The Golden State - Mammoth, CA

You most likely snowboard if you're looking at this blog, but if you don't there's a good chance you don't think or even know of the mountains in California. Well, California has mountains, big ones and Mammoth is one of the best resorts in the state. This place stays open as long as it has snow, and that can sometimes go until as late as July. So for a never ending winter, Mammoth is a good place to head right after the other mountains in North America have closed. Mammoth mountain tends to hold events at the end of the season such as the late Roxy Chicken Jam, The West Coast Invitational and Mens Superpark. The town of Mammoth Lakes is located right at the base of the mountain and is far from any large city but still has it's own airport. In the spring and summer Mammoth has great camping and swimming as well as a fun skatepark in town. I've never been there later than mid May, but I know that it's a lot of fun spring boarding in the slush. Unfortunatly this winter was one of the worst for snow, so Mammoth will not stay open for as long as they usually do.

Nick Poohachoff @ Superpark

Eric Willett @ Superpark

The mini pipe! Way more fun than the superpipe

Kirra Kotsenburg @ the top of Mammoth

Typical Mammoth photo, this picture is so old! Myself, Eri Numasaki, Danny boy

Biggest jump I've ever seen, Superpark Loon jump

Sage Kotsenburg and Kirra Kotsenburg @ Roxy Chicken Jam 2010

Yup, that high, the whole picture is slightly intimidating, especially the guy with the goggle gap

Danny Boy, I think this was 2008, my first trip to Cali, Danny's first time riding somewhere other than Whistler.

The first sight, plotting the line.

Travel to South American - Argentina

 A place I've never been, but I've heard so much about. Also a country in the southern hemisphere, meaning winter is during the months of June - August, opposite winter season as the northern hemisphere. The Andes mountain range runs along the western boarder of Argentina, and meeting with the eastern boarder of Chile. The highest of these mountains is 22,834 ft and usually has a ton of snow. This isn't the typical summer park riding place, people go there to ride pow and heli-board, although there is a camp offered by SGT where coaches and all amenities are provided. SASS Global Travel www.sassglobaltravel.com/argentina is where my friends participated in their Argentinian adventures and where these photos were taken that they have so generously lent me for your visual pleasures.
 Aside from the snowboarding, Argentina has a lot to offer, from it's ethnic mix of music, art, architecture and food, it is always important to take advantage of a foreign country's food. The capital city of Buenos Aires is a good place to start, and it is said that they are famous for their cow meet barbaq (asado) and dulce de leche as well as Tango music.

This is Darrah, my boarder friend

Chicks who ride sticks, left to right: Nicki Slechta, (blank), Natalie Gough, (blank), Darrah Reid-McLean

Resorts:

• Caviahue
• Cerro Bayo
• Cerro Catedral (Bariloche)
• Cerro Castor
• Chapelco
• Glacier El Martial
• La Hoya
• Las Leñas
• Los Penitentes
• Perito Moreno
• Valdelen
• Vallecitos
• Valle Manantiales
• Wolfgang Wallner

Photos: Darrah Reid-McLean and Natalie Gough, Thanks :)
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org
http://snowboarding.transworld.net

Land Down Under - Australia

Australia is not the first place you think of when you think of summer snowboarding, but as part of the southern hemisphere it is one of the spots that does have mountains, and those mountains do get snow. This means their winter season runs from June to August and temperatures range from 0c (32f) to 11c (50f) in the mountain towns, which drops about 10 degrees in the mountains. Among the many ski resorts in Australia, I was lucky enough to travel to 2 of them: Falls Creek in Victoria and  Perisher Blue in Jindabyne, home of Olympic Gold Medalist Torah Bright. Both of these resorts are located between Melbourne and Sydney near by the capital city of Canberra.
One downside about going to Australia to snowboard is cost. Australia is not cheap, and to snowboard there you have to expect to pay for the basics (lodging, lift tickets, gas, and food) as well as extra costs of a far drive up to the base of the resort (gas), parking fees and national forest entry fees. One thing I loved about driving up to the mountain however was seeing the wildlife; kangaroos, wombats, parrots and more! Not the typical animals you see in North America, unfortunately most of the sighting were of roadkill :(

Falls Creek terrain park

Stylewars is an annual Redbull Event. Tore Holvik

Different type of terrain than North America, gum trees

8 man chairlifts fit all of the finalists from the Burton Australian Open Slopestyle event at Perisher Blue.
From left to right: Myself, Hannah Teeter, Laurie Currier, