Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

Former Rome intern Dan “Jiggy” Janjigian checking in from the land of shred up here in Valdez, Alaska.  I’ve bounced out of Jackson Hole for the spring to work on Thompson Pass at the Alaska Rendezvous Lodge as a jack of all trades: apprentice guide, bartender, maintenance man, occasional diesel technician; an all around doer of things.

After kicking off March with 13 straight days of snow, including an 18 hour, 3 foot storm, we are experiencing one of the best seasons to date. We just had another foot fall up high and are laying down the tracks as quickly as the heli can take us up there. Anyone with some free time, a few free dollars, and the want to ride deep pow should GET UP HERE.

Headed into the hills, more updates soon to come.

Check us out at….Http://www.arlinc.com

Cavan and I headed down to Loon Mountain for the 10th Annual Last Call. We showed late Tuesday night, with no real plans of where to stay or anything, just assuming stuff would work itself out. EB came though and hooked it up with a couch and one of those awesome beds that come out of the wall, which I always wanted as a kid. If you have a small apartment, you should build one.

Wednesday missed the mark on weather, little windy, little cold, but that didn’t seem to make a difference at all. Loon put together a sick set-up, with a gap jump over a rhythm section/ jib course, huge quarter pipe, and huge wallride. After a few guinea pig warm up straight airs from riders, Chilly Miller, on what I think may have been his first drop, gapped the rhythm section with a huge front rodeo and it was on from there.

The awesome continued pretty heavy through the night over in Woodstock. Great times, great people. Well done and thanks to EB and the Loon crew. Check out the EB blogs for more photos and wrap ups of the event. http://easternboarder.com/main.php

We have a guy in our office whose lady friend slept with every member of Motley Crue before she graduated high school… Granted, this was back in the mid eighties and I cannot include all the details I just heard… but it was a good enough story let the Crue have their turn on Rock and Roll Tuesday!

Note that playing drums in leopard print underwear with suspenders will never go out of style.

Also, if you get the chance pick up Nikki Sixx’s book ‘The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band’ its a good read and will make you want to put the song “kickstart my heart” onto your playlist. Keep on rockin!

Hitting soft jumps, Parking Lot BBQ’s, spring events, the list goes on…

One classic New England spring ritual is heading to Tuck’s.  To do Tuck’s right, you keep your eye on the weather and try to grab the first sunny 60 degree day of Spring.

Due to the awesome weather we have been having in March, that happened earlier than ever this year (for me)…probably any day from Tuesday through Saturday would work this week…so where I would normally take that day off and run to New Hampshire, this year I was able to hold out until Saturday, which enabled Justin from Warranty to come along.

I had the wrong setting on my camera so I don’t have many good pics of the terrain… but check the pics on Tuck’s site here

We left Waterbury at 4:45 to reach NH and get a spot in the parking lot…Safe to say we were powered by Red Bull

So I was smart enough to bring a couple cans of Bud up…I was smart enough to hide them in the snow…in the end I wasn’t very smart and stepped on them with my crampons

The below picture has seemed to get a response from people…I think it’s because a lot of the pics don’t do justice to how steep it is there…this clearly demonstrates once you roll over the edge there is no looking back.

Here’s Justin ready to drop…he was testing next year’s Blitz pack…   I love the sky in these pictures…it looks painted

Fortunately we had some more Bud’s hidden back at the truck…Here’s Justin handling some hard earned rest

Definitely a great day all around.

If you want to go, personally I recommend going with someone who has gone before. Additionally you need a mindset that recognizes the dangers of the mountain environment. I saw about five things yesterday that people didn’t get hurt solely due to dumb luck.

Most importantly, read the updates on the tuckerman.org and also read the morning postings on the avalanche board. It is your responsibility to make sure you understand every word; they have plenty of rangers and ski patrollers around as well to ask.

Now that I’ve gotten through that all, I do recommend that you go. It is an unforgettable experience that will challenge you in a variety of ways and it will keep you coming back for more…

My Equipment: Design 58, 2011 United Bindings, 2011 Libertine Pureflex, Insurgent Backpack, Cordova Jacket & Pants , Hoss Gloves (going down) Emblem Gloves (going up)

Here’s a few photos from our trip in Japan.

This is how the menus in the restaurants looks like. It gets confusing.

So you sometimes end up with something like that. This is whale.

The crew

This is a dry turtle. They grind it and they eat the powder with water…

The turtle…

beers

Will Lav

…when you scored that PBR beanie…

We have a ton of snow here in VT and the nice weather doesn’t want to quit…

Don’t get caught in a NIMBY mindset…you may have grass in your back yard but winter’s been happening… and now for the best tim eof the year: spring, with parking lot BBQ’s to match sunny park laps.

With Spring days at Tucks in mind, I hoped that the sun would bake the Rock Garden so I headed up…

Anyways, what I mean is: get out there the snowboarding is as good as you can ask for here in the East.

EB just posted this commercial they had on TV 10 years ago on their blog. Good friend, Rome team manager, filmer, movie maker divulged to me with unspoken trust I wouldn’t spread it around that he was the man in the video at about 17 seconds…well, that’ll teach him to trust me I guess.

Hell Yeah Cavan…

Yep, this weeks selection for Rock and Roll Tuesday is Ice Cube. I know his music is not classified as Rock and Roll, but his attitude sure as hell screams Rock and Roll! If you have to deal with the cops this week (like I had to today), blast some Ice Cube to get a smile back on your face.

Ice Cube – Check Yo Self
Uploaded by quaresma69. – News videos from around the world.
No video but here is Ice Cube’s classic diss of Easy E (and the rest of NWA) for your enjoyment.

Rock and Roll!