An April dump of snow in the Cascades, one piece suits and stepping back into the rad… Check out the first annual Stevens Pass Retro Fools Day slalom race and as seen by Spacecraft’s Ryan and the Rabbit.
Retro Fool Day
A late season dump produces an amazing day at Stevens Pass on April 2nd. The crew set gates for the first annual Retro Fools Day downhill slalom race. About 100 stoked snow enjoyers showed up at the top of Hogs Back and strapped into their old set-ups. The day was a classic in the making with neon glowing gear and a pretty good assortment of snow toys that represented the evolution of 20+ years of snow shredding design. A slalom course with breakaway gates was the set-up to test your skills and shoot for the fastest time. The snow fell all day and the beer went just the same. Powder, friends and fun was Retro Fools Day… and you know that Spacecraft will be back at Stevens Pass next year… come on out and race the Rabbit on your classic equipment.
Make it Happen : Spacecraft
Stevens Pass Marketing Rad Dude : Nate
Spacecraft Astronaut Kenji rocking Sno Con vintage gems
Ryan and Spacecraft Rabbit at the top of the course
Maxx from POW Gloves and soon to be wife Lindsey from SOS
Dropping in... toe strap up
The Stuart Martin of Zumiez and Edmonds...
Accumulating snow
Good times in the making
Local legend,real estate agent and victor of the snowboarders : Marcel Dolak w/ sister
Classics :
Andy and Marcel
The trophy for 1st place mono ski devision
Trophy grabber snowboard division. I didn't catch your name ripper...
It was like Hot Dog the movie up at Stevens Pass
This guy landed a trophy on an old Gnu
Skier hot dogger and 1st place denim style
Girl soccer trophy for the Spacecraft mantle
The locals were in the spirit
The organizer of the day : Dave... Until next season
Commander Sullivan reporting from the dark and wet regions of Alaska. Since our last update we have spent an unearthly amount of time locked in our stationary living vessels. The Pan Pacific jet stream has taken aim directly at our crew and has barraged us with storm after storm. We have seen the stars come out a few times at night, but the clear skies are gone by the time we are set to depart in the helicopter at dawn.
The best chance we had for a flight mission was the morning after my rock and roll concert in the guide school at the Pioneer Bar, when, after going to bed at 3:30 a.m. with raining skies, dawn broke to clear skies for miles. There is some truth to the saying “drinking it blue,” especially here in Alaska. Someone must not have done their share of self-sacrifice, though. Justin Hostynek, the commander in charge of the video division, had opted out of the ceremonies that night, so maybe blame could be placed on him for the clouds rolling in as we approached the helipad. There’s no arguing with Mother Nature up here. You get what you get.
Avalanche conditions are now at an all-time high after a series of storms that packed copious amounts of precipitation and winds. So even if the sun does come out for 24 hours, intrepid is the soul that first sets foot on some of the bigger exposed slopes.
My sarcastic favorite of this past week was when Camera Technician Jake Price and I stood atop one of the funnest lines we had ever planted our flags on, 2 feet of pow, ready to rip it until the Video Squad leader forbade us to ride it so as to save it for the “real” riders. The lookdown on that one was one of the hardest ever to walk away from. At this point our tracks would have been well covered as there is most likely upward of 6 feet of snow on top of it. I will attach some visual proof of Jake looking down it so one might have a taste. Can I have some cheese with my whine?
During this earthlocked interim we have been keeping ourselves busy in various manners. Gigi has been having lots of arts and crafts time, building snowmen/women and doing lots of stop frame photography and Super 8 filming for the new movie he is working on with Jake Price. Jake Blauvelt has his femme-bot, Kristin (who is also working as a guide with one of the outfits), so we don’t see too much of them on the down days (wink , wink). The rest of us are just lonely Cosmonauts awaiting our next deployment and wishing that our femme-bots were here, too.
We recently had some communications with base and it appears we will be having some new arrivals by early this week from the European Sector and the Seattle Satellite. Officers Blair Habenicht, Wolfgang Nyvelt and Nicolas Muller should be arriving by Tuesday if the launch shuttle can penetrate the thick clouds of this viscious storm cycle.
This morning we got this email from Spacecraft Astronaut Sky Siljeg:
Hi, just wanted to check in and let you know that I’m home again from Florida Bowl Riders this past weekend. Day one at a secret back yard bowl was super fun. Sunny out and really an amazing session.
Didn’t quite skate up to where I wanted to and took a 12th. I guess scores were super tight so over all I didn’t place too far out of 1st really score-wise, just lots of amazing skaters.
