sunsets, beaches and squaw valley laps

So.......
I thought we were done after the final run down to the lake.
We packed up and headed back to the condo.

I got my stuff of and started relaxing when philly busted out of his room talking about getting all my stuff back on to head out to the beach on Lake Tahoe and do a photo shoot for the liquid catalog.
UUghhhhhhhhhhhh..... i was so tired.
But i put my stuff on, got back in the car and headed out.
The shots from the beach turned out pretty awesome, making it totaly worth it.




The next day was our last in Tahoe and we were feeling the pressure for sure.
With the tram being down all week we had yet to get in the park and get some shots.
We woke up and headed to the tram, the pow was untouched at the top of the mountain so we did some runs around granite chief to fill out that aspect of the shooting.
While on the tram we bumped in to Big Mountain Jeremy Jones and his wife. I have been watching Mr.Jones slay the worlds most gnarley run year after year and have aspired to one day get away from parks, jumps and rails and just go ride like him.
It was the most surreal experience to chat with this man. super nice guy who just loves to snowboard is what it comes down to.




After a few laps riding hot pow we needed to head straight to the park and try to get some different shots.
the pressure was on as we only had enough time to take 4 laps threw the park!
I have never ridin so bad in my life! I give mad respect to all those pro's you see in the movies and contests who can just show up and with no practice in the park and go out there and throw down! I just wasnt comfortable, i needed atleast a half a day to warm up to the park and i wasnt going to get it.
We made the best of the situation and pulled out the camera.






I was feeling pretty bummed about riding so poorly, Squaw had all these awesome features set up, Big Features but i just couldnt step up to them with no warm up.
I rode the last lift up with Carney and he made me feel better about the whole thing.
The truth is that this is exactly what seperates Good riders from Great riders.
A lesson for sure and its inspired me to make that transition, from the good rider that needs some time to kill it to the great rider that just shows up and hammers.



So the riding was over....
and now was rush time, rush to the condo, rush to pack up, rush to Reno to get on to the airport!

Hiking with some homies

After dropping the Mon off at the airport in Reno NV, I booted back to Squaw Valley and jumped in bed.
The next day was the first day of our actual shoot for Liquids ad and our tahoe local host, Shawn Carney hooked it up.



The sun was out and Shawn had us chasing the late season POW!
We loaded up a few cars,
met up with the rest of the crew and took off for what everyone was calling the lake run. With me was photographer Tom Zikas, Philly Pilon, Lauren Shannahan, Shawn Carney and Gillaum Morrisette.

The group

Carney looking over lake Donner.

The area we were in was way cool.
You got out of the car at the mid point of the vertical and hiked across the mountain looking for your lines. when you found one you would drop it then hike back up and move on. Lucky for me Carney knew where to be looking.

train tunnel drop, my knees felt this one for sure.

nice little cornice drop.

cab one on the cliff.

This area is full of stuff to do, next time im around Tahoe i am for sure coming back to find more things!

the crew hiking threw one of the train tunnels, these things were awesome and a bit scary when they went pitch black.

coming out of the tunnel.

So we finally reached out last drop point and i understood what the lake run was. We were about to take our last run right back down to our cars, epic!

I caught a couple pow slashes on the way down and we were done for the day.
Or so i thought.

pow pow at Squaw

We woke up the next morning to a few feet in the parking lot,
Jon and I looked at eachother and knew that it was dumping at the top of Squaw Valley!
We drank some coffee, suited up and booted out to get some turns in!




Jon and I were geeking out!
It was the last few days of April and it was puking in CA, and we happened to be there! On one lift ride we accumulated somethinglike 3 inches of snow on our outerwear before offloading the chair, it was insane!



Slashes, tail blocks, drops, whatever, we did it all.
It was epic to say the least.



I remember thinking at one point how sick it would be to live around Squaw for a whole season! If this is what it was like at the end of april it had to go off during mide season.







All and all we had an awesome day of riding.
feet of new snow, lots of runs and some good photo's to prove it!

After finishing riding mid day,
it was time to get in the car and take Jon Mon back to reno to catch his flight back to SLC. We threw his stuff in the car and took off.
We got to the airport and said our good byes.
I had'nt seen Jon in almost a year and i for sure hope its not that long before we hook up again. Jon is more than our team manager, He's a good friend that is willing to help you out no matter what.
Thanks MON!