Whistler while you work; not anymore...

Yes snowboarding is this much fun. And look, everyone in the photo won't be present for round two. Sad.

As I lie here beneath my sheets, slowly counting down to what will surely be a horrendous weekend, I'm looking back at the past few days with a grin. The skies teased me on Tuesday, washing the urban scape with pure swaths of white only to take it all away the very next day with a torrential down pour (so bad that they had to close Mountain Creek). I guess we brought back some of Whistler with us, and a touch of Vancouver too.

Rounding the corner to my apartment building I saw representatives of both DHL and UPS waiting at the door across the street. The two guys were smiling, joking around. All we needed was to add FedEx and USPS (one of their trucks passed me as I rounded the corner) to the mix and it would have been worth it for me to run upstairs to grab my camera. Definitely brightened up my evening.

How about that weather today? Unbelievable blue sky, temperatures warm enough to walk around in a long sleeve shirt. Guess Mother Earth came through big for Valentines Day this year. Hope all you ladies got your chocolate and freshly cut greens. Would it be a waste if I suggested that you all use that chocolate for submarinos? Do it anyway.

So while I'm still disappointed about the prospect of going into work this weekend, spending hours with the boss, listening to him go on and on about how great he is for the nth time, I'll come to terms with the fact that a number of my friends will be out on a mountain riding. Enjoying whatever packed powder there may be. Cutting the gnarliest lines through those iced-up groomers of the East Coast. And hopefully they'll feel it. The peace that surrounds you when the volume is muted, motion slows and you and your buddies are just flying down the mountain, taking advantage of every little hit on the side or the rollers approaching the Timberline Park.

People always asked last year how I could stand commuting to Killington every weekend only to strap myself to some fiberglass / plastic covered plank and windburn my way down a few hundred feet of death cookie riddled creme brulée trails. Well I'm sure the few of you that picked it up this year know now, and if you still don't, I hope you feel it soon.

Because next year, and the only thing that keeps me going at this point, you'll have to come out to ride with me in Portland. Mt. Hood awaits.

Carnegie Mellon in the news, and some art / design items.

How sick is that shot from Mt. Baker up there? We are getting similar snow up here in Whistler. But the jacket is the sickest thing, the black and white dots are crazy trippy. Need more snowboarding related reading? Check out Snow Broader to see all the products coming out next year.

Carnegie Mellon made it onto Core77. Ironically it wasn't the work of a CFA student that caught their attention.

Another article on some developments coming out of Carnegie Mellon. This time some 'smart' LEGO. Guess those Clay-Mation animators can put their skills to work on some CGI films. Perhaps a return of Celebrity Deathmatch? If they ever figure out a way to shrink it all the way down, imagine embedding clay particles with this tech? Those car clay modelers could have their work in digital form without any scanning!

Fredrikson Stallard: Check out the following vases: Dragon, Bolt and Ming #2 and the Chandelier #1.

BIC pen drawings by Juan Francisco, incredibly skilled, photo-realistic.

Chung Dha Lam's exploration in animated business cards are producing some crude but very cool results. Where have I seen this stuff before? Probably some cereal insert eh?

New York Giants: Super Bowl XLII Champions

Mentally and emotionally exhausted right now. Whether that is due to the two long days of riding so far, or the exceptional win by the Giants in Super Bowl 42, I can't decide. Jasko and I rocked our Giants jerseys all day on the slopes. Between the two of us, we had the defensive ends fully represented, Umenyiora for him, and Strahan for me. At one point, some Patriots fan rode by screaming at us. Can't believe he had the gall to root for a team he wasn't even representing. Didn't see him rocking any Patriots gear on the slopes.

The majority of our group called it quits on the slopes at noon to secure seating at one of the bars in Whistler Village. The Pei brothers and I decided to lap the small terrain park as many times as we could before heading down to our slope side house to change for the game. Ended up at Dubhlinn Gate seated right in front of a large table of Patriots fans. One of the females was rocking a 'Perfect' t-shirt. Looks like she's a liar, better burn that shirt woman. At halftime we ran into the rest of the people staying at our house and hiked it up to the house to watch the second half there.

If you for some crazy reason didn't watch the game, you can read about it on ESPN. Steve Spagnuolo is a defensive genius, though the talent he has to work with isn't bad at all (except the secondary at times). I hope the Redskins don't take him, but if they do, no hard feelings, he deserves a head coach position. I just wish he'd stick around until Coughlin retires. Lord knows I don't want Gilbride anywhere near the head coach position. Caused me enough heartache as the offensive coordinator. After Plaxico's TD, we were celebrating so hard, Jasko lost his beer (fell under the fireplace) and I almost crushed my glasses when Jonlin or Beeker knocked them off my face. Damn, that drive was insane!

