Wrap Up

Tag zusammen! A busy contest week has come to a close and with one day left in Austria it’s time to reflect. After two days of powder riding at Planai we reported for duty at Dachstein. Graduates Hunter Wood, Eric Beauchemin, and Phoebe Novello joined Biba, Ezra and Serena to complete an aggressive squad. The contest set-up was a two-jump line into a rail option. The jumps were sizeable and took a slight toll on the minds and bodies of a crew pushing hard to get tricks back on lock. With only one day of practice before qualifiers there was some inevitable pressure to perform. 180s, 360’s, 5s, 7s and 9s were landed, regular and switch. Eric has been in Austria riding for the past month and was clearly ahead of the game. This would become glaringly evident by the end of the weekend. Qualifiers went smashingly with Hunter Wood and Serena Shaw both qualifying second into Semis. Top 3 qualifiers received cash prizes which is always nice on an international mission. Serena landed a switch 180, backside 360 combo on the jumps and Hunter went back 7, double backflip. Biba landed her first run of the year which included a backside 360 on jump 2.

The next day brought the forecasted high winds. The start time was pushed back and semi’s were changed to finals. Serena landed her first run which landed her in a respectable 7th. Hunter’s first run was an easy top 5 but he went a bit to big on jump 2. Eric Beauchemin took top spot by 3 points with his first run, a rodeo 7, front 7, 270 on and off the rainbow rail. The winds had held the riders off the big side of jump 2 and as run 1 drew to a close there was talk of calling the event. A brief break in the wind led them to start dropping the men for run 2 and Hunter was ready to put himself in contention. Three men dropped before gale-force winds forced a submission. The call was bittersweet as Hunter didn’t get to shine but Eric walked with an easy victory. He became the first American to win the Pleasurejam in its 10 year history.

The wind swapped out for rain for our last two days, making those original pow days seem like some strange dream. Schladming keeps us busy with shopping and food until our departure tomorrow. It was a great trip filled with new and old friends. This trip has become a tradition and Austria is becoming familiar to us all. Our German is improving and it gets harder to get on that plane home each year. Board the plane we will though, and the thought of Thanksgiving in the states has us all eager to rejoin American loved ones.

More of the Same

Another day of powder. What a great way to start the season! I feel like most years our first runs are through a park, not the best way to start the season (albeit fun). Long runs through pow of all manifestations really set the tone for the year. Our legs have been tested and the powder muscles seem to have been developed already (Redden may have a roll in this).

Contest prep starts tomorrow and I am so glad to have a few days of stress-free riding under our belts. On a side note, Hunter Wood has been a pleasure to reunite with. Eric Beauchemin arrives any moment, which will be another treat. Now if we could just run into India!

Alps Mit Powder

As you can see from Serena's photo above, we arrived to some sparse conditions here in Austria but we went for it anyways. Grass gives a great basegrind and our outerwear looked way too new anyways. Its hard to travel so far, with so much excitement to ride again, only to get core shots .

The kids handled the situation well but I could tell that they were hoping for some early season powder...

Or some small backflip jumps...... Or perhaps even some street-style rail to session...

OH WELL, PERHAPS TOMORROW! Loving this crew.

Another Day of Turning Barriers into Features

  Very refreshing visit to the Wreck for the self appointed "gym guy" and part time third back up soccer coach, on weds.
The team has been through four weeks of tough and tactically planned stressing of their bodies in the weight room, while skating and playing soccer every day, one week of surfing skating and working out on the beach, another week of readjusting to hard work while concurrently being forced to reflect on what's important, what is fragile and what lasts and now one more week back into significantly focused work in the gyms and on their decks...all while keeping up with the steady dose of college prep education that separates SMS from other elite snowboard programs...LOng sentance? Yes but much longer time put in and it was a great refreshment to see these guys and girls doing what they do best and loving it.

 Minutes after Evan did that sweet fifty fifty across the coping of the ramp he was doing a double back flip on the tramp...Ezra is dropping from the street section to the mini ramp for that front three over the pool cope...Tairoia is wearing his skate helmet during that cork over so you know what he was doing five minutes before...
We travel the globe in search of the perfect setups and follow the pipelines to national teams, colleges and the next level shred but the bottom line on what our so called sport is all about is getting after IT on what ever's in front of you on any given day. These kids never get tired of the Wreck and are always finding a new line and learning a new trick in here. That is what I love about snowboarders, skaters, freeskiers and anyone else who is willing to just keep getting after IT day after day in their back yard, front yard, ramps, mats, gyms, curbs, rails, barriers. Especially barriers. Think about what that means...the playful mind turning barriers into features...Parent's weekend is here, remember to thank your kids and enjoy the weekend.

Jack G. ATF

If were lucky, there's a little captain in all of us!

