It's been a while since I was able to update my blog... so this is going to be a big one! My computer crashed the first day of the trip and so I havent been able to do the updates I've wanted but everything is sorted out now! Utah was a crazy expierience with some gnarly conditions and exciting adventures!
I headed out to Utah to shoot photos with the LF Crew for the 2011 Liquid Force/Decosse Custom Snowboards and the new 2011 kite lineup! The Superfly Open was going down at Powder Mountain and were planning on hittin' up that as well!
The trip started out with some warm up kite sessions with Brandon Scheid, Jason Slezak, Julien Fillion and Arla Funk in Park City! We scored wind three days in a row at a spot called "desperations." We also hit up the Canyons for some back country and park snowboarding which was a lot of fun! I've never been snowboarding out of Ontario so this was an eye opener for me. These mountains are massive and at around 10,000 feet not very forgiving and makes you feel like your ridiculously out of shape.
Julien Fillion - www.julienfillion.com...LF designer on a secret kite!
Jason Slezak - www.jasonslezak.com - grabbing indy in Park City!
Brandon Scheid - brandonscheid.blogspot - throwing a huge BS3!
Friday was day 4 and the Superfly Open was schedueled to kick off! The Superfly attracts top snow kiters from all over North America and Europe some coming from as far away as Austria! The LF crew got signed up and headed over to the event site to start getting all the new 2010 kites and boards set uo for demo. The wind was still a little light so we met up with Best Kiteboarding and O'neil Team Rider Sam Medysky to help set up the rails for the event. After a few Monster Energy drinks that was done and we were ready to ride. Not a lot of wind but the grunt of the 13m HiFi Comp and 14m Havoc was enough for a short session. The wind wasn't the strongest so the crew took advantage of the event being help at Powder Mountain and we dipped out for a bunch of park runs!
The second day at the Superfly had some gnarly conditions. It was snowing hard, blowing 30+ knots and we had minimal visibility due to the heavy fog at the top of the peak. It was kind of a right off for a snowkiting event but some people managed to ride on small kites that they couldn't even see in front of them...nuts! Although we were a little bummed that we wernt' going to be able to kite we again took advantage of our surroundings and went snowboarding all afternoon taking some epic pow runs in the fresh snow.
The next Day we awoke to the new Liquid Force Team RV in the chalet parking lot and Team Manager Tekko had arrived all the way from Hood River, OR! We all piled into the new RV cranked the music up and headed up the mountain in style for the last day of the Superfly Open! This was a sick ride... I could get used to living in this thing! We arrived to foggy conditions again and the outlook was not looking to favorable for the final day. We waited around all morning chillin' in the RV wondering what was going to happen. It looked like they were going to have to call the event but around noon the fog started clearing, the sun broke through and the wind started filling it. It was on! We headed out to the event site to get things cracking! I pumped up a 14m Havoc and grabbed a 159 Decosse/LF Custom and I was lit up! Almost thought of going in for a 12m Havoc but figured I could use the extra power on the kickers!
The warm ups started and things were going good. I wasn't expecting to do that well in the event and was just focusing on bagging some decent photos and some video and hopefully getting my name out there a little more. But I started feeling more and more confident each hit and started thinking getting out to Utah early to ride with the LF Crew was goint to help out. Brandon Scheid (Liquid Force, REAL, O'Neill and Dragon) was going off and I was just trying to keep up with him. By the time the judges came out and we were told we had 5 hits regular foot and 5 hits goofy off the kicker! I managed to land some 3's both ways and a switch 313 on regular tack! Then for my last hit I went for a Raley to Blind and stomped it but while riding away I still had a bunch of power in the kite and managed to throw a manual to wrapped. I was happy with how I rode and I thought that was the end of it.
The event was wrapped up and the awards started. Huh? I couldn't believe the results... I grabbed 2'nd place in Pro Freestyle!!!
Even better was the rest of the results... my team mate Brandon Scheid took 1'st and my good friend from Canada Sam Medysky took 3'rd! So stoked... it was a good day for LF Snow and the Canadaian kiteboard scene!
The rest of time spent in Utah was driving all over the state looking for prime conditions to shoot photos for the 2011 Liquid Force Gear. We didn't have a ton of wind but we had some amazing scenery and the crew managed to bang out some good shots!
Now that the snow season is over and this trip is wrapped up I'm focused on getting back in the water asap! April 2'nd we roll out to Cape Hatteras, NC for the month to ride some flatwater and waves...
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