Tuesday, April 03, 2007

DONNER SKI RANCH, CA

For some of you young bucks out there, you have no idea of who the original pioneers are in our wonderful sport of snowboarding.  There was a time with no parks or half pipes that were sculpted to perfection. Also, back in the day the rivalry between snowboarders and the skiing right wing Reich was at an all time high.  Well today was a step back in time where Sorels, duct tape, leashes, neon, flannels and a f--- you attitude reigned supreme. 

Pioneers in attendance:

• Mike Chantry
• Bob Klein
• Terry Kidwell
• Tom Burt
• Jeff Brushie
• Chris Roach
• Monty Roach
• Mike Basich
• Pauly Johansen
• Temple Cummins
• Barret Christy
• Shawn Farmer
• Andy Hetzel
• Tim Manning
• Pat Bridges
• And many more

Andy Finch gave me a buzz around 10 am and asked me if wanted to roll with him up to the Ranch and watch the event.  I gladly accepted, as I wanted to witness what the old dogs still had in their bag of tricks.  Donner Ski Ranch was refuge for snowboarders who were not allowed on the hill at the corporate resorts in Tahoe in the early days.  I can remember how many photographs graced the pages of Snowboarding and Snowboarder all taken at the Ranch.  All those pioneers and early shots were what got my original stoke going and hasn’t stopped.  Visiting the Ranch to this day is still like a step back in time.  No high-speed quads, no fancy day lodge and no overpriced gas guzzling yuppie bay area mobiles in the parking lot.  Just ear–to-ear smiles and a good vibe.

That good vibe resonated through the competitors as you could tell they were all having a good time.  The contest setup was pure as apple pie, a knee-high highway half pipe.  In 1987 I would have been stoked to ride something like that at my local mountain, where a half pipe to this day still doesn’t exist.  Watching my old heroes get loose out of that ditch felt like being 14 years old all over again.  Brushie and the Roaches still have that skate style influence that snowboarders have adapted into their own.  I’ve never seen tom Burt grab that much in one run.  Hetzel still has skills pulling back-to-back fives.  Tim Manning was boosting his old stiff-ass Gnu.  Mike Basich was getting it real loose and keeping it real with some laid out back flips and tweaked methods.  The cool thing was, all those guys had big old grins on their faces and lots of high fives were going down.  Lets also remember that all of their boards we old school.  A few of the boards didn’t even have edges or high-backs.  Also, there wasn’t any side-cut on those bad boys as well.  There was a little hoopla between the guys because Brushie did have the most recent board and his stance did go wider than 17 inches!  Yeah, 17 inches and that’s all you could get back then. 

Finch and I were so fired up that we had to take a couple of runs on Bob Klein’s Terry Kidwell pro model Apocalypse.  What a good time!  I forgot how much you have to slide those old boards around and really give it more of a surf style.  Bob’s board was setup for goofy and I had to ride that thing Fakie.  Yup, fakie not switch as the lingo has evolved.  Switchstace frontside 180?  Isn’t that a frontside cab? 

The contest went down in Jam format for 30 minutes and in the end it was the Hetzel with the win, Chris roach in 2nd and Brushie in 3rd.  All the riders pitched in 20 bucks and the winner took all the cash.  Hetzel walked away with 500 bucks and said “Not bad for and old washed up snowboarder”.

If you want to see some legends and how it was done back then, come on out next year.

Eric

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Published by Porters_Tahoe: 11:00 AM