West
Coast Sessions 2010
In early April or so, I
along with my roommates, were invited to the annual West Coast Sessions event
at Timberline, OR. In the following weeks, Chris and Parker decided to partake
in other opportunities, so I was making the trip solo. Alex Martini was also
attending, and happened to be in Mammoth. The weather was beautiful in Mammoth
and the park was insane the few days prior to the event. Martini and I decided
to ski until the last day possible and drive through the night up to Hood. In Oregon, the gas stations
are “Full-Serve”, so they close at night. Unfortunately we were almost out of
gas and the gas stations were closed, so we slept in front of the pump until
they opened the next morning.
We ended up rolling into
the parking lot at around 10am, and it was full on dumping. I made the wrong
call, never being to Timberline before, and I brought up the EP’s. Everyone
else was having a pretty good day, just shralping around and hitting rails,
while I on the other hand was in the woods of the trails scrounging for the few
POW slashes I could find. The plan for the evening was to hit the jump that was
built in the Windell’s lane at sunset, however the weather did not cooperate
and it was postponed until day 2.
Day 2 started out with
the typical breakfast at the Windell’s camp, and then up to the mountain early.
The weather was nice for a few runs, and the Paintbrush park was in prime form.
As the morning rolled on the clouds rolled in again, and it seemed like it was
another bust of a day. In the afternoon, the crazy up-gap-flat box was good to
go, and Will Berman stepped up to the plate. The feature was built right next
to lift and for the last 2 days, the general consensus was that it was crazy.
Out of no where, Will and McChesney said on the lift that they were going to
speed check it. After a few runs of speed checking and a lot of consideration,
I rolled down to where the crowd was gathered to let them know it was on.
The start-point was
right off the lift, so after the news was relayed, Will came flying over the
knuckle above the feature in a full mini-tuck. The speed was pretty intense,
and because of it, Will almost jumped the first box completely. Just tapping
the first box, and landing on the flat……not cleanly to say the least. Not to be
conquered, it was back up to the top for another go. After a steezy slide to
switch, Will stomped the blind 4 out in front of almost all the riders that had
quit skiing due to weather. Again, the big jump session was postponed.
Day 3 was the best day
of the trip to that point, so morale was high in the morning. The Big jump had
a cat on it, and the plan was to session Paintbrush until it was time to make
the trip up top. After a short small park session, and a long wait at the top
of The Mile chair, the crew was on site. The inrun was really long, and no one
really knew where to start from. After chillin on the knuckle for a while and
not seeing anyone hit it; McChesney, Will, Sean Jordan and myself decided to go
send it. On the lift we saw someone, McKrae, land on the landing. We didn’t see
where he started though, so when we were ready to drop in the general mindset
was, “This seems good….right?” The four of us Train’d in and all of us over
shot the shit out of the jump. We all stomped just fine in relatively soft
snow, and the session was on. McKrae stepped up with the first double, Sean
Jordan sent a perfect switch misty 10, and countless other tricks were
documented on the warm up session. After a while the clouds rolled in again,
and the sunset shoot was postponed till the last day. The night of day 3
included the typical antics of 20 skiers in one house, along with a lot of
skateboarding at BOB and all around Windell’s.
Day 4 had the same
schedule as the previous day, however everyone was prepared and warmed up to
the Windell’s jump. Countless doubles, rodeo 9’s, switch 10’s, and more steezy
7’s than one would know what to do with were thrown in the all day session. It
was then back to Windell’s for a quick break, and then another trip up to the
hill to close out the weekend with the much anticipated sunset shoot.
After waiting for the
Cats at the bottom of timberline for a while, and a few of the crew dropping
the roof, the second of two cats made it to the jump. The cat ride up was full
of laughs, and a bottle of classy white wine. By the time we got to the in-run,
it had gotten quite a bit colder and we were starting almost half-way between
where we had started the previous days. As the evening continued, we only kept
stepping down. A few people made the trip just to hangout after the long day.
The jump landing was never groomed, so riders soon stopped hitting the jump
because of the sketchy firm landing, and dwindling light. The steeziest rodeos,
cork 3’s, flat 3’s, and 7’s with every grab were thrown as the light got darker
and darker. Laps were fast, with a knotted rope behind the cat. It seemed like
every few jumps you would hear Napier yelling from the knuckle, “the light is
really good!”, then a few jumps later, “the light is really really good!”, and
so on. The last few hits on the jump were really good, and the crew stopped, at
what I think, was the perfect time.
The long leg burning lap
back to the Timberline parking lot capped off an awesome weekend skiing, with
Brews in the parking lot, and the most festive of nights back at Windell’s
capped off the trip, before an early morning drive back to Mammoth.
