The Year in 100 Photos – Part 3

The following post is a journey through my year on the USC Ski & Snowboard Team narrated with 100 photos and some explanatory words. For those interested in joining the team for the 2009/2010 season – feel free to scroll through the post and see what your year can be – all while living in LA and earning a top rated education. This post is the final one of three that make up the complete 100 photo reminiscing.

After the first part of spring break, a bunch of people left for the usual debauchery that is college children in Mexico.  A few of us were left with a quiet week, but a fun one none-the-less.  I got to hang out with Paul Glavin and Rick Davey all week which provided all the entertainment I needed.  We had Rick Davey’s Facebook profile pic daily hip height competition that lasted all of one day, as well as our sweet choreographed filming for the video of the week.  Paul showed his fearlessness by boosting off the 90 footer in Main Park when it was at its largest state of the year.  When skiing was over we had some relaxing hot tub sessions down in the village courtesy of Jenna, and Paul made huge bills being a Cha Cha answer person for hours on end.

After spring break the jumps got huge, tricks got dialed, and the terrain park scene was going off.  A friend of the Farro boys, Quincy Dein, came up to shoot some photos one weekend with his wide array of camera equipment.  He’s been shooting a lot of surf/ocean stuff down in Southern California, so he decided to take a crack at the snow scene.  Check out his stuff at http://www.quincydein.com/.  The following photos are are just a few of the hundreds he took that weekend.  This was also the weekend Chris Farro learned his 2nd double flip – a double rodeo 900 also known as the Kangaroo flip.  It’s basically a double backflip, but slightly off axis and has some turns here and there to make him land backwards.  Quincy caught the action in sequenced photos, while we caught it on video from every different angle.  This is the trick that won the x games 2 years ago… someone should sponsor this kid!

Chris throwing the bow and arrow when main was supreme

Caleb and Abe high fiving over gregory

Caleb and Abe's tandem backflips

Caleb is the master of backflips

In the middle of April we went out skiing in fresh powder once again.  The skies were super sunny still and the parks in perfect condition.  We were all pretty stoked to have some soft snow in the park again, as well as take some fun runs off the backside.  When we were over there, we came across a huge double transfer gap jump that was setup for some promo/photo shoot sort of deal.  None of us were allowed to hit it, but it looked pretty epic.  Mammoth and their park crew are always doing special builds for magazine and video shoots – they really can build some innovative features.  This was also a weekend where we had a huge crew through South Park once again.  The 2nd picture down explains it pretty well.  This was Easter weekend and it was a lot of fun.  Kristen and her friend Amy Su came out with their SLRs to take pictures on some of the jumps while everyone came through.  We also had Leita with her film camera, and Mike Williams/Tricia Craig on the video camera.  I went back and looked at some of the photos and footage and found that we had four different angles on a lot of the tricks! Insane.  That Saturday evening was pretty mellow until I was unloading the dishwasher and randomly found a plastic egg filled with candy.  About that same time another person yelled from upstairs saying they found an egg under the bed.  In about 10 minutes the entire house was scrambling around finding eggs in ski boots, potted plants, vases, and cupboards.  Somehow Tricia, Melanie, and Katherine had schemed this whole hunt up without anyone in the house having a clue.  Talk about ski team love! Melanie even had to take off early so she didn’t get to witness the madness and excitement – thanks girls.

Nice backside jump

Huge South Park crew!

Caleb and Leita doing some more film photog'ing

At the end of April we had our last SCCSC competition weekend.  Our only slopestyle took place this weekend, as well as GS, Slalom, and Skiercross/Boardercross.  As usual we kicked butt in the freestyle events.  I was super stoked to see a ton of participation out in all the events, especially slopestyle.  We had 3 girls try it out even though 2 of them had never really been in the park – that’s what it’s all about in the SCCSC and USC Ski & Snowboard Team.  We’re a place to learn, participate, and try things out whether you know what you’re doing or not.  Leita held it down for the girls once again clearing all of the big jumps injury free!

Abe at the SCCSC slopestyle comp

Caleb throwing down for the slopestyle

This year we had a unique opportunity in Mammoth in that we signed for a 7 month lease instead of 6.  Typically we have gone for 6 months from November to the end of April; however, this year we had our residency in Mammoth until May 31st.  For me, finals ended on the first day – May 10th -  so I headed up there and shredded for 20 days straight.  We had people coming in and out, before and after finals, writing papers up in Mammoth and just chilling out away from the city for a while.  Since we were graced with such a large house, it was a daunting task to get it cleaned and straightened, but the lengthy time we had up there was enough where we did a little each day with a lot of helping hands.  We had days where we’d longboard down to Vons, hang out at the local skate park, and breathe a sigh of relief that Summer was just starting. Post skiing everyday was met with stretching out on the deck in the sun with the music and BBQ going.  Early May on the hill was a fiesta of pro skiers and snowboarders.  Mammoth put together the Transworld SuperPark over on the Canyon side of things as soon as it closed up so all the world’s best were out there shredding and filming.  In main park all of the famous X-Games athletes could be seen throwing down.

May chair ride up 6!

