Category Archives: Reviews
Unless otherwise noted all reviews and gear in this category are from my personal gear closet. Nothing has been given to me solely for the purpose of a review and blogpost. I just thought that I would give an opinion on what Im wearing and riding…. Burrito
Product reviews Niche Aether and Flux tt30′s
Last year when we had our amazing 800 inch snow year I was lucky enough to spend a good bit of the spring at Snowbird on the Niche Aether and had a blast on it This review is a great example of why I do not like to review a board after just a couple of runs. When I first got on the Aether I knew it was going to be a bit stiffer than I was used to and if I just had a day or two on it it probably wouldnt have been my cup of tea. However over the spring as I got to ride it and get used to the all mountain stiffness I ended up having tons of fun. Where The Knew didnt quite fit my jib style the Aether was great for my style of all mountain riding ,especially at the steeper slopes of Snowbird. I found it poppy when I needed it to be but still forgiving enough for fun high speed butters. The Aether is Niche’s reverse camber board but the reverse is so slight that it really feels closer to a flat camber. I would say this is the most stable pure reverse board I’ve ever ridden that didn’t have some sort of edge technology. Of the three Niche boards I’ve been on this one is by far my favorite. Although it is the “all mtn board” it should be noted that Niche rider Everest Arnold kills this thing in the park at Brighton Resort. All in all it is a great board that did everything I wanted it to when I needed it to with zero short comings. If you like a good stable all mtn ride in a reverse camber or if you need a stiffer park board for a more aggressive park style I would definitely recommend you give the Aether a go (added bonus theres is now an Aether with Magne-Traction for an even steadier ride).
Check them out at NicheSnowboards.com
I bought the Flux TT30′s about a month ago to replace the Raiden Zeros I bought last season. (note the Zeros were trashed but they did have about 125 days on them which is a more than acceptable life). Here’s what attracted me to the Flux bindings a) low flat high backs b) no footbed c) urethane highback that are flexible enough for park but sturdy enough for free riding and d) tool less adjust on the heelcups/highbacks. The footbed thing may catch you off guard but I’ve never been a fan of footbeds at least not the big flat insert type and until last years Raidens I have actually taken them out of the bindings I used. Just a personal thing I guess. The TT30′s are the mid flex binding in the Flux line with two softer bindings below it and a couple stiffer ones above it although they are still billed as a rail/park binding. I liked these things right out of the box, great flex, super comfy (but not super puffy) straps. They have a rather unique ratcheting system where the ratchet and the locking mechanism are two separate pieces which is pretty interesting and seems to keep a bit of torque off of the locking mechanism which basically translates into these dont slip loose when you are riding, no stopping to retighten your bindings half way down the hill. Another interesting thing about the locking mechanism is that it has two teeth on each end that lock into the ladder as opposed to the traditional single flat piece. I like this because it also helps prevent slippage and that situation where you end up with one side of your ladder “stripped out”. Finally I thought it was a nice touch for Flux to include within the box and extra ankle and toe ladder .. sweet. There are two things I dont like about the TT30 but they would not prevent me from buying them again. First off is the rather extravagant plastic guides along both the ankle and toe strap that keep the ladders snug against the straps. At first I thought these were just a bit gadgety but once I had my ladder not go in the guides and found it super hard to unstrap it. I guess they help keeping the ladders at the proper angle to strap in/out. Second thing, and this does drive me nuts, is the tool free adjust on the binding straps. They may be tool free but they are hardly on hill friendly. First they are the kind where you pop up the plastic piece and use it to unscrew the hardware holding the strap in place. Then you have to move it and line up the hole you want to use for the hardware as well as two tabs on each end to help lock it in place all the while trying to keep it all aligned and trying to not drop the screw in the snow. In this day and age where almost every binding company has a quick adjust where you just pop a tab and slide the strap this Flux tool-less adjust is kind of a fail, but one I’ve learned to deal with. After all once you get it dialed in you shouldn’t have to mess with it too often anyways. If you like a more old school type binding with lower, flat highbacks you should give the Flux a look. The TT30 is a mid flex park style binding in the middle range of their flex scale. While it has a few short comings all in all it is a great performer on the hill and I guess that really matters the most. PS If your kind of into these you may want to grab some this year as next seasons TT30, as well as other Flux bindings, have been upgraded to include a footbed.
