Tuesday we saw rock hard snow and nerves up to the challenge. It was a perfect opportunity for the young pro-ams to just say yes. Every Jump has to be good. That's the exercise. Front three and back three on every available jump at stratton. The dev crew trained gates with Mike and the alpine squad. Sick, hard and fast. The smoothie jumps were subjected to four runs of spins. I think H went six for six over two runs and MP went 5 for six. Austin, Brendan and Cesar Slays-the-gnar tightened it up while M and H started into the cab and sbs series. CT took a sharp one to the elbow on the second lap and notices his head stillaches from sunday. He continued riding hurt and cold and pushed front and back three all day. Dialed we moved to Byrneside and BS is back in style and better than ever. The first jump is bigger than the main event jump and the snow is three times as dense. Clackity clack is the sound of threes now thirty plus feet. After a test run H Links five to five. Perle brings back the bs five a couple runs later. Austins 360 tail is down pat n'tweaked. Cesar went higher than anyone else on the big wall at the bottom and linked his grabbed threes. Noone is over reaching and everyone is stomping on what most would call ice and go on home. Brendans front seven is continuously as big as a jump will allow. He underotated an attempted and grabbed front nine by just a hair but that he still rode away from with style. Hunter's back seven is so corked and squatted that I don't mind he does'nt grab. It is still cool but he's going to strive to keep it flatter- a little. I was proud. Did I mention the firmness?
Weds an unnamed hse monitor told the pro-ams that school was cancelled and I figured they were sleeping in when I left them behind. That's okay though cuz Austin made it and I was planning for the dev crew anyhow. Five inches of fresh had hit the hill and turned to bouncy little snowballs instead flakes. We did a sick top to bottom barely crossing any tracks and feeling like big wave surfers ( maybe that was just me) for a warm-up off the gondie. Some folks would have done that all day but the dev crew had a mission to get their spin on. Big pipe camp, a good weekend of racing with some gate training before and after. It was soft and time to get dizzy. Tyrolean with Raschid and Meghan on pace and we have community. Yes Meghan is yet another Tierney Shred and she will give them all run. RJ slid the top of the smoothie wall and put down some nice back fives over there. I flailed upside down a few times and the dev crew plus Austin spun every jump in T park. Josh, Pheobe and Em were spinning two out of three jumps and I don't think Mak T fell once doing it. FS three all D. Same thing in smoothie. Josh and Austin were spinning two jumps both ways. Austin mixing his grabs and working for some cork action. Josh going both ways after the fs3 was held down. Lena worked on her ollies, grabs and front ones after a pretty sharp smack at the top of the Gondie run. I had a great time working with this crew. They are raw and learn new tricks almost every run. Switch fitty one run and switch board to regs the next on the smoothie box...
Then comes loss for the SMS snowboard community. Early this am I got the text from SJ and his immediate family has lost a loved one. Not the kind of topic for a snowboarding blog but this touches us all and everyone is rallying around your heart Scotty. Every parent and athlete is priveledged to help you in any way we can and are all passing the same sympathies your way. The kids wish they could be there with you and so do I but know you want everyone to hold themselves upright and carry on. You'd have been proud to see Emily, Josh and Pheobe spinning over the twenty footer. Pheobe landed her third attempt at nollie front right on her feet but slid out trying grab her helmet and goggles that were flying in the air. I just hope that puts the smile back on your face. It snowed and blew all day while we rode carinthia. Brendans twenty five foot nollie front down the last nuckle blew my mind and Hunters front seven tail was photo solid. That and Jamie Andersons mile long back one-eighty to win dew tour slope qualies were the high-lights of the day but sadly not what we will always remember about today.
It's late and Im up in a little over five hrs. Tomorrow is SoVT racing day and saturday is BX.
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