2012 Sideways Standing Camp in Rye New Hampshire has Launched

2012 Sideways Campers Ready for Take-off

20 Riders, 3 Freeskiers, 5 moderately young old men. Two vans, one mini bus, 28 surfboards and wetsuits, 25 skateboards one dozen sandy motel rooms two boogies and approximately 24 Kettlebells cannot fail to produce a great time here in Rye. We arrived here about 12:30 yesterday, checked in and everyone was wet and smiling by 2. The surf was about two feet on the backside of the wave and just absolutely macking in the troughs! We kept everyone surfing and eating til a break was needed and Ian  Kirk rolled 11 or so of our crew over to the Rye Bowl for an hour and a half of skating.
Non Skaters were back in the water and we stayed out in full force into the waning rays of dusk.
New surfers and older surfers enjoyed their best sunset of the summer and fall. Dwaine is hogging most of the waves but our kids are never left behind in a snake session. Some serious dark horse surfing by Evan and Thomas is going on even now and real live first waves were ridden by Brandon B, Marian, Hannah.
This morning the water is a few degrees colder and the waves half a foot smaller but glassier and sunrise has a special light that makes it worth chasing. Nobody actually made the lineup for sunrise but Rakai was first in and lasted two hours...Rob Wadsworth heard such good reports from last night that he made the 5:00 am road trip and was in there by 8:30...kids are in and out of the water regularly but on their own chilled/stoked pace. We are regrouping, eating "Cable" bagel sandwiched with hardboilded eggs, avo, cream cheese and spices. We will drive down coast a couple miles to try out the Wall where it is hopefully holding up and peeling down the line a hair better in the next half hour to make the most of the swell while it lasts. After noon and lunch we will swing bells on the beach and hammer out a series of sprints, recover, snack and send off a skate party...repeat...More details and more photos this evening.

MT. HOTHAM AUSTRALIA.

Some of the SMS Snowboard Team is in Mt. Hotham Australia. From SMS the trip took a little over 40 hours which was long but all worth it when we got to see some kangaroo's on our drive from Melbourne to Mt. Hotham. So far we have had a few days of riding the mountain exploring and some SBX training. Aug 4th and 5th are two Continental Cup SBX races that the SMS riders will be competing in. Wish them luck as they will compete with the Best Australian SBX racers which includes Alex "Chumpy" Pullin.

One of the Kangaroos we saw in Bright Australia.

Mike Perle SMS 2012 joining us on the trip and charging the course.

The SMS crew with our Australian friends Annabel and Greg. Biba Turnbull even came to ride for a few days in her home country before she left for NZ to compete in the Billabong Bro Down.

                                        

Josh Cohen flying off the step down.

Mt. Hotham Australia.

Karen Kobayashi ripping on her new Oxess board.

Ross, Mike, Josh and Karen.

USASA NATIONALS DAYS #3, #4 AND #5.

Dan Landy charged the slopestyle all day even when the jumps slowed down. Dan placed 8th.

Evan Werner getting ready to drop in for his halfpipe run. Evan placed 11th in his first Nationals.

Peter Cerulo putting some style into his frontside air on his way to 6th place.

Owen Barth getting ready to drop in. Owen placed 19th in his first Nationals Halfpipe.

Chip Linton kicking out a backside air during his pipe run. Chip placed 11th.

Kiersten Edwards on top of the podium again winning Slalom and GS.

Jack Griffin backside 360. Jack placed 12th in the 14-15 age group. Also 8th in the Halfpipe.

JP McArdle backside 360 on the big jump line. JP placed 10th in the Halfpipe and 22nd in Slope.

Xander Raith locking in his grab on this spin.

Evan Werner going for it in his Boardercross time trial.

Chip Linton on his way into the heats in the 16-17 age group.

Michael Boylan about to drop in for his time trial run.

Josh Cohen with a big hole shot. Josh rode hard and smart all day in the BX finals.

Marian Lobell on the podium for her 3rd place finish in Halfpipe.

Karen Kobayashi joining Marian on the Halfpipe podium for her 2nd place finish.

Josh Cohen wins the Boardercross in the 16-17 age group.

Kiersten Edwards winning the Overall after taking all 1st and 2nd places in all five disciplines.

Karen Kobayashi also winning the overall in her age group of 16-17.

The SMS Team had a great Nationals winning 16 medals and holding it down for the Southern VT Snowboard Series which placed 2nd in the medal count ranking out of all the series around the country. It was a cool Nationals seeing some of our team compete in their first Nationals to some of the older athletes having their best Nationals ever. Like Rakai Tait placing top 10 in his 1st Nationals Halfpipe and placing second in the Woodward Bowl Jam. To Karen Kobayashi winning the Boardercross, getting on the podium in both freestyle events and winning the overall title.

I hope everyone has a great spring break. Then it will be time to start the process of training towards next snowboard season. Great job this year SMS Team.