Check them out at Fluxbindings.com
Randoms ….. Givin and Standing Sideways reviews, start of season in SLC, few new blogs I’ve found, PC’s newest team member, and gear from Area 241
Over the past week or so I was able to attend both Givins “One” SLC premiere and the Burton “Standing Sideways” premiere. Heres a real fast recap of the two flicks…
Givin “One” … surprisingly One is primarily a pow movie. Its got a real hippy feel to it with trippy music, occasional sky effects, and various color filters effects. Although it starts off with a solid urban part from Forest Bailey after that it remains in the back country for most of the flick (Benny Urban/friends and Keegan excepted). I like the feel of the film and at 50 minutes its worth the 25 dollar price. Wyatt Stasinos has last part (15 minutes) and it may be my favorite part so far this season. Just a very inspiring piece of editing and riding to close out the movie. The only drawback is that the extras sections is just one 7 minute clip of Euro riding.. still as I said the main film is 50 minutes so kinda hard to complain. This is one of those dvds youll find yourself putting in to wind down after a great day of riding. Check it out for sure….
Burton is the big behemoth in the snow world. Regardless of if you love them or hate them everyone agrees that The B can sometimes take themselves too seriously. “Standing Sideways” is NOT one of those times. SS is a light hearted tour de force through the Burton Team (minus that red headed kid and their female team members) including a nice display from Terje. Kazu opens the film and Jussi closes it out. Did you realize Jussi’s third ender in three years? Not bad for the “old guy”. There’s only two issues with the film. One, most of the footage comes from other films so if you’ve seen a good bit of films this season much of the footage will be familiar. Second, only a brief couple of clips from Nico Muller during the credits. Overall its a solid movie but one you may want to watch at your local shop or borrow from a homie.
This week we had a bit of a storm roll through and give us a few feet of snow…. the homies and I headed up to Brighton with the shovels and got our build on…. good to shake the cobwebs out of the knees and goof around a bit. Three days on snow so far for the season! Looks like the weather this week will melt off most of the snow but it wont be long until its falling again.
A wonderful October view
Zeach alert!
Hikes and hikes
You can check out the real riders in a few Bone Zone posts ……
Heres a few sites Ive been checking out lately… stoked to see folks rep their local scene and much like myself and yummy burritos they have combined their love of snow with bagels and beer respectively… peep em
Looks like PC has a new local. Kazuhiro Kokubo has signed with PC as a member of the Park City Allstars Team. Of course PC has an AMAZING pipe and park and should be a great training ground for Kazu but to be honest Im kind of looking forward to hopefully running into the Silent Samurai at Snowbird in the cottonwoods once the pow starts piling up…..
Finally check out Mike Basich’s Area 241 site/store for the 2012 line up of outer wear and also the ingenious reflective wristband for use with your POV camera…..
Area-241
RomeSDS The Shred Remains premiere and review
“I’m just ready for it to be cold” says John Cavan Rome Team manager as he and I walk down a dimly lit Park City street. Its true it is still a bit warm here in Utah but the desert to the west and the late winter starts it gives us is the trade off for the greatest snow on earth. However I do agree, Im ready for it to get cold too. We have just left the theater where Romes newest effort “The Shred Remains” premiered in Utah to lots of whoops and hollers. We are heading a few blocks up the road to the after party on main street in Park City so it gives us time to talk. I like John, he seems easy to talk to, and I like talking snowboarding with him. We bounce around a few subjects but it seems to keep coming back to The Shred Remains… “We wanted to keep it obtainable” he says. Its a common theme with RomeSDS almost a mantra (ahem…No Correct Way) that snowboarding is what you make of it. Whether that means dropping back country lines or slaying front country rails snowboarding is there in what ever way you see fit to do it. Sitting backstage earlier in the night talking shop and drinking some real beer you can see it in the team members present. ”We like to have team members that are diverse and have a good personality to work with” says Cavan … looking around and seeing Hucal, Debari, Leines, Lazz, LNP, and new pro recruit Rusty Ockenden you understand what he means. Couple that with the long running Local Gnar contest and last years “Best Backyard Park” contest and you can tell RomeSDS is just really stoked on snowboarding in whatever form it takes.
