Back from the Dead
Two years gone in a blink – Japan powder that whistles when you dive in, a month of San O crowds, homemade slappy curbs that keep getting torn down and rebuilt, and Austrian glaciers under spring sunshine. Sometimes you've got to disappear from the blog to actually live the stories worth telling.
Well... here we are again.
Two years. Two whole years since I've touched this thing. I keep opening up the blog dashboard and staring at that last post from 2023, feeling like I'm looking at some ancient artifact. Time's weird like that – feels like yesterday and forever ago all at once.
Japan
Right when Japan opened backup after their Covid lockdown I finally pulled the trigger. Pretty spontaneous, not much planning, I hoped on an organized group trip to Myoko. We lucked out and had 2 powder days. The snow is so different, so fluffy and soft and whistles at you when you dive in. I had my Jones Stormchaser with me, one of the best weapons for this trip!
On that trip I got to know Season Snowboard, a small boutique snowboard brand from the Pacific Northwest. Love their minimalism and approach to more sustainable boards. Meanwhile I'm riding the Season Nexus, and it killed my quiver. Sold everything else and put the Nexus all around the mountain.
SoCal
Last year we spent 1 month in San Clemente, which meant surfing almost every day. I got around the San Clemente spots, but most notably Doheny and San O. Love San O!
Apart from learning to surf a little better, I got used to crowds. Boy were those first drops intimidating, when 10 people paddle into a wave, 6 stand up and then figure out who goes.
All worth it. San O is kind of a magical spot though.
Banks
I finally manage to register for a banked slalom, the Blauvelt Banks in Vermont. Lots of fun, but also hard to flow with the course. Wiped out over the banks on my training runs, and made it a goal for the race to just stay on the track and make it down.
Can't wait for next year's Blauvelt Banks!
Concrete
At home I poured concrete. Into a curb mold. Yes, I made a mold for a curb, figured a decent cement, gravel and water ration and boom, there we go: slappy curb made in my backyard.
I put them into a nearby spot with already some DIY in it. It's a multi-use thing, now basically overtaken by pickle ballers. Can't wait until that fad passes.
After 10 months the city took that DIY stuff way, but hey, no problem if you have a mold! I poured 2 more and so now we have 16 feet of slappy curb glory sitting there. This time better camouflaged, painted in the same color tone as the multi-use field.
Ironically you could think of slappy curbs being the pickle ball of skateboarding...
Austria
Some time in between I managed to squeeze in a short trip to the Austrian Alps, seeing family and friends, and glaciers! What a blast! Gorgeous sunny week after a couple days of snow storms. Light spring traffic on the slopes, it was an amazing few days riding actually!
