...this jump will be the second to last feature in tomorrows slopestyle. JOSH COHEN TWEAKS ONE OUT FOR RANDALL,CHRIS, ERIK AND IAN , first chair in background, INDIA, KEVIN and EMILY P on the other chair...

Weekend Contest Schedule

This is going to be for real over the weekend. USASA Southern Vermont Series Freestyle kickoff weekend. We have been riding this park and pipe hard. We are ready and and we want to see you there. For everyone coming in the van from SMS. We will depart sat. and sun. at 7:30 am. We will come back after awards. Saturday will take longer than sunday. Sunday also be aware if it applies to your kids: The Boreal Rev Trip will leave school at 6:00 pm for albany. Partly sunny all weekend. 20 -30 degrees, some wind.

Snow strorms=throwdowns

We recieved over 6 inches on wednesday, making a good winter even better. We trained at Stratton on Wed, which was my first time there with the team this winter! It was a blast, Byrnside is fun. Kevin M put down his first front 7. India and Emily put on a rail clinic.
The shredding continued today at Mt Snow with the new snow making for soft landings. No amount of pow could make Brendan Conroy's knuckle to the face any less punishing. He shook it off though! Eric B continues his progression mission, adding back 7s and 9s. Emily and India did the rail thing again and are spinning some of the jumps. Who else has been ripping? Well Austin has back 7s in a nice pipe run, and killer slope switch back 5s. Randall got a large front 5 on film and is on some new ish in the rail park.
Photos are of Emily at Stratton (back 180 off kink rail) and Chris Tierney spinning a Dew Tour jump.
Ian

School Community Rocked Again and Riding Through the Heart of the Season

LIFE
By now Everyone who needs to know and reads this blog knows about Becky. My condolences and sympathies to everyone touched by this tragedy. Some of our kids were school aquaintances with her. Quite a few were classmates, teammates and friends who will be feeling the hard loss for a long time to come. Parents please check in with your children. Athletes please talk to your parents, coaches and friends about any thing going on with this. Loss is one of life's only guarantees and still so confusing and surprising in the ways it hits. More than one of our crew was having a hard time with coping on Friday. Anyone who needs time or space can have it but communication is more essential than ever.

SNOWBOARDING
Friday was a half day of training at Carinthia, lunch and some riding in Byrneside park at Stratton. The Jump lines at Carinthia are so varied there is something for everyone no matter what trick is being sought out. The Pipe is about eighteen feet, hard and well cut. The nitro line is constantly providing take off's into new tricks. Quite a few girls are learning new threes and the boys are getting closer all the time to owning all four fives. At the bottom of each run out of there is a choice between jib lines, XL inferno jumps or the pipe. The XL line is approx 55 and 65 ft. from lip to knuckle. Riders are getting used to the pipe shape and large jump speed, airtime and adrenaline. Saturday I took pro-am kids back for some more. Justin came to help his Brother get some footie and James came because that's what James does. Snowboard. The light was better and there are some cool shots of Brendan and Chris rocking the cnnon box and pipe.
This week will we will again focus on specifics getting ready for our first regional USASA freestyle events on the weekend followed by next weeks second GP and Rev Tour Stop at Boreal Ca. Peace and Take Care, its life out there.

Back East and it feels so good.

Got back late sunday night and hit the ground running. MLK day was BX at Bromley. Not the best showing, 2 DQs and some tough take-downs leading up to a broken wrist (Cesar). Conditions were great though.
Today was another story though. MT SNOW IS KILLER! OMG! Perfect conditions and 4-5 well groomed parks, including the Dew Tour Park. James got busy right away and threw down professional-level runs through the big jumps (cab 5, back 7). I heard he was working back 10s off the big jump which is insane. Tikos landed his first back 9 and it was off a 45 footer.
It was cool to catch up with Austin and Brendan again, they are both riding well - nice job Redden.
Photos: Kevin Mattice blasting the X-Games cannon box and Erik Roomet late late late 50ft back 180 - trick of the day.
Rick sez whats up and he was pumped on today also.
Ian

Great Rev Tour for SMS crashes to an end!

