Put it In the Books

Another great SMS Snowboarding trip comes and goes. Just like Joe's Method Air blowing across a tabletop like the one shown here that Phoebe shot today, we blew across the country into Oregon for a week of riding and exploring and its time to go home.
Yesterday the wind blew so hard that the day on snow was over by 11:30. The jumps were all closed and the pipe decks were too slick to walk. I didn't like the weather and I waited and it did not change. We visited Smith Rock State Park and Tahkeetnah warm springs. The rocks were striking, beautiful and the aggressive hike we put on to the top was as Josh C. called it "the coolest dryland ever." Novello Has Photos. Maybe if you ask You can get some. Im 'a waiting. The springs were a little commercialized, a pool actually but the rocks rocked. 400 foot faces and couger warnings. You can't beat it for scenery to contrast our home.
This am there was a lift delay due to fresh snow- not as cool as it sounds- and iced chair cables, Windells never opened their features and the public pipe was closed too: ice and pile combo. Some people we know rolled through High Cascade and that pipe was trap also. Luckily for us the public park was good slush jumping and we were able to have our fill of that for the final day. Saul and Patti arrived to pick up J and J and we all had a group dinner at Calamity Janes on rte 26. If you ever stop in be sure and find our SMS 2009 trip dollar bill with Shelby Simpson arwtork for decoration and commemoration stapled to the ceiling. I look forward to finding it there next year. The camp was great. The kids worked hard on snow, at dland, and rolling with the changes in schedule. There is much more to developing quality individuals towards quality athletics than day after day of technical training in the park. This group showed gratitude every day out here in every condition.

Too Soggy for dry-land so we warmed up with some...

Box Jumps!
(I guess I miss the childrens' books I get to read at home)

Light! Action! (and Phoebe on the) Camera!

Joe Mensch fought through the foggy times and turned it on when it broke. He nailed Front Nine on the first try. Check the fs seven tail that went down just before that.
Shelby had one of THE progressive pipe runs all year and that is just going to continue. Shelby dropped into switchbackside all day in foul weather and fair.
Everywhere I go people love to say,"If you don't like the weather just wait a minute..." Yeah that one still cracks me up every time. I live in such a place. Mt Hood may just be the place we all copied that crack from.

Mt Adam's in the Deep Background

So it was a foggy drizzle again to
start the day but we were pumped to get after it and we know they have got to keep the many camps on schedule. So up we went through the clouds to start our day from the top. Here we are gathering together at the upper cirque traverse. The top of chair access, upper mid Palmer snowfield. In mid winter all of the chairs over here are buried in deep snow. That's the kind of info that really adjust ones perspective in a given place. It's like standing below flood lines (aka "bathtub rings") in river canyons. Far behind the kids, 75 miles( we are told) is Mt Adams sticking up through the clouds.

Yes it Rained alright...

I just checked some internet pages for the water levels at home and it doesn't look like it rained as much as everyone is sayin'. Here the levels are pretty good. The mountain never did open yesterday due to wind and rain and fog. I had just set the course to make the charge and called to see if any of our people up there had any beta. It turns out we chose wisely in sleeping in.
We made the best of the day with a fun trip over the mtn to Hood River. The kite boarders were going off all day. The sun had no issues over there and the sushi was fresh local protein on a plate.
Our dinner waitress not only spent the day doing cross loops and five kinds of kite airs that even an old school free dog like myself can't remember, educated us on the difference between wild ("you have to hunt your own food...") and farm raised ("much fattier"-and don't ask about the kitty litter...) salmon but was also helpful enough to take our picture in the special room. A-Bay is sending it my way from his phone and I will pass it on. And yes we chose wild.
The point here is that we like Hood River. And for some of you parents out there it's a decent father's day shopping team stop. Oh yeah, we went to a gym and the windells'skate park in two groups in the later am.

post script: the iphone photo does not want to load correctly but I can tell you everyone smiled.

Heyaah!

