riding powder, halfpipes and planes

my life has been pretty crazy lately. planes, powder days, halfpipes, michigan?

Early jan i spent a few weeks in mammoth california. The week following the US grand prix was interesting. actually mostly just windy. We had a few days cut down from it being super windy, a few days of puking snow. A good powder day which is always welcome. And finally our very last day in town it was real good. or at least the afternoon was really good. Always nice to leave on a good note. I'm not gonna count the casino in reno later that night!

My travels had me scheduled to go home for a 3 days, but it got cut down to 1. And i fully lucked out. 80cm and bluebird. needless to say it was a good day to be home in whistler. While in mammoth i'd heard about a 22' pipe being cut by pat melondowski out in the upper peninsula of michigan. Sorry, what? who? why? how? word on the street was that it was a pretty good pipe. Turns out the pipe was bigger than the hill, i mean the ravine that Otsego resort is perched atop. Aussies, kiwis, japanese, italians, the french. quite a few teams are making their way to michigan to hit up this pipe. So after riding pow in whistler, i made my way to michigan for a few days to ride the smallest ski hill i've ever been too. And the pipe was good, and the people at the resort were amazing. Super nice and really accomodating to all of us. One of the nights iw as there one of the japanese coaches and a few of his riders made a feast for 35+ people. They cooked for over 6 hours! it was unreal. The vibe in michigan was really cool. Was kinda bummed having to leave after just a few days. So rode for a few days in michigan, then jumped a plane that night and was riding stoneham in quebec the next morning.

Stoneham is hosting a world cup which is our last event for olympic qualfying. Anxious to get it all over with. Currently I'm ranked in first, followed by jeff batchelor and brad martin. the contest is tomorrow during the day with night finals. hope the pipe is good so we can throw down for the crowd, which is generally always good here in quebec.

The video is from my last 2 days of 2009. one of my favorite things to do at home, explore new zones on my splitboard. enjoy.
jl