The Journey Continues

Went out for a great coaches diner on our last night at Speight's Alehouse. We invited US Rookie Coach Bud Keene and went out to shoot pool afterwords. After hearing me say over and over how bummed I was to be leaving, Bud invited me to stay with him through the World Cup to help him out a bit. What an honor! Mallon helped me negotiate the terms, allowed me to get back to SMS a bit late for the 10 season, and changed my flight for me. So, another 10 days in New Zealand!!!!! It should be an amazing experience to help Bud at the World Cup, and it will certainly help me develop as a snowboard coach. Plus I should get to see more shredding from Lizzy Beerman.

We got our bags out on the front lawn this morning to await our hired trailer, only to have a taxi cab show up instead. How they expected to get 13 board bags and 13 duffels into a taxi is beyond me and it blew Mike's mind to say the least. Luckily we had a good window of time and they sent out a trailer that made it here in. That was the only hang-up of the trip and it was managed. I dropped the crew off at the airport and returned to the empty condo. Sort of sad, but pretty nice to be in a three bedroom condo by myself after 2 busy weeks.
Wish me luck, I assure you I will enjoy myself. A BIG thanks goes out to Mike Mallon and Bud Keene for helping me develop my skills and allowing me an amazing get-away.

Video is now on YouTube on Ashymillion9 account

The video I spoke of is now up on Youtube. Search NZ Slope. My account on Youtube is Ashymillion9 so you can use that as a search tool too. Or, search Eric Beauchemin!
Plus, on our last day (which was sunny and sick) Hunter landed back 9s and Michalchuks, Serena Shaw (pictured) stomped a switch back 3 over jump one, Joe Mensch landed front 10s in pipe, Chip Linton landed spins in the jump line,Connor Hudson had the best switch back 5 on the hill and James Haffner blew my mind with a 70ft back9.

Guest Post from NZ Open Best Trick winner Liz Beerman

Hey, this is Lizzy Beerman. Here is the low down from my perspective of the Burton New Zealand Open.
Arriving at the top of the half pipe yesterday morning for an hour of Semi-Finals practice, the weather was looking like it was shaping up to be a perfect day. During that practice it seemed as though we were in the middle of a very competitive season with men and women throwing down new and different tricks bigger than I have ever seen. After my somewhat stressful two contest runs I barley squeaked into finals sitting in eighth, with Jiayu Liu qualifying first, Kelly Clark second, and Lin Haug in third . Soon after the women finished the men dove into the most progressive mind blowing Semi-Final this sport has ever seen. SMS's own alum Loui Vito was the first to land a double corked front-side 1080, qualifying first into Finals, followed by Luke Mitrani in second, and Shaun White in third.
By far one of the coolest things I experienced during finals was looking around and seeing the whole SMS crew cheering me and other SMS alums on, sending good vibes and just enjoying the contest. During my third and final run after not landing my first two, I ended up falling again and getting a little banged up on a back-side 540 but not before landing a front-side 900 that earned me the Female Best Trick and 6th place. For the other women in finals, Kelly Clark took first, Jiayu Liu in second, and Zhifeng Sun in third. For the men Shaun White stole first place in his second run with back to back double corked 1080s, Luke Mitrani took second with an impressive double corked micheal chuck on his first hit, and Kazuhiro Kokubo ended up in third. Overall the day was almost as fun to watch as it was to experience, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that the tricks that were thrown down yesterday took the level of this sport that we know and love to a new level.


Yeah Lizzy! This is Ian again, and Liz nailed the vibe of yesterday's comp. Historic to say the least, and I've been in this sport for over 20 years. While we all enjoyed sitting at the top of the pipe checking out history, you know we had to get our shred on too! When we arrived I took a crew of jump-hungry shred heads over to the slope course which had opened to the public. We grabbed Tikos to take some photos and he got some amazing, professional-quality shots. He has the eye and could easily make a living shooting photos. Check out this banger of James Haffner off the 60 footer (take some time to appreciate the graphics on his new ride). Oh yeah, James was out for a day or two but as you can see he is back with that JH style.

