Category: Travel

SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 9

Those of us that were left on the SLC Snowkite Trip, Jason Slezak, Tekko, Petter Johnsen, Julien Fillion and myself headed to breakfast at the same great resturant as the previous day. We hung out after, to decide where our next move was, back to the back country or head back to Powder Mountain. While that was going on, I grabbed the guys and got a couple shots behind the restaurant.

We decided to head back up into the Utah backcountry. We pumped up and grabbed a couple lifestyle shots, as there was no wind. After doing some lifestyle shots we headed to this community park to ride and shoot. Jason and Petter had some cool hits on the kickers.

After that a storm started to roll in so we headed back up the mountain and pumped up kites again. We were able to get a couple lightwind kite shots. As a killer sunset rolled in the wind slowly died out. The sunset was a fantastic way to end the Trip. Jason, Julien and I headout from SLC tomorrow morning, and its back to Hatteras where I hear there is a pretty decent swell.

It was an amazing trip, one that I will not soon forget. I meet a few great new friends, and meet up with old ones. We scored great conditions, 5 star shots, made my first kite expeditions, and had the best time, all on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I’ll miss the mountains but am more than excited for a decent bed and a warm shower until next time.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 22, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 8

The crew woke up and headed across the street for breakfast. We packed up the cars went to the store and got some food then headed up the mountain. We hung out and waited for the wind. We meet a couple cool local riders like Chris Nester.

We were able to get in a couple good rides before it died out. The wind picked back up and we headed to a different peak and rigged. It never really picked up but we were able to build up another kicker if the wind turns on tomorrow.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 22, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 7

We woke up early sore as can be after our “day or rest”. We packed up all the gear and loaded all the vehicles to head to Strawberry Reservoir. Jason, Llew, Kristy and Myself hopped into Tekko’s van for the 2+ hour journey.

We stopeed by Arla’s place in Park City to pick up another box of goodies from Dakine. Then we were off to Strawberry Reservoir. We met up with the Best Crew, Jake, Shannon and Gavin. There wasn’t very much wind, but Jason Slezak and I were able to bang out a couple shots we needed. Aaron Sales tested out some kites and boards whiel there was enough wind.

The wind slowly died as the sun set. We hung out with a couple beers and chilled. It was food time. We drove to nearly every food place in Heber where nothing was open, until the Chinese food place we pulled up to. The sign said open as we saw someone bolting to turn off the close sign. Luckily Tekko was already inside getting us a table. We made a last minute decision to trek out to Utah backcountry.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 20, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 6

Today was suppose to be rest day. There was little wind, so we decided to “take it easy”. Taking it easy as part of the LF Crew is far different than most would think. The day started off a little later around 10am. We then packed the crew up to go to Wolf Mountain to go snowboarding.

It was a smaller mountain with only two lifts, but some fun snow and a great group of friends made it an amazing session. We took laps down one of the hills to the park and hit the kickers and the rails, and did it all over again all morning and afternoon. Jason Slezak and Petter Johnsen were throwing down on the kicker. The snow was soft and a little slushy making it great for trying new tricks.

We ran back to the condos to change for our appointment at the Flowrider. The Flowrider is a standing wave that you surf or boogie board on. Tyler hooked it up with a free and closed session. It was a blast. Everyone had a great time shreading and taking the best wipeouts on the trip.

To end off the day of relaxation we headed to I Fly Utah to go indoor skydiving. The crew had the best time. After a short class on how to fly it was go time. Everyone got two one-minute rides in the tunnel. The staff then put on a bit of a show, pretty much blowing our minds soaring up and down the tunnel with ease.

We grabbed a quick dinner across the street and headed back to the condo. We did a quick review of the photos from the day and had some great laughs and then headed to bed.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 19, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 5

We had a nice relaxing morning having a killer breakfast. Tekko, Jason and Julien headed out to go scout out around the valley for a cool place to session and shoot. They came back about an hour later with a killer location. We headed out there and rigged. It was pretty light wind for a while steadily picking up. We were able to get some good shots out of the adventure, and some even better ideas for later.

We headed back to the condo for lunch made by the Canadians. The crew packed up and we headed up to the mountain. It was nuking when we arrived. We decided that since there was no cat today that we would all rig up kites and kite to the shoot location, shoot then kite back home. It was a great idea in theory, but proved more difficult than most of us thought, especially with the 75 lbs of photo gear. We started the session at the top of the hill the event was held at. We shot some full rig Liquid Force kite shots. Then Petter was jibbing a tree. That shot turned out to be one of the best of the day.

Jason and Julien were down setting up a picnic table off one of the table tops. The setup was pretty cool, as they hit the kicker and used the table as a down rail. The guys sessioned that for a while. Then Jason and I headed over to do some lip tricks on one of the other table tops as the light really started to fade.

Then the fun part started, getting home. Everyone headed out as Jason and I were finishing up the last shoot. Jason gave me a launch and we headed back to the parking lot. We headed down the first valley and then started up the next uphill as the wind totally shut off on us. We waited a few and luckily the wind came back. It was really crazy riding back with no light as you couldn’t see any definition in the snow. We finally made it back to the parking lot. We packed up the gear and crawled to the cars. But our first expedition was a success.

