February

February has been in effect officially now for a little over 2 weeks, and progress on a new chapter has slowed down to a crawl. This has not been for lack of effort by any means, its more about circumstances than anything- actually circumstances meaning weather. We put forth effort for a good day of shooting and either bad lighting, cold temps, or other variables come into play, and we are stuck playing the catchup game now. Hump day has come and went and february is on its way out now, so its the grind date for the next week and a half.

Basically the weather has shifted dramatically. We went from consistent snowfall to a solid week warmup period (no rain just made the snow wet) and now to frigid temps. For anyone who is unfamiliar with what that does to conditions, well, basically when its warm the moisture in the snow raises up high, and then when it gets cold all that snow is now solid ice-snow. So we got that on our hands right now. We did get a good 6 inches 2 days ago (the resort claims 9) and thats led to a fluffy layer ontop of the iceharddeathsnow.

So what to do with that? Make the most of it I guess. Theres a Grand Targhee trip in the works for the end of the month, so maybe thatll bring some footage, but its usually socked in there with either snow or clouds. We are fighting the elements to make something outta this month....

To everyone who's watched Chapter 2 and got back to me in posting or in private thanks a lot for watching it and the feedback. We want to raise the bar for the next chapter but it's hard when footage is next to impossible to get.

...and thats whatsup with february....

Chapter 2- January

This is the footage we've compiled from January. All of the footage is cut from the same photos posted here in the past month, so everything should seem slightly familiar.

That's really all I got right now- except the Febuary is here and it's snowing...

Step-Up, Step/Step/Step-Up!

...bluebird days go along with the absence of new snow, but are more than tolerable when trying to get filming done. High pressure systems have been residing over the big sky area and we are making the most of it with a step-up just a little out of the way of the mountain traffic. this was a full day endeavor. the jump itself took a solid 2 hours to sculpt, and when it was done it was a slight disappointment. The real hazards of this experience came from the runway, which involved a blind turn going over some thin coverage as fast as possible. There was no way around this however if you wanted to make it up the step-up, so we just dealt with it. I think the snowpack was very uncondusive to hiking early on also, because getting up hill was a combination of walking and swimming. The first half the day we filmed a timelapse of the construction, which came out great with the clouds rolling over top.

I said the jump was a slight disappointment because it wasn't as lofty as it should have been,which had to do with our original placement of the jump- the runway was steep and the transition asked a lot out of your legs, so setup time was last-second. We were hoping for a better collection of trickery possibilities, but the session became a fs 3 fest, which is better than nothing i guess.

After lunch we returned for more, and after a few more times I was good on it. The day coulda been over then, but the repair shop gave me a 12 pack of beer, so we sat and drank in the sun. Not soon after a huck-fest ensued and everything got crazy. By 3 we left to take a few G laps and once thru Siberia to check another spot to build.

Stay tuned to catch all the recent blogpost footage to appear of Chapter 2...

The instrumental LP by Jay Dee, "Donuts" is whats up today with music.....speaking of which here we have Rob Gray eating some Doughnuts in front of the jump that morning.

Still Gettin Mine

It's Mid-January already...and the hits just keep on coming. Snowfall totals are unprecedented in the last 10 years...Kobe still can't pass...oh and to top it all off someones trying to prove to me human ears evolved from gills! Aight, well then we musta rolled something like this back then, which i definetly coulda gotten used to...

Music has been sporadic lately- most new stuff im hearing is what i hear from the OSN whose been slacking of late, so anyone with good recommendations should drop comments to provide inspiration- especially if ive hooked you up with good music in the past...

The Forbidden Gospel is soon to be released for the first time since its discovery in Egypt 30 years ago. It was written in coptic and has been translated. Supposedly the gospel will explain Judas side of the story and explain why he betrayed Jesus. This is all, well, barely relevant and only mildly entertaining- almost like previously trodden territories.
Yeah just forget it....

And while you're at it, forget about this too...

Ima end it with this...yeah that's The Game throwing up a gang sign on the slopes......jeeeeeeeeeesus....

Feelin' It

Mission Accomplished is all we could say...the rest of the day for the 3 of us was for just messing around because by 130pm we were finishing our mission and the arduous trek out of the Option Cliffs feelin' like we just got some good stuff done. I imagine this footage will show up in Chapter 2 of this epic Montana winter movie, coming in chapter segments steadily.

