Rip the Greens!

It is not spring yet. Don't be fooled by your calendar. Its cold and still snowing in the mountains. I drove up last friday night/saturday morning (thanks garet) to meet/ride with the Green Mountain Rippers film crew.  I've been admiring their work from afar for a couple months, so once Cruz put me in touch with them (he knows everybody), I was eager to "shred their Vermont", if you will.  

 I'm a lazy writer, so here's a blurb from their website: 

"Green Mountain Rippers Films, based in Northern Vermont, is dedicated to recording and producing the best of East Coast backcountry snowboarding films available.

As a team, GMR riders have been ripping through the Green Mountains and documenting these experiences for years.  The riders take on the challenge of riding the most remote locations, incorporating a style heavily influenced by years of park riding into their riding deep in the mountains of Vermont."

  

Keep driving, it gets better.

 For those of you who only venture as far into VT as Killington, and have never been to Jay, Smuggs, Bolton, Stowe, (and to a lesser degree Burke and Sugarbush), you're missing out. There's a whole different character to the northern Green Mountains, They're bigger, steeper, curvier and they get far more snow than the crowded, straight-lined hills to the south. That said, its nice to have locals show you where the gnar is, because it tends to be dumping snow with low visibilty all day, and the trail layout (or lack thereof) will have your head spinning if you're not familiar. At one point I mentioned on the chairlift that I had been to Jay 4 times, and actually seen the mountain only once. Another rider said I was lucky, because he had probably gone over 50 times before ever seeing a glimpse of the whole mountain.  Due to a weather formation affectionately dubbed  "the Jay Cloud". It never seems to stop snowing there. As I write this, Jay's season total snowfall is 359".... Park city, Utah? 378"..I know, its not quite as much, but its definitely no "Ice coast".

Jay, April 30 2010. The only time I've ever actually seen it.

That Chevy was completely sideways a few times on rt242 on the way up the hill. He didn't seem bothered by it. Sketch.

Being 5 miles from Canada, half the traffic here is from Montreal, and everything is bilingual. Yes, that sign says : "Bienvenue". There are no cigar-smoking, deer-hunting, red state skiers here. Suck it Okemo.

Green Mountain Rippers roll call left-right: Chris Tower, Dave Bradley, Elliot Roberts, Alex Miller, Nick Richards.

Dave 

Le tram.

Rip The Greens.

Elliot

Dave and Chris

 Elliot & Dave at lunch time:  real men don't go inside. The seating is more comfortable out here, anyway.

Un petit promenade dans la forêt pour accéder au gnar.

Nous voyageons outre du piste. 

Alex  Miller gets the pass off through tight coverage.

 Elliot applying park steez , while exiting the treez. ............. Anybody wanna write for this website? ...email me.

Alex Miller, blasting ridonkulous.

Dave, on the best run of the day. You could ride these woods for years, and never repeat a line.


Thanks to GMR for letting me tag along! Look forward to more from these guys ASAP.

Thanks to GMR for letting me tag along! Look forward to more from these guys ASAP.Peace!

East of the river with skiers.

    There's a pressing topic that I've been avoiding on this blog. The discussion can no longer be delayed. Its time we address an issue that has been contentious amongst snowboarders since the very inception of our sport... Our relationship with skiers. 

Cue the 80's music.

       I tend to cooperate, or at least coexist with skiers, since my first days on a mountain were with skiers, and I probably never would've found snowboarding if not for an ill-fated attempt at skiing. The point is, they are unavoidable, and when properly used, they can be a beneficial part of the shred. They also tend to have jobs, and are usually more willing than snowboarders to wake up before 11:00am. Hence, when something involves doing a lot of hiking for a little bit of shred, I usually end up hanging out with two-plankers.

Snowshoes/skins required. 1/3 of a mile feels like a marathon in waist-deep pow.

       Back in the day, when we had fresh snow in CT, I checked an item off my "huge storm" hitlist. The Lyman Viaduct in East Hampton is a 135 year-old railroad overpass along the airline state park rail-to trail system. I run the trail in summer, and the steep, open gravel face of the viaduct leading down to the salmon river fishing area is obviously gnar to anyone walking the trail. When it dumped, this was target number one. 

      As per usual, my snowboarding crew was still sleeping....So I linked up with some skiers whom I hadn't met in person yet at the time, Jake Kravitz, and Adam "Chicken" Simon. I've found skiers who own skins and backcountry gear are reliably cool people, you should add one or two to your crew. They know stuff, and pull their weight.

Jake Kravitz

Flat lighting leads to a close call....That grey void is a 20 foot drop to the salmon river. 

Jake had his camera too. There's more photos of this on his site:

www.pearljam09.blogspot.com

Ceetee @ Carinthia

Here's a few shots from a thursday a few weeks ago at mt snow. Alex Struz and Tim Ohara reppin Ceetee snowboards ripped a few laps through  the best park in the east.

Prints are $20 for one sheet.
(either one 8x10, or whatever combination of smaller prints can fit on the page, one image per page)
Riders get a $5 discount.
I'm still trying to figure out how to solve my server/storage issues. Gonna have to delete post periodically until i get more space.
Donations are welcome.

Its getting really haggard out there. Better hurry and get whatever you can before its too late....

Photo: Andrew Cruz