Flatbush Zombies

Flatbush Zombies (Sevendaysvt)

I recently spent a weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah with a couple of my buddies.  The weekend started with a car ride to The Complex which is a building that they hold concerts in.  The featured band of the night was called Flatbush Zombies but they were accompanied with Skizzy Mars, McJenkins, and The Underachievers.  We showed up right in time and hopped in a line that was a bearable length.  After we got searched and gave them our tickets we were home free.  You could tell that not everyone was there yet because the venue wasn't packed at all.  We went straight into the crowd and started dancing around.

An Hour Later

After about an hour of dancing the venue was completely packed, there was mosh pits, people smoking, and performers jumping into the crowd.  Most of us got separated after a while and we were on our own.  The crowd was insane people were swaying back and forth, pushing each other, punching each other, and someone I knew even got knocked out because he fell in a mosh pit.  His head got trampled and he was taken out and most likely was driven to the hospital.  All of this happened before the main act came on!  Once we were all regrouped near the bathrooms we sat down and drank some water getting ready for the main performer.  You could tell that some people were going a little too hard because there was throw up all over the bathroom and people passed out in about every stall.

The more we waited the more people we knew and before we knew it we had twenty people we knew ready to go in together.  The crowd was getting a little sketch due to all of the mosh pits that were braking out and the amount of people getting hurt.  Not only that but I was shorter than the majority of the crowd so I couldn’t really see where I was in the venue.  Besides that I was still super stoked to go back in and have a good rest of my night!

Fifteen Minutes Later

Before we knew it we were in the middle of the action, the stage was right in front of us and the mosh pit right behind us.  After a couple of songs you could tell that the crowd was getting super rowdy.  The next song the artist told the crowd to form two mosh pits and the light shined where they wanted them to form.  The light was right on my friend and I, people started shoving and pushing and two second later a full out mosh was happening around us.  We both tried to get to the sides so we could still interact with the people in the mosh pit but not get the crap kicked out of us.  We then stayed there for the rest of the night and had a sweet time.  At the end of the night we were tired, stinky, and completely stoked we went!

A Memorable Night

A good representation of what it looked like (Norwoodnews)

In this post I would live to throw it back to when one of my close friends was here.  This friend is now gone for a while but we shared many good memories and unforgettable times.  When we put our minds together it was not a very good thing, I say that because we would come up with the most fun idea that could very well end us up in a heap of trouble with both of our parents.  These ideas usually consisted of sneaking out of our houses meeting up and driving around with our other friends going wherever we felt necessary at that moment.  But aside from the generalized story that I told you I would like to point out one memory that sticks out the most in my mind. 

It was around eight o’clock at night and we had just arrived at Main Street which was where we going to spend the majority of our night.  The plan was to go on a hike with our friends and our girlfriends.  That plan changed very quickly, I say this because right as we stepped out of the car we saw a group of men walking by.  Being the loud mouth that I am I started giving them some grief for the fun of it.  The men just shrugged of our comments and kept walking.  We didn’t think twice about it.  We both turned our backs to each other and continued on our way.  Or so we thought, about thirty seconds later we saw the men sprinting after us.  I told my friend to get my back because the men looked pretty pissed off.  The first guy came sprinting after me and tried to get me in a headlock.  I pushed him off of me and started yelling, “What are you doing? I am only fourteen years old!”  This didn’t stop him he got in my face and I got in his.  He swung while I was turned and hit me in the side of the face.  I barely felt it and started laughing at him that he was going to go to jail because my friend was already on the phone with them.  After that statement was made the men quickly started leaving.  Our group then followed them telling them what was about to happen to them.  They split up which led us to split up and I was now with the dude and a girl I know.  He started leaving so I grabbed him and pinned him against the window and waited till the cops arrived.  The cops questioned us and took the drunk adults away to the slammer.  The girls we were with were terrified and my mom was fuming but it sure was a good story to tell!

