Friday afternoon marked the 3rd annual 3,000 words event at Fifty Fifty Brewing in Truckee, CA. It’s said that a picture tells the story of a 1,000 words and fittingly … Read More
Saturday afternoon countless professional athletes and action sports enthusiasts converged at “the Bunker”, the 33,000 square foot building that is the prize and jewel of Woodwards growing action sports brand. Woodward Tahoe represents an infusion of action sports culture, camps and progression to the area.
The Bunker at Woodward Tahoe
The facility can be used by skateboards, BMX, inline skates, and Roller skis and Roller Snowboards. 6 Olympic Fly Bed trampolines, 1 super tramp (one of a few in the world designed in Toronto), a Mega ramp into foam pit, a Mega ramp onto a resi landing, a skate park, mini ramp, pump track, 3 foam pits, and spring floors fill the building. There was a sense of awe from everyone in the building on Saturday.
Mega Ramp into Foam and Resi
Tony Hawk made the trip up for the grand opening, as did Tanner Hall and the Inspired Crew. So did too many other athletes to list, or remember. The level of performance inside the building on Saturday was shocking and not just from the pros. 9 year old Cody LaPlante was throwing multiple doubles on the super tramp. Where this next generation is going to be in a few years isn’t really fathomable yet.
Rollerskis allow access to the same terrain as skateboarders and inliners.
Not only was The Bunker going off inside, but outside Boreal had a perfect 22 foot superpipe, a bag jump, 30 foot jump, and 20 or so jib features. All in all a perfect Saturday shred sesh.
Thanks Woodward for putting this facility here in Tahoe. It is going to change the future of action sports here.
Digital Media Room
Telluride’s Nugget Theatre is one of the most unique movie theaters I have been too. This place is a real gem in the community and I personally love seeing movies … Read More
Back in January and February when we weren’t sure that Squaw would stay open until March, Josh Anderson and I decided to have some fun. The snow was non-existant and hardly pow, so we came up with creative ways to pass the days on the hill. Everybody loves SaucerBoy so why not go play the part for a day or two and see what happened? The response was amazing. People were yelling from the chairlifts, taking pictures, and super stoked on the whole thing. Josh has dressed up as SaucerBoy for various events, and plays the character really well so it was funny.
Saucer Boy
If you haven’t dressed up as SaucerBoy I would suggest that you try it out. Feel out your inner Shane and the SaucerBoy in all of us. The looks, responses, and gawking was certainly worth it and I think Shane would have been proud. Thanks Shane for making these kinds of things funny and fun to do.
Today at Alpine was not too bad. Got out at about 8:30am, and it was worth it. Thought it was a bit early and the snow wouldn’t soften up until later, but it was good timing. It got down to 31 last night, but the temperature inversion that goes on around these parts kept the mountain from freezing. All the Southern aspects were great in the morning. The Sisters, Beaver Bowl, Palisades, and the “adventure run” to the lookers right of Summit Chair were sick. Cruise down the Sisters towards the gully to skiers left of Summit and you’ll find a hip and 2 QP booters that you can get some air off if you keep your speed up. Below the Palisades there is still remnants of the Standard Films shoot that went down last weekend. A rail off Crash and Burn cliffs. Pretty sick.
Rail off of Crash and Burn, thanks Standard Films
The parking lot was empty and the lift lines were the same. Perfect, more for us. The park, meh. It was super hard in the morning and the speed was questionable. The bottom jump is pretty kicky, and a lot bigger then last week. I’m not sure anybody hit it. It seems it took most of the day to get the lip shaped up, and the inruns early were sketch. Reminded me of an early morning at Mt. Hood where you question how many beers they had before grooming.
Snow is definitely fading
The snow is fading quickly though. It should be a fun weekend but it seems Summer is almost here. Nothing like shreddin in the AM and then headin to the beach for the afternoon. Life sucks around here I guess!
Beach after shredding is money
The video above is from some Tahoe kids that moved East to Jackson this winter. Pretty impressive skiing and a sick edit, so check it out!
It’s Cinco de Mayo, so grab your favorite Mexican beverage or a Mint Julep because the Kentucky Derby is also today. Nothing like a Tequila and Bourbon buzz. Kind of funny these two “holidays” lay on the same day. If you were in Kentucky right now you most likely wouldn’t find any Cinco de Mayo parades. It’s also the biggest full moon in 500 years so it sounds like a party. Anyway, the skiing at Alpine today wasn’t bad at all. Once 1030 hit the snow softened up quite a bit, and fun corn turns were to be had all over the mountain.
Jason Dobbs sprayin some corn in full gaper getup
Hot Wheels gully skied pretty well and was pretty fun until the snow softened too much at about noon 30. Dog Leg on idiots also went today, and the snow was just what you expect in spring corn.
Idiots Dogleg went
The park was also fun today. The jumps aren’t quite amazing or even medium sized really, but they’re still fun. It would be nice to have some larger jumps right now, but the snow is melting fast. There were a lot of kids in the park today though so the takeoff’s got a bit rutted out by afternoon.
Kaya Lampe gettin that Octo grab
Only Roundhouse and Summit were operating so there were a few lines at Summit. They disappeared at about noon though. Lots of gapers, lots of pirates, and a few sombreros out today. Go celebrate the “holidays”in the sunshine ’till you can’t remember, just make sure you make it up tomorrow because it should be another party.
