SUPER PARK 16, don't stop till they kick you off the hill

Super Park 16, don't stop till they kick you off the hill

For most of the world the snowboarding season has ended long before may 7th, but for some of us we just can't get enough. What a better opportunity to get some late season shred in than the Snowboarder magazine SuperPark at Mt. Bachelor presented by Gatorade. Until last year I had only dreamt about ridding the amazing features and sessioning with all the incredible riders. With last year being nothing less than an extraordinary experience I gathered my things and prepared for what was soon to become one of the longest and most epic weeks of my life.


I pulled up to the mountain 30minutes prior to registration to ensure my meal vouchers and get my gear all dialed, as I hung in what I decided to call "tailgate bachelor" I chatted with all the homies and soaked in some rays anticipation killing me to see all the enormous features. After last years setup I knew things were going to be large and ready to be charged.


We all cruised around the sunshine area scoping features, checking speed and deciding what to hit first. The sevens spring jump directly to riders right of the lift jumped out at me as a solid starting point. I mustered up the confidence with all the other riders and dropped in for the first test run, the start point was set perfect so i sent it just past the sweet spot. The jump was amazing; long straight in run, great hang time and a smooth landing.

photo courtesy of Snowboarder Magazine. Photo: E-Stone
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-1-photos-recap/?pid=7841

With so many features and only a week to hit everything I charged trying to get as many hits as possible during every session, hiking if necessary, sled laps when possible, and strapping in on the lift to lap faster. This year I teamed up with Filmer Jeremy Dubs of Wild Card Movies and Snowboarder staff photographer Ethan Stone to ensure all of our efforts were captured at their prime, and with out a doubt they were.

Courtesy of Snowboard Magazine. Photo: E-Stone
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-4-photos-recap/?pid=7939 

Courtesy of Snowvboarder Magazine.
Photo: E-Stone

With the insane set up of superpark, location is always an interesting one. This year only a few features were above tree line making it a bit of a chore to get solid backgrounds and angles for banger shots. luckily I was working with E-Stone who has a hell of an eye and knew exactly where to be to get the shot at all times.


When it comes to getting the shot, with our success from last year for the sims snowboards ad we decide to go with the same plan of using shots from super park for my ads, so E-Stone and I constantly were on a mission to go big and style the tricks out. The outcome was more than I could have ever asked for and I can't wait to see the final products!


The week was a success in every aspect. With the 1st ever sunrise shoot we got stunning light for our shots on the Sims quest snowboard. Than with that perfect shaped top seven springs jump we were able to get an awesome sequence on the Sims "E-Board" with x wedge technology.



As Friday night rolled around, everyone was well passed being tired, but as the snowboard lifestyle goes; ride hard and celebrate harder. Astro Lounge was the place to be, and as Wes killed it on guitar, we all gathered shared a drink and relaxed after an unforgettable week

Courtesy of Snowboarder Magazine. Photographer: Huggy
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-4-photos-recap/ 

In the end the icing on the cake was receiving the Gatorade "driven from within" superpark 16 standout award. Every year one rider receives it for non stop charging, and this year I was lucky enough to get that honor. I can not begin to explain how much it means to get the award and it's only going to fuel my fire and make me work that much harder!

Courtesy of Snowboarder Magazine Photo: Laura Austin
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-5-photos-recap/?pid=7947

Thanks for all of you who have bared with me through my adventures and provided the audience for my stories! I write these for you, so thanks for spending the time to take a look.


Have an amazing summer, and don't forget to have as much fun as possible everyday, because it's the fun we have that keeps us young!
-Seth


Links to more photos:
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-3-photos-recap/?pid=7886
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-2-photos-recap/?pid=7868
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-3-photos-recap/?pid=7891 
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-5-photos-recap/?pid=7946 
Links to video:

http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-2-video/  2:15
http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-4-video/ 3:54

http://www.snowboardermag.com/exclusives/superpark-16-day-5-video/ 1:11

Mammoth, Where the water flows at 140degrees

As Tahoe wrapped up, we continued our adventure on to mammoth lakes CA to take in some of the most insane sunsets ever and get our windy jumping on.

We loaded the car with Jeremy Cloutier, Zach Aller, Alba Pardo, myself and a board bag of all the homies gear. With literally no room to even think we arrived at mammoth got our gear on and hit the slopes. With Alba shooting photos we knew all we had to do was get in the air and she'd make us look good. So as the wind flustered we continued to drop and send it off the amazing mammoth jumps.

Plenty of great shots were taken by Alba, but the sunsets are really what made mammoth so photogenic. Every second between about 6-8pm was picturesk and the shots we got were beyond amazing.

On top of the stunning sunsets, great snowboarding and fun times at the house. My trip was topped off by the absolutely insane natural hot springs and fun skate sessions at the volcom skatepark.

This whole adventure will stay with me till the end of time, it's amazing what snowboarding has provided. The best friends, amazing adventures, and stories that I could never imagined.


CLICK HERE for a link to the Alba's story on Snowboardmag.com
http://snowboardmag.com/stories/road-sunset-safari-mammoth

So to all of you; get out there, take a chance and make the story of your life as interesting as possible!

-Seth

Tahoe, where the mountains meet the water

As the  saying goes; time flies when your having fun, and so is true for this trip. With a fun quick Stop in Utah, our adventure continued onto Tahoe. Not only did Tahoe bring us some fun shred and good jumps, it also brought us closer to some past friends, and plenty of new ones.

The highlight of Tahoe for me was the double line of jumps set up for snowboarder magazine ms. SuperPark but than opened up for the public. Granted I had a blast hot lapping with all the crew in the main park. But when it comes to high lights jumping tends to be top of my list, and as the Squaw Valley jumps were on point. It would be almost impossible for me not to spend a majority of my time there.

Obviously this adventure isn't only about the snowboarding,  it's about experiencing what every where has to offer and seeing how much we can pack in a few days.

With Tahoe's diverse environment, seeing what it had to offer was easy. A stop to the lake to meet up with past Colorado friend Camille, we soon realized that the lake brings the board out in everyone. I honestly can't imagine how cold the water was but Camille and friends rose to the challenge and got their surf on. With surfing, skating in truckee, and super fun park lapping at alpine meadows and squaw valley. There was no lack of excitement during our stay in Tahoe, and to top it all off we had an amazing host; Kara Strehle made sure we always had a bed to sleep in and that our cups were never empty.


For the story on SNOWBOARD MAGAZINE click HERE
http://snowboardmag.com/stories/road-squaw-ters