Shred The Gnar, BRAH » Random

Grandama’s with peppermint schnapps

Mel — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:16:03 +0000

So this GILF, If you will, decided that she was gonna put on a little showdown at the Mill today during lunch … And i decided to share said show. Enjoy.

Saw this on the hill

Mel — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:24:02 +0000

Thought it was appropriate for the site and all…

Kevin Pearce Talks About Excitement to Snowboard in 5 days – YouTube

Mel — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:12:13 +0000

Kevin Pearce Talks About Excitement to Snowboard in 5 days – YouTube.

So stoked for him – With I could be there

Kevin Pearce to Ride for First Time Since Accident – NYTimes.com

Mel — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:32:42 +0000

Snowboarder Kevin Pearce to Ride for First Time Since Accident – NYTimes.com.

Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images for National Rehabilitation Hospital

The snowboarder Kevin Pearce at the National Rehabilitation Hospital Victory Awards earlier this month. Pearce is set to ride again.

By JOHN BRANCH

In the weeks and months after the champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic brain injury while training on a halfpipe, and even while he was in a coma in a Utah hospital nearly two years ago, his friends and fans provided support through a simple slogan: I Ride for Kevin.

For the first time since Pearce’s life-altering accident, he will strap on a snowboard and glide down a mountain. He plans to ride Tuesday afternoon at Breckenridge, Colo., surrounded by friends in the snowboarding community and anyone else who wants to tag along.

“I want to get everybody to come and ride with me,” Pearce said in a phone interview.

Pearce, a favorite to make the 2010 United States snowboarding team, was practicing a particularly difficult trick in Park City, Utah, on Dec. 31, 2009, when he fell and hit his head on the icy wall of the halfpipe. He spent four months in hospitals in Utah and Colorado, missing the Olympics, and emerged with an unsteady walk, blurry vision and a diminished memory.

His high-flying snowboarding career, his burgeoning rivalry with Shaun White, was over. A long, quiet road of rehabilitation loomed.

But Pearce had a goal all along: to ride again. No tricks. No big air. No spins or double corks. No halfpipe. Just ride.

“Putting myself in a place where I can get hit in the head is so not worth it now,” Pearce said. “After going through this, just jumping on a snowboard and cruising around is enough for me. That’s how I’m feeling now. That’s where my head’s at.”

Much of his rehabilitation has focused on his vision, balance and memory. On Nov. 1, his 24th birthday, Pearce had eye-muscle surgery to help get his eyes back in sync. The thick, prism-shaped lenses of his glasses have been replaced by a subtler pair, and Pearce’s once-extraordinary balance improved drastically.

While his injured brain still struggles to remember things, Pearce believes muscle memory will allow him to make a smooth glide back to the snow.

“I think it’s like riding a bike,” he said.

He stepped onto a snowboard a few weeks ago in the living room of his parents’ house in Vermont. The familiar feelings came flooding back. Confident he could make it down a gentle hill, he considered taking his first post-accident venture on the snow amid the privacy of close friends and family.

Then he reconsidered. He recalled all the signs and stickers he saw in videos and photographs of snowboarding competitions he missed while hospitalized. Because so many people supported him while he was gone, he figured that they might as well be there when he returned.

“I really couldn’t be much happier about the way things turned out,” Pearce said. “Even the smallest things, like jumping on a snowboard. It has totally changed my perspective.
”

Hot Dawgs and Hand Rails 2011

Mel — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:18:28 +0000

I’m heart broken to find that this year I will not be able to attend this years HDHR. Literally my heart breaks. My mini Mammoth reunion will have to wait for the real thing in Nov/Dec when i move back for the season. Luckily, my snowboarding fix has been satisfied by the amazing mountains in New Zealand – so I know I’m not missing too much.

SNOWBOARDERMAG.COM’S OFFICIAL WEBCAST OF BEAR MOUNTAIN’S 8TH ANNUAL
HOT DAWGZ AND HAND RAILS EVENT PRESENTED BY RED BULL

SAN CLEMENTE, CA (September 21, 2011) — The largest summertime snowboard gathering in the world is back again for the eighth time. Bear Mountain’s Hot Dawgs & Hand Rails is the preeminent event for early season rail riders in the So Cal scene. On September 24th, over fifty of the world’s most renowned jibbers will invade Bear Mountain’s “The Scene” to drop in on one of the most unique HDHR setups to date, and the action will go on all day long. If you can’t be there for the event live and in person, you can watch it right here on snowboardermag.com, as the live webcast is happening again this year.

