Snowboarder and Transworld Done Already!?

Dying breed

How are these the last issues of the year? I mean, of these two illustrious magazines, that is. I've let some subscriptions slide and I have some others (shout out to frequency!), but Snowboarder and Transworld are letting it go. It's not even February yet! The meat of the season is still ahead of us and you're done publishing already!? How can you not just shift everything back a month? You know, put the gear guide out in September instead of August (or even October) and then still have an issue in mailboxes in February, aka the best month to snowboard in the Northern Hemisphere.

Are you banking on us not needing as much help getting stoked in February? I could buy that. Usually the snow is flying and the board bags stay packed. Lately, weather is less predictable. I'm spending more time in the weight room than in the white room. Shit, the forecast for this weekend at my local knob is mid-50s and sunny. Farther down the hill, they're not even running the lifts. I know the winter is long, but it's bleak right now.

We need the mags now more than ever. I'm a big fan of sitting by the window with a mug of something warm or a bottle of something cold while thumbing through pages of something with pictures of snow. No multi-tab browsing to distract me. Videos are great and all, but my work is on that machine. When I get away I want to be all the way away. Analog immersion. No keyboards and power cords, just words and pictures. Bring it back, guys. Help me out!

First Snowboard Magazine Of the Season

Transworld Snowboarding get's the nod as the first shred rag of the new year. And check out that cover! Iceberg shredding!? SKETCHY!!

Photo of a photo of Gigi Ruf by Maxim Balakhovskii

Transworld Snowboarding Riders' Poll Awards

The Transworld Riders' Poll Awards were last night. If you want to play the 'who would I have voted for' game, here's a list of the nominees. And here's a list of the winners.

Women's Rookie of the Year: Corrine Pasela. I've never heard of her, but she can ride rails. Not like Jess Kimura, but pretty good.

Men's Rookie of the Year: Frank April. I don't know how he's a rookie, but what are you gonna do. Tough competition on this one. 

Women's Video Part of the Year: Desiree Melancon. She had a part with Videograss and slayed the urban. Also a fiend in banked slalom-like events. Mentioned that sucking dick might have had something to do with it, a theme that would be repeated.

Men's Video Part of the Year: Mikkel Bang. I didn't actually see it, but the hype was up there. The kid's fun to watch ride, at any rate.

Video of the Year: Burton's 13. Again, didn't see it. Might just have to buy it.

Web Video Project of the Year: Salomon's Team Vacation. The only web series of the three noms that I didn't see. Good news, it's online.

Standout of the Year: Nicolas Muller. You can always pencil him in for best something. He won the Real Snow Backcountry and delivered another amazing part for Absinthe. Also, Turn of the Year. Watch Resonance, you'll know the one.

Women's Readers' Choice: Jess Kimura. She rides hard as hell, that translates to the fans.

Men's Readers' Choice: Torstein Horgmo. Always a fan favorite. Not in attendance to accept, but filmed a selfie speech from a trampoline gym. I couldn't hear it mostly, but I think he said something about octo-corks.

Women's Rider of the Year: Jess Kimura. Not surprising, though the competition was intense.

Men's Rider of the Year: Nicolas Müller. See above.

Legend Award: Peter Line. Hell of a speech. Said he didn't prepare one because he got distracted by the movie While You Were Sleeping. Went on to compare snowboarding to said movie. Classic.

Yup. Them's the winners. John Jackson and GT hosted the show. It wasn't without strange and awkward moments. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but two girls made out (at the podium) and then Danny Kass and Austin Smith made out. Not so sure about that one. Some dude was taking his shirt off all the time up by where I was watching. Not that rad. General snowboarding-themed debauchery, I guess. And the beat goes on.

Happy New Year!

How do you measure a good year? By all accounts, 2011 was good to me. Since this blog is about snowboarding, let's review that.

Last winter was all-time. Snowfall was plentiful, the trips I took mostly panned out and I got a few firsts that blew my mind. Watching the gnarly sessions at Superpark 15 at Mt. Bachelor won't easily be topped. The highlight of the season was still my first heli trip as part of Tailgate Alaska, but I also had some of my best days at Mt. Hood Meadows, just finding new zones with my friends. When June rolled around, I was ready to hang up the gnar boots and lace up the hiking boots.

The one thing that bummed me out last year was a trip I took to Mt. Bachelor over Martin Luther King Jr. Day where it rained on the mountain the whole time and none of us so much as touched our boards. I even had a friend up from Colorado. And I forgot the shred flicks at home. We drank so much beer... During a normal year it would have been far more depressing, but last year turned the corner, just like this year is sure to do. Like Joe Walsh said, "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do." 

In the young 2011/2012 season, I've already had firsts. My first ever snowboard race was a couple weeks ago at the Dirksen Dirby. My result was as bad as it gets, but it was still a super-fun experience that I look forward to doing again in the coming years. Also, a couple months ago I wrote my first ever published snowboard article for Transworld Snowboarding magazine (Halldor Helgason's Pro Spotlight, Dec. 2011). Following that were two in their January issue (Ethan Deiss and Austen Sweetin interviews) and one in frequency: The Snowboarder's Journal issue 9.3 (Mike Parzialle profile). Theses I hope will be just the first of many gigs with the big mags and finding ways to get money for things that I like to do anyway.

The three best magazine issues yet!

The riding this year hasn't been amazing, but the season is long and just taking off. Starting in the new year, a friend gets a weekday off, so last year's Method Mondays will be this year's Tindy Tuesdays. Even as I mash this keyboard it is dumping snow both at Mt. Hood and my New Years destination, Mt. Baker, so things are turning around quickly. Maybe that Nina chick is going to show up after all.

