Friday, December 18, 2015

Bails Edit

Man, I really wanted to come up with a better name for this video. The nature of these video necessitates a generic and self explanatory name though. I wish I bailed harder. I've become timid the last few years with my shoulder. So with a fresh joint, here's to bigger and safer bails in the future.

 
Crashes - By Jacob Boyd from Jacob Boyd on Vimeo.
Me not landing things.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Lately: Gym Power

It's not very hardcore, but I haven't been completely demoralized by missing the couple storms that hit the PNW lately. I can that feel my body isn't ready every time that I'm tempted, then I am grounded and switch to thinking about training to become ready. I take the pressure I put on myself to do scary stuff of skis and create pressure to reduce injury; it's a good place to be.

My medicine comes at the gym. I've spent a lot of time there the last few months. Lifting weights, jumping around, and riding stationary bikes. Sometimes I just juggle a soccer ball because it feels so good just to move randomly. The thing is, no matter the dedication I put into big lifts and jumps, the movements that will save my shoulder are small and precise. It's hard to tell what goes on in there and it takes as much focus as my biggest lifts.

I'm getting close now, maybe just weeks away before my shoulder is strong enough that I can go 100% on skis.


Gym work from Jacob Boyd on Vimeo.

This is an example of what I've been working on. A balance drill in which there is some risk of falling, but I still get to test some challenging balance skills. 

Friday, December 11, 2015

Lately: Inspirations

Anthony Boronowski used to live down the street from my highschool. I spotted a badass black truck one day at lunch and from the sponsor stickers on it I deciphered it was his. Ant kind of lived on like, skid row. 

Anyways, I was into this edit when it came out a few years ago and I've come back to it because I plan on sled skiing a lot around Whistler this year and this edit is all Whistler zones. I guess he spins left naturally but that doesn't stop him from bringing confusion with big right cab fives and sevens. Every trick is super clean too. Such a raw edit. 

Also, I may have copied the yellowy and colourful filter on my 2014/2015 season edit, but not consciously. 


Thursday, December 10, 2015

Lately: Inspirations

I've been watching a lot of skiing since I moved to Whistler a week ago. First was the Nimbus Independent release After the Sky Falls. As a two year project and also featuring Eric Pollard this film was much awaited and didn't disappoint. The filming composition was innovative for a ski movie and the skiing was   I also finally got down to watching Candide Thovex's Few Words which was more informative than inspiring, still good but something of a let down after all the hype. When it comes to documentary ski films I preferred the more fast paced and raw editing style of Like a Lion, Tanner Hall's flick. Candide's best recent footage can be seen in his Candide Kamera series which still blows my mind (big double to cork 10?).

Inspiration for skiing doesn't just come from ski movies though. Some music hits the right spot and suddenly start to visualize tricks. I was listening to the CBC late one night coming home from work and Rod Stewart came on. I had categorized Stewart as a soft rock popstar simply not worthy of trying. A week later though and I've listened to The First Cut is the Deepest 20-30 times. This is such classic rock and it takes me right to a glorious pow day. The song is about finding new love and getting over an old heartbreak, a little like getting over the shit show that was the 2014/15 ski season and then falling back in love with deep snow. 

Lately:

In August I underwent a shoulder stabilization surgery. In the following months I experienced the biggest changes in myself since I finished high school and moved away from home. The initial two months after my surgery didn't go as planned. I was slapped in the face with reality; beyond using my body I didn't have much going for me. I became angry from confusion and wouldn't leave the house for days at a time. One night I found myself in a club with a sling on, which in retrospect is a total loser move. I was the most depressed I'd ever been.

I managed to get a job a two months later once my sling was off. I put out 25 in person applications and eventually scored a bartending gig. I was starting to train for the season and physio was going extremely well, but I would indulge in the occasional night out and totally fuck up my routine. I justified drinking by thinking that it was my only way to meet girls. The allure was omnipresent though but even if I partied once a month it would compromise the entire next week of training. 

