Above photo: Ben Shanks Kindlon by Jake Shanks Kindlon.

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Item: 2015_Mt.HighThanksgiving
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As we loaded onto our third chairlift of the day, I surveyed the lower half of the park that lay below my hanging feet. Crisply constructed features lay one after the other; the flow of the slope reminiscent to that of a skate park. As I emptied the biting snow that had snuck its way into my mittens, I had to stop and reflect on the situation at hand. Drifting above the white clad mountain, I found it hard to believe that just 24 hours before, and only 100 miles away, I had been swimming in the Pacific Ocean… without a wetsuit.

Last week I flew to Los Angeles, CA to see my brother, Jake, for Thanksgiving, and in our usual fashion we decided that a few days of shredding must be included in our reunion. Given that our background in snowboarding consists primarily of riding the east coast, and more recently some time in the PNW, the California vibes came as quite a trip.

Two days before the feast we rode Mt. High, a resort just over an hour and a half from Hollywood. That morning I woke up to a thermometer that read 70 degrees Fahrenheit, heavy sunshine and a friendly little gecko greeting me outside the front door of Jake’s house. The setting was a stark contrast to the black ice and frozen everything that we experienced for years back in Albany, NY. With only gym shorts under our snow-pants, we piled our park boards into the back of Jake’s messy Honda Civic and took off down a dusty 6-lane highway through the desert and to the slopes.

To our delight, the park was on point. The slushy set-up was very inviting—the size of the features appropriately mellow for early season park riding. Immediately after hopping off the lift a downbox presented itself as the gateway to a gracious run of flat bars, two 10-foot jumps, paralell rails, a fire hydrant bonk, a C-box and plenty of righteous sidehits. Park staff lapped throughout the day and made sure that the lip of each feature was properly manicured for take-off. Fellow jibbers lapped the same run with us all day, and the communal stoke was high. Friends and strangers alike were cheering each other on over even the smallest of successful trick attempts.

Unless powder is an absolute necessity (which, understandably to some, it is), one could argue that southern California really does have it all. You can surf, skateboard and snowboard in one day, all within a 100-mile radius, and all so very close to the enticing city of angels.

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Thanks to Mt. High park staff for keeping the park proper, and to Patrick Pierce for the hospitality. Mt. High is on fire right now – get up there and get your early season jib on.