Late Night with LTPark

At least that’s how the LTPark.com Crew has felt ever since stepping booted foot into the “Hole” – that sunken western microcosm of the international industrial ski complex.

Of course … our friendly cowboy comrades here in Jackson – who take a few late-morning tram laps only to pop the boots on the boot dryer by 2 p.m. – weren’t exactly familiar with how we roll: First To Last and Then Some. Suffice to say, we may have turned a few heads, here and there, as we unleashed our savage onslaught of holistic high shreddery upon the unexpecting masses.

However, a 7-hour day and 20,000+ vertical feet weren’t nearly enough to satisfy our desires … so, after the Casper Lift stopped spinning (and after treating ourselves to a well-earned all-American smorgasbord of local beer, nachos, burgers and pizza at the Mangy Moose) the crew re-tightened the boots and headed to Jackon’s town hill, Snow King, for a few late-night turns and a killer photo session in the terrain park with good friend and current Teton Gravity Research intern RC Cone.

Fueled by our good, if somewhat distant, friend Rolling Rock, the four of us (RC, Andrew, RJ and myself) trudged up the steep headwall from the lodge for a few back-lit powder slashes on a shoulder above town (quite near the on-area cemetery!!!). After shredding a particular slope completely clean of ALL snow, we’d move on to the next one, giggling, arguing and playing with light stands.

Eventually, we noticed that there was a full, double-line jib park below us. We headed in to find it icy, yet fully entertaining. We spent the first hour or so jibbing a small quarter-pipe feature with a big culvert coping across the top. Blunt stalls were the obvious photo-op though some other goofiness made satisfying appearances including Andy’s Earnest Handplants. A whoop-de-doo tire stall received the same treatment and then we moved on to a vehicle feature that had an old Jeep Wagoneer (I think) with a nice 12-foot-ish rainbow box across the top. Fun.

Due to the obvious presence of ski area employees, we had been a bit hesitant when we started hitting the park … but a surprise visit from Cody – a young, friendly park employee who front-flips off of Jeep Wagoneers like he’s brushing his teeth – soon put our fears to rest. He even turned the lights on for us.

Eventually, we were too spent to shred or argue about shredding any longer and called it a night. After 14 hours of near non-stop snowboarding, we were tired and wet yet unabashedly stoked. It had been a day full of every kind of snow sliding and we had learned a lot. Namely: that MRE doesn’t stand for Meal-Ready to Excite, that I make super weird faces when I jib shit, RJ’s boots will always smell the worst, park employees come from good stock (naturally), photo sessions are always more fun with beer and that complete physical exhaustion should NEVER keep you from a good time.

Hope you enjoy RC Cone’s photos … make sure to check out his Web site and blog at Eyeini.com. Andy’s in the Purple, RJ the Blue and myself in Yellow. Peace.

-Moss-