Gerry Lopez: “We surf the mountain!”

The Big Wave Challenge at Mt. Bachelor is a perfect synthesis!

Growing up on the Oregon coast I pointed my little nose toward the sea rather than the mountain. I was cold and miserable enough and the technicolor dream of California and Hawaii fired my imagination. Oh I went to the hills, to Hoodoo and Willamette Pass and even Mt. Bachelor a handful of times a season and loved but surf had my heart even though the water was near freezing and angry sharks swirled underneath my frozen solid feets.

When I was in the ocean, amongst the waves, I could at least pretend that I was tropical. I was at least doing the same thing that bronzed Australians and even more bronzed Hawaiians were doing.

And I remember like some great tragedy the day that Hawaiian legend Gerry Lopez left Oahu’s North Shore and moved to Bend, Oregon.

“BEND?” I thought. “Why did Gerry Lopez go crazy? What made the poor man lose his mind?”

For those who don’t know, Mr. Lopez is one of the most stylish surfers of all time and Pipeline was his playground. I could not fathom what would make someone move from the warm to the cold. From the sand to the snow. From Hawaii to Oregon.

And then, years later, I snowboarded in powder for the first time and it all made perfect sense. It all clicked.

I crossed paths with Gerry a few years ago. I was waiting on a helicopter out of Bald Face and he had just arrived. The man belongs in both worlds equally and, oddly both world’s belong to each other. And, thus, his surf event at Mt. Bachelor, the Big Wave Challenge, makes perfect sense too.

Watch!


Who runs the world? Canadians!

So their Prime Minister is super hot and they get lots of snow pretty much year ’round and their money is called the loonie and Strange Brew and have you ever been to Vancouver? and Michael Bolton and Celine Dion and have you ever eaten poutine? and Mike Meyers and Jose Bautista and Drake I mean Alanis Morissette I mean Celine Dion.

And now Canadians have SWEPT something at Dew Tour. Let’s head over to the Canadian Broadcasting C…umm what’s the last C? for more information:

Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris took home the Dew Tour snowboard slopestyle title for the fifth consecutive year on Saturday, securing a clean third and final run in the jib section with perfect 270 on, 270 off combinations.

Friday’s jump section score of 95.33 combined with his jib section score of 77.33 was more than enough for McMorris to win the event in Breckenridge, Colo.

“It means everything to me to win,” said McMorris. “Yesterday was a huge milestone, doing that frontside triple that I broke my femur on last season, and then to make it work today in the jib section, I am just so happy.”

It was a Canadian sweep with 22-year-old Max Parrot closing out second place with 161.66 total points, and 24-year-old Sebastien Toutant rounding out the podium with a total score of 160.66.

Canadians Tyler Nicholson and Michael Ciccarelli finished fifth and sixth, giving Canada five of the top six performers.

Damn you, Canadians! You’ve already got enough! Can’t you give us a bronze?

Or poutine?


Step-brothers: TransBoarder is born!

Same same same!

Did you ever have a brother or sister who mimicked you? Who dressed the same, talked the same, acted the same? Were you flattered or annoyed?

Oh you should have been flattered! Imitation is the sincerest form!

And let us look at a gorgeous example in the pages of TransWorld and Snowboarder…

same

The top is TransWorld. Bottom is Snowboarder. Both on the newsstands at the same time. Same jump same session, same angle, same photog, different riders but otherwise SAME SAME SAME!

Twinsday!

The two publications are step-brothers now, living under the same roof. Which do you think had the idea first?


Watch: Travis Rice and pals nose deep!

Until you've got a mouth full of powder you don't know what kissing is...

Until you’ve got your mouth full of powder, I always say, you don’t know what kissing is. One kiss goes on from phase to phase like one of those novels by Balzac and Zola and Romain Rolland and D. H. Lawrence and those chaps. And you never get tire. You’re on fourth speed all the time, and the engine purrs like a kitten, a big white kitten with the stars in its whiskers.

Yeah. That’s what I always say.

And now here is fourth speed from the Fourth Phase.


How to: Look when getting busted!

Halldór Helgason instructs!

Today is Halldór Helgason day here on LodgeGrit and why not? Have you watched his video part yet? Have you seen how his brother smashed one of the most famous living artists?

And now the Icelandic superstar teaches us how to look when getting busted by the fuzz!

How many times in your life have you gotten nipped for something only to behave in a very uncool way that you were very embarrassed about afterward? Every time for me.

Sometimes I am totally out of proportion livid. Spewing curses etc. Embarrassing!

Sometimes I am too friendly in always misguided attempts to beat the rap, even thanking the pigs when they hand over my fine. More embarrassing!

But examine our hero acting perfectly in the above shot! His bemused expression surely belittles the law to their very cores. He is far to rad to be undone by their bureaucratic nonsense. Their petty little bullshit.

And now I know how to act and now you do too.

Bemused!