Check out a video blog/interview I did for Cooler Mag about European X Games 2. Thanks to Cooler, Phil and Frankie for making it happen. Enjoy.

Talk soon,

S.

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After Revelstoke I headed to Vermont to compete in my 6th US Open. The Open is the longest running event in the history of snowboarding, this year was the 29th year.  I first competed as a qualifier in slopestyle when I was 17 and had a few good years there. The last 4 or so have been rocky to say the least. A 10th here, a few 7ths there, not many appearances in the finals. Despite my love hate relationship with it and the immense ups and downs with the weather, I almost always end up having fun. I must, I keep coming back every year.

This year was the first time they’ve changed the location of the course since I’ve competed. The new course gave more space between the jumps and a rail feature inbetween. It was received with mixed reviews as the jumps were quite small, but in the end I think everyone had fun on it. Qualifiers were cancelled due to high winds and the night before they got a storm of freezing rain. I’m talking a STORM. There was a good two inches of ice on every tree branch and when the sun was out it made them look like crystals. I think it rivaled VT in the fall for how beautiful it looked. As pretty as it was, it didn’t help the snow conditions. The course was extremely icy and flat light for semi finals. We hoped for the best over the next two days but our finals practice day was completely socked in complete with freezing mist. Everyone’s jackets crunched while they moved, it was pretty funny and despite the conditions we all cruised around and had fun in the mini park.

I hoped and prayed for the weather man to be wrong, but he nailed it for once. 100% chance of rain and lots of it. The one good thing was that it softened the course up but combined with fog and flat light it was really hard to see and difficult to compete in. Enni took her goggles off and charged all day long. Congrats to her for killing it in such challenging conditions. Her run was super sick, front 3, back 5, cab 5. Jamie came in 2nd and my 6.0 teammate Silje Norendal got 3rd with a dope front rodeo 7 on the first kicker. I fell down a lot and ended up in 5th, it just wasn’t my day. Congratulations to all the girls for toughing it out and making it happen on such a crap day. Also huge congrats to Eric Willet on his second win of the season, Mark and Chaz!

That night my friend Stefi convinced me to do the rail jam, even though I really wasn’t into it. The course looked crazy and out of my league, but I decided to at least go and check it out. It ended up being super fun and I’m really glad I did it. The hip was super good and backside for me so naturally I busted out a bunch of methods. It’s all I wanted to do, but I did hit the rails and quarter as well. Kjersti did a huge ally op 3 truck driver on the hip and took 1st. Jamie rode everything really well and got 2nd and I ended up in 3rd place. Stoked on the event and the insane course SPT set up. Thanks guys!

I am now in France for European X Games. Wish me luck! I’m super excited to ride and to be in France. Yay, baguettes and coffee!

Talk soon,

S.

I flew home from Norway, spent literally 24 hours in Vancouver and then headed back to YVR to fly to Kelowna, BC. I met up with Ryan “Huggy” Hughes and we shared a shuttle up to Revelstoke, a tiny ski town in the interior of BC, to meet up with the Nike 6.0 girls for a Snowboarder Mag story. Our crew consisted of myself, Ellery Hollingsworth, Elena Hight and Bryn Valakia. Barrett Christy Cummings put the whole trip together, Shin Campos was our guide, Sean Aaron was shooting video and Huggy was our photographer.

The first day we spent scouting around the resort, but it hadn’t snowed in a week and fresh snow was hard to find. The next few days we were able to find some good spots and get some solid shots for the story. It was awesome getting to hang with the girls outside of a contest and to do something other than ride park. There are so many events in the year now that it’s really hard to find time for anything else. As a northwest girl, it’s tough to go a whole year with only a few pow days. I love riding park and competing, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a great feeling to change it up and do something outside of my comfort zone. All the girls rode great and Huggy and Sean killed it for us. Shin was amazing to have around, but he got hurt on our 3rd day and had to go home early. It was a shame to not have him around for the final few days of the shoot. His knowledge of the backcountry is so valuable and I hit some things that I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for him. Heal up quick Shin! Our trip was such a huge success only because of the lovely Barrett. Thanks so much for planning and organizing everything and being out there riding with us and supporting us every day. It’s always a bonus on a trip when you get to shred with one of your idols.

