High Cascade Adult Session 6 - August 2010

The top of Palmer; Above the clouds.

 I have been going to High Cascade for a number of years now as both a youth camper and an adult, and in the last two the camp has gone through an enormous number of changes.

The crew gets ready to shred.

This years adult session featured some of the strongest talent from "old people" I've witnessed in a while.  With a number of improvements and additions to High Cascade's facilities on snow and off, it was a perfect recipe for progression.

On hill the setup couldn't have been crispier.  An abundance of rails, wallrides, medium jumps, and signature creations like the double manual pad, with one showtime booter kept on its own. All of this instantly accessible via the Big Toe (High Cascade's first rope tow added summer of last year).

A good-morning cruise through Main Park.

One of the keys to progression that High Cascade has stuck with is starting each session fresh with all features buried to where falling becomes low-consequence; there is no better way to build confidence as familiar features melt out and grow bigger each day.   

A private lap park just for you. Rails to hip to more jumps!

Backflips into clouds.

The highlight of the session for me was the lap park. While it no longer featured the back-to-back hips I enjoyed last summer, the slopestyle setup of rails between jumps High Cascade went with this year made for some really progressive hot laps.  The kickers were sized perfectly for trying all of the things you weren't completely sure about, and many a first backflip attempt was landed here.

Hiking the pipe, while considered by some a kind of religious experience and chance to become one with the transition, takes a lot out of you.  With the addition of a second rope tow to do away with that endurance test, the adult campers found themselves riding High Cascade's superpipe more often.  Many of us learned to air out of a pipe for the first time, still more even learned to link spins in all four directions off both walls.

Hard to miss, the biggest addition to High Cascade's main park was the airbag on loan from the DC Mountain Lab.  Landing on a cushion of air gives you the balls to do some brave things, and a few adult campers came away with their first backflips board attached.

Chris Hargrave (Green beanie) teaching the handplant "squirt".

An adult-only handplant clinic with instructor extraordinaire Chris Hargrave yielded tremendous results.  Many campers were able to stick their first handplants, and the ones that didn't were well on their way to landing it this coming season.  Words cannot express my stoke in learning a trick that had been giving me grief for three years on both walls of the minipipe.  Cheers to you Chris for making dreams come true.

 New additions to the skate areas.

Off snow the activities offered by High Cascade reached new heights, with a redesigned skate course, completely new bowls to skate, and the all new foampit/trampoline area.

The best part about being an adult camper is the opportunity to participate in "adult-only" activities.  We were given full reign of the bowls and the trampoline course; no kids allowed!  All of the adult coaches came together to teach everyone how to skate the bowls, but the one thing everyone got into was a backflip clinic using the trampolines and foam pit.  Every adult camper learned to backflip that day; some even went on to try doubles, gainers, and rodeos.

Even with all of the fun to be had, there are still some things about camp that need to change.  It's understandable with Mt. Hood being one of the big summer training grounds for professional snowboarders that campers and pros will be sharing the mountain, but watching pro riders hang out with themselves, snake campers in the rope-tow line, and generally be their own entity separate from the camp experience is discouraging. 

This is part of High Cascade that has gotten more noticeable the longer I'm at camp, and considering the average session costs about $3000 I feel like those who have daily access to these facilities can be a bit more sympathetic.  For example, why should the Stepchild team skate with the kids and make someone's session when they can just do their own thing?

All in all, it was a unique experience to see the camaraderie and watch a group of nearly 60 adult campers (the largest adult session to date) of entirely different skill levels push each other to accomplish their goals.  We learned handplants in a halfpipe together, we learned how to backflip together, we skated the bowls together, and when we were done we partied our asses off at DJ Matty Mo's final show.

Rumor has it that with the success of this adult camp, we've proven to High Cascade we are worth the investment and next year adults will have three opportunities to enjoy camp versus the two (first and last session) that have been available in years past.

One thing is certain, seeing a train of the entire adult crew boost every jump in the lap park was once in a lifetime, and the most fun I think I've ever had at camp. Rock on "Old People"!

Bear Mountain 4.18.10 - Closing Day

Typing the date almost feels like engraving the death of a fallen comrade on his tombstone.  Today Bear Mountain shut down the lifts one final time, and while Mt. High and Snow Summit continue to operate for one more week the flame of the season down here--along with most of the nation--remains barely lit. 

