(please be patient there's alot of pictures on this page, so it'll take a moment to load them all)

The adventure began February 8th as I drove out to Tahoe with Drew (bartender from the Reef) as my co-pilot. With the truck fully set up for touring we made the 2800 mile in 48 hours, Cannonball style....drug free, except of course for the "all natural". Shortly after arriving Drew happily flew back to DC with $500 of the local casino's cash and I began my couch surfing adventure.

The first 10 days were spent couchin' it with friends and one night sleeping in the truck up at the mountain (waiting for the fresh). I picked up work, once again, as a lift operator ($7/hour) at Alpine Meadows, which saves me from having to buy a $1200 pass. The work is pretty brainless but that's exactly what this kid needs, a break from ground zero, DC.

This past week was spent showing my DC friends around Tahoe. Drew came back out this past Saturday the 21st with Rebecca (Asylum's premiere bartender), Daryl (Asylum's premiere barback), Kim (Ms. Matches from City Paper) and friends Rene and Carrie. While we all made the best of our time together, the week was plagued by injuries. Daryl had intended to stay with me 'til my departure in mid March but tragically broke his wrist on his first day out. The following day Mike Seaton (a DC local, living out here for the season) fractured his leg launching a fat air to flat in the half pipe...it was a minor break and he intends to be riding by the first of March. Rene injured his shoulder when he caught and edge and burried his shoulder. Kim injured her knee but was still able to ride nice and easy. Drew sprained his ankle and was out his last day. As for the rest of us, thank god we're still riding.

As of today, I am riding solo since all my riding partners are benched. Wish me luck.

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Ok, it's now Sunday, March 9th and the snow is minimal. That's ok cuz there's still plenty of good ridin' to be had. We're expecting more tonight and there's a big storm rollin' in on Friday so hopefully we'll get some powder before we leave next week.

I participated in a local "Fastest Bartender" contest last week. I did ok but only placed 9th or 10th ... it's been a while. It's was loads of fun and the drinks were pretty much free.

The good news is that Mike is back in action so I got someone to ride with again. The bad news is that Jim (my bro) was in a bad motorcycle accident last week (March 3rd) which has left him with a broken leg and thus incapacitated. As a result, I'll have to return on time, no extended trip for this kid. Don't worry though, Mt. Bachelor, Oregon is still on the agenda for the return trip. Mt. Bachelor is owned by the same company that owns Alpine Meadows(our home base) which means we ride free. It also happens to have some of the most naturally boardable terrain in the west with natural half pipes and wind lips all over the mountain.

As for the remainder of my time here at Alpine Meadows, I'll be searching for the remote pow out in "Munchkins" or "Grouse Rock" (remote terrain accessed only by hiking the back country). I may even tool around in the terrain park and hit the half pipe or something.

Farewell Tahoe, until next year...

March 17 marked the day of our departure from the west and began what would turn out to be some of the best riding these two kids have ever seen. With a massive storm having just rolled through Tahoe, we departed in hot pursuit of the fresh pow. Our first stop was Salt Lake City, Utah where we hit a bulls eye in terms of the pow. We arrived late Monday night and drove straight up to Snowbird Mountain Resort, which happens to be one of the burliest mountains around. We parked in the parking lot and went to sleep in the back of my truck in hopes of being the first to get the goods the next day.

They had just gotten 2 feet of fresh and we were there to shred it all, unfortunately, so was everyone else. We rode all day in white out conditions having a tough time seeing where we were going but enjoying it more than life it self. Once we had completely devastated our legs after a complete 7 hour day of riding we headed for a local motel so we could rest up and catch the blue bird day that was to follow. The next day we inhaled our complimentary continental breakfast and raced back to Snowbird for more leg burning shred sessions.

The day was better than the previous as we joined about 100 people in a mob style maylay waiting for new terrain to open so we could hit some wickedly untouched terrain. It was creamalicious. We got so excited throughout our day that Mike began setting a standard of 20-25 foot cliff drops which I, of course, had to follow. Crazy it was but definitely an adrenaline rush.

As the we wrapped up the Utah leg of our return trip we bid farwell to the snow gods for having blessed us with such a bountiful offering. As much as we wanted to stay, we had to continue our pursuit over to Colorado in hopes of riding some of what was being hailed as the biggest storm of the century. As we approached Vail we realized that I-70 was still closed due to avalanche danger and it didn't look like it was gonna open anytime soon so again we slept in my truck right at the road closure. The next morning we awoke to the road still being closed and noticed the town we were in was inundated with about 200 truckers waiting for the road to open, that meant that no supplies were getting in or out...no food, no gas and no booze. Needless to say within a couple of days things were gonna get ugly. We happily accepted our fate and decided to ride Breckenridge which turned out to be significantly less extreme than we had hoped but still good nonetheless. After a solid day of riding somewhat fresh pow, we headed to the local watering hole for some nourishment. Once again the gods heard our cry and voula, two fine young ladies began chatting us up and offered to let us crash on there couch, nothing like sleeping indoors. The next morning we got word that I-70 had opened so it was time to bid farwell to the winter season and head home, unfortunately we had one more hurdle before us. Realizing that we were low on gas we went in search of and found none...sold out, with no trucks getting in til later that night. The gods once again tossed us a bone and we found a little hidden away gas station with 20 or so cars waiting and fighting over who was next. Once we showed our DC colors, everyone stepped aside, we gased up and headed out. Two days later, we were home...