I'm going to re-rock one of the fine Rick Shimpeno photos in today's post in return for stealing his in house recap of the Pipe and Slope events. Results show top three finishers and all SMS student athletes...cleanly done.
Rick Shimpeno’s Rev Tour Breakdown

Men’s Half Pipe 1/15/09

1. Matt Ladley
2. Zach Black
3. Broc Warring
13. James Haffner
14. Micheal Pearle
18. Joe Mensch
36. Hunter Wood
40. Randall Stacy
42. Chris Tierney
70. Thomas Tikos-Kadji
84. Kevin Mattice

Men’s Halfpipe was heated. The US Rookie Team showed up and their plan was to take all the top spots. James Haffner rode strong with a frontside 900, a back side 540, back to back 720’s and an air to fakie. James missed the finals by one spot. Micheal Perle, Joe Mensch, Hunter Wood, Randall Stacy, Chris Tierney, TTK, and Kevin Mattice put together some of the best riding I have seen out of them this season and finished respectively.

Women’s Half Pipe 1/15/09

1. Elizabeth Beerman
2. Kaitlynn Farrington
3. Rebecca Sinclair
8. Jennifer Cohen
12. Shelby Simpson
36. Sadie Simpson

Womens Halfpipe again was stacked with talent. Lizzy Beerman unleashed the frontside 900 and took home the top spot. Rookie Teammate Kaitlynn Farrington dropped in switch to a cab 720 for 2nd place. Jennifer Cohen put together some large straight airs and some tech tricks lower in the pipe for a respectable 8th place finislh. Jenn missed the cut to finals by 2 places. Shelby Simpson put together some fine runs and landed in 12th. Sadie is working hard and we look forward to great things in the near future.

Men’s Slope Style 1/16/09

1. Brett Esser
2. Broc Warring
3. JD Dennis
4. James Haffner
7. Eric Beauchemin
15. Randall Stacy
30. Hunter Wood
38. Joe Mensch
46. Kevin Mattice
48. Thomas Tikos-Kadji
89. Chris Tierney

Mens Slope Style was also STACKED with talent. 114 men’s riders dropped into the Copper mountain Park looking for solid runs. James Haffner held it down for the SMS crew with a Cab 540 (underflip), frontside 720, a Backside 900, and some smooth and difficult rail tricks. Eric Beauchemin threw down a run with a frontside 720, Backside rodeo 540, and a Cab 900. Eric was as tech as you can get on the rails and landed in 7th. Randall Stacy’s first hit back flip was a favorite of the judges. His next two jumps were a frontside 360 and a backside 720. Randall’s time on the rails also helped him into 15th place. The rest of the SMS boys rode well in spots and held their own against the 114 slope riders.

Women’s Slope Style 1/16/09
1. Lizzy Beerman
2. Molly Wilson
3. Lynn Neil
15. Jennifer Cohen
25. Emily Pannkuk

Lizzy Beerman rounded out a great Revolution Tour stop at Copper with a victory in the slope style. Liz needed a smooth frontside 360, a back side 360, a huge tail grab, and smooth rail tricks to best the 42 women competitors. Jenn Cohen rode the park smooth and solid for a 15th place finish. Emily needed a bit more to crack the top 20. She threw what she knew and ended up in 25th. Emily is going to add some new tricks to the next contest and we are looking forward to it!

Nice eh? Noticably missing from those results is my man Mike Perle. Mike had a tough day and broke his wrist in the second run of slope. It was an underspun frontside three. A trick that is normally on lock-down gave him trouble all morning. And it still is. I know he is dissapointed in his results and his plight but sitting and watching will bring him back hungrier than ever if I know Mike.

The Boardercross event was equal to the high caliber standard set in the slope and pipe events. Both in event organisation and rider talent. After the 80 man field was filled by registered riders from every country another twenty eight international team quota spots were used. 108 fast boardercross riders raised the normally high caliber of the Rev Tour to a new level. It is a pre-olympic year and tomorrow begins a two day Nor-Am Cup bx stop on the same course. So riders around the world are beginning to scramble for FIS points and world cup starts to make themselves eligible for the Olympic field, that journey goes through Copper.
In the time trials Indrik Trahan missed the cut by just .88 seconds. He was 43rd and recieved 3.5 FIS points. Alexander Hernandez was just under two seconds out and Justin Mattice was just over two out. They were 55th and 61st respectively.

