Snow Realms Episode 2-23, 24

A couple new episodes from TJ, across the pond and in the States. Really great stuff. Dig it.

Episode 23

The Snowboard Realms Season 2 episode 23 from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

Episode 24

The Snowboard Realms Season 2 Episode 24 from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

TJ also has a very cool new feature called "The Shot" where he gives a little behind the scenes look and talks about what goes down with getting a certain shot for the vids. Really rad, make sure to peep it.

The Shot episode-1 - Pole jam front 1

The Shot (ep 1) Poll Jam Front 180 Over Grass Gap from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

Happy Earth Day

If there's one day you should skate, or ride a bike, or unicycle, or Razor scooter, or roller blade, or even just walk, instead of starting up your car, it's today. But it shouldn't just be one day a year... Go do something positive for the Earth today!

A Wicked Case of the Mondays

Transworld Snowboarding recently reported that Vail Resorts, the owners of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, A-Basin, and Heavenly shred hills, is making it mandatory for all employees to wear helmets while skiing or riding starting next season. Really? I mean c'mon... That's a little, um, brutal if you ask me. Don't get me wrong now, I'm all for safety on the mountain and protecting your melon while riding, I wear a helmet most all the time, but to make it mandatory of all employees is a little much.

A vast majority of the on hill employees are ski and ride school and are teaching little kids how to... ski and ride. And most of the time they're just eeking their way down the mountain, waiting for their pupils to follow. Occasionally I see an instructor riding with a private lesson where the kid can actually make turns, and maybe they'll take a couple laps through the mini park, but pretty much all the lessons are a bunch of beginners within a group. And a lot of the time the instructors don't even have both feet strapped in! So how much is a helmet really going to help them?

Like baby-sitting... I mean teaching a bunch of screaming little kids how to ride for $8 an hour isn't bad enough, now the instructors have to wear helmets to accompany their already lame uniform. This is something I guarantee they're NOT going to be stoked on. I know a couple instructors who complain about the job so much already, I can only imagine what they're saying now. It might not be so bad if it was a rad looking, skate inspired helmet or something, but I'd put all my money on it looking like this:

Haha! I can picture a mountain full of these babies covering the domes of many a disgruntled worker. I like the idea of a commitment to safety by Vail Resorts, but for the love of God, let the employees keep some of their dignity!

Thoughts on this anyone?

Read all about the new rule...

09/10 Airblaster Catalog

Found this floating around the interweb last night during one of my lurk fests, and the new gear from Airblaster looks super tasty. Let's have a look at some of the goods!

09/10 Airblaster Catalog, Yeee Hawwww!
(Click to download, duh)

Airbleezy is expanding their genius Ninja Suit line next year, with more kung-fu options and colors to choose from. Their also introducing the Sumo Suit, which is basically just a loose fitting Ninja Suit. I wish I could snowboard in just one of these...


TJ Schneider with perfect Ninja skills


New Sumo Suit... Operation awesome

The new outerwear is brighter and more radical than ever. You wont ever have a problem being noticed wearing Airblastoff. It looks like their adding some pants with a baggy fit to their line, which is really cool for all the gangstas and thugs on the mountain who don't want to wear Tech Nine. It's like saying, "I'm very fashion conscious, but also a hard core mutha fucka, holla."

Here's a combination of goods from the Coloring Book series... You can literally color on the product, schweet!

Color me bad

This is a sick combination, I love the black and yellow contrast... with pink.


I only want to stand out a little...

This one's for all the ladies...


Pretty in pink

For the sunny spring riding days or for picking up babes at the grocery store, Airblastfromthepast's soft goods work 60%, every time.

Hoody's for the homies

You CANNOT go wrong, ever, wearing a shirt with a Terradactyl with shades on grabbing Indy, or a huge 80's T. Rex . So awesome.

Flying steez


Jurassic pimp

The new line also features some supreme goggles and shades, as well as other crowd pleasing accessories. I really like Airblasterrrrr and am most definitely going to pick up some goods for next season. For shreds, by shreds. The way it should be. Dig it.