Riding my last laps and Bear, I couldn't help but think about all of my experiences this season: New tricks, new friends, old friends, and let's not forget the snowfall of the decade here in Big Bear, CA. So, looking back I asked myself, "What did you learn about snowboarding this year?" And here is what I came up with...

Be As Friendly As Possible; You can learn something you didn't know from anybody you talk to in one five-minute chairlift ride.

If You Really Want It, Wake Up Super Duper Early for Powder; Right after the five foot dump up here, the skies opened to bluebird.  Too bad I woke up five minutes before the lifts opened, and after wading through waist deep powder, digging out cars, etc. I rolled up to the hill at just about noon. Guess what? I didn't slash much powder, poor me.


It Pays to Play; I stayed out of the park for the majority of these last few years snowboarding.  I spent a lot of time playing around on groomers, testing out what I could get my snowboard to do; ollieing, pressing, buttering, flatground spins, basically having fun.  This year I moved to Bear and figured, you know, "When in Rome".  I've learned a lot, a lot of tricks this year without any serious injuries and it's all thanks to time spent mastering my snowboard elsewhere.

Patience is A Virtue; don't end up with a downed kid and a broken board.  Especially try not to lose your temper over every little thing other people do; they are going to do it all the time, and it's easier just to worry about yourself.

Enjoy It All; A ridiculous amount of time has flown by.  Bear Mountain opened in October, and since then each day found me fixated on features I wanted to hit and tricks I wanted to try--you can't blame me, it's hard to do otherwise riding Bear.  So, it's not that I didn't have fun but that I rarely stopped to realize it. It really doesn't matter how much snow you get, if you are snowboarding you are someplace incredible doing something amazing; don't forget to drink it all in every now and then.

Patience Is A Virtue...

 Earlier this season my 2009 Nitro Swindle ran into a bit of a mishap. It was a warmer day, so things were turning into slush. I came up to a flatter spot in Snow Summit's Westridge park and speed was crucial, but lo and behold two kids doing heelside falling leaf between features.

One of the kids veered left leaving the down rail open... or so it seemed. As I entered the ramp and crouched to ollie, the kid changed directions and managed to clip my tail. I fell back and my trusty Swindle took the front of the rail head on, possibly sparing me some serious pain.

SNAP!

There I sat, staring at the insides of my board spewing over the topsheet, with only one thing going through my mind: Why did I go?

Yes, I fell because the kid clipped me, but my board broke because of my decision to hit the rail.  These kids shouldn't have been the park, they made that blatantly apparent, yet I ignored their inconsistent, unpredictable riding and assumed they would not run into me; Well, we all know what happens when you assume.

Of course mistakes like this happen so we can learn, and since then I have really slowed my roll in the terrain park.  Like those kids, once upon time I barely had control of my turns, but I'm glad the more experienced riders kept their patience with me. Everyone deserves their shot at some features, so I make sure to give less experienced riders their space on the hill these days.

And it turns out that patience can really pay off!

Most of the time the park ends up clearing out and I get all of the features all to myself; Plus, not having to worry about other riders around leaves that much more focus for tricks, which makes for a better day of riding all-around.

Counter-Rotation

I remember when my trainer explained counter-rotation to me, adding now that I knew what to look for I would see it everywhere...

Sure enough, chairlift ride after chairlift ride I see about 80% of riders using this technique--and yes it is a technique--the wrong way.

What is counter-rotation? As you probably gathered from the name, it's rotating one thing one way (your shoulders) and another thing the other way (legs and torso).  For general riding and even in the park counter-rotation is just a plain bad habit.

When riding think of your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles as a single unit.  You initiate turns with your knees, hips and ankles, while your shoulders come along for the ride.  Another way to think about it: Your shoulders and hips should keep mostly parallel with the board through your turn.

Riders who most commonly display the symptom of counter-rotation are new, self-taught riders.  You will see them on the hill twisting their upper bodies to create momentum for kicking their back foot, creating a "turn".  Why is this ineffective?  Your weight never stays over the active edge, and you end up with very little control over your snowboard edge to edge.

If you find it difficult to make quick movements, or turn at high speeds, you should look to your shoulders.