Day two at Kona. Looked like it was going to get rained out. I even went to the local movies to pass the time. Got the text that it was clearing up and they were drying the bowl. Left the show early and booked it for the bowl. Some serious skating always goes down at Kona. I love that bowl. Took 6th and felt like I really put out a good show. You would not believe the level bowl skating has come to. Getting into the top ten is really taking a lot. I placed 8th in the overall scores.
I feel lucky to get to even be in the bowl with some of these guys. Thank you for your support in getting me here.
After I came home I spoke at a celebration dinner for “Invest in Youth” for the YMCA. [It] was held in a huge, very full banquet room at the Everett Convention Center. [It] was all the heads of the Ymca, trustees, committee heads, etc. My talk was basically my story and what skating is to me. They put up a pretty cool picture that my mom shot at Kona. [It] was pretty cool to get a standing ovation from that group. My hope is to get more funds for programs at Mukilteo Skate Park and hopefully a roof over it at some point in the next year. I think they see what is possible through skating.
The Shakedown was a grassroots event that was started in the far away country of Canada. It has grown in popularity over the years and made its way to Washington’s Summit at Snoqualmie.
We were given an invite to come see some talented snow shredders leap off of a huge snow wedge and then navigate a rail set-up after landing that.
It was a cool scene at the Summit, with a steady crowd to cheer on the snowboard leapers.
Spacecraft stayed low key and lurked around checking out the action from the sidelines.
Congrats to Manuel Diaz and Megan Ginter from your friends at Spacecraft
The images below are a slice of the final day as seen through Spacecraft eyes.
Scott Sullivan (foreground), Jake Price, Gigi Ruf (seated)
Spacecraft Commander Scott Sullivan reporting from the outer reaches of the North American sector.
Traveling with the Absinthe Films crew we set up camp in Haines, Alaska.We were trying to escape the warmth that has plagued the Pacific NW winter thanks to El Nino and it looks like we suceeded.
However it is only February and the conditions are similiar to what we would normally find in late March early April. It sounds like it has been a really warm winter up here as well, but luckily we can get high enough in our “whirlybirds” to get up to the goods. We are a tight but productive unit consisting of Jake Blauvelt , Gigi Ruf, Absinthe’s filmer Justin Hostynek,Volcom’s Jake Price and myself. Short of being some kind of miracle we somehow arrived to find bluebird conditions for 5 days straight (rare in these parts). Excellent snow conditions, stable avalanche conditions, and a small crew made for some hyper productivity.
Jake Blauvelt is riding the new snowboard that was a collaboration between Ride and Spacecraft called the High Life. All tests of the board so far have proved positive. Blauvelt is riding like an Alaskan vet Even though this is only his first time up in Alaska riding the giant exposed slopes and spines is new to him. Luckily he is following in the tracks one of the great masters, Gigi Ruf. Gigi has been riding in AK consistently for the better part of the last decade and his unique ability to be creative on such technical terrain is in a class of its own. Both riders excel at freestyling in the natural terrain and I am happy to report that we have not built a single cheese wedge booter during the whole trip. The jumps are as clear and free as a newborn babies conscience.
We are currently sitting thru our first extended bad weather period, its a great time for the crew to heal up and refresh a bit. Today we took over the local radio station for 2 hours and the airwaves belonged to us. Everyone took over the microphone controls at one point and dropped some classic cuts on the masses of Haines. Yours truly played a brand new song on the air live and pumped up my concert that is going down at the infamous Pioneer Bar tonight,I’m anticipating it will go into the wee hours of the morning since the bars don’t close until 5 up here.
Reports from the snow gods are that we have received possibly several feet of snow so far out of this storm. I guess we will be saying goodbye to the snow stability that we have enjoyed thus far. We will most likely be tiptoeing around on some low angle slopes when the sun finally pops out again .
The basis of this blog is to travel around with Spacecraft Astronaut the world renowned Surf/ Snow/Art/Culture Photographer and accomplished musician Scott Sullivan. Join him on his adventures with some of the world’s top professional Snowboarders and Surfers on their mission to capture some of the most
progressive riding weather it be snow or waves, and searching for the ultimate conditions to provide high quality imagery to share with the masses.
Experience what it is like to fly around in a helicopter up in Alaska with top up and comer Jake Blauvelt, figuring out which one of the sea of
endless peaks you want to be dropped off on and find your way down. Hang in Switzerland with Nicolas Muller arguably one of the best
snowboarders in the world at his home in Laax and explore what’s in his back yard. Combine these adventures with Scott’s musical talent blended in along
Come support the Juniors in the University of Washington’s Industrial Design Program at Drink+Draw II, tomorrow, March 2nd. The last one was a big success, and they’re hoping to draw an even bigger crowd this time. What’s more fun than drinking beers and drawing pictures right?
