Friday, December 1, 2017

SKI QUIZ

You will need a pen, write down your answer selection and refer to bottom for answers.

-Easy-


1. What is the ender in Bobby Brown's Be Water?

a. Double Backflip
b. Double cork 1260° Mute
c. Cork 720° Blunt
d. Switch Double Cork 900° Japan

2. In the first of Candide Thovex's One of Those Days series, Candide jumps over a _________?

a. Swimming Pool
b. Multiple Cows
c. Police Car
d. Paraglider

3. Before Armada What was Tanner Hall's ski sponsor? 

a. Rossignol
b. Salomon
c. Elan
d. K2

4. Who currently hold the record for highest air in skiing? 

a. Joffrey Pollet-Villard
b. Simon Dumont
c. Joss Christensen 
d. David Wise

-Medium-

5. Which ski movie scene used Tears for Fears, Shout as its song?


a. MSP's Ruin and Rose, Marcus Eder
b. Superproof's The Recruitment, Sean Pettit
c. Inspired Media's Believe, Haines
d. Leve 1's Small World, Will Wesson

6. What backcountry freestyle skier is best known for the hood-over-helmet style?

a. Banks Gilberti
b. Mitchell Brower
c. Sean Pettit
d. Chris Logan

7. What pro skier owned Joystick Poles? 

a. Anthony Boronowski
b. Blake Nyman
c. Eric Pollard
d. Banks Gilberti

-Hard-

8. Scot Schmidt, legendary freeskier grew up in which state? 

a. California
b. Colorado
c. Montana
d. Wyoming

9. Sage Cattabriga-Alosa cemented his career with TGR by landing what trick on Pyramid Gap? 

a. D-spin
b. double backflip
c. double frontflip
d. 1080° mute

10. After Sammy C. and Bobby Brown who was the third skier to triple cork? 

a. Bene Mayr
b. Dane Tudor
c. Gus Kenworthy
d. Henrik Harlaut


ANSWERS

D, C, A, D, C, B, A, C, C, B














Friday, October 6, 2017

Instagram highlights from Winter 2017 (in B&W)

First time sledding to a peak for me. Scary, but a lot less strenuous than touring. CC: Peter Wentz.

They're going to build a chair through this stash in the coming years. Dammit. CC: Jon Gierson.

Inbounds shred with good photo composition CC: Peter Wentz. (If you're reading this Thanks Pete)

Lately: decisions made

Shortly after my last post, I talked with my surgeon on the phone and booked to operate on my ankle. Shortly after that I was started to miss day after day of planting in interior BC. Looking back it was comical how much pain I was in, but I can be very determined. I quit planting 5-6 weeks before I was supposed to. A & G reforestation was very accommodating of my injury. They are a prime example of professionalism in the reforestation industry. I spent two months after that living at home in the city. I now regret how complacent I was in that period. Anticipation of school doesn't qualify as action.

Right when I decided to get surgery I got accepted into Carleton University in Ottawa. I had applied to the Industrial Design school there in January 2017 because I had a hunch my ankle wasn't going to heal on it's own. ID schools study the process of design for mass produced goods. This field reflects my obsession with tinkering and my passion for aesthetics. Studying ID also meant I could design products for the ski industry. Previously, I never wanted to be involved in the ski industry as anything other than an athlete, but making ski products seems so god damn cool. In addition, my previous experience skiing is a valuable asset. The decision to go to school seemed obvious in light of the surgery as I wouldn't be skiing 2017/18 regardless.

Upon arrival in Ottawa I realized how my priorities have shifted the last few years. I don't know if this is what I want to do. I might be bound to the wild, at least for one more year. Focusing on school though. After surgery I'll be training to plant trees and ski, while finishing my second semester. Right now I can walk, but not much else. I've improved my diet and I stretch daily.

It looks like my ankle is basically still broken from sept. 2016, but a lot of terms are being thrown around. My surgeon is going to fill that fracture up with a substance that induces healing. I totally lucked out and have what seems to be the best ankle surgeon in Western Canada. I don't know what the recovery time is going to be. School's ok though. I love my apartment and Carleton has the inverse of the guy/girl ratio of the ski towns that I'm used to. I've always tried to learn one new word a day and holy shit is that ever happening now!

