day 1



This epic trip began with the regular scramble to get everything ready for the trip and deciding whether i would need my vibrator or not. Jim, Ryan and Ian showed up from bellingham at 3 and we hit the road.

We made our first pit stop at a Zip's near the eastern boarder of Washington State.



This was Ryan's go to spot and he insisted we all get the Papa Joe Burger which was surprisingly delicious due to the signature ham patty in addition to the burger.

We had a sub-zero parking lot skate sesh and headed on to Montana.

We continued the trip with mild weather and a full moon brightening the countryside. Jimbo kept us at a steady speed of 85 mph and we discussed politics (whether or not snowboarding should be discussed with non snowboarding folk), girlfriend etticut (how hard your girlfriend f*>ks you before you leave on vacation in relation to the likelihood of you cheating on her), and a disturbingly sticky medical condition shared by Jim and Ian (excessive ball sag).





Our last stop was in Missoula where we all purchased tall cans to celebrate in the acceptance of the open container law in Montana (which turned out to be illegal). We burned off the home stretch watching the Big Lebowski between cat naps.




Day 2



We woke up and mounted a couple fresh decks to shred opening day.




I rolled with our friend Jacob (Montana Loc) and the rest of the crew followed up to Bridger Bowl.




We were stoked after 14 hours of driving, we were under clear skies and preparing to shred for he first time of the season.
The conditions were decent and we were stoked to get our mini shred on for the first day back.



We snacked for lunch on exotic delicacies of dried peaches and oysters.



Jacob busted his ankle about half way through and we were one man down for the rest of the day. The general attitude was extreme stoke due to the fact this was all our first times on snowboards since last season. The fact that no matter where, when or who your with, mini shred is always more fun than a chinese "massage" parlor.

After the shred we went back to the pad and caught up on our beauty rest. Jacob woke us up at 8:00 and shuffled us out the door. Five miles later we were at Teasers the most epic strip club of my 25 year existence. We endured 5 hours of boobie beat downs, face humping, glowing goo and audience participation. After 8 pitchers of PBR, 100's of dollars (Ryry), glowing goo, and a possible herp infection we decided to call it quits.

Day 3



We pealed ourselves out of bed at 6:30 with hopes to rendezvous with the marketing dude at Big Sky by 9:30. It was a blizzard the whole way up to the resort and we were continuously blinded by passing clouds of the cold smoke. The wind was howling and we passed a semi completely blown on its side. We eventually reached the summit but too late to meet the marketing guy. We snagged the three passes he left for us and ate some breakfast. After meandering around the lodge for a bit and fiddling with camera gear we set out.

It was bitter cold and after a few runs we realized our gore-tex shells were no match for the -15 degree temperatures.





We decided to take the tram and face the 5 mile cat track that followed. They packed us in like sardines, luckily it was only a four minute ride to the top. On the way down we rode beat up pow, destroyed brand new bases, tumbled through rock fields, and rode endless cat tracks on snow that was like sandpaper.

Halfway through our decent I was over it. I suggested we leave immediately and try to make it to baker for opening day (which was in 18 hours). We went in the lodge to warm our extremities and discuss where we would shred next. After 3 hours of indecision we were finally influenced by a local kind enough to inform us of the -30 degree whether expected for the next day. That did the trick and we set out back to Washington, tired and defeated.

Our departure was quite opposite from our arrival, the roads were F'd and the temperatures were freezing to death on a desolate road, cold. Jimbo powered through 14 hours of driving, then decided to call it quits at 5 am near stevens pass.

We enjoyed our first jib sesh / photo shoot of the season the next day on our home turf.