Elastic Tow Rope

The Riders Union needs to get one of these!

Banshee Bungee Promo Vid from JP Lagos on Vimeo.

Classic Travis Parker in LAME

This video of yesteryear still provides the tingle of stoke in my loins. As the snow approaches for a hopefully epic year, enjoy the stylings of Travis Parker in the classic shredflick LAME:

Mt. Hood

The polar opposite of the previous Dirksen splitboard video, here's a recap of the summer riding mecca Mt. Hood in the Week 5 highlights of HCSC:

Session 4 Recap from High Cascade Snowboard Camp on Vimeo.

Josh Dirksen; Deeper

Dirksen rips up some split board action in Southern Utah for the film Deeper coming out this fall. For you pow hounds out there this should provide you with some serious amp:

Give Up Snowboarding & Go Sledding

Awesome:

Rome Team Shoot Out

If I've posted this before, I'm sorry. But this video is the sickness:

Bluebird Wax 2010 Teaser

Some old dudes are back riding for the upcoming Bluebird Wax production. The freeride line at 1:29 makes me want to take a flight to Chile right now to get my fix! (it's July 1st right now)

New Airblaster! Movie

The Riders Union is really looking forward to the new Airblaster! flick this Fall. Snowboarding is fun again! Yeah Travis Parker!

Respect Your Elders Teaser from Resourceful Gnome on Vimeo.

From myairblaster.com:

Ok people. What you see above is the teaser for the new film from Resourceful Gnome Productions. This is the 5th movie in the Airblaster video library. This season Airblaster and K2 Snowboarding joined forces to bring you Respect Your Elders along with help from great sponsors such as: Nike Snowboarding, Capita, Academy, Snowboard Mag, Winter Park Resort, Clif Bar, Atlas Snowshoes and VAS. This season RGP is putting together a movie like no other. The idea was to keep the Airblaster movie making style we all have come to love and incorporate it with a radical new movie concept. Respect Your Elders is a movie about both Young Bloods and respected Pioneers of the sport. Each section in the video is a trip where a couple Young Bloods go out with a couple Elders to learn the ways of true snowboard jedi's. The mix has made for an amazing video that will show everyone where snowboarding came from and where it is going. Respect Your Elders in my opninion stands to be the most anticipated shred flick for me in some time. Take a quick look at the teaser above and mark your calendar for the Fall 2010 release of Respect Your Elders.

THINK THANKers are Amazing Riders

These guys just know how to have fun on a shred stick:

Riding In June

The Jib Sesh lives on for The Riders Union 2010 well into June!

The Riders Union 2010 Thurs Nite Jib Sesh

Grainy video from the Thursday Night Session. Josh, remember your neon pants next year so the camera can actually pick you up in the dark! Who wears all black at a night session? Good stuff fellas.

Team 2 Squaw Day

Here is the 2nd Place Video of Team 2 from the 2010 Riders Union Squaw Day:

Jed Anderson: HCSC Summer '09 Edition

High Cascade Snowboard Camp just released Jed Anderson's edit from last summer's camp. Riders Union members may recall Jed's style from somewhere. That's because he's the model we used for the one-footer emblem on our 2010 RU Sweatshirts! This kid has amazing board control. Enjoy how easy he makes skiboarding look:

The Riders Union; Wes' Edit

Props to Wes for putting together this hilarious edit on some of The Riders Union 2010 action. A few corrugated pipe sessions with the "action" from the now infamous "Team 1 = More Fun" winning video. I know they went 0/6 in landing jumps, but man, did those guys have some FUN!

Front Yard Jump Sesh

This weekend a few The Riders Union Members decided to get gnarly on a jump in the front yard. These snaps were taken on Friday at around midnight after many Sierra Nevadas. We spent most of our time making sure the run-in and take off were feeling good. The landing was a big problem as it was flat and snowy.


