Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

Finally! The snow has hit Vermont and Stowe was able to open for the first day of the 11/12 season!…but not before the Rome Crew headed into Burlington for the Red Fang/Spit Jack show the night before.

Spit Jack warming up the stage and crowd before Red Fang.

Blurred photo, obviously from excessive hang banging.

Finishing the set with a song you may know from our new flick The Shred Remains

For those who battled through sleep deprivation from the show, we were happy to see 5 inches of fresh along with a celebratory bottle of bubbly for Stowe’s new high speed quad! Add in a sprinkled doughnut, some good friends, and new gear, and this might be the best way to start of the season…period.

Before logging the first shred day of Stowe's season, Grady, Tim, and Mike enjoy some pre-lift celebratory snacks.

On the lift? That's how we pop bottles!

Justin and Natalie awaiting their turn to break in the new lift with a swig of high end Andres. Oh, and they're stoked to be riding.Until tomorrow...you were a blast Stowe! can't wait for the rest of the season, keep on snow dancin'.

We took the shred van down to Killington for some early season shredding and my first day of the season. It wasn’t hard to get a good size crew together for the trip as everyone in the office has been itching to get out.

Caf, Grady, Matt, Chris, my buddy Kenny and I met up at the office around 7 in hopes of beating the crowds and hopefully earning some nice groomers. Jon “the warranty guy” couldn’t drag himself away from his warm blanky and missed the boat.

By the first run we were rolling deep as we ran into the Stowe Darkside crew.

The crowds did eventually come and it was a bit of a wait but it was fun chatting up old shred friends that you only see while waiting in lift line.

Marketing guys Grady and Caf; checking e-mail, tweeting, insto-gramming, updating their tumblrs, and doing whatever else marketing guys do. Actually, they were face-timing with each other about how much fun the snowboarding was.

With a warm sun, it felt more like spring riding, except my legs were burning a bit from doing little more than getting in and out of my office chair all summer.

Good hit fellas and thanks Killington for the snow.

I’m planning a bonfire and like a responsible citizen I know I need to call it in to the Fire Department.

So I Google “stowe fire department vermont’ and one of the top five results was this blog post about former Rome employee Capt. Al

Don’t go changin’ Capt.

Midwest filmer and all around good guy, Tyler Hitchcock payed me 100 bucks to post this link to his re-edit of Matt Hiemstra’s part in So Lame.

Matt Hiemstra Re-Edit from Head West Productions on Vimeo.

Great job guys!

Our third film The Shred Remains has traveled across the country gone from east to west and even graced areas of Canada. All with one purpose in mind… That everyone who enjoyed watching the two year project, leave their seats stoked for the upcoming season and excited for snow to fall.  But I would be lying if I didn’t say we were in it to have some fun along the way…

As you may or may not know, Halloween is typically a week long event in Burlington, VT. Falling on a Monday this year, the holiday started off on Friday because it’s “socially unacceptable” to party in costume on a Monday night. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to, though.

Anyway, some of the in-house guys are in a band called SpitJack. They play loud music which we strongly encourage. So we went to check out the show at Manhattans in downtown BTV on Saturday night. Things got wild and everyone had a good time. Paddock taught everyone what the wall of death is; some enjoyed it and some didn’t enjoy it so much. My ribs are still pretty bruised, which means it was a damn good time. Here are a few blurry iPhone photos of what we think may have happened.

Frontman by night and Darkside manager by day, Mike Toohey.

Artsy iPhone panorama, no photoshop required.

Rough Francis opened with a bunch of covers, pretty on point since it was Halloween weekend. These dudes are literally the sons of the guys in the band Death. Most notable was ending with an MC5 cover. They killed it.

Forester looking at me, pretty disappointed in my priorities at the time.

Don’t let his drumming abilities fool you, Forester is still a nerd.

In the age old battle of bottle verses helmet, the bottle typically wins.

Check out more stuff about SpitJack on Facebook at www.facebook.com/spitjackband. Or you can go see them open for Red Fang at Higher Ground in Burlington on Nov. 22nd. Whatever you’re into.  Nerd.

This is a quick photo of me and Grady filming what will be hailed as probably the best video of all time. It involved some assorted costumes, a 12 pack, a beer helmet, and a multiple re-takes involving shotgunning said 12 pack.

These episodes are awesome. It’s a good way to learn some shred history, or just kill some time. Whatever you’re into.
Sorry in advance if there’s ads. Just skip em.

Long time Rome homie Tony Chiuchiolo swing by the office with some of his company’s goodies today, the office is pretty stoked. When Tony’s not making delicious food, skating, or hanging out with his family you can find him running the park at Sugarbush in VT all winter long.

Check out Sheeple at http://sheeplemaplecompany.wordpress.com/, order some food… it’s damn good.