So Cal to Idaho and Back Again For the Final Round of the Chevy Grand Prix
Posted by: admin in Chevy Grand Prix, Croslands Life, Snowboard ContestsWe all know that much of the snowboard industry and media is in Southern California even though most of the photos come from all over the world. This is due to the snow industry’s tie with skating and surfing. I often see pros and industry magnates in my journeys to and from So Cal. It seems ridiculous but this is where the industry is. Even pro snowboarders make So Cal home. It is not un-common to see Tara Dakides surfing in Carlsbad, or Shaun White at the Y skating or Todd Richards at the Pannikan. One time I sat next to Keir Dillon and his wife on a plane to Carlsbad and asked about living in Carlsbad. He said that he rides over 200 days a year all over the world and it does not matter where he lives. In fact he said he lived in Whistler for a while that he was on the road so much that he “rides Whistler now more that I live in Carlsbad than when I actually lived in Whistler.” By the way, Keir flies first class. Burton does not pay for it but he has so many miles on United that they just put him in 1st automatically. We were on a small plane without first class.
So here is my journey from So Cal to Idaho and back, a pattern (although not always to Idaho) repeated by many who are lucky enough to make some $ traveling to work in the snow industry.
Friday, in the office, at the copy machine
The 405 North at 4:45 pm Friday night – sweet
Horizon flies non-stop to Boise from LAX. In a few hours you go from mega city to mega un-populated state
San Fernando Valley, 101 freeway, Westwood, Beverly Hills and so on from the plane
Sat 7:30 am – Icy ass drive up the Payette river canyon. Not much snow on the road but icy as a hockey rink. Two cars went off the road
The 3rd round of the Grand Prix took place at Tamarack Idaho, a new resort, having opened in November of 2004. It is located about 100 miles N.W. of Boise in a very low key but rapidly growing area centered on McCall Idaho. You might say it is un-discovered. The resort is very modern and nice and caters to those that can afford real estate there and limit tickets to 2,000 a day. It is like exclusive with out that attitude. According to Jessica Flynn at Tamarack, they were throwing this contest to draw more attention to the resort as they do not want to cater only to the wealthy. They are one of the most snowboard friendly resorts in the state with 3 parks and a superpipe. They want everyone up there.
Gretchen Bleiler said she was “having a great time free riding here” Here she lofts a little random air. There is tons of stuff to air off here at Tamarack. The snow was kick ass all weekend
Twenty two foot tranny’s friends. 2006 X Games pipe winner Steve Fischer said “The big tranny’s were fun but the pipe was not too vert”
Tricia Byrnes – veteran competitor, college grad, fashion aware woman and 3rd place finisher – 360
Mathew Ladley is only 15 years old and rips. His third place run consisted of a Backside Air (shown), front 9, back 5, front 7 and Cab 9. Not bad
The Burton team (like 25 percent of snowboarding) was off in Japan for The Nippon open which is cool because many of the up and comers were here in Idaho. At first I was bummed that a lot of top riders were gone but then it was a great chance to see the new crew shine. No hype, no Outside magazine, no Shaun White Papparazzi’s, just action. Practice was looking sick but then it started snowing and the pipe got slower as the finals started which may have thrown people off. It did not matter though; the contest was so fun and Tamarack did a great job. EVERYONE was so stoked on riding powder too.
The contest riding was good despite the snow. The overall winner of the three contest Grand Prix series got a decked out Chevy Avalanche. Kelly Clark had locked it up in the first two contests and got the truck even though she was a no show. For the men it came down to Louie Vito, Tommy Czeschin, and Steve Fisher. Vito got 2nd and Czeschin got 1st so that put Tommy ahead. Steve Fisher needed second to win the truck but blew his runs. It came down to Scotty Lago, the last run of the day; somehow if he got 2nd then Vito would have gotten the truck over Tommy. Lago blew his run too so Tommy walked away the overall winner.
Sunday was Boardercross day but I decide to ride the foot of new pow instead. It really was a great event with hot action, free alcohol, good food, great vibe, good crowd and so on. Locals were saying it was probably the biggest group of people ever gathered in the county. Tamarack is loads of funs and trading pow turns with the pros was even better. Check it out someday – later. Oh, yea, Monday morning – back at work.
Michael Goldschmidt rocking Head boards
Ben Watts, Indy poke fakes
Steve Fisher was throwing Hammers in practice and I thought he would win. In the finals though he sketched his first hit on both runs. That’s ok he won the X Games, another Grand Prix and got a new sponsor so not a bad season for Stevie
These two kids gave high fives to everyone that walked past. Gretchen was stoked to oblige the fans
Kaitlyn is an up and coming woman ripper
Greg Bretz and Mathew Ladley showing off the pants falling off fashion style so popular today
Scotty Lago was getting Nasty but fell in both his runs, otherwise he maybe would have won
An enthusiastic Idaho crowd was wound up and screaming for the athletes
Kinger owes me money. In his first run he sketched a 5 and over rotated to a 7. I told him since there snow in the flat and it was slow he was over compensating for it on the icy wall, he said “I will try to remember that” he nailed his second run. Here is Robs own trick, the Sato air
The best trick in snowboarding, the layback, by Ben Watts. You ever watch Terje do a layback then go slash some your self at your home park and you will see why it is the best trick.
Gretchen with her Crippler, she dominated all day
Louie Vito did back to back 10’s which should have put him in first but his amplitude was not as great as Tommy’s so Louie got second – fuck it
Tommy Czeschin and his wife right when Scotty Lago bailed which secured the overall title for Tommy
Mathew Ladley says of getting third place “It’s cool; it’s the first time I ever gave autographs”
Podium, l-r, Mathew Ladley, Tommy Czeschin and Louie Vito
Tommy Czeschin won with the following maneuvers: cab 7 nose, f-side air (shown), b-side air, front 9 stale, back 5, front 7
Women
1 Gretchen Bleiler
2 Lindsay Jacobellis
3 Tricia Byrnes
4 Brook Shaw
5 Leslie Glenn
Men
1 Tommy Czeschin
2 Louie Vito
3 Mathew Ladley
4 Jake Black
5 Luke Wynen
6 Michael Goldschmidt
7 Gregory Bretz
8 Ben Watts
9 Jeremy Thompson
10 Rob Kingwell
SBX Women
1 Maelle Ricker
2 Callan Chithlook-Sisoff
3 Christelle Dyon
SBX Men
1 Nick Baumgartner
2 Markus Scharir
3 Alex Deibold
Costs
Gas - $30
Parking - $30
Airfare - $163
Rental car - $50
One night motel (second night, stayed with friends) - $60
Lift tickets - $0 perk of the job (standing on the side of a pipe all day freezing then writing a story next to fat chick on the plane)
Total - $333
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