Anyways, this log was sick, and the shots came out great. We are keeping this tight under wraps because theres more shots to be had at this location, but for the specifics we'll just say this log was about 15 feet long coming off a cliff. The drop off the end of the log was between 15 to 20 feet off the ground and the landing wasn't exactly steep by any means. There was so much pow in the landing tho that it didnt matter- everything was cush.

Needless to say everyone was into it....

....til the next episode....

Back In Tha Game Now!

It's felt like a different season in itself....so much has gone down since my last post. My computer got warrantied and I've been without the internet for awhile now, what feels like a seperate season in itself. Well Christmas and the holidays have come and went, thats my crazy time of the year at the shop where I deal with the most people. From then out its mostly smooth sailing with a few busy weekends here and there. Right now though it is lovely- We have the mountain back to ourselves again and fresh snow keeps rolling in.

So the shop has kept me busy enough and the snow does the trick also....I've been collecting additional video footage for Chapter 2 to be put together. Basically we've been going into Marlboro Country and finding trees with huge pillows on them to ride and getting shots of it. Various recon missions have gone down also, like the one where we had a 300 ft rope out in the woods (dont ask nothing came of it) So keeping busy has been the name of the game. Theres trips and projects in the works for some backcountry soon, but waiting til the snowpack is stable enough out there is the key trick in the game.

On the home front dinners have been amazing....we've all been pitching in on cooking and the whole process, this is a pict of the new roomate Justin who's back from his Florida hiatus with skoolin last year to come back this epic season to shoot snowboarding. Here we find him preparing one of his infamous taco nights, which fall on the 1st and 3rd tuesday of every month, or whenever its convenient really, like last night. The poncho effect is only used on certain nights.

Well thats really it from out here for now- straight and simple. Anyone interested in that trip you've been talking about for so damn long should get on their ish and book that ticket, this is the year- im tellin you!

...but til then transimission complete from the Big Sky....

Pre-Season Footage

Here's a cut of the footage compiled thus far from this winter.

in other news i have to send my computer back to be fixed, so this blog wont see some attention for a little while, maybe a week or so.

enjoy.

What's Really Good?

Yeah, I'm at work...and damn is it dead here. Realized I hadn't just posted links to discuss on in awhile, its just been me posting photos of snowboarding and everything going along with it. So yeah, here I am....whatsup with yall?

The Patriot Act just got extended another 4 years, or is about to....so everybody keep looking busy and patriotic or the spot might get blown....

I was on the phone last night with Danny Plaza from Chi and he was driving his ambulance down Cicero when they came upon a plane in the road....yeah, while i was on the phone with him. What'd I say? Well I said I didn't believe him......

First Descent is recieving mixed reviews from critics who have never made a movie in their lives.

Everybody check my boys Luis and Rigel's short experimental that's in the New York Minute online film festival!

Not sure why I'm posting this, but if you care/know about Lindsay Lohan or Juelz (or i guess Jay Leno) then this may be pretty damn funny....

What am I gonna end it with? Some interesting stuff going down on saturn's moon.....

Top pict. is of my homie Sky on the summit of Lone Peak thursday.....epic day i swear......

til then tho....

Grand Targhee- First Trip of the Season

If anyone is wondering there is a ton of snow in the Tetons right now, seriously....we left at 6am on the 3+ hour trek and arrived to a socked in mountain of snow. The days before had the gee gettin 17 inch storms, so far this year 180 inches have fallen at mid mountain. I went with brit and matt, two co-workers from the repair shop next door, and we had the tri-fecta going with the tele/ski/snowboard crew. We basically just chased pow lines all day and by mid afternoon it was snowing so hard that our tracks down were gone by the next round.

It was cold. I rocked 3 face mask layers, and remained calm. By the 330pm the snow was coming at us horizontallly and we were repeatedly losing one another in the trees.

When riding anywhere exposed to the wind and snow sight became totally lost, and you had almost no idea how the snow was in front of you. Granted it felt great because it was pow, but each run closer to 4pm i felt like i was avoiding serious injury with these conditions.

I called it Sierra Nevada Time and hit the car. Not until a good 15 minutes away from the resort in the truck did i begin taking my outerwear off- everything had caked snow onto it. It was still snowing while we drove down to town, ate a quick meal, and began our trek back to Big Sky. We all contemplated crashing the night there and riding pow all day, but from how tired we all were it woulda been a push.

