When Grant Savidge and myself (Finn Anderson) decided to head down to Big Bear for some fun in the sun, we had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into. Of course, we had a pretty good idea our trip would include some…

…jibs…

…spins…

…flips…

…and of course some grabs.

However, most of the events of our trip were completely unexpected: we got some of the sickest follow-cam shots ever, almost maxed out my subaru, and saw one of our good friends and fellow teammates have a seizure. Here is a little update on how our trip transpired. 

            Our little adventure started out in Lake Tahoe, California. Grant decided he wanted to ski Tahoe for a couple days, so he flew into Sacramento on March 3, eager to ski some slush. Unfortunately, United Airlines wasn’t quite as stoked as Grant, and lost his bags for him. Although both Grant and I were bummed on the loss, it didn’t slow us down one bit, and the next three days were chalk full of fun. We skied Sierra-at-Tahoe, Northstar, and even got a quick day of filming in with Filthy Rich Productions at Squaw. So after a few long and scary days in Reno, we decided it was time to meet up with fellow teammate Colby Albino and begin the long drive to Big Bear. 700 miles and 46 McDonalds later, we arrived at Big Bear Mountain Resort.

Grant was so excited to be in Bear, he even threw up some Star Trek hand signals.

Our first day of shredding, Friday, was one of the most enjoyable days I’ve ever had on snow. Grant, Colby and I decided to get some shots, so we wrestled our team manager, Chad Buckridge, and stole his camera. Although Bucky’s camera probably cost him a good three G’s, we took it out for some follow cam runs anyway, resulting in some of the sickest shots of the trip:

The next day, Saturday, was the day of the halfpipe competition. Because Grant and I weren’t competing in pipe, the day consisted of watching Colby slay the pipe.



 

And of course Grant and I got some more shots.

Sunday was the slopestyle competition. So we woke up on Sunday, with it being daylight savings and everything we got less sleep than we had originally planned for, Chad, playing the role of team manager came into our room in the morning to let us know that it was eight o’clock. However, Grant was feeling confident that it was seven and almost made a bet that would have cost him some money. So Grant and I decided to head to the hill to size up the competition course. The landings on the course were wicked flat, and it was rumored that they were gonna change, however, nothing was changed.   


This picture shows how awesome it was to make it to the landings. But being as how we had nothing to do but let her buck and slay the course, that was the plan of action for the day. Colby arrived a little after us, and shortly after that the jam format started. Grant claimed right at the beginning that he was just going to throw down his run right off the bat so that way he wouldn’t have to murder his toes for the rest of the day, however, that plan worked out about as well as a wheel less bicycle. I began to work on my runs, and both Grant and I began to realize that this was not going to be as easy as we both thought. So as we both came to grips with the pain that flat jumps and poor speed produce we finally began to put something that might resemble a run under our belts. Lunch time finally arrived and it was time to declare who made it to finals. Banks Gilberti was the first one declared into the big show, and Grant was announced immediately after that, along with Colby. I however, was unable to qualify. I guess you just can’t win them all. So with the typical two run format underway Colby was able to put a run under his feet, with it finishing with a big rodeo five at the end. Grant dropped in after Colby, putting a run together, but still struggling with the speed, I don’t think it was exactly what he was looking for. The second run came around and Colby decided he was gonna send the rodeo at the bottom a little bigger,



well turns out he sent it a lot bigger, and catapulted himself into the ground, suffering a concussion and a seizure for a little bit, but after being released from the hospital it appears he is no worse for wear. Grant had speed problems going into the second run and decided to scrub the whole idea of casing two large jumps. Not a terrible idea. So with this Grant finished 13th and Colby ended up getting 15th. WHEW!