I didn’t want to miss the boat, so, since I’ve read a bunch of other blogs about what people will be geared up with this winter, I decided to hop on the train.

Left: Sessions Winkerstripe Jacket and Westbeach Legion Pant
Right: Billabong (?) Jacket and Westbeach Legion Pant

The Sessions Jacket is a really good lightweight jacket with solid waterproofing and breathability, plus the colourway is super sick.

The Billabong Jacket is a little bit heavier and better for colder conditions. I’m a big fan of the styling on the pockets, but it still frustrates me how the hip pockets are angled an unnatural way so you can’t put your hands in them to keep warm.

The Westbeach Pants are new this year, and I’m a huge fan of the cut and the styling accents on the pockets. Plus, it’s a Canadian brand, so you can’t go wrong.

Jed Anderson and Louif Paradis have more than a few things in common. Canadian roots, hesh(ish) style and technical jibbing skills are just a few.

Check them out in the 5 Trick Fix on Transworld Snowboarding.

Chris Bradshaw and Jonas Michilot also make guest appearances…if you’re interested in that business.

Steve greases a back lip in Walkerton PHOTO Andrew Rusk http://www.ruskent.com

I little while ago I interviewed Steve Powling for Park Check on Mount St Louis Moonstone in Snowboard Canada Magazine. Powling gave me a ton of good stuff that I couldn’t fit in to the article, so I thought I’d post it up here.

Jason Petznick – Cool, what’s something specific that sets the park at Mount St. Louis apart from others in Ontario?

Steve Powling – Not having night skiing does wonders for the snow conditions. The snow is always firm and reliable because it has more time to set overnight opposed to other resorts where it seems to crumble and be unreliable. Also, the weird lake effect weather usually means that it’s always bluebird when all the other resorts are overcast. It usually plays into our favour.

JP – How has the park evolved over the past few seasons?

SP – Definitely the presence of amazing people to ride with and the [Quiksilver] Down Low contest. Every year they one up the previous year with huge gaps and creative features. Not to mention there are tons of little groms cruising the park on a daily basis who are turning into, quite simply, the best riders in Ontario.

JP – What’s the deal with the Down Low contest?

SP – The Down Low is Louis’ year ender contest where they build anything and everything they want. Anything from double channel gaps in the pipe to big tree bonks and massive gap jumps. If you’re looking to get buck wild on some gnarly stuff, this is the contest to do it! Plus the weather always seems to be perfect so it makes for an awesome atmosphere to ride with ALL the Ontario homies.

JP – If you were to break down an average day in the park at Louis, what would it consist of?

SP – Depending on the mood that day I usually just meet up with the homies in the Outback and slash a few side hit laps to warm up. Hit a few pipe runs, check out the Junkyard quick and go from there. Throw in a quick bite to eat, and it’s back to helping the groms kill it or finding some new, weird mousetrap lines with the MoLack!

JP – What are some of the most popular features in the park?

SP – The staircase handrail is always being hiked by some dedicated locals, and the jumps are usually being slayed by little Craig [Gouweloos]. People love to hit everything, and no feature seems to get left out. I love to hit all the – sometimes groomed – side hits and hidden gappers. Whether it be a flag bonk or some random tappy thing I found that day. Oh, and the long flatbar is super fun!

JP – What kind of riders do you see coming out of Mount St. Louis?

SP – Any of the Simple kids are killing it! Craig Gouweloos is my little homie that I think is going to really blow up soon. He destroys everything and has the best attitude out of anyone, young or old. Mikey Ciccarelli is putting all the old dudes to shame too.

JP – Alright, one more and I think that should wrap it up…

SP – Ok, sounds good!

JP – How would you describe the vibe in the park at Louis compared to the vibe at other resorts around Ontario?

SP – There is something about Louis that just makes you feel like you are there for the riding, and nothing else. Being so accessible means anyone can get there easily, and the lack of a full resort village with hotels means that everyone is just there to ride and have fun.

Steve rides for Salomon, Bonfire, Coal and Horseshoe Resort.

Just because it’s so classic, the rest will follow in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Gerhard’s blog on Snowboard Canada for tipping me off that this is actually on YouTube.

The latest episode of TJ Schneider’s Snowboard Realms has hit the web. In the second episode of the season, TJ hits up Mt Hood Meadows with Bobby Meeks and Nick Dirks.