On the final day Ellery, Barrett, Huggy, Sean and I got in a heli day at Eagle Pass Heli. Elena and Bryn had to fly to Jackson Hole for a Volcom trip so they weren’t able to join us, I don’t feel that bad for them though…Jackson hole sounds pretty awesome too! The pow was insane, some of the best I’ve ever ridden, I actually had to try to not get white roomed every turn. The weather wasn’t the best for shooting, but I think we found some cool stuff in the trees so hopefully a few shots came out of it. Either way I left with a GIANT smile on my face.

All in all the trip was a lot of fun and a really nice change of pace. A huge thank you to all the girls for making it so fun, Sean, Huggy, Shin, Barrett and of course Revelstoke and Eagle Pass Heli. Thanks for the good times guys!

I am now on my way to the US Open in VT after a short break and some time at home. It was nice to sleep in my own bed and see my man. Back to the grind, only a few more events left for the season. It’s insane how fast this year has been going by.

Talk soon,

S.

After the final stop of Dew Tour in Utah, Possum, Jamie and myself flew to Oslo, Norway for the Oakley Arctic Challenge. TAC is the only rider owned, rider run snowboard competition and it’s owned by the man, the legend, Terje Haakonsen, himself. Terje believes strongly in keeping snowboarding’s core values in tact. He famously boycotted the inaugural Olympic half pipe competition in 1998 and is now an advocate of change when it comes to the possibility of slopestyle’s inclusion in 2014. He is leading the charge to regain control of Olympic qualifications from FIS, a skier owned federation that’s only involvement in snowboarding is through the Olympic qualification process. Their events are a must for Olympic hopefuls from every country, but no pros do them outside of an Olympic year because they almost always conflict with major events and are run by people that don’t understand or care much about snowboarding. Terje hopes to change all that and has created the 180 Charter which embodies snowboarding’s needs as well as the athlete’s. We want a voice, we want a cohesive world tour that includes all of the major events and we don’t want to be run by skiers. There needs to be a governing body of snowboarding that is run by snowboarders. These are big wants which will create even bigger changes if implemented, however, Terje’s got the IOC’s attention and it’s a dialogue that’s long over due. It’s a dialogue that I’m happy people are having. The chances that anything will change are slim, but we owe it the integrity of snowboarding to try.

The crew of riders spent a lot of time discussing the Charter and we all signed it to show our support. Hopefully the IOC opens it’s eyes and realizes that allowing a sport to be run by another is foolish and unreasonable. You wouldn’t expect basketball to be controlled by a bunch of football players would you?

On another note it was also the first year that TAC has ever invited a full women’s field. It’s rare for snowboarding to exclude women outside of big air events so having TAC finally choosing to include us was really special and a big step forward. I feel extremely lucky to be apart of a sport that awards women with equal prize money at almost every event and I’m also really proud that there is no “ladies tee” in snowboarding. I know the levels are not the same, but I take pride in the fact that we are hitting the same course as the boys. TAC didn’t make the prize money equal, but hopefully that will change in the years to come. It was an honor to be apart of it and compete against such a great field of women. The event went really well. We were lucky to have decent weather the entire time and the course was built really well. It was a lot different then what we’ve been riding this season, but the change was a welcome one. I ended up getting 2nd place behind Jamie, with Jenny in 3rd place. Jamie rode amazing, huge props for swbs 5ing the huge step down! Also props to Cheryl for sending a back 9 on the bottom jump and to Kjersti for her amazing front 7′s. It was a great event and I’m really happy with the way I rode.

It was super fun getting to check out Oslo. The city is really beautiful and it’s amazing how well everyone there can speak English. In my down time Anthony and I cruised around the city and hung out with our good friends ML and Henrik who are living in Trondheim. They came down for the weekend to watch the event and it was so great to see them. I used to live with them in Whistler and we don’t get to hang out that much anymore. Thanks for making our trip amazing guys!

Check back soon for an update on my Nike 6.0 women’s trip to Revelstoke.

Talk soon,

S.