Backcountry Jumping

Back Country Jumping

"Practice makes perfect"... It's hard to find a better phrase than that when it comes to hitting jumps in the back country. It doesn't matter how good of a park jumper you are, or how amazing pow shredder you are; with out legit backcountry jumping experience you can't be expected to land much

This was with out a doubt the case for me the other day when I was out with Wild Card Movies, Tim Humphreys and Brian Schaefer at Stevens Pass doing some jumping.

We arrived bright and early Monday morning to Stevens Pass ready to catch some air time. The sun was out, one jump already built and video/ photo ready to capture. The sun was still high in the sky so we decided to build a second jump to make the most out of the day. While this was happening Tim was next door stomping some heavy maneuvers, amping everyone to get some shots. The snow wasn't perfect by any means, but definitely still land-able as Tim proved.  Unfortunately Tim's landings didn't give me the motivation I'd hoped for and I was forced to move on and cut my loses. I put a few tricks down to my feet but for the most part had some trouble riding all the way out.

When it all comes down to it, any day on the snow is good experience. Especially hitting "grande" backcountry booters. figuring out how to stomp spins is a whole different world, and I look forward to getting as much experience as possible.

Hope you all challenge yourself and don't stop learning... Ever!

Mt. Baker Powder

Mt Baker Powder
Today marks a full week down hanging here in Washington with wild card movies. If you missed my blog about the first couple days check it here... First Time Experiences

After getting my Washington legs back under me riding the resort for a day we got to work building jumps for the next 3 days.  When it comes to jumps at baker you have a few token ones, but also plenty of new spots. (let's just say we got both)

The Road gap, Cat gap, and two step down jumps set the scene for us to get some solid shots. With the jump spots being a bit new to all of us nothing came to easy . With that said as goes with life nothing good comes easy. So we stayed at it, and made sure we didn't leave with out a solid lander on every feature.

Photographer: Carson Artac

Wildcard movies doesn't mess around no matter what the conditions. Dumping snow; were in the woods hitting pillows or poppers. Blue bird skies; were setting up kickers and sending it till its dark. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what goes on here in Baker, but if not stay tuned for my next blog about getting wild in the trees. Check out Filmer/ Photographer Jeremy Dubs and some of his awesome shots at Gallery on Mt. Baker Website

For a more in depth post on whats going on up at Mt. Baker with Wild Card Movies Check out the website!!! WILDCARDMOVIES

Hope what ever the conditions are for each of you your making the most out of your day!

Washington let's do this!!

Beginning of Washington shred with wild card movies After a fun and partially successful time at the grandprix I headed out to Washington to get some pow.

A travel day and night of rest and we got to work. Meeting up with Jeremy from wild card movies. While we waited for the snow to fall in baker, we headed out towards Stevenpass to meet up bergin-sperry and the rest of the crew. With a cool super aesthetically pleasing feature accomplished we rolled up to Bellingham.

Day 2 was nothing less than a legit old school Mt. Baker day. 20" of fresh snow, no lines a Filmer and photog we hit the slopes and got to work. Starting in the trees to stay out of snow we kept our eyes peeled for anything and everything. After some fun launchers, deep pow, and a quick lunch we headed out to finish the day strong. In short hotels, gun sight, and the road gap were all taken care of... Currently headed back out to baker to see what the sun can provide us.

Grand Prix Results and photos

Got a shot on the Snowboarder magazine website.

Grand prix The Us snowboarding Grand Prix; how can I even begin to explain this week. 1 day of ok visibility with 100mph wind gusts, 1 day of poor visibility with 70mph wind gusts, 1 day of horrible visibilty with 80mph wind, 2 days of perfect sunny California weather.

Emotions ran high as
the contest was postponed a second day... But with out a fail, weather cleared on the final day and the contest was on.  To keep it brief, the jumps were perfect, riding was solid, and a nice 10 hour day at mammoth mountain was had by everyone!!

The two heats of qualifiers wrapped up with 16 worthy competitors moving onto finals. US team Eric Willett led the pack with other standouts include Colorado local Colin Spencer, double back flipping Hunter Wood,  and young gun Ben Ferguson.  In the end Chas Guldemond came out on top with Sage Kotsenburg in second, and huge props to first time Grand Prix appearance Mark Hoyt with one of the coolest runs and a solid third place!! Definitely a crazy week in Mammoth for the Grand Prix, always a blast hanging with all the homies and hitting the perfect jumps at mammoth unbound park. Thanks for checking in, and stay tuned for my updates from my back country  experiences here at Mt. Baker Washington!

Check out the Full recap @ http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/2012-mammoth-grand-prix-slopestyle-finals/