Coast Sessions 2010
In early April or so, I
along with my roommates, were invited to the annual West Coast Sessions event
at Timberline, OR. In the following weeks, Chris and Parker decided to partake
in other opportunities, so I was making the trip solo. Alex Martini was also
attending, and happened to be in Mammoth. The weather was beautiful in Mammoth
and the park was insane the few days prior to the event. Martini and I decided
to ski until the last day possible and drive through the night up to Hood. In Oregon, the gas stations
are “Full-Serve”, so they close at night. Unfortunately we were almost out of
gas and the gas stations were closed, so we slept in front of the pump until
they opened the next morning.
We ended up rolling into
the parking lot at around 10am, and it was full on dumping. I made the wrong
call, never being to Timberline before, and I brought up the EP’s. Everyone
else was having a pretty good day, just shralping around and hitting rails,
while I on the other hand was in the woods of the trails scrounging for the few
POW slashes I could find. The plan for the evening was to hit the jump that was
built in the Windell’s lane at sunset, however the weather did not cooperate
and it was postponed until day 2.
Day 2 started out with
the typical breakfast at the Windell’s camp, and then up to the mountain early.
The weather was nice for a few runs, and the Paintbrush park was in prime form.
As the morning rolled on the clouds rolled in again, and it seemed like it was
another bust of a day. In the afternoon, the crazy up-gap-flat box was good to
go, and Will Berman stepped up to the plate. The feature was built right next
to lift and for the last 2 days, the general consensus was that it was crazy.
Out of no where, Will and McChesney said on the lift that they were going to
speed check it. After a few runs of speed checking and a lot of consideration,
I rolled down to where the crowd was gathered to let them know it was on.
The start-point was
right off the lift, so after the news was relayed, Will came flying over the
knuckle above the feature in a full mini-tuck. The speed was pretty intense,
and because of it, Will almost jumped the first box completely. Just tapping
the first box, and landing on the flat……not cleanly to say the least. Not to be
conquered, it was back up to the top for another go. After a steezy slide to
switch, Will stomped the blind 4 out in front of almost all the riders that had
quit skiing due to weather. Again, the big jump session was postponed.
Day 3 was the best day
of the trip to that point, so morale was high in the morning. The Big jump had
a cat on it, and the plan was to session Paintbrush until it was time to make
the trip up top. After a short small park session, and a long wait at the top
of The Mile chair, the crew was on site. The inrun was really long, and no one
really knew where to start from. After chillin on the knuckle for a while and
not seeing anyone hit it; McChesney, Will, Sean Jordan and myself decided to go
send it. On the lift we saw someone, McKrae, land on the landing. We didn’t see
where he started though, so when we were ready to drop in the general mindset
was, “This seems good….right?” The four of us Train’d in and all of us over
shot the shit out of the jump. We all stomped just fine in relatively soft
snow, and the session was on. McKrae stepped up with the first double, Sean
Jordan sent a perfect switch misty 10, and countless other tricks were
documented on the warm up session. After a while the clouds rolled in again,
and the sunset shoot was postponed till the last day. The night of day 3
included the typical antics of 20 skiers in one house, along with a lot of
skateboarding at BOB and all around Windell’s.
Day 4 had the same
schedule as the previous day, however everyone was prepared and warmed up to
the Windell’s jump. Countless doubles, rodeo 9’s, switch 10’s, and more steezy
7’s than one would know what to do with were thrown in the all day session. It
was then back to Windell’s for a quick break, and then another trip up to the
hill to close out the weekend with the much anticipated sunset shoot.
After waiting for the
Cats at the bottom of timberline for a while, and a few of the crew dropping
the roof, the second of two cats made it to the jump. The cat ride up was full
of laughs, and a bottle of classy white wine. By the time we got to the in-run,
it had gotten quite a bit colder and we were starting almost half-way between
where we had started the previous days. As the evening continued, we only kept
stepping down. A few people made the trip just to hangout after the long day.
The jump landing was never groomed, so riders soon stopped hitting the jump
because of the sketchy firm landing, and dwindling light. The steeziest rodeos,
cork 3’s, flat 3’s, and 7’s with every grab were thrown as the light got darker
and darker. Laps were fast, with a knotted rope behind the cat. It seemed like
every few jumps you would hear Napier yelling from the knuckle, “the light is
really good!”, then a few jumps later, “the light is really really good!”, and
so on. The last few hits on the jump were really good, and the crew stopped, at
what I think, was the perfect time.
The long leg burning lap
back to the Timberline parking lot capped off an awesome weekend skiing, with
Brews in the parking lot, and the most festive of nights back at Windell’s
capped off the trip, before an early morning drive back to Mammoth.