Plenty of sunshine

As the days grew longer in May, the thunderstorm season rolled in.  Every morning was still sunny, but dark clouds billowed in by noon each day and puked hail and rain on the way back to the house.  Chris Nelson came up to ski for a few days before he had to head back to the wonderful wilderness that is Wisconsin.  We were also graced with Billy and Cody’s presence who are always fun kids to shred with.  They both threw down hard in their remaining days.  Fun fact about Mammoth in the late season that hardly anyone knows – after a certain point the priority parking that used to cost $20 dollars a day at the front of main lodge becomes unstaffed.  This means that we parked at the very front row of the lot day after day!

Partying up the chair

May parking lot action

Our new President getting extreme

Caleb trying a new look

With June just around the corner and the snow melting fast, Mammoth opened up a new upper park off of Face Lift.  They had a freshly cut pipe, 2 jumps, and 2 rails for our enjoyment.  Back in March, we met a guy from UVA out at Nationals in Colorado.  He took us up on a Mammoth hosting offer and flew out for a few weeks to live the dream with us. Leita and Clarey also came up for a few days to chill in the sun and collect their stuff from the house.  At this point Clarey still had his neck brace on and would be off the snow for a while longer.

Unfortunately the end of this week ended in tragedy when everyone’s best friend, Caleb Farro, overrotated a cork 7 on the spring park.  His body did the classic skiing move that no skier ever wants to do: a falling turning motion in the direction where knees do not go.  His ACL was blown and he knew it right away.  After a quick trip to the hospital supported by everyone that was up at the team house, the Farros decided to pack up and roll their caravan up to Oregon to schedule out a surgery as soon as possible.  He got surgery on July 13th and is on the happy road to recovery.

Abe, Leita, and UVA guest snowboarder Mike Leiton

Some action on the upper spring park

With the house packed up, beds made, and carpets shampooed, we shredded one last day – May 31st.  By this time lifts were closing at 1pm and thunderstorms were still in full swing.  We got rained off the hill early and hit the road back to LA.

Julia from UCSB shredding with us on the last day - Thunderstorms!

Back in LA we still had a decent collection of ski teamers present.  It was always Clarey’s plan to hit Six Flags as soon as his neck brace was off and he got the okay from the doctor.  We made a trip of it and took Leita, Clarey, Matt, Veronica, Kristen, and UVA guest Mike Leiton.  I took the GoPro cam on every ride and captured precious video of Kristen screaming at the top of her lungs on X2.

Team Six Flags run!

Matt is always so happy!

Now, the rest of this post is really just some stuff from my own summer… read if you want!

At the end of June I hopped on a plane and flew into Vancouver, BC to ski up in Whistler for the week.  I have been working for 4frnt Skis for the past 4 years creating ski topsheet graphics.  The owner of 4frnt is the head coach at Whistler’s best freestyle summer ski and snowboard camp – Camp of Champions.  Every year they have 4frnt team week where a bunch of 4frnt riders come up and ski with the campers and partake in special activities like paintball, dodgeball, and waterramps/tramps. I have been included in this team week for the past 4 years and been able to spend a glorious week in Canada each summer.

This year we were blessed with the most sunny week of the whole summer with perfect weather everyday.  Unfortunately on the 2nd day of skiing, I came up short on the biggest jump in the park and fractured my heel – re-injuring a previously bruised heel.  The week of skiing pretty much ended there but I still spent everyday up on the glacier filming and just hanging out in the sun with all the campers and riders.  Gotta make the best of every situation, so I didn’t let it get me down too much.  One of 4frnt’s newer athletes is a guy named CR Johnson.  He was at the top of every podium just a few years back along side good friend Tanner Hall.  After a skiing accident put him in a coma for months, and caused him to have to re-learn how to walk, eat, and ski, it’s hard to ever get upset about things not going your way in your own life.  We had some great team dinners and BBQ’s where he’d share how thankful he is now and how much he woke up after his injury – really a great guy with a lot of good things to say about life.

Gliding across the Peak 2 Peak gondola in Whistler BC

Hiking out of the Horstman Glacier in Whistler

Riding the T-Bar up on Blackcomb

After my week in Whistler, I headed down and met with former team member Matty Jeronimo.  He transferred from USC to UBC 2 years ago.  I spent a week with him at his apartment hanging around and getting to know Vancouver a little better.  PNW is nice.

Sweet lift ride down in the sunshine

At the end of that week, I took the scenic Amtrak down to my hometown of Portland.  I had been planning a Hood ski trip with the GoPro guys who had contacted me about testing out their new HD cameras. I gave Chris Farro a ring who was close by in his hometown of Hood River.  We all met up at Timberline for a day of skiing and filming.  My foot prevented me from doing any jumps, but I could still zip around and do some footage directing and follow cam-ing.  We worked with the guys from GoPro and put together a promo video for their recent unveiling of the HD products at the Utah outdoor retailer convention.  Let me just say that their new cams are epicly epic. That’s all.  I’ll post the video we made as soon as GoPro does their official press-release and such.

Above the clouds on Mt. Hood in July

Chris testing out HD GoPros at Hood!

After spending a week in Portland, I drove out and visited Caleb with his recently fixed knee.  3 after surgery he ditched the crutches and was recovering fast – yay!  Now I’m back in LA again, just moved to a new place downtown and waiting for everyone to get back.  I had to cancel my trip down to Argentina that was supposed to take place tomorrow due to the fact that my heel is still recovering.  I don’t want to interrupt the healing process before ski season starts up again.  I’m super excited to start working on things for this upcoming year and know it will be epic.

Take care my fellow ski & snowboard teamers and friends and hope to see you all soon.  Thanks for reading.