WRITING ON THE WALL- TAG 'N FILL VI

you go girl

Williamsburg- BK

you go girl

Bushwick- BK

photo cred- Amy Klein

 

gen II

Ridgewood- Queens

gen II

Bedstuy- BK

revs

in the tunnel

photo cred. the giant

not a fill- but it's revs so it doesn't matter

midtown- NYC

 

nekst

Williamsburg- BK

 nekst ( & tribute asp & phetus)

Williamsburg- BK

swampy

Bushwick- BK

swampy ( & cash4  & smells  &  sy-1  &  nems)

Bushwick- BK

GIANT DEALS VI

(looking down the valley- view from the bird)

West Coast

Kirkwood
Enter by the 31st for a chance to win an all expense paid trip out to Kirkwood to ride The Cirque and Thunder Bowl. You will go through a three day level one AIARE avalanche cert course and spend the rest of the time trying to stay alive. Facebook entry only.

Brighton
 POW (Protect Our Winters) is giving away an amazing trip and a bunch o goodies. Catch a flight out to Brighton with full outfit of gear and a shiny new Black GoPro 3 just for clicking here and doing your part to keep the summer from ruining everything.

Squaw
The Olympics, hmmm.. The Olympics. At least you can win a free set of skis or a board every single day of the Olympics, which means this contest lasts like 6 months. Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows are the sponsors - enter here

Snowbird
The bird continues serving up some insane deals, like $119 hotel rooms with 2 lift tickets on Mondays and Tuesdays all season long. 

Winter Park
Winter Park is having the Season of the Seven discount giveaway over the next month. The Park has slashed prices on hotel rooms and lift tickets. For Learn to Ski/Ride Month, they are giving away a lift ticket for every lesson purchased. 

UT - the opposite of CO
Ski Utah has decided to do everything (other than your mom) to get you up to the hill this year. They have crazy deals for beginners who decide to finally use their brains and start skiing during January. 

Something for the East Coast Grunts:

The Wild Honey Pie

Enter  to win a trip with the On the Mountain crew as they make magic up at Stratton starting tomorrow. Plans include filming a movie and drinking lots of vodka for free. The website is pretty slick with music links and all sorts of little boxes everywhere. Check em out

Warren Miller
Trade your name and personal info for a chance to save your life with a backpack and helmet.

words by @qthegiant

MOUNT SNOW MILKBAGS

(Team milk bags: veronica veronica, chestnut michele, full-of-herself maria, noselfie me  & the giant

photo cred. veronica veronica)

Liftopia has a bunch of $29 Sunday afternoon Mount Snow lift ticket deals. So team milk bags headed up to VT last Sunday with our driver the giant. Mount Snow is 215 miles away from Brooklyn. It takes about four hours each way if Maria doesn't drive into a ditch. It's much better when we have chauffeur giant because then Maria can focus on her REAL job. Instahaming every single moment of her life. 

(maria the elegant  photo cred- veronica veronica)

K- here comes the informative part.

Mount Snow is in the Green Mountain Range in southern VT on Mt. Pisgah. (Why the name change from Pisgah to Mount Snow? I definitely prefer Mt. PISGAH) The summit is 3,600' and the base is 1,900'.  It's the most accessible hill in VT from the city (NYC) and Boston- so it can get really crazy-town busy. But this year we've lucked out. It seems to rain every time we are there or the night before. That makes normal people not want to go snowboarding. Then the milkbags (and the giant) have the hill to themselves.

 MOUNTAIN TIPS

• Mount Snow's saying is- "Everyday is a bluebird day." I'm thinking this is because their main lift (a sixer) is named the bluebird express. It tubes you with a translucent blue plastic shield. (the girls call it the womb) This might confuse you and make you think- "oh, it's a bluebird day"- but really bluebird means sunny and clear. (see sun valley) This lift can pretty much get you where ever you need to go on the hill so when it's brutal out there womb up. 
• Mount Snow is a park hill. Carinthia is sickening. Pretty much any hit you can think of is there. (pipe isn't ready yet) It is full of children whose knees don't hurt.
• Yuri teaches/works here. Yes, the same Yuri that inspired everyone in the world to become more PC and say "that's mad yuri" instead of saying "that's gay".
• If the "snow" is blue- you aren't getting that turn in- try again at another time.