Hucal, TM John Cavan, Ockenden, Debari, LNP, Lazz and Bjorn .. most of the Rome pro team in the house
Finally the time comes for the flick and we head out to sit down and enjoy. Like many Rome fans I was disappointed when the company announced after No Correct Way that there would be a hiatus on filming for the next season but in the long run it seems it was a blessing. “Really it is a one season movie” notes Cavan about The Shred Remains alluding to the season ending injuries suffered by Leines, LNP, and Hurcal as well as the late signing of Ockenden and departures of Paxson and Eiki Helgason. In addition after all the seasonal drama was over mother nature had more in store for Rome. The entire project was almost lost when flooding from Irene hit the Rome offices. Cavan recounted to me the story of them literally yanking equipment out of electrical sockets and running it to safety as waters were filling in the editing room… another bullet dodged. Sometimes no matter how much you try to keep it fun and mellow the bullshit gets in the way. Luckily Rome found a way to work around it and none of that chaos comes through on the film.
Kids on Shred
Opener goes to Johnny Lazz whose part is prefaced with about 90 seconds of carnage in the form of edge catches, stair rolls, and shoulder landings and it makes you wonder how in the hell Lazz’s name wasnt on the previous list of those that suffered season ending injuries. Speaking of season enders Bjorn Leines whose season ending arm destruction was well documented last year comes in with a solid part including going back to the pyramid gap and showing it whose boss. Rome signed Rusty Ockenden (who you may remember from Sandbox films) in April of THIS year but the B.C. back country jumper still put together a full part and its really good. On a side note why the hell does Forum (Ockenden’s previous sponsor) let these pow kids go? Two of the top five women in snowboarding today are on Romes team and Marie Hucal and both MFR offer up great parts. MFR with her heavy backcountry lines and Hurcal with her front country jibbing are both impressive. Lucas Debari yet another pow line back country destroyer has a good solid part as well which is pretty amazing considering hes also produced parts for Absinthe while filming for The Shred Remains. Lucas told me hes just moved to Canada so expect even more amazing shots to come from the Mt Baker local. Stale Sandbech didnt get the biggest response when his part started (hey it happens sometimes) but three shots in the park jumper and pow ripper won over the crowd.. by time he stomped 12′s to end is part everyone was a believer. Will Lavigne has been with Rome for a while and to me hes really a good glue for the team. Hes easily the most “do it all” member of the pro team with strong urban and back country skills Will definitely has it all in his part. I dont think there was any doubt that LNP was going to close out the movie. From the time he first burst on the scene through his VG parts and even through a broken back LNP has remained a solid producer. This year is no different and his desire and intensity on a board is matched with his selection of classic Metallica to get his shred on with. Toss in a good AmArmy part and a trip to Plymouth College, winners of Romes “best backyard park” contest, and you have Romes third foray into the video world.
Heres how you win a board ata Rome premiere ... first we drink Mickeys backstage .. for those of you that dont know Mickeys bottle caps contain little picture messages ... if youre first to figure one of them out on stage you win a board ... simple huh just fyi "howl at the moon " was the winning phrase
Now let me speak a bit about the overall effect of the film. The Shred Remains tagline is “A film about the 100 day perspective” and its pretty fitting. Its a normal film with rider parts a few montages whatever but put together it just has a whole different feel. It really feels like (and this is meant in a positive way) an edit you made with your homies… well if your homies are world class snowboarders. Its not pretentious, its not about being hard core, and its not about wide panning choreographed shots. Its about snowboarding but it doesnt puff out its chest and say its about snowboarding and its great to see. Its a great flick a throwback if you will to a time when teams were tighter and the partying was a bit harder. Im putting it up there in the must buy category, even with 12 as the best movie Ive seen this season so far… go buy it you will not be disappointed.
