george crosland photo blog

The Active Power hour went down last night in Carlsbad. I one hour jam, anyone can enter and the prize was a box of stuff, pretty simple and some good motivation for the local skaters to come rip with their friends and some new shreds. The action was good and everything went pretty well. Even some kids that showed thought it was “more than they expected”. Pretty much anyone rode around the bowl for 40 minutes and the last 20 minutes were reserved for the top rippers and a winner was eventually picked.

Roland was clearly looking like the winner early on and probably would have won out right but I think he ran out of gas in the one hour contest. He got probably close to or over 15 bangers though. Roland and Spencer had a skate off or a 10 minut jam to determine the final winner, they both were spent and thy were declared co-winners. Part of contests is time management. If Roland keeps shredding he could possibly be a house hold name someday. Or he could become a meth head and fade away, never to be heard from again, the future is up to him but last night, he ripped. Here is a back 3 with style for a little guy

Power Hour - a lot of fun for a weeknight, not quite as much as a trip to Tijuana when you are 18, but close

Cody - back smith

This guy Mouse did some tre flips on the bank but here is a pop shuv it tail grab

Cody was a ripper but since he is an Active team rider he was eliminated from the chance of winning. He showed up to rip anyway - pop shuv it or the am shuffle

The name Worley and the trick hardflip are all I have in my notes about this, the crowd was stoked though

It takes all kinds, some kids were up to date, others were doing boneless ones and stuff, here is a backside airwalk that would make Mike Valleley proud

Kyle showed up late and stuck 3 sick tricks right off the getty. Here is a backflip - I think

The last 10 minutes of the jam were pretty sick - Devon with a hardflip

After the one hour jam, the judges were undecided. Roland’s tech skills or Spencers high speed style attack. They gave them both 10 minutes for a skate off and then declared it a tie. Here is Spencer with a high speed ollie to 50/50

The US Open of surfing is the largest surf contest in the USA. They also have skateboarding as a sideshow. This was the 10th year of the Soul Bowl. Street skaters may not be into it and that’s fine but these are the dudes, or some of em that helped buld skateboarding to what it is today. Paul Rodriguez would not be winning $100,000 if these guys did not put it on the line for say $500 for first place like 30 years ago. it’s always fun to watch these guys skate and the US Open is worth a stop if you are in town. Thanks for stopping by

Steve Alba won the very first bowl contest in Spring Valley, CA, thirty years ago. Will you still be skating in 30 years or “moved on”

Sandro Dias made a 900 two weeks ago at the Maloof money cup and he snaked some runs during the legends jam to do this body jar

Upland local Mike Barnes

What the hell? It’s John Schultes, John had the good fortune of being a vert rider for H-street right when vert died. So this guy was actually Eric Kostons team mate then

Facts about Tony Mag here; he moved from Sweden to chase the American dream and never looked back, he rips, he cut the tips of a few fingers off, he is rich from his involvement with Osiris
He is well over 40, he won the soul bowl for maybe the 10th time in a row

Josh Nelson never really got the credit he deserved in skateboarding

Corona was a sponsor and of course with beer goes bikini wearing girls. With Budweiser being bought by Stella Artois Corona is like the most AMerican major beer now

The vendor village from the pier

The Beach at 10 am on Saturday

The waves at 10 am on Saturday

You know I don’t really hang out with chicks like this, I am sure they are very nice. I would rather hang out wit the girls that skated in the women’s bowl contest but seeing as the girls went on Friday and I was at work I am giving you the next best thing - some pervy shots. I don’t actually know one model, stripper, teenage chick or porn star and my girlfriend is a very nice nurse

Dane Gudaskas in the surf event, it is the US Open of Surfing

Some serious hot older women action

Ladies and gentleman, the Fuel TV apes, Pamela Jones and an announcer

Thought the kiddies may want a closer look at Pamela Jones

Sorry, it had to be done…

…at least I had the courtesy to ask for a photo. A Rockstar sandwich

Mike Mcgill is 43, did a McTwist today, a trick he invented in Sweden in 1984 and un-veiled to the public at Del Mar and changed the world forever. STILL, not many skaters can do a 540

Tony Mag managed to not dislocate his shoulder for a while (he did twice at the Pro Tec Pool Party), Tony did a five, a heel flip frontside and just tore shiit up into 1st place

Before Tony Hawk Steve Caballero was the one to beat, in like 1979, 1980 and 1981. Steve has long show model in existence and ripped to second place

I went to the Soul Bowl mostly to get a photo of Duane Peters and I got one of him doing an Indy Air - one of many of his tricks that he invented. I went to a bar tonight and everyone had like a sleeve tattoo and freshly pressed skate outfits that have probably neve rolled on the dirt asphalt. Back in the day tattoos were for like Hells Angels and sailors, now everybody that looks like a skater has a tatoo trying to look like a skater - totally gay. Unless of course you are Duane Peters, that guy deserves like every tatoo, he is the real deal, ripping hard at 47 years olds. For all you posers with a sleeve tatto0 and you don’t skate or ride motorcycles and just sit around do do nothing - you will not be as punk as Duane Peters ever

“I don’t care if Mike McGill has a Wal Mart sticker on hia helmet, I got his back” - Dave Duncan, McGill is doing an invert to tail. You could pay $80 for the latest DC Shoe or go to Wal Mart and throw down like $20 for one of McGills shoes. One of these days I am going to buy some and try em

Bowl over view

Henry Guiterez slammed in the prelims and chose to ride on into the finals, now that is punk rock. I stole this photo from Concrete Disciples, Ray ZImmerman is a super good photographer so there you go

