Snowboard Colorado Magazine (V3I2)

OCT.
2012
ECHO MOUNTAIN: OVER AND OUT GRETCHEN REVEALS THE CRIPPLER BINDING BRIGADE
R: DYLAN ALITO P: AARON DODDS
Dropping this winter...
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SCOTT STEVENS | SMILEY CREEK, IDAHO THE ALL NEW I/OX GOGGLE
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R: COLIN SPENCER P: JEREMY DUBS L: MT BAKER, WA
ISSUE 3.2
F O R E P L A Y
O C T O B E R
CONTENTS
SCAN TO WATCH THE COVER SHOT IN ACTION.
COV E R RIDER: Dylan Alito PHOTOGRAPHER: Aaron Dodds LOCATION: Evergreen, CO

While last season ended in the dumpster, it sure did start off with a bang. With the earliest opening of Wolf Creek I can remember, and some early season missions, including this pre-Halloween day, it looked like it was going to be an epic year. Well, things didnt necessarily pan out last season, but Im stoked this shot did. Very well deserved for one of Colorados finest, Dylan Alito. -Aaron Dodds
A YOUNG, BROWN, WALSH WAS WORN OUT FROM REWINDS, AND SNOWBOARDING WAS SPREADING LIKE A SPIDER BITE
ITS LIKE BIDDING ON A SWEET-LOOKING 69 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL WITH SUICIDE DOORS
O C TO B E R ISSUE 3.2
16 22 26 28 30 32 FROM THE EDITOR BLUE RIBBON OUTSIDE THE BOX LENSMEN THE CHOP HOUSE SOMETHING.NICE 34 36 38 40 52 64 VIDEO STASH WEVE GOT COMPANY NEW TECH PRODUCT SHOWCASE LAST RESORT STYLE POINTS 84 90 92 78 IF BULLSHIT WAS ELECTRICITY TRICK TIPS ART INSTALLMENT ON BLAST
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12
OCTOBER
snowboard-colorado.com
ONE STYLE. TWO SIZES.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
dragonalliance.com
FROM THE EDITOR
IT WAS ALL A DREAM

Early this past August, Echo Mountain was put up for auction and purchased by Pykkonen Capital LLC, who will be turning the facility into a private ski club. Though it hasnt been directly addressed, its very likely that there will no longer be snowboarding at the mountain. Many snowboarders, especially those from Evergreen and the surrounding areas, warmly embraced Echo and were stoked to be a part of the scene it provided. Over the course of six years, Echo provided a local park, learning area and hosted a handful of events. However, most of the time it seemed like a mountain that just couldnt get it right. Changes in marketing initiatives every year and a high employee turnover may have been a clue, but the few people on the lift was always the obvious sign of their struggle. This day and age, it doesnt take long to hear that people are upset. Sure enough, with the news of the mountains closing, masses of people flocked to social media to express their anger at the sale of the mountain and its future. Because of the huge response, that in some cases was extremely harsh and critical, we found it important to drop our slated feature for the month and dig down into the roots of Echos issues.
WORDS: ADAM SCHMIDT
We were able to speak with many key employees of Echos past, including the former owner and founder. After tons phone calls, a few meetings, and lots of beer, we gathered ideas and opinions from across the board and we lay it out for you in the feature of this months Snowboard Colorado. See you on the hill!
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16
OCTOBER
HOLOGRAM
DISTRICT
photos: oli gagnon
LOUIF S ARADI P
BINDING TECHNOLOGY
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT. BINDINGS THAT FIT YOUR BOOT LIKE A SHADOW.
www.salomonsnowboard.com
this changes everything.
MASTHEAD
OCTOBER
ISSUE 3.2
EDITOR IN CHIEF ADAM SCHMIDT MANAGING EDITOR MIKE GOODWIN ASSOCIATE EDITOR MATTHEW SECKINGER ART DIRECTOR ANDREW LANGFORD ASSOCIATE DESIGNER CODY ADAMS OPERATIONS DIRECTOR BILLY CONNOR PROMOTIONAL COORDINATOR JESSICA SWEETIN ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: JESSICA DEAL ALEXANDRA LOHR sales@snowboard-colorado.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: CHAD OTTERSTROM JEFF POTTO RYAN ROBINSON JJ THOMAS TIM WENGER
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: AARON DODDS CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: KYLE BECKMANN, JEFF BROCKMEYER, MAX CAVANAUGH, JEREMY DUBS, CHRIS GARRISON, NATE HARRINGTON, JON HILL, MOSS HALLADAY, DAN MANNING, ANDREW MILLER, MARC MOLINE, JEFF NASS, CHAD OTTERSTROM, JEFF POTTO, TERRY RATZLAFF
@SBCOMAG
www.snowboard-colorado.com Snowboard Colorado is a free magazine distributed eight times per year, once a month from September to April. CONTACT ADDRESS: 565 E. 70th Ave. 8-E Denver, CO 80229 303-325-3040
Contributions: Snowboard Colorado Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited contributions unless otherwise agreed to in writing. Send all contributions and job inquiries to: info@snowboard-colorado.com To carry Snowboard Colorado in your store please send an email to distribution@snowboard-colorado.com. Copyright 2012 Core Market Media LLC. All rights reserved.
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20
OCTOBER
R: SETH HILL P: DAN MANNING
B LU E R I B B O N
RYAN CRUZE
WORDS: MIKE GOODWIN
D.O.B.: 07/31/85 RESIDES: Silverton, CO HOMETOWN: Gatlinburg, TN
SPONSORS: Never Summer, Smith Optics STANCE: Regular
regular
f: 15 b: -12
24 in.
160 cm.
STOP CALLING PLEASE, RYAN CRUZE DRONES OUT IN SLOW, MONOTONE FRUSTRATION. APPARENTLY ITS BEEN A BIG DAY FOR ELECTION SOLICITATION DOWN IN SILVERTON AND WITH AN UNKNOWN NUMBER, I LOOK LIKE ONE OF THE BUNCH. I was just getting so many solicitors and was like, I am just going to say this and its going to be someone I know, Cruze laughs. I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan a few weeks ago when he stopped by our office. When I first met you, I remember thinking, This looks like a capable dude, I tell him over the phone, hoping that my comment did not come across as some sort of man-on-man advance. But he did look capable. He just came across as a dude that could handle his shit.
I was sixteen. Its been the one and only vehicle I have ever owned, he says. A couple years ago, I was just cruising on the Internet and saw that a couple people had built custom campers on the back of Broncos. Its not your typical truck camper because there is no closing to the back cab of a Bronco, so its kind of customized. I took an old pop-up that goes to a Tacoma and cut the back out of it. Its more of a combined-cab, walk-through. Nice dude, luxury, I reply. Budget is tight man. Its funny, I have been just going to the junkyard and putting it together piece by piece for next to nothing and its actually not too shabby. Hopefully the ol Bronco holds up; the 2,000-plus mile trip Cruze has
Appreciate it. I guess you could say that, he answers. I always pride myself on being able to get after what I want to. And thats exactly what it is. Cruze is not an idle wisher - he makes things happen. Take his Ford Bronco, for instance. Like any man of the road, Cruze knew he needed a truck to serve both as a means of transportation and a shelter. So he started building one. I have had this Bronco since
in store for her aint going to be easy. Cruze and roommate Charlie Hoch spent three weeks together up in Alaska last spring and are planning on hauling back up there this year. We were supposed to get to Baker last year and just never left Idaho, which wasnt a bad thing. But I have still never been to Baker and never been up to Revelstoke, so on the northern migration those will be our two focus areas.
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OCTOBER
Though the boys might have missed the boat in Baker, they ended up making out just fine in Idaho. Meeting up in Prospecting with the folks at Smith, they were the first ones through the gates for the season, breaking trail lines before any of the snowmobiles and cats. We got to ride some different zones with Wyatt and Yancy, the Caldwell brothers, who have been super respected for a long time. So to have the opportunity to hang out with them and the other guys that worked there for the Smith operation was just on point. That place, I mean if youve seen the edits, its everything its cracked up to be. Our conversation continues for a while, bouncing between powder and Argentina, and circles back around to Silverton and avalanches. One incident, in particular, stands out, and Cruze made a point I thought was worth noting. One day last year, Cruze brought a group of friends out to a backcountry zone in Silverton that he had scoped a few days prior. Many in the party were new to the backcountry and they tagged along to hang out and watch what we do. Cruze made sure that the onlookers were in a safe area, outside of the deposition zone, and they got to riding. We ended up putting, like, 20 laps in the face, and finally at about 11:30, as we are hammering away on some of the bigger cliff sections, the whole thing rips loose. The whole face slides after my buddy Sam Steen skis out. Ryans friend at the bottom happened to be filming
the scene on his iPhone and didnt realize that Cruze had propped them up in a safe location. On the recording you hear, Oh shit, is this coming right for us? and then they turn to start running and, dramatically, the phone falls in the snow. All you hear is people yelling and it sounds like complete chaos, says Cruze. But in all reality, the slide came to a stop. We were all there. We had guys at the top and bottom of the line and everything was OK. It just looked real bad on video.
WE ENDED UP PUTTING, LIKE, 20 LAPS IN THE FACE, AND FINALLY AT ABOUT 11:30, AS WE ARE HAMMERING AWAY ON SOME OF THE BIGGER CLIFF SECTIONS, THE WHOLE THING RIPS LOOSE
ISSUE
3.2
23
R: RYAN CRUZE P: MOSS HALLADAY

