Press Release: Gnargasm 6.0

After an arduous search for great deals and great slopes, including some budget-minded approaches like Blue Mountain, Ontario, and even Boyne area resorts in Northern Michigan, the results are in:

1. Win: Mont-Tremblant, QC
2. Place: Killington, VT
3. Show: Snowshoe Mountain, WV

This year’s rage-fest will be held at Mont-Tremblant, province of Quebec, Canada, from February 18 to February 22, 2009.

Snowshoe was the shortest drive of the three finalists, but the prices were IMO far too expensive for “Mid-Atlantic” skiing and boarding. Who even knew there was such a thing as “Mid-Atlantic” ski areas? We would’ve had to cram 5 rather large dudes in a single bedroom or possibly even a studio condominium for four nights, just to get a price comparable to the last minute deals offered at Killington or Tremblant, both of which areas are far nicer resorts.

In fairness, Killington had some excellent deals available as well, including an 8-bunk, dormitory-style cottage available for Thursday-Sunday for abuot $850. There were also some very cheap motor lodges/motels. Unfortunately, anything even approaching “slopeside” lodging in Vermont is prohibitively expensive, and since we like to enjoy the occasional “case-of-beer-in-a-hot-tub-for-3-hours-apres-ski”, motor lodges were out of the question. We also like fireplaces, so although it didn’t have a hot-tub, the cabin would’ve been a blast.

We had even considered doing a circuit-tour in Northern Michigan: stringing together both Boyne resorts (Mountain and Highlands), Nub’s Nob, and Crystal Mountain would’ve made for a nice 4- or 5-day ski trip. But we’d have had to stay at a Holiday Inn somewhere and commute 45 minutes each morning to (and back each evening from) the slopes.

In the end, Tremblant’s “Last Minute Deals” edged out Killington and Snowshoe. We were able to score a two bedroom condominium with fireplace, that should comfortably sleep 6 (there are only five of us) for the low low price of $189 CDN per night. The awesome looking forecast (snow Wednesday thru Sunday), coupled with the fact that Tremblant offered us the best and the cheapest lodging opportunities, it was a no brainer. Also a factor in the decision: I’ve been to both Mont Tremblant and Killington (I think both resorts in 1997) and although Killington was awesome, Tremblant had a more “vacationy” feel to it, with the little pedestrian village, plus all the francophones, etc.

Until we tried to logisticize: five of us will be filling a Ford F-150 pickup truck with all our gear in the bed, and all of us in the extended cab, for the 10+ hour trek.

Oh well, you’ve gotta cut corners somewhere.

#2

Happy Birthday, RJW (video goodness)

RJW has been learning the fundamentals of “getting rad” this season on his snowboard. After two days at Copper Mountain (CO) he was feeling confident, or at least *more* confident in his abilities than in the weeks prior. After several miscarriages on a small jump, he decided to move up to the bigger jump because it looked easier.

And then he nailed it on his first attempt. Which only made him greedy:

He just bit through his lip and was bleeding a little bit. That was the end of the night, but he confirms that he’s ready to rage again next week.

Jackson Hole Video #2

Here’s a short video from the first morning on the slopes at JHMR.

Jackson Hole Videos

The a[GNAR]chy films crew (i.e., David Z) is working diligently on compiling the videos. Here is the first completed clip:

New Video

Unfortunately, this video is pretty much my entire catalog of snowboarding clips from previous years. I would like to put together a handful of videos, each about twice this long, after Jackson Hole.

Our flight leaves Thursday afternoon…

Lost Footage: David Z

Some more old footage from my digital camera, captured in 2006.

Lost Footage: The Highlander

I knew I had some old footage on my laptop, somewhere. Unfortunately, as these videos were captured on my old digital camera, and not a camcorder, they are of questionable quality. Also, MS Windows Movie Maker is not compatible with the .mov output from my old camera. So they were lost in the archives, until recently.

When I told Adam M, aka “The Highlander” that I would be posting these embarrassing clips from Whistler (2006) on YouTube, if I could convert the .mov to .wmv, he begged me not to. I am not a kind and loving god:

In all fairness, Adam is one of the better skiers that I know, and he can hold his own on a snowboard. We’ll see whether he’s willing to tackle any cliffs, bowls or chutes, at Jackson Hole next week, though.