MRI from early May revealing that I had been trying to ski on a more or less broken ankle all season.

This blog is about skiing but also, my life. I feel the need to write the following.

My mom died suddenly from an aneurysm a little more than a year ago, which was a big catalyst for change. I loved my mom very much. Barbara was the most giving person I knew. The death may have been why I ultimately made the call to go to school. My dad, brother, and I are getting closer. Who knows where we're at. One foot in denial and the other stepping towards better days, probably. Thanks to everyone who supported us since then, especially those grieving themselves. I wish this never happened but adversity is an irreplaceable education. It's made me a stronger and maybe even better person.

I had some good times with friends last year but other than that it fucking sucked. My half season of skiing was painful, I could barely plant, I was smoking weed constantly, and I had to push through heartbreak (not going there). I think I'm starting to be able to cope with reality. I quit weed again. It's something I've wanted out of my life for the last few years but haven't had the guts to face life sober. Things are really fucking clear without it, more than I even like.

So there's that.

77 more days until surgery. Study, stretch, think about skiing.


Saturday, May 27, 2017

Lately: Big Decisions

First off, I have wrapped up the ski season and gone planting once again. I managed to squeeze in a few motel shifts in the Kootenays and am now based in Princeton in a camp until the end of June. I'm with a good company (A & G reforestation LTD.) but I'm losing passion for the craft as I'm in pain all the time. I think my production is affected.

 I had a third MRI  on my left ankle in late April and though I haven't talked to my doctor yet, the immediate results don't look promising. I still have an ostechondral defect in the ankle, but as a have not talked to my surgeon yet I don't know if shows signs of improvements over previous MRI's. The report also lists soft tissue damage and other tendon issues. The day I received the report was a rough one.

For now I'm just going to push through the pain until I talk to the surgeon on the 31st of May. I got into Carlton University in Ottawa and if surgery is necessary I will get it sometime soon and go to school and start to pursue my career in Industrial Design.

If it looks like I can heal on my own I will consider skiing again. My skiing goals are still a large priority, especially as this last season was so compromised.  Technically I managed to ski this season, but the whole experience was held back and painful. I never once felt like a was skiing at 100%.

What one could call "the freedom of feet" is something I will never take for granted again. If getting surgery means I can do things like pick up soccer, or  even run, then it's worth taking a year off any high impact for surgery. I'm not myself the way I am now.

This is a summary of my thoughts at the moment, practically in bullet point. For now, I've got trees to plant, life decisions to make and a much neglected instagram to serve. I have some footage saved up but I'm waiting to make plans for next year to decide what to do with it for now.


Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Cut

In early Autumn 2016 Conor MacDonald, Peter Wentz and I sat down, ate sushi and pledged our loose allegiance to film together and make a monthly series. Five months later we all live under the same roof and have released our second episode.

I didn't imagine that this whole series was going to be a breeze but the difficulties of editing between three different people surprised me. We all have expectations and sometimes those expectations clash. We are still getting to know each other so communication is a work in progress.

I wasn't too involved in the January episode. The intro was my responsibility and I'm quite content with the results. We did a lot of brainstorming for the introduction and the title. The Cut came out a last minute decision. We named the series after a local slackcountry run and in the midst of a heavy brainstorm we settled on it. It may be a little plain but it encompasses aspects of our crew, largely Whistlerblackcomb but also the cut blocks which roads we use for sled access.

I wrote the two paragraphs above about a month ago and now we're about to put out our third episode. I was the editor for the second episode. I'm happy with the end product but frankly expected it to pick up a bit more momentum. Anyways, without further ado - the second episode of The Cut. 

Lately: Just enough progress

There's a pattern in coping with this injury. The pattern is this: I have some progress which slowly decreases and as it decreases I briefly lose faith. Somehow after each of these brief periods of hopelessness signs of improvement spring up and the cycle starts it self all over again.