Mammoth Speed Camp

MammothMountain.Com Shows the Amazing Views

Although my real ski season has officially ended I recently took a little trip to Mammoth, California to ski with the best kids from the western region and send our selves of a jump to get better in the air for the event called Super-G.  We qualified to this camp by doing well at the Junior Olympics.  Most of us were from different states such as Montana, Alaska, Utah (where I live), and California.

My friend and I (shane) flew into Mammoth not know what to expect.  We have never actually met most of the kids at the camp so we didn’t really know what to think of it.  But once we arrived our friend from Nationals was waiting for us in our three story condo that we had to surprisingly three people.  The first day we got there we mostly just go settled in and hung out in our room with the new racers that we met.

We woke up at around seven thirty and took our time to get over and on the lift by eight thirty.  Although the snow was very thin the quality of it was completely fine and made for great training!  For you that don’t know what I’m training for, I am training for ski racing which is when you ski down a steep, icy pitch, and try to get down the fastest while also skiing around gates.  The days were short only about three hours of skiing, the first day all we did was terrain courses which consisted of snow piles that you pump over and try to remain as balanced as possible, and a phantom jump which simulates approaching a jump but leaves out the actual jumping process.  They made the phantom jump to act as a sort of profession the the bigger jump that we were going to hit in the upcoming days of skiing.  The first day after skiing we got undressed and went into our coaches office to watch some simple video for the day.  This only took about fifteen minutes then we were back chilling in the condos waiting for the hike we had to take three hours later.

Three Hours Later

Our fitness coach for the camp gathered us together at three o’clock and took us on a hike in the mountains to see the beautiful views.  On the way up the mountain we threw footballs around and kicked soccer balls around to pass the time.  Once we reached the summit we did some drills on the ladder and the rock wall that we were next to.  After we worked out for a little bit we played a couple games of sharks and minos and began to start to actually know each other.  We then started our way back down to the hotel where we were most likely going to spend the rest of the night eating and screwing with each other.

Unexpected Bro Trip III (continued 3)

A great representation of the weekend

After some congratulations to some fellow team mates and packing we were on our way down the windy road towards the airport.  The drive up to the resort is an hour full of switchbacks and is perfect for getting car sick because of this I quickly tried to get to sleep…

An hour and a half later…

I woke up and we were in the parking lot of the airport, my nap worked out perfectly.  We hopped out of the rental and started the long haul throughout the airport trying to find our flight.  It is hard to get your normal luggage around an airport but imagine having normal luggage along with four pairs of skis and all your ski clothes, it is not fun to say the least.  Once we’re settled in we only had about an hour long flight to Solana Beach, California.

An hour later…

I fell asleep again on the way to California due to the fact that ski racing tires you out in every possible way!  Once I opened my eyes and looked out the window I saw the plane defending and I heard the captain come on the intercom and say five minutes till landing.  I was once again very satisfied with my nap and the timing I had.  It was good to see the sun shining and to feel the humid air on my skin.  But isn’t it always good to get a change of scenery, especially after a hard day?  The drive from the airport to my friends house was only about another half an hour and this time I decided to stay awake.  The highway was lined with amazing views, houses, and everything else you can think of.  It was definitely weird to go from a ski town straight to a beach town.

We arrived at his house, threw all of our stuff in the bunk room and went straight down to the beach to jump in the water.  When we were down at the water Shane and I took a selfie and sent our ski coach a picture saying, “Warm welcome from Solana.” to get on his nerves that he is on a five hour road trip while we are swimming in the ocean.  The water was pretty cold but not to cold to get used to.  It was a short swim because both Shane and I were exhausted from our weekend so we decided to head back to the house and relax.