I woulda rode the next day tho if id stayed.....i woulda had to had- they got 14 inches that night.
Oh, and the top photo I cant take credit for- we were so socked in with fog and snow that the Grand Teton was never visible in the least. Generally tho the Grand sits right above Targhee at all times....stayed tuned for further Targhee trip reports and ill get a shot eventually.....

But our initial plan with this trip was to shoot and to ride the backside of Targhee, which is all backcountry access. There's no lifts running back there, so most of the terrain remains untouched. Anyways we were prepared to shoot a lot back there, but with the weather we ran into no one wanted to bring equipment out. The backside was also still closed, which was probably a mixed blessing with the conditions we were faced with.

The ride home was sketchy as hell, but i slept in the back. i didnt feel bad about doing this since ive been in the drivers seat of similar situations all too often. Got home around 830pm and was ready for work the next day with a great story about how deep the gee is right now.

LOG BED!

Finally got into my place. This condo is huge, biggger than the one i lived in last year with 5 people and 3 dogs. I wasnt expecting this place to be furnished at all but bla-dow in my bedroom there is this sweet log bed. A log bed!

I also get a wifi signal in here so im back online daily, or nightly i should say, because i gotta go snowboarding today.

Has anyone slept in this sweet of a bed before, honestly? So far sleep has been uneventful, but i am expecting some abe lincoln dreams, or perhaps something to do with logging...

Keep On Snowing!

November has definetly been something epic. We've recieved a lot of snow over the past week or so, and theres more in the forecast. The tram going to the top is already open and is riding very well. At this rate the entire mountain should be open before christmas, which is something unprecendented for the past 10 years here.

These photos are from last monday, I fell in the woods and jammed my thumb very hard, so i took a break and took some photos. These are the 151 trees off the Ironhorse lift. I was alone riding out there, and after wincing in pain awhile from my thumb injury I started appreciating how much snow had fallen recently.

Anyone planning a trip out should get on it- its going to be an epic year....

Shop-Keepin' it!

November 22nd and 23rd have been boardroom setup days, and now im about done with it. the place is looking cool and tidy, and im the only person working here til dec02nd or so, so everything is gonna get done when it gets done- which means by dec02. Top photo is the shop now, middle is how it looked yesterday, and the bottom is Matt painting things green in the repair shop. I have no idea why, he should really be setting the place up and shoulda painted this summer, but hey-who am i to judge.......

Mountain opens tomorrow but Im not riding for another week or so- its all good anyways, usual suspects will be coming thru tomorrow.....

Early Season Opener Pt. 2

This weekend is giving us another preseason opener with good conditions and great weather. Yesterday started somewhat chilly but warmed up quickly from the bluebird sunny day we had, which left me wishing for a hoodie. The resort was like a dysfunctional family reunion, equipped with every aspect you would expect from a gathering of sorts- laughter, booze, rowdiness, and an after party at the black bear that i skipped out on like usual.

The mountain is less than 50% open but its riding well which is promising. The last shot of the clouds was a really seldom occurrence in Big Sky-well it happpens but its cool to see regardless. The cloud line was in the meadow and we drove thru the clouds when going up the mountain. If we had stayed home yesterday we would have thought it was a nasty ugly day outside.......

DEC01 looks like my move in date to my condo, til then its more couch surfing...

What a BUST....

Moonlight Basin, the resort behind Big Sky, used to be cool with whatever! They are lax about people getting theres preseason, and until yesterday I thought it was all good- well I guess Moonlight is tightening up the operation. Now bear in mind already this year someone got buried over there in an avalanche from hiking when they weren't open, and this guy has the audacity to tell us we can't get down....damn. Well this jump took us most of the morning to build, and it was damn near ready until someone with cred on the side of their truck came thru and told us to wreck it. Wack. I've been kicked out of plenty spots for skating especially, so im familiar with the routine, but this guy was just flexing his pseudo-authority and it was nauseating. I told him I hoped all the people hiking the ridge above treeline were as conscious about safety as we are when hitting a kicker.

These are the photos to what never was......to anyone confused, it was a step up jump, and we were planning on landing up the hill above the grass....

Mountain opens this weekend, so peaceout to hiking, we got lifts now baby!

Opening Day, Jib Mission, Monopoly...