So two months later,  I was a lot physically stronger (and now a competent bartender) but not entirely satisfied. I was moving to Whistler soon and my confidence regarding my ski career and my shoulder just wasn't there, so I made a big change. I quit smoking pot. It was time to see how could go without it, as I had smoked regularly for the last four years. I also quit drinking, which is something I had always wanted to try. I've always been the victim of nasty hangovers. It's going to be hard but the longer I endure this clean lifestyle the better I feel. I don't want to look back when I'm 40 and wonder if I could have done better. 

Now that I've quit pot I can more honest on this blog. Weed was a large part of my life and I wasn't comfortable talking about it, thus there is now one less barrier. Skiing is a sport in which there is rampant pot use amongst athletes but due to the corporate nature of sponsors it is concealed, yet there are sports such as skateboarding that don't hide the lifestyles of their athletes. If you're a talented skateboarder you can do what you want, and that's the way it should be. This way, people from all walks of life can become successful athletes. With these freedoms the more impressionable (myself included) can get the wrong idea, and certainly weed doesn't work for everyone.

I've always to write in this blog much more candidly and this is the first step. I'm going to swear too, no one can stop me.

So all said, I'm stoked at the moment. Expect more frequent posts starting now and skiing content in early January. Bails edit coming soon, too.

Friday, September 25, 2015

PREMONITIONS

Because you could see this on the Whistler website but I want your views....

Lately:

I finally got my sling off and am now reaping the benefits of physical activity. I've never appreciated being able to run so much, I've also never had such sore legs. It will be a long road though and I don't think I'll be skiing really until around January. Regardless, I'm super happy to ditch the sling and exercise! As soon as I left the hospital I hiked up to the new Sea to Sky Gondola. The whole thing hurt a lot but I finished it off with a dip in a cold creek and my muscle recovery was fast forwarded considerably.

Being back in Squamish and Whistler made me wish that they had cold glacier fed creeks in the city. For my first few years in Whistler I always defined myself as a city kid, citing the lack of cultural diversity. Really though now I'm back in Vancouver I'm spending all my money on sushi and craving for a cold creek to jump in. I just can't find my place.

On a random note I found a bail mixtape that I'm now going to re-do and put up here soon.


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Toestanding

I'm pretty sure the Doc said this was OK. 

The Fall Zone

About two weeks ago a windy rainstorm rolled into the PNW and it was ruled that it was no longer summer. I don't have any authority on this but it's really a matter of perspective. All skiers are now thinking forward; they are no longer in the present, laughing about the summer heat. Snow even accumulated on the peak of Whistler.

I don't really even have my winter figured out yet. My plan for the fall is to train and work in Vancouver, then return to Whistler for opening day. This winter is set to be a good one though. I have the money to buy a snowmobile, so once I pull the trigger on that I've taken a big step. Other than that I just want to do as many trips as possible, including one to Japan and some big mountain comps.

The last month since surgery has been kinda. Looking back I realize that being an athlete means more than excelling just when you're at you're best. Just Six more days until I can return to low impact activity. I bought some new runners and I'm super excited to put a bunch of energy into that and get real fast on the concrete, track, and trails. For now though I'm just trying to take it easy, but not too easy.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Lately: On the Wagon

[Intro: Scarface]
I sit alone in my four-cornered room staring at candles
Oh that shit is on?
Let me drop some shit like this here, real smooth


I had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago. In lying around and letting my endorphin levels drop I became less happy. Any sense of purpose is a good one so when I had no work out and no job to wake up to I desperately started to think of other things to do. 

For a little while all the stimulus in a bar or night club can make you feel busy. Going through the motions of a night out is a process. Before even leaving the house you've got to nail an outfit, then consuming alcohol becomes an objective. Then inside the club humans chase each other in chaotic mash of music and lights. After all that whatever happens, happens. The day after we are preoccupied battling a hangover. Alcohol affords us this experience and all parts of it are heavily engrained in youth culture. 