PAGE
Of course, in this Internet age, the video was online in no time. Its rapid dissemination was not surprising, but the attitudes it evoked were. I take full responsibility. I am the one that picked the area and brought everyone back there. I fully gave them the scenario and everything went down the way it was expected, says Cruze. But at the same time, its just like, Man, I thought we were supposed to have a supportive community where you can share this stuff. Everyone was quick to bring the hammer down on comments.
Even CAIC prematurely jumped on board, posting the video under the label, Here is what not to do. I still never claimed to be the expert or claimed to know it all, he tells me, despite multiple seasons logging hundreds of days in the backcountry. I am always willing to learn, so it really frustrated me when people were just bringing the hammer down. And he is right. It would be nice to see more collaboration and less backcountry elitism. Might be safer anyway. But it doesnt matter really what anyone else thinks. Cruze is going to push forward exploring with the same home-grown initiative that brought this Tennessee boy west in the first place. Growing up in Gatlinburg, it was really funny, says Cruze of his hometown, a cozy tourist nook nestled in the Smoky Mountains. If it wasnt for the North Carolina area, I wouldnt of had an idea of the (snowboard) scene. I attribute my learning about splitboarding and digging things out to this shop back in North Carolina, Edge-of-the-World. Those guys are super rad. They have a mini-ramp in the backyard and the whole setup inside. They just knew what was up. If I just had Gatlinburg, I wouldnt have figured out to go west. You would still be sitting there, eating moonshine cherries, I suggest. Exactly, he laughs. Which isnt so bad. I still got a bunch of friends back home and they still send me out moonshine, so it works out.
I AM ALWAYS WILLING TO LEARN, SO IT REALLY FRUSTRATED ME WHEN PEOPLE WERE JUST BRINGING THE HAMMER DOWN
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24
OCTOBER
R: RYAN CRUZE P: TERRY RATZLAFF
I STILL GOT A BUNCH OF FRIENDS BACK HOME AND THEY STILL SEND ME OUT MOONSHINE, SO IT WORKS OUT
R: RYAN CRUZE P: AARON DODDS
OUTSIDE THE BOX

R: SCOTT VINE P: KYLE BECKMANN
SCOTT VINE
INTERVIEW: MIKE GOODWIN
D.O.B.: 9/13/87 RESIDES: The road HOMETOWN: Crestline, CA
SPONSORS: Arbor, Bear Mountain, Flux, NXTZ, Elm, Active
regular
f: 15 b: -15
22.5 in.
156 cm.
FRESH OFF HIS SECOND SUMMER AT HIGH CASCADE, SCOTT AND I DISCUSS CAMP AND CHILD BIRTH. High Cascade, how long you been there? I worked there for two summers, kind of just a lot for the experience of going there. There is really a big center of the industry there, where products are marketed and kids are directly impacted because they see a lot of pros walking around wearing gear and the next day they want to be wearing that goggle or hat or something. Pretty rad to be in the sort of atmosphere where kids just admire people in the camp scene, whether they are guests or coaches or whatever. It was a good experience. I enjoyed it, but I think I am done there. Do they ask you some funny shit? Oh yeah. When I had my really bad concussion last summer, I was working an in-between group where you just kind of babysit kids between sessions. And usually its a counselors job, but I just felt obligated to take on more responsibility to keep up to par with helping out the camp. I had a group of kids that kept asking Do you ever get sick of being around all those kids? When I first started working there, I wasnt too keen on working with kids. By the end of the fi rst summer, I really liked working with a lot of them. They have very unique personalities and they are all just rad people most of the time.
me the same question over and over and over, messing with me because I hit my head. I didnt eve n c atc h o n u n t i l t h e s i x t h or seventh time they asked the question. How did you decide you were going to film video parts of your own instead of for a video? It just kind of happened. The 2011 video part release that I had ended up being successful just because of what I had done with online
exposure in the past, I think. I didnt have a film project, so we just decided, Let s put out a snowboard part online. Well see how it does. My goal was to try to get about 30,000 views, and it just kind of took off on its own. Honestly I didnt even expect the outcome that I got from it. As of this point, the plan is to continue doing that until I have an offer to do something else. Do you lm with other people or are you a loner? I love filming with people. It creates a group dynamic and everyone is out there to do the same thing snowboard, taking pictures, or film snowboarding - and have fun doing it. Snowboarding, especially nowadays, I feel is more of a team sport when it comes to filming. If you go out with your buddies and they help you out, it is expected
BUT I AM STILL GOING TO EAT THE STEAK THAT COMES WITH IT YA KNOW
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OCTOBER
that youll also help them out next time they need it. The satisfaction comes out of working together to help each other out, and I could never make a video part alone. I like working with other people in that sense, but I will always have an odd way of looking at features sometimes that people wont always agree with. You are one of seven siblings? Yeah. What was that like? A lot of my siblings are separated by age a lot. The oldest are in their 30s and my youngest brother is turning 21 on September 11, and my birthday is two days after. So, kind of like 15 years difference with all the kids. The oldest three sisters were gone a lot and the four boys were always fighting growing up and now we are all pretty close. We have had a lot of weird adventures. Were you the only one actually born in your house? My youngest brother was also born in the house.
Wa s t h a t s o m e t h i n g t h a t happened by chance or is that a preference? It was just planned. My mom got a house maid, not a house maid, what do you call the nurse that comes to your house?
now on. I think its just a matter of getting used to wearing it and riding with it and getting to the p o i n t w h e re i t fe e l s aw kwa rd riding without it, and then it wont bother me at all. Tell me something interesting.
Just dipping your toes in? If I am going out to a restaurant and there is a chance to substitute fries for vegetables, I will do it, but I am still going to eat the steak that comes with it, ya know. How was Park Sessions at Aspen? Honestly, out of all my footage this last season, getting a copy o f t h e Pa r k S e ss i o n s fo o t a g e at Buttermilk felt like it helped my video part most. We had a really great group dynamic with Alex Rodway, Danimals, Brandon Larson, Tyler Flanagan, Mason Aguirre, Madison Ellsworth, and the TWSnow crew. It was great getting to know those guys a bit more and we got treated well as far as getting good light for sunrise and sunset shoots. Park staff helped us out and the park was dialed all week. It was really fun.
Wet nurse? No, that cant be right. Surrogate? Surrogate?
I finally learned to not push mongo (skating) last year. Yikes.
I dont know, I am just as lost as you are dude. I am not getting anything on Google. Yeah, I dont know. It was planned, my birth was too. (Its a midwife, by the way.) O K . I h ave s e e n c l i p s o f yo u wearing a helmet and not wearing a helmet. Do you only put it on when you are scared as shit? I started wearing a helmet after my concussion I got on July 18th 2011. It was actually so bad that I never thought I was gonna be normal again. For the most part, I dont like wearing them, but I am going to start wearing them from
My whole life pushing mongo and I just decided to change it. I finally did it. Well thats good, glad you did. You probably got a lot of shit for that. Ya know, I usually just brushed it off like, Whatever, thats just how I push, but eventually I was like, I need to learn how to push normal. Do you consider yourself a hippie? A modern-age hippie? I love hanging out with hippies, but I love drinking soda too. I am not all the way, like head to toe. I am going to be healthy.
ISSUE
3.2
27
R: SCOTT VINE P: KYLE BECKMANN

