Mammoth 2011

One word, EPIC!  Although the overnight snowfall wasn't as much as our first time at Mammoth but it was still an awesome weekend.  The drive up was pretty crazy because the visibility was at a dreadful low due to the snowfall, but we made it to our destination.  The drive up was pretty hectic due to a fire that broke out in Big Pine so we were held back for 4 hours so that pretty much ruined our initial plan of heading up to Mammoth a big early.  The silly part was the local law enforcements were wasting their time escorting everyone through the town even though the fire was far off in the distance.  Later that night our friends unfortunately had their car stuck in the snow near our lodge while they were heading up so that took 2 hours to pull their car out.  Each night we had about 2 ft of fresh snow so it was not bad at all although we did become stuck while running pow runs but at least we had a way out which was to roll over into the groom trails.  We were practicing buttering so we accidentally missed our usually trail and ended up to the next quarter of the mountain.  We took the chance and tried the park, but had to eat it a couple of times because of the kids that fell ahead of us were too dumb to move out of the way upon a fall.  Although running them over or landing on them would definitely teach them a lesson.  I had to end my day a hour early because my butt caught the edge of my little brother's board while getting off the lift.  I was able to board for awhile until the bruise started to develop and the numbness went away then the pain came.  The next day, no one went to the slopes so we ended up making our own personal slope next to our lodge because it had a decent hill with lots of pow.  We ended up boarding there until it was time to head home.

Yummy butter~


So happy to have a handful of crack!


What's funny?  His face!

Smith Scope Pro Goggles & Oakley Fasten Pants

Out with the old and in with the new!  My little bro updated his goggles to the Smith Scope Pro goggle and personally I felt they could of put in more effort on the design of it because it looks just like any other regular goggle.  My peeve is that with its simplistic look, it is hard to tell by a glance which is the cheap pair of Smith versus the quality pair of Smith.  I spotted an awesome deal from steepforcheap.com for a pair of Oakley Fasten pants and Seattle was kind enough to buy it for me!  What a loyal dog huh?  The pants had a pretty high breathability and waterproofing rating so that's always a plus.  Plus it is well padded and insulated so it is certainly worth the buck. Oakley does make some pretty stylish pants that isn't too much like Nomis. My peeve is the length of the pants is a bit long but then again it is for women and I wear youth sizes so go figure.    This also reminds me, I have not posted the Big Bear trip!

Smith Scope Pro


Oakley Fasten

Rixon Board Mounts

So I finally got around to putting my board mounts up on the wall.  I purchased a dozen mounts awhile ago but never got around to installing them.  The mounts are one of the cheapest priced mounts on the market because mounts like HangTime and others would cost you about $20  or more a mount.  We have too many boards to spend that amount of money on each mount so anything under $20 a mount is ideal.  The deal offered by Rixon is buy 3 mounts and get one free so that's another incentive to buy.  I ordered white mounts but they ended up sending me black mounts but to rectify their error, they offered me a 40% refund which isn't bad at all.  However, white would of been better, just saying. 

My wall of boards.


Little bro's wall.


Oldest bro's wall.


Older bro's wall although his board did fall down because the anchor didn't hold so the board fell 3 feet straight down on its tail right on tile but no damage so had to use a better anchor to put it up.

SnowJam Card

I have never been to a SnowJam Show, which I have heard was very similar to Skidazzle but with  a little more to offer even if you don't attend the show.  I was introduced to the SnowJam Card and as a member you are allowed pretty amazing discounts and deals at participating resorts, but keep in mind each resort offers their own deals with membership so don't expect to get the same exact deal at all resorts.  Membership is an annual fee of $18, but what I like about it is because I can get 50% off lift tickets everyday including weekends and holidays with no blackout dates!  Other participating resorts are Mammoth, Park City, Brian Head, Jackson Hole, and coming soon are some BC resorts in Canada.  Most are mainly deals for lodging or rentals but lodging isn't bad either because finding a place to stay can be pretty expensive.  I can't wait for the next storm to hit!

http://www.snowjamcard.com/preferred_card_home.htm


Do you like balls to the face?

Cozy Forest

I just booked a cabin out in Big Bear for V Day weekend, vato loco weekend if you know what I mean homes.  The cabin is 1200 square feet with 2 bedroom and 1 bath so it is a pretty decent size.  There is 2 parking spaces and the garage was converted into a game room but that's fine because from the looks of it, we can probably go off road and park on the front lawn.  The game room includes a foosball table, dart, mini basketball, and an indoor jacuzzi.  The cabin pretty much has everything except for a pool table but we can live without it.  By far, this is a better deal than the cabin we got last year which only had 1 bedroom, no games, and only 1 parking space for 500 bucks total.  Whereas, this cabin is for 800 bucks total so it's a pretty good deal if I must say so myself. 

He can always use his tail!

Bleep Christmas

Starting xmas off with a smile made of wax!