Kaya Lampe getting rad in the park
It’s springtime and the sun is out, the snow is sloppy mank, and the hot tub and pool are in full effect. No liftlines, one pieces, bikinis and barbeques at Heidi’s are part of what make spring skiing so fun. So do park laps. So grab your best friends and head to the park! SPT has done a much better job with the park this year at Squaw despite the lack of a superpipe. That’s another story but at least we finally got some big jumps this spring. With Ms. Superpark going off this week, the jumps should be prime for the weekend (and hopefully still open to the public).
The jumps at Squaw have gotten fairly massive at times. Thanks Oakley
Instead of RedBull this year we got Oakley, but atleast they funded some big jumps that were open to the public last week. Photo crews are out and the skiing is park prime right now. So get out there and get upside down.
Think gap the chains... or acid drop the parking garage
High Fives mark accomplishment and encouragement, and signify victory and elation. They’re what you give your best friend after they just did something sick. High Fives are awesome. The High Fives Foundation might be the best High Five of them all however. Roy Tuscany started the organization to help athletes who have suffered a life altering injury in the action sports environment. The Non-Profit organization based out of Truckee, CA has been putting on the TRAiNS event for 5 winters now, and it’s one of the best times of the year in Tahoe. Alpine Meadows has hosted the event for the past 2 winters and designed some pretty rad features.
Trains attracted a pretty good size crowd
There was some amazing talent out there this year. Nick Goepper, the Paul Mitchell Breakthrough Athlete of the year was here. He’s fresh off podiuming almost every major slopestyle event in the world this year, and was Winter X games slopestyle Silver Medalist. He’s also still a junior in High School. So were Level 1 signature athletes Parker White and Chris Logan. The local talent was also on display with Garrett Russell, Carson Lehoullier, Andy McDowell, Danny Tourmarkine, Cooper Davidson, Austin Simonpietri, Davis Souza, Michelle Parker and lots of others. Super Groms Aspen Spora, Logan and Cody Laplante joined the party and it went down.
3 jump option for the bottom feature at TRAiNS
Think rapid fire athletes launching over 3 jumps at the same time , or in large TRAINS. Jamie Lavalle from Marker/Volkl cooks up some of the best chicken wings you’ll ever eat, the crowds come out, and a big party is thrown. The athletes competed for the first part of the day to determine best 540, best Male, and best Female. These categories were won by Andy McDowell, Nick Goepper, and Marta Krusell (who is 13 and wasn’t even in the event!!) . These 3 then chose teams of 11 to compete for the chance to donate $5,000 to charities. A great event for a great cause.
The top feature had both a large jump and box feature
Thanks to High Fives Foundation for putting on such an amazing event and helping out athletes in every way possible. You guys rock, and HIGH FIVES TO YOU.
MAMMOTH CONDITIONS VIDEO | How’s the weather at the beach these days? Word has it the “May-Gray” has come early this year. Well, up at Mammoth we really don’t have a Marine Layer to contend with. Temps are high, skies are BLUE, the snow’s slushy (in a good way), layers are scant (on bodies and the lower mountain) and all present for Mammoth’s Springfest 2012 were summarily entertained.
Here’s my post-weekend offering for a Conditions Report – some VIDEO and a handful of pics. Otherwise, what’s the skinny on conditions these days? I won’t beat around the bush… Warm temps may make for some comfortable, soft riding conditions but there’s no doubt that our snowpack is melting with a quickness.
I love spring time riding at Mammoth and current conditions have not disappointed. Yet given present temp/weather trends it would appear that this year our spring season may be cut short. My advice: get it while you can, you’ll be glad you did.
Just another day at the beach.
Canyon Lodge Pond Skim - a good time, every time.
West Bowl zipper line is ready to put you in your place!
The PROS:
Mammoth, weathering the warmth.
The CONS:
A sign of the times... Thin spot growing at the top of Chair 2
BIG bare spot by the top of Chair 4.
Does this tell the story of Juniper Springs for Sunday? I'd say so.
PARK REPORT:
So long South Park, it was fun while it lasted, even if you never had a half pipe
One last look at South Park for 2011/2012 season.
Like to watch top snowboard talent try to out-duel each other on boxes and rails? You'll love the Volcom PBRJ Championships at Mammoth
The STATS:
Bottom line: The spring riding is killer right now, even if only a fraction of Mammoth’s lifts are currently in operation. With warm temps you best get to it while you still can.
It really all depends on who you manage to ski with on certain days. March 19th in Jackson I kept my ears open on the tram and found a couple of solid skiers heading exactly where I was going with the same intent, launch cliffs, and ski pow, all day long.
Insert the Lovely brothers, Matt and Eric. A full day with these guys and you will be smiling, drinking beers and one happy dude. The kind of insta-friends that only great terrain, 19 new inches and bottomless cliff landings will cement into history. These are the guys you want on your team, scouting cliffs for you, making sure your safe in the zones, and even spoon feeding you possibly the best pillow line in history.
Cheers to the Lovely Bros for showing me around Jackson!
And cheers to deep dry powder and like minded individuals getting on the same page for a day.