PAGE
LENSMEN
PLANTED IN HISTORY
When first approached for this section by Snowboard Colorado, I was apprehensive, since I barely took my camera out of the bag last winter. As you all know, the local conditions were mediocre, at best, and the few things I did have planned this winter never even approached safe, much less stable and fun. So I mostly rode Vail Mountain with friends and decided to work on my tuck-knee slobs. When Old Man Winter decided to basically end his visit on February 29, 2012, I was fully aware that the only pic left on the list to shoot was a late season handplant at dusk. But who should be the appointed planter? Many, many friends have, in my opinion, good handplants. But good wouldnt cut it and great ones are hard to find - unless you know where to look. To find the future, you can always look to the past for inspiration and knowledge. And thats what I did. This is my friend Todd Franzen. He used to be pretty famous a hot minute ago, but not too many people know that. He has all but been forgotten by the shred industry, but he shreds nonetheless. I called him up a couple weeks ago to see if he had a Monday night free, and it was on. This counted as day 12 of his shred season and the first photo shoot in nearly a decade. Just like I knew he would, Todd showed up, threw down, and we laughed all the way to the Qdoba in West Vail. This
WORDS: JEFF POTTO
photo is like his fifth try. As you can see, the man doesnt F around. Jeans, work gloves, flannel, plant hand on the coping, leg extension, stiff plant arm, trucker hat cocked a little crooked. If you want to study a proper handplant, I suggest tearing out this page and carrying it around with you. I want to thank Todd for another great memory.
TO FIND THE FUTURE, YOU CAN ALWAYS LOOK TO THE PAST FOR INSPIRATION AND KNOWLEDGE. AND THATS WHAT I DID
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OCTOBER
R: TODD FRANZEN P: JEFF POTTO
photo: carlosblanchard.com
selenabalconi.com
www.northwavesnow.com
Follow Alvaro on truecolorlms.com
BOARD: DF2 BINDINGS: Reload BOOTS: Zero
INTERATIONAL TEAM
VICTOR DE LA RUE NICK VISCONTI ALVARO VOGEL GIAN SIMMEN MERCEDES NICOLL
T H E C H O P H OUSE
R: NATE DOGGGG P: CHAD OTTERSTROM FOLLOW CHAD ON INSTAGRAM @CHAD_OTTERSTROM
OCTOBER
October is when things start to get serious. The mountain towns start to fill up, with out-of-towners planning on moving to the mountains for the season. It starts to get cold up in the high country this time of the year and there is a very good chance we will get snow. You can pretty much guarantee that at least one resort will open for the season in October. Basically, everybody is really itching to go snowboarding in October. Last winter, Wolf Creek was oddly the first to open in early October, with 36 inches of snow. Normally its a battle between A-Basin and Loveland, and within that battle for first resort to open comes the battle of first chair. I am proud to say that I am friends with the infamous Nate Dogggg, who has been holding down first chair in not only Colorado, but all of North America for the last 16 years. If you have ever watched the evening news on opening day, you know who I am talking about. Thats right, FOUR Gs. Nate also claims pro snowboarder through all the media coverage he gets out of first chair. Claiming first chair gets him more TV coverage than Shaun White at the X Games. And he does it with good style, not grabbing his toe to win like Shaun, but sleeping in his car like a true snowboarder. So, when you see Mr. Dogggg out there clocking vert this season, yell out, NATE DOGGGG, and give him props for holding down first chair. I mentioned Wolf Creek opening before everyone last year. Such an early opening may be odd for Wolf Creek, but what isnt odd is Wolf Creek getting massive amounts of snow in October. I truly have had some of my best powder days hitting cliffs and building jumps down there in October. Its not unusual for Wolf Creek to be claiming almost 100 inches
WORDS: CHAD OTTERSTROM
by Halloween. There is something about the way the snow pattern moves that sends all the akes down south. Wolf Creek is seriously the place to be in October, if it snows. October also calls for the best of backyard boarding. Sometimes its not cold enough for the resorts to blow snow, but it has snowed a bit around town. Theres a good chance you have a buddy with some sort of a rail that he really wants to go set up and ride in half mud. You can usually go up into the mountains and find some place with snow to set up your buddys slider bar.
IF YOU HAVE EVER WATCHED THE EVENING NEWS ON OPENING DAY YOU KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT. THATS RIGHT, FOUR GS
This is the beginning of it. No waiting or going back from here. Once October hits, the premiere season is over and the real season begins. Time to try and forget about everything else and just snowboard everyday.
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OCTOBER
SOMETHING.NICE
FOLLOW JJ ON TWITTER @JJTHOMAS_
UNDER THE WEATHER AND UNDER PRESSURE

Maybe its just because the sport that I compete in takes place during the dead of winter, when colds and other viruses seem to run rampant. Or maybe its just bad luck. But whatever the reason, I always seem to find myself getting sick right before the biggest events of the year. The 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City was a great example of that. Ill never forget sitting in a room with 20 or so other athletes in Salt Lake City, listening to a speech by one of the board members welcoming us to the Olympics and giving us all kinds of tips on what to expect. He said lots of things that I disregarded, but two things he said really made an impact on me and turned out to be the truth. The first was him saying, Its great that you all made it here to represent your country, but I have news for you, and that is that no one will ever remember you even went to the Olympics unless you walk out of here with a medal. I clearly remember thinking, Damn thats kind of harsh, but sure enough he was right about that. The second thing he said was, If you dont feel like going to opening ceremonies, please dont go! I cant tell you how many medals Ive seen get lost there. When he said this, I remember kind of laughing to myself and thinking, Yeah right, who would make it all the way here and not walk in the parade and meet the president. What he was eluding to was that the opening ceremony is a very long and drawn out event that takes place mainly outside in the freezing cold, and if you are feeling a bit run down, you should probably skip it because it is not uncommon to get sick after the ceremony. I went to the opening ceremony feeling tired, and sure enough, the next day I woke up sick as a dog. I remember being so run down during
WORDS: JJ THOMAS
practice that I couldnt complete a run in the pipe the whole time I was there. In fact, the only runs I finished were the runs during the actual event. Most of all, I remember being so mad! I was so frustrated to have made it all the way there and then have this crippling sinus infection taking all my strength and energy away. My trainer, who was there with me, Tim Adams, realized I was upset and gave me the best advice of the week - advice that probably saved the event for me. He told me that there was no use in being mad. He said, The more energy you burn up being mad, the less you will have to compete and get done what you came here to do. He made sure that I made peace with my physical condition and accepted it and moved forward. I am forever thankful to Tim for that little bit of advice. The day of the event was one of the longest days of my life. I started the day sick and ended it even more sick. The drive to the event took an hour. Practice seemed like a week long. Then qualifiers to finals was a day in itself. At the end of a very long day, I somehow managed to get it together to do my run and walk out of there with a bronze medal for the USA. Looking back, it is a day I will never forget. I just want to remind all the younger competitors that there will come a time when you are sick, hurt, or both, and it will be the day youve been waiting for all season. Just because you are under the weather does not mean you cant get it done. I have pulled off some of my best finishes with head colds, injuries, and the flu, and many other athletes have the same stories. Its almost as if when you are down that low and the odds are stacked against you, you find this last supply of physical and mental strength you never knew was there. Lots of times you will be surprised at the result!
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OCTOBER
V I D E O S TA S H
R: DANIMALS F: RILEY ERCIKSON P: NATHANIEL HARRINGTON
Darkside Riders: Ben Bilocq, Chris Grenier, Danimals, Darrell Mathes, Gus Engle, Harrison Gordon, Jake O.E., Joe Sexton, Johnny Miller, Jon Kooley, Jonas Michilot, Jordan Mendenhall, LaurentNicolas Paquin, Nick Dirks Darkside Sponsors: Monster Energy, Airblaster, Ashbury, Banshee Bungee, Bonre, Celcius, Elm, Holden, K2, L1, Method Mag, Nitro, Salomon, Signal, Slash Magazine, Snowboarder Magazine, Spy, Stepchild, Thirtytwo, Vans, WeSC Enlighten Riders: Frank April, Matt Belzile, Alex Cantin, Dustin Craven, Bryan Fox, Will Jackways, Phil Jacques, Jake Kuzyk, Danny Larsen, Bode Merrill, Eero Niemela, Benji Ritchie Enlighten Sponsors: Monster Energy, Arnette, Ashbury, Banshee Bungee, Billabong, Bonre, Capita, Elm, Holden, K2, Method Mag, Nitro, Quiksilver, Raiden, Salomon, Slash Snowboardmag, Spy, Vans Darkside and Enlighten Filmed on Location at: Japan, Whistler, Mt Baker, Alaska, Helsinki, Oslo, France, Avoriaz, Minnesota, Utah, Quebec City, Toronto, Flagstaff, Mt Hood, Michigan, Wisconsin
VIDEOGRASS - THE DARKSIDE / ENLIGHTEN