In the womens field the level was just as high and riders were from all over the world. For the past three years our good friend Jaqueline Hernandez has been repping SMS Snowboarding on podiums all over from southern Vermont to California. She and her brother Alexander are going to Junior Worlds for GS this year and she is putting in her bid for a BX spot as well. Qualifying fifth out of forty something into the Heats comprised of the top 16. Jackie fought hard and rode smoothley over the highly technical terrain. She cruised through the qualifying round into the semi final. In the semis she passed to go from 4th to third after a hard start. She caught up to the second place rider and was going for the pass when the other girl checked or twitched and took them both out. Jackie sprained her hand in the hard fall and was not allowed to ride in the consolation final to advance past 8th place. Disappointment and pain work together far too well and yet Jackie still tried hard to get into that consolation final. maybe 50% of the boardercrossers I've seen are so angry at elimination that they only grudgingly line up for consies at their coaches' urging. With J I had to ask her to please leave the start with me and get ready for the Nor-ams. She wanted in bad. By the bottom she is smiling and by the time we are riding to the clinic for an exray she is joking about her broken pants. Jackie is resting today. Tomorrow she will race again. I couldn't respect her more.

Jump Tester Ian Kirk and His friend Hunter

Rev Tour Training and Pipe Day

We flew in without a hitch and joined the extended camp crew at Laquinta in Silverthorne. Connor Hudson had to skip the trip after a sunday refracture of his his collarbone. Five week break followed by a six week break. That is one tough deal and everyone is feeling Hong Kong's frustration. Rest up, heal up get back in the game.
I guess getting up at 2:15 wasn't early enough because I was standing in bare feet at TSA when I heard Ross' and my name on the loudspeaker. We were the last on the plane but everyone and everything(snowboards) made it here with no furthur close calls. The next day was sunny and cool with a great jump line to approach each pipe lap. It was a solid full day of training on both freestyle contest courses. Ross took the BX crew through each park at every speed and used the whole mtn to get ready for fridays bx course training and saturdays race.
This morning and through the day the pipe contest was stacked with what is possibly the strongest all ametuer feild ever to line up and drop. It's too long of a story to give full coverage after the captains meeting (roll call and bib toss.), Erik Beauchemins birthday, Team meeting, tuning and dinner but here are some high-light's. We had nine guys in a mens field of of 86. Three made top 18. Three more made the top half and three more took a fall. No age group divisions in this and the US rookie team took the top five spots. SMS showed up strong in a greasy-fast hard pipe.
For the women we were equally large and a little more in charge. Lizzy Beerman took home the top spot with a front nine in her run. Jen Cohen took 8th carrying more speed into her hits than Ive ever seen. Shelby followed in twelfth with her style and clean five-three-three combo. Sadie was getting great amp but took a fall on her front five.
Tomorrow am we leave the hotel early for mens slope qualifiers. 7:15 out the door. The race and womens crew along with the third heat boys will take an 8:30 van. The course has been very good with full size jumps (3) that have enough lift to keep speeds manageable followed by three jib features. There are 120 starts vying for the top 18 finals spots. Again the competition will be tough but perfectly worthy. There are some training photos from yesterday in pipe and slope. As you will see, CT is styling the lien air in pipe and front three over the middle jump on the slope course. EB is killing the slope with a cab nine and time to tweak. Hunter is grabbing tail on front seven over the middle jump and Kevin Mattice is doing mute front five if my memeory serves. Updates on the course and qualifiers should follow tomorrow. If not just keep your fingers crossed and we will get back after mens slope finals and womens qualies and finals friday.

Silverton and USASA

Been a few days since I posted and lots has happened.  First of all, I am so upset to hear that Connor Hudson rebroke his collarbone.  Such a bummer, ruined my day.  Hang in there Connor, we will make up for it.

Last Wednesday I took Randall, Tikos and Eric B down to Silverton to reunite with Randall's saviour Alex Hunt and our friend Skylar (pictured left).  Alex and Skylar are the SASS avalanche guides and they are the head patrols at Silverton.  The resort is amazing, check the website.  Alex and Skylar were excited to see us and vice versa.  We had a great day at Silverton, blue skies and fresh snow.  Alex and Skylar showed us around and we had a positive, safe day.

