Hokkaido to SLC

Got pop. This guy was cool.

Hello avid readers, and thanks for tuning in. Slow day at the office?

As it turns out, I lied the shit out of my last post, telling you I'd be writing soon. I'm supposed to say I've been so busy, shooting the bejebus out of everything, and that's pretty close to it. After a quick ride for myself at Teine and Niseko, it was down to business in Hakuba with Jake McCarthy, Mikey Williams, Alex the Russian and Kieran McLaughlin. Now, we'd just had tits-deep overnight snow in Niseko, so I wasn't all that thrilled on the timing of my departure, especially seeing as it was the first storm since I’d arrived. To add insult to that injury, Hakuba was in the midst of its worst winter in 27ish years. Stoked.

Two weeks with the boys, mid-Jan in Hakuba should have been a snow-fest, however with +10 degree temps, rain and lots of sun, there weren't a whole lot of freeriding options around. Luckily, nobody got all pissy and lost their shit and so we were able to come up with a collection of shots that I'm quietly stoked on for the conditions we were dealt. Keep your eyes on the shelves for Transfer magazine and mountainwatch.com for full coverage of the trip.

The boys keeping it together.

On the brink of self-destruction, we peaced the F out of Hakuba at the end of January for a night in Tokyo. The Russian had himself an all-nighter for fear that he'd never wake up to his alarm if he went to sleep and then miss his 7am ride to the airport. That left Mr McCarthy and myself in our hotel beds (plural) in the middle of Tokyo's seedy 'host district' when the earthquake rocked and rolled me awake some time on the morning of Feb 1st. Having experienced a few of these, I kept it cool, assessed the threat level and went back to snoring. Cool as a cucumber, Jake skipped the assessment and slept through the whole thing.

Next on the agenda was a trip to Breckenridge and Vail, Colorado. I had the great pleasure of flying American Airlines from Tokyo to LA, and they quickly surpassed Cathay as the shittest airline I've been crammed onto. Great way to start my first trip to the US in 7 years. On the upside, they let me into their Admiral's Club while I waited for the connection to Denver, so after a shower I landed in Denver feeling relatively fresh.

CP and Katie Wilton sussing.

It turned out that Colorado wasn't having the best winter either, so Erin Tanner, Courtney Phillipson, Jade McJannet and Callie Connaghan had their work cut out for them to pull a story together for Australian Snowboarder. Things soon got worse though when Erin's already tweaked knee gave out during our first session. She quickly lined up surgery number three and rebooked her ticket home. No stranger to rehab, I'm sure Ez will be ready to rip again by the time the snow's falling up in NSW.

Stu, building inspection.

Stu, mid-session entertainment.

Again, credit to the girls, we scraped through ten snow-free days and shot the shit out of everything we could find. Luckily for me, CP’s boyfriend (or do I have to call him her ‘partner’ these days???) came along and helped build, tow-in, drive, speed check and generally keep things sane during all of our shoots. Stu Macqueen, my hero.

Stuzo safely flipping the bitch.

After this trip was dusted, my next line had fallen through, so I moved with Stu and CP into a house in Frisco, just out of Breckenridge. The house was full of Mt Buller grommets, and a good couple of weeks ensued, hanging out and again shooting whatever we could scrounge together as the snow still refused to come anywhere near us. Stu contracted a bad case of super strength herpes in his throat and mouth that took him out of action for over a week, but still managed to throw down for a good selection of shots around Breck. On a couple of these shoots we were accompanied by Breck local, Duke a.k.a. Dukamon, the coolest black lab to set paws in the snow. This fella plowed through any depth of snow that stood between him and his frisbee, for hours on end.

The Frisco Crew - minus big Tyson Pollard who attacked a fence with his neck and had the day off.

Dukamon having fun. CP not so much.

He's so handsome.

Colorado, or more specifically the area around Breckenridge, is an awesome place to be. Great scenery and pretty much everything you need for a season in a resort town, plus the most ridiculous crepe I’ve ever eaten - white chocolate, Nutella and banana - scandalously good. Oh, and Breck’s park is insane! If you want to get good at flying through the air, get yourself to Breck. Robbie Walker was there throwing some casual front 10s down and generally looking smooth all over the park, so if it’s good enough for him to waste time there.... If you’re more into your stunt-ditch, Breck keeps an amazing pipe, as Jason Maxfield and (Postman) Pat Davis-Meehan demonstrated, spinning way up high. Rob Dog even threw a few runs my way, grabbing nose for hours up there. If park’s your thing, get to Breck.

Breck's perfect pipe, get some.

Get your protractor out Stu.

It became obvious that winter wasn’t coming to Breck, so CP, Stu and I moved on to Salt Lake. We drove in late last night, managing to miss all the wildlife crawling across the highway only to nearly smear a deer across our hood in the middle of the city this afternoon. Seriously close call. Turns out there’s not much snow here either this year, so maybe that global warming thing might not be a total myth??? I'll keep you posted.

A specimen and his beast.

I-70 towards Vail.

Colorado got rock.

Olympic plaza water dramatics.

The view driving around SLC, minus deer hood ornament.