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N.I.C.E. 2015 - Schweitzer rub-in


Dan

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Here's a little teaser from north Idaho. The skies have been gray, but the slopes are holding up great. 

 

"Holy shit, look at that skiboard!" - Dane making turns for the peanut gallery.

 

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Nice shots Dan. Great to see snow. Like Whitefish it seems snow at Schweitzer is almost a sure thing every season. I also notice that unlike Ontario resorts in Canada you guys don't live in a nanny state, bubble wrap society. That chair tower in the first pic  would be padded, bubble wrapped and fenced. At this point in the season we have no natural snow to ride on only man made boiler plate. I guess that's why they fence and pad everything we couldn't turn and avoid an obstacle if we wanted to.

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Hey folks, thanks for the positive comments! I have to say that I didn't take these shots -- the mountain photographer did a run with us and cut us a pretty good deal on the photo set, so we got 'em all. It's a lot to sort through, and I'm still working on shamelessly cherry-picking the ones that make us look best  :biggthump

 

In the meantime, here's one from the bunny hill lift this morning. Sun and snow, haven't seen both at the same time much this season. 

 

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OK, here's the rest of the story and pics. 

 

A seven-hour drive from Portland brought us to this pleasure palace, NICE HQ. 6 bedrooms and beds for 22 (!). Can you guess which vehicle belongs to the tofu-eating Portland crew? 

 

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We arrived at the end of the day, so our first official NICE event was dinner: raclette, prepared by Igor. Cured meat and potatoes topped with cheese melted at the table -- a great meal to set up for a big day of carving. Igor followed this up with a fruit tart for desert, then on Saturday outdid himself by whipping up breme brulee for 12. I hereby move that all future carving events need to make sure to invite a French national. 

 

Here's Mark (left) and Igor (right) at the dining table in NICE HQ just before chowing down. 

 

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But I know what all you trench heads are here for, and it's not pictures of food. So, without further ado, here are the hot, uncensored, hand-down, butt-dragging, funny-face-making riders of NICE 2015. Well, most of them anyway. A few key missing riders:

 

-Russ, the godfather of NICE. Unfortunately, he tweaked his shoulder the day before the photo shoot and had to skip it.

-Cat, the mystery lady from Portland. She appeared of the blue with an entourage of skiers, said she never sees carvers at Mt. Hood (hey, what am I, chopped liver? :mad: ) demo'd Mark's Coiler, and missed the photo session. Cat, if you're lurking out there, maybe I'll see you in the spring at T-line. 

-Landis dropped a 50-cent rap (or maybe Sir Mix-a-lot?) on the chair with the lyrics re-written to be about alpine snowboarding...I shit you not. It was without a doubt the best rap performance that I've ever seen in person, including Public Enemy when I was 16. I told him he had to do it again on video, and he said I'd have to get him drunk, then managed to slip away before I could ply him with enough booze. 

 

But here's the rogues gallery of folks who did show up for our photo op.

 

Here's Dale. Dale just started his third season on plates. I hate Dale.

 

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Dane, the unofficial mayor of Schweitzer -- I'm pretty sure he knows everyone on the hill by name. He drives a white kidnapper van filled to the brim with loaner gear, and if someone asks him about alpine on the hill, he smiles and says "come to my van with me and I'll set you up." That would get me tazed or arrested, but Dane gets people on plates. Oh yeah, did I mention he rips? 

 

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In addition to turning out some mean meals, Igor also cranked out some mean turns. He took advantage of the session to

demo a Donek and a Coiler. From the look on his face, I think it's safe to conclude that he liked the modern boards a lot better than his Rossi Throttle.  

 

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Whoops, I ran into the cap on the # of photos per post, so I have to break these up. 

 

Here's a few more shots of Octavio carving it up. Octavio had good news and bad news from this session. The bad news: he broke his right radius in a fall. The good news: it happened after the photo session. The real good news: the doctor said the bone was still aligned and surgery won't be needed. He's most likely out for the rest of the season though. :(
 
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Here's Dan from Salt Lake City. The stoke is strong with this one -- in his first full season on plates, he drove 11 hours to come to NICE. As you can see, he's learning fast and was having a great time. 
 
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Even when he fell (peace!) ... 
 
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...he had a blast
 
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Hell, to be honest, I have no idea who this guy is. Just some random that photobombed our run. :smashfrea

 

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Some words of wisdom from Mark as we discussed planned gear purchases. "You only need one board! But you have to buy two boards to know which one it was."  :biggthump

 

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Boardski already posted the best photo of himself - his crane attack on the photographer, but here are a couple of other good ones. 

 

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Damn is he good at switch carving.

 

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And...I hope this works...

 

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Can I get a "hell yeah!" ?

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Thanks very much to all the local riders for putting on such a great event once again! For only having one Hawaiian rider, you guys really bring the aloha spirit, and I'm looking forward to next year. For everyone that missed this year, I'll see you next year!

 

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You guys are having way too much fun. Good to see that you finally got some snow - it had been a lean season up until now!

 

Dan's fall photo is awesome. I must remember to do that the next time I crash and burn in front of the Whitefish photographer.

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hells yeah gskl1.gif

 

just now hearing about the arm Octavio, hope it heals up in time for spring riding. Between you and Russ the carnage percentage was high this year.

Thanks to Dan and the Portland crew for lining up the HQ and springing for the photos :biggthump

Looks like I should of skipped work and joined you Sat. :smashfrea 

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