The Pac NW!

My recent trip to Whistler is the first time I've been to the Pac NW in years! We left Whistler on 4/20 and hightailed it back through Squamish, down the Sea to Sky Highway and back to Seattle. I was not psyched to get up early the morning after the Masters' After Party, but I was jazzed to see the beautiful ocean and mountains. It was quite a change of scenery from good old dry Colorado.

Squamish, BC

Ferns, we definitely don't have these in Colorado



LJ climbing through an ancient tree

Andy and the Waterfall

LJedi, 'nuf said

"I'm on a boat!" No, this is actually just a peir

Spring in Seattle

After the drive back from Whistler, I got to spend some time in Seattle! This was my first trip to Seattle ever, and I was so surprised to see all the trees and plants flowering! Spring has sprung in Seattle, which was a lovely change from Colorado, where Winter is still on.

Ah, Flowers, gorgeous...

Josh (aka Mosh Jalczyk) the LINE TM lives in Seattle, moved from Burlington, VT. Pretty big change, but it seems like he's loving it!

This is Josh giving us a geography lesson on Seattle, WA

We got to do one of my favorite things in the world, shopping! The Pike Place Market is the infamous place where dudes are schralping fresh fish all day. We didn't buy much beyond snacks and food, but they had lots of cool merchandise and crazy people! I also got to see the first Starbucks EVER!!! Love me some Bucky's....

Pike Place had a pretty sweet view of Mt. Rainer, if you look really close...

The pacific NW is home to many totem poles, I saw many on my travels, but this one was so large, it wouldn't fit in the pic.

I got to travel with the Traveling Circus, pretty good... pretty good.

Ian, Andy, LJ, me, and Will. Thanks for posing for this pic guys, no really....Andy is the only one but me smiling (kinda).

Party People!

The Masters involved quite a bit of partying and goofing around. Here are some of my favorite photos from my trip to Whistler. Enjoy!

LJ freestylin' for the new episode of Traveling Circus...Check Check it out!

Shinji, Tatsuyu, and I at the Master's after party enjoying an open bar ;)

X, Ali, and I at the Master's after party

Will and Dania, throwing down on the dance floor as usual

Andy feeling stoked to be in Whistler

LJ, C is for Crunk

X, Andy, and I tearing it up at the Hilton

The Masters!!!!

The Masters is dubbed the "Anti-Comp" because instead of being all about the tricks and charging the course, it's more about the team and acting out your theme. The format is different than a normal comp as well. The team riders are also the judges; two teams face off in a head to head jam, after which each of the other teams provides a score to those who just skied. This year, they also brought in a crew of pro-judges to help out the fairness factor.

Max, LJ, me, Joe, and TM Josh- Team Muscle Beach

The LINE team's theme was "Muscle Beach" and we faced off against team Armada aka "the Trailer Park Boys" in the first round.

The course was set up so sick: the first set of features consisted of a smooth poppy jump, and rail features on each side, the second set of features consisted of a step-down jump, and two cannon/kicker boxes on either side, the third feature was just a huge poppy super kicker, and at the bottom of the course, you could choose between an urban style down rail, a flat box, or a flat down rail, followed by a trash can jib, a box wall ride, and a HUGE wooden pole jib.

We tried to stay pretty close to each other during our runs, and our best run went something like this....

First Set of Features: Max led us off by disastering the flat down rail feature, LJ and Joe dropped next, hitting the jump and doing synchro 360s, and I brought up the rear, throwing down a 3 off the top jump.

Second Set of Features: Max did a sick transfer to 360 tip bonk on the cannon box, Joe and LJ threw down their amazing synchonized 630s off of the cannon/kicker boxes, and I did a sweet Straigt AIR! HAHA!

Joe killing it on the Cannon Box. www.juliewphoto.com

Third Jump: Joe and LJ threw down side by side tindy 9s, and I threw a floaty 3.

LJ and Joe throwing down their synchro hits off the bottom jump. www.juliewphoto.com

Bottom: The guys and I all chose one of the rail features, next Joe and LJ did tandem back flips off of the box wall ride feature, and I stalled out on that same feature. Since Josh was part of our team, as the TM, he was waiting at the bottom of the course and joined us all in a round of nose butter to push-ups in unison, cause, of course we are buff and love doing push-ups.

You guys have hot bodies... Andy, nice camera.

Unfortunately LINE was eliminated in the first round, but we THREW DOWN and I personally had the time of my life, most fun comp EVER!!!!!! As revenge, LJ and Max went after K2 TM Mike Powell, aka, the Hot Dog.