Summit at Snoqualmie, Snowboy Productions and new title sponsor GNU Snowboards are stoked to bring you The Coolest 13 and Under Contest in the World!
Yep, the Greenhorn Games are happening again on January 30 at Greenhorn Acres at Summit Central and once again it’s gonna be sweet. Join mini-shreds from all over the NW as they enjoy a day where they are the stars. This event is totally FREE and is open to snowboarders of all levels age 13 and under…the idea is to have a great day snowboarding, learning new tricks, meeting new friends and maybe getting some prizes along the way.
Audio support from THE Jesse Burtner and an amazing crew of guest judges/cheerleaders from the Think Thank ranks.
Thanks to the amazing support of our sponsors GNU Snowboards, Sessions, Oakley, Snowboard Connection, Skullcandy, POW and new additions Snowboarder Magazine and High Cascade Snowboard Camp.
Flipside is the show that takes you behind the scenes with Absinthe Films during the making of our latest snowboard movie - Neverland. Follow the life and times of a handful of the most progressive and entertaining riders in snowboarding. Our 2009 Flipside series is broadcasted in 10-12 minute webisodes on various networks, but you can always get the newest releases at absinthe-films.com.
You can also download their full Neverland movie on iTunes.
For all of you that missed opening day at Baker… oh man, it looked
like a good one.
Astronaut’s John Laing, Jake Blauvelt, Jesse Burtner, Pat McCarthy and
pretty much the entire shred community painted powder turns on 62+ inches
and some even made it to see the Pixies that night. I’ll bet work was Zombie
like the following day, with a dirty little smile to all onlookers.
I was unable to make it but was lucky enough to hear all the details from
the 100+ people I know that did go…
Lucky me… I made it up on Saturday for redemption, and though it was not
opening day, it was Baker with over a 65″ base.
Check out the link below from Snowboarder Mag’s Cali transplant Kyle
12 days at the Alaskan state fair, 12 video blogs and 3 million salmon quesadilla later. Jesse and Johnny get “Fully Faired”, now that’s a “Cool Story”!
Spacecraft and friends will be hosting the world release party for: How The Northwest Was One, a film by Wild Card
Other adventures include:
Beer, New Art by Spacecraft, an acoustic set by The Senate Arcade, a huge selection of never seen Spacecraft goods, Photo Fun by: Pat Wright Photography, friends, fun and total chaos… further details below ::
Travis Rice, Dan Brisse, Bode Merrill, Nicolas Müller, Sylvain Bourbousson, JP Solberg, Romain deMarchi, DCP, Marc Frank Montoya, Annie Boulanger, Marie-France Roy, Jules Reymond, Wille Yli-Luoma, Cale Zima, Phil Damianakes, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Kevin Pearce, Eero Ettala, Gigi Rüf and the rest of the Lost Boys continued down the road less traveled and explored some new possibilities during a winter that saw the progression of snowboarding take some giant strides.
I think we all go through awkward stages… you know, like jams and peach Gotcha shirts, braces, bad hair cuts… It’s fun to reflect back on the days when you just weren’t sure of yourself.