Nick Visconti, Hot Dawgs & Hand Rails 2010 winner.Photo: Huggy

Every year, Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails pulls a field stacked with talent, and September 24th, 2011 will be no different as Brandon Cocard, Chris Brewster, Dylan Alito, Desiree Melancon, Jake Kuzyk, Jess Kimura, Jonah Owen, Johnny Lazzareschi, Jed Anderson, Mike Ravelson, Scotty Vine, Ted Borland, Parker Duke, Ryan Paul, Zak Hale, Scott Stevens, Ethan Deiss, Austin Hironaka, Dylan Dragotta, Justin Keniston, Lucas Magoon, Harrison Gordon, Dylan Thompson, last year’s winner Nick Visconti and more will have their way with Bear Mountain’s insane setup for a chance at the $15,000 overall prize purse awarded to the top three men and one woman who will be crowned by the panel of esteemed judges including JP Walker, Joe Sexton, Johnny Miller, Seth Huot, and Chris Bradshaw.

The live webcast presented by Red Bull begins at 3:00pm on snowboardermag.com and ends at 7:00pm with the HDHR awards ceremony. Last year, thousands of fans tuned in to snowboardermag.com as SNOWBOARDER Senior Editor T. Bird and Weekend warrior Eddie Wall called all the action of the day while some of today’s top pros made appearances in the booth to answer questions from the general public watching at home.

In addition to streaming all of the stellar happenings during the 2011 HDHR webcast, partners SME and Ubiquity will be having snowboard legend Mike Ranquet announce the $25,000 winner of the SMElive.com snow video upload contest.

On top of all the great riding, Bear also invites some of the best brands in snowboarding up to the hill and there will be all-day giveaways, movie premieres, DJs, and of course, the legendary Big Bear nightlife after the event. While at Big Bear also be sure to pick up your Screamin’ Deal season pass on the last day it’ll be available at this special price. Go to bearmountain.com for all the info, and make sure to stay tuned to snowboardermag.com for all the live action and up-to-the minute recaps from Bear Mountain’s 2011 Hot Dawgs & Hand Rails.

Hot Dawgs & Hand Rails is brought to you by Skullcandy, ThirtyTwo, Red Bull, KIA, Analog, Wahoo’s, Arbor and Electric.

SEND SEAN TO SLOVAKIA!

Mel — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:05:27 +0000

My friend Sean is Deaf. You might think, ” BUMMER!” Don’t bother. Not only has he not let this hinder his life in any way – but he’s now a member of the Deaf U.S. Snowboarding team and going to the Deaflympics (Deaf Olympics) in Slovakia this coming February. Now I’ve known this kid for going on like 6-7 yrs. and i know he shreds. Since I won’t be able to cheer him on when he gets there – I’m gonna do what i can to just help him GET there.

Here’s what he’s asking help with:

”

Alright everyone, I have great news… I made it on the USA Deaf Snowboarding team for the 2011 Deaflympics (Deaf Olympics) in Slovakia this upcoming February. I will be competing in the half pipe and boarder cross events. I never thought this day would come, and I would become an Olympian for the Deaf Community. It’s like a dream come true.

I need everyone’s help. I’m trying to raise $2,500 to go to the Deaflympics and in addition, I need to upgrade my snowboarding gear. The cost will include international airfare, room and board, training expenses, fees and apparel. I don’t want to ask too much from each of you, but contributions of any amount would help. I’ll appreciate whatever you can donate.

Few options to make the donation: You can write a check for “2011- US Team” and send it to:

USA Deaf Sports Federation
PO Box 910338
Lexington, KY 40591-03338

Make sure you write my name “Sean Esson” on the memo.

You can use Paypal as well. Here’s the instruction for the paypal:

Go to the main USA Deaflympics website athttp://www.usdeaflympics.org/, you will see a donate button on the right side. All donors should click on the button, enter PayPal, and type in their donation amount, then login PayPal and click on “add special instructions to seller” (Sean Esson) to identify who the donation is earmarked for.

The USADSF (USA Deaf Sports Federation) is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible.
For additional information or to get the USADSF’s tax-exempt number, contact Rachel Benedict, Special Assistant for US Team at rachel.benedict@gallaudet.edu.

For more information about the Deaflympics, you can check out the websites:
www.2011deaflympics.org
www.usdeaflympics.org

Let’s make it happen and help to achieve my dream to bring home the GOLD! Thanks everyone.

Sean “

If you can help in any way possible we would both appreciate it greatly. Spread the word and ask around

thanks,

Mel and Sean

FRENDS DAY 10.10.10

Mel — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:13:05 +0000

Conveniently, on Frends Day, my best friend from Canada came down to spend a little time with me on her way down to Portland. What I thought was just going to be brunch and a little chit chat turned into a few hours of super fun memories. Caitlin and I met 4yrs ago when we both first moved to Mammoth – we instantly became best friends and the whole town thought we were sisters. Anyways, I’d searched around online this morning for someplace to have brunch. I came across this place on Yelp.com called Sweet Iron Waffle. Read some reviews and my tummy was rumbling. When I got there, I was a little surprised at how small it was but found a two seater no problem. Caitlin arrived not three mins after me and we ordered. Instantly I saw “Bacon Waffle – savory maple syrup”. Done. Sold.