Here's hoping that 2012 greets you with nothing but powder and smiles. Happy New Year from Boredyak!

Purgatory: A Brief Guide to Videos, Since You Probably Can't Ride Yet

No, not the formerly-known-as ski resort. I'm talking about when you can see the goods, but can't get in. As in, this time of year. It's snowing. The weather outside is shitty, but still you can't snowboard. It might be another couple weeks, even by the resort's most optimistic forecast. How the hell is a pusher of p-tex supposed to stay sane? Watch a ton of videos, that's how. The following is a brief 'what's what' of the few videos I've watched this season. No one can tell you what to watch, but I can lay out the info as objectively as possible. Pick out the one that most suits your taste and it'll keep you from going cuckoo for snow snow puffs until you can finally get out there.

In a land...

Title: Jeremy Jones' Deeper

Crew: Teton Gravity Research

Riders: Jeremy Jones, Travis Rice, Xavier De Le Rue, Josh Dirksen, Ryland Bell, Jonaven Moore, Forrest Shearer, Johan Olofsson, Lucas Debari, and Tom Burt

What It's Got: backcountry, documentary style, big lines, long trips, hikes to every drop, huge mountains, Alaska, Chamonix, Sierras, Antarctica, a few backcountry booters, that epic feeling

What It's Not: parks, rails, anything urban

My Opinion: If it doesn't make you want to shred, it will make you want to get better.

A fresh one-footer over a foot of fresh powder

Title:  Right Brain, Left Brain (disclaimer: I only saw the Right Brain)

Crew: Think Thank

Riders: Jesse Burtner, Matt Edgers, Scott Stevens, Sean Genovese, Gus Engle, Pat Milbery, Nick Visconti, Tim Eddy, Mark Thompson, Jason Robinson, Chris Beresford, Austin Hironaka, Blair Habenicht, Chris Larson, Ben Bogart, Sam Hulbert, Austen Granger, Andre Spinelli, Chris Brewster, Jess Kimura (no wonder they 'needed' two discs)

What It's Got: lots of jibs, some park, some backcountry, crazy one-footed stylings, crazier 'kickflips' and other no-footed shenanigans, some big spins off of big jumps, fun feeling, fast pace

What It's Not: that self-serious feeling that so many videos get these days

My Opinion: It will make you look at snowboarding (and your snowboard) differently and that's a good thing.

Yes it was

Title: In Color

Crew: Transworld Snowbording

Riders: Chris Bradshaw, Devun Walsh, Iikka Backstrom, Jake Olson Elm, Jussi Oksanen, Keegan Valaika, Mark Sollors, Mikkel Bang, Phil Jacques

What It's Got: shred porn, good mix of urban and backcountry (maybe leans more toward urban), giant glacier-maw gap, old-school and new-school riders, solid

What's It's Not: big mountain lines, lacking

My Opinion: Plenty of amazing riding, so why was I feeling a little 'meh' at the end? Was that just me?

Minibike himself showing love at his hometown screening of 9191.

Title: 9191

Crew: Volcom

Riders: Gigi Rüf, Nicolas Müller, Austin Smith, Curtis Cizek, Wille Yli-Luoma, Wolle Nyvelt, Jake Blauvelt, Blair Habenicht, Luke Mitrani, Bryan Iguchi

What It's Got: Gigi-centric without actually feeling Gigi-centric, custom-made soundtrack (Slayer's drummer performs a drum solo), extraordinarily creative backcountry, enough of said backcountry to make you want to spring for a heli this year (as if you didn't already)

What It's Not: urban, bad

My Opinion: This one really made me want to ride. Add a little more documentary and it's up there with the best ever.

No, it's not censored in the actual movie

Title: Fuck It

Crew: Forum

Riders: John Jackson, Stevie Bell, Nic Sauve, Niko Cioffi, Austen Sweetin, Jake Welch, Cameron Pierce, Pat Moore, Andreas Wiig

What It's Got: funny intro sequences, urban, big park jumps, John Jackson getting gnar in the backcountry, some others get a little in the backcountry

What It's Not: Peter Line, Daniel Ek

My Opinion: I was bored with all the rail and park porn. Then John Jackson came on and I got stoked.


Hopefully this list will help you get a grip on some of the videos out there this year. As usual, you have dozens of choices and they're all different. Mostly different. The few I've listed are but mere flakes on the grand mountain of shred celluloid. Fortunately, unlike Indy's choice in The Last Crusade, you can't really go wrong. And with iTunes out there, you can put a couple bucks away toward your season pass, too. If you're lucky, you have friends who like shred flicks, too and you can borrow some. Trade back and forth and get a little library thing going. Which makes me think, why isn't there any place out there where you can rent these videos? Would anyone else partake in this? I know I would. While I'm mini-ranting, does anyone else feel like it's giving away the ending when people who preview videos tell you who had the ender? I do. That shit has got to stop!

Deeper and 9191 are the two from this list that I'll buy. Their re-watching potential is sooo high. I'll also probably buy Absinthe's NowHere (though maybe on iTunes) because I know, instinctively, that it's going to be good. I might have to get Right Brain, Left Brain, too, if only to see the other half.

No matter how close the season is, it will always feel like an eternity. With the right exercise and stretching routine to get you in shape (you know, so you can actually ride without feeling like every bit of soft tissue in your knee is going to explode on every landing) and a couple movies to keep the kid in you alive you'll be on that first chair in no time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find someone to convert my old, twisted Mack Dawg tapes to DVD.