Well it's been a whirlwind last couple of weeks, and a hell of a long time since my last blog post, so here's an update of what I've been up to lately. Most recently I was in Copper for the US Open, then Vegas, and then finally Aspen for X Games and I'm currently in the airport headed to the Salomon Jib Academy and Queen's Cup Open in Park City, Utah, so I have lots of time to write this update.

Let's start the insanity with the US Open at Copper, CO. Thanks again to Lauren for the massive hook up on the room, we were able to film the big air in its entirety (look for that soon) and accomodate the throngs of fans that showed up to watch. It even had an easy to remember number.

The best part of having seniority is the bedroom calls. I poached the master with a huge bathroom and let everyone else battle it out for the bunk beds and pull out. Sure beats the hell out of sleeping on the floor in the Reno Airport, trust me. Does anyone else find the amount of pillows on the average king size hotel bed a little excessive? Once you clear them off your bed so you have room to sleep, half the usable space in the room is gone.

Ethan working diligently in the living room, getting ready for the days slopestyle event. This is still only day two so the mess-level is still reasonable.

Hey look it's the obligatory desk shot with macs on it. Are we legit now? This was actually my first trip with my new mac and I must say I enjoyed it, though they certainly aren't perfect and I'm just now starting to get comfortable. It's definitely frustrating to have to relearn workflow techniques mid-season but I'm just stoked I don't have to deal with my Dell anymore (RIP). Also pictured are the first order of NS bandanas, exciting eh? Felix is there too, probably making some smoothies before sending everyone off for the day. So domestic!

The view of the halfpipe and big air venues from our balcony. On Saturday night we had NBC, Warren Miller, and a whole bunch of other film crews, plus apparently a whole bunch of people crammed out there. Luckily for those not able to make it out on the balcony, or those on the way to the fridge for beer, we ran a video feed to the living room tv.

The slopestyle course resided just up that lift on the right. With the radness of our pad it could have been the worst US Open ever and we would have had a great time, but Copper stepped it up with a course that was a welcome leap from the last couple of courses we've had to endure at Vail.

Mess-level rising. Day three and we've now acquired a few new people and all of their worldly possessions. Macs are still alive and well despite a beer spill the previous night that saw everyone at the table save their gear in one of the most bizzarely choreographed rescue missions ever. Video of that would have been priceless.

Yo! This is me enjoying some "legit" American beer. I still don't understand why there's two different types of beer in this country: the shitty stuff at the anything but a liquor store, and the less-shitty stuff at the liquor store. And what the hell is Henieken Light?

So during the halfpipe and big air contests I sequestered myself in my room and captured all the excitement. The videos are still on my computer yet to be flash-video-ed but I'll get on that as soon as I'm back home.

Events are best when you don't even have to leave your hotel room to get shots. Felix shot the Tanner pipe sequence cover from the comfort of our living room.

Big Air time. Apparently there were a ton of people in the condo at this point but I was in here keeping shit on lockdown and neglected to get any shots. Ethan might have some so check his Open recap article and maybe see yourself there :)

And then it was off to Vegas for the 2007 SIA tradeshow. We left Ethan in Denver to head back to school for the week and Doug and I sent this mission alone. This is the view from level two of the illustrious Excalibur Hotel. The ghettoness of the room wasn't of much concern since we didn't spend too much time there anyways. And who the hell needs fresh air? It's like a bad word in that town.

Day one of the show is done and we're ready for the partying to begin!

First stop: Orage party! This year Orage's party also functioned as the launch for the new ski rag, The Ski Journal. I got my beer and my copy and did a quick run through before exiting anti-social mode and going to mingle with all the cool kids.

Eric, Mike Nick, and Cody from Orage enjoying the beer they paid for.

Doug with his beverage from the Spyder party. Managing alcohol availability across the various after-show parties is a learned skill. We're getting better each and every year.

Mike Nick bro-ing down with some random bunny.

Felix & Schmuck. I don't really have anything interesting to say about this photo, the whole thing's a bit of a blur to be honest.

Schmuck, Mike Nick, Anthony, Charley Ager, and Tom Dolozel

After the in-show parties you either go out for a nice dinner hopefully on someone else's dime or just eat ghetto styles before heading out for the night. In this case the food court in the hotel means we dont even have to leave the building. Told you this town was against fresh air.

Coming from Canada, outdoor escalators are still a novelty for me.

Terrible shot but there's a lion show going on here. That's novel too. Shit would freeze up in Montreal.

 

One of the best parts of the trip: VIP at the Armada, Giro, Freeskier party. Free bottle service all night was definitely the way to roll. This however lead to getting home at 7:00am and subsequently missing all the meetings we had scheduled for the morning. Somewhat embarassing but well worth it.

J Lev (right) took full advantage of the free bandanas they were handing out at the door. Could they not have chosen a different color? Somebody's gonna get shot!

Schmuck and the H-bomb enjoying the festivities.

Biz Markie doing his thing for the crowd at the Armada/Giro/FS party. Thanks to everyone that funded my hangover, I look forward to more of the same next year.

After missing all of our meetings and getting to the show late, we decided it was time to relax with some more beer and check in on the Sunice poker game. JF Cusson, Harvey, Kim Lamare, Frank Raymond, and K2's Mike Powell battled it out for bragging rights.

 

In the end Kim prevailed over JF in the finals and won the poker set that was up for grabs. Good job Kim, now just get better fast!

After the poker game Sunice treated us to one of those nice Vegas dinners we had heard so much about. I had the swordfish and it was excellent. My body was shocked but pleased that I was feeding it quality food and we were able to get home at a reasonable time, get some sleep, and move on to the final leg of our trip: Aspen.

Oh yeah, we made a quick pit stop in Felix's room so that he could show off his impressive digs and we could marvel at his flat screen. They had one in the bathroom too.

Alright, we're now in Aspen after a late night drive. Doug headed home, we met back up with Ethan in Denver and rented a nice little Jeep. I managed to beat the GPS's estimated time of arrival by almost an hour and a half on a 4 hour trip. You can drive really fast on well maintained highways. Friday before pipe we actually got some runs in if you can believe it, my only three non-camera-bag laps of the trip.

Myself and Felix working on our goggle tans, in the land where beer flows like wine.

This is a snapshot of our room in Aspen, well Snowmass Village more specifically. Not sure how you can charge $250 a night for a place like this but we made the most of it, after picking up a couple of nomadic ladies for the week and cramming 6 of us in here. Good times!

 

Scene Missing

I'm not really sure what's going on here but it seems like Ethan is being ridden by Marta while some far more interesting computer work is going on in the background.

My zoom lens died in transit from Copper to Vegas so I was on writing duties for X. This was my view from the media area for about 6 hours. At least the media center was heated and had some food too.

So that's it in a nut shell. Hope this update wasn't a complete waste of time for everyone. I was able to get back to Montreal for 2 days before heading out to Park City for the Salomon Jib Academy and Queen's Cup Open. I'll hopefully have some more adventures to write about if all goes well. Peace!

Update: Made it to and from Park City but didn't have a point and shoot camera for photos. Probably for the best though, what's there to see in a house full of girls?