Most of the guys chilled outside, smoking celebratory cigars while I watched the trophy and MVP presentation. Almost teared up when Plax started crying during the postgame interview. Afterward, Jasko and I decided to conduct a victory lap on the slopes and in Whistler village. We climbed back onto the pitch black trail and rode down to the village, it was freaking surreal not being able to see or feel the speed, but knowing that you were definitely moving. Too bad we didn't see any of the Patriots fans walking around. Guess they went home to burn their Perfect / 19-0 t-shirts.

Congratulations New York Giants! And to all the fans!

SierraSnowboard.com 5 Days of Snowboard Giveaways & THE sale

Heads up people! My favorite snowboard shop, SierraSnowboard.com is having a kick ass giveaway this week. They are giving away one great snowboard per day, all you have to do is log into their forums at 6pm EST and hope that they pick your name randomly. For the grand prize on Friday, they will be selecting from their email members. Not a member of the forums? Sign up here! Don't forget to sign up for their giveaway reminder emails. Check this thread for more information, including which boards are being given away.

I purchased my current setup from SierraSnowboard (except the bindings, they didn't have Rome 390s at the time), and more recently, my sister's setup last month. Great prices, fast shipping and terrific customer service.

Too bad their sale isn't happening this week. Would've picked up some new gloves and other miscellaneous items for Whistler.

Why I snowboard.

People wonder why I love snowboarding so much. On a perfect powder day, I feel the same way this little guy is feeling, pure, unadulterated joy.

On a side note, thank you Christine for forwarding that photo to me, and does anyone think this pup reminds you of Falkor from the Neverending Story?

Killington MLKjr Weekend. Good times.

I'm completely brain dead at work right now, barely functional. I'm assuming Retardo is much the same way, except he got even less sleep than I did and he's working with sharp objects. As for everyone else? I believe soreness is beginning to set in if it hasn't yet. It's a good pain though. Enjoy it.

Got home at 4am this morning after a surprisingly easy drive back from Killington thanks to Elmo, Splinter and Terry keeping me awake. The lack of power steering also kept me alert, especially during low speed - high angle turns. We left late (at around 11pm) along with Retardo's car because of the Giants game. A pound goes to Splinter for getting me to stay rather than listening to the game on the drive back. I'll save the Giants love fest for another post.

For a holiday weekend, I was expecting terrible lines which fortunately wasn't the case. The only time we experienced a semi-long line was the one time we tried to hit Ramshead on Saturday. It was pretty much dead on Sunday when we lapped the Timberline terrain park. Guess all the noobs that go riding on the holidays decided to stay in after a bruising first day on the slopes. Or maybe it was the Patriots game keeping them off the slopes? Retardo also found a nice tree run off the Timberline run for those of you who enjoy the glades, just watch out for that small creek towards the end of it.

On day two Chewy and some of the other guys came up with some narrative on the slopes. At one point he had Elmo and Michelle waltzing in the snow on a snowboard, interested in seeing how that turns out. There were a few other funny clips, especially the one with Elmo screaming before he went off the trail towards the trees. Update: Chewy posted up his Sundance film entry, Snow Waltz. Check it out!

All in all, it was a productive weekend. Everyone came away with some aspect of their riding improved, even the rookies caught the bug. I finally got the butters down, turns out I pretty much have to initiate from the nose of the board with a decent amount of speed to get the revolutions in. Inching ever closer to the 3's thanks to the excellent Park Crew at Ramshead.

Off the slopes, the company was great. 18 riders in one house with two bathrooms. No issues at all which was amazing. Going to take this opportunity to thank Tomo, Janey and whoever else did the cooking. Hope you all enjoyed the submarinos even if they were a little burnt. Also got my first massage in a long time in the massage circle, that ended up turning into a back-cracking-fest where I applied the back-cracking-technique I learned from the Devlins to most of the riders in the house. Most memorable quote of the weekend? Courtesy of Shorti after I cracked her back. "It felt so good, I almost farted." Not sure if I laughed harder then or when we picked up Chewy for some crowd surfing which ended with Retardo violating him. Please see the photos from Tomo for a frame by frame documentation.

Props to Elmo for organizing and Chewy for hooking us up! Looking forward to President's Day Weekend.

Photos: Tomo, Elaine (or FB), Chewy, Splinter, Christine, Ranie

A little bit of design, a little bit of snowboarding...

Missed this announcement back in December. John Maeda will take over as the president of RISD in June! Back at Carnegie Mellon I attended one of his lectures and came away disappointed and even though I've been having issues finishing his short book, The Laws of Simplicity, his CV is still pretty stellar and I'm sure all of design academia will look closely at how he affects RISD. Hope it won't just be a rehash of NYU's ITP. I don't think RISD has anything to fear since it has such a strong identity, they made it through Brown's era, who didn't posses a design degree; if anything they can just learn what they can from Maeda and boot him if things don't work out.