How do you go about heading up two video projects? With the help of a team of solid guys. Its a lot of work, but with everyone pulling weight, it gets done rather smoothly. I sort of oversee everything, but Hayden Rensch, Gary Milton, and Keegan Salmon head up Enlighten. Myself, Mark Dangler, Sean McCormick, and Riley Erickson head up The Darkside. The rat intro in The Darkside is rad. Where did you come up with that? Mark Dangler and I collaborated on that one. We just wanted something dark and creepy, so we got a couple stunt rats. We were going to go with this other idea, but Mark really wanted to buy some rats and in the end he became the rat tamer. Where were you able to track down snow this year? Well, it wasnt easy, and certainly not cheap. I didnt film in the continental United States once this winter. I had to spend quite a bit of time in Europe and Alaska to keep up with the snow. How do you pick the soundtrack? We try to get as much input from all the riders as possible. Some people are good at finding their own songs, and some people (Jake OE), are notoriously terrible at it. Mark found the majority of the songs this year, and I came up with a handful.
QUESTIONS WITH: JUSTIN MEYER BY: MIKE GOODWIN
Where did the sound clips in Guss part come from? Thats a little snippet from a Tom Waits poem/spoken word deal. Who got broke off the hardest? How? Between the two movies, Id have to say Alex Cantin for Enlighten. He broke his arm really bad, as you can see in the intro. Or maybe our intern Cole Taylor (not FODT Cole). He broke his back at Hood this summer. How tall was the window a tubesock-clad Nick Dirks stage dove from? That was a rather large two-story leap. He somehow managed to land it. He was shooting for the snow bank, but the liquid courage had his judgment a little off and he landed completely flat in the street. What is Frank April watching on his iPhone at the beginning of his part? Just some random Youtube sexy dance action? I guess the story goes ... it was the coldest day of the year, cameras were barely working from the extreme cold, they got kicked out of the spot, and Hayden stumbled upon Frank watching that in the car by himself. Frank is out there! Will you be doing two videos again this year? That is our plan, as of now. There are always some last-minute shake-ups, but as of now we will be doing two full projects for 2013.
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BOA TECHNOLOGY
Most snowboarders can recall the time they connected those first turns. Its a time when that heel-to-toe action you had been working on finally made sense, and became something more than just a repetition of practice. For myself, and many others who have had the privilege to experience it, a different memory in our snowboarding lives is much more prevalent: the first day we rode powder. Gary Hammerslag, founder of Boa Technology, shares this love and was able to translate it into a product that most of you have undoubtedly heard of, the Boa Closure System.
WORDS: BILLY CONNOR
Though they now have offices worldwide, Boas real home remains in Colorado, where they have set up shop in both Steamboat and Denver. The Colorado locations are no coincidence though. Not only does Colorado offer plentiful testing grounds for the many developing products at Boa Technology, but it is filled with like-minded people that Gary feels a close relation to. I love the people I work with here at Boa and I think the fact that they love Colorado is at least part of the reason why we all connect so well. Marketing Director Garret Graubins is one such individual. After
I figured a snowboard would be a fantastic tool for riding powder. It was the closest thing to surfing I could find in the Colorado mountains, explains Hammerslag, a native of Newport Beach, California. He spent a few years in Steamboat Springs during the 70s, where his love for powder riding manifested. It wasnt until the mid90s, when Gary returned to Steamboat, wife and two kids in tow, that the origins of the Boa Closure System came to be. According to Gary, the idea for this alternative lacing system came to him during the winter of 97/98, at a time when he needed to get a new business going before he ran out of money. Hammerslag comes from the medical device industry and had his hand in inventing invasive tools for cardiologists, among other contraptions. However, the initial Boa Closure System prototypes began to take Gary down a different career path.
moving back and forth from Colorado a couple times, Graubins landed himself the position at Boa in 2008. With the Boa Closure System landing in various styles of footwear, the marketing strategies can be extensive. Graubins, however, iterates a similarity you can find across the board. Over the 12 years of business, Boa has developed such a deep knowledge of what works best and our partners recognize us as the experts in boot closure and lacing, he says. Boa Technology does much more than just send off the dials, laces, and guides to their partners. They get involved, development to production. Intense quality control is exercised, and it is not at all uncommon for Boa to visit partner factories to conduct training seminars. When I asked Gary Hammerslag one thing he wished the public to
One of the toughest early decisions was whether to build our own boots or not, answers Gary about his initial struggles bringing his invention to market. After examining a plethora of businesses, including Shimano, Gore-Tex and Vibram, it was decided that Boa would brand itself as specializing in building the worlds greatest precision closure systems.
know about Boa, he had this to say: The really great thing we are creating here is an environment that enables people to do great work and work with a great team of people. If we do this well, we will continue to be successful.
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R: ERIC BEAUCHEMIN P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
NEW TECH
SIMS E-BOARD
Some 16 or so years ago, snowboard innovator Louis Fornier - LoFo informally - was working for Sims, producing boards in Quebec, when he began playing with this concept of imbedded ergonomics. The idea was to create a system that would slightly raise the outside of a riders bindings to better align the lower half of the body, in an effort to save energy and dodge injuries. At the time, Sims was selling wedges with their bindings that were aimed to work with same effect, but the wedge was at this time not a piece of the board. The X-wedge, as the product is now titled, aptly named for the shape of the wedge when viewed from above, continued to develop with the help of Tom Sims, Lofo and a number of others, including a team in the University of Montreals biomechanics facility. This season, more than a decade and a half since the idea was born, Sims will release the fruits of their labor in their new deck, The E-Board.
WORDS: MIKE GOODWIN
The board and the X-wedge, both made of poplar, are cut separately and then assembled into one piece so that the wedge is fully embedded in composite wrap. This layer of e-glass between the wedge and the deck allows for the best possible flex consistency, even with bindings mounted, and makes for a more durable setup. While some product advancements can be a bit tough to spot, this new tech is glaringly obvious, protruding in parallel rows on the top of the deck. Whether a potential buyer believes in the benefits of the X-wedge or not, the boards aesthetic alone will warrant interest in the casual buyer. There are ribs going across the wedge and what those ribs do is, number one: allow the board to flex constantly under the bindings and then also, it does reduce some weight, says Viterri. An interesting aside about the E-Board is the decision to bring this
The E-Board technology is exclusive to Sims, says brand manager and director of product design, Marc Vitelli. It is a 2-degree wedge pretty much molded into the board, and it aligns the riders hips, knees, and ankles better. It eliminates leg fatigue and also prevents injury, as well, because your lower limbs are in proper alignment, as opposed to when youre standing on a flat board, which will tend to pull your legs outside, almost like bow-legged. The wedges extend to the very edge of the deck, on top of the sidewalls, for the best possible energy transmission.
technology full circle and build the E-boards in Quebec, where Lofo is currently based and where the idea was originally conceived. Though shouting, Made in North America, is just not quite as satisfying as the ever-patriotic, Made in MERRICUH, its always nice to see production on this side of the Atlantic. We lost an amazing person this month that helped push snowboarding in so many ways. When youre boarding this winter, keep in mind the pioneers that made all this possible. In memory of Tom Sims, 1950-2012.
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OCTOBER
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BINDINGS
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MENS
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BINDINGS
SALOMON HOLOGRAM
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FORUM REPUBLIC
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ISSUE
3.2
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MENS
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OCTOBER
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ISSUE
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bindings
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LAST RESORT
POWDERHORN
WO R DS : RYA N ROBINSON
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ISSUE
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53
R: JAKE BLACK P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
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POWDERHORN RESORT
NOW PUSHED BY NEW HANDS
SNOWBOARDING EXPLODED IN COLORADO DURING THE 90S. TODD WHIPPED HIS AUDI AROUND BRECK. THE SHRED MEDIA FELL IN LOVE WITH RAINBOW LOGS. AND THE COASTS SPILLED OVER AND POURED OUT THE RESTLESS. THEN, IN THE LAST DECADE, COLORADO BECAME HOME TO THE X GAMES, WOODWARD, AND SHAUN WHITES PRIVATE PIPE. THE SECRET WAS OUT, AND SNOWMASS, TELLURIDE, VAIL, KEYSTONE, AND MOST THE REST FILLED UP. BUT HALFWAY BETWEEN DENVER AND SALT LAKE CITY, IN AN AREA BETTER KNOWN FOR ITS NATURAL GAS, MOUNTAIN BIKING, AND WINE, A NUGGET LAY UNCOVERED, MOSTLY IGNORED BY THE COLORADO GOLD RUSH. THERE IS A SMALL SKI RESORT QUIETLY BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE, A PARK PROGRAM, AND A HOME TO GOOD SHREDDERS. THE CHANGE HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING AND IT IS USHERED BY AN ENTIRELY NEW CREW. WELCOME TO POWDERHORN RESORT. Heading west of Summit and Eagle counties, past the turn south to Aspen and Snowmass, the landscape begins to change. Pines and granite fade to sagebrush and sandstone. The Rockies morph into the high desert of Utah, and the Colorado and Gunnison rivers meet. A valley is created by a triangle of mountains: the Bookcliffs to the north, the Uncompadre Plateau blocks the south and west, and the Grand Mesa rises in the east. Kids in valley elementary schools are taught the Grand Mesa is the largest flat-top mountain in the world. Not true, but it is a big freaking topless mountain, and Powderhorn clings to its side.
There has been a marketing push to lump Powderhorn in with some other resorts, like a gas station grab bag of old candy, but the label doesnt fit. The trip to Powderhorn is one of a kind. It is not packaged or worn by countless numbers before. If you were to take the 90-degree turn off Interstate 70 onto Highway 65, you would find yourself on a two-lane highway that splits De Beque Canyon and weaves with the river. Some of the canyon walls are cupped and bright, like massive amphitheaters putting on a pink and orange light show. After a half-dozen curves, it is easy to wonder if you are lost. There are reports all winter of storms getting hung up on the Mesa, circling and puking, but the canyon is dry. As you wind up the road you pass scrub brush, small farms, and jib-able scrap metal. Like something out of an Edward Abby story, you can almost picture Hayduke looking down from the canyon walls, pissing and yelling. Then suddenly, the canyon spits you out into the small town of Mesa and youre almost back in the mountains. The standard beers are cheap here and its one of the few places on Earth you can still get a candy bar for fifty cents. This is usually where rain turns to snow and the roads can quickly get gnarly. Flags snap above the turnoff to Powderhorn and the view sweeps out into the valley below. You realize here that the view gets real good from the lift. Theres curvedroof condos and stacked firewood on your left and stepped parking lots on your right. Long, video-familiar blue rails connect the lots. Time to rip Powderhorn.
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R: MATT GUESS P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
P OW D E R H O R N
ESTABLISHED: 1966 SUMMIT ELEVATION: 9,850 FT. BASE ELEVATION: 8,200 FT. VERTICAL DROP: 1,650 FT. Last year, Andy Daly and the Gart brothers of Gart Companies, bought Powderhorn Resort for 1.4 million dollars.
ISSUE 3.2
TRAILS: 63 LIFTS: 5 ACRES: 1,600 SNOWMAKING COVERAGE: 21 ACRES LONGEST TRAIL: 1.8 MILES TERRAIN PARKS: 3 HALFPIPE: YES ANNUAL AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 250 INCHES NIGHT RIDING: NO
THE STANDARD BEERS ARE CHEAP HERE AND ITS ONE OF THE FEW PLACES ON EARTH YOU CAN STILL GET A CANDY BAR FOR FIFTY CENTS
R: JOE MANGO PHOTOS: JEFF BROCKMEYER
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R: JOE MANGO P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
worth taking some time here to find some of the other hidden boulder fields just off the main runs. Spots that might seem inaccessible suddenly get good if you poke around a bit. If you are outfitted and SPOTS THAT MIGHT SEEM INACCESSIBLE SUDDENLY GET GOOD IF YOU POKE AROUND A BIT. knowledgeable, theres also some good hikable terrain outside the ski area boundaries. Scattered gems are easily worth the hunt and these stashes make Powderhorn ride much bigger than the trail map would indicate. After breakfast at the Sunset Grille or coffee at the Slopeside, slide through the lift line, where most days you wont wait and warm up with a couple laps off the Take Four lift. Maverick is a good choice - a giant half-funnel with trees and rocks clinging to the walls that make it look like a hand-shaped throwback pipe. Or take Bills Run to mid station and make your way to the park. If it has snowed, get a few laps on Yoo-Hoo, Powderkeg, the Racers Glades, or the Showdown trees. Weekdays there is rarely competition. Maybe just an instructor popping crails off anything that will hold still. Devun Walsh probably doesnt know it, but he played a part. He If it happens to be busy after a good storm, ride or make the short traverse over to the West End lift. Youll find fresh tracks and decent pitches on Sweet Misery or Mudslide. Most of the established trails on this side of the mountain clamshell around tight evergreens and aspens that hide fun, steep shots and poppy, wide-open glades. Its came though Grand Junction once early on. Like, Shortys-crew era. He didnt ride Powderhorn, no doubt on his way to deeper spots, but he signed a deli menu for a lift-op that got handed around a crew of skateboarders. After a few months, the signature was nearly unreadable, A Young, Brown, Walsh was worn out from rewinds, After youve explored, head back over to the Take Four lift for mid station Peace Park laps. Get comfortable on the lift, youll be on it for a minute. There are no high-speed quads at Powderhorn yet, but lifts, snowmaking, and runs are all slated for change. For now, calm down and chat someone up. The cool thing about a sprout like Powderhorn is youre still close to its roots. Youll probably hear something about snowboardings beginnings here on your ride up.
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R: MICHAEL WICK P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
and snowboarding was spreading like a spider bite. Until this, there were only a couple snowboarders at Powderhorn, cruising around on asymmetrical Nitro and Mistral race boards. But that first skateboard crew and a few others started ripping out rails and jamming them in spots that were easier to jib, the same way Summit County crews had done five years before. Plate bindings on narrow-ass boards were suddenly outnumbered by baseless Prestons and orange Rehberg pro models. Powderhorn got the shred worlds hand-me-downs until Grand Junction shops like Brickyard Snowboards and Gene Taylors stepped up and made things current. These shops were the first to support snowboarders, and nearly twenty years later, Gene Taylors still does. Casey Woodmansee, Charley Schmaltz, and Chad Tolley rode the rising tide and spread Powderhorn-grown snowboarding through Summit County, California, and Mt. Hood. This crew, like so many, was on the edge of something during the boom years when a Transworld mag could kill a cat. Then the tide receded, taking companies and semi-pros out to nothing. But it all rose again, and it brought new rippers; Powderhorn local, Mark Hoyt won the 2012 Aspen Open. And theres that rare bean
Micah Hoogeveen. Before leaving his mark in Montana, Washington, and ripping at the World Freeride Championship finals in Alaska, Hoogeveen had multi-season winning streaks at Powderhorn comps. And there is a new wave that is making the park scene their own. They are hiking, filming, traveling, and killing it. The change and growth at Powderhorn is assisted by new ownership and management, and is fueled by a growing Grand Junction and a booming Colorado Mesa University. It is directed by people with giant, octopus tentacles reaching back into the industry, Colorado and out. They have infrastructure plans that will boost the competitiveness and appeal of the mountain. This capable crew comes from all over: Crested Butte to Vail, Copper to Angel Fire.
LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF AN EDWARD ABBY STORY, YOU CAN ALMOST PICTURE HAYDUKE LOOKING DOWN FROM THE CANYON WALLS, PISSING AND YELLING
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R: JOE MANGO P: JEFF BROCKMEYER