 (veronica veronica in the womb)

It's pretty badass that team milkbags does not complain about the snow after the rain. Instead we discuss important worldwide issues like gay marriage and medical marijuana while we ride along the sheets of ice- intent on improving the world. 

As always, snowboarding reigns and perhaps we'll see you on the next $29 Sunday.

(veronica veronica dances)

DID YOU KNOW?...... ABOUT MOUNT SNOW

• there is a bus you can take that is painted like a cow that takes you from the hill to the town. it is called the MOOver (get it?)
• Mount Snow has a (snow)boarding high school The Mount Snow Academy. Kelly Clark went there along with a bunch of people that i actually know.
• They used to have a space age car that would take you from the Snow Lake Lodge over the lake to the hill. Which seems super rad, i couldn't find any pic.s on the internet- didn't look very hard.
• Mount Snow uses castrol oil to lubracate the lift cables instead of petroleum based oil (earth points)

 (maria trying to out lady veronica veronica by riding with her fancy purse)

also while we are on the subject of insane women-

claire is a prisoner with me on Orange is the New Black

she's part of Hand Job Academy

check out Shark Week their

music video

it's pretty excellent

Shark Week from Meg Skaff on Vimeo.

alright, well like the guy at the gas says to Maria.... "have a nice time in the bathroom!"

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY GAPING- AGAIN AND AGAIN

man i love gapers

love how they do what they do

when they do what they do

Mount Snow 1/12/14

WRITING ON THE WALL- GET WEIRD VI

atomik
Greenpoint- BK

photo cred. d

fumero

SOHO- NYC

3ess

East New York- BK

judith supine

Meatpacking- NYC

lewy  &  klops  &  send help

Sunset Park- BK
photo cred. D

paul richard

Greenpoint- BK

werds

DUMBO- BK

nychos  &  smithe

Bushwick- BK

williamsburg- BK

ewoke  &  dero

Bushwick- BK

GIANT DEALS V

Last week I posted a forecast. It should have been a Red Cross symbol over the Ice Coast as conditions were BRUTAL. I consider it a hex and will not be mentioning the weather again. I have been steadily saying my nighttime prayers to Ullr and I really don't want to have to start using this as mouthwash again.

CONTESTS

EVO
Vote for your favorite graphic on a deck this year and you can win a free board. You can also rep and artists via the comments section to enter. There have been 350 entries so you got a decent shot at this one. 

SKI FOR HEAT
Now that Hugo Chavez can't send any heating oil to New York and Vermont, Ski For Heat has stepped in to raise cash for those in need. You register your squad, raise some cash, and head out to the hill on January 26th. Teams are ranked by vertical feet and cash money raised, let the giveaways begin! Jay Peak is offering a season pass for a $500 fundraiser. Yes, a $500 season pass to help someone stay warm this winter.

POW
What was the last thing you spent a nickel on? For me it was a giant roll of toilet paper. Let's all take a moment and consider tossing five bucks in the Protect Our Winters coffee cup. They are out there fighting to keep the mountain culture alive and take on the Monty Burns evil empire. The 5 bucks will get you an entry into the best contest of the year. A trip to AK with tons of gear. It's probably more important then toilet paper.

SKI.COM
Everyone loves getting mail until you reach about 19 and then it is nothing but credit card applications and Chinese food shop menus. Ski.com is sending out creepy little stickers of a cat on a pair of skis. The idea behind this promo is you take a pic with the feline and win a cat skiing trip out to Red Mountain. If you missed it, Red Mountain has added a ton of terrain this year and shaping up to be one of the most killer resorts in North America.

ASPEN
The book of Face can help you win a free four day trip out to Aspen, Buttermilk, and Snowmass. Just like Ski.com and you will be entered to win this exclusive trip.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Steamboat Springs has rolled out a new give away for this year. The Boat Load contest is giving away a grand prize 4 day all expense paid trip to the Steamboat. Monthly giveaways include GoPro's, skis, boards, and all sorts of hardgoods.