As a child, I collected pretty much everything. I think that's what made me into the pack rat I am today, though I've been getting better since I moved back to Brooklyn (when you don't have space, it kinda forces you to start dumping stuff). Way back when, along with my sports card collections, sticker collection, and comics, I also collected stamps. I went the whole nine yards getting the tongs and separating out the stamps from the envelopes my relatives would send from Malaysia. It was a pretty lame hobby and I don't think I did it for more than a year.

Fast forward to a year or two ago, Jammer bought the DC Superheroes stamp set from the USPS for me, a few months ago, I purchased the Marvel Superheroes stamp set and I thought that would be it. Now comes the Eames stamp set, set for release later this year. If I can't have the real Eames Lounge Chair, I shall have the 41¢ version.

I need a laser cutter. And a 3-D printer. But laser cutter first! Check out this take on the red-envelope package. Lunar New Year is coming up! And while paper-cutting isn't new, laser-cutting should definitely allow you to do some new things with it.

Quick hit, a look back at the 2007 logo trends and a behind the scenes look at the spreadshirt logo design via the Open Logo Project 1.6.

I'm usually so lazy about preparing food that I prefer to eat boiled eggs than fried eggs. That may change if UrbanTrend actually finds a distributor for the Gun Egg Fryers. I'd take an Uzi and some spam please.

Tim Gallagher is living every snowboarder's dream (jerkme@hotmail.com / bogustoyou via www.bugmenot.com, I hate these registration sites). Well I suppose it would be better if the house was actually slope-side, but 15 min. away from the slopes isn't an issue. As a total package, the house isn't very impressive. The massing itself doesn't seem to come from one concept, and that was the point. The house was dictated by the need to shield the inhabitants from its neighbors, and to open it up to the mountains as much as possible. The front entrance which draws your eyes through a narrow chute towards the mountain must be breathtaking when you stand there looking up. The bedroom windows also afford you plenty of privacy while framing a beautiful view of the mountains. Go check out the photo gallery!

Check out these photo skate decks with LEDs embedded into them. I've been wishing for snowboards with LEDs for a while, ever since I saw the fluorescent colors from the bottom of some of the Ride boards reflect off the snow. You know what would also be awesome? An OLED screen at the nose of the board. It would have GPS, show trails and where your buddies are, even give you the temperature and level of congestion at various lift lines. Come on Burton, you have the money to make it happen! You partnered on the creative side so far (Warhol, Kidrobot), how about hooking up with some tech companies? Those lame Burton Ronin Espionage jackets and Motorola team ups don't count!

The Ride Contraband bindings look like a simpler implementation of sister company, K2's Auto bindings. I imagine they would be lighter and less likely to malfunction. Color scheme might not be for everyone, but with the release of the new Batman movie later this year, it might spark a green and purple revolution. They're just forecasting ahead...

If you thought those bindings were ugly, check out these haute couture bindings by Balenciaga. At least they tried, I just can't imagine any ladies wanting to rock them, they aren't as sleek, low-profile, elegant as regular shoes... snowboarding equipment in general isn't very sleek.

Snowboard Art Contests

Dropping a quick note for the few that are interested and the fewer that will actually have the time to put something together. May not have the time to enter Artec's and Burton's contest but you should have plenty of time for the Salomon contest. Ride's contest is already done...

Ride Snowboard Art 6 Contest
Artec / Sony (01/07/08)
Burton Art-O-Photo-Tron 13.000 Design Contest (01/25/08, must be one of the weekly winners)
Salomon Snowboards Art Contest (starts on 01/07/08, deadline is 02/28/08)

20% off sale on 2008 Snowboard Gear for NYC Riders (EMS/Burton)

If you've been holding back, waiting for that insane deal to come along, this weekend and next Tuesday is it! Courtesy of Ken Inc. and Mary of the New York Snowboarding Group. I'm torn... I know this season is basically shot for me (incredibly frustrated with work) and my less than one year old gear is still treating me very well, but the deals... makes me want to just quit my job and go riding all season.

EMS Club Discount Day (Friday through Tuesday 11/9-11/13)
Everything in the store will be 20% off if you say you are from "New York Snowboarding Group". If all else fails reference the name "Ken Shih". They carry:

Boards: Lib Tech, Capita, K2 and Gnu
Bindings: K2 and Union
Boots: K2, Northwave, Deeluxe and Thirty Two
Outerwear: Northface and Helly Hansen

591 Broadway (between Prince and Houston)

Update from Ken Inc: It will now be from Friday to Tuesday. For all people interested in the EMS discount but found out that there is no snowboard inventory at EMS Soho here is a solution for you guys.

1) If you want to buy anything snowboard related (and receive 20% off) please first look on their website online. Once you've determined what you want please write down the following:
Name/model of item (eg. Lib Tech Banana Skate snowboard)
Size of the item
Item # (the item # should start with a "2" and is usually listed above the "add to cart" button")

2) Once you have this info please email Alan (alanando'at'juno.com) with this information, let him know you are with New York Snowboarding Group and also provide your phone # so he can call you back.

