My last few weeks have been spent undertaking and witnessing extreme doses of mahem. Let me explain. I left the Indian Summer of Colorado for a lil’ contest work in the Ditry Northeast. First stop, Waterville Valley New Hampshire. If you’ve never been, you probably never will. But for those of you lucky enough to have been (and by been I mean you either grew up here or drove up from Boston one time) then you know what it was all about. Outdated accomadations, one bar discreetly named “Legends,” and a decent little hunk of east coast ‘solid’ to slide down on your toboogin or shred stick. After surviving the weekend, I made a pit stop in Burlington, VT for some of the grimyest karyoke I’ve ever seen. Who doesn’t want to slam pitchers of PBR while two quistionable gentleman from the backwoods of Vermont confidently recite ‘NSYC’ two inches away from each other? Now the real reason I took two flights to VT, the US Open. Whoever decided to schedule St. Patty’s Day right before the contest is a bastard, but we made the most of it. Four days of shred later I can say I witenessed Luke Mitrani go 25+ ft out of a 30 ft quarterpipe of ice,

got to see DJ Benzi make everyone drunk enough to dance like banshees (download the US Open Amplitude Mixtape,)

celebrate Danny Kass’ fifth Open Halpipe title,

and close it down with a dope Santogold concert apres style.

The Afterstory: 09 World Quarterpipe Championships, Somewhere VT

I remember hearing someone mention a smaller, grittier contest somewhere in the woods outside of Stratton the Monday following the Open, but had to catch a flight from Burlington so decided to look into it when I got home. Well, after I read the article covering the ‘World Quarterpipe Championships’ I wish I had stuck around.

Fire, PBR, Fireworks, and the drunkest motherfuckers of all time made this a contest to be proud of. My only wonderment is where was Danimal, he would have loved this.