I'm out though. I never really drank a lot but at this point I've been around drinking enough to see the cons outweigh the pros for me. A week in, my world hasn't changed yet however if I keep this up all fall and through the ski season maybe I'll see some changes. It's yet to been seen though. 

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Lately:

It turns out this blog still get a few page views. I'm happily surprised once or twice a day someone stumbles on here and checks it out. In the last few years this blog has almost been forgotten. So instead of being apologetic and making promises to myself and followers I'm just going to write today for the first time since mid winter.

My last post featured a video I made on Feb. 18. My workplace gives me some free lift passes to pass on to friends as a Christmas gift every year, and my friend Tom was living in Whistler with no pass (bad decision making). Tom took the lift ticket but would spend his whole day on the camera. It hadn't snowed in a long time and since then we'd experienced all sorts of thaw/freeze cycles so calling it hardpack was almost an understatement. Regardless, weeks of skiing in these conditions made everyone adapt and ski in different styles and take new lines. Largely a lot of fast skiing and landing in transitions. So it wasn't super conventional and I'm happy with the end project.

It was dry for a while until mid March when Whistler was hit by some snow. By this time people had lost faith in skiing and stashes were left every where, Whistler had been abandoned. I got a few more shots in this period but regrettably didn't get any in the backcountry.

Right at the end of March I went to Kicking Horse for Wrangle the Chute without yet being registered. I literally begged and thanks to the organizers got in the night before. I had an ok qualifier run and ended up sitting in fifth. The finals run ended badly. There was a little drop I chose to hit last minute above my main feature and got stuck  in the landing in some heavy snow and skied past my main source of points. Somehow I ended up tenth. There was a good party and my cousin was there randomly so I got over my losing attitude pretty quick.

Also,  I met into the TGR crew in Kicking Horse, the conditions weren't ideal for filming in the area so they were skiing the resort. I was trying not to be a fanboy but I probably was. Thanks to Lauren, Connor, George and Camilla for letting me tag along on that trip.

The location of our first planting camp: Adams Lake

After kicking horse, I had just one week skiing left before I had to got plant trees. Due to the low snowpack the ground was ready to plant almost a month earlier than normal. We started out around Kamloops. This was my third and toughest season of planting. I was on a contract so hard my average earnings dropped 40% from where I had left off the year before. A week in I dislocated my shoulder rollerblading and missed 6 days of planting. April just sucked and I wanted to quit the contract badly. Eventually things improved but I never got to the earnings I had in the year before, even though I was more experienced. I've learned to love planting trees though and was willing to do an extended contract in Ft. St. John. so I could make the money I needed to get a snowmobile. Our crew was tight though and I came out with a bunch good stories. Money isn't everything.

Artisan's Mackenzie camp - all wrapped up really

Mackenzie BC's main attraction - the worlds biggest log crusher

This was one day in the North Adams area near Clearwater BC.  We showed up to the super steep block in one of the hardest rainstorms I've ever seen. As you can see below, the day ended well. 
   



After finishing with Dynamic reforestation I managed to tag on two more shifts at the end of the season with another company called Artisan. This camp was in Mackenzie and had some extremely fast and sandy land. I manage to get a personal record with 4320 trees in a day. I was tired but happy and healthy at the end of season.

In another post I'd like to get into treeplanting a bit, because it's almost as much fun as skiing in the sense that you're in the outdoors pushing yourself mentally and physically. I also had to switch phones in the middle of the season and am now missing a bunch of great photos.

My truck was in rough shape for the journey back to Vancouver but with some white knuckle driving, a spare fan belt and luck I made it pack from Prince George in a day. I would've continued planting in Northern Alberta for August but I had a date for shoulder surgery.