One of my camp highlights occurred during this session. As I rushed over to the slope park with my heavy-hitters, young Serena Shaw fell into line behind us and let me know she was coming with us. These jumps are pretty big and we had work to do, but I was immediately taken by her confidence and determination to ride with the big dogs. Serena fit right in. She had no intentions of just following the crew around, she wanted to learn tricks. Backside 360s were on her mind and she picked jump two to learn them on. Few girls her age (or boys for that matter) choose to learn new tricks on 25 foot tables, but Serena does! After 3 slammed attempts she landed a smooth, grabbed backside 360. Here is the proof. She knows how to make an impression on this slope-oriented coach. Big things ahead for this shredette.

Slope Semi Finals

Cloud cover broke halfway up the mountain today, giving us one of the trips best vistas. I had prayed for good weather for the day's big slope event and, while I doubt the praying had much to do with it, good weather graced the day. No excuses to not throw down. Eric, Makayla and Pheobe were the day's competitors and we headed to the course with high energy.
Sunny weather does not make big jumps any smaller and its a good thing the crew was already familiar with the course. Practice run one went well, but for some reason Phoebe and I spaced on the speed for jump three on the next run. Under the watching eye of Mike Mallon I came up a good 6 feet short and bounced halfway down the landing backside 180 style. Embarrassing to say the least but no damage done. Pheobe made it a bit farther, but the bounce treated her worse. After a quick parts check she was ripping down the hill, chirping like always. Determined not to make the same mistake twice she took out the speed checks next run and overshot two-thirds of the landing, compressing her poor frame. This after nailing her back 3 on jump one. No more laughing and we had to pull her from the comp. While this was a major disappointment to her she handled it with maturity and as I blog she is cooking pasta in the kitchen with a smile on her face. This left the shredding up to Eric and Makayla who stepped up to it for their sidelined teammate.
The girls had one make up run to make it to the semi-finals. At times it seems like Mak and Phoebe are part of the same person which made me concerned for Mak's mindset. I got her into the gate and moved up to a side slope to film the run. Oh my Lord did she kill it! Got it on film too and will try to post it for you. Nothing but style and finesse for Mak. She nailed every rail, grabbed each air, made the landings perfect and ended with a backside 5050 down the down-flat-down box. So sick. She ended up in 9th in a 6 cut, riding against older, more experienced riders. Great job.
This gave me an hour before Eric had to ride. I caught up with Shelby and Jeremy Thompson for a scenic hike to the peak of the resort where we enjoyed amazing views and a few pow turns.
When I got back to the slope course Eric was waiting, ready for action. My writing cannot do justice to the performance he put on today. His practice runs were almost flawless, the only hitch being a small hand drag on his first attempted 1080 in 6 months (off the 60 plus foot 3rd jump). The next practice run was stomped, as was his first comp run. So, Eric's idea of a comp run at this point in his life is: cab 270, 450 out on the flat down, 5050 frontside 180 off the up rail, switch back rodeo 5, backside rodeo 720, to FRONT 1080. The cut was 16 and most everyone who made the cut had their names on the boards they rode (Kass, Torgstien, Chas). Eric ended up in 22nd which he was quite happy with. It was easily the sickest slope contest in history and Eric was right there, up in it. Stay tuned for footage of that madness too.
Under the radar and out of the contest chaos were the Secret Spot Crew. Tierney, Hudson and Hunter spent their day sessioning a top secret spot they had found. From what we hear it was a blast, they have not released the footage yet.

