Share your crew snowboard giveaway!

Mark

My crew makes me a better snowboarder because I have to rider faster and harder than all of them so they don’t smoke all of my weed.

sketchy c

Charlie, male, Charlie.baby88@gmail.com.

Shay if your talkin about shreddin crews that make you better?? you gotsta see the one im ridin with… or about to be riding with. i cant hit mt werner quite yet cause the screw i just recently had installed in my foot. but living in a house-o-shredders its NUTS!! everyone is hoping i can come slashin wit them reeeeel soon. when i get up on the mountain, everyone knows that im jus gonna be takin it easy, and they are way down with just takin some cruisin runs with me. nice and easy, laughin, messin around, taking those much needed stops in the trees for a…… “safety meeting” haha u know whats up. All im tryin to say is that when im able to get up there in a few weeks, all my crew will stick by me. They all know that i aint hittin no downrails anytime soon, so they will all help me get my strength back on some groomers.

c’mon crew, help a cripple out

peace

Kenneth

Wisconsin..not the greatest place to live, but most certainly not the worst. Usually when winter rolls around most people here start getting depressed and sad and then lock themselves away in their homes, secluding themselves from world unless they are forced to brave the conditions. Then there are the few, the few that when that first crisp fall air hits their cheeks, find themselves overwhelmed with an ever building anticipation of whats to come. My crew and I fall into the later category. And with that anticipation comes desperation, a desire to find any source of shred we can, because in these parts the resorts are late bloomers (not operating until well into the winter weeks) this desire usually ends up with a couple of guys and sometimes the girls(only few are as die hard as us 😛 ) packing all their crap up into a vehicle and two and hitting the road heading north or northwest. We just drive, ya know, shooting the..well poop, hitting random restaurants, rest stops, and other various “attractions”, encounters with officers of the law in escanba..because they think its a good idea to have ONE stoplight hanging from a wire in the MIDDLE of the intersection that is so high up its practically out of your field of vision…but enough of that. Anyways, So we’d drive and drive and drive and sleep(usually in vehicles by a lake somewhere) if we had to, or just felt like having a shindig at some random hotel(min. requirements being Bar, Pool, and hot tub of course). Sometimes we’d find snow, sometimes we wouldn’t. Sure the times we found snow were always better, whether it be finding a place that was open or just taking off onto some land somewhere with a sick run we’d spot from the road, every trip and I mean EVERY trip was a blast and well worth the events that may have unfolded during the course of them. I’m sure your getting my point here, it’s really all about the memories. Those memories are what matter, those are the lasting moments that always seem to keep popping in your head. The ones that no matter your mood, can always crack that smile. No matter your age, they can make you feel like a child again. The bonds you build, the friendships that become stronger, the feeling of sheer commodore. All of it’s just LOVE! And really whats more important in life then love…..yea I got nothing either.

DylanBee

Hey Shay, me and my friends here in Whistler all met on the hill, yes we are park rats but we always have a good time. We’re all about 25 now and we’ve been together since we were 19-20.. Several of us made it big (not me, but i just do it for fun) and that’s because we film alot together, party together, some of us work together, so naturally our passion of snowboarding has made us better. Check out our site, Gnarcore.com.
Cheers Shay!

Annie Nguyen (Female)

While I first fell in love with snowboarding over on the “Ice Coast” during college, it wasn’t until I moved back to California that I really started progressing and I definitely have to thank my little bro (Van) for that. While the rest of our friends and riding buddies would only sometimes join us and sometimes flake out at the last minute, Van was there for me every trip, every run, and every (embarrassing) spill. It didn’t matter how many times he had to ride up and down bunny hill with me or that we had to drive a collective 8-10 hours for a single day trip to Tahoe, because with his patience and support I was finally able to “conquer” -by which of course I mean “able to get down without killing myself”- my first black diamond last season, and the best part of that was that he was there to share the moment with me!

