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Stay tuned….

The Sound of Shred

A new jam just dropped on myspace yesterday but it isnt getting much heat yet.
Click the pic then play “I think I know”.

MixTape any day now….

Staggering around public areas in your house-clothes is perfectly acceptable when shopping for dental floss.

Good Morning Scum: The American work week is halfway dead. Lets kick it while its down.

Broadcasting resumes shortly.
we are back……in black: You voted, I answered.

As noted earlier, the Great Re-Boot is happening all week long and since Im mopping up pestilence on the main system at home, I may as well burn this to the ground and rebuild it as well; just like a little leper colony.

Winter to Spring transitions means much more text coming up and a fading of usual Winter fare, namely photo-blogging;  I may switch permanently to a brighter background instead of the darker styles I usually employ. What if you decided what it is though? Is it better black? Do you prefer a cleaner, brighter look? You have my email, facebook and the comment field to make the call. Most votes wins but in the meantime while I cleanse the scourge: you get this vanilla ice cream cone with NO SPRINKLES ON IT! Plain Jane.
I kinda like it.

go.

Ricochet does these hand arts that are the same for me as unicorns and teddy bears are to 5 year olds. I just find them irresistable somehow.
See?

Do her bidding

In a world where Stevens Pass is shoveling coals on a thriving revenue stream and abundant goodwill towards thier Motorhome accessibility, Crystal Mtn just upped the ante, BIG TIME. These guys are savvy as hell, and I like it: Check this out!

*Stevens Pass says we are gonna kick the lower lot out once and for all, so Crystal invites us all down for a Rendezvous, slated for March 27 (deets to come).
*Stevens Pass has the final “meeting” today to “decide” what will be done with our futures and despite rumours swirling that it is a public meeting, no one outside the select group of 8 have been publicly invited as far as I know; so what does Crystal do? They decide to announce they will build a Gondola for…get this: next year!!!! I love it! Love it love it love it!

I’ll tell you something: Stevens Pass can hold all the meetings they want, public, or secret committee style, the fact remains that as any corporation would, the decision has already been made and this is all a front. Its cheap and meaningless. I dont appreciate the hollow nature of it all, and the fact that none of us (dedicated lower lot users) are even allowed a voice adds only insult to injury. I can go on and on about this and I will, depending on the final decision they make re: our futures there.

Did Crystal time the anouncement with this meeting? Of course not but the timing couldnt be better!

wow…..a gondola!

**Ski season is wrapping up early this year and even though the signs have been here for a long time, none of us are ready, least of all me. Cherry blossoms are blowing up the city and for some reason I still get a shock when I see them; watching the slow death of Winter always leaves me bereft….
Ive been attending Bee clinic for 4 weeks now and all the hippies there celebrate weekly, the onslaught of Spring as I grimace for multiple reasons but mainly the loss of a favorite Season. Follow me on Twitter for the real-time action…at your own risk. Bee Clinic has been a mixed bag for me, overall very good but I am constantly distracted there by everything in the room: hive parts, the fragrant waxes and general organic/stunning nature of the art form…and of course the hippies. I dont know that Ive really absorbed all that I need to there since its so hard for me to focus. I will certify next week for sure, but I better be in the top echelon of the class otherwise its big trouble (getting bested in any category by hippies). I pick up my unassembled Hives next Thursday night and thus begins the tangible process of beekeeping.

**Its been amateur hour at my place since the hard drive on my main computer blew up and Ive had to deal with the douchebag decision I made last year not to back anything up externally. My Winter recap film we all know as “Searching for Saplings” has been lost; 9 months of collected footage half compiled just chugged down the drain. Its too stupid of a situation to be pissed at having lost it, completely my fault.