NZ Open day 3, Halfpipe Pre Quals & Quals

While driving up to the mountain this morning, we hoped for good weather, but it didn't look too promising. With clouds and fog hanging low it looked like another rough day. But as you can see in this first photo that tikos took, too our surprise we popped out of the clouds and had the pipe as clean as can be with the sunrise glistening in the background! And the day only got better for our pipe riders. As the day got started with the NZ open Pre-Quals for the men, our boys stomped runs. In heat one, Michael Perle took 27th and was going HUGE, as you can see in this photo Tikos snapped. Joesph Mensch took 16th, missing the cut for the Qualification rounds by 2 spots. In heat two of the men, Hunter Wood took 26th, Chris Tierney came in 14th with smooth and styled airs (as you can see in this photo tikos got), and Spencer Shaw narrowly missed the cut off, taking 13th place. After the men rolled out the pipe, the women were up and destroyed it!!! For the Qualifications rounds our girls stomped stomped and stomped some more. With our guest coach LIzzy Beerman already pre Qualified for semi-finals, she helped girls get ready for their runs; photoshoots with tikos was one way. Serena Shaw came in 19th place, Shelby Simpson in 20th, Phoebe Novello in 27th, and Makayla Tierney in 32nd. Overall, with the sun finally shining, and our pipe crew killing it, the day couldn't of been better. Tomorrow we kick off with Slopestyle Semi-Finals for men, Slopestyle Qualifications for women, and Semi-Finals for Women in PIpe. Check in Tomorrow to see what went down!!

NZ Open Days 1 and 2

Did not have a chance to blog yesterday, spent the entire day on the hill, 8 to 4. It was slopestyle pre-quals and quals, which got changed to just qualifiers because of crazy weather. This meant that instead of cutting 70 riders into 25 and cuttting that 25 to 10, they just made a 10 cut on the initial 70. Needless to say thats a tough cut to make. Wind, fog and snow traded places accosting us throughout the day and the in-runs to the jumps became quite bumpy.
Got to make long stories short here as there is never enough time in the day for an in-depth blog. While Hunter, Tierney, Joe and Spencer all put in great efforts, it was Eric B who made the cut (7th) with tech rail tricks and a cab 5, front 7, back rodeo line.
Next up were the girls, Phoebe and Makayla. By this time the weather took a turn for the worse (if that is possible) and the comp was postponed after one run. Both girls struggled with their first runs which is no surprise when you can't see 30 feet down the hill and you are faced with 20 to 55 foot jumps. Second run for girls will be tomorrow which is nice because our duo gets another day of NZ Open competition, which they are loving.
Today was pipe qualifiers and slope practice for Eric. I had the Eric show and can assure you he is ready for tomorrow. Looks like he will be attempting a line with switch back rodeo 5, back rodeo 7 and front 9 or 10. The switch rodeo is pictured below.

Over at the pipe our crew threw down amazing runs and came up just short of qualifying. Chris Tierney was one out and Spencer and Joe were right behind him. Shelby landed her runs and left smiling.
Big day for Eric tomorrow as he carries the hopes of the SMS NZ 09 crew on his shoulders. He has already achieved greatness, but knowing him he has more to bring to the table. Check it out on GOTO11's website. Goodnight!

Wild Day of Slope Practice

They say that NZ is one of the few countries that lacks any dangerous wildlife, but check out the way these chickens swarmed our dryland crew! Mike took his squad on a nature/wildlife hike yesterday but kept them safe (even forbidding Serena from attempting to capture a bird).
We awoke to light rain and headed up early for NZ Open registration which went well. With the exception of Connor Hudson, everyone made it into slopestyle (bummer, he will be missed). As we headed out to practice the winds picked up big time and snow and rain began whipping down the hill. Fences were flying and we were soaked in 10 minutes. Practice was postponed and we returned to the lodge to wait out the storm. By 1:00 the sky's cleared up and the wind and precip died down. Girls and guys practice was combined and it was on. The wet snow made for a choppy course which was already a bit intimidating because of a kicky, large third jump. It took a few runs before a few riders attempted this last jump, one of the first 10 being Tikos, who got bucked by the choppy take-off and slammed hard, breaking his board but not his body. Yoga and fitness surely paid off for the young man! Undeterred and determined to avenge their sidelined teammate, Randall, James, Spencer, and Eric ran the course with authority. Eric linked rodeos to cab 5s, James gapped to front board, and Spencer linked a cab 7 to switch back 9!
I had been a bit apprehensive sending young Phoebe and Makayla into the fray but Mike assured me that with a careful approach they were not over their heads. How right he was! Those two enjoyed the practice more than anyone I saw on the course and are going into tomorrow's qualifier with confidence and excitement. Below is a shot of blog-hog Phoebe Novello attacking jump 2 with style. Big day of qualifiers tomorrow, and the forecast calls for snow and wind again. Challenging, but nothing the SMS crew can't handle.