We tried our best but could never get a good picture of Wes flying through the night sky. Everyone enjoyed this picture of Wes somehow getting his board perpendicular with the ground so this is what gets posted.


Matt was working on his indy grabs and smooth floating over the booter and into the abyss.


Cam dialed up some method grabs but didn't have enough air time to tweak them very hard. He also lit up the night sky with his neon pants. It was the pants, rather than the noise, that caused the neighbors to call the cops. Officer Sukklebalz came by and politely asked Cam to change into pants a little less florescent.

The next night we shoved a bunch of snow away from the gap making the clear just that much more gnarly. With this snow we made a really nice tranny so landings are super simple. Get stoked on The Riders Union Jump n' Jib Sesh!

The Riders Union; Team Challenge

Fellow RU members Matt, Wes and I were shredding the homemade kicker until midnight last night. In our state of inebriated hucking, we came up with a great idea for next week's The Riders Union 2010.

On Friday night after the Jib Sesh, we will divide our crew into 3 Teams through a randumb drawing of names out of a florescent beanie. Two Teams will have 3 guys and one Team will have 4. Each Team will then ride together at Squaw on Saturday and document their day with pictures and video. We will then upload and "edit" our respective content on Saturday evening when we get back and will play the results on the TV that night. The Team that looks to have had THE MOST FUN during their day will win insanely valuable prizes. All RU members will vote on the best compilation.

Don't worry, the Teams aren't going to isolate themselves in a shroud of secrecy. Teams are allowed to ride together. We will also have two absolutely mandatory meeting times throughout the day to eat food and drink beer (in case you didn't remember the plan: cars will be parked just steps from Squaw Village and will be loaded up with the goods).

You won't have to worry about not being on a cool team as all RU members are dope ass mofos. And if you still have questions about this idea think of this: how hard would it be to keep track of 10 snowboarders for an entire day? Breaking up the crew takes away this hassle and the contest will definitely push us to get creative and have fun on the hill.

So what constitues "FUN" you ask? Well, a sweat picture of Chad dropping a cornice sounds fun. So does a pic of Ryan spinning a 3 on a side hit. Matt pulling off rock bonks and on-ground butters on video would totally show that he's having fun. Video of Josh making a pow slash would be something I'd like to see. But let's not forget that you can also have fun on the chairlifts, gondolas, in the bars and throughout the village. Video of Camero losing a beer chug contest to an Arctic Cougar would be hilarious. Wes hi-fiving an old guy in the lift line sounds like good times. And if you think that your Team needs more fun-footage, feel free to rap up your compilation with some slides on the backyard corrugated pipe back at the house. I think you get the idea.

So plan on bringing your not-too-expensive digital cameras and video cameras for The Team Challenge. And if your Team happens to land someone who is a digital editing wiz with their laptop and can actually put together a slide show of pics and vid with Freebird blaring in the background, we are sure to be entertained.

Official The Riders Union Sweatshirts

The Genobe font and Jed Anderson one footer highlight this year's sweatshirt. Although we couldn't go for the moisture wicking technology of more expensive sweatshirt material, this model has to potential to actually fit and keep someone relatively warm.....if you wear a few layers below it.

Notes on Shirts

Just posting some notes on t-shirts and sweatshirts here. Both are two sided prints.

TSHIRTS
American Apparel: $21/each
Jerzees: $19/each

SWEATSHIRTS
Jerzees Zip Front: $38/each
Jerzees 50/50 non-zip: $28/each

2010 Riders Union Logo

It's been decided. The 2010 Riders Union logo is of a guy submitting an alligator with his fucking chin. Close second was a tie between an outline of a hand doing the "shocker" symbol, a dude in a jet pack, and a silhouette of a snowboarder throwing a gnarly method.

I really think that the Alligator Wrestler encompasses all that this year's RU brings to the table: fighting your fears, taming the beast, and showing some sick style.

