Washington part 3!
You'd never expect to be excited after 4 hours of sleep and a long day in the backcountry, but as the alarm rang 5:40am...I picked myself off the floor and got ready for the next adventure. We hustled to load the truck and get all our slightly damp clothes on. 6:30am we were officially on the road and as the sun began to rise, we new it was going to be a good day. After a quick stop at shafers to grab Tim Carlson and Kurt Jensen...we headed to the spot, just a bit east of Stevens pass and unloaded the sleds to get ready for what I would soon find to be one of the longest days snowmobiling ever.
After our mellow 10 mile sled ride in through some hectic trails we arrived in a meadow with perfect north facing shelves all around. The next step was to agree upon a place to set up camp and where to start the riding. With yesterday being a day of mini golf little lines, we knew we wanted to build something and try to catch some air. We found what looked like a decent spot to build a jump, and headed up to take a closer look. The original jump spot didn't work out, but as we were looking around we found a nice spot for a step down jump.
After around an hour of building Nick, Kurt, Forrest and I put the finishing touches on the jump and got the cameras in place. Nick hit the jump first and put down a perfect frontside 3 first try, we all sent the jump a few times, and each put down at least one stomped trick, including myself getting a decent front side 360 as some cool snow glistened in the sun.
As we were finishing hitting the jump the rest of the crew rolled around and found some other spots, with Kurt hitting a pretty sweet gap to pillow and Forrest heading up the hill to hit a good sized cliff. Now not sure if you know this or not but with most things along with accessibility comes some issues, especially in the case of snowmobiles. See as awesome as snowmobiles are, there are also a lot of work and tend to get stuff pretty easy. You pretty much have to figure you will get stuck atleast a few times every day you break trails. And with that said Andy Stern went on a little snowmobile mission as the crew built the jump. What we didn't realize is that he got stuck, and was trying to dig out his sled for most of the time we were building the jump. So unfortunately for Andy with the combo of being a bit under the weather and working to get his sled out for awhile he wasn't to in for sending a jump. With that said Andy did manage to muster the energy to send a little spine and atleast stomp something for the day.
As the hours and light went down, Andy and I sat at the base camp trying to figure out what was going on. We had sat there for about a half an hour with no word from the rest of crew, we had made a fire, chatted for awhile and were starting to get nervous as to what happened with the crew...
As the light was beginning to set Andy decided against his better judgement to go sled up to where he thought the rest of the crew was, a few minutes he returned, with the pack not to far behind. We came to find out that forest's sled had broken down and we now had to tow it back out. Mind you that it was a legit 10miles plus ride in, with plenty of sketchy spots, this was going to be no easy task. After what felt like eternity we arrive back at the trucks at 10pm to finish up our mellow 14 hour day in the back county. Now to drive back to Bellingham and get ready for the next adventure
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Video recap from Ride shakedown in Snoqualmie WA
Here's the video, riders include Colin Spencer, Mark Hoyt, and myself.
Hope you like
-SH
Hope you like
-SH
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Arrived in Canada
So a full day of traveling I made it savely to Montreal Canada.
Eric Beauchemin picked me up from my house in Breck in his 2 wheel drive cougar and we began the adventure. barely remembering my passport and trunk barely closing and we were on the way. Eric's flight was in exactly three hours so lets just say we didnt waste anytime. Eric bailed out the car just in time to catch his flight and I went to park the car, as I arrived at my gate I noticed my 1:50 flight had now been delayed to 3:20 which meant my connection in newwark was going to be a tight one. I asked the lady at the front to take a look for me and see if I would be alright to make my connection. A few minutes went by, then she said I got you a ticket on a flight that's leaving now hurry up and get over there. So I ran to the near by gate and got on another flight to Newark, no time for even a bathroom break and I was on my way. As I arrived in Newark I began my mission for some dinner, after a nice 8 dollar sandwich I arrived at my gate. As time grew near I noticed the flight at the gate I was told is still not my flight. I asked the staff member and was told there had been a gate change, so now as I made my way to the other side of the airport my flight got delayed an hour in a half. No more rushing, just more time hanging out in Newark. A hop and a skip later I arrived in Montreal Canada for the first time. A confused wonder through the airport, and a random phone call and I was picked up by an airport shuttle, and shuttled to the Hilton inn for the night before heading to Quebec the next day.
