COSD December Days
Despite a constant struggle with highly fluctuating conditions, the last few weeks have at least provided me with a few fun and rewarding sessions which I've tried to document as best as possible. Needless to say that things could be worst and there could be no snow at all (I know some of you might be in that sticky situation), but sadly some of the best street spots now share a desert like landscape of rugged 2 inch thick ice (ledge spot, big 3 spot, camirand park, and that's just a start... ) Anyways I wont rant on about how winter is failing us all these days, instead I will let you watch this little edit I put together in the hope of motivating y'all to go out and shred!
oh and may all of you get the best you can out of 2012 starting by some fresh snow!!! happy new years!
p.s. after riding away from that last heelflip you will see in the vid, I have finally come to terms with an obsession of landing a "perfect" (an elusive term in my world believe me) heelflip on a kicker and at last I can say I felt satisfied about this one. Consequently I think I will no longer bother you guys with heelflips on kicker unless it is some next level resort style jump or something (I swear).
PEACE
Snowskate Adventure Continued
After a day in the hood we left for Duluth, a city 2 hours north of Minneapolis. We were lucky enough to have our fellow snowskater Eric Fryc host us, if you're ever in the Cloquet area give this guy a call, very cool cat! Once there, we wasted no time and went straight to a snowskate spot where we met Eric's crew; Brandon, Mike and David. The spot was fun (it was the first time we had seen natural snow since our arrival in Minnesota), but not quite prime. The snow situation was still struggling. We then decided to head to the local hills; we had been put into contact with the park manager there and he was super pumped to have us. We skated for the next few hours and, to our joy, filmed many a cool shots.
The night that followed was a night i'll never forget. We ended hanging out in one of our new friend's shop; him and his buddy painted snowmobile parts and fixed motors there. It was a really nice, cozy and slightly grimy spot; just like I love my hangouts. One thing led to another and, shortly after arriving, we were doing all sorts of crazy things in there. You know that feeling when a few hours feels like only a few minutes? Well that's what happened here and i'm grateful to have had the chance to hang out with these guys in such a nice environment!
The next day was also our last in Duluth; we had only went up there for a quick 2 day journey. To my request we started the day by skating this super sketchy spot behind some mexican restaurant (which I heard was the best in town). As with such spots, it ended up being much harder than I had thought. It worked out in the end though. Following this, we went back to Spirit mountain for the remainder of the day and rode the snowpark there.
After bidding farewell to our new friends we drove back to Minneapolis in order to plan our new years eve evening. Once we got to the city we each had showers and restored our proper energy levels. Fireworks, warm drinks, orange skies and riding down hills were (and always will be) an amazing way to end the year!
Bye for now! JS
ps; before leaving for Duluth we had a laid-back session at some local cross-country skiing place. Check it out!
Merry Christmas From Russia
With love... Featuring Taras Ryabokon and his crew!
Snowskate Adventure
The end of december means a lot for me; the end of another semester, christmas time (tralala) and snowskate travels. This year, my roommate Roby Provost and I are lucky enough to be wandering around the northern part of USA. Our first stop, before flying out to meet Alan in Minneapolis, was Burlington (Vermont). There, we hung out with Nick Stefani.
Arriving from MTL at 2am at the Burlington airport was funny and uncomfortable; we had the building to ourselves pretty much and ended up playing arcade games and sleeping on the floor of a restaurant. Once 7am rolled around, so did Nick. We went straight to his local ski hill where we found a decent sized bronze tube and successfully filmed a few clips. Our day continued well as Nick brought us to his place and we rode a pretty cool kicker-box setup.
Apple cider, thrift stores, sledding hills and sandwiches that contain every type of meat possible are what made up our afternoon. It was great. However, once the sun set, our luck with the snow gods ran out; it started raining quite a lot. Naps by the fireplace were in order. The night ended on a good note as we met up with Nick's friends and had an extra cozy night in a beautiful house in the woods.
Less than 48 hours after joining our friend (aka young pro), it was already time for us to leave Burlington. After a full day of dealing with plane business (and struggling with not-so available wifi) we finally arrived in Minneapolis. Tomorrow we will be driving up to Duluth to continue our snowskate venture.
Keep it real, till next time!
AKWD
Sherbrooke Trip Video
And so they traveled to Sherbrooke, desperately looking for snow. Unfortunately there was barely any, but with hard work the crew managed to gather the tiny amounts left and pulled through. Sweet bangers went down and, as always, a fun edit of all the rest follows! Josh Seguin, David Engerer, Chuck Dion and Phil Moreau.
