SETH HILL SNOWBOARDING

With the arrival of the first snow in Boulder, everyone's excitement level hit the ceiling and immediately plans were getting made…How we can get the most out of this snow. For your standard person snow in town means you have to shovel your driveway, wear more layers, and scrap your vehicle off. For Snowboards and Skiers it means two things; possibly powder in the mountains and jibbing in the city. For me I chose jibbing in the city, with my expectations of having a full part in this year’s Wild Card Movies, and Aunti films I knew I had to get to work. What that means it stacking video clips. We all know that snow in boulder doesn't last that long, you have 3 or 4 days max, and the first 2 days are your prime opportunities. That means getting a crew together the night before it snows and getting a plan set. Now the feature or jib the crew is going to hit is never a 100%, so setting your meeting place and plan of attack is the best way to go. For us we put together a few riders from the CU snowboard team, a solid filmer, and some homies to help out.

Myself, getting a little early morning pole tap

Joey Dryer, sending

Day 1: With a solid foot of snow on the ground the opportunities were endless. What should we hit first, how’s the bust factor, what will be most time efficient and so on. As a rider you know you’re only going to get a few spots in a day, so we met up and got to work. We were in a difficult spot with this first day of snow, everyone's legs were rusty, and we were having trouble deciding on a feature to hit. We tried to keep it close to home with a quick setup and just to start getting clips logged. With only a few minor scrapes and bruises, we retired from the first spot, everyone pretty happy with the tricks they got. we moved on to our next feature of choice; this one took a bit more planning, with the addition of the RedBull Suga and the grinch we needed to find a spot that was cool enough for the RedBull vehicle to post up and feature able for everyone to get a few shots. With this said the second spot was just as much of a success with everyone once again getting at least one trick.

Filmer; Brendan Barry taking a quick break

Myself, testing the fatty to flatty gap

Day 2: Everyone slightly tired and beat from day 1, we began the adventure in search of something that was creative photogenic and not too extreme. Our crew had changed a bit and we now had a photographer in the mix which means our spots had to be interesting. As I was itching to keep riding I called Derrek Shorrock who had been scouting spots in boulder and met up with him. The two of us began setting up a pretty unique feature, and as the feature was ready to hit and everyone else arriving the property owners came out to tell us to leave. With all that work and time I decided to run up the hill and give it a few tries before we officially got kicked out; so with Jon Hill snapping some photos, and Benny Hernriech on the video camera, I sprinted up and got my trick before it was too late. With a trick landed on that spot we met up with Brendan Barry to head over to the next location to concur. This one had been hit in years prior, but as light was going quick we knew it would be a quick set up and could get some more shots. As this one was a bit harder on the knees not everyone really felt like hitting the "Fatty to Flatty". Joeseph Dryer stepped up though and put down a pretty perfect bs 3 on it, which everyone was super pumped on. As a long day’s session was closed with an awesome shot, we refueled for a night mission.

Joey Dryer, bs 180 all day

Derrek Shorrock, getting a proper fsboard

Night 2: With sights set high, the crew headed out to the first spot in mind and got shut down quickly. So deciding to take a more positive approach headed to a rail we all knew was a go. Once again everyone had a awesome session, each putting down their own tricks and feeling pretty happy with our efforts with the snow we had. Rail missions are a pretty unique part of the snowboard industry. Everyone sees the contests and dreams about the back country, but what most don't realize is the urban aspect of the industry. The Urban scene is a big part of the filming world, and a pretty amazing way for snowboarders to express their creativity and do their own thing. No lift lines to wait in, no Ski patrol telling you how to ride, and no scores to worry about. The urban environment and filming part of the industry is an important part of Snowboarding because of the individualism as well as collective efforts towards a greater good. Everyone is pushing each other and out there having a good time and trying to make the best of the situation. The moral of all of this, is no matter what or how you’re doing it, snowboarding is a lifestyle and we should all be out there trying to get any aspect of it as possible.