For the kids I present to you Playboy Playmate of the Month, Feb 2006 Casandra Lyn
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Archive for the Snow & Skate CategoryWhen 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 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
AST Dew Tour - Cleveland Vert Standings after Cleveland Vert Zoo York Am Getting Paid, Montral Canada 2. Ryan Decenzo ($2,000) The town I live in is called Vista and Vista means view in Spanish Saw this big spider walking on the trail Tarantula The Cheap Leis got everyone in the mood with Hawaiian Music. Adrian Demain, on the left here is a good skater, rode for Powell back in the day. On the right you have O who was a Transworld photog back in the 80’s and still takes fine photos for the likes of the The Skateboard Mag. O was also in some really good bands like Olivelawn and Fluf
Second up were one of San Diego’s funnest bands - The Creepy Creeps Surf Music with a Death/Dance twist and dancing girls, what more could you want The Creeps come complete with their dance enforcers to make sure the crowd dances, her is da rat Gettin Creepy on the coffin keyboards. The Nightmarchers where the headline band and the current band of guitarist John Reis. John has been in all sorts of San Diego bands; Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Sultans and more. John is an amazing guitar player and the Nightmarchers were fast furious and tight The Nightmarchers Sunset from the hill behind my house Went for a snorkel in Laguna Beach. My shoulder is sprained so I thought the exercise would be good, it was. Lot’s of stingrays Beanplant at a fun little session Just like the street course the vert ramp was the first of it’s kind. It did have loop de lops or anything but it had some offset sections on both sides. It kind of had some elements of the DC ramp. Danny Way confirmed that too. Why is any of this significant. Well, if you think about it and you probably don’t because vert is “dead” but Tony Magnusson did the highest air on a vert ramp at the Cedar Crest Ramp in Virginia in like 1986 or something. Freakin 22 years ago. While the top 5-10 vert ramp skaters are progressing, below them it is kinda looking dead until recently. With ramps like the DC ramp and the one at Maloof money cup becoming trendy it kind of allows for a lot more creative skating, other than just back to back walls. Bucky was doing nollie flips to tail, Bob Burnquist did insane transfers, dudes could go high, do 900’s, incorporate street elements; it was all insane to watch and it did not even feel like 1986. It kinda seems like skateboarding is coming around to be more well rounded; not just I am a street skater, I am a ramp skater or whatever. All the different aspects of skating are borrowing from each other more and more and that is good. So, needless to say the finals were insane. Everyone got a run then a 35 minute jam ensued. It allowed the skaters to really go for the hard tricks since they were not limited by a timed run. Things were judged mixing day one and day two. For day one the skaters could only hit 8 walls, the action was supposedly packed, I was not there. Lets check out the top 7 on the last day. Keep in mind I am only talking about day 2 when I talk about their placing. I could see Shaun, Danny Meyer and other placing higher with only eight walls. Anyway, Bob Burnquist is an alien he did such wacky shit but fell a lot I guess cuz his skating was beyond 7th place. Andy Mac got robbed I believe, as usual. I think he makes skating look too easy. He did like every version of the 5 you could do, including a varial 5, he did 7’s he used the transfers and got 6th, whatever. Sandro did a 900, a 540 to tail, hit hella speed he would placed higher had he used the ramp more, did I say he did a 900? Danny Mayer got 4th and it was probably the highest placing in his life. It was probably Danny’s kickflip 5 and heelflip disaster transfer that got him into fourth. Now those two tricks were sick but I don’t know about beating a 900, Andy consistency and Bob’s insanity and creativity. On to the top 3. I guessed the top three would be Bucky/PLG/Shaun. Rune Glifberg claimed PLG/Bucky/Shaun, the judges went with PLG/Shaun/Bucky. Lets start with Bucky then. Bucky did his first 7 and it was a boned out Indy 7, maybe the best 7 ever done. Bucky used all the transfer lines, threw in crazy shit like a nollie heel to tail and other stuff. In my mind he should have won but what the heck do I care. Shaun White got second. Shaun skated inane, including a frontside rodeo transfer but Bucky utilized the obstacles more. In the X Games Shaun woulda won. PLG won and I guess I can’t argue with that, he ripped, did some tranfers, 720’s, flips, spins – the whole package Smack! Sandro Dias does a massive Madonna from low to high in practice