wait .. isnt Lazz 19 ... erm nevermind
Nickerson, Hucal, Ockenden, and Debari
TM John Cavan, Bob Plumb, Bjorn Leines
LNP and Bob Plumb
FODT Familia2 and Videograss Shoot the Moon/Retrospect in SLC
It was a big weekend in SLC as VideoGrass and FODT teamed up for a triple premiere event Saturday night. Both crews are heavily entrenched in SLC so there was a great turn out for the event. Heres a few pics and some fast thoughts on all three films.
Dave Doman works within the industry on lots of different art projects. Hes done graphics for both Nitro and Salomon but you most likely know him as the creator of the Celtek "stoney monster". Dave also does this if you point a camera at him...
Familia2
For every crew there are injuries each season thats just part of the game. However this past season for the T9/FODT crew almost every member suffered a severe/serious injury. Through it all FODT managed to keep it together and put out a really good movie, Familia2. As with last years flick The Arena Cole Taylors eye for film continues to take a leap forward. The film is visually stunning with vibrant urban locales full of graffiti mixed with ghetto urban decay spots full of rust and crumbling buildings. Its not all just good looks though because the team, despite all the damage they took during the season, still manages to get a solid list of tricks. All in all honestly its not quite as good as Arena but thats only because it lacks the end of part bangers that were in so many parts through out Arena. Sometimes its hard to completely overcome the injuries and I think this is where you can see them take their toll on the crew. However its still a great flick and sure to inspire anyone who is a fan of FODT and the T9/Nomis family. Paxson, Gooner, Brewer, Devine ( one of worst slams on film this season) Dennison, Hironaka, Thompson all give great parts. MFM reminds us he is still hands down the most stylish snowboarder ever and Jonah Owens opener part is more than enough to make sit up and pay attention. Of special note is the Japan section. If you didnt know the FODT crew was in Japan when the earthquake hit. It was a hairy time for sure and you can read the account from Ethan Fortier himself in the current issue of snowboarder.. you really should pick it up its well worth the read.
Derek and Dylan signing posters for the kids ... Brewers in the middle behind that kids Altamont hat
See there he is Brewer in the house too!
Retrospect
I already had the chance to view Retrospect at Brightons Passapalooza event. You can read my thoughts here and after a second viewing heres a few more quick words… Retrospect definitely holds up on the second viewing. Its a solid film with probably a few names you dont really know too well mixed with some that are more familiar .. like Mikey told me last season (paraphrased) if they are stoked on a rider at Videograss they get him in the film known or not. This is a well balanced solid flick…
The Salomon Tour bus stopped in for the premieres.... Johnny Miller and Grendy looking mildly suspicious
Shoot the Moon
STM is the second offering from VG this season. STM features a roster of riders that will be more familiar to most viewers than those of Retrospect. I liked STM a lot mostly because it had a very skate feel to it from start to end. Lots of up close rail shots and urban follow cam like a skate vid. Unlike Retrospect which had a pretty good balance between backcountry and urban STM is pure urban chaos with the rare mountain shot thrown in. It seemed that everyone was able to get a good bit of tricks on film this season including Nick Dirks and Jordan Mendenhall who have both been on the bad end of injuries for the past couple of seasons. I still love Greniers energy, Mathes’ style, and the tech of Jake O.E. , Jonas, and Louif. I was stoked to see LNP with a good bit of footage despite devoting much of his time to Romes new team flick and I think Kooley produces his best part in a few years. All in all each of the riders really brought something to the table to make the film a success. One other note is Gus Engle… Gus has been a bit pigeon holed as a “play around” rider who just does “goofy” tricks on “goofy” obstacles. Well if thats your impression of Gus prepared to be shocked because this season we see Gus hittin 270s on half way down huge rails .. sweet to really see him up his riding level. Final part once again goes to Jed Anderson who never fails to simultaneously impress and dumbfound viewers. A solid solid movie.
