We arrived at Mt Hood around 8:00PM on Tuesday evening, just as the last tendrils of daylight were leaving the Oregon pine sky line. Finding Seamus Flanagan and his family who were lingering around Government Camp, the squad headed down to find a camp site at Trillium Lake. There were plenty of sites available, and we were able to snag a nice one just 10 yards from the water. This would be our home for the next three days.
Wednesday we finally got to embrace real snow under our feet at Timberline Ski Resort. In the lift line we found a gaggle of shred bots, many affiliated with Jiberish, Salomon and Level 1. Windells brings up a plethora of top notch talent to coach campers stacking the hillside with the whos-who of ski and snowboard industry talent.
We spent the next two days chasing the likes of, Matt Walker, Liam Downey, Tom Wallisch, Tanner Rainville, Phil Casabon, Henrik Harlaut, Adam Delorme, Nick Martini, Sammy Carlson, TJ Schiller, Mike Hornbeck, Anna Segal, Corey Vanular and Jiberish snowboarder Justin Norman, to name a few. The high speed quad accessed public park was a morning favorite featuring 5 jumps in a row. In the afternoon, the newly installed Windells rope tow cycled shredders through a small rail and jump garden that was fun for the whole family.

Yesterday, after a short break from shredding, we met the Level 1 crew in the Timberline parking lot at 4:45PM to head up to the biggest jump on the glacier for their traditional Mt Hood spring shoot. A long, bumpy ride in an archaic snowcat, brought us back to the Windells lane which was now being whipped by high winds. Sun was come and go. Adam Delorme, who can never sit still, took some speed checks with Mike Hornbeck, trying to feel out the feature and make something happen. Delorme finally got the speed dialed and got off the ground, straight airing with perfect speed. With Hornbeck in tow and one more test run, the wind continued in its ferocity. Nothing was getting done on that mound in those conditions, so everyone packed it in and headed down.

This morning we awoke to heavy rain at our campsite, and fumbled to get our soggy gear into our car and leave. With bad weather up top, we didn’t bother skiing. Perhaps a day trip to Portland… Stay tuned.

A brush fire we stopped to watch in the Columbia River Valley on Tuesday.

Trying to look excited about a car ride.

Mt Hood in the distance.

Keri pulling a sneaker roadside before we set up a choice road shot with Mt Hood in the background.

Corey zoning into the camp fire at Trillium Lake. Keri and Paddy Flanagan playing the logic game “Rush Hour” at the table.

Ticket pass off, use your voice and holler loud!

Liam Downey and Tanner Rainville riding the Magic Mile lift.

Tom Wallisch riding a snow cat that is at least twice as old has him up to the Level 1 jump.

The Level 1 launcher with ’space ship’ clouds on the sky line.

Delorme and Hornbeck fuxin wit it.

Casabon, Clarke, Harlaut and Wallisch swinging in the wind.

On Tuesday, we woke up groggy from late night editing and rushed to the Salt Lake City airport to find John Symms. A fun day of activities awaited us in Ogden, UT.

We started with a tour of the Salomon North American headquarters with Jenny Naftulin. We gave dog pounds to staffers and poked around the triumphant vaulted ceilinge’d office zones. Good folks, cool building.

Jenny slated our next stop, the Jib Yard indoor rail park in downtown, complete with fun rails and boxes accessed by meat packing rollers and surrounded by snow like carpet. Kids were going OFF when we showed up throwing all sorts of switch up variations as well as fakie ons and tip dips. Symms, Clarke and Keri stepped in to their skis and tinkered with some of the features.

The next stop was the Salomon Center where a myriad of indoor adrenaline sport simulation mechanisms awaited. We chose the Flowrider, an indoor standing wave. Symms forgot his swim trunks but was thankfully comfortable enough to session in his pink undies anyways. Although Indoor Skydiving was slated, we ran out of time as the wait for the air tube was over an hour long. We jumped in the car instead, and murked up to Boise where Keri and I found pull out beds at Symms’ house and Clarke pitched his tent in the yard, one last dress rehearsal for our big Mt Hood camping adventures scheduled to start in Hood tonight.

We just pitched camp at the Trillium Lake, a much less computer friendly spot than the comfortable conventional abodes that we have been frequenting. We will do our best to get stuff up as much as possible. First day of shredding at Mt Hood tomorrow and the whole crew is syked. Direct from the Huckleberry restaurant in Government Camp, OR, Just Passing Thru Crew, out.

It’s 4:24AM and Clarke and I can’t stop dweebing out on pictures/music/video. We continue to have 5 hour and less sleep nights but haven’t given in yet. Too much excitement in the air, especially when the humble digs gracious hosts offer to you are equipped with epic rooms like the attic at Dylan Ferguson and Matt Flesher’s house. Accessed by a creaky ceiling drop down staircase this soundproofed geek out den is kitted out top to bottom with awesome music toys. A sturdy homemade wood counter sports a recessed, bolted in DDM 4000 mixer to accommodate walk up collaborators. 