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A TRIP TO POWDERHORN IS SORT OF LIKE HEARING THE CLASH FOR THE FIRST TIME. ITS RAW AND SURPRISING, UNIQUE, AND DATED, BUT HAS SO MUCH ENERGY AND PROMISE
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R: MATT GUESS P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
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The park crew has boots on the ground and is waging a war to build an ever-better program. There is still that sort of feeling when you slide though the lobster trap that snowboarding is new. You can stop and help slide a rail into place. You can talk to them about wu-to-tang ratios and rhythm sections. You can ask about Todd or Travis, Subjekt Haakonsen or Art of Flight, the Mine Game, or Switch Dice. There is no pretentiousness and not much localism. This commitment to building a quality park began three years ago with Joe Pope and his dogged, unflinching commitment to snowboarding. This dedication has been carried on since Pope moved on to Summit at Snoqualmie by the Head of Slope Maintenance, Dave Smith, and the strong kungfu of Adam Evarts. Post-shred you can cruise the 35 or 40 minutes to Grand Junction When the lifts close, get a beer. Depending on your tip, the bartender might sing you a Randy Travis tune. But dont take your boots off yet. Take a ride a few miles up the road to old Powderhorn for the hessian session. This is where Powderhorn began years ago with a diesel engine and a rope tow. It remains a fun mini-shred. There will be dudes in pickups that will lap you to the top of the old resort and there will be sketchy jibs and jumps and dogs and whiskey-lubed tubers. On a weekend, you wont wait long for a ride. But this is the bunny hill. If your hamburger calls for guaranteed fresh lines, take a full day and head towards the top of the Grand Mesa. Here, there are layer-cake-like steps and big, wooded knolls that make for short-but-quality lines. This is where it gets good. Its deeper, and spots here are higher than Vail pass. If you have avalanche gear, the Traditional owners and a family customer base have kept things quiet and consistent in Powderhorns past. It has long been somewhat dormant and a little behind. There have been pop-fence jumping, leash law, and backflip arguments. But a tenacious few began a shift that is now pushed by new hands. There is a collective reach toward the future with a serious commitment to keep things feeling local. The secret is out and its a shiny little nugget. A trip to Powderhorn is sort of like hearing The Clash for the first time. Its raw and surprising, unique, and dated, but has so much energy and promise. and, especially late season, have time for a skate in one of the lit skateparks. Or hit up Palisade. For a little town, it does partying well and is easily navigated by skate. Theres a distillery, brewery, even a meadery, which is awesome enough to look up. proper knowledge, and a bug to explore, you can get access to some quick, steep shots, drops, and lots of pillows. You could compare these spots to a mini Jackson Hole, but theyre still accessible enough that you can travel through the levels for miles lapping new lines. DEPENDING ON YOUR TIP, THE BARTENDER MIGHT SING YOU A RANDY TRAVIS TUNE
R: MICHAEL WICK P: ADAM SCHMIDT 60
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OCTOBER
R: JAKE BLACK / MICHAEL WICK P: JEFF BROCKMEYER
PHOTOS: DARCY BACHA
JORDAN/AGENT LUCAS/MOD BJORN/REVERB
s T y l E
p o i N t s
r: randy vannurden // p: aaron dodds // l: denver, co