Basically what Alan will do is get in touch with the other EMS stores and get the items shipped to you directly at the discounted rate. Considering inventory might fly off the shelves starting Friday your best bet is really to get in touch with Alan before Friday. Have a great day!

Update 2 from Ken Inc: Since we don't have a group card EMS asked us just to print the following blurb to verify you are from the group if you plan to stop by the store physically:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern Mountain Sports
EMS Club Day 20% OFF Everything in the Store
Must Show Club Membership
Print this email as Proof of Membership

Friday and Saturday, Nov 9 and 10
10am to 9pm EMS Soho
591 Broadway, btw Houston and Prince
212-966-8730

If you and your group are going to Burton on next Tuesday, we'll extend the Club Day discount of 20% off everything to all of you until Tuesday. The Club Day is actually Friday and Saturday, but we'll make an exception for you guys.

Thanks a lot, Ken
Alan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And for the Burton Groupies:

Burton Soho Shop Night (Tuesday 11/13 from 6-8PM)
Every NYSG member (and friends/family) gets 20% hardgoods (boards, bindings, boots and helmets) and 30% off softgoods (jackets, pants and accessories) if you mention "New York Snowboarding Group". There will be food and drinks for everyone. Besides getting a great discount this will be a fun night for everyone to hang out with each other.

106 Spring St (Cross Street is Mercer St)

I might not be able to buy something for myself, but this isn't going to stop me from getting my sister a sweet setup! Please don't bring up the Princeton Giants Stadium sales, you hardly ever find anything good there. Only thing comparable to this would be the SierraSnowboard.com discounts that come along. Join the NYSG if you haven't done so... everyone is awesome there.

Update: Two online snowboarding magazines for your perusal. International Snowboarder Magazine and Onboard.

Update 2: Not snowboarding related, but there are Puma stores in SoHo and Union Square, the following 30% Friends & Family discount this weekend might be useful for some of you Rudolf Dassler fans. Thanks Howard. Moving this post to the top.

Update 3: Are you guys feeling the love? Emilios has gotten in on the discount action and their deal lasts until Thanksgiving! So for all you people away at college / grad school, you have another thing to look forward to when you come back to NYC. I really hope these deals are around next season when I'll probably be in the market for new equipment.

20% off at Emilios Ski (through Thanksgiving 11/22)
The guys at Emilios (who are also members) have kindly offered until Thanksgiving a 20% discount on all merchandise at their store. They carry Salomon, Ride, Burton and a lot of other brands. Their store is well stocked and the guys are very knowledgeable. All you have to do is mention you are from New York Snowboarding Group and the discount should apply.

112-32 Queens Blvd (76th Ave and Queens Blvd), Forest Hills, NY 11375
http://www.emiliosskishop.com/emilios.htm

What Customer Service?

JVC: Our RX-D702B receiver (it's been pretty badass until recently) has been on the fritz since late summer. A tremendous amount of static is heard when surround sound is enabled. When it's disabled the static comes in infrequently through the front left speaker. At times it's gotten so bad I unwired that speaker too.

While the website lists the locations of several JVC Authorized repair centers in my area, I'm opting for the JVC Factory Service Center in Pine Brook, NJ after reading a fellow forum member's experience. 23 miles away and I need to figure out how to get there on a weekday between the hours of 9am - 5pm.

ALWAYS send your unit directly back to the factory for repairs. My local "JVC Authorized" shop was incompetent, untrained, and unable to make repairs on these newer digital pre-amp receivers. It took the local repair shop a few weeks to get the documentation they needed to work on the unit, and they never ended up being able to fix my problem.

JVC's factory was so much more helpful and fast at fixing my issue. I was given a direct phone number to the tech that was working on my unit, so I could "bother" him as they were testing my unit and replacing parts. They've had the unit for about 2 wks and were able to more properly diagnose and bench-test the unit before replacing some circuitry and then mailing it directly back to me. -Tubbytreats

Again, the website only listed the locations and a default umbrella number for all service inquiries (which never got me to a live person). In addition both service requests submitted via the JVC website have gone for three weeks unanswered. After trying several options on their phone support, I came across this email to submit requests to. I don't know if emails sent there will be answered customerrelations'at'jvc.com. After playing with the phone system a few more times, I finally got through to a human-manned line. I was on the queue for over 15 minutes, the system notifies you of how many people are ahead of you, I started out at #2. What does this mean? They probably only have ONE person fielding phone calls for service centers all over the U.S. ridiculous isn't it?

I'm just hoping the service will be better once I actually get the unit there.

AMEX/Citi: Called up American Express (CitiBank) a while back to add my office address to the card. First guy put me on hold for a while and then hung up on me by accident. Second guy got my request in, but listening to his accent reminded me of the Cell Center Movie (the main actor is pretty good with his accents). Guess it may be irrelevant nowadays though, the AMEX / CitiBank reps didn't bother trying to disguise their accents. Watch the Call Center Movie linked above, it's hilarious!