Since we couldn't go boarding for xmas, we went to our cousin's house for lunch along with the other cousins.  It was the usual, eat, talk loudly, played games, drank alcohol, gambled, and passed out.  I really didn't expect to stay there for so long but we ended up staying there until 11 at night because one family wasn't invited since everyone thought that their whole family went to Vietnam but it was only their parents that went so they got a late invitation.  Although, they were also late because they were also drunk from last night as well but at least they didn't passed out at someone else house like my other cousin.  Little R was a handful though and wouldn't go to sleep because everyone was there and he wanted to stay up and play even at 11 at night but it was funny because he took a dump and fell asleep on the toilet.  He's 3 and is taking dance class, singing class, and karate.  You have to start off 'em Asian kids early I guess.  I think we started my little sister off at age 4.  So yeah, Christmas was long and wet because it ended up raining that evening but we didn't even noticed since the insulation was so solid that we didn't even hear a thing.

Pretty sure that's not how you play pool E.


Rocking it on Rockband.


Playing pictionary and C always winning every game and the grand prize!


R winning a whole buck on his first hand!

Merry Christmas 2010!

We actually opened our presents a day early because my parents went to Vegas today and everyone didn't really feel like waiting until Sunday night for them to come home.  Originally we planned on going boarding on Christmas but since my parents took the suv to Vegas, we are out of a car to drive to the slopes.  None of our other cars can carry all our gears and 5 people plus we would need to buy another set of chains for whichever car we would take so we decided to scrap that idea.  I also wanted to go to a archery and shooting range too but I doubt any place would be open on Christmas and I'm sure the guys would rather go out in the desert to shoot for free anyways.  So, all I know that we are going to do tomorrow is go to my cousin's house for lunch then after that is undecided as of now.

Dogs for sale!


Front half of the tree


Tearing it up!


Open sesame~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

K2 Cinch CTC

2 of my brothers apparently always wanted to try the K2 Cinch CTC binding but never purchased it before because the bindings have always been pretty pricey and still is.  The concept of the Cinch is suppose to be the best of both worlds and what that means is the Cinch is a hybrid of both the traditional strap bindings and the easy in and out back entry of the Flow bindings.  I think it is an excellent compromise but K2 failed at making it perfect because the ratchets are poorly made and very stiff to pull in and out.  If K2 wants to perfect the hybrid then they need to spend more time and money on a better ratchet system regardless of the amount of use of the actual ratchet itself because you won't be fiddling with the ratchet much but you still have to customized the ratchet to your set preference.  I was able to grab the Cinch on sale so now my oldest brother can pass his old Flow binding to my little brother because he was in need of a better fitting binding since his binding was a large and even though he wants a Cinch, he would gladly settle for a Flow.  Personally, I prefer traditional bindings but that's just me.

K2 Cinch CTC 2010

Snow Valley Resort

I went with my siblings to try out what the fuss was about pertaining to Snow Valley because my oldest brother and his friends insist that their favorite place to board is officially Snow Valley.  I was a bit skeptical because it is not a popular resort so I was thinking it was going to be another Mt High.  When we were almost there, there was a check point and even though our car had 4WD, they still made us turn around which was ridiculous because the condition wasn't even that bad!  Luckily for us, Vu lived nearby in Highland so we just went to his house and picked up his chains.  The worst part is that when we got back to the check point, the security check ended!  So that was a big waste of time.  Once we got to the resort, the parking lot was SO empty!  We geared up and headed on up.  It had snowed the night before but they still had massive snow machines every 10 ft apart running constantly and their man made snow was very good quality snow.  I was surprised at how long the trails were because Mt High's trails are short compared to Snow Valley's.  The angle of the slopes are much better than at Mt High even the easy trails because it was angled enough to still continue moving since no one wants to be stuck in the valley of death.  We were all testing out our new gears and I would of liked it more if my bindings were broken in more because the straps were so stiff that it was hurting my ankles so badly that it left a bruising.  My older brother and I were having problems getting off the lift with our new rocker boards because our bases are sintered so it was very slick and with its rocker shape there was less traction to slow down versus our extruded camber boards.  Unfortunately for my older brother, while getting off to do his 2nd run, his board slipped underneath him so he fell down in a weird manner and dislocated his shoulder so that ended his day.  Although it's not too bad because the lift tickers were dirt cheap with the 4 pack deal for 99 bucks.  Snow Valley was pretty sweet and pretty empty so you can have the whole place to yourself!

 
My backyard!


Durrr~

Oakley Stockholm

As you may have known, I already have a pair of Oakley goggles, but the XS had limited vision considering they are youth size.  However, the XS is by far the best pair of goggles that I have experienced.  I had my shares of Smith and Scott goggles but they all had the same problem, fog.  On the other hand, no matter how hard I tried to fog my XS, it just wouldn't stay foggy but rather dissipated in an instant so I am impress but also by the clarity of the lens.  I had a chance to order a free pair of goggles up to $100 so I optioned for the Oakley Stockholm because it was an adult size and came with pink iridium lenses.  Although the Stockholm is $120, it was on sale for under $100 so I still grabbed it for free.  Now, I just need to test it out on the slopes.

Oakley Stockholm


I'm Harry Potter!

LA County Fair 2010

Just a small glimpse of all the gnarly rides and crazy rollercoasters


Walking towards the ski lift chairs


Ski lifts at the fair grounds!


Freaking lazy people!


Ride the stinky hairy elephant!


Water hamster ball of fun!


A fair guest trying the trapeze!