STRATTON AND MOUNT SNOW
If your from 18-26 and live anywhere within driving distance of Mount Snow and Stratton this deal is pretty sweet. For $479 you get a full season pass to both resorts. They don't require you show the wallet full of expired college ID's from the last year's and act like you still read books.

EAT CHEESE
Once upon a time, Ramzi returned from Vermont with a secret stash of Cabot cheese straight from the motherland. We promptly grabbed a case of poorly brewed lagers and decided to eat enough to make us both want to die. To make up for this attempted murder Cabot is giving away more than 200 lift tickets this year. You have to like things to win. 

LEARN STUFF

If you don't know how to ski or ride, or both, now is the time. 34 states have deals to get you on the hill to do something with your life.

BRIAN HEAD
Brian Head Resort is having $25 Tuesday's for the rest of the season and they run a shuttle bus from Ceder City if you want to skip work and spend the extra cash on brew. 

Liz is voting for the new space case. she loves hers so much i don't even get to sleep in bed anymore- it's taken my place

words by qthegiant

FAKE CHRISTMAS IN SNOWBIRD

(me on the lip photo cred. qthegiant)

My old post about my first trip to Jay Peak (VT) has been getting a ton of traffic.

So, i thought i'd do a more "informative" piece about our fake Christmas trip to Snowbird this Dec. 

(the giant getting it)

 Christmas to me = being on the hill. Sun Valley (ID), to be exact- but this year it was my turn to spend Christmas with the giants family on the east coast. So we decided to have an early fake Christmas out west. Fake Christmas is actually a fantastic idea because there are better snow deals and the Christmas crowds haven't shown up yet.

It's super easy to hop on a plane from NYC and be in SLC. Snowbird (UT) was a no-brainer because my sister teaches and works there, also it's one of the most amazing places in the universe. Snowbird has an early season deal- your 4th night is free. So for $592 the giant and i stayed for four nights and rode four days. My parents got the same deal. That's $74 a person. Other things you can get for $74: a tank full of gas in New York, a half day Mount Snow (VT) lift ticket, a beer at a club in Manhattan.

(pops coming down Regulator Johnson)

Snowbird is in the Wasatch range in the Little Cottonwood Canyon (UT). The top of the resort is 11,000' and the base is 7,760'. The longest run is Chips which is 2.5 miles. Somehow I always manage to choose this as a "warmup" when i first get to Snowbird- taking care of those leg cramps and my cat-track-quota right away. 

(trail map for drooling purposes)

BIRD TIPS

• Snowbird has 10 lifts and a tram. Like Jackson, there is a prevalent box scene here (agro locals who claim to only take the tram). Find one if you need a vaporizer. 
• The park is a joke, but talking about a park at Snowbird is a joke. It's all about the natural hits at the bird. Cliffs are everywhere. 
• The only ski tunnel in North America is a tunnel through the mountain at the top of the Peruvian lift. You have to run through as fast as possible to get to Mineral Basin or you will be trampled by locals. 
• Wilbere lift goes until 4:30 PM- clutch on those can't-stop-won't-stop days.
• And you simply must find the natural banked slalmon that makes me hit trees. 

(the giant on the beginning of the banked- already too far out- tree smash coming up)

FOOD FACTS

•   Best fancy diner- Wildflower hands down. (mussels are amazing)
• El Chanate is good cause my sis works there.
• Gritts makes banging breakfast bowls and their sandwiches are the best for pocket food.
• Trap bar always has a beer and a shot for $5. Also my sister works there as a troll. 
• Free water is next to Tram Car Pizza  

 (the giant all up in the brush)

We arrived on a bluebird Monday, which was great to review the mountain. Then it snowed from Wed. to Sunday. It dumps in UT. Even when the weather says it's not going to. God says it's like that in heaven too.

We spent a lot of our time in the trees off of Gad II. Most of my favorite runs weren't quite ready yet (snow wise) but that's never really stopped me before. I helped the giant get a giant sized core shot on the Blackjack Traverse. I didn't know the line was going to turn from snow to rock on rock. "Just use that tree as a stopping point"- my excellent advise.