Eric Beauchemin picked me up from my house in Breck in his 2 wheel drive cougar and we began the adventure. barely remembering my passport and trunk barely closing and we were on the way. Eric's flight was in exactly three hours so lets just say we didnt waste anytime. Eric bailed out the car just in time to catch his flight and I went to park the car, as I arrived at my gate I noticed my 1:50 flight had now been delayed to 3:20 which meant my connection in newwark was going to be a tight one. I asked the lady at the front to take a look for me and see if I would be alright to make my connection. A few minutes went by, then she said I got you a ticket on a flight that's leaving now hurry up and get over there. So I ran to the near by gate and got on another flight to Newark, no time for even a bathroom break and I was on my way. As I arrived in Newark I began my mission for some dinner, after a nice 8 dollar sandwich I arrived at my gate. As time grew near I noticed the flight at the gate I was told is still not my flight. I asked the staff member and was told there had been a gate change, so now as I made my way to the other side of the airport my flight got delayed an hour in a half. No more rushing, just more time hanging out in Newark. A hop and a skip later I arrived in Montreal Canada for the first time. A confused wonder through the airport, and a random phone call and I was picked up by an airport shuttle, and shuttled to the Hilton inn for the night before heading to Quebec the next day.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Day after hump day edit
Hope everyone's morning is going great, this week I am starting a new little project... from today till the end of the season (and possibly longer) I will be putting up a short edit on my blog. It may be of me, a friend, something artsy...who knows. But any ways I hope you all stay tuned in and keep coming back.
For this first edition, I bring to you one spring break day with myself and Nate Minatta of Skeptic productions. He put together the footage from one day into a pretty legit edit. Hope you all like and share the love, leave a comment, re post on your facebook anything counts! Thanks guys
http://vimeo.com/21712411
For this first edition, I bring to you one spring break day with myself and Nate Minatta of Skeptic productions. He put together the footage from one day into a pretty legit edit. Hope you all like and share the love, leave a comment, re post on your facebook anything counts! Thanks guys
http://vimeo.com/21712411
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Washingtontrip part 2, Stevens Pass
Washington part 2!
As I met up with Nick Ennen and Andy Stern in Monroe Washington I new this was going to be a legit trip...the ford f-150 pulled up in front, two sleds on the sled deck and some good tunes bumping...im sure the look of excitement was apparent in my eyes!
I hopped in the luggage filled truck and we rolled up to Kurt Jenson Eco-house. As we arrived up at kurts house we were greates with the cheerful laughs of his daughter and the smiling faces of laura hadar, and Forrest Burki. After a few beers, some shot review, and location deciding we called it a night and hit the sack. I knew tomorrow was going to be a good day with plenty of adventuring to be had.
We arrived up to Stevens pass with a bit of sun poking through and some warm temperatures on hand. We unloaded the sleds grabbed our gear and were on the trail. After a mellow, mile long side hill with a creek bed on one side or a 15ft dropped to concrete we were finally on the actual trail.
As we came to a clearing I looked up still expecting to see something crazy, instead I just saw a ridiculously sleep empty face with some avalanche sluff. Nick hits the throttle and sores his sled straight up the face, no hesitation, no stopping just blazing a trail. Unfortunately this face was a bit to steep to double up, so I began my hike as Andy, and Forrest got their sleds up the hill.
Another 30 minutes of sledding or so and some avi-slide crossing we breaker for lunch to decide our game plan for the day. The snow was a little wet, weather a bit gray bird, so we decoded to head high and get some tree shelter. As we arrived to the top of the hill I realized this was the pillow zone, almost everywhere we looked were just pillow lines. We blazed a shuttle pack and got all of us up on top the slope with Nick camera in hand.
We made our way down the slope one feature at a time, Forrest taking the first pillows, Andy a little slash, and myself a little dropper. I was trying to ride my best and do anything to impress these guys, I mean my first time filming with them and needed to make sure they know I have what it takes. I put down a few hits and lines and think I accomplished what I needed to. Another party lap and we decided to call it a day. As the clock hit 8pm we were all out of our wet gear in the car and figuring out where to crash for the night, and what zone to hit. Rain was poring down, we were all beat from the day sledding so we retired to kurt's again to get some rest to send it bright and early the next day...
As I met up with Nick Ennen and Andy Stern in Monroe Washington I new this was going to be a legit trip...the ford f-150 pulled up in front, two sleds on the sled deck and some good tunes bumping...im sure the look of excitement was apparent in my eyes!
I hopped in the luggage filled truck and we rolled up to Kurt Jenson Eco-house. As we arrived up at kurts house we were greates with the cheerful laughs of his daughter and the smiling faces of laura hadar, and Forrest Burki. After a few beers, some shot review, and location deciding we called it a night and hit the sack. I knew tomorrow was going to be a good day with plenty of adventuring to be had.