MDP: In mid-October, the copyright compliance department at Veoh sent me a notice that the trailer I posted up of Picture This by MDP violated their TOS so they took down the video. WTF. I'm helping them advertise the movie and that's what they do? It's not my fault they are too ignorant to use proper streaming platforms. QuickTime is annoyingly massive and I don't think they set it right on their site so when you load the page, it automatically started downloading the video bogging down your connection. It's a TRAILER, don't you want it to be spread around in as many mediums on as many platforms as possible? The marketing geniuses at MDP need to get a clue. Anyway, I've heard mixed reviews about Picture This so my excitement to view it has already waned a bit.

Now that I think about it, my tales above aren't bad at all... you should read some of the stuff on Consumerist.

a.d.i.d.a.s.nowboarding 07/08

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Let's kick off the season in style. On October 18th (Thursday) (pushing this back into November) at 8pm, we'll be holding a viewing session for the movie Picture This (trailer above) at my place. Bring your own food and drinks, or we'll order in, I'll have snacks available. Let me know if you are coming and if you need directions! I know it's a bit early so the date is tentative, if people want I'll push it back to November when the cold really sets in.

To get you in the mood for the movie above how about some amateur videos from the awesome Whistler-based crew of Crapneto? Aqua / Geographically Proximal, Crapneto, Chair Sham Bo. Additional snowboarding videos and links can be found in this NYSG post I typed up last year. Sorsa Project, Nyquil told me about this documentary where a crew follows around Heikki Sorsa for a year.

Great Reads:
Columnist Dave Barry wrote a great article on the trials of learning how to snowboard over a decade ago. Incredibly funny read whether or not you are into snow sports. I've read it countless times and it always cracks me up. I wish I had an original copy of the article to post up in my snowboard shrine (a corner of my bedroom).

"This sport is just too damn fun not to go as much as your life permits." - Jake Burton
Burton for your business by HP, saw a banner ad for this on BoingBoing but never realized what content was linked to it. Thanks goes out to Michelle for pointing it out.

Snowboarding Industry 101:
Still considered a relatively young sport, innovations are constantly introduced every year. Burton is making a big splash with their E.S.T. and Speed Zone binding technology, on the other end Mike Olson of Mervin (owned by Quiksilver) has also introduced his fair share of ideas over the years. Here's an interview titled 'A History Lesson With Mike Olson,' read it then thank him (especially you Grind since you are crazy for the banana tech). And for a macro view, check out the Snowboard History Timeline part 1, part 2, and part 3 and a video with similar details. I've posted a lot of these links already but it doesn't hurt to refresh your knowledge before the season. Touched upon it above when I mentioned Quiksilver owning Mervin, here's a primer on who owns what in the industry, Snowboard “industry” Knowledge 101.

Some more SouthAm Trip Recap:
You saw the photos now here's a video. This was my introduction to Bariloche and Catedral Alta Patagonia a week or two before going down there. While we were down there, Elmo grabbed my sketchbook and wrote the following entry, nice eh?

"Dear Diary,

The better part of our journey lay behind us, and we sit here and wait on this rainy and snow-ridden day. The flakes fall down from their exasperated journey from the heavens, only to expire upon the wet asphalt beneath our feet. Such a short lifespan, fleeting even, with no better purpose but to soil the ground I walk on. Has my life had as little meaning as this?"

Equipment:
I spent way too much last year on equipment and trips so this season I'm going to try to keep myself from buying any new big ticket items. So no boots, bindings or boards! Anyone want to by a pair of used Ride Beta MVMNTs or NIB Burton Missions?

I already purchased another Sessions jacket, the Surveillance in black, off SteepandCheap, my current white and tan Leatherneck jacket is still with Sessions because a button fell off during my SouthAm trip and it's in for an RMA. Trying to resist purchasing additional pants to go with the black jacket.

07/08 IS Design Goggles are looking really good, I purchased two pairs of Type-R's right after the season ended so they'll get me through this season. But the new Forma frames are HOT HOT HOT! Might have to buy a pair if I see one for a good price. The new Houndstooth print for the Dragon Mace goggle is also looking sexy but I already have an unused white pair sitting around, anyone want to buy it off me? FYI, Dragon goggles (especially the Mace and DX) and IS Design goggles fit Asian faces really well. Oakley's aren't bad either depending on the type of nose you have.

Timeline:

• I started this entry almost 10 months ago on 12/3/06 right before my 40+ day season.
  
• One month ago, I returned home from a month long trip down in South America which included 1.5 weeks of snowboarding.
  
• Three weeks ago I booked my flight to Whistler (2/1 - 2/10), slope side house!
  
• Two weeks ago, I finally attended my first NYSG Happy Hour, damn the group grew exponentially.
  
• Last week I ordered my Mountain Creek 5x7 Season Pass, going to have to deal with the rats again.
  