**With Spring in the air Ive got the backpacking itch, this year I will be in the High Country alot sooner than usual and its good news, for conditioning purposes. I will start out as usual with the kayak camping sessions Ive come to love every Spring and then progress with the snow-lines up to the Big Mountains, getting tuned for the big nut: a big 6 or 7 day solo trek through the ALW, specifically from Snoqual to Stevens Pass. I should take someone along but I dont know whom I can stand for that long, in that sort of setting who doesnt have that availability time-wise. You get out there like that and everything changes inside of you, even though your a guest of the Wilderness, you become a viable, functioning part of it. Its a deep experience where everything falls away except the sheer rawness of the moment which depending on whom you ask: is where you find yourself. For me it is this way, my soul fills with the wild air and becomes as clear as the big mountain waters I take my fill of. The essence of this place is so real that I get up there and I dont even swear…it just doesnt fit up there somehow. My problem with backpacking is unique inasmuch as I dont know how to hike with anyone, since Ive never really done it more than once; hell my first overnight backpack trip ever was solo, and done out of spite b/c my buddy bailed on me and I refused to ditch the trip, even though I had know clue what I was doing. I will never forget any trip Ive taken, but that one was special; a total tenderfoot out there all alone, spent the entire night hunkered in my tent just waiting for death’s bloody maw to sink into me via bear, cougar, bigfoot….anything I could imagine was out there just waiting for me to fall asleep. I got up at 4am and shakily peeked out of my little tent, determined it was reckless to make coffee but what the hell I might as well have something nice in the middle of this mess and so I made my java and sat back inside cowering until Sunrise. I planned a fire sale on Craiglist in that final hour before dawn and resolved to get the hell out of there at first light, if I didnt die first. Soon the ravens began hunting in the dark, circling unseen overhead, soon the stars began to fade and with it the nearby lake sparkled ever so slightly…….it all unfolded slowly before my eyes: the sun rising over the mountain, the ridge above the lake rustling to exuberant life, hungry ravens above now visible in pre-dawn light and most importantly I was alive. I made it….couldnt believe it….I felt more alive in that moment then I ever had before, watching the Earth wake up around me, and somehow I was part of it. That moment changed my life forever and it happened by such delicate chance, born out of so many emotional components including the reason I even went there alone in the first place. Since then Ive made many hikes, all of them overnight and 99% of them alone. I always say I will hike with someone but I never do, its just to big out there to bring anyone along, but not big enough to share. That makes sense to me, but probably no one else. It is what it is, its what I do…who Ive become I guess.

Im rambling,  thanks for reading….gonna hang up now.

Hench.

theres been a major malfunction at HeadQuarters and the main publishing system lies disemboweled on the desk, hard drives, wires and screws lay about viscerally…….it really looks violent…but I was gentle I promise.

What does this mean you ask? For the next few days it may be quiet as I run this joint on Droid and my little laptop that reminds me alot of Thomas the Train.

Bear with me, its certainly been alot worse than this.

Im a huge Trouble Andrew fan, just like you.
No Good
This gets cookin’ right around 9:23.
check it.

YO! 8MILELIFE from Randy on Vimeo.

8milelife.com

you need to always watch your ass, for Beavers.

Goodnight, Bastards. (Stay the hell away from my berries.)

Seaworld Orca incident tied to isolation and breeding schedules.

The whale’s fate remains uncertain, but both Blake and Ellis believe it will not be killed, due to public outcry. They additionally think such whales will become more popular attractions because of the incident and the perceived danger aspect.

Let the Wild Things be wild.
Captivity….Exhibition……it’s all miserable.

Death INC

This weekend is Hope On the Slopes at Stevens Pass, I was supposed to ride it and then jam over to Idaho for a few more days of shred at Silver Mtn but none of it is going to happen. I am stuck in Seattle all weekend, first weekend here since December, first week of not riding at all since November. Not sure how I will react to all this weekend civility.
I wont see a flake of snow for two weeks, but when I do it will be in the fine company of a brand new NeverSummer Premier deck and this Black Death, pictured cradled in my loving arms above;  purchased last Summer and sort of forgotten about………..
Ha I get a new board for every weekend missed dont I?

Click to purchase

Doctors say because he cannot sweat or lose heat through his skin, it peels away in fish-like scales, Hi Fishboy.

Little wonder, then, that the skull of Stortebeker has fascinated Germans for so long — and that its theft from a Hamburg museum last month has kept police busy. They interrogated members of the often reckless FC St Pauli fan club and dug deep into the city’s Goth scene, before concentrating on a new possibility: that the pirate’s skull has become a trophy in the turf wars between rival biker gangs.
Pirates’ severed head lives on in infamy, thousands of years later. .

Another ’sea creature’: Mysterious headless marine animal washes ashore:
Arse Eel washes ashore Canada, and the comment thread PROVES IT AS USUAL!
Ruling out Hairy Squids right away…

Not surprised one bit: Singing rewires the damaged brain.
“Music engages huge swathes of the brain – it’s not just lighting up a spot in the auditory cortex.”

Vancouver duo: Japandroids.
Young Hearts Spark Fire.

As always, Myspace remains good for music.