**Peeps form Airblaster** If you don't want the new threads and catalog on display yet, I will gladly take them down. Just say the word... Cause you guys fucking rule.

Snow Realms Episode 2-22

Just a little dickin' around... Great song!

Episode 22

The Snowboard Realms Season 2 episode 22 from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

Tomfoolery at its Finest

I guess I spoke a little too soon about my April Fools joke not drawing more of a response...

Check the latest thread on the Ski Gabber forum

I am so pleased with myself right now... Dig it.

Great Grab Off Round 2

I think this is the greatest contest of all time. There's nothing more stylish to me than a super tweaked grab, and the stealthy ninjas over at Airblaster want to reward the most poked with free shit. Snap some photos of your steeziest grabs and send em on over to Airblaster by April 30th for a chance to win.

I would recommend getting creative with your shots and grabs for a chance to win... I don't think the basic side shot of an Indy air will get you top prize. I would go for a Crail or a Method personally...

I will definitely be entering this contest and will probably, like 150% for certain, be submitting a photo of a method. I mean c'mon, do you honestly expect anything else?

In case you didn't read the poster above, send your submissions by April 30th to:

information@myairblaster.com or fong@myairblaster.com

Seperated at Birth?

I've had a hand full of people this winter approach me either whilst snowboarding or just walking around town in my Wayfarers, and ask me I was professional snowboarder Zac Marben. Although we do share the same name, and awesome spelling of said name, I am not in fact, professional snowboarder Zac Marben. I can see why some people might get that idea though...

Zac Marben - Zac Bryson... Or is it the other way around??

Pretty striking resemblance huh? Flowing locks, epic Mu-Staches, huge noses... On one such occasion of mistaken identity, a guy had himself pretty convinced I was Zac Marben, and I was just telling people I wasn't so I wouldn't have to talk to them. I had to pull out my season pass and show him my name before he believed me, crazy.

Oh but the similarities don't stop with looks alone. I bet you can't even tell who's doing which super awesome method below...

Ok, ok, of course you can tell... I'm the one on top, HA! If only my methods were 40 feet up in the air...

So what do you think, long lost twins or not??

Gaper Day? More Like Epic Powder Day

Last week on April 1st was every mountain dwellers favorite holiday, Gaper Day, in which the town locals don their favorite one piece snow suits, Texas accents, fanny packs, and ski blades, and pay tribute to all the people who essentially pay their salaries, the Gapers. I had a pretty awesome kit picked out to wear, some white tights, neon short shorts, a shirt with the Texas flag on it, and a denim vest, but wasn't able to sport it.... Because their was 14 inches of fresh snow when I woke up. Damnit, I really wanted to wear my Gaper Day get up....

Usually on April 1st the spring weather is so epic in the mountains it permits the scantly clad Gaper Day attire, but not this GD, for me at least. As much as I love dressing up and making fun of the mountain ski tourist, I love making huge turns and slashes in knee deep powder a whole lot more. So when I hopped out of the Xterra Inn in Breckenridge and landed in shin deep snow, making my feet cold and wet, I decided my GD duds weren't going to cut it. I instead bundled up, grabbed a few Nature Valleys, and sprinted to the mountain, eagerly anticipating some snow surfing.

I made my way from Peak 9 to Peak 8, to 6 Chair, and finally to the Imperial lift, where I was like the seventh chair up right when it opened.... OMG. I was so giddy it was almost embarrassing. I got off the lift and was once again reminded why I am so fucking utterly in love with snowboarding. Oh yeah.

Making the trek to Imperial


Pre pow slay fest


Oh those gapers...


Getting high


Mmmm...

