Effective April 1 - 30, 2003 the Forest Service will be implementing and enforcing a Supervisor's Closure on Vail Mountain, which will prohibit unauthorized access to the Minnie's Deck area where the end-of-season BB&B event has occurred. The Forest Service issued a directive to Vail Resorts under the terms of their special use permit to shut down the BB&B event on Vail Mountain. Historically the BB&B event has taken place at Minnie's Deck and the event had evolved into a gathering of as many as 2,000 people. The behavior of participants posed serious risks to public health and safety as well as caused resource damage. The Supervisor's Closure will be in effect to ensure protection of public health and safety.

So, with a stroke of the pen, the US Forest Service ended the infamous end-of-season party on Vail Mountain, ending a 22 year tradition.  Know by many variations, Boobs, Boomers and Beers; Buns, Boobs, and Beers; Boobs, Booze and Brews, etc, (BB&B) was held on the second Tuesday in April as a way for Vail valley residents and employees to blow off some steam at the end of the season.  The event started in 1980 as a small end-of-season birthday party on Minnie's deck. BB&B devolved into an orgy of drinking, snowball fights and raucous behavior. During the last several years, partiers spent days before BB&B building large snow forts, stashing large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and, too often, hauling up more illicit substances.

Historically, the end of season party probably started much earlier with the Great Race.  This season-ender was usually held in Lionshead and People would dress up in all kinds of wild costumes. A photo of Vail local hooligan Packy Walker standing on the winner’s podium wearing nothing but a fig leaf and his gold medal made the front page of the Vail Trail newspaper. After Vail executives and lawyers killed that event people continued to get costumed up and party at Minnie's Deck.  In those days it was called the mountain formal.  Costumes included top hats and suits as well as high school prom dresses, horrible powder-blue tuxedoes and ballerina tutus.  The event grew and was combined with Warren Miller’s Mad Mountain Marathon and the Rubber Legs Slalom.  The race involved 150 or more slalom gates at the bottom of Vail Mountain and the event raised money for local charities.

When I was there in the spring of 2002, my brother Travis, his wife Michelle, Mayela and I went to the BB&B.  We all carried backpacks loaded with beers, booze and buds.  When we arrived at Minnie's deck the atmosphere was relaxed and people were lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the event.  We set up camp on the deck and in one of the nearby snow forts crafted by a group of Beaver Creek's happyshack community.  We took some runs and explored the other various snow forts in the woods.  It was amazing the elaborate complex of forts and the adornments within.  Some had full Ice sculpture bars complete with barstools carved from compacted snow.  Others were complete igloos with only a small portal in the roof for ventilation.  Another was an elaborate maze to thwart cops and security spies.

As the day continued, there were jam sessions on the numerous rails that had been created in the woods.  One was a 50 foot long triple wave that dumped out into the main area opening.  Eventually the traditional snowball fight erupted with the main focus from the snow forts surrounding the opening at Minnie's deck.  Some forts were equipped with water balloon launchers.  A couple of times I snuck out through the woods with my snowboard to take runs down born free.  After riding the gondola back up to the top, I'd come rolling into the woods with my pants down and flipping the crowd off in my black afro.  The trick was to ride fast and get to the fort as quickly as possible.  Poor unfortunate souls that tried to follow in the wake turbulence of my entry would get blasted into oblivion.  I would stand on the wall and yell out obscenities to the enemy forts.  The response was a furious barage of snowballs.  People were getting pissed because we were getting bombed with snow.  One time, standing on the wall, I took a water balloon launcher shot to the chest that blasted me flat on my back.  Heffe came right up like a  medic with the Jaegermeister bottle to nurse me back to insanity.

In the evening when security starts to herd everybody out of there is a Chinese downhill of sorts.  This race to the pub progresses down the mountain. There is one particularly steep pitch where people who are so f*cked up that they just take their skis off and hurl themselves bodily down the face, laughing their drunken asses off.  I came up to the edge and launched the hand bag I was carrying as high in the air as I could--only to find out Mayela had her camera in it.  We all ended up at the bars in Vail village till the weee hours of the morning.  It was amazing.  I'm glad I got to experience the greatest party on earth before it was over.  Good times

As kind of a sick footnote to all of this, the event has been commercialized in a couple of different forms. Never shy about making a buck off the sweat and toil of the locals Vail Resorts promptly christened Siebert's Mad Mountain Marathon and Beaver creek Blues, Brews, and Bar-B-Que. There is no limit to the depth of slime with Vail Management.

