Yallll I started this whole ass blog for a day like this – that was such a blast. The sun was out the sky was blue the snow was SO soft (and the lift lines were 45min long lmao) but even then it was fantastic! I taught my friend how to snowboard! Here are highlight pics of me and Aida (and Wall-e ofc), a cute dog we saw in the parking lot that attacked Aida shortly after she took this pic, and me stomping into my ski boots.
Also I did my first lil 180 on skis on the bunny hill
AND I did a whole double black diamond!! It was so fun just super steep but mad bumpy, I just took my time with it and kept calm and aimed for each mogul and used it to slow down and linked all my turns and and and idk it was just so much fun. No video of that but here’s a video of some clouds I saw. And side note – the resort was mad crowded today, I waited in a lift line for literally 45min, but then laying on my back and watching the clouds flow and transform and diffuse was such a nice reminder that hey we are OUTSIDE on a GORGEOUS day who even cares how crowded and slow and whatever the day is it’s BEAUTIFUL and we get to just vibe and shred the gnar all day long wtf !!!!! what a time to be alive :’)
And Aida was not only a natural snowboarder but an mvp passenger and adventure buddy (even when I forgot to turn on her seat warmer for half the ride hehe) here’s a sick vid she made of the day enjoyyyy
And last but not least the content I know everyone is actually looking for here’s a pic of cannon the next morning after I got home we hung out on the roof even though it was cold bc i missed her
I guess this one really started when I finally bought my friend Eric’s car. Whit-Whal (Wall-e as I now call him) came into my life on a cold Monday night when I picked him up in Brooklyn and subsequently spent 3 hours driving around Manhattan trying to find a parking spot. He is a 1999 Jeep with no working heat, an incredibly inefficient engine, and almost 150k miles on the odo. And he is the perfect adventuremobile.
Look at him!!!! 🥺🥺🥺
Pretty much the minute I sat behind the wheel I started planning a ski trip for the weekend. I was planning to go up to Hunter in upstate NY. By the time Saturday morning rolls around, and I roll out of bed at 5am, I realize that Hunter was forecasted to have freezing rain all day. Huge bummer, but it’ll take more than bad weather to stop me and Wall-e! It takes me approximately 3 milliseconds to decide that instead of Hunter I would drive up to Mount Snow in Vermont, which was forecasted to get a bunch of snow this weekend! And was only 2 hours further up north hehe. What’s the harm in a 4 hour drive instead of 2 hour one…
So I throw my snowboard and a sleeping bag into the trunk and start driving; the main highlight of the trip up was getting lost in bumfuck nowhere vermont because I lost cell service and the last google maps instruction I got was “continue straight for 30 minutes.” And an hour later I realized it had been more than 30 minutes. But I navigated back to where I was supposed to be (without a map somehow!) and made it to mount snow eventually. Only added another 2 hours to the drive, but what’s a 6 hour drive instead of a 4 hour one instead of a 2 hour one… ANYWAY I get to the snow around noon and I rode my board and it was cold and icy and fantastic and here’s a bathroom selfie with my cold red rudolph nose.
And I was solo so here are some poorly shot selfie vids on a black diamond and a blue run
Ok so I got a good 4ish hours of riding in, and then it was time to decide if I was committing to car camping for the night. And I decided fuck it yea I wanna ride more sunday! So I go to find a nice cute campground, but out of nowhere as soon as the sun sets the sleet starts. My windows are all iced over on the outside and foggy on the inside, my mirrors are totally useless, and everyone had their brights on so I couldn’t see shit. So after 3 minutes of driving like that I pull over at the first place I saw – a 24/7 gas station / 7-11. Cute campground check.
I get a slice of za and some handwarmers, put my back seats down, and get into my sleeping bag. I was getting ready for bed when the sleet turned to snow. Which turned into a LOT of snow. Which over night turned into a SHIT TON of snow.
It was too cold to spend much time outside, but I snuck out around 3am (natures call not mine believe me) and looked up at the stars 🙂 and I couldn’t see anything because it was cloudy af and still DUMPING snow, but it was gorg gorg gorg (did not take pics, would not have dont it justice). The whole gas station was covered in a giant sheet of undisturbed snow that spread out through trees and backyards, connecting the entirety of Vermont for all I knew.
