When I was in Andorra at the SLVSH Cup. I was hanging out inside getting ready to go ski when I received an unexpected email. Matchstick Productions was filming a massive jump feature in Whistler, with a helicopter to follow us and wanted me to join (Many thanks to Under Armour for helping me get into this shoot). Before heading to Whistler though, I was back in Colorado for a few days. The day before I was supposed to leave, there was a freak storm swinging though Colorado, and ended up canceling all the flights for the next two days. Thankfully I was able to catch the last flight out that night to Seattle, then made my way up to Vancouver the next morning. (Thanks again for letting me crash on your floor Kjell!).

While out in Whistler, we had 3 truly amazing days on that jump feature. The second day, we had the helicopter following us into the feature, which (sorry to be cliché) was a dream come true. Ever since I started skiing, I’ve seen Matchstick Movies with the classic Whistler jump shoot, to be apart of that was amazing. The final day of the shoot, we didn’t have the helicopter follow us, but were able to get a few more awesome shots.  Easily the most productive film shoot I’ve been apart of, with the least amount of stress since the weather cooperated with us.

Since I had budgeted my time to be out in Whistler for close to a week instead of three days. I decided to head down to Eugene for a couple days to hang out with my brothers before making my way to Mt.Hood for West Coast Sessions(WCS).

When I finally got to Mt.Hood, and started skiing Timberline, I was blown away. This was easily the best spring park I’ve ever ridden at TLine! So many rail features, jump features, and transitions all over the park. When it was time for West Coast Sessions to start, everyone was back to their old shenanigans. Had an insane time for the Final Offer.

For the last year of WCS, they went to a team shred format and my team was the illest. Gavin Rudy on the film game, with Ethan Swadburg, Alex Hall, and Colby Stevenson. Everyone skied so well that week, with Colby finishing as the session MVP. Team Dankers edit is below, and definitely worth a watch.

After WCS wrapped up, the only thing I had planned till the end of May was to hang out in Government Camp with the buddies, and do some skiing and surfing.

While doing a hike up to Illumination Rock one day, I missed a call from Tom Wallisch but since we were hiking and didn’t come back to town till later, I spaced calling him back. A few days went by, and I finally remembered he called and sent him a text around 1pm. Found out that there was a last minute Good Company shoot happening in Whistler that week, and the crew was flying to Vancouver that night. After scrambling around for a few hours figuring out details, and what to do, I was on a flight at 4pm for Vancouver (Thanks for driving me to the airport Tyler).

The jump feature they had for us was one that the Canadian Team had been training on for a couple weeks, and thankfully they let us come session. While the weather didn’t end up being that great for us, we still had one solid night on the jump and got a bunch of shots for the new Good Company movie, “Vice Versa”. After that first night, we had a brief window on the second day before the clouds rolled in and rained the rest of the week. Bummed we didn’t get more time on that jump, but still one of the better jumps I got to hit all year.

I returned back to Oregon for a couple of days to hang out with the Govy buds, before heading down to Salt Lake for the Level 1 shoot at Snowbird. This was a much different kind of spring shoot than any I’ve ever been to. Most of the time we show up to a shoot, you’ll have a jump made for us, along with possibly a few jibs. For the Snowbird shoot though, they gave us free reign to build backcountry-esque features in-bounds. The shoot was supposed to last about two weeks, and I was originally planning on only being there for the first week. Unfortunately that first week we were plagued with bad weather. It would be sunny during the morning, then afternoon it would be storming like crazy. One day while we were up there, lighting started going off even. Still making it one of the more terrifying ski-down. The day before I left, we were able to finally start hitting a feature, and even got a couple good shots from it.  I left that weekend for a family reunion in St.Louis, but before leaving, I was able to change my return flight, and come back to Utah to finish out the shoot.

The day I arrived was the official closing day for Snowbird, and with it came some hilarious shenanigans for the locals. That evening we were able to session a double stager jump over some rocks to the longest landing. The weather was perfect, and we were able to get some amazing shots for the movie. During last few days of the session, there were only a few of us left, but we made the most of it building a couple more features. Surreal experience finally getting to film with Level 1, and hyped on how the shots turned out from that week. 

Super fun end to the film season, and was easily the busiest spring I’ve ever had skiing. Really hoping I get to have busier springs like that in the future.  Many thanks to all my friends that helped me get around during that period, along with my sponsors Under Armour and Phunkshun Wear for getting me into ride, or helping me get to the shoots.

Following the busy spring, I took some time off snow till the end of June and went to work again at Windells. Had a fun couple of weeks skiing and coaching in Hood. Decided to mix it up a little this summer and go ski one week in Whistler at Momentum. Although we had some bad weather, it was still an unreal time seeing how they run camp up there. Unfortunately on the last day of the session for me I ended up catching my ski coming off a rail, and broke my collarbone. Definitely put a damper on skiing the rest of the summer, although after a couple weeks off I was able to return to Windells for the final two sessions of the summer. Although injuries suck, this one was a blessing in disguise. I got to spend a lot more much needed time with my family, and still make some amazing memories.

Definitely put a damper on skiing the rest of the summer, although after a couple weeks off I was able to return to Windells for the final two sessions of the summer. Although injuries suck, this one was a blessing in disguise. I got to spend a lot more much needed time with my family, and still make some amazing memories along the way. 

-Noah