Womens Results
1 Mimi Knoop

Legends
1 tony Mag
2 Cab
3 Mcgill
4 DP

Pros
I was not there but I heard probably Omar or Sandro Dias won

Why do a binding review in July? Why not all the print snowboard magazines are coming out. Most people are out trying to get chicks to go skinny dipping in the local swimming hole cuz it is hot as hell then here comes the latest issue of a snowboard magazine and bam, the mind is racing ahead to all the bad ass rails, kickers and powder turns you will get like 9 months from know when the magazine come out with the last issue in March and there is 100 inch base. Or if you are a female maybe you are busy this summer trying to keep too many penises getting rubbed on you and the dance floor when you are wearing your ht summer skirt. Whatever you do this summer you gotta be rich to snowboard anyway and a lot of people are grabbing their trust funds to head to the southern hemisphere or Oregon or Canada anyway. I am just jealous I can’t go south or north to ride and live like a bohemian hippie so I have to displace my anger on those that can go ride, don’t get all bent outta shape. Besides, now you can get stuff cheap at the shops on sale.

All that being said Mervin (GNU, LibTech, Roxy, Bent Metal) makes sick boards and with the banana technology I am sure they outsold Burton at many locations. They also make binders to attach your feet to the board. I have never been a big fan of their binders…until now. I got a pair of the Biscuits and they kept my feet attached as well as the other bindings I prefer (Burton and Flux), They got a toe strap that works over the toe or old school over the top of the foot. I was most skeptical of the dual toe strap technology but it worked. So before you head to Portillo Chile on the parents AM Ex, head to the shop and get some grippers for your feet,

Get some actually useful info on these things at
www.mervin.com and www.bentmetal.com

some metal, plastic and comfy straps

here is the open or welcome to your board position. Yea the toe strap looks like at does not wrap around your but it does. Trust me Mike Olson and Pete Sarri are smarter than you

toe wrappage

Nate Farrell has been charging this year and he rides for Bent Metal, switch 5 in Washington State

Danny Kass actually rides for Union bindings, who cares, he rides for Mervin too

For the kids I present to you Playboy Playmate of the Month, Feb 2006 Casandra Lyn

When people talk about Mt Baldy they are either referring to the ski area which straddles the ridges to the east of the real Mt Baldy or the mountain itself, or possibly both. Mt Baldy is the closest thing to lift served big mountain riding in So Cal. Along with the intermittently open Mt Waterman the terrain available can be insane. Good enough even for a full fledged feature article in Transworld Snowboarding a few years back. While the most recent Transworld article focused on the in bounds and lift served terrain, an article (written by non other than recently resigned head of Transworld Snow, Kurt Hoy) in the early 90’s focused on the backcountry terrain on the front of Mt Baldy. Or, you can do what I do, which is take the lift to the ski area and walk to the 10,000 foot plus summit of Mt Baldy and ride down the Mammoth like bowls back to the parking lot. The one serious problem with Baldy is the in-consistent snowfall. Some years I have ridden backcountry and lifts in late June while other years it is not even worth going up there at all in the winter. So a lot of you have probably stood on the boundary of the area looking over northern side and thought, man that is some sick looking riding, what is down there? Well, I have wondered that and kind of went to take a look this past weekend by hiking up the backside.

The bottom of the backside pretty much is Stockton flats at about 6,000 feet. You could actually make it to Stockton flats from a wide ranging area, from the Notch all the way to the summit of Mt Baldy. There is a road from Stockton Flats to the ski area, originally built in the 1890’s. There are definitely some straightforward shots from the ski area to the road for a simple hike too back to the ski area. However, the topography is pretty complex with two earthquake faults nearby (San Jacinto and San Andreas) so there are hidden cliff bands, chutes and a ridge that would actually take you away from the ski area. None of this is a big deal if you have the right equipment and stamina to get back, just don’t blast off the backside, get your self lost and blame me. Do your own research and yea there are some easy and sick hike to shots too. So there you go. Just thought you may like to see what is on the other side because over 99% of the people come up the front and there relatively little info on the Lytle Creek side. One year they even had a shuttle up from the bottom to the ski area. Anyway, it was a nice summer hike and hard to believe, no people even though we were near to almost 20 million souls on the 8 mile round trip hike

Here is an article from someone who skied from the very summit, looks like skiing in Tibet or something, no So Cal

http://www.sierradescents.com/skiing/harwood/2006/stockton-flats.php

For info on the ski area
www.shopbaldy.com

I always hated dog people, then we got our own dog now and I love that dog to death. So I am a dog person I guess I became what I hate

To get to the bottom of the mountain you drive on like 5 miles of pretty bad but not quite 4×4 dirt road, definitely not for most cars though due to clearance and sharp rocks

In the right you have Mt Baldy, in the middle Mt Harwood (which off the most “extreme” riding in So Cal other than Snow Creek on Jacinto) and on the left, the “backside” of Baldy

Flowers in the mountains while the lowlands bake

One of the many chutes to ride

Looking towards the I-15 and Big Bear

Looking down Coldwater Canyon, the road we hiked up and on the left, a ridge you could ride

Thunder Mountain, the main riding area at Mt Baldy Ski area, in 2008 they had riding here into April

Looking down the front from the notch to the parking lot including some of the sick inbounds terrain when open all the way to the bottom

Looking towards Mt Baldy summit

“I bought all the corn dogs” On of the healthiest things you can do (hiking) followed by one of the worst meals, corn dogs and beer from AM PM