 Add/View Comments (0)

Just when you thought Fridays in Whistler couldn't get any cooler. Long time whistler local Jeff Paterson (no, not the photog, a different one) had the smarts to bring in local icon Wes Makepeace to fuel the night at the Fitz pub in the upper village. Wes shows no mercy as he belts and shouts his ever popular whiskey ramblings and horse musical renditions of everything from Warren Zevon to Bob Dylan. If your lucky he'll play the room-filling sing-along "War is hell" which was made popular as the credits track to the mind blowingly insane shred flick POP by Absinthe Film's. Or my favorite "Winter hills of the shred dogs" which also found its way on to a shred sound track as Sean Johnson wisely chose it to end the highly popular trick flick PROMO COPY, damn that one almost wore out my dvd player. As of late Wes has been leaking some gems from his soon to be released album, although don't ask him about it though cause he doesn't know when its coming out either.put your hand up if you wanna partyThe Fitz Pub which use to be BBK's is located up by the Chateau whistler so there' always a bunch of uptight tourists to piss off as you stumble out of the tiny pub for a smoke and a joke. The night has become so popular that it almost imploded on it self two weeks ago when the room got so packed you couldn't even move. The next thing you know you'd been pushed around so much that you were standing next to Wes bumping his whiskey and kicking the cardboard box that his percussionist Mark Bannock uses as a make shift base drum. I'm serious, the box gets duct taped to the floor and fixed with a kick pedal. The only problem with the box is... well, its a cardboard box and i'll be interested to see how long it lasts as it serves as a drip catcher for the barrage of drinks that gets relayed between the two as they put the all-you-can-drink-for-the-band rule to the test.Why are drummers always so agro? "The box" and the angriest photo you'll ever see of Mark bannock Wes Makepeace and Mark Bannock play every Friday night at the Fitz Pub in Whitsler at around 9 or 10pm. See you there...if you can get in.

 Add/View Comments (0)

Nov. 21, 2007:  Billabong announces ‘Ante Up’, presented by Monster Energy, a snowboard slope style event that will work as a qualifier for the Billabong Innsbruck Air and Style event.  Ante Up will take place January 12^th, 2008 at C.O.P. resort in Calgary, AB Canada.  The winner of Ante Up will get airfare and an invite to the Billabong Innsbruck Air and Style event that will take place Feb. 2^nd, 2008.   Only 24 competitors from across the globe are invited to attend the Innsbruck event, so if you’re not invited, Ante Up is your chance at getting a piece of the Air and Style prize money.

Below is list of the lucky 40 riders who have qualified for Ante Up.

Matt Belzile, Braden Dean, Sage Kotsenburg, Scotty Brown, Robby Balharry, Zach Stone, Shayne Popisil, David Fortin, Lucas Debari, Paul Gonzalez, Jesmond Debeau, Warren Williams, Will Lavigne, Matt Munn, Stephen Burchill, Christopher Collard, Murray Hodgson, Chris Wimbles, Jordan Phillips, Cody Rosenthal, Nic Sibayan, Matts Kullisek, Josh Warnick, Logan Short, Kael Hill, Dwayne Wiebe, Andrew Geeves, Craig Beaulieu, Matt Wallace, Jed Anderson, Josh Warnick, Tanner Davidson, Alex Leblanc, Hugo Cartier, Jon Rusk, Morris Hogan, Walter Bombeck, Russ Collins, Geoff Brown and Derek Pankoff.

http://www.billabong.com/anteup/

 Add/View Comments (0)

Inspiration is a wonderful thing, it's the origination point of art and encourages people to do the most amazing feats. Where to find inspiration, however, is not always clear and varies among individuals. Do you know where you find inspiration? What inspires you to do the things that you do? Sometimes that inspiration comes from less than obvious places.

The other day I went to the skate park with the Warrinator for our usual lunch-time "get away from work" session. On this day, my partner in crime was intent on doing a particular trick that he had tried many times yet could not find the courage to commit to it (concrete bowls are scary). Over the course of the session, he tried it a number of times and, from where I was standing, I could tell that he had it if he would only just commit to dropping back into the bowl. Each time he would come back to the starting point frustrated at the fact that he just didn't have the balls to do it. This went on for a while until we noticed a new face at the park; a female face. She immediately went over to the big bowl and dropped in a couple times to test it out, then proceeded to get her shred on Jason Jesse style.

While the Warrinator was busy checking out the new park resident, admittedly not at all unattractive, I decided to take a quick rip through the park. As I was cresting up onto the flat bank to stop, I saw Warren drop into the bowl and hit the trick he had been trying all session without any hesitation. As soon as he got back I laughed and said "Dude! You're in love aren't you?" I can't verify this but I think he might have blushed just a little.