We are now researching ideas on what to put our logo on. Some have called out for Dickies work shirts with gas station attendant nick-name tags. Other's prefer a hoodie. Wes wants a tank top. Regardless, this will be a keepsake that we'll all be rocking pretty hard core.

Side Hits: Ben Lynch at Sierra

This could be one of my favorite snowboard videos of all time. An insanely good rider doing normal things at Sierra @ Tahoe. Side hits rule!

Side Hits from Resourceful Gnome on Vimeo.

Mini Shred

AWSM CREW "SIDE HITS" from torstein horgmo on Vimeo.

Mini Shred is the funnest was to enjoy the gnar when pow is missing.

Intro: Tyler "T-Money" Flanagan

It's too bad Jared couldn't make it to this year's Riders Union. But Tyler is back yet again and is down to teach us all a thing or two! T-Money rides a bunch at Mammoth as his work takes him down to SoCal frequently. The above video is from a few weeks ago and their buddy who has a really sweet video camera taped them. It looks really good! Tyler already said he's going to throw front flips off the dock during mini-shred Friday. Siiick!

Sounds Like You're a Snowboarder

This is some funny shit. Thanks to Rider X for passing this along:

Rider Intro: Tracy "T-La"

Tracy's picture above is old. That's because Tracy used to totally push himself on the skiboard until he got old. Now he's a cautious carver wearing his body suite worth of crash pads and two helmets to make sure he survives until Monday so that he can make it to work. If you try hard enough, you can get T-La out of his protective shell and into full shred/stoke mode. This is when the party starts. All activities surrounding Riders Union 2010 are designed to get T-La to show us his inate abilities on the snow tray: from the beer we'll be drinking (Pabst) to the Jib Shesh (awesome) to the on-hill fun (Squaw) we will hopefully see Tracy laying down the full extended soul carves of old and jibbing box like he used to before he met his wife.

Intro: Rider X

Rider X races out of nowhere to take the lead. He undercuts the pow slash infront of you and then watches you do a trick only to up the ante dropping that same hammer but with intense afterbang. Rider X is a mysterious purveyor of the shred who we all wonder about and are excited to know. At first look, he seems like a bit of an asshole with all of his oneupsmanship maneuvers. But when you get to know the mystery man, you find out that his taste for the finer things in life (brews, skiboards) is unmatched. He's a mellow mountain man who keeps the vibe chill yet constantly moving forward throughout the day.

Backyard Jib Sesh

I was up at the Donner Pad this weekend and had good times shredding gnar with fellow Riders Union members Jay, Ryan and Dave at Squaw on Saturday. The weather wasn't great but we did manage to drink some beers and create stoke with the mini-shred. RU member Ryan said he'd bring his miny flood light that we can set up for the Jib Sesh when the sun goes down. All night long, suckers.

I also spent some time putting together ideas for backyard jib session features that will be slayed super hard at The Riders Union this year. There are about 5 different hits and jibs that can be sculpted to create super happy good times. I thought you guys might like to get a feel for the surroundings even though these pictures are pretty shitty. Don't blame me: the light was flat and I used my damn iphone camera.


This first area in the picture above is where a few jumps will be set up. To the right out of sight is the mellow snow-covered driveway where speed can be gathered. The "bigger" jump in the foreground was a bit too steep. I hit it about 5 times and was launched much too high and didn't travel far enough. When all is complete, this hit will carry you about 10 feet to a hip landing. I also put together and sessioned a smaller bump to the right of the "big" jump that gives a small amount of pop to clear the five foot walkway gap. This was a lot easier to build and super fun.


This second snap gives a bit of perspective. On the left is the natural hill where the small hip wall will be built (landing for the "big" jump described above). On the snow horizon you'll see a few branches. This is where the hill goes down towards the lake and the descent is the perfect pitch to land on. You can't see it in the picture but there is another small bump right before the drop that I hit this weekend. This descent is also perfect to gather speed on for other features that will be put together on the lake bed. Donner Lake is drained a good amount during the winter months it's just a flat area of snow. Down there is where we will set up the corrugated pipe for jibbing adventures.