If your a dude youve seen it, if your not; youve done it….we all know about the sex calendar or more famously….The Smiley System. I will never forget the first one I saw that related directly to me and ever since then I have kept one of my own. Some years I keep smiley faces, some years I just use the letter S….but at the end of each calendar quarter I add up my emoticons/letters and rejoice in what I have done. As you may expect: the more I have, the happier I am. This year…so far…I have tallied 48 S’s since Nov 26, 2009.
Since day one, an emoticon or S=Shred.
48 days this year! Just added em up on the overall calendar I use, not just the ones for Stevens Pass.
Pretty impressive isnt it.
All of it made possible by a murdered out motorhome and a give a damn attitude about how late I get up there.
Stay Low, Be Powerful!

Robots attack the Fridge

Another super short weekend in Stokeland, but a good one nonetheless, (mostly). Here’s the breakdown:
left Seattle at 5pm, got to the Brig at 7, pissed at the traffic. Switched out of the suit and into riding gear, fired up the ship and set sail…stopping at the Dutch as usual for a few minutes. Got to the Mtn at 8:30 pm and dropped anchor, discovered that my flag was busted and had a few beers with some buddies, then rode from 9 to 10. It was really cool riding alone at night, its been a long time since Ive done that, alone and late….ripping around in the dark by myself. On the way back to the Moho I picked up a ride with some bro’s that were headed down to the Lot to have a few drinks with us……and sat around til midnight talking stories and talking about jobs…
Saturday morning was harsh, really really harsh. I lost my ski pass, my favorite gloves, a knee brace and a set of skullcandys. Super lame and it had me in a bad mood. I didnt get out on the hill til 11am, trying to get it all sorted out. I started riding and stayed out all afternoon, but getting more and more irritated with idiots on chairlifts and mindless conversations so I decided to dump lift lines all together and start riding trees, then hiking back to the hill so thats just what I did. I had a huge 7 rip session in the trees above and around the lower moho lot, then would hike back to Chief and do it all over again. It was good and soon the Mountain was in my lungs and I began to feel more normal. There are alot of cool drops, kickers and slides back there that I really enjoy riding and the further back you go, the more you find. On the second to last sesh I was doing a Mike V through the brush and managed to put a hole in my treasured yellow pants but I guess I had it coming, riding like that……and at any rate, duct tape just makes everything cooler in the end.
I was pissed about losing my pass……I didnt think my days would roll over or that maybe some douchenozzle was rocking it, so the girls at the desk dialed me in and shut it down, then got me a new one. Its very obviously the end of Season out there and now we all get hard-ons about how many days weve notched so I was pleased to keep my number.
Since you asked: I have just under 40 days for the season. Yes Im proud.
It hasnt been the best of Winters, but its been better than no Winter and frankly Ive loved every second of this one, halfassed or however you may call it. We really didn’t get any objectives met this year, from the hiking to the hardcore backcountry but we did get killer days here and there that we will never forget because they werent so regular as we are used to, and we did have one hell of a time in Motorhome Country. None of it is over yet of course, but when your riding up Tye Chair, if you lean back just right………you can smell the undeniable beauty of Spring cracking her knuckles. Its a warm but formidable scent tinged with icicles, fir and the threat of rebirth.
Next year, if we are at Stevens Pass, I will ride Tunnel Creek and I will hike the Power Lines all the way back. Speaking of which, I wanted to mention how nice the girls were at the desk this weekend, they really made my day and it reminded me of how much I like this place, or why ive enjoyed it so much in the past. With the Motorhome Lot being treated like a Leper Colony on the edge of the village this year, it has been easily overlooked; the hospitality that has made this palce so great in years past. The core value of any Mountain should be Hospitality, and nothing less. The better they do with that, the more revenues they will rake in; Stevens overall has utterly failed at that this year, in our case at least. I laugh every weekend at the irony of the Lower lot, and the reasoning’s of making it a parking lot, or a lift accessed lot like Silver Fir…….because the only people that park back there are people who typically refuse to speak English and just want to sled, but have nowhere to go. Its a shit-show every weekend back there with the parking……but I digress.
My thoughts on this whole lower lot deal are well known, and also put to pen, but that day hasnt come yet…….

Saturday afternoon, within 30 minutes of the start of the big rainstorm, all of us mustered in the lower lot under awnings and canopies, passing flasks, cooking steaks and cracking beers…most of us laughing about my failure of a morning. Sunday morning I only had an hour to ride before I had to leave for Seattle so we made a blistering 13 run set off of Tye with 5 minutes to spare, a good way to start the day.
32 hours in the Mountains is all I get this week, and next weekend is the first weekend I will miss all Season but I might hit up Snoqual some night this week since I haven’t been up there yet this year.
We will see.
Here’s some Caribou for night listening:

Thanks for reading….
Hench.

Almost time for another High Country weekend…..