Check out the first episode of Season Three on YoBeat.

Sorry about the lack of posts this past week folks, but I’ve been in the process of making another seasonal pilgrimage to Canada’s West Coast.

I’ll be spending another Winter in British Columbia’s Interior, but this season I’ll be working at Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna (I spent last season working at Big White’s sister resort, Silver Star).

Now that I’m getting settled, I’ll be making more regular updates to the site and I’ll also be introducing a bit more exclusive content.

I’m looking forward to the Winter with all of you, and, as always, thanks for checking out the site!
Jason

Jody Wachniak PHOTO Russell Dalby

This summer, I was asked to start contributing for SBC Media (Snowboard Canada, SBC Business, SBC Ski and Snowboard Resort Guide). Although it wasn’t the first article I wrote, this Park Check was the first one to make it to print. (Snowboard Canada Volume 18, Issue 1). I have to thank Scott Birke, Gerhard Gross, Dean Seguin, Matt Houghton and everyone else from SBC for all they’ve done for me.

Situated in the southeast corner of British Columbia, Panorama Mountain Resort wouldn’t seem like the type of place that riders flock to for the ultimate terrain park experience. In fact, most would think that, on the majority of days, someone riding a twin-tip, jib stick with a centred stance would be a minority in the lift line. But this stereotype has started to change, due in large part to the hard work of terrain park manager and designer, Eric Lange and his staff…

Check out the rest of the article on Snowboard Canada.

Transworld Business is giving us a peek at what’s coming up around the corner for outerwear styles in 2010/11. Check out the shots for a few select pieces with Canadian ties.

Nomis - nomisdesign.com

Left: Men’s Logo Jacket and Men’s Denim Pant
Right: Women’s Asym Jacket and Women’s Denim Pant

O'Neill - oneill.com

Left: Men’s Seb Toots Signature Jacket and Men’s Hammer Pant
Right: Women’s Balloon Jacket and Women’s Envious Pant

Signal - signalsnowboards.com

Men’s Dufficy Pro Jacket and Men’s Radar Pant

Westbeach - westbeach.com

Men’s Ridge Runner Jacket and Men’s Gnarhartt Pant

Westbeach - westbeach.com

Women’s Caprive Jacket and Women’s Rendesvous Pant

Check out Transworld Business for more outerwear from Quiksilver, Burton, Billabong, Special Blend, Technine, Sound, Foursquare and many more.

I apologize if this seems rushed, but in a last-ditch effort to get something up today, I’m going to post the first thing I happened to stumble upon…

Transworld Snowboarding sat down with Mikey Rencz to talk about his home turf of Whistler, B.C. this past weekend (or some time in the near past).

Mikey has been calling Whistler home for quite a while now, and he’s seen all the changes that have come and gone over the years.

Check out his opinion on the town, the vibe and all the local zones in this interview on Transworld.

A new teaser for a Canadian production hit the web this week, and a bunch of American media outlets immediately jumped on it and started bashing it.

I’ll admit it, after I watched the teaser for Peak Season on MTV Canada, I started waving a white flag of apology for the fact that something like this could come out of Canada. I was flipping through the channels later in the week, and saw Peak Season was about to start, so I decided to give it a shot.

Low and behold, there wasn’t a single shot of snowboarding in the episode. Whistler local and aspiring pro (not to mention Westbeach team rider) Steph Just didn’t even make an appearance on screen. Now that I could put to rest the idea that this might be a show about the life of snowboarders in Whistler, I could get down to following the storyline…which I was about to find out was a big mistake.

Any hope that was left (which in all reality was only a sliver) was thrown out the window when I saw a scene featuring two of the male “cast members” sitting in a weight room talking about how lucky they were to have good-looking guy friends.

In the end, this crap has nothing to do with snowboarding. The closest thing to a legitimate reference to core snowboarding was a brief mention of the Camp of Champions during a party.

So America, don’t blame the Canadian snowboard world for this show…Blame yourselves for popularizing shows like Laguna Beach and The Hills. This is simply the Canadian equivalent to those, and where else are you gonna film it?

Toronto? Possibly, but I heard the homeless kept stealing the photo releases to build fires. Vancouver? Maybe, but I heard the crackheads were paranoid about signing their souls away on the photo releases. Winnipeg? Are you kidding me? The pens would freeze before you could even get anyone to sign a photo release.