school, so I don’t have any use for them since I’m not skiing.”  Hm, likely response.  That is what the snowboard mafia would want you to think, now isn’t it?  But wait a minute, a long line in front of me, and a free ticket behind me…  hm, I’ll take my chances!  I’ll just have to whip out my judo kick for when the snowboard mafia jumps out from behind the trees and takes me down to snowboard jail.  Take that snowboard mafia!  (And just in case you were wondering, the ticket actually worked fine.  No hoax!  And I even made a new snowboard bud; nothing like bonding over a couple free tickets, right?)

So we all know how they saying goes… but on Saturday Karma totally worked in my favor for once!

And the second moral to my tale is that, although I did not get to watch the “Sponsor Me” comp. (boo hoo), Mt. High put together a dandy little video for everyone else like me out there.  SoCal has some awesome local talent, so catch it here!

Shaun White may already have ‘Pro Snowboarder,’ ‘Designer,’ and ‘Bad A$$ Video Game Developer’ permanently stamped on his resume, but didn’t you hear?  He may be adding pro ice-skater to the list as well!  (Watch out Louie Vito, it looks like you have some competition in more than just the pipe this month).  In fact, I hear Red Bull built Shaun a secret ice rink in the North Pole …  Watch the video below to see his rockin’ moves (Wait! Is that me, his partner?)

Disclaimer: This video is in no way, shape, or form real.  Though it may look like Shaun and Andrea are actually ice skating together, they are not.  It is totally made up.  In fact, Shaun may not even ice skate.  Welcome to the wonderful world of the Internet and photo manipulation.

Monday as I drove to work after a blissful 4 day vacation, I blasted the song “Manic Monday” on my way in… OK, not really, but I thought about it! (Come on guys, I’m hip). The first week in 2010 is always a time for reflection (ie. How you are really going to stick to your workout routine this year because this year is “different from the rest!” Hm, ask me in December of next year?) and in good suit I suppose this week on Westbound Boarder has somewhat been dedicated to reflection as well.  But it’s time to quit looking back and start looking ahead, instead.

While chatting with a group of my girlfriends the other day, we stumbled upon the topic of our 2010 resolutions.  And it got me thinking, “Hm, what are my resolutions?”  Well, after thinking about it, pretty much every bullet on my list had something to do with snowboarding, in some way, shape or form.  So, I scrapped my usual “get fit” resolutions in favor of a couple of shredolutions.  Here’s my list!

• Visit and review at least two resorts I have never been to (I already have plans to check this one off the list over the next couple of days in Colorado!)  Also high on the list - Mammoth and Park City.  Should I shoot for a lofty goal of four?
• Stop shopping and save more money … (this is, of course, somewhat of an addendum to the above-mentioned goal).
• Land a big air 360 … without breaking any bones in the process.
• Learn some cool stuff in the pipe (really, anything other than a straight air or indie/method will do!)
• Take a run with Shaun White (wait, shredolutions are supposed to be attainable?  Oh, I see…)
• Take more action photos (and learn how to use the fancy settings on my new camera).
• In case goal 3 didn’t specify … no more broken bones!

So, enough about me, what about you?  What are your 2010 shredolutions?

Wow.  It’s hard to believe that it has been more than a year since we published our first post on Westbound Boarder.  My how time flies!  2009 was an extremely busy, but great year, and we’d like to thank all of you for stopping by our blog.  We hope you’ve enjoyed reading!

In case you’re new to our blog, or simply just want to refresh your memory, here is a list of our most popular posts from 2009:

• Spotlight Female: Kimi Werner, National Spearfishing Champion
• Skimboarding, The ‘Shore’ Kind of Fun
• Windells - The Funnest Place on Earth!
• Get Those Ladies Off Yo’ Board!
• Westbound’s Guide To Sk8board Tricks
• Surfing: Longboard vs. Shortboard
• Resort Review: Vail, CO
• Saturday Shop Review - Val Surf
• Featured Female: Chanel aka CC
• Snowboard Buyer’s Guide: First Things First
• Safety First!
• ‘SUP With Your Board?

We’re excited to bring you more in 2010 and beyond!

(Note: If you would like to be a guest blogger or contributor, we welcome any and all female voices in the action sports industry!  Contact us at westboundboarder@gmail.com)

So here I am sitting at my local coffee shop, about to post this week’s Friday linky love post, when I realized, “Duh, today’s not Friday.  It’s Wednesday!  And tomorrow is Christmas Eve!”  Silly me.

So, my words of wisdom for today - Don’t think it’s Friday when its actually, in fact, Wednesday; enjoy the holidays; and snowboard your a$$ off this weekend!

Back after the holidays!

Last weekend when I was home in Portland for Thanksgiving, Danielle and I packed our bags and hit the hill for the my season opener.  (In fact, I do believe it was both of our first days up).  It was such an amazing day - several inches of new, fresh pow, a perfect blue-bird day, and of course, great company.  Danielle’s hubby is teaching lessons at Timberline this season, so we opted for T-line as opposed to our usual Meadows.  I haven’t been to T-line in years (I think the last time I went was for my high school snowboard team’s state championship meet - yes, that was a long time ago!) so it was a nice change of pace from the crowds and lines that characterize Mt. Hood Meadows.  (Now I’m not saying I don’t love Meadows - it has been and will always be my #1!)

Anyway, after arriving to the mountain (and spending a whopping $59 on lift tickets) we were ready to ride.  We got a lot of riding in for the maybe 5 or 6 hours we were on the slopes, namely because there were very short lift lines.  Most of the time we were able to just hop right on!  We spent most the day on the Mile, because from what I hear a nice day up top is pretty hard to come by.  There was a park with some pretty nice tables and jibs, but after a few first-day-up spills we decided to ditch the park and freeride.

We finished out the day with the Alpine Trail, a “top secret” trail that only locals know about (OK, maybe that’s a bit of stretch) that takes riders along a 2.5 mile trail from Timberline to Government Camp.  We started from the top of Magic Mile and made our way down to (and through) the Alpine Trail - 3.5 miles in all.  Man were we spent!

Thanks, Timberline, for a great first day up, and I’m so looking forward to more just like it!

Do you remember those little chocolate advent calendars your mom used to give you growing up?  I loved those things, and I think for a lot of kids they really embody the spirit of Christmas (come on, chocolate santas = Christmas, duh!)

PacSun has created a little advent calendar of their own, this time for grown-ups!  It’s called the Pass It On calendar and it can be found here.  I only noticed it this morning so I don’t quite have all the details, but basically, you can head to this virtaul calendar each day to meet a different PacSun team member and “unlock” a different discount, giveaway or sweepstakes!  For example, today you can sign up towin an $100 gift card; pretty cool.

With the barometer outside in SoCal pushing 70 today, it’s nice to find some Christmas cheer online, even if it is only in the form of a calendar :)  Pass it on!

Right now, Rio de Janeiro is at the top of my “places to go once I have the money” list (and trust me, the list is a pretty long one) but watching this video made me want to go even more

Just a couple for you to enjoy this weekend.  TGI…S!

• SoCal Beer Pong Tourney: Damn, how’d I miss this one?! Last weekend, the SCBP (Southern California Beer Pong… Association? ) held their annual beer pong open, with a $10,000 prize purse being awarded to the lucky winner.
• Top Fives from Marie-France Roy: Pro Rome-sponsored shredder, Marie-France Roy, shares her top 5’s, including locations, tunes and moments, and Frontlipped’s got the 411.

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