Yes, We're U.S. Open

It happens once a year, a day of free swag, famous riders, and a whole lot of snowboarding! Every March, Stratton Mountain in Vermont hosts the annual U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships. The competition began in 1982, and for the past 28 years has attracted the dirtiest riders and fans alike. It offers male, female, and youth categories and features rail jam, big air, and slopestyle competitions. Not much has changed over the years—male riders such as Ross Powers, Danny Kass, Danny Davis, Shaun White, and female riders such as Kelly Clark, Hana Beaman, Natasza Zurek, and Hannah Teter still dominate the seen.

In 2010 the U.S. Open attracted over 30,000 fans, four of which were me and my three friends: Morgan, Garrett, and Devin. We left our homes in Huntington, VT, at 7 AM, hoping to beat the crowd, snag a close parking spot, and score loads of free stuff.  After a two hour, hilarious car ride down Route 7, through Rutvegas, crammed in Garrett’s tiny, piece of $h!t Saturn, we were all giddy and overexcited to have finally made it. With blue-bird weather (shredding term for: not a cloud in the sky) my 7^th U.S. Open was off to a memorable start.

Devin and I got the back seat, and by back seat I mean best seat....

When we finally arrived, we hit up the sponsor tents for loads of free swag

We spent the rest of the day parked at the Super Piper. Shaun White was mysteriously absent, leaving new to the scene rider Kazuhiro Kokubo the opportunity to win it. In his winning run Kokubo threw down a front nine, McTwist, front ten, cab ten, and front ten double... impressive. 

By the time night fell we were cold, wet, and exhausted. Being the dedicated fans we are, however, we stuck around for the rail jam under the lights. Our good friend Luke Haddock would be riding in this competition and we had to show support for someone who would be representing our home mountain. Lucky we did too. Our "local rider" would soon be a "local celebrity." Luke won AMPD Best Trick and walked home with $3,000. A great guy on and off of the mountain, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. 

On the ride home, Garrett unwillingly drove while we all napped. We stopped to eat at a Taco Bell where, coincidentally, an entire high school lacrosse team was also eating. Possibly the cherry on top of the best day ever? I think so. 

Nothing will ever compare to my 7th, and probably last (thanks a lot college), U.S. Open. What an epic day to remember. 

The Perfect Playlist

Music heightens any experience. 

Carving down the mountain, weight shifting from side to side, wind biting at exposed flesh, the exhilaration of what’s to come, the unknown—snowboarding is a state of mind. To snowboard is to be hyper-aware of your surroundings. To get into the "snowboarding state of mind," I listen to music. My perfect playlist is constantly evolving. Nine years ago, when I strapped into a snowboard for the first time, my snowboarding soundtrack would have included hits by Avril Lavigne, Usher, and Blink 182. I was adorable (don't deny it), but even I will admit that I had an awful taste in music. 

These days, I like to think I've developed a more tasteful ear. The following songs make up my ultimate snowboarding soundtrack. You should all download them immediately and additionally, create your own perfect playlist. Music will take you higher. 

My Perfect Playlist

1. Kids – MGMT

2. Tune Out – The Format

3. Ridin’ Dirty – Chamillionaire

4. Fergilicious – Fergie

5. Worst Comes to Worst – Dilated Peoples

6. Doin’ Alright – Cunninlynguists

7. One More Time – Daft Punk

8. Every Time We Touch – Cascada

9. Electric Feel – MGMT

10. Son’s Gonna Rise – Citizen Cope

11. Black Mags – The Cool Kids

12. Hey Ma – Cam’ron

13. Damnit – Blink 182

14. It Ends Tonight - All-American Rejects

15. Brighter than Sunshine – Aqualung

16. Nth Degree – Morningwood

17. Run Into Flowers – M83

18. Juicy – Biggy Smalls

19. Concrete Bed – Nada Surf

20. Float On – Modest Mouse

21. Jane Fonda – Mickey Avalon

And additionally, ANY Pretty Lights. 

Luke the Legend

Many of my blogs have featured rider Luke Haddock. This is partly because he's the best snowboarder I know, and partly because he is an extremely good friend of my family's. Recently, Luke won the Queen City Session rail jam event in Burlington, Vermont. Later that night, Luke was jumped, beat, robbed, and stabbed by two people on the corner of North Willard Street. When I heard this story I was shocked. In Boston at the time, I was unable to visit Luke in the hospital. Luckily, from our friends and Facebook I was kept up to date. The stabbing punctured one of Luke's lungs, but a full recovery is expected.  I also heard from the local news that the suspects are now in custody and facing a life sentence in jail. They got $10 off of Luke for their crime. We are all praying for a speedy recovery for Luke. Hopefully he will be healed in time to compete in Killington's Rags to Riches Railjam on December 11th. Everyone knows he will win.

I'm told Luke is in good spirits and, in his own words just "stoked to be alive." He's looking at the positives: having a bad ass scar and tons of street cred. What happened to Luke is terrifying. It is crazy to think how lucky he truly is. What happened to Luke has earned him a nickname, Luke the Legend.

We love you Luke! If you know or admire Luke, send good vibes his way on his Facebook.

Also, click to watch an interview with Luke after that night.