As a bonus if you buy a hard copy of either VG movie this season you will also get “The Rascals” a film from the man the myth the legend Scotty Whitlake and Bryan Fox. It includes riding from lots of well known Baker shreds including Blauvelt, Landvik, Pat McCarthy, Temple Cummins, Forrest Burki, and Shaun McKay…. sick!
All in all a great night with three solid movies for the 2011 season.
Capita Premiere (Defenders of Awesome Review)
SLC was buzzing Friday night with the World Premiere of Capita Snowboardings second feature Defenders of Awesome. This week found me posted up in The Bama on a family mission but Friday morning I was at the airport 2000 miles from SLC on a mission to get back and get to the premiere. Landing a few minutes early we got to the premiere just as doors were opening… stoked!
C3 Milosport and 32 Boots ... a combo to take over the world
The Defenders of Awesome Premiere was opened with 32′s Ammo which I already had the chance to view last week at Brightons Passapalooza so you can check that write up here. The only thing to add to that review is Ive since gotten word of mouth that 32 plans to release Ammo for $4 on download and $10 for hard copies in shops. The film is well worth that price so go scoop it and check out some good raw am shredding.
After the 32 film the crowd was ready to see one of the most hyped films of the summer Capitas Defenders of Awesome. Capita Founder Blue Montgomery stepped to the podium and said a few words to introduce the film. Blue said he came to SLC back in the day to go to the University of Utah and rode at Brighton for 8 years before returning to Seattle to start Capita. He said for those reasons on a personal level he wanted to bring the film to SLC for its world Premiere. Thanks for the SLC love Blue, weve never forgotten you here and weve always been huge supporters of Capita.
Blue Montgomery ..... totally hot for SLC
Ok heres a fast rundown of the film parts…
Stevens was hurt most of last season so his part is somewhat limited. However when I say limited I just mean multiple shots from the same day and not too much big jumping because Stevens’ riding is anything but limited. Tons of one foots no foots and shit you cant even think of doing Stevens even on a hurt season is still dumbfounding. His opening part is legit and his ender will have you scratching your head with your jaw dropped open.
The rest of the SLC Capita connection, Brisse, Hadar, and Zima all represent SLC to the fullest. Hadar whos had her share of knee issues the last few years has a good part with a perfect mix of pow killing and rail slaying. Brisse is as insane as ever with huge drops and gaps and Zima puts out his best part to date which has knee surgeons all over the SLC valley salivating at his eventual need of service.
Jess Kimura who was my pick for female rider of the year way before the “mainstream” figured her out also had a rough season last year. Danger Pony pays the price for being the best female rider on the planet but it didnt stop her from still getting a good solid part. Shes better than you just face it and her ender is scary as fuck. Mad props to one of my favorite riders male or female.
More souls than seats ... sitting in the aisles and along the walls to see Defenders of Awesome
TJ Schnieder has a good but far too short part (for me at least since I like TJ) but its backed up with some really great stuff by Mike Rav and Andrew Burns. Ravs part is a breakout and coupled with his Ammo footage should finally put him on the radar of the bigger media outlets who are now free to “discover” him. Burns has some really sick first person board view big mountain riding. Its really cool to see those spins from that perspective … lord knows Ill never see them through my own eyes.
That leaves Cocard, Craven and Jacques. Craven is slaying the back country with some monumental drops and launches and Cocard does his best to match and adds some insane urban to boot. When you think Capita many times you think about the urban rail slayers on the team and forget about the prowess of Cocard and Craven. Their parts were some of my favorite of the night. Last Part went to Phil Jacques. Unknown to most folks until last years part in Transworlds In Color Jacques picks up where he left off last season with vicious rail attacks and stylish back country lines. He has a long part and a well deserved ender and it wraps up the film perfectly.
In a season filled with big DvD releases Im saying put Capitas Defenders of Awesome on your must buy list you wont be disappointed.