But most of all, it was late last season when I realized how much I really appreciate riding with him. On our second run of the last day of the season at Squaw I took a nasty spill and ended up tearing my ACL (3rd degree btw, it wasn’t pretty : [ ). Even though I repeatably told him to enjoy the last day of the season with the rest of our friends, my little brother hung out with me in the hospital wing for the rest of the day and kept me company. It was definitely more fun to have him there : ]

Even after the initial injury my little bro was there for me without hesitation, from driving me to doctor’s appointments, to staying with me through my ACL reconstruction surgery, to even taking me to Sierra Snowboards while on my crutches so I could at least look at the snowboards : ) Although I’m pretty much out for this entire season, my physical therapist said that it’s looking more and more like I’ll at least be able to get a few runs on the mountain in April, so you can bet that me and my little bro will be back on the mountain as soon as I’m physically able! I couldn’t ask for a better riding partner-in-crime, but most of all, I couldn’t ask for a better brother! I’m definitely proud to be a part of a crew with him!

dan coppa

Growing up in southeast Michigan you learn that winters are either hit or miss. Some years the snow is great and then there are years like this where I sit in my room wondering if we are going to have more then 2 inches of snow. One thing I have learned to count on though is that when the snow hits that my crew and I are going to be ready to get the boards out and go shred. My crew consists of 4 guys that all grew up together but picked up snowboarding at different points in their life. I was the first guy to start snowboarding at around 12 years old. My parents being the occasional skiers would take me to the hill a couple times a year and after being on skis for a couple years I finally forced my parents to let me snowboard. I went snowboarding around 6 or 7 times my first year and every time I got home I would go to my best friend Derek’s house and tell him how much I love snowboarding and how he has to try it. After about 5 months of Derek begging his parents to let him snowboard they finally caved in and bought him his first snowboard for Christmas. I remember that Christmas waking up and loving all my gifts but when I called Derek later that day the greatest present I got all day was knowing that my best friend had a snowboard and that we could finally go snowboarding together. That year was one of the greatest years of my life. My middle school had a ski club that went every Friday to the closest ski hill and so when Derek and I heard about it we knew we had to convince our parents to let us join the club. My parents being the loving parents they are instantly said yes but Derek’s parents on the other hand took a little convincing but in the end they said yes. Derek being the natural athlete he is learned how to snowboard so quick I figured that he had to of gone before and never told me. This was great for me though because being a 13 year old kid that is just super excited to be out on the snow having to wait around on the bunny hill trying to help someone learn how to snowboard would have killed me. By Derek’s third time down the bunny hill I remember him coming up to me and saying this run is to slow. Its funny because this is how Derek is now; no matter how steep the run is once we all finally catch up with him at the bottom he still says these runs are to slow. For the next couple years Derek and I would do anything we could to try and snowboard. There were many years that we would try and build a drop in ramp with a couple of little jumps and maybe a rail in my backyard but Michigan weather being what it is often times once we would finally get something built the sun would come out and we would never get to ride what we had made but that never stopped us from trying to make something the next year. Not until I turned 16 did either one of us ever get to go snowboarding more then that once a week with the ski club. When I did finally turn 16 that was the year that the crew finally jumped up to its full crew. That year my parents bought me my first car, which was an old mini van, which was perfect because you can pile, tons of boards, and boots into a mini van and still be comfortable. But that year was when Derek and I finally convinced our other 2 good friends to finally come out and snowboard with us. It was not easy because growing up we all played hockey together and it is hard for a parent who pays tons of money every month to say ok im going to let my kid try this sport that he could go out and break his leg and then his hockey season is done and all that money I just spent is out the door. But after a few months of talking to by friends parents my other 2 best friends Jon and Justin were finally allowed to come snowboarding with Derek and me. The first day we all went out I remember gathering up all of my used boards boots and bindings and trying to figure out if Jon or Justin could us any of it. Luckily enough they fit into some of my older equipment and we were finally all together on the hill. Jon was another quick learner and on his first day was the crazy kid going off the jumps and being ok even if he just completely ate shit. Justin on the other hand did not learn so quick but still loved every minute of being on the hill. I remember watching Justin take some crazy spills and just popping right back up to just fall down again. On his first day Justin fell so hard that he actually broke his nose but that did not keep him from wanting to ride. That year we went boarding as much as we possibly could. we skipped around 15 days of school to go to the hill and board. That was also the first year we went on a full snowboard trip. Even though we did not leave the state we made the 5 hour drive up north to Nubs Nob and boarded there for a nice long weekend. That first year is the first year that I learned what it was like to be pushed to ride better. After watching jon and Justin take some of the biggest falls I had ever seen I knew that I had to push myself. That year was the year I finally made my move into the park and knew I had to learn some tricks because being the guy who started snowboarding first I didn’t want to be shown up by these guys who had just started. Now every year when that first snow storm hits we all know that we need to get to the hill. No matter what we have going that day every thing is put on hold to go ride. We all push each other to ride harder weither it is Derek pushing me to ride fatser almost out of necessity to keep up with him or its jon who almost forces me to throw my body off of another huge jump because he did it so I have to be able to do it or if its Justin who now has become an amazing rail rider and even though I have been riding longer can out jib me any day. No matter what happens I know that my crew will always be there to help with anything even if its not about snowboarding. Unfortunately this is going to be my final season with my crew for a couple years and with Michigan weather being so crappy we have not been able to ride as much as we would like. But I know when I get back from college out in Colorado in a couple my crew will be here and will still be pushing me to become a better rider.