Marcel is a cool cat…and to see Marcel in the midst of growing up, posted up on the Dobis’ household couch with the legend Craig Kelly in his prime… that makes us smile. Craig has since changed the way snowboarding is… forever and though we have lost him, it’s people like Marcel that carry on his legacy… that is some full circle biz. Thanks for the memories Craig and thanks for keeping them alive Marcel ::
Pat Milbery has it all going for him. A positive attitude, a quick wit, the ladies love him, and the guys want to shred with him. But behind this confident, smooth talking exterior, lies the heart of teddy bear, a shredding teddy bear. Pat is into everything that you could possibly tie to snowboarding. He’s involved in art, music, fashion, product design, event planning, marketing, coaching, feature design, and mentoring. This is in addition to his filming parts with the well-known Think Thank crew of ultra-creative-snowboarding fame. I am fortunate to call this snowboarding entrepeneur a friend so it was my pleasure to grab a few minutes of his time to chat about what he’s up to.–Ben Classen
Growing up, there are things that impact you and moments that are burned into your brain. I have many key moments in my life that have changed my direction or inspired me. In the month of June, we in the NW were impacted with a tragedy that hit hard… the loss of two amazing humans that more than likely etched in memories with many of us. Gunther Frank and Sean Mansfield were lost in a boating accident… It has crushed the ones that they were close to. The thing we can be thankful for is that if those guys were in your life, you were better off for it. Gunther is the most inspiring photographer that I knew growing up and was pretty magic on a bike. He was an Oak Harbor kid like I was… and that’s a special breed. Sean is a gifted snowboarder that would be considered so on any level. Beyond his skills on board toys, Sean was a talented artist that customized many a friends clothing for the better. I covet the character that he drew on my back-country pack at the Circle Bar in Vegas… An unlikely place to meet someone like Sean for sure. In a testament to the impact that our friends made on us, the likes of the entire Bellingham community showed up at the B-Ham skatepark along with friends from far and wide. None other than Rob Skala came out and showed the youth of today that age is a state of mind and put on a clinic of shred that had skate tails clacking on coping every time that he entered the bowl. Thanks Rob, thanks Gunt and thank you Sean for bringing it full force. See you on the flip side…
So Danny Way traveled a record breaking 79 ft off of a mega ramp, and yah, Rob Dyrdek did a 100 ft boardslide, but in outer space, these are minuscule measurements.We expect greater things from our astronauts, which is why we are stoked on Paul Kent’s recent 250.4 mile skateboard record! Check out what he has to say about this amazing feat below:
I made it to Seattle and I participated in the 7th Ultra Skate, skateboarding
ultra marathon this June 21st-22nd. For some strange reason, likely self loathing on some subconscious level, I’ve always been attracted to the notion of trying to skate for a full 24 hours.
I spent the day skating through lots of rain. I did 100 Miles [2 laps] on the Burke Gillman and Sammamish Trails then a short commute over to green lake where I skated throughout the night. At 13 hours into the event I was still holding a 22kph pace with about 10 minutes per hour at 19kph. That’s when I tripped on a pine-cone and injured my knee. Subsequently, this caused considerable strain to my Achilles tendon due to my inability to bend my opposing knee. My speed was
cut in half at best but I’m stubborn. I still managed to push myself to go 250.4 Miles in 23:13 hours before calling it quits due to my injuries. A new record for distance traveled via skateboard in 24 hours. And I pushed the whole way. Expect to see me breaking my own record in the near future. I’ll be watching for pine-cones!
The rest of my time in Seattle was spent trying to coax my body to move about, purging my kidneys of blood, and meeting up with the folks at Space Craft. I got to see lots of neat stuff. Next we were off to get a Jones soda and then catch our flight back to Canada.
Big thanks to my wife Rachael, Rayne Longboards, Royal
Board Shop, Seismic Skates, the Seattle LDP gang, Space Craft and James Peters of
pavedwave.org for holding the event.
One of our friends Scotty Serchen spotted an old abandoned snow cat in the grassy fields of Northern California. He got up close and personal with the beast and sent us these photos from his adventure. Check it out :: Thanks Scotty!
Duffy and I left work early on Thurs to drive down the I5 and connect with Windell’s head coach Reed Silberman and snow ninja Pat Milbery. We brought some goodies for making stickers and decorating the Spacecraft cabin. We discovered rain, the pussy wagon and some surf that fed our appetite. While at camp, we set up the newest designs for the Windell’s only sticker making project. Check it out ::
On May 22, Spacecraft hosted an art show to debut the new “Spacecraft Gallery Sticker Sheets”. We joined forces with Japan’s Madbunny, all the artists on the sticker sheet, Patrick Lennox Wright Photography, Jones Soda, The Venik Lounge and the community of Seattle. The evening was to help raise money for a social cause on the Island of Bali Indonesia. With a secret base in Bali, Spacecraft creates a portion of its products there where the people of Bali have given so much to Spacecraft. In the small village of Canggu, farming is a staple industry and at a relatively young age, kids can end up working in the fields to help support their families. This can that kids out of school due to the expences. With a small amount of funding, the schools can allow the local kids to remain in school and further their education. So, we are raising some funds, while hosting a great little party with some great artwork and good friends to make it all come together.
The images from the sheet were printed on canvas, framed and sold in a silent auction to be donated to the Bali School Fund. We thank the artists for their contributions and all of the humans that came out to support the show. Below is a display of some of the eye candy from the evening,
Check back in to the blog, our facebook and other media to view more details : Enjoy ||
Spacecraft opened its doors to friends, surrounding businesses and family to host our annual photo shoot for headwear. It’s a great way to connect to the surrounding community and get true lifestyle images of our hats for the upcoming Fall 09 web launch and delivery of product.
Thanks to all that contributed to this project. We hope to keep this an ongoing event to feature the latest crafted creations from Spacecraft ::