After about 6 runs of making fresh tracks and giggling like a little girl under the Imperial lift, I found some other fresh staches off to the side, hit up Whale's Tail and Peak 7 Bowl, lapped the T-Bar a few times, and found some amazing un-tracked tree runs. Since it was a Wednesday there was hardly anyone on the mountain and I was riding knee deep pow pretty much everywhere I went and was taking face shots like a porn star. I was supposed to meet up with my buddy Sam but neither of us really wanted to stop riding and wait. The only thing that would have made the day better was if my ipod didn't die, but then I wouldn't have been able to hear everyone's screams of joy... It was probably the best pow day I've ever had at Breck.

Frozen Mu-Stache post face shot

Here's a run I filmed with the poino-shoo, the light was a little flat so it's kind of hard to see, but I think you can get the idea. The camera took a few lens shots along with my face.

Breck Pow Run from Zac Bryson on Vimeo.


Epic

Although I opted out of the Gaper Day festivities, a bunch of people still dressed up. As I was making my way back to Peak 9 I came across this group of gaper lovers just as they were making a gaper rally to the bottom. Pretty hilarious.

Yeeeeee Hawwwwww!

Fool Me Once, Shame On You...

Or maybe I have...

I'm very happy to announce that my epic April Fools joke about Travis Rice retiring from snowboarding to become a professional skier fooled a grand total of....... three people. Well, three people that I know of for sure. There could have been more, millions more perhaps... But I think it's pretty safe to say that only three people were fooled. I have to admit I was expecting a little bigger response to the hoax, more than 4 comments, so one can reasonably deduce from the lack of response that either:

A) You knew I was full of shit after reading the first sentence
B) You thought it was a feeble attempt at an April Fools joke and didn't even so much as smirk at it and wanted to vomit instead
C) You didn't read the post
D) You're best friends with Travis Rice and he told you I was full of shit
E) A, B, & C

I'm going to go ahead and throw out a wild guess and say.... E. I thought it pretty funny while I was writing it and expected quite a few people would buy it. WRONG. An anonymous commenter stated, "Really lame attempt at trying to be funny." Really?? Not even a little funny? Even if you didn't buy it I think it would've made you at least chuckle a little. Oh well, maybe some dumb schmuck will stumble upon it in the future and shit a brick after reading it... That would be awesome.

One person in particular, a close shred pal of mine who shall remain nameless in order to avoid complete humiliation, who's name is Tom and can be seen here, totally bought the joke and sent out a few text messages to his pals saying, "OMG WTF T.Rice quit snowboarding and is going to be a skier!!" Including one to me feverishly asking if it was a joke. I woke up to that text and was very pleased with myself.

Maybe next time I play a joke on the blogging world I'll try not to suck. Dig it.

Snow Realms Episode 2-20, 21

Lots of snowboarding at some unique locations. That pole jam looks awesome...

Episode 20

The Snowboard Realms Season 2 Episode 20 from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

Episode 21

The Snowboard Realms Season 2 epiosde 21 from tj schneider SNOWBOARD REALMS VI on Vimeo.

Travis Rice Shocks the Snowboard World

Press Release: April 1st, 2009

For Immediate Release

Late Tuesday afternoon Travis Rice held a press conference in his home town of Jackson Hole, WY at the Jackson Hole Ski Resort in front of a small group of his closest friends and family, his sponsors and a few invited member of the action sports press and made an announcement that sent shock waves through the snowboarding community.

"Today is a sad day for me," He said, "But also one of the greatest, most exciting days of my life. I'm officially announcing my retirement from snowboarding, and am going to pursue a career in professional skiing."

Gasps and silence swept over the small crowd in attendance for a moment, followed by utter disbelief and near pandemonium. The press started firing questions at Travis left and right, but he calmly told everyone he'd be happy to answer any and all questions after he said what he had to say.

He went on to state, "I believe I've gone as far as I can possibly go with snowboarding. I've pushed and progressed the sport to heights never dreamed of. I've won countless contests, filmed epic video parts, and traveled the world to ride the best terrain possible. I just don't know what else I can do for snowboarding. I mean, you can only double cork rodeo 12 so many 100+ foot gaps before you start to get tired of it. I need a new challenge, a new set of goals to conquer, a new way to express myself. And quite honestly, I am getting a little bored of snowboarding. I've already got my own Fathead... plastered on millions of kids walls. What else is there??"