We got back in time for a Colorado usasa weekend.  Slope on sat.  Highlights included Erik Roomet landing a legit run, Mattice second place, Beauchemin third in Open class and Emily third in her group.  Halfpipe today saw Joe Mensch in first, James second Open class, and solid riding by the girls.  Jen is going bigger now and has solid style, as does Sadie.  Shelb went for a back 3 and slammed, but almost went 5.  I think she realizes how to throw a spin now.

The big jump line opened the other day at Copper and its a bit scetchy.  We skipped the bigger jumps yesterday, but today Thomas Tikos inspired us all to hit the big one (see photo).  You have to point it from a great distance, and TTK did just that.  Spun it second time hitting it and got us all to follow him.  Randall backflipped the first jump which was insane.  Yeah KMS!

We are out of Breck, into La Quinta.  The place is nice, but Breck was amazing.  Being in a hotel has me starting to think about the east coast again....

YEAH ELLERY!  Third at Dew Tour.

Ian  

Hard Snow, Ice storm, Hard Loss, Snow Storm

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.

Tuesday in the park

Now here is a good photo of Emily to make up for the last one.  Also a killer photo of Kevin Mattice gapping over the end of the d-f-d.

We started our day stuck in a traffic backup for about 45 minutes.  The road out of Breck gets narrow and a simple collision screwed things up for hundreds.  We arrived around 10 and realized that although temps had risen, winds made for a third straight day of real cold.  Guess what, that didn't slow us down.  Park laps until 3 with a short lunch.  Emily and Eric B are super-hungry.  Em has some nasty new rail skills.  Eric threw down his contest run flawlessly at 2:45 with a strong wind blowing.  Oh yeah, he also took his new Rodeo 5 to 720, large and stomped.  Erik Roomet is close to landing a legit jump line and he is always good for 3-9 rail bangers a day, just keep your eye on him.

Tomorrow I head down to Silverton Mt with Randall, Tikos and Eric.  We are meeting up with our friends from SASS.  They are guides at Silverton and should take us to some amazing lines.  New snow is falling and it looks like we picked the best day to ride there.  Not sure if we will get web service there so the blog might be quiet for a few days (Dave Redden).

Ian

Clear and Cold

Sitting in the condo with guest alumni Chris Waker, Jeremy Thompson and Adam Schwippert.  We continue to enjoy these appearances.  JT is healing up and starting to ride, Waker is shredding like always.

Cold day today, negative 5 in the parking lot this morning.  It did not stop us from pulling another full day of progressive ripping.  India is grabbing front 3s, Emily is running back 1, cab 3, half cab on a small line, and Kevin and Erik are developing jump lines while slaying the rails.  I missed a lot of the Elite Crew's action, but saw that James has backflips and back 9s and Eric has 2 or 3 different Rev tour runs, all bangers.  

Cam and Alex are our wounded soldiers right now.  It's tough to sit out on all the action, but they should recover quickly.

Photo is Eric B back rodeo.  I think the video is up too.

Ian

Young Pro-Ams at the Main Event

Wachusett hosted the second main event series contest of the year yesterday. The mountain was crowded like the old days and hiking the course was the best option for training and contest runs. The practice was kind of short and two runs on the very lifty jump did not help the young guns of the pro-am team gain a very spirited confidence. Chris T took a hard shot on his first run and took the day to recover. Mike P's first front five was not perfect so he had to do it again to make finals in his second run. Brendan C looked to be landing fs three but the granular landing sucked in his edge and Austins fs three on first run needed cleaning up as well for second run. The boys were a little disappointed but rallied to each land better runs in the second round. They learned again that you have to bring your confidence and commitment first thing in the morning at these progressive open age group contests. Brendans second run was much bigger and looked strong in the air but the landing not perfect- between seven and five. Austins three was also much bigger and cleaner and with a different grab. It was his best three of the week and I think helped his confidence though did not qualify for the finals.

In the finals the am division showed up the the pro's with a sick back nine and a double backflip that was landed but didn't podium- not quite clean enough. Those two kids won best trick over the entire pro field. Mike rode big and strong but his second run seven only turned to five- forty and that's just not enough to podium. It was good eye-opener for us and a reminder that the young guns of snowboarding are pushing the sports progression from the bottom up. The day will give us some good incentive to get a little tougher on ourselves as a crew if we are to get where we want in the season. There are some good photos to show that jump and how high up these guys had to go and still hang loose.

ps. Big Thanks to Chris Tierney senior for driving and backing the coaching staff through the day. that's community support.

