Speakeasy Tiger

Afterpartying is always either too lame or too intense. Tonight was not lame.
The Nikita after-party was cool. It was at a European Cafe/Lesbian Bar called Leelas.
There was a band called Speakeasy Tiger playing and they were awesome!
Other than that, there was a fashion show and they raffled off a trip to Iceland or Austria to benefit ProtectOurWinters.org

After that we went on a mission for Joey to get lifted which involved parking outside of a strip club for 30 minutes waiting for him to wait for someone who was waiting for someone, and so on.

After that it was time for the Burton After-Party, and that was nuts. I'll let others fill you in on that party, because despite the fact that I was straight sober the whole time, as always, it's still a little blurry.

What we didn't get to tonight included Trevor "Trouble" Andrew playing a private party show, MFM's SK8 Party at Varmin HQ, Salomon's party, and DJ ZTrip playing a long sold-out show somewhere else in town.

Still, fun times!

I have pictures to post, but I left the camera case in the rental car, so I will retropost them tomorrow for you to see.

It's 2:40 am, so I'm out. See you tomorrow.

Mission

Damn, getting here was a mission. But I'm here! So stoked to finally get to chill out and do some work. The new line looks sick! Bataleon is definitely here to stay.
I'll take pics tomorrow and put them up.
Right now, it's time to get out and make an appearance!

SIA Day 2

Woke up at 4:13 am, made a quick breakfast, and got in the car.
Drove about 8 minutes the back way to I-80 before realizing I had forgotten to get gas last night, and the car was on empty.
So we had to drive 10 minutes out of the way for gas, which I couldn't afford.
So we get gas and charge down to the airport, where we need to be by 5:25 in order to check my baggage on time for my flight.
I walk through the doors to the US Airways tickting counter at 5:23, walk through the line and stand there waiting.
They call me over and tell me that it's too late to check my bag, and I have to wait for the 9:30 flight.
Stoked.

So I'm at the airport watching all these flights on other airlines leave for Denver, while I wait for a later flight to Phoenix and then to Denver.
On the good side, I'm only arriving 30 to 45 minutes later than my 6:10 flight would have gotten me there. So there's that.

And of course I have to add insult to injury by reading blogs about SIA Day 1 while I wait. I don't know why I'm so excited to get there. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't been in years, feel totally disconnected from the industry, am going to reconnect with the company whose US operations I used to run, am super excited to start contributing again, yadda yadda yadda...

Anyway, I just saw a cool floor drain cover in the Men's Room I want to take a picture of...

SIA Yay!

Going to SIA! So Excited!
Who wants to go to the rail jam at the Hard Rock?.... What?.... No Hard Rock in Denver?.... Oh.
Well, who wants to go to the MGM Grand and gamble?.... Huh?... No gambling in Colorado?.... Oh.
Well, who wants to go to the afterparty on Sunday and get hammered?.... What?.... You can only get 3.2 beer on Sundays in Colorado?.... Oh.
Who wants to go see Wayne Newton?... Oh yeah, Colorado.
Who wants to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet?.... Oh yeah, Colorado.
Who wants to go see Cirque Du Soleil Zumanity?.... Colorado.
Ride the rollercoaster at New York New York?.... Colorado.

Damn, I guess we'll just have to look at snowboard stuff, talk about snowboard stuff, do snowboard stuff, and maybe catch an Avalanche, Nuggets or Rockies game.
Maybe the waterpark will be open, and the skateparks, and the whitewater park, and the REI climbing wall....

Soggy Sake

Went to work at the Burton Academy this morning, but they only sold one lesson. It was very wet and noone was on the hill.
So instead of teaching, a group of us took Yuji and Kae, two awesome Japanese shredders involved with the new Burton Academy in Japan, and showed them around the mountain.
It was super fun until noonish, when it got super wet.
I got to take a few runs on a Capita Green Machine, and it was super fun!
The Burton ICS Custom 158 I was riding, however, sucked.
I always thought the Custom was a mid-flex board.
This one was super soft torsionally, and it rode like a 153.

I have also not been too impressed with the Burton Cartels this year.
They seem really soft and the new high back design is crap.
This also goes for the P1's.

Don't even get me started on how the Burton boots fit my feet...

Another Snow Day

Pretty much just kids getting upside down in powder. Can't really think of much else to say. My daughter is the cutest baby in the universe, and you know it.

Find more pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150244&id=581026782&l=26fe0b178b
(copy and paste, duh)

Sawtooth Ridge

The day was incredible! Sun, partly cloudy skies, cold, little wind, amazing snow, and a bunch of awesome kids to hang out and snowboard with. Not real sure what else I can say, except that it was rad!

Some of what went down:
Quickly built a decent jump in the best spot on the hill
Had lunch and a Monster KHAOS in view of Squaw and an incredible panorama of snow, rocks, trees, ridges, etc.
Ski Patrol showed up to join our party, and they were awesome guys. (terrible riders)
Griff guinea pigged the jump and ate crap, coming up short and hitting trees.
Clayton landed a FS 720 and pretty much landed a FS 810
Elisa BS 360'd
John BS 360 to face
David BS 180
Nicola, Vanessa and Jade boosting
Randy flying 50 feet to his back
C Walk the patroller BS 100 to powder explosion
Chris straight airing to landing
Griffin back flip 360
Jack Corked FS 360
Quinn FS 540
Dean going huge, grabbing Nothod
Camera battery died
Sweet powder turns back to the chair

It was pretty much an awesome day. Next time, you should come.
Find more pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150244&id=581026782&l=26fe0b178b