There are many other ideas as well which I've never really put together before. One that interests Matt and I (my brother who knows the lay of the land) is a run-in down the snow covered stairs to the snow packed dock and off the end where there is about an 8 foot drop to nice lakebed pow-pow (don't worry, we can build a tranny). If we can pull off this set up (manpower and snow conditions permitting) there will be many celebrations all throughout The Riders Union Jib Sesh 2010.

Team America: F*ck Yeah!

This is just TOO F*CKING GOOD

Bryan Fox: Commenting on Olympic Snowboard Gymnastics

Fellow Riders Union Members: I found that THIS ARTICLE allowed me to put the Olympic U-Tube competition in perspective and keep it real up in the field.

On that same note, if you want to disgust yourself, just take a look at the comments under any Shaun White Olympics Victory article on Yahoo! Sports. Barf-in-own-mouth.

Waldo's Commenting On The Olympics

If Future Boy, ahem, let me correct myself: "The Flying Tomato" Shaun White doesn't win gold tonight in the U-Tube, I cringe at the stories that Waldo's like Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports will write about the event. Dude's obviously a total snowboard expert and knows that Boarder Cross is the height of the "sport". I'm sure he's seen Forum's Forever (video of the year) and thought that Rome's Team Challenge video entry last year was off the hook. What a complete douche.

Please stay away from our sport, mainstream broad stroke must take a side on the issue media. For the love of Pow Gods, please.

Matt Hylander: Steezy Bomber

Matt loves to slide, period. Whether it be snow, tree trunks, rock, puckboard or corrugated pipe he is down to nosepress and tailpress anything that comes in his way. More power slasher than light footed shred stick spinner, Matt destroys things with his butter knife more hard core than anyone not named Beefcake Hundox. His new Lib Tech magne-traction technology gives him insane control in the deep pow puff pack and blower turns have become even more blower-y than with past skiboards. Do not shred directly on his right unless you want a jacketful of snow shrapnel. And if there's anyone who will gladly take down an Artic Cougar in the lodge, this is our kid. So for all you dating/married dudes, please allow us to vicariously live through The Hylander at Riders Union '10 when it comes to spitting hilarious anecdotes about cork spinning humongous booters. As we all know, Artic Cougars latch claw onto anyone who talk about the super durdy funbox tailpresses they laid down in the park earlier. Steezy.

Northstar Dealio: $25 Tickets

If you want to ride between 4/1 and 4/18 (Northstar's close) you can do so for cheap. Check out this like RIGHT HERE BITCHES to peep the dealio.

Marklar: King of Chuck It

Those that know Marklar understand how crazy of a mofo this guy is. He loves many things in life (cheese, breasts, wine, tits, sports, cans) and takes these loves to the absolute max. Thankfully, one of his loves just happens to be having as much fun as he possibly can on a snowboard. When Marklar rides with a good crew, he is so fired up that he will most likely hurt himself trying to push it. Which is totally awesome not only on the humor scale of his fellow crew members, but, more importantly on the STOKED factor of the entire group. When Marklar brings The Stoke, he not only improves his riding but also the riding of everyone else he's getting totally gnarly with. The Riders Union cannot function properly without a member who's amp factor we all constantly feed off of.

Squaw Valley Lift Ticket Dealios

For those of you who don't have a totally awesome Season Pass to Squaw Valley, there are some deals to be had. The normal all-day price is $83 which is quite expensive. So there are two options to save some flow:

Become a member of Snowbomb and go to their Registration Page (that is a hyperlink, foolios). In the "Promo Code" section put "snow1970" to receive a free membership. Unrestricted Squaw tickets can then be purchased to print for $69. Snowbomb membership also has other sweet perks such as 1 (one) free sake at Tien Hu Chinese Restaurant in Tahoe City and $5 off the Tahoe Maritime Museum.

