Spring Break 2012

Only two words do justice in describing this past weekend - Spring Break. Or shit show. Every road trip evolves into its own beast and this beast was definitely spring break. Our destination? Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale? Nope Ottawa for Top of the Worlds Top Dollar contest and then back to Mt. St. Louis for the Quicksilver Downlow on Sunday. It might have been the temps, bluebird skies or potential last weekend of the season that gave this trip the spring break feel, but it was probably the crew. Beav, Brad Gauley, Connor Dudgeon and I, left Friday to meet Zach Moorcroft, Bradley Hesson, Kirby Kostuk and their driver in Ottawa. If this were an MTV highlight reel you'd definitely see clips of Bradley Hesson, Kirby Kostuk and Zach Moorcroft livin the dream. All awesome all the time. Anyhow, Saturday at Mont Cascade was all time with our friends from Top of the World and Vans. Cam Hill and Mike Hull had set up a super fun mini park for the Top Dollar contest. The comp format was call your trick, get $ and redeem them for prizing. Eric took this to the next level by allowing riders to double or nothing if they didn't land the trick first try. With sunburns and high fives we hopped back in the car to make it back in time for the Down Low on Sunday.

Honestly, not much to say about Downlow other than the park staff at Mount St. Louis crushed it again this year especially with the challenging winter. If you need more words Andrew Sayer had some comments and Connor has a still gallery here

For all the photos go here

Downlow thru the lens of Veghead Productions

Quiksilver Down Lo 2012 from Andrew Wyton on Vimeo.

The Future

Pop by and take a few laps on next years CAPiTA boards and Union Bindings.

Hellow Monday

Post trade show Monday and the tradeshow hangover is in full effect. And no, I'm not talking about the fun soda induced hangover, but the one caused by non-stop talking, hanging out with great people, lack of sleep, making remember when memories and cramming four days into what feels like one long day of awesomeness. Yep, Monday is definitely a reality check. With that said though, it was great to see everyone from shops to magazines to the passionate people behind the brands. Thanks everyone. And it was also a reminder that regardless of weather, economic conditions and trends there's a reason were all in this.

Kahuna's Mark Watson or Mythbusters Jamie doppleganger?

Minor fan out with Terry Kidwell at TWS Riders Poll.

All-O-Gistics!!! Descendents in Denver.

CAPiTA booth. Minds were blown

Ashbury Chalk Board Gallery

Mikey putting the finishing touches on the Holden booth.

Coal

Oh and Jess Kimura crushed the TWS Awards along with new Union pro Travis Rice. check it out here.

Worst Case Scenario

Disclaimer: everyday is a day to go snowboarding and does not require any type of official designation.

Am I hating on World Snowboarding Day? No, not at all. But as stated above snowboarding shouldn't and isn't relegated to one day. Its something most of us try and do every chance we get and most have ditched work, school, people or whatever to go riding. There's just something about snowboarding. Best case scenario, the press and promo around World Snowboarding day reaches someone that never even thought about going snowboarding and they become as infected as you and I. Worst case scenario, it gives you an excuse to ditch work, school, people or whatever to get on snow.

Our friends at Horseshoe were holding some festivities so the choice of where to go was pretty easy. And since it was world snowboarding day and not world stand in tents day, everyone ended up riding, so half- hearted apologies to anyone who dropped by the empty tent. All photos by Connor Dudgeon.

Cam Veenstra - welcome aboard stalefish

Markk Goodall - welcome

Brad Gauley

Matt Bujok

and Matt Bujok

and again Matt Bujok

and finally Matt Bujok

Happy Hour Media and Mhg's Beaver

Geography Thug Markk Goodall

Markk Goodall

Nord

Pickering New Liskeard North Bay Sudbury Parry Sound Huntsville Orilla Barrie Home. Thats what I did Monday to Wednesay this week. And yup I like this road trip. It's hard to quantify why exactly but it's probably a combination of the landscape, the people, local scenes and my inner which is more of an outer geography nerd.

Donkey Kicker at Cheapskates North Bay - Home of Ontario's longest running snowboard contest - Snow Wars Feb 4th

Snake Bite - French River

Lot of this

Hadar at Howey Bro's New Liskeard. Drop in Mark, Tim and Erin are always down for a visit.

Pinnacle in Sudbury - Always worth a stop to shoot the shit with Chad, Nick, Steve and Adrian

Duchesnay Falls North Bay - Get out of car. Hike

Tim and Mark's place

Tim and Mark's frozen Dirt Jumps

Kinda bummed there wasn't a Beaver on this Nickel

The wait is over Switch x PBR

That's right, we've managed to bootleg a dozen pairs across the border for a few select retailers. Who? We'll let you know about the drop dates every week, but no more than 2 pairs per shop. Switch Ajax is this Saturday Nov. 19th

Horseshoe Team Edit!

Horseshoe Team edit from Stephen Powling.

Horseshoe Resort - The Team Video from Stephen Powling on Vimeo.

Brisse Defending Awesome

Hadar Defending Awesome

Spring Migration

The spring migration has begun and I'm not talking about birds returning from Florida. Since riding in Ontario is done for the season, its the perfect time for those with the means (or charm for securing a couch)to take advantage of cheap spring passes and head to Whis till the cash runs out. Bradley Hesson's there right now, and so is Zach Moorcroft along with a bunch of others. What are you waiting for? Go.

Top Of the World Step Down at Mont Cascade

Last year, this stop was one of the best on the demo/contest circuit. People were so hyped to try out new gear that rain, snow, hail, sun repeat all day long didn't stop em. Lift lines all day long. This year was the same, but with a bigger crew made up of Brad Gauley, Andrew Skelhorn, Matt Bujok, Bradley Hesson, Kirby Kostuk and photo guy Connor Dudgeon. I did some follow cam laps on Saturday with the camera off, so you'll have to settle for some contest footy. Thanks to Eric at Top and Mike at Cascade for makin this fun. Lil recap from Connor and Matt as well

TOTW step down contest from MHHC Productions on Vimeo.

Sandbox Day and Age

Kevin's latest offering in available fall 2011. Union guys Cory Gallon and Eman got some good shots.

'Day And Age' first teaser from Sandbox Films on Vimeo.

Double Front Boards

Matt Bujok in the Sit eh

Spittin Hot Fire

Shoot, Sleep, Shoot, Sleep, Shoot, Repeat. Brad Hesson's getting it done. Not bad for throwaway shots.

Get HUGE!

Denver pre-show..

5 and Dime

Friends from all different shops across Ontario showed up at Horseshoe to try out next years boards and bindings. Fun day, good snow with good people.

Beaver makin it happen!

Super busy all day long. Thanks to everyone that came out, especially, Gauley, Kirby, Hesson, and Connor for turning screws all day. Skelhorn for showing up and Beaver for organizing it all. Full demo schedule shortly.

SBC with Hesson

Bracebridge with Bradley Hesson

Beaver at Beaver

Little update from Beaver Valley Park brawl from last week or so. Click here

Mikey C

Union, Fathom and Simple kid, Mikey Ciccerelli in Colorado

Early January 2011 from Simple Snowboarding on Vimeo.