Hello again friends, family, and supporters of Nimbus Independent’s “Hunting Yeti†project. This is your trusty correspondent Ike Smith with an update from the first month of shooting for Webisode 3.
The last half of April blessed the Northwest with steady snowfall at a lower than average elevation, so we all celebrated by skiing nearly everyday for two weeks. Chris and Pep were in Alaska filming for PBP, while the rest of the crew was in Oregon. Mt. Hood Ski Bowl was nice enough to let us come to the resort midweek for a private pow session, which produced the worlds smallest backflip session on the world’s smallest jump. Andy won the style award, with a perfect statue backflip, while I tried a double back off a jump that came up to my waist, receiving crash of the day. Once the skies started to clear, we hiked around the canyons and found some pretty cool snow formations. We were able to jump off, on, up to, and use them any which way we could. The filming hunt only lasted a day or two until the snow baked out, and with the inspiration of the “Duff Pirate†we decided to gear up for the first snow camping mission of the year.
Gas up the sleds, tow the tents, we’re going sled camping! Photo by Ike Smith
After having such a good time in Oregon it was time to try out Washington, on a volcano that blew up in the last 30 years. The crew consisted of myself, Pollard, Mahre, Wiegand, and Felix Rioux. We took our snowmobiles with us, which made us think it would be a good idea to pull a trailer behind us. Mine was two snowboards with a plastic sled mounted on top, while Pollard and Wiegand tried the inflatable raft method. Let’s just say it took us over two hours to make it ten miles to the camp spot, and it wasn’t pretty. Once we got camp set up and ate dinner it was time to rest up for the next day. We woke up early and started to explore the mountain. It wasn’t long before finding a real nice left side hip. After some deliberation on the angle of the lip, we got it built and sessioned it for a while. It turned out to be one of the most fun jumps of the year. We decided to leave the next day, and fortunately, the ride out was much easier since all the beer was in our belly’s instead of on our backs. After a few days rest, it was time to head to Mammoth, California and meet up with Chris and Pep.
Inflatable raft method. Photo by Felix Rioux
Chris, the big time local aside from my 4 year stint, got us in to hit Snowboarder Mag’s Superpark on the backside of the mountain. Since it was snowboard SP, we got to session with some crazy snowboarders. As usual Mammoth had some big hits pushed up; hips, step down, crazy three way gap, which all had real nice transitions. After a couple days back there, it was time to hit the Main Park, which had some awesome features as well. Chris, Pep, Eric, and Garrett Russell sessioned down a 10 foot section of a lift tower stuck straight up in the snow, with a 15 foot gap on and off. It was all fun and games until Pep went for a leap frog, and did a Kung Fujas straight into it. Unfortunately, the tower won. He toughed that one out as usual, while the rest of the crew got some good shots. Eric, Wiegand, and Garrett left that night to get the next camping mission lined up in Mt. Hood. Chris, Pep, Felix and I stayed behind and got to hit another amazing jump that Mammoth built on the backside. It was a bit windy, but the backdrop was beautiful and the boys got some more shots in the bag. As I write this, we’re on our way to meet up with the rest of the crew at the campsite tomorrow morning for what should be a great session on Mt. Hood, with the whole crew together for the first time this year! Could get crazy. Tune into Webisode 3 at rip.tv/nimbusindependent on June 15th and be sure to download the Hi-Def version!
Nimbus crew, Mammoth. No big deal. Photo by Felix Rioux