• Five days ago, I returned to the Snowboarding forums (my sporadic visits during my stay in Bariloche don't count).

Trips (Whistler 2/1 - 2/10):
A bunch of us already booked a slope-side house and purchased our plane tickets. If you want more information on the trip please let me know, we are gathering a bunch of people to book a second house. FYI, buy a Mountain Creek 5x7 Season Pass if you are going to go to Whistler, until October 8th, the pass is $200.

For Whistler, purchasing tickets ahead of time saves us 20%. If you have a season pass at another Intrawest Resort, you save 50% on lift tickets (max 10). I already purchased a Mountain Creek 5x7 Season Pass ($200). I received email confirmation that the 5x7 Season Pass will get us the discount at Whistler. DO IT.

Burton World Tour:
Oh yeah, the reason I'm posting this today is because the Burton World Tour will be hitting up Hiro Ballroom later tonight. I considered going but everyone that went to last night's showing out in Long Island didn't come back impressed. Just a heads up if any of you city people want to check it out. I'll be passing.

South America Week 4 (Bariloche and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina)

Due to work or class, the rest of the crew departed after a week of snowboarding, leaving me to my own devices. When planning the trip I thought the week alone would be welcomed but the prior weeks were great because of the company and their presence was sorely missed. Though I met some strangers on the slopes and at the hostel, it's not the same sharing your experiences with people where the jokes that have worked all trip don't resonate.

I ended up riding with a New Zealander who works in the U.K. as a chef whom I met at Penthouse 1004 and when she had to leave early to take an international call, I rode with three others from another hostel, 41 Below. A Texan who works at Mammoth, a Brit, and a Michigan native who was a school teacher in my neighborhood back in Brooklyn. Surprisingly there were a number of travelers from Brooklyn. On the morning I was leaving for BsAs, I chatted with two girls from Brooklyn who were looking to move into Fort Greene as I packed.



On my final day on the slopes, the sky as usual was clear, another bluebird day. At 4:30pm when lifts were shutting down, we hiked on over to the far left of the mountain and rode down a small bowl into a tree run before we emerged at the bottom of the Del Bosque lift. From there we took the Del Bosque blue trail, at around 7pm we finally reached the base. By then most of it was closed so I couldn't get the resort stickers that I had promised people (I did give 40 pesos to Chris the fellow Brooklynite to grab 10 for me, let's hope he comes through!). We headed over to Mute where a bunch of old guys were trying to dance and woo the much younger ladies there. The only thing of interest to me was the hot chocolate which was surprisingly good. The place was also sponsored by Honda, their logo was everywhere.

Returning to BsAs, I suffered through the infamous BsAs rush hour traffic to the hostel where I was to leave my luggage in storage before departing that night to the Retiro Bus Station to catch my bus to Puerto Iguazu. The hostel was recommended to me by the three guys I rode with the previous day, the Garden Hostel in San Telmo. Leaving the airport and passing the shanty town by La Boca and then walking through San Telmo away from the touristy area really gave me the 'other view' of BsAs. What I saw was a huge difference from what we were used to in Palermo and Recoleta. The drive to the bus station was awful. BsAs traffic like everything else DOESN'T make sense. In the states, we can attribute traffic to a car collision, construction, lane mergers or the like, but in BsAs the reasons for traffic is the following. People block the box ALL the time, and people don't know how to take side streets. My cab was trying to make it across this intersection to the bus terminal, and was completely blocked by tractor trailers going perpendicular to us. They wouldn't stop at a red either. They would just cut across the grid trying to stay bumper to bumper preventing any other traffic from getting through. When it finally cleared up and we were able to get across, an idiot came from our right got in front of us and then got stuck trying to make a left onto that traffic. Why she didn't let us go straight first before making the left is beyond me. When my cabbie started honking at her and flashing his lights, she had the nerve to get out of the car and yell at my cabbie, smacking his hand too. RIDICULOUS! She was in the wrong and had the nerve to do that... I was speechless. Stupidity knows no bounds.

The Retiro bus station is shadier than the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. Did not feel comfortable at all walking through there. The buses were a different story though, I signed up for the most luxurious ride on Via Bariloche. The buses were larger than the ones in the States, two levels with only three seats per row. I was able to lay flat whenever I wanted, the food was great and for those of you who drink, an unlimited amount is available. The ride through Argentina was interesting, I didn't see any huge pastures roaming with cows, but I did see enough of the countryside to realize that much of Argentina still remains undeveloped.

Puerto Iguazu was what I expected, the food was better than Bariloche but didn't approach BsAs standards. A German traveler checked in with me at the Timbó Posada hostel and I stuck with her for the rest of my time at Iguazu because she knew Spanish =T. The location was perfect, just a few minutes from the bus terminal and on the other side of the hostel, just a few minutes to the town center. That afternoon we walked around the town center looking for things to buy, but our shopping was hampered by the insanely long siestas the shop keepers took. We also went to the area where the three countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) meet, took some photos and went on our way. It was weird when while looking at some souvenirs I heard Mandarin being spoken behind me. Turning around I saw an entire tour bus of Chinese people parked by the shops.