…Better Late Than Never

I’ve been snowboarding more-or-less for a long time.One trick that always eluded me was the 360, which I consider to be a staple in anyone’s bag-o-tricks. And I could never do it. I could do 180s, but every time I tried a three, I’d get, like, stuck in midair. Then I’d yardsale. It didn’t make sense to me, because when I used to rollerblade, I could do 540s and even 720s with little effort. Clearly, the geometry of snowboarding is different, but the physics are (I presume) more or less the same. I struggled with it as a beginner. After a 4-year hiatus in college, when I started again in my early 20′s, it wasn’t starting over, but it was pretty close, especially because in high-school, I only really went a few times a year. I came up with all sorts of excuses for why I couldn’t land a three. My board is too big to do park tricks. I’m out of shape. I don’t even want to ride park. And so on.

In a way, neglecting the park has made me a better rider than I would otherwise be. I had to find natural gnar. I am confident in my ability to ride just about anything: glades, moguls, steeps, pow, and the occasional park session. Although I’m not quite as comfortable doing it, I can ride switch. I practice that a lot, especially when I’m riding with friends who are less experienced. If I had spent the last 3 or 4 years sessioning in the park all day, I wouldn’t be able to charge the double-diamonds, or slalom the pines. But last year, I decided I absolutely had to learn the three. I started working on my park tricks again. I got very comfortable with 180s, frontside and backside. I learned backside, because I heard that backside-threes are easier. All this did was confuse me. When I would think about a three, I couldn’t commit to one direction over the other. Not good. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t land any threes last year.

All of this began to change at Otsego, where Chris said, “You’re better than you think you are.” Basically, he told me to “grow a pair.”

Last night, with the camera rolling, I landed a frontside-360, on my first attempt. It is not pretty, but it’s a 360.

Yep. The very first 360 I’ve ever landed. The second one was prettier, but the landing wasn’t quite as smooth. By the third attempt, I was thinking to myself, “I can probably lay down a 540.” This was enough to break my concentration, and I didn’t stick the three. Unfortunately, now I have to aim higher: in addition to perfecting the 360s, I’m going to shoot for the 540.

++++

I am getting much more comfortable with Microsoft MovieMaker, although I suspect there are probably freeware programs that do a better job. It’s basic enough, and idiot-proof, which is nice. My complaints are with the manipulability of the video effects and transitions, e.g., you can’t change the length or speed of a “fade out, to black.” Or, if you could, it wasn’t intuitive. Also, you can’t apply effects to segments of a clip, and it seemed like when I applied “slow down, half speed” to one clip, there was a mysterious spillover of that effect on the audio (but not the video) component of the next consecutive clip. I don’t think I can resolve this issue without splicing a gap between segments. Maybe I’ll give that a try. Adding titles, subtitles, credits, etc., was fairly straightforward, but I was disappointed with the available formatting options. In any event, the inclusion of titles, transitions, and credits makes for a more professional looking video.

I’m also learning that it takes a tremendous amount of footage to put together even something like the one-minute short that I’ve got here. It turned out well enough, but obviously even within that one minute, there is very little actual content. Most of the video is of me, approaching the jump. I anticipate a lot (and I mean, a lot) of footage in Jackson Hole. I’d like to be able to throw together a few short highlight reels (like this) and a 5- or 6-minute video of each of us.

Additional GNAR at Mt Hood, Oregon – 2007

One of the more unique trips that I’ve taken. Dave Z told me to buy a plane ticket and meet up with him in Oregon in May to shred after he was done with some work in CA. My curiosity got the best of me and I was there. Dave Z told me that you could ski year round at this place and we had to check it out.  When we pulled up to it this is what we saw. Not that much snow but nobody else.

 We stayed at the Timberline Lodge which we found out from the bartender was where they filmed some of the movie “The Shining.” It smelt like old wood and the rooms were small, but that should be expected from a place that was built in the 1920s.

Hanging out at the “Snow Park.” We still have little clue wtf that is.

 I would not consider the conditions there as being difficult. The only challenges were the “snow hippos.” It was 50 degrees the first day and 20 the next. You could definitely smell the sulfur in the air. I was not informed that it was a volcano. With no late night raging because we were in the middle of no where it was more about shredding. A day trip over to WA to raft was awesome. Dave Z has some wicked photos of that. What I remember the most was how clean the air was near Mt. Adams and how good I could breath. I guess those trees really do clean the air. After landing back in Detroit I was coughing because of the pollution.