So the crew have drummed it into me that in Tahoe, once the warm sun comes up the snow starts to get baked really quickly. So you build all your jumps the day before the storm so that once it clears all you need to do is dust off you’re handy work and you’re on. So what happens when it starts snowing? The guys decide the weathers too bad to go build… Now I don’t know if it’s because me and Woody have been watching too much Rob & Big but we know we needed to “Do Work” (which is a lot different than “Getting down to Business“). So out we went, just the two of us loaded with shovels and a fair amount of frustration. We dug until 7 at night. So apparently filmers now build jumps… However it must be said that once the storm cleared the guys totally redeemed themselves as you’ll see in this update and one’s to follow. I’m super impressed with the work rate and rhythm everyone’s in. Basically Gus lands everything, Tom & Jake can actually jump, Charles still has bullshit amounts of style and thanks to Eacott rolling into town, we now have two generators and we are now working the night shift too…. Do Work? Doing work!

A couple of days ago Tom, Jake and I were out looking to burn around on Jake’s sled after a day of jumping. We came across a sloped wooded area near Squaw worth exploring for some log rides. We didn’t find anything. But then I remembered that cool video our Team Thunder friends had made about building some log features. So a few phone calls, a trip to the hardware store and 3 nights of cutting, digging and hammering we had ourselves a fuck-off scary log slide. I’ll be honest, the fact that none of us really knew exactly what we were doing may have lead to it being a little bigger than we’d planned. Not to worry, these things don’t phase rulers like Gus, Tom and Eacott. We wrapped at midnight and I actually got goosebumps from playing back the footage. Ender’s all around…

I know I’ve said it more than once, but this crew of guys really know Tahoe. It’s refreshing as a filmer to be taken to spots instead of trying to find new things for 5 guys to ride everyday. Well I shouldn’t say just guys because today Liam Kaska had Billabong teamster Erin Tanner with him. She got worked pretty good on this rail and still got up and got it done. Serious props to her for that. Now here’s a story I want to quickly tell you. For some weird reason that only he knows, Gus St Leon thought it a good idea to purchase a head to toe camouflage hunting suit (aka a ghillie suit) from Cabelos. When I kept yelling at Woody to get out of my shot Gus produced the suit from his backpack and jokingly suggested Woody try it on… Well Woody takes his filming seriously and not being one to ruin a good shot, he decided that some stealth was in order. Now we can get that sneaky second angle without a worry.

DC Shoes are helping us to make ‘Two Weeks In…’ happen! Jake and the guys at DC are really behind the project and all the team here are stoked to have them involved. Thanks for working with us guys!

Tom and Gus found a super fun road gap that required a 100km an hour sled tow in. My new friend Kendal was more than happy to pilot Gus’ ridiculously overpowered sled/jet fighter. Everyone got shots. I even got to shoot Tom (repeatedly) with our last Roman candle left over from our Wyoming fireworks expedition. A good day all around.

Now I’ve said it before but Charles Beckinsale really knows Tahoe. He showed me some zones last week that were like backcountry terrain parks. So when he took a day off yesterday I went exploring with Woody, Jake and Tom to see if we could give Charles back some spots. We may have found the gnarliest thing I’ve seen an Australian do. Of course you’re going to have to wait for the film to see it. Charles and I spent all day digging, cutting and building… Tomorrow at dawn, we ride…

Sorry for lagging on this update. We’ve really been getting after it in Tahoe. We’ve spent the last four days up at Northstar. We caught up with Trigger teamster Darrah Walsh and boy is that kid motivated. He landed some big spins, that’s all I’m saying. Charles and Tom sessioned that Matix stair setup that Justin Hebbel destroyed. We brought our crane setup but apparently that’s against Northstar’s policy so we had to go without the serious equipment for the following days. Tom Pelley and Jake McCarthey ventured into Burton’s ‘The Stash’ and sessioned the Craig Kelly hut. The Stash is way bigger and better than I’d expected. There’s logs and little jumps everywhere! I wish we had one in Australia. We’re going back with some Burton big-gun’s soon.

So we’re well and truly getting after it here in Tahoe. We caught up with Gus St Leon, Jye Kearney, Darrah Wlash and Charles Beckinsale. Oh and of course Jan Snarksi is in town (but he flys out for some heli-boarding tomorrow…). So Charles took us up to that old abandoned train tunnel you saw in all those old snowboard movie. It’s as epic as you think. There’s no doubt about it, Charles knows his way around the Tahoe backcountry. But it wasn’t all shits and giggles. Gus tried pulling up on the run in to a jump we’d built on top of a 35 foot train tunnel and shot over the lip upside down, came down on the concrete of the tunnel roof and then fell the 35 feet to the flat ground. It was the closest I’ve seen anyone come to dying… No exaggeration. Don’t worry, I filmed it (in slow mo too).

Before we left SLC we tried to session that rail that Nick Gregory tail-press 180 out’s of in the Trigger video. So we drove for an hour and half only to find out that they were chained up. Typical Two Weeks In luck. So we laughed at the No Rail Riding sign and set about trying to find another zone to play about in. We followed a huge heard of deer into this semi-functioning quarry and got busy. It was fun, but we were standing in a pool of deer shit and piss.

Marc shipped off back to art school a few nights ago. So we went shredding in the dumping snow and filmed some fun-runs through the park. With Marc, Jake and Tyler, you’re always going to have a good time. When we got home there was a package waiting for us. Woody’s brother had sent him an electronic drum-kit to bring home. Apparently he’d be able to fit it in his board bag… I laughed my arse off when he walked in with two fridge sized boxes… Woody’s brother had proper fucked him!

After many good times had by all in Salt Lake City, the crew which had been killing it for the past two weeks split up and each went there separate ways, Nate went back to Colorado, Marc flew back to sunny Melbourne and Dan flew back home to Sydney. Left in SLC for a few days were Jake, Rick and Woody. It seemed as though all things were against us these past few days as everything that could go wrong whilst filming for a video did, namely bad weather and jacked cops! After an interesting last two days Jake and Woody left for Mammoth to dig out Jake’s Sled and then onto Tahoe to meet up with Rick and Team Thunder pal Tyler, who has joined us for our Tahoe leg of the trip.