We arrived up to Stevens pass with a bit of sun poking through and some warm temperatures on hand. We unloaded the sleds grabbed our gear and were on the trail. After a mellow, mile long side hill with a creek bed on one side or a 15ft dropped to concrete we were finally on the actual trail.
As we came to a clearing I looked up still expecting to see something crazy, instead I just saw a ridiculously sleep empty face with some avalanche sluff. Nick hits the throttle and sores his sled straight up the face, no hesitation, no stopping just blazing a trail. Unfortunately this face was a bit to steep to double up, so I began my hike as Andy, and Forrest got their sleds up the hill.
Another 30 minutes of sledding or so and some avi-slide crossing we breaker for lunch to decide our game plan for the day. The snow was a little wet, weather a bit gray bird, so we decoded to head high and get some tree shelter. As we arrived to the top of the hill I realized this was the pillow zone, almost everywhere we looked were just pillow lines. We blazed a shuttle pack and got all of us up on top the slope with Nick camera in hand.
We made our way down the slope one feature at a time, Forrest taking the first pillows, Andy a little slash, and myself a little dropper. I was trying to ride my best and do anything to impress these guys, I mean my first time filming with them and needed to make sure they know I have what it takes. I put down a few hits and lines and think I accomplished what I needed to. Another party lap and we decided to call it a day. As the clock hit 8pm we were all out of our wet gear in the car and figuring out where to crash for the night, and what zone to hit. Rain was poring down, we were all beat from the day sledding so we retired to kurt's again to get some rest to send it bright and early the next day...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Washington trip part 1
Washington trip!
If you've been following my adventures at all you know it's been a contest filled season, as spring comes the contests don't necessarily come to an end.
I arrived back from the us open with an interesting predicament, two contests were in a week both with different things going for them. On one hand I had "take the lake" a triple jump contest at alpine meadows in Tahoe that I knew would be a super fun time. I figured I got second at the contest last year and had a blast so knew that was a sure good thing. On the other hand I had the ride shakedown at snowqualmie WA. I heard this one wasn't very good last year, but is a 4 star TTR event, and has some very influential people attending ad watching. In the end I decided to go for the smart decision and go to shakedown to help my career out instead of the fun aspect.
In retrospect everything worked out perfect, the contest in Tahoe ended up getting cancled, snoqualmie was super fun, and i think I made a good impression on some key people. With that all said the trip was quite last minute and pretty hectic to set up. I definitely would not have been able to do it with out the help from screamer beanies who put me up at the hotel for the weekend and sims for the money for the plan ticket
The ride shakedown turned out to be one of the most fun contests I rode all year. Awesome vibe, good setup and good people. This Washington trip has even turned another leg towards the best, as I realized upon landing in WA that the wild card productions crew is located here, and I've been meaning to film with them all year.
As the contest came to a close I put a call into my buddy Nick Ennen who kinda runs the show out in the northwest. I met up with Nick and Andy stern in monroe and we headed up to kurt's Eco-house to crash for the night before we headed out to Steven's pass to do some snowmobiling. And at that I'll leave it till the next installment of this Washington blog post. Stay tuned for the rap up of the back country adventures.
If you've been following my adventures at all you know it's been a contest filled season, as spring comes the contests don't necessarily come to an end.
I arrived back from the us open with an interesting predicament, two contests were in a week both with different things going for them. On one hand I had "take the lake" a triple jump contest at alpine meadows in Tahoe that I knew would be a super fun time. I figured I got second at the contest last year and had a blast so knew that was a sure good thing. On the other hand I had the ride shakedown at snowqualmie WA. I heard this one wasn't very good last year, but is a 4 star TTR event, and has some very influential people attending ad watching. In the end I decided to go for the smart decision and go to shakedown to help my career out instead of the fun aspect.
In retrospect everything worked out perfect, the contest in Tahoe ended up getting cancled, snoqualmie was super fun, and i think I made a good impression on some key people. With that all said the trip was quite last minute and pretty hectic to set up. I definitely would not have been able to do it with out the help from screamer beanies who put me up at the hotel for the weekend and sims for the money for the plan ticket
The ride shakedown turned out to be one of the most fun contests I rode all year. Awesome vibe, good setup and good people. This Washington trip has even turned another leg towards the best, as I realized upon landing in WA that the wild card productions crew is located here, and I've been meaning to film with them all year.
As the contest came to a close I put a call into my buddy Nick Ennen who kinda runs the show out in the northwest. I met up with Nick and Andy stern in monroe and we headed up to kurt's Eco-house to crash for the night before we headed out to Steven's pass to do some snowmobiling. And at that I'll leave it till the next installment of this Washington blog post. Stay tuned for the rap up of the back country adventures.
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