East
Coast Exposed
Album by Sonny Mayugba
Photography by Sean O’Tyson, except as noted
Let’s
face it: the East Coast has a shitty reputation for snowboarding.
For years, I’ve been told how the snow is ice, the pipes
have merciless blue walls, the trees are tight and the hills
are flat. So when it came time to plan Heckler’s trips
for this here Travel Issue, why the hell did I pick the East
Coast? Because I’m smart, that’s why.
I took a flight to Baltimore to meet a photographer, Sean “I
only say 11 words per 6 hours” O’Tyson. We would be
locked in a car for 11 states during the next nine days together.
We drove to Washington DC, this country’s capital.
Being a sucker for landmark tourist attractions, I’ve always
wanted to check out Washington DC. Famed artist and DC resident
Cynthia Connolly took us all around, showing us the White House,
the CIA, FBI, the Lincoln memorial, all this crazy government
stuff. Elaine Fawcett, Sean O’Tyson, Cynthia and myself
went ice skating at night. It was very fun. DC has many Ethiopian
restaurants, we ate at one. Ice skating is cool.
Dan (left), Max (center) and the Man, Jeff. These guys run the
coolest gallery in Philly called Space 1026. Straight up, there
is some major youth energy happening there right now. Space
1026 is an art gallery and work space that actually runs like
a co-op. Many artists have had shows there including Ed Templeton
and Shepard Fairy. It has the total independent creative skater
vibe and all the kids are so young and creative! I made a new
friend named Adam Wallacavage, a killer artist-photographer.
A fine example of that age old formula: youth + motivation =
creation.
Since we only had a few hours in Philly, Jeff, Sean and I decided
to do a night session of FDR Skatepark. Don’t call it Phillyside
like I did, you will get gurned. FDR is too sick. The rock tits
rule! It’s similar to Burnside and just as much fun, but
the concrete is way smoother. The park skates like it was designed
by a skater and a surrealistic artist. The lines are not obvious
and it’s easy to not repeat the same one. It must be experienced.
After Philly, we drove to NYC, actually Brooklyn. Davey Rogers
(Beer City, Vans) was having his last night in Brooklyn before
moving his wife and new baby to Rhode Island. He took us to
a rad little party at Rick Charnoski’s loft ramp where
we watched vid’s, partied and skated this mini. Sweeper
fast plant off the wall.
Yours truly rotating a slow f/s 180 at the Maine resort called
Sunday River. The runs are wide and long, not any steeps, but
fun terrain. There is a Palmer X run, it’s pretty rad,
lots of good hits, banks, boarder cross run and spines. People
are extremely nice.
By the way, the other side of this hit fully drops out, kinda
harsh.
We were supposed to make it out of the city and go to Hunter
Mountain, but ended up in Maine instead. Maine has a lot of
crazy signs like this one. The scariest one is the states motto,
“Welcome To Maine: How Life Should Be.” Scarier still,
I agree.
A rad skier gettin’ daffy on the course! I couldn’t
resist. People in Maine seem really happy, kids are all stoked
to be alive. Maybe Maine is the way life should be?! I have
no idea where we’re gonna stay tonight.
Sonny:
So what’s your name?
Jake: Jake Noury. People call me the Rocketeer.
S: Where are you from?
J: Sunday River.
S: How long have you been riding here?
J: Five years.
S: Tell me about it.
J: It’s a sick scene. There are some good riders. Nice
pipe, but they need to groom it more often. It’s kinda
icy every now and then. We don’t get much powder like out
West, but still people go all out huge here.
S: Who are the local rippers out here?
J: Vance, Eric Bretten, Jody Stackhouse, some sick people here!
S: My big question to you is: why do you stay here?
J: ‘Cause I don’t have enough money to go out West.
Plus, like I’m down with all the people here, you know,
they’re all my bro’s, I’ve been growing up with
them.
Introducing... The world’s Tallest Snowman. Angus, King
of the Mountain. 113 feet, 7 inches. This shows that people
in Bethel, Maine (a town on the road to Sunday River) have a
lot of innocent time on their hands.
Sonny: What is your name?
Michelle: Michelle DeIulio.
S: And where are you from?
M: I’m from Bethel.
S: Home of the biggest snow man in the world, right?
M: Yeah. It’s stupid. It’s not a snow man, it’s
a lighthouse.
S: Have you ever gone out there at night and got scared?
M: (Laughs) No. It’s just cheap publicity.
S: You ever took acid and went and looked at it and got really
scared?
M: Oh, all the time. Constantly. (laughs)
Sonny: Tell me your name.
Matt: My name’s Matt Teti (on left).
