Joe Mensch and Spencer Shaw GP runs

Great first day at the Mammoth GP. The guys landed competitive runs as seen in the video. James had it going on but his goggles dropped over his eyes between 720s which ended his run. He was bummed, "not a happy WhoHa" but went and took it out on the monster slope course. Just wait till you see the upcoming slope footage (not that I've seen it yet). Super proud of these guys. Dave will fill in the girls info, but I can tell you that they landed runs and all scored higher on their second runs. Slope and HP #2 in the next few days.

Not All Fun and Games

Its funny. After all the amazing things I have seen young snowboarders achieve, and with all the comp features growing in size and consequence, they can still find fault and be irked by small changes in jumps or halfpipes. What looked like one of the best pipes I have ever seen proved to be a challenge to all involved in today's practice. Even Louie Vito struggled to put his run together. The left wall seemed a bit open and under-vert, leading to some decking out early in practice. While this was not the norm, word spread quickly and perceptions went downhill. The wall in question also had a decent ditch running along the base of the tranny that had to be absorbed before and after left wall airs. When you factor in the size of the pipe, it all added up to a frustrating if not intimidating experience for most.

This did not keep our riders from attacking from all angles for the entire 4hr practice. I encouraged them all to take their time and get comfy with the pipe before throwing down, and that seemed to work well. By the end of the day tricks were landed and amplitude was achieved (especially by Spencer Shaw, pictured). James, Joe and Spencer all landed 9s, and Serena, Shelby and Jenn got some 5s.

While it was hard to see our crew struggling, it was made easier by listening to the top riders gripe about the situation. I did not get much of that from our crew, who seem to realize how fortunate they are to be riding such a pipe in sunny Cali with todays best Pros. Its nice to work with kids at this level, without all the stress and pressure that comes with being a real Pro. Its much easier to progress and enjoy the process for these guys.

Quals for the first HP event start tomorrow, along with slope practice for Hunter, Indy and Serena. The next 6 days will be a blur as 3 major events are orchestrated.

Back to Work

RED MAN STYLIN WITH A PACK

THE CREW

SPENCER SHAW HALFPIPIN'

Wow, break flew by. Nothing like a 8am to 4am travel day to start 2010. The good news is that our travels went smoothly. I love traveling and working with Mr Redden! Dude got a Sprinter up out of the unplowed SMS back lot yesterday morning, at which point I knew there was no stopping this crew. Airports were back to normal, all flights on time, and Dave and I knocked out the 3 hr Reno to Mamm drive like true road-warriors (no speeding, just pure focus).

Once again we found quite pleasant lodging in the Village, a great base of operations.

Sunny and sick this morning as we head to the hill. I will save this draft and post it this afternoon with pics and shred news.

SERENA SHAW

BACK 360

Great first day here in Cali, although we heard about the 20 inches back home. 40 degrees and sunny here, and all I brought out was a puffy! The event pipe and slope course are still being built (they look sick!) so we rode the smaller park and pipe. Hot laps was the call today, gotta get the crew back in ripping form. That was quickly achieved. We also had time to keep it fun, which we did by working on handplants and new spins/tricks.

Pipe practice from 10-2 tomorrow and all are hungry! Wondering what I will see, Jenn Cohen cab 7? Joe cab 10? Hunty (his foot is feeling good) 10s and chucks? Much is possible.

The Kevin Pearce situation hangs over the event and our trip. I have known and respected Kev since he came to OMS in the early 2000s, so I am in need of piece of mind too. I spoke with Ellery who told me to stay positive and to tell others to do the same. Perfect advice from an amazing young lady. Sort of like when Randall was buried in the avalanche, I have a feeling that if anyone can come through this crisis, its Kevin Pearce.

Enjoy the pow back there you lucky east coasters and wish us luck!

Please send your positive thoughts this way...

Kevin is friends with many of our close knit snowboard family, please send some prayers his way.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (January 1, 2010) Friends and Fans of U.S. Snowboarder Kevin Pearce (Norwich, VT) can follow updates and share their notes of support through a fan site started by family and friends on his Facebook Fan Page. Pearce remains in critical but stable condition in a Salt Lake City hospital following an accident in Park City on Thursday, December 31, 2009.