LJ facing off against the Hot Dog! Get 'em!

Team K2, killed it with "Hot Dog" the movie theme. They are re-enacting a scene here.... Sean, Sean, Tatsuyu, and Anna

Please check out the Masters homepage http://www.oragemasters.com/results for photos from the comp by Felix, Highlights: photo 01 shows the LINE team posted up in our tower, Photo 07 shows Joe as 1/2 of the nasty simultaneous misty 630s off of the tandem cannon/kicker boxes, and Photo 11 is yours truely greasing the urban style down rail.

Consolation round, beer shotgunning contest

Whistler

Hey all, I have been super stoked to bring this blog update to you all. I just took an amazing trip to the best ski area in the North America, Whistler Blackcomb, for the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival. There were many different parts of my trip, so I will make multiple postings, so I don't overwhelm you with photos right away.

The trip got started, when I flew into Seattle and met up with the LINE skis crew which consisted of the Travelling Circus boys, Will and Andy, and TM Josh. Once we arrived in Whistler, we met up with the remaining crew which consisted of Joe Schuster, LJ, and Max Hill, who along with me, made up the LINE skis Masters Team, and my close personal friend Ian Kirkpatrick, who was helping out with photos for the weekend. There were also a ton of other friends in Whistler for the World Ski Invitational Big Air and Superpipe. It was amazing to get to experience Whistler as an athlete for Telus WSSF, I definitely felt like a VIP.

Andy, Max, me and Will

We got off to a quick start and began soaking up the atmosphere, and beer, almost immeadiately after arriving.

The night before practice we hit up Buffalo Bills for a little socializing. I met up with a long lost friend, X, from New Zealand. X is now a Whistler local, (lucky!) and it was great to have her as a village and bar guide, so I didn't feel like a gaper!

Steph, X, and Ian

The next morning we had an early call for a LINE team photoshoot in the Whistler Park, immeadiately followed by course inspection and practice for Masters. The XL park was SICK!! The jumps were huge, and I felt like I was right at home in Freeway at Breck. One bad thing about the park was that it was packed!! Blackcomb park is a very popular place.

LJ and I getting into character. Hot.

So, after practice, I had trained all the jumps with the guys, and was feeling stoked as hell, and slightly hung over from the night before. My night before masters consisted of sober spectating of the WSI big air, and an early night. On a side note, LJ took third in the Big Air with some of the sickest jumping I've ever seen!! Congrats buddy! Make sure and check out the WSI Big Air story on Newschoolers.com.

No, Cheers! to you my friend (LJ)

"I got spons'ed!"

It all started when.....

I met the Jibij team (Mike B., Matt W., Jon, Chris, Steph, and Jake)


I Won the VTO, and Claimed it, Hard. That's for damn sure the only gold medal I've ever won!

Growing up I always had a passion for skiing, and I wanted to test my skills against others. When I discovered sliding rails and jumping, I knew I had found my discipline. I acheived my goal and can now proudly call myself a semi-pro! Jibij and Echo Mountain were the first sponsors to get behind me, and Scott, Spyder, and Line weren't far behind. Thanks for all the support and great friendships I've formed with my TMs!

Love you guys!!

Welcome to My Blog!

Hi Everyone and THANKS for visiting my first entry on my new blog: stephmyersminicrunk.blogspot.com!!!

The Origins of MiniCrunk!

Stephanie, aka, Mini Crunk was born and raised 18 years in the small town of Columbus, Ohio. Now, you'll ask yourself how I got into skiing at such a level, well the addiction started at the age of three when my parents classically trained me at a little resort called Snow Trails, in Mansfield, Ohio, and grew during my teen years travelling North America and Canada for ski vacations, but really became something special when I moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2002 to attend the U. of Colorado...GO BUFFS.

For those of you who don't know, Mini Crunk is a fabled moniker given to me by none other than my great friend Jon "Captain Rothstripe" Hartman. Mini Crunk refers to the alter ego that usually besets me when consuming any quantity of alcohol, or generally getting down on the slopes. Some people know me only as Steph and others only by Mini Crunk. Over the years, Mini Crunk has morphed and been a few other names which include: MiniTaur, Mini Tron, Tron Don Diesel Dubs, Crunkulous, Mini Crunkology, Mins, Midge. Here's a few classic Mini Crunk faces:

Stay Tuned to StephMyersMiniCrunk.blogspot.com for the next post...."I got spons'ed!"