The Defenders in SLC
Premiere weekend .. 32 Ammo, VideoGrass Retrospect, Think Thank Ransack Rebellion, Yes its a movie, and Absinthe Twe12ve Reviewed
Ah the last weekend of August in SLC, traditionally the start of the premiere season and this year was no different. This weekend we had Ammo, Retrospect, Ransack Rebellion, Twe12ve, and YES its a movie all premiere over the weekend in two separate events and I was lucky enough to attend both.
Friday Brighton Passapalooza…
For the second time in three years Brighton held a “buy your season pass and watch some movie premieres event”. Dubbed Passapalooza it offered some free swag with a season pass purchase, some cheap goods from last season, a few rails to skate, a chance to catch up with friends and finally three yes count them THREE movie premieres Ammo, Retrospect, and Ransack Rebellion. I got there early to snap some pics and catch up with some of the locals. I must say it was nice to be around my home resort when so much activity is going on. It wont be too long before the park crew pulls out the jibs and is setting them up for pre season jibbing at the base of Majestic Lift buuut Im getting ahead of myself. On this night its was all about catching up with some homies and watching some great flicks….
A glimpse of the new snow making capabilities going in on Milly
Skullcandy, Forum, Neff, and Electric were all in the house with swag and deals on product
A few rails and boxes were brought out by the park crew for kids to skate on...
32 Ammo…
This past season 32 boots filmer Jeff Heit spent a majority of his winter days following the am team around and documenting it all for 32′s Ammo project. The flick has featured parts from Brandon Hobush, Spencer Schubert, Chris Brewster, and Dylan Alito with montages of other regional and flow riders sprinkled through out and a few clips from Grenier, Miller, and Stevens as the cherry on top. Its a good video filled with kids putting their bodies out there to get the shots and the slams are in there to prove it. Now you do have to remember youre dealing with am and flow kids here so dont expect a Brainfarm master piece but take it for what it is. If youre a fan of the gritty raw type of snow documentation youll love Ammo. One note however as Ive said is that you are dealing with a smaller budget flick so dont expect tons of back country booters and big mountain pow lines. Many of the clips come from the urban filming the crew did as they moved around the country last year filming spot checks at various mountains but thats cool because hey how many times do you get urban footy from New Hampshire? Anyway overall a good gritty urban flick, is it the most progressive, no, but solid and entertaining all the way around. Im not sure what 32′s plans for release are for this vid ( if itll be released on iTunes or packaged in mags or released to shops for full retail) easily worth 20 bucks especially if they have some good out takes and extras on a hard copy.
32 Ammo's Brandon Hobush, Think Thanks Ted Borland and Brighton Park Director Jared Winkler catching up and planning for the upcoming season
Videograss Retrospect…
VG is releasing two features and one trick tip dvd this season. Thats a pretty risky move for most production houses but with a stable as stocked as VG two features is almost a requirement. We were able to see Retrospect at Brighton this week (a full VG event is coming in mid September for both films). Im not sure how the VG house views the films but to me Shoot the Moon is the big baby with Retrospect being “the other film” so I went in expecting some good solid riding but not a revolution. I pretty much got what I was expecting from Retrospect. I loved Blauvelts opening assault on Alaska and then sat through solid riding from Bryan Fox, Ben Bilocq, Alex Cantin, Alex Andrews, Austin Smith, Knut Eliasen, and a handful of other riders. I liked this film a lot and have a feeling that it will only get better with each view because its so loaded with riders you kind of get over stimulated with shots. Ender went to Jake Kuzyk and it was well deserved, banger part for sure. If youre a buy 6-8 dvd’s a season guy grab this one when copies ship this week to your local shop. If you are on a limited budget you may want to wait for Shoot the Moon to be reviewed before you make a decision or at least grab Retrospect on iTunes for a bit cheaper. I’ll be buying this one for sure.
Soon Milly will be covered with snow but for this evening the parking lot was the place to be...