Next day…

We woke up the next day super stoked to go surfing and chilling around town all day.  After we ate breakfast we jumped into our wet suits, grabbed the surf boards and walked down to the beach.  The waves were not that good but good enough to catch a couple.  Shane and I were out there for around an hour with barely any luck besides Shane catching a couple small ones.  Finally, a wave came in and both Shane and I started patting in hoping to catch the wave.  The wave formed some more and we stood up catching some speed down the front of the wave.  It is such a good feeling to be on a wave, one of the best feelings you can get I would say, next to skiing deep powder of course!  From then on we dubbed that the “Bro Wave” and the rest of the day we lounged around until we had to jump back on the plane to get back to school and those dreaded responsibilities!

Jackson Hole III

I was laying on the ground next to a couple of my other ski racer friends listening to some music to pump me up before my start.  Everyone around me was singing along and having a great time.  Number forty was in the start gate and I was getting stoked to send it!!  I stripped down to my speed suit from all of my warm up clothes that I had on.  I boot skied down to the start to cheer on some of my team mates before my run.  Scottie was in the gate “Go Scooch!!” all of us yelled as he pulled out of the start.  This went on for around ten more racers until I had to go click in for my run.

Thump Thump went my boots as my coach Cam knocked the snow off of the bottoms of them.  Cam said to me, “Alright Ben when you pull out of the start gate you want to put your foot in the groove and ride it out.  The track is getting a little sketchy and the ruts are deep.  All you got to do is ski athletically and do what you do.  Have fun Ben Good luck.”  I told him thanks and slid down to the beginning of the start gate.  There was around five racers in front of me so I was going through the course in my head trying to remember where I need to nail the course.

Before I knew I was in the start gate with the gate keep saying, “Racer Ready? Go!”  I pulled as hard as I could out of the gate towards the first gate.  The visibility was terrible and I could barely see seven gates in front of me.  Not only that but the ruts in the course were so deep I was basically jumping to each turn.  I was around half way down the course and I got flung from a rut to one side and ended up skiing backwards for five feet or so and managed to make the gate and turn my skis back around.  The best part about this run for me was not the quality of my skiing but how much fun I was having going down the course.  It was on of the most thrilling courses that I have ever skied so thrilling I was laughing through part of it and if you know me you know that is not usual for a ski race.

Jackson Hole II

Jackson Hole Tram

Click.. Click… go my skis as I push towards to first lift to get up near the race course.  Everyone is treating this race as a sort of training race so to speak so all of the racers are having a lot of fun in the lift line.  My friend had his speaker in his backpack playing some pump up music all of the people were hootin’ and hollerin’.  The lift ride was around five minutes long which led us to another lift which was about the same.  Like I said in the earlier post right as I got off of the chairlift I saw the run that we were racing on that I know so well.  Seeing the start gate and all of the officials and coaches gave me the jitters but not the scared jitters more of the excited jitters.  Everyone took one or two inspections and then they were left with a couple hours of free time while the hill was prepped.  I bet you can guess what I am going to go do, yah that right go ski the fresh foot of powder that fell the night before for us.

Aydon, Trey, Cassidy and I (ski racer friends) walked up to the tram which always has powder full fun all the way down no matter what.  Although we were all stoked we had to stop at the notorious waffle shack at the top of the tram.  After a quick pit stop we were off shredding down, face shot after face shot and cliff after cliff having the time of our lives.  One thing that I really like about the tram is that after you finish one amazing run it leads down the cat track to another assortment of terrain to choose from.  At the end of a tram lap you have skied at least four or five runs all together and you have that sweet burn deep inside of your legs.  That is what I feel skiing should be like, whatever you want right in front of you and endless fun to experience.

Once the exhilaration and excitement left our bodies we realized that we had to go race!  Jumped on the two four seater chairlifts and got in the mental zone for our runs that have yet to come.  Although this race did not have a lot on the line I still like to practice getting in the right state of mind before a race run.  It was only half an hour away and the energy in the start gate was unreal…

To Be Continued….

