Snowboard Colorado Volume 3, Issue 6

Foreplay, Zac Marben

Masthead, Crested Butte

Crested Butte

Crested Butte

Crested Butte, Hunter Wood

Crested Butte

Crested Butte, Hunter Wood

Style Points, Dylan Alito

Style Points, Blake Paul

Style Points, Ryan Cruze

Todd Richards Interview, Chas Guldemond.  Portraits by Terry Ratzlaff

Todd Richards Interview, Bodie Merrill


Snowboard Colorado Volume 3, Issue 3

Masthead


Micheal Wick

Micheal Wick

Chad Otterstrom

Keystone, CO.  Forest Bailey, Tim Humphreys

Keystone, CO.  Forest Bailey


Style Points, Alex Yoder

Style Points, Forest Bailey

Tom Sims

Trick Tip, Hans Mindnich, Breckenridge, CO

Micheal Wick, Breckenridge, CO

Silverton

Been posted up in Silverton with Dragon for the past week.  Pashley, Drago and myself along with Scotty Vagarnold, Zach Siebert and young buck Blake Paul have made up the first crew.  The week started off by dumping a nice 24" reset, but now it has gotten very warm.  Up high the snow has still been really good though.  Its been a really fun and motivated crew, and between cheese wedges, road gaps, Scotty's freestyle folk songs and my cabin zone we have been loggin' some hamms.  Pashley panicked back to Encintas for a few days and Scotty and Seibs headed back to Utah yesterday and now it looks like some weather is moving in so the rest of us might head to Breck for a night or two and then its right back for another week of shooting starting Friday.  On another note, I bought a tilt shift lens a week or two ago (you may have noticed in recent post) and have really been enjoying it.  The problem is trying to not over use it.  Right now its all I want to use, but I have been able to show some restraint.  I decided to get the 45mm which I really like because its essentially a normal or true lens as far as distortion/perspective.  A great lens to throw on the camera and walk around with just that, because if you don't want to use the tilt shift, you pretty much have a 50mm, but have the option to tilt and shift which adds a very cool effect to a somewhat ordinary perspective or scene.  Anyways, this is my Silverton basecamp.  Not too shabby....

The Cover of All Covers!


I'm very pleased to announce my latest cover, SNOWBOARDER Magazine's 2011 Photo Annual.  In the photo world this is kind of the cover of all covers.  I couldn't be happier right now.  This shot was taken in March 2010 at my cabin in Silverton, the Bonnie Belle.  Such a stress free, fun trip!  We had easily one of the (at least for me) best days of the year shredding, the shooting was epic, and we even got a few noboard laps in on the side.  Easily one of the best trips of last season.  Thanks to Scotty for hitting this rock that he actually didn't want to hit (Could have been his boot), and thanks to Huggy for finding a nice spot for it in Volume 23!

So a little back story that goes along with this.  If you've ever hung out with Scotty Arnold you know its usually filled with non stop laughter, whether its the things spewing out of his mouth or something that he does or maybe even doesn't do.  Well on the last night of the trip, he failed to keep an eye on his boots the night before while drying near the wood stove. The room starting getting super smokey...in a bad way, like I had never seen before.  Something was up.  By the time we found the problem Scotty's boot was toast, literally.  The next day he wasn't even sure if he was going to be able to ride.  We convinced him a little duct tape should do the trick.  So Scotty bagged his foot in a grocery bag, and then pried the deformed boot onto his foot.  Fully taped up, he was locked in and ready for the last day of our trip.  So glad in the end it all worked out.  Would have been such a bummer to have not gotten this shot.  I think Scotty will agree.



The Dragon's Lair

It was early March and Alex Pashley from Dragon Optics pitched me an idea to do a trip to my cabin in Silverton, The Bonnie Belle Cabin.  He said that he was bringing one of his athletes from Australia, Tom Pelly and already had a story lined up for Australian & NZ Snowboarding Magazine.  All I had to do was come and shoot it and then write it.  Well it seemed like a no brainer to me, and I was there.  Along for the ride was of course Pashley, and Scotty Arnold, Zach Siebert, myself and fellow business partner and guide Skylar Holgate.  This was by and far one of my best trips of the year.  Epic shooting conditions, an unbelievable pow day of soul shredding, and some sick noboarding laps all in the comfort of my own zone and cabin.  And did I mention good friends?  Not sure how many hours I spent laughing on this trip, mostly at Scotty expense, but it had to be a lot.  Anyways peep the article below.  Enjoy....




Fall is in full effect

I swung through Silverton, Colorado and the Bonnie Belle Cabin last week to sip on some whiskey, chop some fire wood, stain the deck and generally clean up and prepare for winter, which is not too far away.  It actually has already snowed up there since I left.  Preparations are being made to install our new solar system which has been purchased and just needs to be installed.  Hopefully we can get it done before the snow really starts to fly.  Right now it is looking good though as we are having a great Indian summer here in Colorado with temps into the 70's during the day, and that trend looks to continue.  Book your trip today for this winter.  Spaces are filling up quickly!!