Over the years of skiing and abusing my body doing other activities I've dislocated my shoulder somewhere between 20-30 times. This means that it had become unstable and was due to come out increasingly often. I had a Arthroscopic Labrum Repair aka the Bankart Repair. Basically, the cartilage that lines my shoulder socket that had been ripped out after all the dislocations  was re attached via anchors buried in the socket. I'm now 14 days out and feeling pretty good. My arm must stay in a sling but at this point have no pain  and it's a fight not to use the bad arm. What's most remarkable is that the three entry points are almost completely healed.

So these days I'm not doing a whole lot. I've just started to get out of the routine I had the week after the surgery. I was on painkillers and didn't work on anything, even my progress in the plot of GTA V was negligible. I'm focused again though, and about to finish my season edit.

So that was my summer. Manual labor and surgery, all for skiing though.

Everyone knows summer sucks anyways.

Monday, March 2, 2015

SUCH AN ICE DAY

I spent a lot of time searching for the right ice pun for this video. I even watched compilations of Freeze's puns circa Batman & Robin (1997). It's a horrible movie and I didn't get any puns from it. This was all me. Thanks Tom for being the red button pusher and filming with me.


Friday, February 13, 2015

Best big mt. competition run EVER

I haven't written about it much lately, but I ski in big mountain competitions. I haven't done one in two years but I'm pretty set on the Crystal FWQ 4* this March. I had a scary fall at the last competition I entered (maybe the reason it's been a while), however it did offer a moment of glory before that fall. The glory that can come out of Big Mountain competitions brought me to write this post. The first thing I saw on Facebook when I got home from work tonight was Sam Smoothy's run in the Andorra Freeride World Tour yesterday. It was simply amazing, he dove into one of the hairiest lines I've ever seen, in our out of competition. He won that day, though only with a score of 91.25.

A few years ago the judging format in big mountain contests was largely changed. Due to the increasing popularity of freestyle moves, the format changed from style, fluidity, etc all being added or subtracted from the line score, intto the line, style, aggression, etc all being separate categories. I strongly believe a 91.25 is a poor score for the run I saw.  Despite this, it may have been as good as possible with the modern format.

Although on a lesser level of competition I once scored a 96.0 with the modern judging format, because my line wasn't my strongest component. I was consistent in all the categories. For me that worked out but now I'm witnessing the greatest big mountain line of all time getting a low 90's and for the first time I'm questioning the new format.

I haven't decided that it's bad, but it's negative aspects are definitely now apparent.

Regardless, Sam Smoothy laid it down and is on my radar. The level of confidence he has in his own skill here is unparallelled.

-Kudos man I hope I meet you someday.



Monday, February 9, 2015

The Truck

In high school I didn't care for cars. To get around every day I would ride my bike. In a densely populated city like Vancouver cars don't offer a lot of convenience. Because I was passionate about biking, I could get to school in less time than it would take to drive. If I had driven a car with the same style I rode my bike each day, I'd probably be in jail. But as much as bicycles provide freedom, I came to realize cars offered freedom like no other technology does.

Somewhere between youtube, episodes of top gear, and learning stick in my moms hatchback, I started to lust for a car. At age 20 I bought a red Acura Integra, not the best car for a skier, but very fun to drive. I had that car for two years, and it offered some great experiences. In retrospect a Subraru may have been a better choice but I won't dwell there. I all over BC and back, got pretty close to the cars top speed, and almost completely wasted the handbrake drifting in the snow.

I'm a skier though, and I've been chasing owning a snowmobile for a few years. Owning a snowmobile necessitates having a truck. So after two months of planting trees I bought this:

It's a:
'94 Ford F-150
4x4 with a regular cab and an 8 ft box
5 speed manual w/ low range
driven by a 300 cu straight-six
the colour is Calypso Green
and it's awesome.



*disclaimer - personal automobiles are not only largely responsible for climate change, but also a money pit and a large source of stress for any owner.