The past few days have brought some more snow and more things to do. This past weekend we had a pre-season opening day that was fun as hell, there was pow off challenger and the trees over there were covered well enough to mock thru. The picture of the chairlift is of Sky and Danny on the chair behind me going up. Coincidentally that's also them playing snowboard monopoly.....
....Two nights ago the four of us (rob,sky,danny,myself) embarked on a rail mission in the meadow and got some footage of us hitting the handrail. The light was pretty weak and my still camera couldnt do a good shutterspeed with the light, so hence we have artsy motion-blurred photos.
......My job at the mountain starts in 6 days, which then will make me online more often. I do have video completed to be uploaded, its all about when to find a convenient time to come to the gas station and upload it to google.

....but until then......

Transmission From The Big Sky

Preseason trespasses onto a small local ski resort trail has lead to a mini shred/jib park that has people talking all the way to World Boards in the BZE. Well Im not sure whos talking what but I know who threw down what and who added what to the equation, well, coz i got the video to prove it. Chapter 1 is about completed and will be uploaded in the upcoming days...

I finally found a condo to spend the winter in and it is mildly more expensive with mildly more space inside, so anyone thinking about a montana vacation to see me book your ish and come on down like im bob barker. I just found a wifi spot up here too, so im sitting in a parking lot now uploading photos/this post.

Transimission Complete.

(Red Jacket and Tech Deck Pro= Rob Gray, The Mitten= Jon Messy)

Taste Of Montana

The Bozeman Motel Guide

Bozeman, Montana, for some reason is a mecca in itself for sleazy 70's style motels. Personally I've never seen more in such close proximity, but thats proally coz i've never had to look for such a thing. Well here they range from 40-80 dollars- perhaps theres more expensive ones but they've never been identified to me, plus what else do i need that they could give me? anyways, here is a completely objective taste of what Bozeman can offer a traveler in search of a motel.

The Imperial Inn Definetly the best deal in town- there is a cheaper place down the road but ive only checked that place out quick...honestly this place is shady enough! For some reason I always stay here a couple nights this time of year. This year I had electric tape covering the peephole, since there was just a hole there, and numerous other wacky quirks i should leave to the imagination. The overabundance of pink is something to be noted.
COST:40 bucks a night- used to be 35 but the rooms have mini fridges now....

The Blue Sky Motel I was impressed here. This place was very homey and the rooms had some attention to detail on them. I stayed here for a month last year and they gave me a price break with the extended stay. This place definetly works if youre looking for a good place to crash out and chill, but not if youre looking for a long night- the walls arent very thick and neither is the door. Their sign reads wi-fi capabilities, but that was before my time. I recommend this place somewhat.
COST:Damn, I think around high 40/lo 50 a night, its a family run deal so its all good....

The Rainbow Motel I dug this place. Maybe it was just the right time to stay here. It was last year and id been staying at the Imperial Inn (see above review) and wanted a couple more amenities...well this place served well. The room I stayed in was in the back where there are only a couple rooms, so it felt like more of an apartment with daily cleaning service than a motel. I was actually sick with the flu here for a few days...i think they had HBO. One thing to note is that they don't want youre business unless you got plastic- i guess too much wreckage done to rooms in the past....
COST:Around 40 I think....

Days Inn I stayed here for 1 night 2 years ago, and have never gone back, nor regretted it in the least. A long list of useless amentities, aside from the free continental breakfast in the lobby, i think that was cool but dont remember it enough....omelette bar perhaps? well the room was small for the price (not like i need a big room) and it was way overpriced....
COST:Like 80 sumthin?!?!? thats 2 nights somewhere else man! Or one night somewhere cooler!

The Lewis & Clark Motel The Shining Star of the Boze-Muda Bar Triangle, this vegas-ish rest lays chock full of amentities, including free wifi. Last night when choosing a rest I felt that regardless of price i needed to stay here to make this review, because when considering motels in bozeman this one is unmistakeable. Their massive sign reads Casino, Pool, Restaurant, as said very vegas-like (even tho i have yet to go to vegas). My room makes me feel like im waiting for the coke deal to go down with its gaudy 70's style decor, which is cool with me at least for the next 24 hours. I was exhausted last night from riding the day before and pretty much crashed out after checking in around 9pm, but this morning i was excited to explore. The pool/gameroom/sauna/trout pool (saywhat?!?!?) was interesting at first but quickly uninviting. I started for the pool, but it was cold as hell, and there was a thin film over it all like jello that isn't finished jella-fying. It also reaked of chlorination. I quickly exited and went for the hot tub, which was luke warm and had a similar chlorination level. I spent a few minutes in there, then went for the sauna. I don't know much about saunas, like how long they take to get working, but i turned it on and sat in it for a good 5 minutes. Eventually I felt like a creature wearing a towel at a zoo, because nothing was happening and i was staring at the glass door shutting me inside. I excited that, and wrapped up the area with a quick check of the trout pool, which I learned had trout food one could purchase for 25 cents. A work in progress it still was, no fish, no water, just fake rocks and plywood. I was fairly indifferent at its status....the free wi-fi is helping this place in my mind, and other cool features like a phone in the bathroom (not that i used it, but noted its placement.) Overall a decent place. A little more expensive, but there is more to do and the amentities they offer are somewhat useful.
COST:60 dollars a night