Bob rules, this is like a varial to lien transfer in practice The golden boy Shaun White was there, air to fakie transfer “Rob Loriface skated the best he has ever skated” – Rune Glifberg, frontside ollie to nose grind, low to high Frontside 5 – anytime. Bob Rune Glifberg 5-0 off the BIG extension Jakey Brown backside ollie in practice Bucky Lasek was one of the few to successfully use these things on the deck of the ramp – back lip PLG does a switch heel 360 and makes it Andy Mac – varial 5 To get to this position PLG negotiated 5 different transitions in 2 walls – alley oop nollie heel Alex Perelson is one to watch for – massive 540 from low to high Bucky Lasek Lincolda Ueda goes big Bob ollies to nose, low to high, going away from the camera Bucky Lasek catches the front cab heel transfer Frontside rodeo transfer You are looking at Bucky’s first 7 and a boned out indy none the less Right after that Sandro did his 900 PLG, Shaun and Bucky on the podium. Dave Duncan reminded PLG that his sponsors will match his prize money, PLG’s eyes lit up and he goes “That’s right!” VERT Paul Rodriguez was pretty ecstatic to win $100,000 on Sunday July 13, 2008. To date, the largest check given out in a contest for skateboarding. Not only did he win a lot of money but he beat the world’s best skateboarders to do it. This contest was no joke. The prelims on Friday were insane and according to Ryan Sheckler the semi finals on Saturday were “like the finals of any other contest. The course was certainly worthy of all world class skaters too. Full cement replicas of some of the most famous spots in the world. So you had the best spots in the world with the best skaters in the world sessioning them for 10 minutes each, needless to say it was intense. Skateboard contests were brought to a whole other level thanks to the Maloof Brothers who own the Sacramento Kings and the Palms Casino Hotel in Vegas. To the best of what people told me they had nothing to really gain by throwing this thing, they just wanted to be a part of action sports. Whatever the reason it was one of, if not the best contest ever. The skaters loved the fans were saying it was the best contest ever after the thing was over so there you go. There were 5 “zones” set up for the finals. Each zone consisted of a famous feature and some little sub features. So there was like the Hollywood High stair set (zone 5), the Carlsbad Gap (Zone 4), The Barcelona Bridge Gap thing (zone 3) and two other zones. The park was built by California Skateparks in a few days and basically designed by the likes of Rob Dyrdek, Erik Ellington, Brandon Biebel and others. The finals consisted of a 10 minute jam on each of the zones from on to five. The Hollywood stair set was the gnarliest and last. Can not imagine skating at the level of those guy for the amount of time they did To explain how Paul Rodriguez was determined the winner we basically transcribe a conversation I had with one of the judges. I said who do you think won? He asked me who I thought one. I said that Chris Cole was the most consistent overall and deserved to win. He agreed with but then said this contest was not judged in the traditional manner. He explained that for 4 of the 5 zones they dropped the low score and averaged the 3 other scores, that counted for 50% of the score. The Hollywood stair set counted for 50% of the score. The he asked me who I thought won, I said Nyjah, then P-rod. He said I was close. Nyjah did the sickest big spin flip to front board on the Hollywood set as the last trick of the day so that was fresh in my mind. However P-Rod tore apart some of the other obstacles and only sucked on one (that score was thrown out) So, that is how he won. I’d say the results were pretty accurate. Skateboarding after all is subject to opinion. I do know that is was insane, hopefully they bring it back. The crowd was huge, free alcohol was given out to the VIP’s and athletes. The way it should be, although there were at least two fights; Josh Beagle sucker punched Corey Duffel and I heard that Bob Burnquist was involved in a fight but that is un-confirmed. Lot’s of stars and such. They also held am contests on the course as well so it got well used. Thanks Maloof’s and all the sponsors! Quotes “It shows that skateboarding can have it’s own contest, with out all the other sports” – Ryan Sheckler “I want a tape of that because Chris Cole actually missed” – Paul Rodriguez Sr. “The best in the world doing video game tricks” – Rob Dyrdek “We were the lowest in high school” – Dave Duncan talking about being shunned when he was in high school to how skaters are like TV stars and have events like this “I hope Paul wins because our family needs the money” – Paul Rodriguez Sr. The Goodyear Blimp and the actual view on the big screen from the blimp. The blimp was delayed going home