Clarke and I landed in here a few hours ago and haven’t left. Video treats from this upstairs laboratory coming soon. 

Clarke working in Final Cut, 4:02AM. 

Layed deep in the plywood, for ergonomical access.

Today we went to the Park City Water Ramps. This Olympic facility has extensive acrobatic amenities which have helped breed some of the most distinguished shred bots on the globe. We hooked up with our hosts Dylan Ferguson, Tim Preston and Matt Flesher who are aerial ramping gurus. They were nice enough to facilitate Clarke and Keri getting their boots wet. 

After Clarke and Keri hit the junior warm up ramp for their first time, some T-Cells flared up right above the pool putting the complex on weather hold. They waited it out in their soggy shred gear while I took some time lapse imagery. We dipped out to the parking lot and prepared some turkey sandwiches as well.
About an hour after the initial hold, the clouds broke and the pool was open for business again. Keri and Clarke began pounding the stairways. They flipped and spun off the launchers, soaring high above the Wasatch Front. The attendant monitored bubble cushion system soften their splomps (splash stomps) and kept everyone safe.

We wrapped up at 5:30PM right before a heavy rainstorm pounded the Park City area. Davanza’s Pizza is legit. We stopped there after and enjoyed some slices and tacos. Cheap eats.

Clarke prepping for Mongo. Drop…

US Ski Team aerialist Dylan Ferguson getting verticle.

Keri is SYKED on the splashing.

The HC1 toting the lav mic.

Clarke had to check out for a little while to do his online Art History HW. “I don’t even like this chapter. I really prefer the Baroque Style.”

Downtown Park City.

The last day and a half have been a long, long adventure.. with a three hour nap..

After a slow start to day one, we finally picked up Keri Herman in Breckenridge, and hit the local City Market to snag some grub for our first day.

Our slow pace continued as we managed to leave Breckenridge by about 6:30PM on route to Moab. Keri decided the children’s cart fit her  best during our stop at the supermarket.

By the time we reached Glenwood Springs, we decided it was time to pull over at the local Conoco and whip up some turkey and cheese sandwiches.

After a tasty meal, Keri palmed some jugs while Blake took a look at some time-lapses that were shot during the drive.

We managed to reach Moab by roughly 1:30 AM. Earlier that day, the kind woman at the information desk informed us that we could easily find campsites in a variety of areas around the park. Unfortuneatly she was quite incorrect on her assumptions as nearly every site was taken as we meandered around the area. By the time 3:00 AM hit, we realized that we had driven nearly forty miles and were out of luck on finding a site. This was when I realized that my car’s empty light had just popped on, meaning roughly thirty miles till we were stuck on the side of the road without a campsite or gas. Fortunately enough we were able to coast in neutral to the nearest Mavericks. Remember to always check your gas gage before adventuring into the wilderness at two in the morning..

With that being said, the gas station attendant was nice enough to point us in the right direction. Our tent was pitched and we were ready for bed by 5:00 AM..

The following morning we awoke by 8:00 AM. Even a three hour nap in the wilderness is quite refreshing..

Blake and Keri were peacefully sleeping when I awoke..

We quickly rose from bed and grilled up some steaks for breakfast. Nothing like a piece of beef in the wilderness. I felt like a real man..

We took a quick photo prior to packing up the Subaru and heading out. Not a bad site to wake up to..

We then ventured towards the Arches National Park where we got to see Utah’s license plate in real life. There were spectacular vistas in all directions, with plenty of senior citizens soaking it up with us.

Apparently these women thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of Keri..

Just Passing Thru..

Blake and Keri leap beneath an enormous arch..

That’s all for now. We’ve made it to Park City where we’re staying with US Ski Team member Dylan Ferguson. We’re going to join him on one of his typical training days tomorrow..

We finally managed to esape the clutches of the Boulder preparation blunders and get on our way. Down to Denver we go to officially start shooting our trip. We ate at the Brother’s Bar on Platte street just a block or two from the new Jiberish store. Clarke has big ideas for the intro, which we shot under partly sunny skies.

Clarke inspecting Jiberish’s new shotgun microphone.

Trip intro camera trickery at the Jiberish retail space, currently under heavy construction.

Clarke explaining ideas for intro shots to Pete Drago.

Everything we have done to prep for this tip has been ten times more difficult than it has needed to be. Clarke is outside right now futzing with the Thule rack. Far too many complicated Swedish illustrations with far too little words to describe what we should actually be doing. Launching soon. 

   It takes 3 quite expensives boxes to attach the rooftop circus to the vehicle. 

Awkward hand twists.