Think Thank Ransack Rebellion…
The Think Thank videos have been some of my favorite over the last three or four seasons. I love their brand of urban assault of weird obstacles and keeping the fun factor in the forefront. Unfortunately Ransack Rebellion just ddnt do it for me this year and Im not sure why. Hell maybe it was the fact that I saw it on the back end of a 20 hour day sitting on the cement parking lot and was just over it altogether. There were stand out parts from Brandon Larson, newcomer to the squad Ted Borland, Sam Hulbert and Nick Visconti but it just seemed to me something was missing and Im not sure what it was. It will definitely get another viewing from me and most likely even a purchase because Im a fan of the series but I guess its just hard to make your best film EVERY season. I also think it was hard for Think Thank to overcome the loss of Stevens and Kimura to film for Capita as well as trying to integrate Sean Black and Ted Borland as new comers into the film. Once I get a second look I’ll come back and let you know if Im feeling it a bit more but for now Im saying buy if youre a big fan of Think Thank but pass if you have a limited dvd budget this season.
UPDATE; I bought Ransack today the 6th and Im half way through it and wanted to post. Its good not as good as RBLB but that was my favorite vid from anyone last season. The only complaint I have is too many half parts from normal mainstays like Bogart Milbery Hulbert and Hironaka and no part from Genevese but once again cant be bangers every season. Overall solid and with a Visconti skate edit and five b reels in the extras plus a few other things its a solid dvd.
A few hundred settled in and got treated to three films to make for a great start to the 2011.2012 season
Saturday SLC Absinthe and YES premiers…
For the third year Absinthe has chosen Utah as the place to host its world premiere
Saturday I headed down to watch the premieres of two other films, Absinthes Twe12ve and YES snowboards, Yes its a movie! There was a huge crowd for the flicks and excitement was high. I go to many premieres each season but the Absinthe premieres are usually the most energetic and fun of them all.
YES its a movie…
Ok heres what I expected from the YES movie, fifteen minutes of the b footage from Absinthe filming to create a fun little promo for the YES brand. Heres what I got… a near half hour of amazing grade a footage spanning Canada, Japan, and Russia. Simply stunning and amazingly filmed I owe the YES crew an apology for greatly under estimating what their video would be for the season. Like 32′s Ammo Im not sure how they are going to put this film out for the public. Will it be iTunes or a magazine bundle or in shops for a few dollars Im not sure but however it gets put out there you owe it to yourself to get your hands on a copy you will not be let down. Highlights include shoulder deep yes you read correct SHOULDER deep turns in Japan and a banger part from their token jibber Frank April and of course the big three DCP, JP, and Romain. Find this, buy it, love it.
Absinthes Justin Hostynek and Jones Snowboards Forrest Shearer talk outside the SLC Absinthe Premiere
The Man and his mans board .. Bode unstoppable in Twe12ve
Absinthe’s Twe12ve…
The Absinthe films have been a staple of my yearly buys for almost ten years. Absinthe has always had a good mix of big mountain lines, back country booters, pillow play, and a few urban assaults sprinkled in for good measure. Neverland and Nowhere were good but not as good as Optimistic and Ready so I arrived at SLC’s Tower Theater expecting good and solid but not epic especially since we didnt get a proper teaser this year. I was wrong oh god how I was wrong. Twe12ve may be the greatest Absinthe film… EVER. I dont even think I can give you a rundown of how good it was. Gigi opens the show with a banger and it doesnt stop for forty minutes with Bode Merrill shutting it down with a full 10 minute part divided into 5 minutes of urban and 5 minutes of back country. Johnnie Paxson is new to the crew this season and has a great part and despite a part in the Capita film Dan Brisse still found time to put in a great full part as well. I was stoked to see the return of a Gigi/Muller Alaska shared part again too. Blair Habenicht’s ultra aggressive big mountain lines were a crowd favorite as were the pow antics of Sylvain Bourbousson. Again dont let the small write up deceive you this film is amazing and is a must buy for this season. MUST MUST MUST! I cant wait to get a copy in my hands to watch over and over, true snow porn in every sense of the word.