S: So, tell me what Loon Mountain’s all about, riding-wise. M:
Let’s see, I got here about three years ago, came from
Waterville Valley. I just found a totally different atmosphere,
not to knock anybody down South there, but I just found everyone
to welcome you with open arms around here, and everyone is just
super cool. They’re really committed to making this mountain
boarder friendly. They’ve done a lot of work on their park
and it’s one of the better, premiere parks in the East.
That’s always good to see. They’ve also made it so
that it’s compatible with skiers. You know, the top of
the board park is open to anybody that’s slidin’,
which is cool. I’ve really found it to be really hometown
here, and everyone is just super cool, and psyched to be here,
and welcoming outsiders in with open arms.
S: Tell me about your posse.
M: The group of friends that we have ranges in age from early
50s to some younger guys. We’ve got some guys that are
really psyched to come up in the summer, and maybe knock down
a couple trees in the woods to make some...
S: ...Customizations?
M: Yeah. It’s really great. You can show up here any morning
at eight o’clock, and usually there’s someone crashed
out up in the bar waiting for the whole group to show up. You
could just come here by yourself, and you can always find somebody
that’s psyched to hang out, and go riding with, whether
skiing or boarding...
S: So who’s in your posse and who are the local rippers
here?
M: I’ll tell you, there’s this one guy who’s
really gone unsung, and he’s committed, he does all the
contests and stuff like that, and that’s Tom Adams, good
friend of mine. He’s a fellow snow maker here at Loon.
He’s one of those guys that’s trying to get hooked
up, and it’s been a rough road for him, and I don’t
think that he gets a lot of the credit that he deserves. Of
course, he’s been injured quite a bit. He just purchased
himself a helmet, which I thought was a pretty good idea for
him. My friend Brett, I’ve got a bunch of friends that
ski, Jim Caldwell. And you know, there’s the ‘ol local
boys that I don’t know their last names. They go by Skid
and Dave, and they go out in the woods and build fires and have
lunch and party and stuff. It’s just a great atmosphere
here.
S: What’s the reason you stay here? You told me you’ve
been to Montana, you’ve been other places,
why stay here? M:
I think mostly, a lot of it has to do with the group of friends
that I have here. And some have gone away, and others have come
into the fold, and it’s just... I don’t know, I can’t
really describe it, cost of living is dirt cheap around here,
and like I was telling you earlier, I don’t get paid that
much, but sometimes you’ll be up on the hill on the last
run, or early morning and you’ll catch a sunrise or sunset,
and it just makes it worth being here. I mean, I could go to
the city and get a suit job and hang out with all my other boys
down there, but right now I’m really psyched to be where
I’m at.
Sonny: What’s your name?
Brett: Brett Scaccia (on right).
S: If you guys had to describe snowboarding the East Coast,
at its essence, what would you say?
B: Friends. Hanging out, having a good time. Riding with friends.
‘Cause that’s basically what we do. We all work together,
hang out together, ride together... That’s why everyone’s
around, that’s why everyone stays around. We’re not
here for the conditions, although every once in a while, you
do get an epic day here. Fighting through the tough times and
enjoying the good.
S: You think when guys get an epic day that you appreciate it
more than people who live in Utah?
B: We have to, we have no choice. We have to get up early and
stay out as long as we can. If we can get up early enough. (laughs)
S: You were telling me earlier that Loon is the rad, outdoorsy
type place, but if you want to be here for girls and nightlife,
it’s a no go. Tell me about that.
M: Forget it. Nothing to tell. I mean, it really is, like I
said, it goes along with the whole group effort, everyone is
so diversified in what they do around here. In the summer months,
those that are around here are skating, or riding moto-cross,
or road tripping to the beach to catch some waves if there’s
anything around there, either.
S: So what do you guys do for girls?
B: Oh, we find ‘em.
S: You find ‘em? Where?
B: We went to school here, so we know a good core of the girls
there. Matt: I’m celibate. Not by choice.
S: You’ve accepted it.
B: The weird thing is, working up here, in the shop, you get
all sorts of chicks coming in from everywhere. They know nothing
about anything and they’re all...
S: And so you’re like a shop stud to them?
B: No. A “tour guide.”
S: What about you man?
Matt: It’s like the snow conditions here, you take what
you can get!
Brett: Yeah, and on an epic day, you go out all day. This
is Leigh Peterson. He used to skate for Foundation, Airwalk,
and Gullwing. He let us stay at his house in Providence where
he studies photography at the
Rhode Island School of Design.
Justin in the Stowe trees, hauling ass and launching. I quickly
realized how thankful you could be for 2-3 inches.
After Maine, we drove to Vermont to see why the hell the largest
snowboard company in the world would be there and not in Tahoe!
