Mikeys Meadow - Bear Valley Celebration

Bear Valley honored and celebrated Mike Young (Bear Valley sport director), who passed away just before the start of the season.

The celebration started with a mini park session with snowboard and ski instructors. Check Tyler Skivington under flip as well as Chris Johnson front flip.

Benoit decided to ski instead of snowboard and since he has skied at most a hand full of time in his life, it was epic.

The second part of the video shows the torchlight parade where skiers and snowboarder created a river of fire on Bear Valley slopes.
Finally, Sam Nilsen unveiled the Mikey's Meadow where all the instructors meet before the class.

Music is from MGMT, album Oracular Spectacular, song Kids.

Arnold Sunset

After a nice day at the slope at Bear Valley, we stopped at Arnold to get some foods. Just as we exited the market, I noticed the amazing colors and was thinking, "I wish I had my camera" but I did have my camera with me. So, I just rushed to the car, grabbed my camera and set the ND filter and adjust a few settings. Since the Arnold market is not the most sexy place on earth, I underexposed the picture so we could just barely see the car, and not overexposed the sky.

Check the double rainbow.

Bear Valley Back Flip Session

Matt Geenlee, Corey Sciotto, James Young and Shamus have step up their game with this back flip session on Blue Jay (Bear Valley). A fairly steep kicker was built the day before that video was shot. You'll see Matt, Corey, James and Shamus (snowboard) landing their first ever back flip (barrel roll).
The video also feature a "Bail" sequence with the 1 and 1/2 flip from Corey, the not quite a flip by James, 360 attempt by Lucas (7 years) and Benoit big air crash...

Bear Valley Opening Day 2009/2010

4 feet of powder for the opening day of the 2009/2010 season at Bear Valley. Jake Casey, Benoit Rouchy, Lucas Rouchy, Tyler Doyle, Lance Doyle, Matt Greenlee, Corey Sciotto, Travis Jeitz and others show their skills on natural and man made features. Not to be miss is the front flip tentative by Matt Greenlee during his warm up run.

Red Fireballs Santa Cruz Soccer

Lucas has been playing with the Red Fireballs team for a few months now. They play the division 4, less than 8 years old.

Check what Ronen, their coach, had to say about the players.

Aidan: Our fearless goalie of many quarters, you stopped almost every attempt to score against us. I enjoyed your good sense of humor in our practice and games. Your goal earlier in the season set the standard for what the other kids termed a giant kick.

Adrien: If any opponent underestimated you, they got a nasty surprise. You really understand the tactical nature of the game, one of the first to get why clearing the ball will best stop a dangerous breakaway. And those kicks, wow. You have a dangerous leg.

Anthony: A fast player with a good understanding of the flow of the game. I'm grateful for your positive influence on the other guys. You were always very focused and dedicated in practice, and upbeat during the games.

Colby: When you got the ball there was no taking it away from you. Your energy and ability to dribble fast helped the team switch rapidly from defense to offense. Many times you dribbled up, pressed against the line by the other team, but still kept our attack in play.

Dalvin: A hard working player, I could depend on you to fill a position with little notice and know that you'd be focused when you stepped on the field. As a goalie you stood tall through waves of attacks, and as a defensive player you never lost your cool, heading off attackers and slowing down breakaways.

Ethan: Serious, dependable, and skilled, I often used you at the tip of our offense. I could trust you to cut your way through our opponents, easing up pressure on our defense even in hard fought games. And after a while we discovered that under all that seriousness there's a very funny guy, too.

Garrett: A strong, fast player with an ability to draw a mass of defenders to you, clearing up spaces for your teammates to operate in. You assisted several goals in just that way. In practice you helped keep our time light-hearted without ever holding back on effort.

Hamish: When we started you seemed a bit timid fighting other kids for a ball, but you've turned into a model of tenacity. I knew that if I needed a tough fullback you where my guy. As your coach it was a pleasure to see how much you improved from one game to the next.

Kienan: A good dribbler with a great awareness of his surrounding, you cooked up some of the nicest passes we had in our games. In good games and in hard ones, you were always a great guy and supportive member of the team.

Lucas: A great midfielder, I could count on you to bring together our attacks, and to take dangerous kicks at our opponents' goal. Your skill and perseverance helped set a good example to the rest of the team of how to keep pressing ahead no matter the score.

Teilo: An energetic player, willing to invest any amount of effort needed to protect your goalie, then quickly turn the direction of the attack in our favor. Your ability to coordinate the forwards during attacks was excellent. You helped turn us into an actual team, with good words and support for your teammates.

Zach: What a noticeable change you had. You started out unfocused and ended up fighting for each ball, kicking well, executing good passes and sending great throw-ins from the sides. I'm very impressed with the effort you put into becoming a better soccer player.

Surfing photos from the O'Neill competition and more here.

Wild Boar Hunting

On a Sunday morning, a wild boar tracks were found a mile or so from my village. 10 or so hunters got together to hunt him.

After 4 hours of a paint full track in the thick bushes, the boar was found by the dogs and ran out of the deep forest but was missed by the hunters. Good for him :)

Wild boar bath tub

4 of those amazing dogs started the hunt. Notice the RF transmitter which becomes handy if the dog get lost.

The track is on. It lasted for 4 hours.

The dogs lost the track on that meadow, since the smart boar, went back and forth in the middle of the cows, so his scent get mixed up with other animals.