The next morning we took one of the first buses to the national park. Our initial introduction to the falls was by truck and raft (we signed up for one of the Jungle Explorer excursions). The raft ride was awesome, but I got soaked. I wish I had placed my Passport and wallet in the waterproof bag, but at least my shoes and socks were in there. Though I didn't get an Iguazu Falls stamp in my Passport, my Passport did get soaked by the water there. To be honest, there isn't much to see. For any future visitors, 5-6 hours is good enough for a visit, unless you want to go to the island and relax at the beach for a bit. We strolled through all the walkways taking the required photos and by 3pm I was headed back to the hostel and then to the bus station.

By Saturday morning I was back in BsAs, dumping my backpack in storage, I walked around for most of the day seeing parts of BsAs we didn't visit during the week we were there. I came across a few markets but didn't see anything of interest. I ended up at Florida where all the memories of our time there two weeks ago came rushing back at me. In the afternoon, I took a train to Palermo and just relaxed in a park waiting for my appetite to kick in so I could enjoy another crocante de lomo at Lelé de Troya. The meal marked the end of my trip. Walking back to the train, I came across a street market and bought two leather messenger bags which didn't leave me with much cash left, just enough to pay the hostel and cab fair. I timed it perfectly, by the time I got back to the hostel I had about 15 minutes to shower and pack before heading to the airport. My experience at the airport wasn't bad, but we did depart late which got me worried about my connection (I only had 55 minutes for my connection). During the first leg, we made up time in the air but still only had less than half an hour to make my connection. Surprisingly both my luggage and I made the connection. LAN comes through again, but the plane they used for the Lima to NYC leg could have been newer. And... as you can imagine, I'm pretty burned out from the trip, back to a NYC state of mind.

Photo Gallery: My photos of Iguazu Falls and Bariloche all mixed in...

South America Week 3 (Bariloche, Argentina)

Touching down in Bariloche, the snow capped mountains surrounding us looked like a scene out of a movie. The sun was slowly setting behind a range in the distance basking the usually white caps in a deep orange-red tint. By luck we came across a local who knew about Penthouse 1004 and offered us a ride there for a very modest fee. Saved us the hassle of dealing with the bus & cabs. It wasn't a long ride along the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake, approaching the Civic Center we made a left and drove up the hill, the streets were teeming with life. A huge departure from Buenos Aires, and for a ski village, the activity was like nothing we've ever seen stateside.


(Saw this great application, Animoto, presented at the September NY Tech Meetup)

Chocolate stores were numerous, separated by clothing and sports equipment stores (restaurants too). Our hostel, Penthouse 1004, was located right across the city's center on the top floor of the tallest building in Bariloche. The view was amazing, I've never seen anything like it. Because the mountains surround a lake, I wondered aloud whether or not Lake Tahoe looked similar. According to some individuals I met on the mountain that have been to both, they stated Bariloche blew Lake Tahoe away. I hope to see for myself this coming season if it is true. By some coincidence, we arrived at the tail end of a school holiday. Teenagers were milling around in packs attempting to look and act older than they really were. A taste of freedom out of their parents' supervision. As a celebration to cap off the holiday, there was a colorful bus with a DJ at the town center projecting a video onto the side of a hot air balloon stationed nearby. Didn't see much dancing or understand what they were showing on the hot air balloon though.

On the evening we arrived we had to do a little shopping, Kevin needed a new jacket (ended up getting a Northridge jacket) and Elmo purchased a helmet. One of the best purchases ever down South, that helmet saved his head the next day on a spectacular crash. I'm glad my snowboarding bag eventually came because the town of Bariloche doesn't really carry any of the brands we are used to state side. It would have been hell if I had to ride on a rental. For people considering snowboarding down here, do yourself a favor and bring your gear. The only store that may have offered decent products was the Burton store at the resort which without having to step foot in there was probably insanely expensive.

The mountain we rode on was actually about half an hour away by bus. Catedral Alta Patagonia gets its name from the rock formations at the top of the range. The most spectacular view is actually all the way on the left side of the mountain and the only way to get to it is by hiking an hour or so (depending on how far up and how far to the left you want to go). Like everything on the mountain, it was better in the afternoon to make the hike. The snow softens up a bit, and hopefully by then, people will have created a path for you, making the hike a bit easier. Remember, you are there for the view and even if you are there for the snow, let the sun warm it up! Fresh powder is another story though, but it never snowed while we were there.

