After a short ride to Boulder, I met up with my good buddy Mike McCabe while he was still at work over at Folsom Custom Skis in North Boulder. I arrived just in time to watch him lay up and press a pair of sweet looking freeride skis. The soon-to-be owner of the custom pair of skis was there too, six pack of wheat beer in hand. It is such a cool experience to watch the ski building process in action; the smell of the epoxy and the sound of the pneumatic press as it drops down on all the laminates fills the room, mixing in with the anticipation of the what the final product will look like. I have to say, for a small, two-man operation, Folsom Customs is a legit place, and I encourage anyone in the Boulder/Denver area to stop by and say hi. Bringing beer always helps!
Today, I woke up and headed on over to the Warren Miller Entertainment headquarters to tie up some loose ends from the tour, and to say hi to some of the folks working there. It’s always sweet walking in their building, because SKI and SKIING magazines are made there too, so there is all kinds of cool stuff up on the walls. WME is already busy lining up athletes and scheduling film shoots for next year’s film, and I picked up some much needed insider knowledge about how everything comes together. Thanks to the personal introduction by Kim Schneider (editor of WM films), I had the chance to meet Josh Haskins (line producer) and Max Bervy (director). It’s always great to meet the people behind the scenes of the skiing industry; the ones that bring each year’s ski stoke to audiences worldwide. These guys have been in the business a long time, and they’ve seen everything that happens in the sport, so it was nice of them to give me a little guidance on making this whole skiing thing happen.
Since I was already in the neighborhood after leaving WME’s parking lot, I decided I would swing by the Freeskier Magazine office to say thanks for the sweet profile they printed in this year’s Photo Annual. ‘Digi’ Dave Amirault greeted me at the door and his wave of energy hit me at once; I can see how he manages to handle the multitude of tasks they throw at him, including running Freeskier’s website and writing online features. He introduced me to Chris Jerard and Jay Michelfelder, long time members of the staff at the magazine, as well as some of the interns. It was really cool to walk into that office and have them all know who I was, even if I’m just another ski bum. After tossing me some swag, including a new DISCRETE/Freeskier Mag beanie , I said my goodbyes to Digi and the rest of the crew and headed out into the heart of Boulder, ten copies of the Photo Annual in tow.
The TatsVan is acting up again, probably because she feels left out on all the adventures I’ve had for the past two months. Since she quit on me in the Chipotle parking lot and won’t start up again, I found myself flung right back into the swing of ski bummin’ at its finest: killing time creatively. So, I’m sitting here at my buddies’ house poaching their internet and writing this update after skateboarding around Boulder for a few hours, taking advantage of the last dry streets I’ll see for a while. I can’t believe I’ll be on snow tomorrow for the first time of the 08/09 season; I hope my legs are up for it!
My schedule for the next few weeks will be hectic, and I hope to steal enough time online to keep posting, but if you are in the Aspen, SLC, or Sun Valley areas through the end of the month, look for me! Hopefully the TatsVan and I will be over our little tiff, and she’ll be ready for some ski bummin’ road-trip style.
These gloves are just plain pimpin'
2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org
My buddies took off early this morning on a single-day road trip to the Grand Canyon. I slept in. Check the picture.
I missed out.
But you don’t have to miss out on some sweet FREE gear at Backcountry.com! Just check out their Facebook page and wish for an item from their site. If you guess what they’ve picked out to give away, they’ll ship it straight to you. It’s like Santa has died and gone to the Internet.
I asked virtual-Santa for a new sleeping bag to keep me warm on those cold nights poaching internet from inside the TatsVan. After chatting with a ‘Gear Expert’ we decided that my midnight stumbles from the van into the wilderness would be best equipped with a North Face Dark Star sleeping bag . Since those stumbles into the dark don’t usually travel very far, weight wasn’t an issue: the cold is. With a -40 degree tolerance to keep me warm, I know I’ll be safe sleeping in that beautiful, soft snow that beckons me from outside the van in my sleepwalking dreams.
Hey, at least it’s not sleep-driving!
But in all seriousness, if you don’t get what you want, you can still buy it. And if you click through from ChrisTatsuno.com from now until December 31st, 2008, I am pledging 2% of anything you spend on gear for you and your loved ones to SheJumps.com . Put that in your stocking and warm it!
Stay warm in this TNF Dark Star sleeping bag
2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org
Tatsuno & Friends: Spokane to San Fran, Part 1 (written 3 days ago)
8 November 2008
Hello Internet
It’s been a long week. We headed into our last show in Eastern Washington and found ourselves setting up in the Spokane Center for the Performing Arts. It just so happened to be Halloween the first night we rolled into town and after scrounging up some quick costumes Kyle, Evan and I hit the town.
Our road crew manager dropped us off at the first bar of the night, which we also found out was the location of the Corona after party following the next evening’s show. Lindsey, the Corona rep and master of all things party had put our names on a guest list for some big Halloween bash and Kyle and I were amped up for the occasion.
Little did we know, but our foresight in picking costumes matched the turn of events for the night. Dressed up as Forrest Gump, both Kyle and I had pieced together some bargain bin clothes to look like the cross-country running Forrest from the movie. It was the perfect costume set for how our evening went: just a lot of running around. The dirty mustache and long-haired wig must have had an ill-effect on the ladies of Spokane, as I found myself wandering aimlessly throughout the bars in search of conversation. The wandering never stopped, and spent most of the time checking out everyone’s ridiculous costumes.