Dan coppa
Coppadaniel@yahoo.com
Male.

Heather Flatt

You wake up bright and early and peek out the window to see champagne powder and hop out of bed with glee… no matter what crazy adventure occurred the night before. You know that it is worth it, because up on the mountain where your soul can fly free the pristine mountain offers epic fresh lines that seduce you. As you ride up the lift, you see the shadows of your crew down below on the snow …the crew that is irreplaceable in every sense. You can feel the adrenaline pumping through each other’s veins, ready to tear up the untouched powder lying in the trees.
My crew is the perfect crew because it consists of two guys, Ben and Jerome, and two girls – my roommate Molly and I. It is the perfect ratio, because between the guys pumping us up to ride park and try new tricks and Molly inspiring me to ride better, faster, and more intense, we create the perfect allies on the mountain. We all inspire each other in different ways. I have never seen anyone that can throw down as hard as Ben, and when you ride with him you can see the true passion in his eyes. Jerome is from Europe and without his distinct, blunt personality and smooth riding skills our crew would be missing an essential piece. The new addition to our crew Molly truly completes the mountain experience, and without her I would be lacking another girl to throw down with! I know in the future when I think about this season next year from wherever I may end up in this large world, I will always think of my crew in Steamboat and the unforgettable memories we experienced up on the place I am madly in love with – the mountain. It does not matter what mountain we ride as we travel throughout the scenic peaks throughout Colorado – each and every day we go (which is basically every single day we possibly can squeeze into our busy college schedules), we expand and grow into better riders.
There are no words that can describe the emotional aspect of ridin’ down the mountain watching your best friends push the boundaries to the limit while enjoying every single second of this fortunate dream that people all over the world wish they were experiencing. When people talk about “living the dream”, my crew is experiencing the dream every second of every day and LOVING IT!!! Tomorrow when we all call each other bright and early and drag each other out of our comfy, warm beds I will watch our crew experience the beauty that the mountain has to offer each of us as we travel as a pack wherever the wind may take us. No matter what our worries and troubles consist of in our day to day lives, the mountain relieves us of any stresses or worries that might be occurring in our lives, and there is definitely NO such thing as a bad day when you are ridin’ with your crew. There is nothing in the world that can even compare to the breathtaking views and moments that my crew has experienced together, and I know that it is those precious moments that make life worth living.

freddy

My friends make my day on the mountain better just because theyre there. Why wouldnt you want to spend an epic day that you wont ever get back with anyone else but your friends?

Its just sick. I get stoked just thinking about riding with my bros.