Anyway after I went #1 was mad cold from like the inside out (if you’ve ever camped in the cold u know the exact feel) so I jump back in the car and go back to bed. I had a dream / hallucination that aliens invaded but I saved earth by showing them how fun skiing is, ur welcome. Slept like a baby until 8am. I woke up to snow piled so damn high I had to ram my shoulder into my car door to get it to open. They had plowed the snow by then and the nice snow plower person left me a nice dip to drive out of my parking spot instead of trapping me in a snow fence.
I got a quick 7-11 coffee, drove back to the mountain, snowboarded from 9am to 1pm ish, and decided it would be nice to get home before dark so I started the journey back. It was honestly a BEAUTIFUL drive back, the roads were clear the sky was blue and the trees lining the road were stunning. I drove for hours, with music to keep me vibing and my breath condensing into clouds in front of me to keep the sense of winter adventure (no heat in the car I told ya hehe).
I made it home just after dark, legs dead hands cold and heart so so full.
I spent the weekend snowboarding at Stowe mountain in Vermont. It was probably the last big trip of my first season riding, and I spent the drive back to the city staring at the stars, thinkin about nature and gnar. And then I realized I’m ALWAYS thinkin about nature and gnar, but I haven’t quite figured out how to share my stoke with other people. Like people think they know that “I’m stoked” but like, I’m SSSSSSSSTTTTTTTOOOOOOKKKKKKEEEEEEDDDDDDD you know? No you don’t! That’s what I’m saying! Probably because I just said “stoked” in a different color instead of actually explaining, but that’s how bad I am at talking about it, so maybe I’m better at writing? We’ll find out ok post 1 ready set go we now walk into the gnar
(get it its a path bc we are walking into the gnar)
I guess first off what is the gnar? According to google its short for gnarly, so when I think gnar I think of the raddest, bad ass-est, most beautiful lines and routes and trails I’ve been on. I think snowboarding in knee-deep powder in Stowe, weaving between trees so dense you brush against the bark, every turn a close call. I think stemming on Flying Hawaiian in Rumney, pressing into a corner so smooth there’s nothing to keep you on the featureless rock other than friction and psych. There’s definitely adrenaline involved, but it’s about more than chasing thrills. It’s chasing moments where you are so focused, so driven, so excited that everything else melts away from your attention. Moments where you give yourself permission to care about nothing except doing what you’re doing. I can’t even describe how present I feel in those moments. This is in especially stark constant to my “normal life” now, a year into the pandemic and many months into the worst depression I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to remember and harder to hold onto the joy I felt in those moments. I have been struggling with depression and suicidal ideation, and I am seeing a therapist which has helped, but in all honesty it’s the memories of past- and the hopes for future- outdoor adventures that are keeping me going. And it has felt weird and isolating to not know how to share that.
LOOK AT THIS. THE TREES. THE SKY. THE MOUNTAINS.
If you are not an outdoor sports person, I know how melodramatic and weird and maybe even unhealthy this might sound. I don’t know if there’s any way to bridge that gap in lived experience, because when I talk to some friends it feels like we are living in two completely different worlds. And I guess in a lot of ways we are. But as a last ditch effort to maybe not alienate all my friends after just the first post: think of the sickest insta video you’ve seen. Like a snowboarder or skier doing a backflip over a dropoff and making it look so effortless (it is not). But picture yourself there. Like, you’re there you’re IN IT and you’re DOING IT. And the stakes are high you know? Like it’s no joke, what you do and how you do it actually matters because your safety is riding on it. But you trust yourself and you crush it, and for just a little bit, you’re the one single person having the absolute most fun in the entire world for it. It’s an incredible feeling. It is life-changing to experience, and it! is! out! there! For you! Waiting! We just have to fucking reach out and do it (in a sustainable, inclusive, Earth-centered and community-centered way). If that made any sense, that’s what I’m hoping this blog will be about.
We are so lucky to have this. It’s a tragedy that outdoor access is often unsustainable (bulldozing trees, energy to run lifts, beer cans littering the slopes, etc…) More on that in another post.
This is getting mad long for a first post that isn’t even really about anything. So therefore thusly and in conclusion I am writing this blog to stay sane and explain to my people how I feel without sounding completely crazy, and if black diamond decides to sponsor me or outside magazine decides to give me a job so that I can do what I love without having to grind myself into the ground for a phd I don’t even know if I want but kinda have to get so I can keep from getting deported and literally rotting away in Lebanon… Well that would be nice too. Anyway here is a video of me snowboarding at Mount Snow a couple of weeks ago (UGH look at how BEAUTIFUL nature is) hopefully my next post will be more about Jad sending the gnar and less about Jad moping about wanting to send the gnar.
Into The Gnar 