Mammoth to Canada
20th February 2008 by Gabe Taylor / comments (2)
Gabe’s Blog Day#1
First of all it’s no small feet to drive from Mammoth to Canada, 24 hours depending on how long you get stuck at the border. Luckily I rolled through unscathed but Greg Wheelz, our filmer got hassled for awhile. This was at midnight after driving for 20 hours so we were fried at this point. Upon arrival at our hotel we were informed that our room was given to someone else and that we’d be spending the night in a “somewhat less desirable room”. This was the understatement of the century as our “somewhat undesirable room” was “somewhat” better than spending the night in a Tijuana prison cell. The walls were so thin I could hear our neighbors’ pores sweating, the cigarette smoking was on a direct path to my face. They passed out around 4am, which started our restless sleep, it then ended abruptly at 5:45 when the alarm went off. I’ve had some shitty nights but this was one for the record books.
Things looked bleak as we were unloading our sleds in the fog with about five other crews. The snowmobile ride commenced and after 40 minutes we were above the clouds sledding around some of the sickest terrain in the world. Benji Ritchie is filming for Grenade and has been our tour guide. The man is an animal, he’s the Chuck Norris of snowboarding. When Benji is getting ready to stomp you can hear the snow screaming for help. When Benji lands the earth shakes. Anyways, he’s been super fun to shred with and will have a sick segment, so keep your eyes peeled. We hit a ton of stuff the first day, most of it pretty good. This came to an abrupt end when I thought it’d be a good idea to cab five a weird spine face and landed at the bottom, 2 ft. from DEAD flat. My neck was sore and back tweaked, kind of rang my bell a bit too, horrid slam. I got my shit back together, slightly, and we hit a jump at sunset. Probably one of the cooler jumps I’ve seen, but I was all over the place. Broke my binding and was messed up from the slam which occurred earlier. Probably some amazing photos though.
All in all day one was pretty sweet. We moved hotel rooms and are now living in comfort. I ended up getting horribly sick that night and stayed in bed shivering, sweating, puking and aching the next day. Rumor has it that Benji did some sick lines but I wouldn’t know as I was contemplating how close to death I was. Not to bore anyone more of these tales I’ll resume my story with Day Three tomorrow.
2 comments - 813 views
from XXLKlintonLobby on 20th March 2008
H. Klinton vs. Obama. How you think who will win elections in USA?
from cheshirefoxXx on 21st February 2008
damn, that terrain looks beautiful, sorry to hear 'bout that other shyt..