Jackson Hole

Corbet's Couloir (famous run)

Recently, I traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for my frist ski race fo the year!  The race was originally supposed to be held in Park City (my home town) but we did not have enough snow on the race hill to host this race.  Which is why i had to travel to Jackson Hole.  I was very excited at this news because Jackson Hole is my favorite ski resort I have ever been to due to all of the challenging terrain and endless powder every time I go there.  It was around seen in the morning and I loaded up the ski gear and settled in for the long six hour long drive to the big Jackson Hole!

Due to my restlessness the drive felt like three days!  After a couple naps and a lot of junk food later I was at the parking lot of the Jackson Hole ski resort.  We had to train right as we got there so we had absolutely no time to unpack our clothes or anything just straight up to the slopes.  After entering the lodge I was flooded from memories from the races from the years before which raised my mood even more and got me pumped to get on my skis!

20 minutes later

I reached the top of the apres vous lift and saw the run that we were going to be racing on that weekend.  There was a couple other teams that were also training on that run at the time and we set our course right next to theirs.  The temperature was around ten degrees and we had to strip down into only our speed suits which was completely and utterly freezing (one of the down sides about ski racing).  After a few training runs we were packing up and heading to the hotel rooms to get unpacked and prep our skis for the upcoming race the next day.

12 hours later

It was around six fifteen in the morning when our alarm went off and my roommates and I (Shane and Charlie) struggled to get out of bed and get ready for the day before us.  We were supposed to go on an early morning run and warmup for the race but we decided that would nt be beneficial (we were wrong)….  Moping around slowly getting our ski clothes on eating as much food as we could fit in us before it was time to leave which was only in around half an hour at that time.  Of course we were the last kids out to the van and the only kids that didn’t go on the morning run so our coaches were not to happy with us at that time.  We hopped in the van and were on our way back to the legendary mountain for some real skiing and racing!

To Be Continued…..

Bro Trip II

Shane Carlos and I (original)

My dad had just recently bought a place in the one and only Solana Beach, California and wanted me to come down to the beach with him and bring along a friend.  Since my other friend Shane already was going to Solana that weekend (to his house that I visited a couple months before and wrote about in my second blog post) I brought my other very close friend named Carlos.  We have known each other since sixth grade due to mutual friends and sports and have spent a lot of time together since then.  I asked him at the very last minute to come to California with me and to my surprise his parents allowed him to accompany me on “Bro” Trip number two!

Half of Park City, Utah seemed to be around our whereabouts when we were in Cali.  Shane, Livi, Cameron, Raeah, Lance, and Finn were all in about a 2 hour drive to us.  So maybe I exaggerated a little bit not half of Park City but six of our friends were near us.  This added some excitement to the trip because if we didn’t find any girls or friends that I met from the trip before we could hang out with some of the Park City kids that were also visiting Cali.  We hopped on the plane the next day and flew for about two hours and landed only about 15 minutes outside of Solana.

We then found ourselves fifteen minutes later right on the beach in a very cool condo and within walking distance of my other close friend.  Carlos and I immediately put our swim trunks on and went for a short swim in the ocean.  It was very refreshing to get back into the ocean after being away from it for so long.  Although it was revitalizing it tired both of us out so we walked over to the famous local burrito shop named Robertos.  To our surprise we found Shane there with his two younger sisters.  Although we were both planning on seeing each other there it was out of complete chance that we saw him at that time.  We then made plans with shane for the night and went back to the house to shower and go to they gym (which we never actually got around to).  The night ended up to be a bust and we just stayed at shames neighbors house and watched a movie bu the next day was going to be full of adventure.

We woke up around 8 o’clock that next morning and felt compelled to go jump into the ocean for a couple of hours.  Equipped with boogie boards and skim boards we marched down to the beach for some fun.  Carlos and I are both not very educated in the ocean area and we ended up floating out in a rip tide.  Being blind from what was happening for around an hour we realized we were very far out and couldn't get back in.  I knew some about this and starting swimming diagonally out of the rip tide which thankfully got me back onto shore.  Although I was back on the beach Carlos was stuck out there for another good half an hour and we got it all on film!!  This trip was short lived but filled with fun and adrenaline!