The giant and I were going to spend Fri. and Sat. night with my sister, but i had some terrible hacking disease and the giant asked at the Inn if they would give us the same deal so we could stay on the hill. They did! Thank goodness because walking was becoming a problem.

 Our room had a separate room just for disgusting-retch-smelling boots and there was a laundry room in the basement.

Also waking up to bombs as an alarm clock is the raddest.

(me in heaven  photo cred. the giant)

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIRD

• You are not allowed to bring pets to snowbird. Something about the locals being crazy and eating animals raw for sport. 
• Beer is not real here! Real beer must be bought at a liquor store or at a bar in a bottle. 
• You need four wheel drive or chains. Really, they won't let you leave in a storm otherwise.
• Snowbird has their own emergency room. i think it's required because of Snowbird's high gangsta rating. i know this because i sprained my knee and went to the ER last Dec. Also my dad and bro broke ribs here. Hooray! (not in the ER, on the hill- duh)
• Alta is attached to Snowbird like an asshole.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY GAPING- MOUNTAIN CRUSH

ive found the one.

be still my heart.
Snowbird- UT

WRITING ON THE WALL- IT'S A NEW DAY III

miss lotus

Williamsburg- BK

Crown Heights- BK

bast

Meatpacking- NYC

chrisrwk

DUMBO- BK

russel king  &  cist  &  zamart

SOHO- NYC

sefu  &  stu  &  klops

Park Slope- BK

mama wisdom

Hawaii

photo cred. ivan the great

epicuno

LIC- Queens

those who dare

pixote

Chinatown- NYC

sest2

LES- NYC

photo cred. marcus

GIANT DEALS IV

THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND

Below is the forecast map for the weekend, there are some purple spots near where I like to ride and not a lot else. The word is if you are going somewhere it has snowed this year, it should continue. If you are going somewhere that it has not snowed, your going to need some more p-tex.  The Northeast will be warm and wet on Saturday with a good chance of snow up north. The west is looking pretty calm with midweek dumps in the Wasatch and across Wyoming/Montana. It is crazy cold in the rest of the US of A. Forecasts don't really matter unless you only ride on powder days.  Check out more here

DEALS FOR THIS WEEK
The EAST 

GRANITE GORGE
Go ride at Granite Gorge on Wednesdays for $20 bucks, take a day off and rip it up on this locals hill.

OKEMO
Okemo is having a last minute deal for this weekend. They have marked down hotel and lift tickets by more than 30% and are sweetening the pot with free tickets on Friday afternoon and a $25 dollar gift card for waffles.

KILLINGTON
Killington is matching Okemo with the snowblind deal. You book a hotel and add all the tickets you need and decide if you want to stay in a comode or a palace. The Killington website takes your money and then let's you know where you will be laying your head for the weekend. Check it out, you should have enough cash to go to the Pickle Barrel and buy shots for mountain skanks.

MOUNT SNOW
We bought a bunch of $29 lift tickets on Liftopia for Sunday from 12pm to 4pm. You got to get it when you can,  Come ride.....

The WEST
GRAND TARGHEE
Some people love to go to Jackson, only Jackson. Few are aware of Jackson Hole's little mean bro up the road, who gets more snow and has some of the biggest cliffs ever dropped (TGR) in North America. Targee has a deal for $65 a person with lift tickets to stay on the hill, probably less than half of what you will pay to stay at Jackson. Be forewarned, Targhee has no nightlife just a couple of on the hill bars- but that powder will make you forget about the drinks.

SNOWBIRD
Snowbird, oh Snowbird. They are currently running some crazy deals for the entire winter. You can get a room on the hill with tickets for two for 158 dollars a night basically for the entire season. Check out the site for all the details. 

Win Free STUFF
YOBEAT
I have seen some of your crashes and for sure they match the ones that are winning Giro helmets and goggles on the yobeat.com site. So check it out and send all submissions to submissions@yobeat.com (must be hosted on vimeo or youtube)

IDAHO WINTER SWEEPSTAKES
Every week Idaho tourism is giving away free trips, tickets, and gear. Win stuff, now!

 (me at the bird with no legs two weeks ago)

words by qthegiant