Unreal season

At Massanutten: photo: Ian ITMexposures.com

A few months before the fake snow hit the slopes in the southeast, I was all ready to make another video and hit out west more often since my friends, especially ex-girlfriend, lit a fire under my ass. On the plane going back home from Denver in the end of January, a fat ass dood took a half of my seat as I started questioning myself:

"Am I really enjoying this trip? "

"Do I miss being home?"

"Is this worth it?"

"Why am I still questioning myself like this?"


BS Rodeo 7 at Wintergreen. Photo: Seth Tetrick

The last question made me realize that I was no longer a shred nomad. Hey, it's not the fat ass dood's fault. It's just 10 years of traveling that I felt I had enough like I said last year.

It was pretty rare to see a bunch of snow storms in a season here. My mom said this was how we normally got when we grew up. I must have forgotten, damn. Globe warming is awesome. Anyway, Dave mentioned that Timberline, West Virginia has awesome tree riding where I hadn't been to for maybe 10 or 11 years. I finally got to slay 2 feet of pow on the hot spot that got me realizing that I actually was in the Southeast. Unreal. Only two hours drive from where I live; hell yah. On my second trip to the hot spot, Dave and I were on a chairlift noticing that we were so low to the slope, maybe 10 feet below. I told Dave, "Why don't we try to spray this lift and see if we could make that high?" The mission was born and continued all the (bluebird) day. We kept spraying the hell of each other as well as some random folks on the mountain. It was hilarious to watch these people on the chairlifts screaming and covering themselves with their arms. Some were cheering, surprisingly. These cheering doods must know how to appreciate life.


Massanutten Bridge. Photo: Chad Miller

The another highlight of my season was that Joe Genovese came back to life and started building park at Wintergreen, Virginia after a five or six years break. He has built kickers for private photoshoots in Mammoth, created the infamous Gun Smoke at June Mountain, and was invited to Superpark a few times. Back to Wintergreen, he wanted to push them to be educated in what creates parks to be successful, but unfortunately, his bosses wouldn't let him to have full control making his envision to happen. That's one of the big problems why many ski resorts in the dirty south have terrible parks.


At Massanutten: photo: Ian ITMexposures.com

When they see big jumps, they get intimidated and fear that they might not be safe. Wrong. It's the opposite, seriously. The bigger jumps, the longer landings. The longer landings, the more room to fall. The more room to fall, the safer it gets. Got the math, right? That's how snowboarding gets more progressive by making it safer and giving more room for creativity. Massanutten aka The Nut, my hometown resort, was the first Mid Atlantic ski resort to have a park and is considered one of the best parks in the East. I believe they started building a halfpipe by hands in 1989 and I was lucky to witness Bert Lamar doing ho ho handplants that year. I never forget that day.


At Wintergreen. photo: Seth Tetrick

The park opened two years later. Steve Showalter, the Nut ski general manager, was the man who created more opportunities for people to grow. Day Franzen was one of them and built the park for maybe 5 years. He is now one of a few owners of Kingvale (kingavleterrainproject.com) in Tahoe and builds it all he wants as if it's in his own backyard. Joe Genovese started learning to drive a snow cat at the Nut before he moved to California.

Also, the Geisen twins and Cody Boan grew up riding here. That's 'nuff said. I sure hope all the Mid-Atlantic ski resorts get to read this. Anyway, Joe did make the best of the Wintergreen park that always left me smiling ear to ear at the end of the days. It's pretty rad to have two badass parks in my area.


At Massanutten: photo: Ian ITMexposures.com

I don't regret for not going out west again after the last plane trip. Wait, the fat ass dood might have a tee wee influence on my decision.

Keep an eye on this new t-shirt brand, Laces Out, by Shawn Durst, Adam Mills, and Joe Anderson who is a graphics designer. Their web site is coming up soon!