On the ride back to work, we were discussing the new member of the Legacy clan. "You've found your new muse haven't you?" I said as we pulled into the gas station so Warren could buy smokes. "I'll be back in two shakes of the hot girl's knee pads" he said as he walked into the store. As he got back to the car, smokes in hand, I said, "I didn't catch that when you went into the store, did you say two shakes of the hot girl's knee pads or two shakes from the hot girl *on* her knee pads?" This was followed by laughter and much more conversation that was not really relevant to the point of the point of this article; notably:

• Sometimes inspiration can be found in the most unexpected places.
• Other times inspiration is in plain sight and gives you a strange feeling in your pants (as I think may have been the case with the Warrinator).
• Although dangerous, hanging out at the skate park is a great way of meeting new and interesting people. Besides, when Warren and his new girlfriend are naked together, they can compare skate scars: "I got this one when I fell on my face, I like to fall on my face".

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say this week, however, the next time I find my own inspiration you can be sure that you'll be reading about it here. In the meantime does anyone know what that song is during the segment at Turf in Santa Cruz' Streets on Fire skate video? I'm pretty sure it's a Sonic Youth jam. Hopefully the answer will be forthcoming. Until then...

Keep shreddin' the GNAR!

 Add/View Comments (2)

Photo By Andy Laird

Basic info, where were you born, where you living,  age, and sponsors?

I was born in Leduc Alberta February 5th 1984.... that would make me 23. I ride for Billabong, Sapient, Smith and Level Gloves.

How has your season treated you this year?

My season was awesome. I rode a lot of pow. A couple minor injuries but that's ok. It’s a part of the game.

You have a sled yet?

Ya, I got a 99 Summit 670. I LOVE SLEDDING.

Do you plan on getting more into the backcountry next year?

Ya ... All I want to do is sled. Its so much better then snowboarding anywhere I've been.

Give me a percentage breakdown on your snowboarding: contest, traveling, urban missions, filming, backcountry, mellow shredding (park), whatever floats your boat, etc.....

35% Backcountry

25% Whatever Floats

15% Urban Missions

10% Contests

10% Park

5% Traveling 

Plans for the summer?

Work, try to make money to buy a truck. Of course hit up camp a bit, hit a few street rails in Van, and skate and wakeskate whenever possible.

Rail missions in winter or summer? Why?

I like rail missions in the summer mostly because Vancouver never gets snow and if they have snow that usually means that the mountain is going to be so much sicker than some street rail.

What do you do to get the bills paid?

I drive taxi for Resort Cabs here in Whistler... if you ever need a cab Request Warren.

Who do you ride with?

Anyone that calls me in the morning.

What pisses you off?

Waiting for people, sleds that don't work, negative people, people that back out of missions, cops and Rent-a-cop’s.

What gets you pumped?

Good Friends, Good attitude, Good Conditions, Good music. Anything good.

Shout outs?

Shout out to Risto at Billabong, Chris at Smith and Level, Spencer at Sapeint, Todd and Brad at the Summit, Slizzy at Gnarcore, Tyler, Ryan Conway, Chase Conway, Mr Jack Crompton, all my friends, my Mom and Dad, Jess and Court and anyone else that has helped me out over the years. Thanks!

 Add/View Comments (0)

Male riders
Brian Mclatchy
Matt Belzile
Warren Williams
Craig Beaulieu
Andrew Burns
Andrew Geeves
Andrew Jackson
Aaron Johnson
Jesse Delgrosse
Ben Bilocq
Logan Short
Justin Van Der Poelan

Female riders
Molly Milligan
Johnny
Ginele


Build day #1, April 26th.
Ryan and Steve from Longhorn setting up stair case # 1  so Brad can weld up the rail.


Brad welding up rail #1, April 27th.


Brad and Eric having issues  with the welder, working into the wee hours of the night.



 Add/View Comments (1)

 Add/View Comments (0)

PRO PHOTOGRAPHER SHOWDOWN FINALISTS ANNOUNCED BY

WHISTLER’S WORLD SKI & SNOWBOARD FESTIVAL

 

Action Sport/Lifestyle Competition Features World’s Best Shooters in Showdown for $10,000 Purse

 

Endre Løvaas – This 36 year old Norwegian says he has no plans to quit his day job as Marketing Manager and Senior Photographer at Fri Flyt, Norway’s biggest ski and snowboard mag to focus solely on photography.   He’s shot with Matchstick Productions and produced images that have been published all over the world.

 

Nick Hamilton– He’s got the mongrel accent of a half Finnish, half British, half American guy, with multiple seasons in the French Alps under his belt. Currently photo editor at TransWorld SNOWboarding magazine, the 29 year old shutter-veteran edited British snowboard mag White Lines before moving to Cardiff, SoCal to take up his current role. There, he earned TransWord a Henry R Luce Cover of the Year special citation. And still can’t surf worth a damn.

 

 

 Add/View Comments (1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRSWBWYDC7k

 

 Add/View Comments (0)

Today was the first day of being back up at ol'Cypress. Got up the hill around 9:20 (late as usual) and started cutting the skirting for all the rails and boxes. You could hear the blasting over on eagle. Can you say superpipe!?! It was around 30 degrees celcius and here we are getting ready for winter. There were some discussions about building some new rails for the park so stay tuned for that.