Women in Wonderland

I got the call in the middle of my Sims shoot to head down to Silverton to link up with a Roxy/DC all girls crew consisting of Robin Van Gyn, Raewyn Reid and Erin Comstock.  Amber Stackhouse was there to film, and Heikki Sorsa came along too for support.  Super fun crew!  Its been awhile since I've been able to focus on the women's side of snowboarding and I must say I was impressed.  It was great to mix it up and I couldn't have asked for a better crew to end my season with.  Well, I have Superpark in Mammoth and then thats it for me, but essentially this was my last trip of the year.  Time to head back to Summit County, get my edit on, and relax a bit!

This coyote was curious what we were doing in his zone.  Luckily he didn't front too hard. 

Working Outta My Second Home

Yes, even though I don't have a first home I do somehow have a second home.  After Idaho I drove straight down to my Cabin to link up with Pashley and his crew of misfits, Scotty Arnold, Zach Siebert, El Doug and Tom Pelly of Australia.  Our plan was to spend a week at the Bonnie Bell cabin, compile enough shots for a Feature in "Australia and NZ Snowboarding Magazine", while of course stacking shots for Snowboarder Magazine, my first priority.  It was a successful week to say the least.  Good times with good friends, and about half way through the week a storm rolled in and dumped over a foot of fresh.  It was such a blizzard all we could do was take laps all day.  Not a bad "day off" and a real boost for the crew to get the stoke on.  Not that anyone was bummed, it was just a nice change of pace to put the cameras away and remember why we all do this thing called snowboarding anyways.  It was the best turns of the year for me easily.  Hasn't been the best year in that department, but non the less it was some epic riding right out the front door.  It was good to finally experience my spot in some really good conditions too.  It still blows my mind that this is "my spot".  I couldn't be happier with my purchase.  Private Property is the future.  By the time it was all said and done, no one was ready to leave and Scotty had already assured me that he would come back and live here if I would allow him to.  Sorry bud, nice try, get your own damn spot!  That was that.  Another week of my winter done.  Where to go next?

So we just have to get up there.....


Yup right up there on that ridge....

I miss it already....



Headed up to "The Circus"



Good steez Pashley.  Are those Ugg Boots?


From one woodsman to the other Scotty, "you're doing that all wrong."

Snow day.  Lets take the day off and shred pow.  Sounds good to me!

TNF

I would like to thanks The North Face for a great couple of days of shredding and shooting at Silverton Mountain, CO.  I had a blast riding with Mark Carter, Johan Olofsson and the entire crew!  We even landed the heli at my cabin for for a quick lunch.  Not bad at all.  I will now be enjoying a few down days at home before I start a two day shoot for Vail Resorts.  Stay tuned....

Just a few days in paradise....

So, if you read my previous post from Monday I was heading back up to the Bonnie Bell Cabin for a few days of snow, beer, whisky and shredding. Well the shredding didn't really happen as much as I would have liked but that'll come soon enough. The real goal was to test our new snowcat (which passed with flying colors) drink some whiskey, watch the snow fall, and maybe even get some turns in. So stoked on the new cat. Well it was actually built in 1964, but its new to us, and it absolutely kills it, especially since we got it for free. It rallied up the steep road with supplies and about 7 or so people no problem, and it had to break trail, in the dark, in a snow storm. SO STOKED! The next day we ventured out a bit but only to find avalanches everywhere. We managed to kick a few off our self's too. Mostly small slides in the sense that they weren't traveling very far, but some of them sporting 4-5' crowns, so in the same respect, the mountains demanded respect. Finally, by Wednesday the skies cleared, and everyone eventually trickled back to society. Skylar and I decided to stay an extra day to take care of some repairs on the cat as well as the cabin. I managed to take a late afternoon solo tour to make some turns. Its nice to pick a line from your living room, skin to it, and shred down back to your living room. This will never get old. Dusk fell, and more whiskey was consumed. Sleep, then breakfast, and then work on getting Skylar's sled working which had some frozen fuel lines. Even with a nice sunny day, things happen slowly at 12,000 feet. Finally after damn near pulling 1/2 the sled apart, standing it up on its side, shaking it, we got it started. It too was time for us to head back to civilization. Leaving this place is the hardest thing to do. I can't describe what this place means to me. I feel very, very lucky to own such a property. I Can't really describe it, so until next time, enjoy some video and more photos and stay tuned for more.....


The beast from 1964



Check some footage of the cat in action...



So cold even the Wolf wants in.



Love this f'n place...



Cup-O-Joe



Home....home on the range



Misty right?



Sunset



Breakfast....

The view from breakfast