Mid Season Style Coming Back Fast

The soft conditions are sometimes slow and inconsistent but for getting back the confidence there is nothing faster. Almost as fast as we get the speed and lines figured out kids are getting back their signature tricks in the pipe and park. Here are some examples and details of the early going: Mr Highlight Eric B is linking and has footage of solid fs sevens to bs nines. Kyle is doing his front seven tail and stomping. Josh is spinning fs five above the lip and linked it with some back fives already. Back three came in the first try over the table tops. Jen is floating her solid fs three to cab fives and her front board is back on the boxes. Shelby has her switch back three and back fives rallying the tech line in Pipe as well as a front board that rocks. A-bay is spinning slow strong fives.
For warm ups we are rolling into the public pipe with at least two runs of backside alley oop to front side alley oop to three, three, air to fake, poptart.
Phoebe is learning to take pictures. She took a salter fracture to the wrist yesterday before lunch and is still into taking part. All photos in this entry are her work.
Joe is also negotiating with some pain from a sprain in the ankle during running
Today it is raining and we are taking time for some am rest before heading up or settling into some skating, shopping and moist dland.

Day One Wrap

Clean day one to say the least. We rode from nine thirty until two. We didn't stop for lunch but all ate at the top of the pipe. The Windell's Camp Crew did not open their park and pipe until noon in order to be sure the rebuilt features hold for the week long session. A good call if surprising. This being the case we explored the public park and pipe for longer and the features are pretty great to ride. Fewer bells and whistles than the big name camps. When we got into the Pipe at Windell's it was us and the GMST crew. We all tuned into the pipe in our own ways. For example:
There are no girls anywhere in the world that did as many three to three runs in a halfpipe today as did Jen, Shelby and Phoebe.
Nobody at world famous Windell's camp went bigger than Joe Mensch on his FS wall.
Josh Spun fives and threes. He claims that he and Kyle own the up box.
Kyle Dorfman: Welcome to SMS Snowboarding. Check him out on the dfd rail photo. He skated so hard at Windell's skate park this afternoon that his skate literally shot into the air and dissappeared into oblivion. Poof. Gonzo.
Alex bayer who also loves the skate park is our most experienced Mt Hood snowboarder and has helped lead at every turn. Congratulations. SMS oh-nine!
Eric B? Just another day doing more tricks on more features than the rest of the known/visible world.
The clouds rolled through and kind of slowed the pipe riding but we supplemented the runs with Windells Tbar accessed lower park to wrap the day on snow.
We snacked on the way home and shopped for more food.
We rested for twenty minutes at our HQ.
We ran two miles at the Wildwood Recreation Area in the Cascade Wilderness. There is a half mile loop of gravel winding through the moss covered woods. It's the best measured running spot I can recall. Period. There are ball fields in the immediate vicinty for our core and plyo work. This place is less than two miles from our Cabin.
And that is how we got used to the pipe.
Needless to say the kids are getting quiet already. I can barely move and yet Im stoked to get over to Windells at 6:30 am and get those tickets. Thank You.

Some Guys Don't Need Warming Up Because They Never Shut It Down

E to the B
Beauch to the Face K

6:00 Am, Day One at Mt Hood

We arrived yesterday without a hitch. Every athlete in the crew was assembled together before Josh, Jen, Phoebe and myself even saw our baggage. Waiting for us at our claim site were Eric B, Alex B, Joe. Kyle D called my phone a moment later and there we were. Shelby met us up here a few hrs later. we food shopped for dinner breakfast and lunch. We checked in at Windells to see about our tickets and we found our house in the ferns and 150 ft plus spruce forest by the side of the White Salmon river. Alex made it all the way into the water, I only made it to my shins.
This place was originally Fred Myer's hunting lodge. It is all wood and some lathe plaster, timber porches wrap the front overlooking the hill down to the river. It is a great cabin and Shelby is claiming the coolest place we have ever had. Shelb right in touch with the old ways. I'm going down the road for our tickets. We shall aim for 8:30 today and 8:00 am the rest of the week. It's great to be back with the team and getting to do what we do. Stay tuned, this being a short and small camp I hope to keep everyone pretty up do date.
THANKS.