 Add/View Comments (0)

 Add/View Comments (0)

 Add/View Comments (0)

As the day starts you realize that you dont need a pull over, jacket or any other type of layers, you head off to work or collage or what ever gig you have planned wishing you had never left your sunglasses on the kitchen table...

Ahh, fresh air with rays of sun and as you think to yourself life could not get better, reality smacks you right in the face... OH sh!t... this is possibly my last weekend of the season... my last possible chance to go out and hit some powder... that is if there is any powder, as last weekend was like riding in a giant slush puppy... but hopes are high and slopes are probably gonna be a mess, but boarding is your life and any oppertunity gets taken with a smile... 

For those in the US that still get to board this weekend may it be a blast...

For those in Canada, see you next week... I guess I cant take reality at the moment so I am heading north... before long I will have to head south... all the way south...

In case some of you think I am crazy and just trying to follow the snow, it is not quiet like that, I would love to enjoy another summer but I only have winter clothing... So I got to go where I can dress for the weather...

Snow is just the bonus...

As Warren Miller once said, "we can only wish for the all vertical world with never ending winters"...




 

 Add/View Comments (0)

Finals Men
1) Dustin Craven $10,000
2) Chris Wimbles $4,000
3) Neil Connolly $2,000
4) Crispin Lipscomb $1,000
5) Travis Williams $500
6) Craig Beaulieu
7) Justin Lamoureux
8) Jesse Kumlea
9) Tim Orr
10) Warren Williams
11) Dennis Bannock

Finals Women
1) Pilar Peterson $5,000
2) Charmaine Ironside $2,000
3) Star of Peace Quinn $1,000
4) Leanne Pelosi
5) Alexis Waite

Final Results 2006
Head Judge: Paul Rak
Judges: Carter Smith, Kraig Kinsman, Colin Duncan

View Photos From The Showdown

 Add/View Comments (4)

Womens
Bib # Name BEST
84 Pilar Peterson 23.3 Q
74 Charmaine Ironside  20.7 Q
85 Star of Peace Quinn  19.8 Q
76 Kendra Scurfield 19.1 Q
87 Alexis Waite  18.9 Q
89 Wendy Robinson  18.8 Q
79 Magalie Dubois  18.0 Q
72 Bekki Read  17.8 Q
90 Jenya Patrief  17.7 Q
77 Leanne Pelosi  17.4 Q

Men Heat #1
Bib # Name  BEST
5 Chris Wimbles  25.0 Q
106 Justin Lamoureux  23.7 Q
100 Dustin Craven  23.6 Q
99 Dennis Bannock  22.4 Q
115 Travis Williams  21.6 Q
107 Tyler Massey  21.2 Q
97 Dan Longo  18.3 Q
94 Chris Brown  16.4 Q
96 Craig Beaulieu  15.1 Q
113 Robett Hollis  14.1 Q

Men Heat #2
Bib # Name  BEST
136 Neil Connolly  25.5 Q
125 Andrew Burns  24.0 Q
120 Chris Coulter  23.2 Q
123 Dan Raymond  23.2 Q
122 Craig Moore  22.3 Q
131 Jordan Mendehall  21.1 Q
124 David Lambert  19.3 Q
130 Jesse Kumlea  19.3 Q
118 Andrew Jackson  18.5 Q
133 Korath Wright  18.2 Q
128 Ian Legris  18.1 Q
141 Warren Williams  17.0 Q
135 Mike Osachuk  16.9 Q
139 Tim Orr  16.4 Q
119 Brian Michals  14.0 Q

Men Heat #3
Bib # Name  BEST
148 David Melancon  20.7 Q
146 Crispin Lipscomb  20.6 Q
144 Chase Conway  20.1 Q
162 Shayne Pospisil  19.5 Q
163 Timothy Mckay  18.4 Q
156 Kevin Johnston  17.6 Q
149 Douglas Monfee-Smith  17.1 Q
151 Geoff Brown  16.5 Q
165 Yves Martineau  15.7 Q
159 Mike Prizeman  15.1 Q
161 Roberto Dibari  14.9 Q

 Add/View Comments (1)

Well shi*tty start to the season this year, we made an alright park this year it flows kyle and myself spent 14 hrs working on it and getting the stuff dialed in and set up perfect and today when i was working i noseslid the cbox and came out fakie then some time inbetween that and the bottem of the hill where i did a little butterin action i broke the nose clean thru the top sheet and core infinate ride my ass so i sent it back for warrenty so we shal see what happens hoping for a new board so fingers are crossed or else im riding  a jib board for the rest of the season which will suck


 Add/View Comments (1)