Friday, February 6, 2015

A typical day

A while ago I thought of the idea of doing a POV day in the life video. It's the POV part I have a problem with. Putting an ugly go pro mount on my helmet deters me from making the commitment. I also carry some odd grudge against POV edits, maybe because I want to be filmed so bad. Regardless, that edit is something I'll be trying eventually this season.

Instead, why not write about a day in the life? especially when I've taken the photographs already. Our day in the life starts at 9 AM Wednesday February 4th. It then starts again at 10 AM because I wanted to sleep more. Tired from closing the bar at 1 AM the night before, I cook my typical breakfast while tuning in and out  of Bill Burrs Monday Morning Podcast. I'm a sucker for routine, and as a result my daily breakfast varies little: 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs, a big handful of spinach, ever-changing salsas, and two slices of whole wheat make a healthy and satisfying sandwich. I wash it down with a glass of OJ and some french press coffee and I'm ready to go.... to the washroom. Then that I take my skis and walk to the truck.

I could tell it was going to be a good day. 
If there's any fresh snow I usually get a little sideways on the drive to the hill for fun. My plan for the day was to rock solo and explore the alpine stashes. It hadn't snowed in a few days but the mountain was empty, not a bad thing when you're alone. Crowds make me angry for no reason, but when I'm with a crew the time I'm wasting waiting isn't as noticeable. Highlights of the ski day include a classic washout bail trying to straight line the tight entrance to Cirque, redemption the next run, a few fresh lines, and a chicken chickpea rice bowl.

                      If you look closely you'll see the the lines. If you don't want to look closely they are the two obvious ones.                   
Where was everybody? I was the first into any of the lines off of little Whistler. I knew I was taking a risk, not just with the chance of popping an avalanche but also the mandatory air in. I think I just answered my own question.
I've been finishing up with a cold (don't know why I procrastinated) so there's not much to write about from that night.  The evening consisted of a stretching session and some pasta that I feel guilty about because it sucked.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Lately:

The last few days have been exciting. Whistlers snowpack constantly provided surprises. With 20 light cm's on top of blue ice, every turn is a gamble. On and off the hill I've had unexpected experiences.

There's a blind jump I hit everyday off of the top of Red Chair. It's in the trees and you can't see the landing until you're well into the air. I mindlessly aired it only to realize an instructor had taken his kids directly under it and I was jumping half his class. After some explaining and apologizing the instructor and me were both more weary. His class of little girls was really stoked.

Then, that night I took up a random doorman shift at the bar where I work. It's not a position I usually do, but they needed someone and I didn't have anything planned. The night went smoothly until the very end when I had to physically break apart a fight between two middle aged brothers. Talk about 0-100. Buddy didn't even thank me for breaking a headlock off of him.

Anyways, two interesting moments in one day. I also ripped the heel piece out of my ski today. That's not really interesting though, just a pain in the ass.


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Lately:

Right in the middle of the season Whistler has received it's worst weather yet. It could be worse, my home mountain Cypress looks like this:

http://209.17.152.109/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?resolution=480x360&dummy=1422391528611

This is from a live cam.

It's not like the snow stopped and now you've got to tour and search for good snow. On Friday it started raining up to 3000 meters and continued for several days. I went up during the tail end of the rainstorm and it was apparent that we had lost a few feet of snow. 

But is this blog any more than a way to vent about how shitty the skiing conditions are?

Maybe today it is. 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Monday, January 19, 2015

Lately:

I popped my out shoulder skiing on new years eve, again. For a week or two I was bummed but then some snow fell, and I got stronger. Things feel good. My injury is always in the back of my head, but that might be what's keeping me safe because those thoughts weren't in the back of my head when I got hurt. So I haven't skied much for the last little while, and I haven't been contributing to this blog much either. The last few days have come through and been amazing.

A rhyming haiku:

I'm feeling good now,
don't know, it could be my mood, 
surely it's the pow



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