to Carson because the contest ran a little late. Hey, even the Goodyear Blimp waited for skateboarding Being in Orange County, CA there was certainly a lot of other talent there There were at least three Christians in the finals, here is Jereme Rogers. Hey, where were the Brazilians? Rene Rene doing some correspondence work for Fuel TV “This shirt is so dirty I wore it for a week, even slept in it and did not shower either” – Rene Rene A packed crowd. When the Hollywood 16 started a bunch of people were blocking the fans view and the fans almost started a riot Fucking HEAVY crew, l-r, Greg Lutzka, Andrew Reynolds, Darrell Stanton, Dennis Busenitz, Chris Cole, Paul Rodriguez, Nyjah Huston, Terry Kennedy, Ryan Sheckler and Jereme Rogers. All these guys had to skate through some sort of preliminary to get here, no free pass through to the finals The gloves came off really quickly - Chris Cole – kickflip to 5-0 in zone one Dennis Busenitz killed it in the prelims but in that case they were skating in multiple zones so Dennis was doing crazy shit like ollieing the gaps from one zone to another. The finals, being held in one zone at a time, were kind of limiting to the type of skating Dennis does. He got last but could have doe better with more room to move Jereme Rogers, kick flip to back lip The Boss front flips to tail, Zone one was kinda like the everyday shit you might skate Ryan Sheckler was not his usual self on the first few obstacle but came together towards the end, what the hell, $15,000 will by a lot of $6 orange county drinks at the Orange County after parties LA freight train with Terry Kennedy followed up by P-Rod Greg Lutzka, I got switch 270 to lip slip in the notes Andrew Reynolds front flip towards us, Darrell Stanton manuals the other way and the rest of the crew is some sort of stage of skating the fuck out of zone two, the manual/tech section Darrell Stanton 360 flips to 5-0 Ryan Sheckler half cabs on to crooks to back 180 out – that’s pretty tech On to zone 3 and P-rod switch flips to back lip and you think he pays off the judges? Andrew Reynolds front flips to lip slide this bridge Barcelona thing, I have never been to Barcelona At a “normal” contest Chris Cole probably would have won because he the most consistent overall but the judging was a little different – read the story Greg Lutzka – 270 on to front board Greg Lutzka front flip as a warm up to his sick ass front flip to blunt Nyjah Huston Big Spin flip to front lip On to Zone 4, the Carlsbad Gap. Chris Cole puts the hammer down with a switch tre as Sheckler get’s outta the way Paul Rodriguez switch front flips the c-bad gap replica, where is Kris Markovich? On to Zone 5, the Hollywood 16. This zone alone counted as 50% of the overall score. Do you think LA heads had an advantage? Nyjah Huston – backside nose blunt P-Rod freakin switch crooks Chris Cole – back tail to fakie Jereme Rogers follows the switch trend with a switch feeble Shecks is gonna probably get more chicks this year than you get in your life Terry Kennedy – I wanna say switch nollie to board Nyjah Huston kickflips to back smith Jereme Rogers – switch blunt to fakie Savor the moment, the contestants are up in the upper left of the corner while the fans are stoked to have witnessed what they just saw Chris Pastras with Nicki. These people have the life, they were all “oh where in Hollywood do you live” “Oh I live at (I won’t say where)” “Oh, lets exchange numbers and go out” - bastard, ha, ha. They were all super nice so no excuses for me other than jealousy Paul Rodriguez, Sr. is a famous comedian and ended up being the Co MC of the finals, it was pretty funny and he was super cool so I asked a few questions
more OC talent Greg Lutzka won the best trick in two zones and got his awards handed to him by Lil, John. Someone in the crowd was yelling the stupid “heeeyyyy, yeaaaa” shit Lil John is famous for Lil John was like “whatever” and walked away. I suspect after years of hearing that it would get annoying P-Rod – stoked Right here P-rod is literally thanking Jesus while Sheckler is plotting what chicks to take to the after party. L-r, Sheckler, Terry Kennedy, Jereme Rogers, Darrell Stanton, Chris Cole, P-Rod, Nyjah, one of the Maloof Bros and Rob Dyrdek. Hopefully see you at the next Maloof Event STREET ZUMIEZ BEST TRICK WOMEN’S STREET Game Of Skate Josh Beagle sucker punching Corey Duffell, stolen from web, not my pic but worth a look Shaun missed the first stop of the Dew Tour but all you Shaun White stalkers out there don’t despair he was back yesterday for the biggest prize money contest in skateboarding and he got second against the heaviest and most experienced guys in vert. For you haters out there that don’t believe he deserved it, even Rune Glifberg put the placing like such; 1) PLG 2) Bucky and 3) Shaun. So there you go, he ripped it. look for all the stuff on the whole contest on the skate website