Hopefully I can lock a place to live down soon so I can end this annual scherade of motel hopping. Its costly but definetly interesting....if one keeps it interesting i suppose....

All Apologies 2 People I Missed

OK, to anyone who I seemingly blew past and forgot about, and to anyone wondering why I left Chi so suddenly, and to anyone who is mildly interested in drama-- basically things got sped up in Chi....I had no real set date of departure, just doing my thing chilling with a list of people to still get up with when I got a phone call from Robert. Robert has been my roomate and my co-worker out west in Big Sky the past 2 years. Well the housing situation we thought was locked fell out from under us. From what I've been told dude who was doing all the detail work (and from my impression taking care of the security deposit!) just disappeared. Word is he went out on a run and never came back. Well now the spot we thought we were getting into is non-existent, and someone has to go to Montana and put that paper down for a place, and make sure theres a hot tub too! So that was the mission I was sent on, put down for a place to live so this winter can happen. Financially its a MAJOR squeeze for me, but if i didnt do it ASAP then this winter might not have worked out for Robert and his old-ass dog, so thats how it went down. Curtis, Schlepp, Belen, Mr. Miyagi, and E Honda all have my apologies for not either getting in contact with them, missing seeing them, or just not saying bye to them.

p.s. i am in a parking lot in montana right now on my laptop on someones wifi signal i found driving around this morning. the time change messed with me and 5am was wakeup. nobodies on their business here so i have to wait to go buy toothpaste and shaving cream, then coffee and perhaps then we can find an establishment with some wifi, or maybe ill go snowboarding instead....

Chi 2 MT

It might be that I've trodden the east coast path so many times it becomes a quicker and easier journey by comparison to the westward one, because this trip is a long one. I always pick the worst times to leave Chi and end up spending an hour fighting commuters, then its fairly steady up to the dells, and onto minneapolis. The kick of it however is that around the time youre seeing signs telling of your close proximity to St. Paul, you start seeing 200+ numbered mile signs for Fargo, which is the halfway point. The idea of not even being halfway after 8 hours in a car is something to seriously ignore because it can drive you insane otherwise. Also if you left in the morning like I did, you would be noticing the oncoming darkness.

This is seriously the door to the west point of the trip- the dark and unknown part where gas signs are something to be noted because exits begin to consistently offer "NO SERVICES". For someone who has never done this I recommend getting a hotel for the night and proceeding on during the day, because it can get a tad freaky- especially that only two weekends ago i was in New York City, the weekend before in Chi, I wasn't accustom to everything being so empty. These are all side thoughts when you're just driving around, but when problems arise like getting gas, or going to the bathroom, or picking rest areas to sleep at, the madness seeps in. So in short North Dakota is no joke on the desolate factor, gas station attendants will be suprised to see you and there will be awkward moments. Rest area bathrooms will be totally empty, and the thought of a band of truckers jumping you for no reason will occur. I was lucky and hit up a rest area called "Bad Route Rd." which was a rest area with a dark parking lot great for sleeping in. I caught a couple hours there. I match "great" with "dark" here because theres nothing freakier than waking up to someone looking in at you, especially when dude is wearing an FBI jacket ! (happened once, scared the hell out of me)

The drive this time made me realize that the trip only gets really cool an hour or so out of Bozeman. I mean if you've never seen hills then i guess its better, but the real mountains come in sight on a clear day outside billings, but moreso closer- i think the absarokas.....

These are all driving photos from the trip. Yes theres snow in Montana now! The last ones of are my shady motel I stay in every year for some reason.....