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s T y l E
p o i N t s
r: chad otterstrom // p: jeff brockmeyer // l: breckenridge, co

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s T y l E
p o i N t s
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r: brendan gerard // p: jon hill // l: denver, co 69

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s T y l E
p o i N t s
r: adam dowell // p: andrew miller // l: silverton, co 71

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HOW A HALF-BAKED CONCEPTION AND MYOPIC VISION DOOMED ECHO MOUNTAIN
IF BULLSHIT WAS ELECTRICITY

I T WA S A N OV E L I D E A R E A L LY. A N A L LMOUNTAIN TERRAIN PARK, JUST 35 MILES FROM DENVER. A BAR WITH CHEAP BEERS AND BLASTING BIGGIE BEATS. A LOUNGE WITH MICROWAVABLE BURRITOS AND BIG SCREEN TVS AND XBOXES. SOUNDS GLORIOUS. YET, WHEN SUCH AN IDEA IS CONCEIVED AND INITIATED BY PEOPLE WHO DONT SNOWBOARD, WHAT YOU GET IS A PILE OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE ECHO MOUNTAIN PARK.
WORDS: MIKE GOODWIN
WE DIDNT REALLY HAVE A FIVE-, 10-, 15-YEAR PLAN
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I STOPPED BY, SAW WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SPOT IT WAS, AND WENT TO THE AUCTION AND ENDED UP BUYING IT
I n 2 0 02 , J e r r y Pe t i t t , a M a r y l a n d - b a s e d entrepreneur and former president of Choice Hotels, purchased the 226 acres that was once Squaw Pass Ski Area for an attractive $700,000. I happened to see the land up at Echo for sale, actually by auction. I stopped by, saw what a beautiful spot it was, and went to the auction and ended up buying it, says Petitt, who grew up in Colorado and owns a second home in Aspen. Following the buy, Petitt attended a National Ski Area Association meeting in San Diego, where the congregation was bussed out to a local skateboard park and sold on a skateparkbased model for the mountain. This is your future, was the message. You need to be dealing with these kids, except on snow. Consequently, Petitts oldest son, Eric, was enrolled at the University of California-Berkeley at the time and knew of a guy who was tearing voraciously through any ski area development texts he could lay his hands on. Doug Donovan w a s h i s n a m e . D o n ova n s u p p o r t e d t h e skatepark model and began putting together a business plan for the Petitts. Just like that, Jerry Petitt had his first two employees.
Though for all its ease and feasibility, it was a move that set Echo off on the wrong foot from the get-go.
- People wont mind that it takes almost an hour to drive 35 miles from Denver. - These core kids that are our target
Donovan is a bright man, indeed, a graduate of the University of Virginia with an MBA from the Haas School of Business at Cal Berkeley. He now serves as the CEO and co-chair of Interplay Energy, a company that develops training and testing applications for clean energy employees. By the time he joined Echo, he had already achieved some entrepreneurial success developing the media software, Smashcast, and growing the company from two guys in a basement to 30 employees. But despite his ambition and beaming record, Donovan did not have any firsthand experience managing a resort. More importantly, he was not a snowboarder and did not have a firm enough grasp of the culture and clientele he was targeting to succeed with the terrain park paradigm set forth. A number of assumptions were made in preparing Echos initial business plan that set the stage for a tumultuous six-season stint as a resort.
ISSUE 3.2
m a r ke t a re g o i n g to s p e n d a d d i t i o n a l dollars once they reach the mountain. - Riders are just going to leave Breckenridge and Keystone and line up at Echo. - We need expensive items in order to create a desirable park. A Google maps search puts Echo M o u n t a i n Pa r k a n eve n 3 6 m i l e s f ro m Denver, an appealing number no doubt. The problem lies however, in that it takes about 50 minutes to conquer those 3 6 m i l e s , t h e f i n a l 1 2 o f w h i c h we ave back and forth through a seemingly endless succession of tight turns. For an adventurous driver, the haul up may not be much of an issue, but for a lot of people it was a deal breaker. With a little bit of snow on it, its one of the diciest roads ever, says Nick Brewer, who rode for Echo for a number of years.
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I t s i m p l y wa s n t wo r t h a l l t h e w i n d i n g , accelerating, and breaking when it only took 10 minutes longer to reach Loveland and only a bit more driving past that to get the to Keystones award-winning park. Echos park would have had to be so good that saving about 45 minutes round trip (if you had gone to Keystone) would be worth sacrificing a day in Keystones park. Simply put, Echo was not on that level. I know firsthand the enormous amount of thought, t i m e, a n d e f fo r t t h at M a rc M o l i n e, Ke l l y Bennett, and the rest of the people involved with the park put in. Unfortunately, many of the problems with the park, or causes of problems with the park, were out of their control. To start, the slope was too steep. Its not that it was impossible to build a park on something that steep, but achieving the caliber setup that would be needed to be competitive called for much more snow than was available. If we had massive amounts of snow that we could build 20-foot-long run outs off of the rails, kind of a terrace into the hill, utilizing the snow, it would have been easier to do, says Marc Moline, who came on board at the beginning of the 06/07 season to head up creative and terrain park duties. But with that little bit of snow, trying
to get rails level and still provide a long, mellow runout was really challenging from a grooming perspective. Both the scope and quality of Echos snowmaking capabilities were sub-par. They had rights to about 12 million gallons of water, about 37 acre feet, as that volume is measured, nowhere near the amount used in other terrain parks. The amount of snow we were able to make all season was probably a fraction of what a park like Keystone or Breck or Vail or anyone else would use in their terrain park. We are talking, like, a couple of their jumps equalling our entire snow-making allowance for the season, says Moline. In a perfect example of the glossy fronts that were commonly sold around the mountain, Jerry Petitt firmly denies that water was an issue. We never got above about 75 percent of that water usage in any year, says Petitt about Echos consumption of the water they had rights to. We were always substantially under our max and could have blown feet more snow than we did. We didnt find it necessary, so we didnt do it. Even if the amount of water was not an issue, there were only five snow guns and two old SnoCats up there to produce and shape the snow, and they were rarely all in working order at the same time. Though Jerry talks of their, first-rate snowmaking, I am not sure how they expected their staff to create a park to rival the others on I-70 with that kind of equipment. You may be wondering, if only 75 percent of the water was used, and the park guys say they need more snow, why not at least chip away at your problem and use the rest of your allotted 25 percent? Most likely, it was a cost issue.
BUT WITH THAT LITTLE BIT OF SNOW, TRYING TO GET RAILS LEVEL AND STILL PROVIDE A LONG, MELLOW RUNOUT WAS REALLY CHALLENGING FROM A GROOMING PERSPECTIVE
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Echo Mountain is off the power grid and had to produce all its own power from a massive diesel generator. In fact, the original snowmaking operation was planned on a greater scale, but Echo was in such a financial hole from its inception that snowmaking costs were scaled back. They were so far over budget with the actual building of the buildings, putting in the lifts and all that stuff, says Chris Harris, the third employee Jerry hired on, who filled numerous roles during his tenure. They projected X number of dollars to open the place. By the time the project was 75 percent complete, they had doubled the original projection. We are talking millions of dollars over the projected initial budget. Scaling back snow operations was likely seen as a way to recoup some of these losses, but again, in order for Echo to be competitive, there was no room for cutting corners in the park.
driven to Echo and gone home without ever snowboarding because it was just too brutal. It was definitely an extreme and exposed environment for snowmaking, says Moline. It was also assumed during the planning stages that visitors would spend an additional amount of money when they came to Echo, $50 per customer, per visit. If a person has to purchase a lift ticket, yes, they will probably spend the $50. But what about pass holders? Expecting your average middle-aged, skier to spend that much on each visit is hopeful at best. Expecting such an outlay of cash from their targeted demographic is insane. It should not have been lost on anyone that these snowboarders who were expected to show up, the type that would come to ride this supposed badass, allmountain hangout, do not spend money. In fact, they go great lengths to prevent spending money, bringing food and beers from home, eating free shit like saltines, or just generally
R: BEN BOGART P: JEFF NASS
Just as he denied the water concerns, Jerry flat out denies that expenses were ever any greater than anticipated. No, they were right in line with what our original plans were and we continued to upgrade right to the end, he explains. While I dont have physical evidence to say for certain that one party is correct, regarding operating costs or water usage or whatever it may be, what is repeatedly obvious is the disconnect between ownership and staff. A last physical challenge lay in how exposed Echo was. Heavy winds frequently tore through Echo and the snow pack often felt more like hardened steel. I can admit that I have
ignoring the hunger and smoking more cigs. They are only going to buy the cheapest beer you sell. They are not going to buy anything expensive at all, says former marketing manager Leigh Ann Peterson. Even if said rider was to buy a $3 dollar burrito to compliment his $2 PBR, it should never have really been looked at as a reliable source of revenue.
WE ARE TALKING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OVER THE PROJECTED INITIAL BUDGET
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WE GOT A LOT OF PRESS COVERAGE, BUT NOTHING TO REPLACE MARKETING TO VARIOUS CONSUMERS
There was also the assumption that people were just going to show up. I think there were unrealistic expectations from the very beginning that we are just going to start turning the lifts and people were going to come, says Molly Mueller, who handled a number of tasks between 2008 and 2011, including serving as marketing director. It was more like the doors opened and the lifts started turning and the crickets chirped, adds Moline. As Echo planned to open, a major marketing effort would have been needed to yank customers from Keystone, Breckenridge and gain the sudden, mass mob of park kids Echo expected financially. But that was not part of the proposed budget. They were counting on the initial buzz of the opening of an all-park mountain in Colorado to sort of float it for the first couple years, and we got a lot of press coverage, but nothing to replace marketing to various consumers, says Harris. Instead, loose claims were thrown around about how core and badass this new
park was going to be, claims that were not reflected in the offered product. Maybe exactly what constituted badass was misunderstood by ownership and upper management. Badass to snowboarders, does not mean expensive. Was the massive, rocket-launcher shaped feature with Echo laser engraved in the side fun to ride? Yeah, kind of? Was it worth the $10,000 or so that was spent on it? No fucking way. It seems there was an unnecessary marriage present in the minds of the higher-ups between spending top dollar and creating an amazing park. (There were a number of features on the mountain with staggering price tags.) From the beginning, it was decided that outside help would be sought in designing and building the park, since the Petitts and Donovan had no knowledge of how to do so. In turn, large expenses were incurred early on to bring on Planet Snow for park consulting. I a m n o t i n a ny way s ay i n g t h a t P l a n e t Snow does not provide a good service, just suggesting that in Echos position, it would have been far wiser to get a few talented inhouse welders to build custom pieces and salvage the rest of the materials from scrap yards. I mean the amount of money that
they spent on stuff in year one, when I went back and was kind of like talking through some things going into year two, it was like, Wait what, are you serious? says Moline. Lift towers, Jersey barriers, old handrails and the like, are cheap to buy and provide plenty options. And Echo did do this to an extent; they had a few junkyard jibs, but they also had plenty of unnecessarily expensive features that did not hold their value. Another down bar would have been fine. With a failed initial model, the chaos just continued to roll at Echo. Donovan and Eric Petitt had jumped ship before the completion of the first full year, and by the end of the second full season, having only attained about 27,500 skier visits in two years of operation, the house was divided. When they started talking about expanding its scope after not giving it a chance to get off the ground, people became disillusioned, says Harris. Instead of an exceptional snow park, Echo was home to a staff that was being sold an idea they hadnt signed on for, a weak following, and a ton of sunk investment. From there through to the end, it became a scramble for quick fixes to cut costs and grab revenue.
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OCTOBER
R: COLIN SPENCER P: MARC MOLINE
R:MARC MOLINE P: MAX CAVANAUGH
THEY ARE ONLY GOING TO BUY THE