Burton LOVE Controversy

In 2009, Burton Snowboards released a new series of decks dubbed the "Love" boards. They were designed by team riders Mikkel Bang and Keegan Valaika and feature famous Playboy centerfolds as graphics. The boards conveniently leave out or cover up any features that may be considered "explicit," however, people remain upset about their content. 

Some Vermonters responded in uproar, claiming the graphics were demeaning and inappropriate. My friend, Luke Haddock has a Love board and our school wouldn't let him compete in our annual Winter Carnival because of it. It was completely ridiculous. Putting women on display on a snowboard will not result in your daughter having less of a chance in society. If they were made for women, I would buy one. If they were made for women the boards would be considered empowering and liberating, not objectifying. 

Personally, I have no problem with the Burton Love boards. Burton took a risk and gained attention. They manufactured the boards to make a statement, not to contest anyone's values. Honestly, I think if you looked into the backgrounds of the people who are complaining the press that you would find they're all skier prudes. No matter how many haters, in the end you'll find: "controversy sells."

Bienvenue au Canada!

Welcome (back) to Canada! This time we went to the east coast, over spring break, and I was allowed to bring a friend, Morgan. My family, the Ebensteins, and Morgan headed over the border for a long weekend of snowboarding. I suffered a minor injury when I slammed my finger in the car door, however, on the plus side, we successfully smuggled enough food and wine over the border to last us the entire trip. We stayed in a really nice condo at the base of Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada. Morgan and I had the most amazing bed, which we, consequently, spent a lot of our time in.

With not-so-great spring skiing conditions, we, for once, spent a lot of time off the mountain. The condo had an amazing outdoor hot tub equipped with a waterfall. We would play Catch Phrase there for hours… one night the boys got naked, and then it just got awkward.

 One day we ventured into Quebec City where the adults spent hours drinking. Morgan and I played scrabble.

One day that we actually enjoyed the snow was when we headed over to a different mountain to shred, Le Massif. I’ve never snowboarded in a happier environment. People there were so festive. With music blaring at the base of every chair lift, it was impossible not to get pumped up before every run. On our first run, Angus actually clipped Dad with his snowboard, leaving a pretty gnarly gash in his shin. Dad was only out for one run however, until he rejoined us. Apparently ski patrol had stitched him up right on the side of the mountain. Got to love Canadian Health Care! Le Massif is one of my favorite places to snowboard, solely because it has my two favorite things: mountains and ocean. When I saw the view my jaw dropped.

 Canada was so much fun. It was the most relaxing snowboarding vacation I’ve ever been on and I was so happy to have Morgan there with me. Thanks again, Bert!

Steez

If there’s one word you need to know as a snowboarder, it’s “steez.” You will hear it all over any mountain. It is a combination of the words “style” and “ease” and can be used in two ways.

First, steez is an adjective, used to describe something that is done with style and ease. Snowboarders use it to describe someone’s overall snowboarding style, or specifically the way they grind a rail or hit a jump. To be told you have steez is a good thing. Remember, everyone wants to be steezy. A common example of how one would use the word is, “dude, that hit was hella steezy.” Here is an example of my friend Ryan grinding with, “mad steez.”

Second, steez is a noun. It refers to articles of clothing that someone who is considered steezy would wear. Examples of steez are hanging suspenders, bandanas, baggy pants, and headphones. Commons uses of steez as a noun include, “bro, you have mad steez” or, “check his steez.” Here is a photo of my friend Max Ebestein, or as we like to call him, Ebensteez. 

Winter Vacation: Round Two

Winter Vacation Round Two took place in Snowmass and Aspen, Colorado. Just like last year, Dad favored Angus’s friends. He did, at least, allow my friend Morgan to drop us off at the airport where I was able to snap one vacation photo and pretend like she was coming with me. Anyways, bitterness aside, my family was accompanied this winter vacation by Alex Loud, Luke Haddock, and Carl Johnsen. Unfortunately, dear Chris tore his ACL last minute and wasn’t able to come. On the plane we ran into friends from home. Actually, we were sitting right in front of them. What are the odds? Anyways, we arrived in Boulder, CO in time to see the most beautiful sunrise at the airport. We then drove four hours in a rental car to our family friend’s house in Snowmass. No matter how awful its mileage, it will never be easy to fit five snowboards and one pair of skis into one, giant SUV. Being outnumbered in gender and unfortunately, the youngest, I sat crammed in the back with the luggage actually on top of me. It was a long, exhausting trip. When we finally arrived at the house, we all proceeded to pass out immediately.

As expected, Bert made sure we crammed as much snowboarding into one week as humanly possible. Every morning we woke up, ate breakfast, waxed, and headed to the mountain. We spent one day at Snowmass, one day at Aspen, one day at Aspen Highlands and one day at Buttermilk, home of the X-games. Gordon was our tour guide for the week. It was his family with whom we were staying and let me tell you, Gordo may be fifty, but he can still rip. We shred hard everyday from open to close doing the usual: dropping cliffs, hiking, hitting the terrain park, and taking pictures.

On the final day of our vacation we forced Bert to let us take a break from snowboarding. We went to the local hot springs for a relaxing soak.

 Gordon’s family was so hospitable. His three, young daughters were angels the entire time. They made Colorado amazing. I can’t wait to go back.

Thanks Mom and Dad.