In the park, this exaggerates the danger for a number of scenarios.  We've all hit that jump where we flail back onto our ass.  Guess why it happened? Your shoulder was going one way--probably back--while your lower body was getting tossed by the jump. 

The same is true for jibbing; if you counter-rotate during your approach, you lose control over the board as it touches the feature and this time either your face or your tailbone will land on metal...ouch!

I did label counter-rotation a technique, and there is one area of riding where you can slay it if you master counter-rotation: quick, narrow tree rides.  Here, counter-rotation is used to pivot the board in a small space, shaving off speed to maintain control, while the shoulders continue to lead in the direction you wish to go.

This same technique is used in the park to shave speed without throwing your shoulders out of alignment.

I wanted to point out that counter-rotation is very different from pre-winding.  In freestyle riding, you pre-wind by using your core and shoulders to create tension in the opposite direction of a spin.  Pre-winding does slightly change your shoulder position, but ultimately your shoulders, knees, and hips stay parallel with and centered over the board.

And now you know how the pros stay controlled when they huck those 1260s.

Terrain Park Progression

Each time you get off the lift you see the same sign, “Terrain Park”, like a beacon beckoning you to get gnarly…

This time you give in. Instead of the usual cruiser run, you strap in your back foot, give your snowboard a few hops and glide towards another attempt to slay jumps, rails, boxes or whatever else your local park has in store.

When it’s time to start upping the ante, a little bit of patience and common sense can go a long way in leading to a progressive and injury free season in the terrain park.

Warm Up 
Take a lap; take ten laps, why not? Ride switch, do some ollies, try some flatground tricks. Give your body a chance to realize that it's riding before you huck it off booters, it'll thank you.

Scope it first
Even if its a park you hit every day, snow conditions change daily. Check all the features. Cruise past jibs and take a look at the ramps and landings; do some speed runs up to any bigger jumps and get a feel for how the snow is moving that day, the speed you'll need clear, and feel out the angle of the landing.

Start Stock
New tricks can wait until you know how everything hits. For the first few runs you want to do the tricks you know you can land first. This is where you dial everything in; work out the kinks as it were. Clear all of your jumps and slide all your features to the end so you can try some new tricks without any surprises.

New Trick, Old Feature
You are in the park to learn tricks, but remember to pick a feature appropriate for learning a trick on. Most riders didn’t learn how to 360 off the sixty-foot jumps, and it’s a safe bet that you shouldn’t either. The opposite goes for trying new features; always use your stock “I can land this 10 out of 10 times” trick for first hits.

Know When to Back Off 
Instincts are a really big part of the park game. Know your limits and recognize when they are being pushed too far. Nobody gets better at snowboarding laying on their couch injured, so try to get all gung-ho Joe out there. Of course you can’t get better if you chicken out all the time either; here is an entire post that covers what fears to heed and what fears to overcome.

Safety First
We’ve all heard this cliché phrase used thousands of time, either in the schoolyard or the workplace, but who would have thought it applied to snowboarding too? Be aware of other riders. It’s your responsibility to make sure features are clear before you hit them; call your drops and use signals to communicate with others. Respect gets respect, and being conscious of yours and others safety is all part of enhancing your own progression.

The Business of Snowboarding

What is really at stake when it comes to retail pricing?

A recent upset in the retail realm has opened the eyes of the masses as to the deeper issues behind product pricing, leaving some butt-hurt and many relieved...

Allegedly, Sierra Snowboards breached their contract with Burton when they discounted related products far too early and subsequently lost the business of one our industries most well-known manufacturers, plus all incorporated brands (close to ten).  

Now Sierra Snowboards, a heavy hitter in the world of online discounters, is without what are probably their top selling brands.  And how are they spinning the news to those interested? They blame it all on big bad Burton.

Let's look beyond the issue of who is right or wrong and think about what is best for snowboarding.  Here we have a huge online retailer discounting their products earlier than any other online or brick-and-mortar shop.

Snowboarding isn't cheap, and the average buyer would be stoked to get in on some early discounts; therein lies the problem.  If Burton and other companies take a relaxed stance on regulating discounts, the average consumer has no reason not to hold out and buy that $375 board for $199 instead, and in the bigger picture everybody suffers--the online company included.

Picture this:

An online discounter decides to sell their products at their highest discount far earlier than any other shop. 