Contest Runs

First of all, gotta say sorry to the girls for the last photos.  I wanted van photos, but chose them off thumbnails and did not realize that Shelb and Em looked like zombies.  

Temps dropped today, but the sun was out and there was fresh snow in the park.  Nothing but park laps.  Copper is huge and mostly open yet the park rats know nothing of the Mt.  I would be ashamed, but the park runs are going so well.  Emily is landing cab 3s, India front 3s.  Erik is developing his cab spins on the bigger jumps and he continues to slay rails. Randall did 13 backflips.  Kevin has been trying to film a jump line for a week now but has not landed one to his approval, until today.  Lucky for him he has a sick filmer who captured the run up close.  Eric B has a banging contest run: Back rodeo 5, cab 9, front 7.  That line was filmed today too.  I am trying to upload the runs to the blog but having problems.  James now has back 9s again and is looking like a Rev Tour Threat.

Forgot to mention yesterday that Adam Schwippert is staying and riding with us.  Always great to have alumni come visit.  Hayley was here last night too, and Reid and the Shaws are here for dinner now.

Video downloads not going so well.  Will try to get them up tomorrow.  Here is another amazing photo for now.  

Girls Gone Wild

Today was a high energy day for the SMS girls.  From the van ride to the park to the van ride home they dominated the airwaves and airspace.  I had the pleasure of riding with Sadie, Emily and India.  With an 8 jump park leading to the pipe, all the girls are getting better in the air.  The focus is on grabbing like you mean it and landing 180s.  Sadie has frontside almost down, and Emily's half-cabs are almost ready for the bigger jumps.  Threes soon for Emily too.  Both girls are starting to spin backside in the pipe, and Sadie filmed some nice airs.  Emily and India both stepped to the hardest rail in the park, a long down-flat-down.  Emily runs it clean every run and India boardslid the last down, but slammed.   All documented and, on that note, we have about 200 usable clips from this trip and three of the kids have already started their own edits.

Rick had Shelby and Jenn with him and their mission was 360s.  Shelby started spinning 360s last spring and took a lot of hard falls.  She has stuck with it though and was landing them today.  Heck yeah Shelby.  Jenn has discovered a love for riding switch, its hard to tell which way she rides.  She is charging into jumps switch and landing Cabellerials.  At the end of the day she was trying cab 5s.  Much respect to these two for pushing the team.

On the drive home the girls took over the IPod and blasted pop music while singing along at top volume.  Randall, Tikos and I were cowed.  It was a full takeover by the SMS girls team.  One of the cooler days of coaching I have experienced.  

Of course the guys ripped too.  But they all recognized the girls energy and gave tons of support and props.

Day off tomorrow (for the kids anyway!)

Ian

SMS Training Resumes on the Eastside

Back home the break is over and I trained today with Mike, Chris, Austin and Brendan at Mount Snow. I spoke with Scotty J after the dev crew did some gate training with Mike Mallon and the racers Jackie and Big Z. They faced some boiler plate after a few training runs. The dev crew was in awe of Z and Jackies' abilty to hold up in these conditions, staying on line and ripping. Scotty drilled em up with some flex and extension work and their turns were sharper than ever. He said Makayla and Lena really turned it on after that. Hardcore. Good luck to that crew at Bromley tomorrow.

The Carinthia park was much as we left it. Same lines harder snow. A sick blue cold vermont morning for some legit switch backside focus. Everyone out there took off into switch back every run and the skill depth is thickening. The bottom three bigger jumps saw mostly styley three sixties with strong grabs and the rhythm section as well as the top jump was switch-spun all day. Brendan put down a large fs sev and scraped around a front nine. (highlight!) by the time I pulled out the camera- the sun was hiding a bit but the boys held it down as you can see. tomorrow we are back in there pushing the spins and teching the jibs as we prep for Sundays Main Event Contest at Wachusett. These events are always fun and it will be good reality check to provide focus for the regular january contest push. Wish us luck. I'll be back sunday night. 

ps the snow is piled and pushed, the scaffoldings are rising and the wagons are circled in theparking lot for Dew Tour. those features are staying up so get yer 1260 ready for some sixty five foot public access airtime. Peace.