This is Justin O’Shea, our Vermont host. He worked at Burton
Snowboards and was so cool to us.
I was stoked at how well he rode, super fast, solid and stylish.
Him and his girlfriend Laura showed us around Stowe. It was
raining/hailing when we got there, so we did some tree runs
and a rad run called Lord Loop. Suddenly it turned to real snow,
it actually started snowing and got really good. I got two,
count ‘em two, bottomless turns.
I really liked Stowe.
Later that night, the Grand Prix of Snowboarding was happening.
It was kinda fun. Nothing against the riders, just not that
exciting. I watched Mike Michalchuk, Ross Powers, and a guy
from Farmington, Maine do some sick halfpipe runs and that was
stoking. However, I’ve watched guys go apeshit out in the
woods, defying death, with no one around and nothing at stake.
Meanwhile, these competitors looked a little bored with a crowd
and $10,000 on the line.
The next day after VT, we drove to Loon only to discover some
real wet snow. It was bad. But, the shop Mothership was totally
cool and hooked us up with two local boys, Matt Teti and Brett
Scaccia. Loon resort has the biggest snowboard park I’ve
ever seen, it was ridiculous! And fun.
Matt Teti bones out a stylish Loon Mountain tail grab.
In the olden days, Massachusetts would kick all the criminals
out and into Rhode Island. They would send them out into the
woods, which was Rhode Island, away from Massachusetts. As well
some say RI is where the Mafia originated. There’s a lot
of mob ties with government there that have been uncovered in
the past. After getting a good taste of Northeast snow riding,
we were ready to skateboard again. We decided we must go to
this outcast haven and skate the infamous Donny Barley designed
beauty, Skater’s Island.
Sonny: What’s your name?
Mike: Mike Batogowski (grinding the deep end at Skater’s
Island)
S: Where are you from?
M: Originally, Connecticut.
S: How did Skater’s Island come about?
M: Thanks to The Package Sid Abruzzi, owner of Water Brothers
Surf & Skate, and the good family of Mary and Doug O’Neill.
They got the whole thing going, kicked it off.
S: So who built the park?
M: Twister Putman was called in for the first construction of
the park, and then round two was also picked up by Twister again
for the expansion.
S: So Mike, who are like the local rippers around here?
M: Local rippers would have to be some of the true Water Brothers
locals like Jonathan O’Donald, Jason Flarety, Eric Foel,
Tommy Jolt, Jim Brugman, Surf/Skate rippers basically. Sarah
One, this one chick who just totally annihilates the whole joint.
S: Tell me the history of The Package.
M: Coming from Connecticut, I don’t have all the full details,
you’d have to interview a local. To my knowledge, long-time
surfer, long-time skater, huge in the whole scene, partier extraordinaire.
Lately he hasn’t been too famous for being the last man
standing, he’s usually the earliest one down, but he does
it seven days a week. A heart of gold, the raddest guy. He takes
care of everyone. Takes care of the whole scene, everyone’s
gotta be happy, he’s like a game show host. Makes sure
everyone’s happy.
Let’s
face it: the East Coast has a shitty reputation for snowboarding.
For years, I’ve been told how the snow is ice, the pipes
have merciless blue walls, the trees are tight and the hills
are flat. So when it came time to plan Heckler’s trips
for this here Travel Issue, why the hell did I pick the East
Coast? Because I’m smart, that’s why.
Sonny:
So what’s your name?
M:
Let’s see, I got here about three years ago, came from
Waterville Valley. I just found a totally different atmosphere,
not to knock anybody down South there, but I just found everyone
to welcome you with open arms around here, and everyone is just
super cool. They’re really committed to making this mountain
boarder friendly. They’ve done a lot of work on their park
and it’s one of the better, premiere parks in the East.
That’s always good to see. They’ve also made it so
that it’s compatible with skiers. You know, the top of
the board park is open to anybody that’s slidin’,
which is cool. I’ve really found it to be really hometown
here, and everyone is just super cool, and psyched to be here,
and welcoming outsiders in with open arms.
M:
I think mostly, a lot of it has to do with the group of friends
that I have here. And some have gone away, and others have come
into the fold, and it’s just... I don’t know, I can’t
really describe it, cost of living is dirt cheap around here,
and like I was telling you earlier, I don’t get paid that
much, but sometimes you’ll be up on the hill on the last
run, or early morning and you’ll catch a sunrise or sunset,
and it just makes it worth being here. I mean, I could go to
the city and get a suit job and hang out with all my other boys
down there, but right now I’m really psyched to be where
I’m at.
This
is Leigh Peterson. He used to skate for Foundation, Airwalk,
and Gullwing. He let us stay at his house in Providence where
he studies photography at the