Meanwhile, outside the bar, gunshots were fired in the parking lot as a response to some argument and one unfortunate soul lost his life. Unbeknownst to us, the whole thing went on while Halloween revelers packed the streets in search of a good time. I guess that’s what everyone meant when people told me to watch out for myself in Spokompton.
Luckily, our little crew made our way back to the hotel without incident. The next day brought a brighter mood as we prepared to do our last show in the great state of Washington. Across the way from the auditorium, a ski exposition was going off, replete with a jibfest for the local riders to play on. I walked in to see what was going on and walked back out almost as quickly; everybody’s talk of skiing was a little too much to handle for me, as I’ve still got a few more weeks on the road before I can play that beautiful, pure white snow again.
On my way out of the convention center, I spotted a regional ski magazine with a picture of a brightly colored skier on the cover. Recognizing the mug of my fellow ski buddy, Matthias Giraud, I quickly took a picture of the cover for my phone and sent it to him as a text message. Within the span of about 30 seconds, my phone started ringing and Matthias was on the other end. It turns out, his wife is currently attending graduate school in Spokane and they lived just up the street from the convention center.
He hung up and ran down the block and a half to give me a high-five; it was the second such timing of high-fives as three weeks prior, Matthias ran up to the TatsVan’s window at an intersection in Twin Falls, ID. I had missed my turn towards Salt Lake City, on I-84 and was minding my own business at the stoplight on the Twin Falls side of the Perrine Bridge over the Snake River, a popular spot for BASE jumpers, as the bridge is one of only a few legal landmarks in the US for jumping. He quickly invited me to follow his caravan of cars to their next destination: the side of the cliff overlooking the riverside golf course at the bottom of the Snake River canyon. But, that’s a story for another time.
After the Spokane show, I opted out of attending the Corona after party; I didn’t need to be pushing my luck in such a crazy town. Instead, I stayed up late chatting with Matthias and his wife, Meryl, about all the crazy adventures that keep us bumping into each other along the open road.
The next day, our four-man road crew packed up and left for our last night in Portland before shipping out on the next leg of the tour. The San Francisco Bay area – our home for the next three weeks.
Matthias Giraud needs good shoes to get to the top of his B.A.S.E. jumps. Check out these La Sportiva Trango Extreme Evo Light GTXs.
2% of your purchase goes to SheJumps.org
The Elsinore Theatre, Salem, OR
Kyles ipod connection thingy is our vehicle for excitement and as with any vehicle worth owning, its giving us hell. Fuzzing in and out of transmission, the music pumps out in rift with our bumpy ride in the truck down the tar-black highway. I hear hurricanes ablowin blare the lyrics from some old song on the classic rock playlist Kyle had set some ways back.
Not here Kyle chimes in, looking around at the bursts of color the deciduous trees around these parts flash into almost overnight. With beautiful blue skies and some wispy clouds above us, we were on a road trip from Portland, where we had just spent a week and a half touring a ski film to Oregonian mcstonian audiences, and heading to a place, for me as yet unknown, somewhere called Eastern Washington. The drive through the Hood River area was just as beautiful as I remembered it from that summer spent coaching ski racing up at Mt. Hood. We had spent a week up training on Palmer Snowfield, and by the end, we all knew it was time to go play in the river. We even jumped some cliffs and jet-skied.
Or, there was that other summer, when Collin and I had sent an amazingly crazy trip to Seattle to visit our good friend Visco. Ahh, yes115mph on the drive from Portland to Hood River, OR, passing cars and trucks as if in a video game. The pure thrill of it all alone was more than the minds of some 18 year-olds could handle, much less the rash of lowly establishments we were leaving behind in our wake.
But, this time, I was on a trip to tour a ski film. As Kyle and I take in our surroundings, the reality that this little trip of ours is actually a job and were getting paid is enough to keep the high-fives going. Though, the bumble and grumble and mumble of the trucks jolts and shudders sure made for an interesting ride. The show in Salem went as planned, and nothing really stuck out of the ordinary. So, here we were, ready to pull a few stints in Washington before shipping out to the San Francisco Bay area for the next month.
Capitol Theater, Yakima, WA
Free gas! Kyle rings out as he steps on the trucks accelerator and guns it after Al and Evan in the Jeep. Were in a race with them, they dont know it, and no one knows whos winning.
The life of a roadie, I think to myself, as I look up from the computer again to soak in some external stimuli that does a body good. Not so bad at all.
My attention soon turns back to the flash of scenery out the passenger window, and my thoughts drift to what adventures lay ahead. Yakima, here we come!
Skullcandy G.I. Headphones
Kyle and I wish we had some sweet headphones to rock out to on our bumpy drive in the Budget Truck, so to avoid our mishaps with the radio, get your own pair of Skullcandy G.I. Headphones and get to rockin’!
Click here to upgrade your audio steeze
Evan Levine, Sponsor Liaison
This episode features Evan and Tats as they drive to their first show of the Warren Miller Film Tour. They’re looking for the Deb Fennell Auditorium located at the Tigard High School.
‘Nervous anticipation drove me to find things to keep myself busy on the drive, and what better than to shoot a little interview with our Sponsor Liaison for the tour,” mumbled Tats as he edited the footage in his hotel room later on.
Evan, on the other hand, is the busiest of the worker bees on this tour, as he deals daily with sponsor requests and fields phone calls left and right. Mucho kudos to you Evan…
[youtube]“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-mCtZlYVg4″[/youtube]
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