Mueller. I dont know the answer to that, in all honesty. I dont think any given concept was given enough time to fully develop in its infancy, and in terms of a business, Echo was still sold in its infancy. There is an obvious frustration among the former marketing staff, and there are lots of them to talk to. Echos last year in operation saw three different marketing managers. While Petitt chalks it up to new opportunities or poor performance, it seems likely that a lot of people were hired on, micromanaged, and handcuffed in doing their jobs. Then either they quit out of frustration or were fired because they had given up, realizing their efforts were being squandered. I wonder why they hired me, says one employee. They knew what I was going to come in and do. Why hire me if you are just going to disregard what I present. With such high turnover, it was impossible to put together and act on any longer-term marketing plans. I think thats where some of the challenges also arose. Just not having a consistent marketing message or consistent marketing voice, says Mueller. Again, it was short-term rewards over longterm goals.
One former employee lends a story where Jerry Petitt is leading an important staff meeting, and instead of guiding the gathering in a discussion of major concerns, Petitt is brainstorming ways to tweak table arrangements and squeeze a couple more people into the cafeteria. Jerrys focus was never in the right place, the employee says. Always short-sighted to save a buck. With the park on the back burner, Echo stumbled forward, now looking to appeal more to families and first timers who preferred the laid-back feel of Echo over the circus of monster resorts. This model was well received by those in the know, but getting their new image in the publics mind took some time. It took us four years to really get over into that, We are more of an all mountain, for everybody, says Cindy Dady, the general manager from July of 2008 on through August of this year. Because the marketing switch was gradual, the middle of Echos life was kind of a muddled marketing mess, as they stretched themselves thin trying to appease polar opposite demographics. While we tried to be all things to all people, it begs the question, could we be all things to all people? says
CHEAPEST BEER YOU SELL
ISSUE
3.2
79
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R: SETH HILL P: CHRIS GARRISON
It seems that as revenue continued to fall short of hi mark, Petitt turned what was
It seems that as revenue continued to fall short of his mark, Petitt turned what was once an
You never really knew what was going on, says a former marketing manager regarding mountain operations. They would tell you t h i n g s to yo u r fa ce t h at yo u k n ew we re definitely not true. Everything about the place was shady, chimes another. There was a lot of misleading going on up at Echo, even up to the final sale, with the brochure that was offered to potential buyers featuring a photo of mountain biking that wasnt even taken at Echo. Or take Echos trail count for instance. You can harp on about 15 trails all you want, but any visitor quickly realizes there are only a few. Fast forward to the most recent season, with the help of Mother Nature, Echo realized their best season yet, amassing 32,000 skier visits. Still, they were far short of the 50,000 visits they projected were needed to break even. We all knew that to get us to that next level, we needed the tubing hill, says Dady. The tubing hill would have been the magic feather. We had figured that the first year, without really, really promoting tubing, we would have saw an additional 67,000 visitors.
WHILE WE TRIED TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE, IT BEGS THE QUESTION, COULD WE BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE?
In its current state, Echo could not hold those numbers. The lodges were not big enough and there was no kitchen, a fact that severely hampered their ability to generate revenue from food and beverage. To me it was all about the customer experience, says Dady. If the tubing had done what it would have done, everybody would have been hating me because you would have never gotten to park. The only easy way to get on the hill would have been a season pass, because tickets would have been choked, and food and beverage would have been virtually impossible other than at 9:00 in the morning. To move forward reasonably, another capital investment would be needed, and at this point Jerry was all tapped out. Its like bidding on a sweet-looking 69 Lincoln Continental with
open forum into more of a dictatorship, with Dady as his yes man on the mountain, implementing his visions. Unfortunately for everyone else involved, they were visions of a man that was drastically out of touch with his staff and the realities of running a resort. We didnt really have a five-, 10-, 15-year plan, says Petitt frankly, which begs the question, what was Echo exactly? Jerry is a man that has done well for himself as a business man. With all the hurdles to jump and the gross miscalculations, it is really tough to put a finger on his reasoning for the endeavor. Was it the venture of a man who was so eager to own a resort that he ignored the immense obstacles that would need to be overcome? Was it a calculated built-to-fail business to be used as a tax write-off ? Or was it more of a hobby, similar to restoring an old car, a fun project to undertake with the added bonus that he got to employ his two sons?
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suicide doors, says Dady. You have your 10 grand in your pocket and you know its gonna take 12 to buy it. You just cant do it, and that is where he was at. Had this model been properly planned for from the beginning, it well may have worked, but Echo was a far cry from its original being and the infrastructure was not there. Having already sunk millions of dollars and nearing his 67th birthday, Jerry decided it was enough. On the heels of a successful season, with losses in the hundreds of thousands instead of millions, he saw a prime opportunity to sell and he seized it. It was the best year for them to make that sale. You couldnt guarantee that we were going to have awesome snow again, assures Dady. The lot was purchased this past August in a sealed auction for an undisclosed amount by Pykkonen Capital LLC. It will now be used as a private ski club. It should be noted that there was a lot of good that came of Echo. In just six seasons, Echo garnered a strong local following, a devoted bunch that will certainly miss the place. People are not pleased at all, Jamie Levkoff, owner of the Evergreen snowboard shop Hills and Rails, says of the closing. For locals, it was a place that felt a little more like home, a place they took personal pride in. From
immediate neighbors to Evergreen to Idaho Springs, the whole community just embraced Echo so completely, says Mueller. I was really impressed with how everybody just wanted to be a part of Echo being successful. It was a place for young riders like Chris Corning and Isaiah Woodworth to grow and develop and an opportunity that many former employees were able to use as a stepping stone to other careers. Can a small, all-mountain park succeed in Colorado? Possibly. Maybe in a place much further from competing mountains as Chris Harris suggests, like Greeley, where a terrain park is more of a need than a want. Maybe at a location that is not quite as exposed and doesnt come with a slew of physical limitations. Maybe in a situation where there is not an enormous operating cost. Maybe in an environment where there is transparency, from top to bottom, and the future is properly planned for.