Travis Rice Fathead

"With the massive success of my film That's It, That's All, and the sweeping of the Transworld Awards, I realized I'd reached the peak of my snowboarding career." Travis told everyone frankly. "There really isn't much more I can accomplish, much more I want to accomplish. I don't want to be one of those guys who reaches the apex of his career and tries to push for more fame and ends up becoming a total joke, ya know, like Axel Rose or something. I'm going out on top and want to be remembered as the best, most radical snowboarder that ever lived."

Travis after sweeping the Transworld Snowboarding Awards

When asked how long ago he made this decision, Travis answered with, "I think it's been a long time coming. After we finished That's It, That's All, I took some time off and really did some soul searching. People kept asking what was next for me, and how are you going to top TiTa, and I really didn't have an answer for them. How was I going to top the greatest snowboard film ever made? I think that's when it hit me... One day when I was tending to my garden I had this epiphany, a revelation if you will. And that's when I made the decision. I told my parents, a couple friends, and my sponsors, and that's it... I didn't want this to leak out before it was a 100% go."

"There wasn't a single person who saw this coming." Said Rice's long time Jackson Hole friend and snowboarding legend Bryan Iguchi sadly. "I can't imagine why he would want to quite snowboarding at the very peak of his career. He has so much more to give the sport and..... Sorry, I'm just in complete disarray right now."

Iguchi went on to say, "I guess now that I think about it, the signs were there. I called him all the time to go riding and he always had some weird excuse why he couldn't go. He told me once he was baking cup cakes with his mom... This is some crazy shit man."

The big question from everyone was is he already skiing professionally, or would he have to work his way up through the ranks? To which Travis replied, "Oh I'm already skiing professionally for sure. I'm still riding for Lib Tech, on their skies now of course, Quiksilver outerwear, Redbull, and DC is actually going to start making ski boots, the first to be my pro model, the T. Rice Hard On. I've already started filming as well, Tanner Hall and I have been skiing together a ton and are working on a new project that's going to rival the production and magnitude of That's It, That's All. Actually, it's going to be BIGGER than That's It, That's All, and you can quote that."

Travis and Tanner filming for their new project

One of Lib Tech's co-founders, Pete Sari, who attended the press conference was able to shed a little light on the situation. "Travis came to me a little while after he finished filming for That's It, That's All and told me he was thinking of retiring from snowboarding and wanted to pursue professional skiing. We had a long heart to heart and I of course tried to convince him to stick with snowboarding, but he really wanted to shake things up and was pretty set in his ways. He told me he wanted to stick with Lib and since he's one of the gnarliest dudes I've ever known, I couldn't really say no to him. I know he's going to kill it on two pieces of wood, just like he did on one. I wish him the bet of luck. And shit, we're probably going to sell a lot more skis now."

Travis ended the press conference by letting everyone know, "Just because I'm skiing now, doesn't mean I'm a different person or I've drastically changed in some way. I'm just riding skis now instead of a snowboard. I'm still going to push the envelope and progress skiing the same way I did with snowboarding. Now that I'm skiing I'll be able to go even bigger, I'm going to blow minds. I've been dialing in all my tricks and have even landed a few triple heli spins, which no one else on skies has ever landed."

He of course is talking about the mythical skiing trick of spinning upside down with your legs in the air, rotating like the blades of a helicopter.

"I'm breaching the boundaries and breaking down the barriers between skiers and snowboarders. We can both exist on the mountain, and I'm living proof of that. It's time someone with some credibility stepped up to the plate and actually made skiing legit. Skiing was my first ever on snow activity when I was a wee lad, and I guess you could say I've come full circle. I'm back to where I first began and couldn't be happier about my decision." Travis concluded with a grin stretching from ear to ear.

Although virtually everyone within the snowboarding community is still in complete shock about the unexpected news, we can only sit back and watch as Travis Rice prepares to embark on his latest endeavor. God speed.