The Facebook Fan Page, Well Wishes to our Frend Kevin Pearce, will be updated by family and friends with news as soon as it is available allowing well wishers to stay in tune with his recovery progress.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Well-Wishes-to-our-Frend-Kevin-Pearce/232366118918?ref=ts

Well-wishers are encouraged to send cards to Kevin. The hospital will not accept flowers, gifts or other packages.

Please send all cards to:
Mosaic Sports Management c/o Kevin Pearce
829 Second Street Ste B
Encinitas, CA 92024

Thanks,

Mike

Happy Holidays, Enjoy Your New Years and Heads Up!

From The entire school and SMS Snowboarding Staff: Thank You for all you do to make this program what it is. Some do more than others but we all take turns doing what we can and it takes the individual effort of everyone involved to make this train roll the way the way it does. Serious gratitude to all. We hope that your spiritual holiday, your solstice, your family reunion or community celebration was fulfilling and that your new year is better than ever.
I had a great return home from fall camp to train in icy cold on hard packed park features with the pro-am crew. The two sided look at Connor Hudson's mad method says it all above. The rest of the elite crew had an extended session in Breckenridge around the dew tour and I am sure I'll be hearing about the mad progression there until next fall camp. I can't wait to see all the new tricks. Ian and Scott spent a long time away from home for that trip and deserve a big thanks. Mike came back from the Telluride World Cup Boardercross with a very productive result for Jackie even though she could not actually compete there due to a concussion. She has been invited to compete for the rest of the season on the WORLD CUP. Yes WORLD CUP in BX. I can only imagine how that feels. The other great news from that trip is that one of our great southern VT Heroes of the universe and Snowboarding in general, Ross Powers made the podium in the race out there gaining ground in his olympic quest. Could not happen to a better guy.
The Dev crew raced last week at Bromley and will round out their alpine season with one more double event there on the 3rd of jan. with two individual slalom races. Nationals spots have already been claimed by a few kids and more will be taken before school resumes. Also before school resumes Ian and I will travel to the Mammoth Mtn Grand Prix (x2) for Halfpipe and slopestyle with Joe, Eric B, Jenn, India, Shelby, Serena, Spencer, James and Hunter. We will get back just in time for a day of school and the start of the Rev Tour Season which is kicking off at Mount Snow. Practice day is the 13th. Pipe is the 14th and slope will happen on the 15th. The Rev Tour is the gateway to JR Worlds and the best nation-wide measuring stick relative to the progress of a High School Snowboard athlete/artist. Mount Snow's event may be the best place to get out and see our kids do their thing close to home this year so we hope you get that chance. That's it for your heads up but one more time: Thanks and enjoy the season.

Sunday GS Race at Bromley

Sunday despite it being around 10 degrees, lightly snowing and the wind blowing like a hurricane, went really well. With boards freshly tuned the Development team went to Bromley for a back to back GS race. For some team members this was their first time competing in GS and for others like Lena Kuchera and hard boot veterans Josh Cohen and Jennifer Hawkrigg it was race day as usual. Bromley had great breakfast and a great course. I had the tuning bench at the top to give the athletes some extra fast wax before each run which helped them edge out the competition. Here are the podiums,

GS Race #1

Female 12-13
1st Jennifer Hawkrigg

Female 14-15
1st Karen Kobayashi
2nd Marian Lobell

Male 14-15
3rd Josh Cohen

Female 16-17
1st Lena Kuchera


GS Race #2

Female 12-13
2nd Jennifer Hawkrigg

Female 14-15
1st Karen Kobayashi
2nd Marian Lobell

Male 14-15
3rd Josh Cohen

Female 16-17
2nd Lena Kuchera

Hope everyone has a great holidays,

Sully

Overdue Footage

Here is that camp highlight footage I spoke of earlier. Don't know why it wants to load somedays and not others, computers have minds of their own. In this video you will see how well James, Spencer and Joe are riding at this point in the season. You will also enjoy my initial "favorite trick of the trip" (it might have been bumped by Eric's dub rodeo), Hunter Wood's transfer on the larger quarterpipe at Keystone.

Dew Tour is over for SMS and none too soon! Registration on the first night took 2 chaotic hours, many worthy SMS riders were snubbed, and those who made it in for HP were notified too late. Oh well, its not all about comps. This trip was a wild success for the Elite crew. So many tricks learned and complete mastery of the basics going into Jan. Not sure any of us want to come home, although we all miss family. See you all on Mon night.