All Photos: Chip Proulx
Having been in Colorado for a few days now I've learned one thing for sure - the weather here is f*cking insane! I've lived in Sudan, where it wouldn't rain for months on end but freak sandstorms would literally block out the sun, as well as Malaysia, where you could sunbathe till 3 o'clock every day, head inside for the daily torrential monsoon downpour, and be back outside for dinner and a sunset. But I still can't get over how unpredictable things are here and it has been the factor that's dictated our day to day lives. The only forecast it seems you can trust is the one you gauge with your own 2 eyes.
After a beautiful first day the weather took a turn for the worse. One minute it was bright and sunny, the next it was dumping. As a result Day 2 and 3 were primarily focused on building and hitting rail features where the weather didn't have as much impact
The second day started with the 7 kink rail as a "warm up". In retrospect, starting with such a difficult feature with already tired legs from the day before may have been a mistake because it proved a challenge for most. There were definitely some bangers, but there were also some discouraged faces. Siver Voll took the top honours from this session. Time and time again he tried and failed get a front up, front up, blind 4. Well after everyone else was done, he was still hiking. In the end he had to "settle" for front up pretz 4 and blind swap to one foot. This was to prove the first of many times Siver would be the last man standing on a feature. The kid is dedicated that's for sure!
After taking a break to build the butter pads which you'll see later, we headed to an up-rail gap to mushroom-bonk that we've dubbed the "Mushroom Tip". It was clear that the boys had found their second wind because everyone threw down. We saw every variation of 2 and 4 tap imaginable and Keegan took things to the next level with a blind surface on the cannon to front 2 tap.
Brody, being the hilarious BC boy that he is, is a constant source of comic relief and before long everyone else was saying things like "that shit was dope dick!" and "for da boiz!". Naturally his and Kellan's room has become the designated party spot; i.e. where we go to "crush cans".
Every night kicks off with a game of Thunderstuck. We listen to AC/DC and one by one have to chug in between every time he says the word "Thunder". It's doesn't sound too bad until you get caught on a 45 second guitar solo and end up downing a can and a half. Then there's usually a game of beer pong on the go, most often involving the Norwegians in some capacity. Turns out they take that shit very seriously. Who would have thought? Finally a game of beer hockey tends to make an appearance and most of the boys wake up "hung titties" as Brody would say. What else is a group of 20 somethings going to do in a totally vacant hotel with no girls within a 2 mile radius? #SuperHungknown
Day 3 found us in the midst of another snowstorm that would come and go. So yet again we spent a good amount of time building. Once the bridge berm feature was done (again, you'll see that later) we headed to the u-rail to whaletail feature. Just like the 7-Kink, it caused pretty significant grief to most riders. Jacob spent about 15 tries just to make it to the end. Then out of nowhere he landed a front 2 pretz 6 followed by a blind swap front 2. Sam was probably the most entertaining to watch in this session. He was the only one willing to try for the front 3 swap in between the rails, and even when he messed up and would swear halfway through, he'd still somehow land a front 6 out.
We rounded out the day by hitting the butter pad, a session which Mike Cappola and Keegan absolutely dominated. Keegan was doing crazy 180s to sw cork 7s before taking a pretty big slam and Mike landed a ludicrous 3 to cork 5.
Day 4 was forecast to be the biggest storm so we decided the night before to hold off until 1 to head up to the park. Naturally the forecast couldn't be trusted and it was a perfect bluebird all morning until the second we got to the top, when of course the storm rolled in. Regardless the boys did a number on the the berm feature. Quinn walked away with a butter 5 and 7 and Kellan, Mike, and Sam all landed various forms of rodeo/flat 3s and 5s. Jacob was the only one brave enough to 180 into the berm and took it into switch 5 out.
Finally the storm broke and we headed up to the 15ft gap to down rail, which saw every variation of 270 and 450 possible. It was great to see Henri finally feeling well enough to ski even if it was only at 50% capacity. He stuck to the small takeoff to keep it safe but still amazed us all with his broken slides and Ruka rail trickery. I can't even imagine what that kid could do if he wasn't 3 days post-major head injury.
Needless to say, we're in the midst of one of the best SuperUnknown finals ever filmed. With 2 days left we've already hit more features than last year and still have plenty of creative ideas and features on the way. Stay tuned for the edits dropping soon and in the meantime, follow proceedings on Snapchat (ns_com) for a look behind the scenes.
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