Copper 11/25/07

After seeing that Copper opened the halfpipe yesterday and that there were demo’s going on…it was a pretty sure thing that I’d be riding today.

I made the trek with my roommate Leo and our friend Chad. Chad rides a 180cm Unity Dominion…which says a lot. Leo is a wicked skier and it was the first time riding with him so I was stoked.

We had a late start today, leaving Steamboat around 9am and getting to Copper around 10:30am. Conditions were hard packed with ice in spots. Another bluebird day on the mountain. It was a bit windy on the top chairlift but in the 30’s most of the day. Lift lines were not bad at all…the park was empty and only the pipe was pretty packed throughout the day.

Since it was a demo day I dropped off my board and decided to spend more time on Burton today. I rode the Uninc in the morning just for having fun with and the Custom X in the afternoon once the snow got icier and I wanted to ride it in the half pipe.

A couple runs into the day…I had my first boot malfunction since owning my Vans Omni Focus boots. I got the boots as rep samples last year and I knew that as samples they probably wouldn’t be covered under warranty. Well today after a year of riding in those boots and a ton of snowboard days on them…the boa knob screw came loose and the knob came off while riding. Luckily it got stuck in my snowboard pants and at the top of the next chairlift ride…I put it back on and grabbed some duct tape, duct taped my boot to secure my boa and rode the rest of the day. Now I just have to get a screw for the knob and my boots are good again. Luckily I have a backup pair of boots.

After solving the boot issue…had an awesome day of making turns, enjoying the sun and enjoying 2 very different boards. I like the uninc cause it’s fun to ride anywhere, it handled the whole mountain in the varying conditions…bumpy, powder, hard packed, speed runs, buttering. It’s a fun board to ride.

I switched it up to the custom X later on when I knew I wanted to ride half pipe, a stiffer freeride board it excels in the pipe for me. I went down a size for pipe riding and loved how it handled…felt stable each run in the park even as I was getting back into riding pipe.

Leo managed to get shots of us riding down American Flyer. That was the only run where I got yelled at for going too fast…luckily my thumbs up to the safety guy and slowing down…helped the issue.

With any friends we took a much needed afternoon break for nachos and beer at Endos. Endos is my favorite place to eat in Copper…yum!

During the day the half pipe was pretty packed so I figured it was best to wait till traffic in there died down to take my first pipe runs of the season. I love riding pipe and one of my goals this season is to get better at riding pipe…more grabs, more spins, bigger air and better on my toeside wall. I’ve also been riding pipe without my knee brace so again…being healthy with my knee.

Today since it was pretty busy in the pipe, it was a lot of wait time until calling the drop and getting your run in. I love the adrenaline running through your body as you drop into the pipe plus listening to your favorite music. Today was “Frenchie I’m faking” by Architecture in Helsinki. I managed to take 3 pipe runs with the custom X in the afternoon…each run I felt more confident back in the pipe.

Finally the end of the day came…definitely one of my favorite days riding of the season. Packed up Chad’s car and made the trek back to Steamboat.