Susannah

My crew is my family. I’m a 42 year old mom in Colorado and I ride about 50 days a year. My 13 year old son, Sam, is also a shredder. I taught him how to ride a couple of years ago. Last year he had his first true powder day and it rocked his world. Ever since then he can’t get enough riding, and he definitely prefers the steeps, trees, and powder over the park. That works for me, because I love that stuff too. Every time we ride I am amazed at how much Sam is progressing, and now he is pushing me to ride faster and harder. Mostly I love how my crew clues me in. Sam introduced me to riding with music and loaded some shredding music on my ipod. I’m loving the White Stripes, and I hooked him up with Matis Yahu. We were on the chairlift the other day listening to tunes and Sam said, “I really love Muse.” I said, “I love music too.” He almost fell off the chair laughing and explained that Muse is the name of a band and not slang for “music.” Classic. It’s so awesome that Sam and I can spend time together snowboarding now because I know in just a few years he’ll be moving on, as he should. I also have a 10 year old daughter, Anna. She’s part of our crew as well, but right now she’s a skier. I got her some cool twin tips this year so she could shred with us. Oh yea, if we win the snowboard I’m giving it to Sam. I just got a Never Summer SLR which I love. Sam’s riding my old Burton Troop, which is actually a women’s board but he doesn’t know that. He’s going to figure it out some day soon though. Thanks!

tooscoops (mike and male)

my crew… it is always accepting applications and there is no criteria to apply.

the key member of my crew would be my wife. met her through snowboarding and it will remain one of our loves besides each other. besides that, a young “park rat” who is a decade younger, an instructor who lives and breathes the sport, and we occasionally throw in a few beginners, a few close friends and a few who are just there for the fun aspect or to help drink a beer or two after.

all of the members of our crew are open to trying new things. that is what makes us work. whether its park laps, hiking some avalanche prone chutes, finding new ways to carve or seeing who can be first to the bottom. each of us are at an ability where we can ride on most any part of a hill or mountain and each of us has strengths that push the others to try things that are a little out of their comfort zone.

it could be the younguns desire to try something and having no fear of falling that pushes me to attempt to hit some features that i swore i would never attempt… it could be my wife’s desire to get some fresh tracks through some knee deep in the trees that keeps me out for that next hour… it can be the instructors amazing enthusiasm for his ‘motorcycle turns’ that makes me NEED to try them. even any new people that we bring to the sport, we make them welcome and take that time to remember when we started. that love for learning and sheer ecstasy of knowing you can now conquor the mountain. each member brings something to the group as a whole.

though the crew will not always be able to ride together, whenever they aren’t with me and i’m out there… i find myself trying those rails… those turns… those runs that might give me some bragging rights and earn me that apres beer. they are a crew that are always present, even on a day where i am the only one anyone can see.

Andy Goldfarb

male goldie601013@aol.com

In southwest Ohio there isn’t much powder, or a killer park that close (other than mad river) so when you sometimes get that feeling that your stuck snowboarding in Ohio when everywhere else is getting dumped on with feet of fresh powder my crew is there to make what we have that much more fun. When i’m riding with my crew that “ugh were in Ohio” feeling goes away and we have fun all over our hill no matter what the conditions. We ride park together and push each other past our barriers to learn new tricks. At our mountain, oops…hill,since there aren’t that many kids that park no matter whose there you have someone to ride but my main crew makes riding in ohio worth it.

Kristen

Kristen Strub, Female, strubkristen@comcast.net

Hi Shay, awesome question. My crew is admittedly small. I ride mostly with my boyfriend of a year and a half. I’ve been riding for three years and started out quite timid. What can I say, I’m old and can’t afford to get hurt! My boyfriend’s been riding for about thirteen years and is pretty much fearless. Hehe at least he talks like it. Mostly I ride groomers in the midwest, so nothing too intimidating. He pushed me last year to go down my first black. I’m not sure what I was afraid of since I’m a decent rider. Last winter, we went out to Whistler. Awesome time in the end. The first day sucked though. We went up to the peak and I was terrible. I felt way out of my element. He kept pushing me that week though. And by the end I felt like I could tackle almost anything. We recently went up to a pretty big resort by midwest standards. I rode my first double black with complete ease. I was finally able to handle powder (not with perfection, but with no fear nonetheless). I even made my first attempts at a real jump. Hehe, it was ugly. But I probably wouldn’t have tried if he wasn’t by my side. Maybe I’m just saying this because Valentine’s Day is approaching, but I love my crew!

