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South Coast Streetboarding Blog:
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february 2008 articles

saturday 23rd february

Firstly - I have uploaded the new collection of Flipside's '07 streetboard footage: entitled "I Know...", it draws from our search for street locations over the last 12 months...

Download "I Know" - the '07 Flipside footage collection... (103Mb)

So we've spent the last month snowboarding most days at Red Mountain - lots of powder and freeriding, but less freestyle than I would like - however we have had a few moments...

Throwin' down a backflip in a backyard park jam...

Dom spinning a 540 over the hip in the Salmo indoor bowl...I went streetboarding at an indoor bowl up the road in Salmo, but the transition was not particularly streetboard-friendly.

However - the good news is I have found a huge indoor skatepark 1.5 hours away in Nelson! More on this below...

My new wagonTransport is an absolute requirement in Canada, distances being so big - managed to get a van for a bargain price!

Unfortunately it did not have snow tyres, so we had to buy chains (groan!) to drive when the roads get bad...

So we said goodbye to Farmer & Rachel, left Abbotsford and drove to Rossland - not such an epic drive this time, but still not without apprehension due to the tyres issue...

CJ & me driving to Rossland with a van full of gear... ...along deep and winding river valleys... ...through typical British Columbia countryside.

We moved into the most beautiful house, taking Shez's room to become housemates with Jon:

Our driveway... ...the front of our house... ...and our view over Rossland.

No sooner had we arrived, than the Winter Festival started next day! The whole town came alive with events including the Carnival, bob-sleigh and street slope-style:

Rossland's High Street A Childrens train float goes past at Rossland Carnival Fire engine making some noise at Rossland Carnival
Poster for 'The Game' - Rossland Street Style competition. The Street Style competition was actually built on one of the roads down to the High Street! The 'Ice Bar' kept the drinks nice and cool...

CJ engulfed in a frozen forest off the back of Red Mountain...Making fresh tracks in powder in amongst the treesAll the runs here are deliberately through trees - they are "gladed" specially to allow riding in-between.

Combine this with natural snow-capped boulders and it is the picture-perfect free-riding recipe.

The weather was very cold initially, averaging around -15C, but recently the snow has let up and the sun come out - giving opportunity for some jibbing around in lighter clothing...

We have had various BBQ jams in our backyard park, attended "Taco Evenings", a Red-themed party and also a "digital photo treasure hunt" - having to take photos of as many pre-concieved scenarios as possible in a given time. There were quite a few naked people on the High Street that night...

I have bought new boots as the 32s have died after their dire performance - Vans BFBs; supposedly good, but painful as hell, so got them heat-moulded up the road in Nelson, which has improved them.

Nelson was a lovely town, very remeniscent of Wanaka - a natural suntrap with a very hippie vibe and small-town atmosphere, sat on the Kootenay River (the Kootenays is the name of the collective area) about an hour and a half from Rossland.

One end of the Nelson indoor park - © Shane McCulloch at CoastalBC.comIt also has a killer-looking indoor skatepark, about the size of Motion, comprising of a bowl, quarters and flatbanks, a spine and various blocks perfect for streetboarding.

So you can imagine where I'm going to skate next week ;)