Early Season Washington Trip part 1

I've been playing around this winter trying to find the best experience to start my 2012/13 season blog, and was having trouble finding the right thing. A bunch of fun days hot lapping the Keystone Area 51 park. A super fun day board testing the new Sims Enduro E-Board technology with at copper, hitting jumps and sending it off moguls, but nothing felt unique enough to really make a whole post about. My Washington trip on the other hand was way to Epic to not share about.

With Colorado popping off with multiple resorts and features open I was a bit hesitant to make my trip to Washington too long. I knew I had to come early to finish up my intro for Wild Card, but didn't want to end up sitting around while people were riding in Colorado. That was not the problem what so ever though. After an amazing world premier of Wild Card Movies; Shred-A-Vision. With a sold-out theater and more friends than I could even talk to, we took a day of rest in Seattle and decided to get to work. I extended my plane ticket and we headed up to Stevens Pass to see what              we could make happen.               

Once up at Steven we Instantly found a unique little spot and started shoveling on the build. It was a little rhythm section over a railing, onto a patio than off the other side. It was super fun and Nick was killing it, popping in BS 180 Egg-planting out. With Dubs behind the lens and Kryn Allen assisting with the second angle we got a few shots and were pretty stoked as the snow continued to fall. With Nick and I each stacking a couple of clips and photos we decided to let a couple locals hit the feature with us. Friend of Wild Card Ryan stomped a sweet Fs miller and I knew it was time to switch it up. I grabbed a picnic table and put it on the backside. We sessioned that till the day turned to night and we called an end to the super fun Stevens mission.

As the snow continued to stack up and word of Mt. Baker opening on Wednesday I decided to extend my trip one more time to get the most out of Washington . So with a short but fun day hiking up baker to get some freshies with Morg and Nick. We got the sleds ready to get a little back country access. Unfortunately things don't always go as planned. Any Bellingham rider knows that 48 degrees is your cut off for it being rain or snow. So with the temperature gauge reading 47 in Nicks truck we loaded the sleds and headed north towards glacier.

As we climbed the gloomy road, rain pouring down we questioned how it might be up at the cabin. A quick chat with fellow Wild Card rider Andy Stern and we know the mission had come to an end without it even starting. Snowboarding and especially is always a gamble when it comes to early season conditions, so with the torrential down pour still raining down we turned around to head back down in to Bellingham..

At the end of the day, at least we made an effort and tried, but boy does it suck not getting to ride because of the rain. A quick night of rest, and a last minute decision to head to Stevens pass for their pre-opening day got our spirits back and excited to board.

Unfortunately once again we were a bit disappointed in our snowboarding experience...yes Stevens Pass started turning its chairs, but with a very wet snowy conditions, and only one real chair lift running our snowboard day was less than amazing. Luckily though this industry is much more than just boarding so a nice afternoon eating some grub and grabbing some beers with all the Stevens locals, and some Wild Card buddies made the day that much better.

Sometimes in my travels and experiences its hard to not take things too seriously, Yes its a job but its a job where I get to have fun, be with great people, and have new and unique experiences all the time. So with that I urge everyone to find the best in things, there is always something that makes any moment the best one yet so take a second figure that out, and put a smile on your face.