The only lift you should even consider taking from the base is the Sextuple Express. The gondola is a close second on those windy cold days to warm up. The lift gates are the most retarded thing I've ever seen (I heard they are used in Europe too). There's actually a turnstile (think NY subways) that always gets stuck on your snowboard bindings. To get the turnstile to admit you, you have to insert your lift ticket into a slot to get scanned. It wouldn't have been too bad if I just had to hold it up next to a beam of light, but physically inserting it took some effort to master with gloves on. Season pass holders checked themselves in via an RFID enabled pass, much easier than the damn weekly passes. In the states, how often do you see employees scanning your lift ticket for lifts midway up the mountain? Doesn't make sense right? If a person got halfway up the mountain, it probably means they already scanned themselves in on a lower lift. And if they hiked all the way up, then I would give them a free lift ride for all that effort. Anyhow, it was a pain in the butt unzipping my pockets, digging around for the pass, scanning it in and then stuffing it back into my pockets again. But you know what, lift lines were usually pretty quick if there were any lines at all, can't beat that.

It barely snowed while we were there, but because it dumped 30" in one day a week or two prior to our arrival, the coverage was in general very good. Especially in the afternoon when the sun softened up the hard pack sufficiently. The mornings were still better than our usual East Coast fare though we ran across some death cookies a few times. My favorite runs were the ridge runs, Condor all the way to the right of the mountain. A pretty quick ride on the top right ridge followed by a drop down into a set of trails running around the mountain. Jumping off the trails onto the slope became our favorite pastime. The trails were marked but were more of a suggested route type. The mountain was like a giant bowl. You were allowed to drop in pretty much everywhere. Only small sections considered too dangerous (around man made structures) were off limits.

While all runs on a Northeast mountain are usually called trails, down at Catedral, they use two terms. Caminos were for the slow small trails that went around the mountain. Think of... the Great Eastern in Killington. Piste were the wider trails that usually went straight down the mountain.

Strong boarders tend to be members of two groups. Foreigners, usually British, and local snowboard instructors repping their red white and black puffy jackets from another mountain. The skill level wasn't close to Whistler, Mt. Snow or even Mountain Creek's park rats. But there were enough riders that were able to pull off clean 3's around. Something I still haven't managed in my three seasons of riding.

Kev took his camera to the slopes on the second to last day, like most of the days there, it was considered a blue bird day (take a look at the photos!). It was interesting seeing Kevin throw his arm up saving his camera every time he took a spill. Fortunately, his spills were far and few in between. Looked like he mastered the 180s (backside and frontside) on the trip too.

The food in Bariloche wasn't as good as the stuff in BsAs, and it was expensive too (almost approached US prices). However, the resort food was decent unlike most lodge food stateside. And as always the prices were cheap for non locals. Except if you bought Gatorade, it was more expensive than what you paid in the states. Guess they believe only foreigners purchase Gatorade. Pepsi you have hope.. sort of.


Parting photo...

Photo Gallery: Bariloche by Kevin Boon aka Costner and my own photos from South America

Wachuuuuuuuusett!

This past Saturday was spent with Mike, Jamie and Jane at Wachusett, a local mountain relatively close to Boston. It snowed the entire day, trailing off to beautiful conditions during the last two hours of boarding (not that the earlier part of the day was bad at all).

I wonder if the experience at non-East Coast based mountains is similar to our time at Wachusett. So much snow was coming down, you barely saw any ice patches, the snow was so soft and deep it actually took more effort to carve since the edges kept sinking into the pow. With the ground covered with soft deep snow, everyone was a bit reckless. Jamie managed to have five+ spectacular wipe outs in under a minute, and nearby, Jane managed to wipe out hard enough to have her boot unbuckle from the binding. But it was all good because the snow was that deep. I mean, how could we POSSIBLY get hurt? Well read on true believer!

There are a number of excursions to the side of the trails where snowboarders or skiers can dip down into, pass a couple of trees and emerge on the other end, usually a decent-sized hit back onto the trail. On a particular blue trail we frequented, there must have been about five of these side excursions. On one of them near the halfway point of the trail, the ground was pretty bare, full of thinly covered large rocks next to two pipes that were running along the trail. After my first four unsuccessful attempts traversing without a) scratching the board, b) falling on the rocks, I voiced my concern to Mike who apparently didn't hear me and proceeded to coerce me to enter the trail.

(Warning: Graphic Description) This time my fears were realized when I hit an extruding rock which caused the board to go out from under me. I must have landed on or near the crack of my ass and proceeded to bounce on that region a few times. That hurt. A lot. However, the worst part was that somehow, the friction held back my right cheek, while my momentum carried my body further down the trail. In effect, for a short time, my ass cheeks were spread apart revealing the walls of my anal canal which served as tires in slowing my body down. Think of a plane coming in for a landing, the walls of my anal canal as the tires. Whenever a plane comes down, it bounces a few times before landing and braking to a halt. That was exactly what happened to me. A few bounces on the tailbone, causing some intense pain and some sliding on the innerwall, a very weird feeling, for good measure. Thanks Mike.

Update: Please read the comments for Jane's awesomely similar snowboard/buttcheek experience. Damnit, it feels like someone kicks my ass/tailbone every time I sneeze now.