1 Pierre-Luc Gagnon $75,000, a New Ford Flex SUV and Nixon watch worth $10,000 The Maloof Money Cup was one the greatest skate contests to date. Insane course, insane field, pretty much everyone had a blast, tons of money. A complete report soon. In the meantime to whet your appetite here are some photos of the Game Of Skate that went tdown right before the street finals on Sunday. It was pretty insane to see Koston and the others go head to head with Cole Braydon Szafranski swimming down a lane in the game od skate, he did not win but had a good time as did pretty much everyone Steve Berra enjoyed a refreshing bottle of Vitamin water and the Vitamin Water girl enjoyed giving it to Berra Billy Marks does a back 180 on a Chris Cole board. The Ace of Spades is the only card Billy Marks needs Chris Cole is pretty much un-beatable in the Game Of Skate, so many makes Chico Brenes “Eric Koston has a career as a comdian when he is done with skating” – Mark Waters. Here is Eric explaining that one of his trick was indeed a make due to the “style and not technical prowess of the trick” The trick in question was a kick flip with the back foot Alex Mizurov, Eric Koston and two hot girls getting the loving attention they deserve from their boyfriends in the crowd. Notice everyone is smiling too, having fun, they way it should be Eric Koston can still skate Koston, with style Billy Marks with a switch varial heel Billy Marks again with a nollie double heel Here is the $15,000 trick or at least the trick that won the game of skate for Chris Cole – nollie backside 360 heel flip – jeez that is hard to type let alone do The awards ceremony later that night Chris Cole looking for someone or possibly looking for a Wells Fargo atm to deposit his check Game Of Skate STREET ZUMIEZ BEST TRICK VERT WOMEN’S STREET Game Of Skate Duffell was skating well in practice but did not pull it off in the final prelim jam Maloof owns the Sacramento Kings Basketball team and Palms hotel in Vegas. Appearantly he wants to be involved in action sports so he threw the inaugural Maloof Money Cup which started tonight, July 11 at the Orange County Fair. The course was sick, designed by Rob Dyrdek and contained replicas of some of the worlds best skate objects; Carlsbad Gap, Barcelona Gap, Hollywood 13 and so on. The course was cement of the finest nature. Imagine the world’s greatest skaters on the worlds greatest obstacles made out of the smoothest cement. Ok, you get the idea. 12 skaters are pre qualified through to the semi finals. Surely you can guess names like Sheckler, Koston, Reynolds and so forth get a pass. Tonight though 24 skaters were narrowed down to 12 and they meet the pq’d 12 to compete for the 100,000 dollar first prize. Just seeing these guys skate hang out together was pretty amazing. Some of the Maloof friends were there too, like the prince of Saudi Arabia. For the first night of new comp, things looked good, let’s hope some future contests learn from this event. To whittle it down took 3 heats of 8 competing in 2 10 minute jams. One on the left and one on the right with the Hollywood 13 being left out for the finals so people don’t break emselves off, although Peter Ramondetta did break himself off. Here are the un-official qualifying results Terry Kennedy and Eric Koston are stoked to see each other. Koston was pq’d for the semis. Terry Kennedy did not make it past tonight but had a helluva lot of fun back smith in practice Marc Johnson, yes Marc Johnson P-Rod practicing for the semi finals Jereme Rogers does a switch back smith Jake Duncombe was on fire, so much energy. Tricks like this kickflip to nose helped him get the 2nd qualifying position Kurtis Colamonico Kickflips to back lip and into the 7th qualifying position Jake Duncombe 270’s on to a back lip Alex Mizuroz switch heel of the Carlsbad gap Here you have the first place qualifier Bryan Herman with a kickflip to nose Mike Carroll back flips into the semi finals Darrell Stanton made the semis. The semis may be sicker than the finals, actually 270 back lip into the 4th place qualifying position for Nyjah Huston. Will we see someone take out Sheckler Tre flip for Mr. Huston Adam Dyet nollie back heel to lip, he is in the alternate spot, it seems like he should have gotten top 5 at least Marc Johnson - 3 Bryan Herman after his great performance Koston Terry Kennedy – front krooks Dennis Busenitz had some fast creative lines as always and he got the 5th spot-tailslide to fakie Brandon Biebel sees a lot of Sacramento Kings games Tommy Sandoval could win this whole thing, for sure. Half cab to smith Nick Dompierre – back 3 Sierra Fellers and a nollie flip There were quite a few broken boards Sean Malto |
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