CAN A SMALL ALLMOUNTAIN PARK SUCCEED IN COLORADO?
ISSUE
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photo: pasi salminen
EIKI HELGASON MODEL

I have always been a fan of trippy art. I think the bindings came out awesome and the best thing is that they t your boots right out of the box EH. Switchbacks are the rst modular binding system. Tweak the t without tools and switch between high back and no back in seconds. With ve components and over 3000 possible colour combinations, you are sure to nd yours.
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TRICK TIPS
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FRONTSIDE CRIPPLER 540 WITH GRETCHEN BLEILER

Alright, so for a frontside crippler 540, you want to enter the wall on your toes and set your line from your toes across the flat bottom. Right before youre landing, you Then, as youre approaching your frontside wall, you want to let go a little bit and just send it down the wall. Set it down and heelside edge out As youre approaching the lip, you want to think about spinning and accelerating your legs at the same time. Initiate the trick right at the lip, and its sort of that rotation and leg acceleration at the same time that helps you get the trick around. G ra b b i n g i n d y w i l l h e l p ke e p you compact in the air. As youre AND A BIG TIP; THE MORE ANGLE YOU HAVE DOWN THE WALL, THE EASIER ITS GOING TO BE TO GET THE TRICK ALL THE WAY AROUND BECAUSE THE MORE ANGLE YOU HAVE, THE MORE YOUVE ALREADY ROTATED. onto your backside wall. want to make sure you rotate the spin all the way over onto your heelside edge. upside down, you can sort of look below you and see the lip pretty much the whole time.
R: GRETCHEN BLEILER PHOTOS: AARON DODDS 85
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- A COLORADO COMPANY -
M A N T I S U N I T E D . C O M
UNITED IN DESIGN UNITED IN PROGRESSION UNITED TO SHRED
VIVA LA SHRED
wi-mesnowboards.com facebook.com/wimeshred
A R T I N S TA L L M E N T
PETE WURSTER
This summer we got to spend some time with local Coloradoan, Pete Wurster, founder of Unity Snowboards. We got to hear all about what he is up to, whats happening with the company, and get a profile on a board we are looking forward to seeing this season. Where are you originally from? I grew up in Tacoma, Washington and Appleton, Wisconsin. Where do you currently reside? Silverthorne, Colorado. How long have you been in the snowboard industry? I started snowboarding in 1986 back in Wisconsin. I have been working in the industry since the winter of 95/96. How has this industry affected your perspective on life? It has always been a labor of love, career, and life for me, so it has affected my life in tons of different ways. Could you give me a little background on yourself and the company? I was a Fine Arts major at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Art, drawing, and now computer-generated art, have always been a big part of my life. I started Unity in the winter of 1995/1996 with a friend from high school in Wisconsin. We had moved to Breck and met the legendary board builder Steve Link. Steve taught us how to make boards and we started Unity that season by renting his snowboard manufacturing shop in Silverthorne.
WORDS: ALEXANDRA LOHR
Tell us about this years Dominion board. The Dominion is our big-mountain, all-terrain, pow board. The inspiration for the graphic is from some of the surfboards of the 70s. A bunch of old school surfboard designs were used during the manufacturing process to create part of the graphics. Resin tints were used on older surfboards to create different color patterns around the board. I have always liked that look, and I finally figured out a way to create that same look and feel with a snowboard graphic. We used a very thin coat of different blue inks on the top-sheets of the board to create a see through or resin-tint type of look. So this shows the guts of the snowboard with a cool artistic touch. What does a day in the life of Pete look like? Everything from building snowboards all day to working on ad layouts or graphics all night! What projects are you currently working on? Starting to think about next years line of boards and what we want to do graphically with next seasons boards. What will Unity be up to this coming season? Trying some new design ideas. Hopefully riding a lot of powder! What are your hopes for the future for Unity? To continue to grow the business and to try to keep making unique boards. Were proud to have another company start and stay local in our beloved Colorado snowboard scene. Our community continues to grow stronger from guys like this. The best part is that we all get to grow together, thus making increasingly better products and creating a more cohesive congregation of snowboarders.
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UNITY DOMINION
IVE LIFESTYLE THING FOR AN ACT CASUAL CLO
ON BLAST
THERE WOULD BE FAMILIES COMING OUT TO WATCH THE SUNRISE, AND WE WERE ON THE BEACH WITH BEER CANS AND CIGARETTE BUTTS SURROUNDING US
WEST WATER OUTLAWS

Boulder is a bubble, as anyone who lives there will tell you. Even though Denver and the rest of the world are just down Highway 36, the term Peoples Republic of Boulder seems to ring as true as the Liberty Bell, and once youre in, it can be hard to get out. For local rock/blues band West Water Outlaws, popping that bubble has come relatively easy as the demand for their music begins to come in from all angles. The five guys in the band pride themselves on their vintage sound, taking rock elements of everything from Black Sabbath to Queens of the Stone Age and blending it with a dirty, funky, in-your-face blues style that represents not only the guys themselves, but their musical roots. They have been breaking out of the Boulder routine not just by touring and expanding their fan base, but by being that band that doesnt give a shit and plays what they want in a town overcrowded with dubstep. West Water Outlaws came together through the ashes of former groups. Lets go way back, says drummer Andrew Oakley. I was in a band with the bass player for like eight years, since high school. I met Will, our lead guitarist, in college, in the dorms, says vocalist and rhythm guitarist Blake Rooker. The rest of our rhythm section left for the summer after they graduated, and we picked it up with Andrew.
WORDS: TIM WENGER
lot of electronic music and jam bands, adds Oakley. You have your bar sets. Its easy to get into the bars, but theres nothing in between there and bigger gigs like the Fox and the Boulder Theatre. You have to work your asses off at the bars. The band blazed their trail from Boulder down to Atlanta and back this summer on a southern tour, lighting up every town they stopped in along the way. Fireworks are legal in a lot of places in the South, and Im on probation here for fireworks from last summer, says Rooker. We were excited to get to blow stuff up. There would be families coming out to watch the sunrise, and we were on the beach with beer cans and cigarette butts surrounding us, says Rooker. The shows were raging, and they are currently working on putting together another trip, this one will be their third, to the Dirty South. We have a big show in Atlanta, so we are working around that. Besides the live side of the band, they just released an EP August 2, at the Fox Theatre. We recorded at UI Sound Studios, says Rooker. We did the skeletons of the songs live to get the energy right, then overdubbed solos and vocals and things like that. Evan (Reede, the producer) really helped us shape the album. It was a fun recording process, says Oakley. We did a lot of creative,
They have come up in a town over-run with electronic music and dreadlocks and have made a name for themselves with raw talent and a knack for knowing how to go about putting themselves out there. They started off playing parties at Rookers house, and because their parties featured a live band instead of just a DJ, they became pretty well known on the circuit. We have found a niche for ourselves here, says Rooker. They were then able to get into some bars around town.Its not the easiest place to find your niche, especially as a rock band, because its a
interesting things that you wouldnt normally think of to do. Evan surrounded Blakes amp with mirrors for one of his guitar solos and pointed the mics at the mirrors, so it was picking up the reflections of the sounds. The record kicks ass and is the perfect soundtrack for a flat-lit, snowy day of powder riding. Pick up their EP at a show or find the link online at westwateroutlaws.com.
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You know the moments. The ones you always want to remember. The ones you tell your friends about in your abbreviated summary of your vacation. You'll find plenty of those moments here in Steamboat. More than you could ever capture in a few words. More than you can capture in a post. Or a text. Because it's the mission of everyone who's lucky enough to live in this special place, to help create so many of them for you. Start making memories. Visit steamboat.com

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OCT.

R: DYLAN ALITO P: AARON DODDS

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R: SETH HILL P: DAN MANNING

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R: RYAN CRUZE P: MOSS HALLADAY

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Wet nurse? No, that cant be right. Surrogate? Surrogate?

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