We headed back to the condos and everyone b lined it to the hot tub. Then it was time for cooking dinner and editing photos. It wasn’t until midnight that dinner was ready. We ate and then crashed.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 18, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 3

Day three of the SLC trip was the bet yet. It was the second day of the SuperFly Open at Powder Mountain. And we had wind! The day started off with a little chill time. Then we quickly hit up the grocery store for food and water to bring with us on the mountain.

We pulled up to the mountain around 10am to see the flags blowing and kites in the air. Scrambling to unpack the gear out of the car and get on the cat to the event location, which was about a mile from the parking lot.

The crew rigged up kites and headed out for a fun session. I hung out with Petter at one of the kickers watching him show everyone up. That kid has skills! The first event was the kite race followed by the big air.

After the events, Jason, Petter, Tekko, Arla and I headed to the downwind side of the mountain to grab some shots. It was a good time, though way more work than being on the water, but the crew was killing it. Petter and Jason found a couple cool natural kickers that they sessioned for a while before Jason put his kite into a tree. Luckily the kite received only minor injuries.

I headed back to charge my batteries for the camera in order to be ready for the evening shoot. There were some miss communications, which then made me walk from the lodge back to the event location and then back again. Needless to day I got my exercise for the day.

After getting back to the car I grabbed Jason for a couple quick shots with the new LF snowboard. Then I was to a well-deserved dinner and to bed.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 16, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 2

I woke up at 7:30 ready to ride today. It took us a while to get the crew together. We headed to tyler’s for some breakfast, where we even able to set off the smoke detector while cooking. After some tasty pancakes, we then packed up and headed up to Powder Mountain. The place was amazing. It was on top of a smaller mountain, with some huge mountains surrounding it, making for quite a view.

It was time to register for the event. Then we packed up the cat with all our gear. We got to strap in to our boards and cruised down the cat track to a t-bar, and then over to the event location. The first thing out of the truck, were the new Liquid Force Prototype kite snowboards made in help by Sheldon Decosse.

We set up all the Liquid Force tents and kites. The wind was nowhere to be found. It was time to get some turns in, so a small crew of us headed for some runs in the park. Jason, Dave, Jake, Petter, Arla, Llew and Christy. It was fun to shred with everyone, since everyone could actually ride, we were bombing through the runs. They have a great park out there with some insanely fun boxes and jumps.

After a couple more runs, we headed back to the event, and there was still no wind to be found. Tekko then got out the Grinch Winch, and we set up a rail and sessioned it for a bit, while the photo posse took a bunch of shots. Everyone pretty much gave up on the wind possibility and packed up and went home while our crew hung a round for a bit riding.

After stopping at nearly 4 restaurants to find some drinks and appetizers, we finally found a place to let us in. The Mexican food was pretty good and we were off to the opening party at Burskis in Ogden. They has a best model search contest there. It was pretty bad not so good; we were in there for about 15 minutes and called it a night and drove back up to Eden.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 14, 2009
SLC ’09 Snowkite Trip Day 1

After a very busy day at work, I was able to finish packing for the SLC Snowkite Trip. I was able to get all my camera gear into two bags, and clothes and riding gear into two more. Jason picked me up around 9pm and we headed north to Virgins Beach to pick up new Real Team stickers and crash for our 5am flight.

We headed to the airport around 4:30am to then realize that our flight wasn’t until 7am. We still had to go drop one of Steve’s friends off at the airport, we would be just a little early for out flight. The luggage check in went smoother than expected. We got on our flight to Chicago in a very empty flight which we were both excited about.

Luckily, I have never been one to get uncomfortable while flying when there is turbulence. Unluckily for the lady across the aisle, she does. We hit a patch of “rough air” as the captain called it, and this lady just started flailing her arms as if she was trying to cool herself down on a hot day. Weird! We hopped on another flight and were headed for SLC.

We got picked up by Tyler, the event organizer, and Shannon Best. From there, we meet up with amy, tyler’s personal assistant, and Big Ted and headed for a quick lunch before going up the mountain to check into the room.

After we meet up with Big T we drove up to the mountain to get the housing in order. It was a great adventure with Shannon Best in the car. He is a character, full of some great stories. By the time we made it up there and got into the rooms we realized we had to bolt it back to Salt Lake City for a TV interview.

We barely made it to the TV interview on time only 20 minutes late. It was cool to see the interview go down. In the interview were Arla J. Funk (who has the best goggle tan), Jason and Tyler. It was a good short, interview on live TV (to add some nerves). We got to be in the studio while they were filming, which was pretty cool.

Then we headed back to Tyler’s house and packed up the rest of the gear and even had time to snap a couple shots along the way. Then it was another long drive back up the mountain. Finally out of the car and the gear in the condo we meet up with Llew Simmonds and Kristy Moller. After a couple drinks we called it a night.

More photos HERE.

Check out the full trip here: Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day8, Day9.

March 13, 2009
Headed to Salt Lake City

Tickets booked, Jason Slezak and I are headed to SLC!!! There is a snowkite event taking place in Salt Lake City, UT March 13-15. We are going to be there for the event and then a Liquid Force/REAL shoot. I am extremely excited about this opportunity, as it seems to be a fantastic deal for all involved. I have some pretty cool ideas planed as far as shots are concerned. We will be meeting up with Liquid Force Kite Team riders Petter Johnson (check out his section below), Julien Fillion and Team Manager Tekko. More info dropping soon!

see more about snowkiting HERE.

Heres tonight’s sunset:

February 26, 2009