DylanBee

I love reading these people’s stories, shows how much people really love the sport. I forgot to write my e-mail and gender in my post. Dylan_DMX@hotmail.com, and I’m male and…
IRideForKevin

Bug Stroope

What a great topic to talk about, thanks for the contest. As for my crew, we roll deep and look out for each so closely, that “family” is the justifying word. I started riding in 1998 when I moved with some of my hometown boys to Brian Head, UT. The sport was new to me, but what really got me hooked was how much fun I was having with my friends. We were all so stoked on snowboarding and the whole lifestyle that encompasses it. The next season we moved to Steamboat with some more friends joining us and meeting more once we arrived. From rallying like packs of wolves through Shadows on a pow day to putting back PBR’s while we had a wax session, these were the people I wanted to surround myself with for the rest of my life. Friends can come and go, but when you share the passion of riding and the common goal of progression, you come so close together. I watched everyone get better and was just as stoked for my homie sticking his trick as I was for myself. That’s when you are truly a “crew”, when you take care of your own and truly love to see them progress. The next step for me was getting my crew to competitions and that’s when I created TEAM INSECTICO in 1999. The goal was to sell t-shirts and hoodies to make enough money to sponsor my friends and it well for a few years. We had many good times on the road and it was amazing watching everyone achieve their goals. Most of us filtered down to Durango, CO were the crew grew and stayed strong. As we have become older, married, and even parents nothing has changed. We stay strong and regroup as much as possible. I owe everything that I have gotten out of snowboarding to my friends, without them, I would have not accomplished what I have in the sport. When I think of my crew I hear laughs after tree runs, I smell wax and beer, and I see smiles on faces. They mean the world to me. This is my first season back in the Boat since 2003 and today I was riding with a new crew member off of Pony to Fish Creek Falls. I couldn’t help but think back and remember some of the lines I had rallied almost 10 years ago and the memories I will always have. The legacy of snowboarding with good friends is something I will pass down to my son proudly. To see our crew and some pics of the past check out Team Insectio on facebook. Again, thanks for the contest and your website.
Bug Stroope
male
bugstroope@yahoo.com

burritosandsnow

male burritosandsnow@hotmail.com

My crew is small, about half a dozen, and even then its hard to get us all together at one time. My crew is the group of guys (and two girls) that push my riding. They are the ones that tell me I can when I think I cant. They are the ones that give me first runs in the back country when I made the bootpack. They are the ones I trust with my life and they trust me with theirs. My crew are the ones that stand by without saying a word when Im doubled over after a brutal fall. They dont say anything they are just there and thats all I need. They are the ones that share knowing smiles with me when the fall weather starts to set in. They leave me voicemails like ” Hey man I had to turn on the heater this morning soon well be riding!” They are the ones that make me come to the mountain when the “snow is crap” or when ” the lights too flat” because all those excuses fly out the window when we are together. Hi-fives, Yeah dudes, and big smiles .. thats my crew. But most importantly my crew is my group of friends that know its always better to start a story with ” remember the time we” instead of “once I”.

Giancarlo

Since my amp level really depends on the people I ride with, I’m picky about who I ride with. Throughout the years, I’ve filtered out people that woke up too late, who wait a lot, and most important, I’ve filtered all the people who are all talk, no substance. The crew I now ride with rides hard and pushes 110%, because:

A=(nR x E)

Where A=Amp Level, nR=Number of Riders, E=Energy)

The energy of my crew radiates the amp level. Whenever there are riders better than me, I like to push. Progression feels good. When we all push each other, it becomes a dream team. It’s all about keeping a maximum energy level. It becomes a science. We’ve even planned out the best time for lunch breaks where the crowds are minimal. So we ride on empty slopes while everyone is taking their lunch break. That is what a good crew is all about.

smalls

my crew….let me tell you….my crew is epic. my crew makes everyday worth riding. my crew has every essentail piece. the park rat, the smooth criminal, the rookie and the one who rides it likes it stolen. the one who rides it likes it stolen, shes up at the ass crack of the morning, buggin the crew to get outta bed, the park rat pushin everyone to the limits because he knows we all have in us, the smooth criminal making every trick look like butter and the rookie inspiring us all. were a pack. if you look out the window of the gondie you know were together. when we roll through the park, you know were togther. Our instincts are one and on a powder day we dont have to talk. we trust each other and when we look back were right behind each other. a day on the mountain without my crew is just another day in the count but a day on the mountain with my crew is a day for any record book.