I was sitting at the house in Salt Lake when I checked my email and saw I had one from my dad with a couple of photos from back home. I heard that New York had gotten a bunch of snow but now, here, had visual evidence of a solid foot on the ground. Of course my mind immediately rolled through the list of handrails I could possibly go shoot with some friends when I was back home. Things we’re looking very promising…until the weather forcast changed, the 5 day temps warmed (warmed to 60) and all the snow melted.
The day I arrived home, Christmas Eve, it was raining and 40. The day after Christmas it was 55, no snow.
- backyard before, the picture I received in email
Some Day It Was By Mark Dangler Photos Andrew Miller, Mark Dangler
Finally we’ve been getting some storms rolling through Utah again and just in time for Ben Farrell’s birthday. Andrew, Ben and I headed up to Brighton and made some good turns off of short hikes this morning before deciding to head out and meet up with some others in Ogden to shoot some rails.
The first spot was a bust pretty quickly, so Mac Spedale suggested we head over to this down elbow curve rail he wanted to get a shot on. Mac started getting at it and after a bit Ben decided he would join in and try and grab a shot or two. First try Ben frontside 5050’s it. Third try in he navigates a smooth frontside tailpress through the elbow. Next time up Ben dropped in switch and was coming in for a half cab on.
It must have been his third try or so when he came off the rail before the last elbow and hit an awkward bump, near the landing, whipping him back onto the ground. At first it seemed to be just an average fall but then something wasn’t right. I yelled over to see if Ben was alright and he didn’t respond. What I saw next as I ran across the street from where I was filming was pretty scary for me; one of my best friends laying on the ground, in a seizure, which lasted a couple of minutes, not responding and bleeding pretty heavily from his head.
Luckily paramedics showed up quickly and Andrew, having worked in hospitals before had a pretty good idea of what to do in the time before they were there. Within two hours Ben was out of the hospital and we were on our way back home. Certainly not the way you want to be spending your birthday, but I’m very thankful a good friend is doing alright now.
We were up cruisin around some Western, NY spots when off to the side of the road we spotted a big rickety old toboggan chute leading down into a sledding hill. Matty Mo, pointed it out and I pulled over so we could give it a try. It was actually pretty mellow but kind of just an interesting shot.
Anyway we get out of the car and start checking it out and right as Matty is about to walk up the chute to strap in and drop some news reporters roll up. They seemed really interested in the boardin’ about to go down since they were showing up to do a story on how the town wouldn’t be opening the chutes this winter because of lack of funding. Matty scored a big time hollywood interview with local news reporter, Alysha Palumbo, a true grade A thoroughbred, and then we were on the 5 o’clock news Buffalo, NY’s channel 4. Here’s a video…
The snow came early in Western New York and it hit hard. Lake effect snows off of Lake Erie dropped anywhere up to two and a half feet in some spots so we rallied a crew of New Yawkas, some driving in from a couple of hours away, some flying in from accross the country to get the season going and start loggin’ some shots even before December hit. Matty Mo, Ben Farrell, Maxwell Scott, Steve Pelc and Ricky Beuler made up the crew. Everyone was eager to get at it meaning sessioning through the day and well into the night before stopping back to see what was going on at our hotel’s bar, the legendary “Tootsies”. Of course there will be a legit full story coming up in a few days but in the mean time I figured I would post up a few screen grabs of what we have been up to.
- Matty Mo with a proper front board right before headin’ back to meet up with some dames at Tootsies
- Steve Pelc looks like Bear Grylls from “Man vs. Wild”. Switch 5050 through the closeout to drop.
- Ben coming up on a little neck beard, it’s a common fashion in these parts. We even saw a woman sporting a heavy one in a Randolph, NY gas station
- Because when the session involves various tricks over the second set someones got to get a method shot. Maxwell provides.
- And the bearded ladies go wild…Ben with a serious switch backside nosepress.
- Everyone got a shot, now lets head out of the zone and get back to Tootsies.
Youtube can be a treasure chest of entertainment, or just a bottomless pit for wasting time. Anyway I’ve gotten pretty into spending about 10 minutes each day just searching for some rediculous snowboard clips. I figured I start posting some of the best up here, dubbed as “Youtube Gems”.
My friend James sent me over a link to check out this classic, “Apocalypse Snow”. This is truly some next level stuff, wait for the pow turns they make while taking a sailboat down the mountain…its worth it.
Youtube can be a treasure chest of entertainment, or just a bottomless pit for wasting time. Anyway I’ve gotten pretty into spending about 10 minutes each day just searching for some rediculous snowboard clips. I figured I start posting some of the best up here, dubbed as “Youtube Gems”.
Here is a good one to start out. A youtube search for backflips is always good for a laugh. Check out this triple backie attempt.
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