I've been aware of this cycle since December, but each time my ankle gets sore it still gets to me. One of the things I've been working on the last 6 months is a general control of my own mind. The ability to focus, enforce self control, and be present are my main priorities. There's that, and having control of my own life, which should lead towards happiness.

-Jacob Boyd, Early March 2017

Friday, February 17, 2017

Lately: Transitions

I am proud to say that I filmed this weekend. My buddy Pat hooked it up and Saturday morning I found myself in a parking lot with sleds unloading left and right. Avy danger was high but I still had a good feeling on the way up. We had a mish-mash crew of skiers and snowboarder which set a cool social tone for the day. Until about 3 PM we just lapped some trees and repeatedly got stuck.

Towards the end of the day Jeremy Acland and I tried to film some hits. Retrospectively I should have reeled back a bit and gone for some more simple shots. Instead I lined up the biggest hit in the zone and bailed hard twice in heavy deep snow. Live and learn I guess. Jeremy laced a 360 and some cool 180's despite the chest deep fudge. Few times have I felt as exhausted as I did at the end of that day. We ended up at Mile One restaurant in Pemberton and I had the best BLT of my life.

The start to Sunday was crazy! We showed up at a zone at 8:30 AM only to learn that their parking lot had been full for over an hour. It was a major holiday in BC and we briefly considered not sledding at all. We rendezvoused at a zone called Brandywine. Brandywine is the most popular sled zone in Whistler and we headed in expecting a totally thrashed slope. As we turned the corner to the main zone we saw that the main wall hadn't been touched at all. It was like someone had picked out all the peanuts and raisins from the trail mix and left the M & M's. I got my first shot of the season first run then tried some other hits but ultimately lost focus and played around the rest of the day.

 Just the M & M's left


The plan for now is to rehab my ankle this week until the conditions improve and I get my truck back from the shop (turns out not having a rear bumper is illegal), then it's non-stop go time (knock of wood) until the end of April.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Lately:

I'm happy to say that for the first time in a while I'm busy. I've submitted one college application, have just a few weeks to wrap up a pre-requisite course and then finish another. By March 1st I'll be done with anything school related and I'm so stoked to stack footy for two months straight after that. Probably more stoked than I've ever been about anything. The bunged ankle is at 85% at the moment. I put some days in on the hill and the skill and focus is there, but some muscular asymmetries are noticeable.

After the shit show that was the last six months, I'm not taking anything for granted. It's kind of baseless but I think I'm going to be a better skier now because of that. One example was when the crew built a jump a few weeks back. I had to be pushed into going up to session it (thanks Peter). I didn't want to try anything and was ready to work the camera all day. I thought I'd try the jump and ended up getting first hit after a round of rochambeau. Initially I was psyched out because of my ankle. Two hits later I had a new trick on camera. Not a great shot but a shot, and only 4 days into the season.  I relied on my brain committing to the trick and it just happened. I hadn't been through that process since I broke may ankle and it was crazy. I think how fucked up life is got drilled deep in my brain and I was like "ok, it's simple let's just get this trick".

The ankle is pretty sore after a few days skiing so I'm taking a week off until this next storm hits. It won't be 100% by then but hopefully it's good enough to ski and continue the healing process*. It's gonna be crunch time the next few months. I'm excited.

*knock on wood

Sunday, January 29, 2017

New Room:

I had a decent amount of free time when I moved up to Whistler a month ago, and put some good energy in to my room. I found a big old brass coat hook and decided to go with a distressed brass theme for all the hardware. I'm coping with a twin mattress, but with my monk-like lifestyle, it seems to work. Everything else is white, and I've got a huge window with the best view in the house. The room is small and lacks a desk but it's my sanctuary and I love waking up early to a blast of natural sunlight and an instant conditions report.

I like to keep my daily carry (keys, I pod, wallet) on a plate. 

The utility wall w/ a ton of hooks + attachments for therapy bands

Dreamers corner. That is is a Ferrari F-40 and a '65 Mustang.

Wake up to this EVERYDAY

I found this patch or whatever it is walking home at 3 am one night. It was in a ditch. No joke. Why did I grab a wet rag out of a ditch? It was red and that's my favourite colour. 

Followers