Caitlin ordered something with spinach and cheese – didn’t sound good so I paid no attention HA.

After food and a bit of gossip, Caitlin had remembered a shop she wanted to go by so we left and headed out. Well, she remembered what she wanted from the shop, a certain bowl, but she couldn’t remember exactly where the shop was. We walked around a bit trying to find it and decided to just go to the gum wall instead and make a little donation.

On our way to the gum wall we were stopped by one of the fish market guys who had us try some salmon…SO good. We had two kinds of smoked salmon and then some salmon jerkey – delicious. I snapped a few photos and asked him to give me something to film. He replied, “how about some coffee on ice with cream not sweetened”. Caitlin and I laughed and said, “DEAL!”. We needed to buy gum for the gum wall anyways, so we went to the Starbucks aross the street, got our things and headed back.

We kept our end of the deal and so did he.

unfortunately I’m unable to upload the video I took of them tossing fish over our heads.

A little bit got on my blouse in the cleavage region – they were ever so eager to help me get clean.

On to the gum wall – I don’t really need to say much for this one…take a look

My phone was full of photos so Caitlin took a few more with her camera – I’ll get those up ASAP.

October 10, 2010 – Frends Day in honor of them launching their new headphones has gone from what I thought would be another slightly uneventful Sunday into probably one of the best days I’ve had with a Friend in a long time.

So go out, grabs your buds and make some memories on the first official FRENDS DAY!

Lagging like a RE-RE…

Mel — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:55:51 +0000

So I’m sure all of you people who I’d somehow captivated into reading my blog, on what seemed to be a normal basis, have noticed that I pretty much just stopped posting.

My sincerest apologies.

Not going to make excuses but just let me say this:

Teaching retards all day for streaks of 20-22 days in a row without a single day off doesn’t really help with ones writing

me - lagging

motivation nor ability.

Clearly I’m just not as good as the good ole AngrySnowboarder. Whose tweet I read this morning prompted me to stop sucking at life and actually post something.

What you can expect in the next week or so, even though the events may of passed, will be

-Roxy Chicken Jam

-Coachella

-Ski School 80′s Glam Party

-Random Mammoth stuff

-Trip to Sqauw (barf)

-Ski School Poodle Prom Masquerade

- And I’m sure i can find a few more things.

So, obviously this list just proves how much i suck.

With this breath of stale posts WILL come freshness.

Today the PBRJ finals are goin down along with the Final stop on the JLA I AM SNOWBOARDING TOUR.

ANNNNNNNND

WCI is coming up next weekend which I think I’ll be either missing my best friend leaving back to NZ for OR having a guest blogger do up for me.

Along with all that other crap you can expect those

#1 Skiier dad…

Mel — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:25:01 +0000

So while stumbling around the ole FB, i saw that a friend of mine had posted this video…

#1 Skier Dad from Family Tree on Vimeo.

I’ll go ahead and assume that if you’re reading my blog – you are just as pumped on this video as me.

enjoi.

post valentines day post…

Mel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:36:32 +0000

Being single and alone blows. being single and alone on Valentines Day blows a million times more making it my least looked forward to holiday. Hallmark can go suck one.

Not only is the guy I want in Germany but being in Mammoth leaves slim pickin’s.

So, my V-Day celebration consisted of me going tot he grocery store and buying food for the first time in 2 months – where I proceeded to run into my friend Josh, Josh and I had had a little make out session my first season in Mammoth – horrible kisser. I spotted him picking out roses so I walked over, leaned in and said, ” you know you don’t have to buy me flowers.” He said, ” but I want to!” We laughed and he continued to ask me how to buy roses. Do they have to be open? should they be bigger? He said he wanted to put them on the bed and I told him as long as they’re there and smell good that’s all that matters. He then picked a lovely bunch and then said, ” Now I have to go get chocolate.” I replied, “you’re goin all out eh?” ” I really like her”, he said.

At that point we hugged, said goodbye and I walked away even more bummed out then when I first walked in the store. I’ve been asking the question of “why am I single” for so long it’s retarded but the last thing I want to do is write a “pitty my loneliness” blog – so I wont. I’ll simply write about how I think Valentines Day sucks and sucked Even more so after the store since COUPLES figure skating was on when I got home…thank you Canada.