A small shop is planning to offer the same discounts but much later, as they cannot afford to lose so much money early on and with that much stock. They have no choice but to discount regardless to stay competitive; now they will lose money, which small shops cannot afford to do.

A customer goes to the small shop and sees a board they really like.  They go online and find the board is much cheaper through the online discounter, even though the shop has it on sale as well. The customer buys from the online shop.

A snowboard manufacturer sees that boards are not selling anywhere near their retail price.  Unable to bring in the funds they anticipated, they are forced make cuts in production and ultimately their work force.

The small shop loses some money and places a smaller order the next time to avoid further loss.  Understocked and unable to compete, eventually the small shop closes.

The online discounter does incredibly well, but in placing their next order discovers that the snowboard manufacturer will not be able to match the quantity they want.

Continuing to fall under their projected income as online discounters sell their products far below retail, the snowboard manufacturer makes further cutbacks to stay in business.

One day, the online discounter calls to place an order and is told that the snowboard manufacturer can no longer afford to produce snowboards. Without a product to sell, the online shop is now also out of business.

The customer suddenly has nowhere to purchase snowboards from; in fact, snowboards no longer exist.

This takes it to the extreme, but it does make you think about why products cost what they cost; and for us avid internet shoppers (I admit, myself included), maybe now we will think twice as we type in those credit card numbers.

The business of snowboarding is a symbiotic relationship between manufacturers and distributors; each needs the other to thrive, and online discounters throw off that balance.  Without these pricing models and our willingness as consumers to support what we love, snowboarding hits a brick wall.

Thanks to The Angry Snowboarder for the heads up on this; I encourage you to weigh in your opinions, either down below or directly via the Snowboarding Forum or Sierra Snowboard's integrated forum.

Bear Mountain, Is It Time for Change?

It's been almost 60 years since Snow Summit paved it first trails.  In that time the resort has seen its share of difficulties; from an endless struggle against sparse precipitation to holding onto and building on an already small customer base as resorts like Mountain High entered the competitive ring, Snow Summit and Big Bear Mountain Resorts have always managed to serve Southern California the best riding conditions the area has to offer.

In the 1990s, Snow Summit recognized snowboarding as their most promising investment and the company began putting in hours to innovate and pave the way for terrain parks as we know them today. 

It worked!

Bear Mountain has built its reputation on its parks, enticing riders from some of the snowiest areas in the world to come to sunny, dry Southern California.  They are the only all-mountain terrain park, meaning from the tippie top to the very bottom you can shred everything from jumps, to rails, to pipes in one smooth run.

And the park sure has gotten busy!  Everyone wants to get out there and start doing those sick tricks they see in movies and magazines, and Bear has always prided itself on having something in the park for everyone. So now there is a new problem:

If you've ever had the opportunity, you know how fun it can be to flow through Bear's park--and also how dangerous.  Not dangerous as in, "snowboarding is inherently dangerous", though.

As more and more unskilled--or at least uneducated--riders make their way into the park the dangers of snowboarding at Bear Mountain have escalated to new heights

It definitely isn't a bad thing to encourage progression, but nowadays a lap at Bear or Snow Summit is almost guaranteed to include riders climbing all over jumps, weaving in and out of rails like it was a slalom course, or sneaking up to rest on landings (perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do in a park).

The other day I was forced to pull out of a kicker line when a skier and his son parked themselves right behind the lip.  Where they were, the ramp hid them almost completely.  I knew there were riders lined up behind me and the situation was set up to turn fatal, so I approached the dad to get him off the lip.

"Hey man, what are you doing?  People come flying off these things, you can't just stop on the landing like that." I explained.

"Fuck you! I can stop wherever the fuck I want!" was his reply.

I absolutely love Bear Mountain and Snow Summit.  Nothing beats the feeling of a clean lap through their parks, hitting feature, after feature, after feature, after feature.  That's why I hate having to say this, but things are simply getting too dangerous, and I think it might be time for a change.

Whether that change comes in a more structured park layout or a serious campaign to enlighten their customers about park safety and etiquette, right now we have a company with an all-mountain terrain park telling everyone to come ride it but not how to do so safely.

Bear Mountain, I sincerely hope you will make park safety your biggest focus going into 2010/2011.