The better option is to head over to The Sports Basement in SF for $63 unrestricted Squaw tickets. While you're there, make sure to take advantage of the great deals on the remaining 2007's Burton gear. Yeah!

The Riders Union will AT LEAST be at Squaw 2 (two) days. So get your ticket sitch straight, sukkas! Also, if you have any other ticket deals for Union Members please drop some knowledge in the comment section of this post. Word.

Ryan: Mr. McTwist

Ryan comes to The Riders Union via SoCal where the parks of Mountain High and Bear Mountain molded him into a feature slaying madman. His legit style and love of the spin drop jaws on the mountain and the collective panties of snowbunnies. When he busts McTwists on a wakeboard, bikini tops literally snap off into the lake never to be found again. Yes! Ryan is no rookie to catching air as his record setting high jump career at Cal Poly prepared him well. And even though he started a business selling electric vehicles to the residents of Lincoln, word on the street is that he catches serious air with them as well.

J: Leader of the Fucking Pack

Jason "J" is one intense skisurfer. His "point it and fucking go!" attitude leads his crew into many awesome situations on any shredday. When J spots a pow line, he takes it first, faster, and more shredtastic than anyone not named Jeremy Jones (big mountain JJ not jib JJ). Jason honed his skills while working in the Tahoe region over many extended Winter Breaks in college. Through his adventures, he has compiled seemingly 100 shred sticks for any on-mountain destruction situation that may be presented to him. J doesn't mess around. His mantra of "no friends on a powder day" and "I'll meet you at the Starbucks at Squaw at 7:30 am" push the crew to new, tasty adventures at every ripping turn.

CNOTE: Riders Union OG

CNOTE's tall-guy steeze and short yet wide boards give unknowing sliders the perception that he should fall over at any point. But somehow his Travis Parker Robot Food influenced riding translate into decent pow slashing and a love for the park features. Cam has toned it down over the years after two separate ACL Replacement knee surgeries brought on by overshooting landings in the Northstar Park. But his thirst for the gnar brings him to the hills day in and day out. A connoisseur of the latest and greatest snowboard vids and bright outer gear adds to the progression of the crew. And as the founder of Truckee chapter of The Riders Union, Cam enjoys the challenge of bringing like minded shredders into a universal gathering of backyard jibs and Squaw Valley slaying.........and beer.

Josh: Beefcake Slayer

Josh "Beefcake" Hundo uses his substantial college football build to literally shred the snow off of the mountain and into bolivian. A pow-hound at heart, this guy went to South Shore Soliders Adult Snowboard Camp in 2006 and bypassed the perfectly manicured jumps, rails, funboxes and babes to make his snowboard instructor show him where the pow was. Out of 50 people in the camp, Beefcake was the only one to constantly sniff out the pow of Heavenly over a 5 day period. So when Josh launches, he makes sure to land in some sweet, fluffy white stuff.

Josh is a vital member of The Riders Union. His "drink more beer" attitude paired with his veteran nose for the pow (ha!) immediately ups the fun factor of any snowboarding mission.

Snowboard Magazine: Free 'Scrip

Go to THIS LINK and enter the promo code "snow1970" to sign up for a free subscription to Snowboard Magazine starting in August 2010. Word up.

Corrugated Pipe!

After this year's session, hopefully we can film a vid that's good enough to post on youtube like these guys. Corrugated Pipe Rules!

Wes: Pipe Slayer

Wes is one dope mofo. He ran a world renowed blog called "When Kegstands Go Wrong" and was forced to shut it down after many protests from college cheerleading squads. Now he spends his time rooting for sports from the sidelines.

Wes was admittedly more gnarly on the skiboard in his younger days. A bad on-hill accident of a friend mellowed him out a bit but he still is down to attack a corrugated pipe. Look for Wes to be one fo the coolest Riders Union members this year drinking mad beer, keeping it real, and telling entertaining stories that fellow members will want to tell again to non-Riders Union people and pretend like they're their own.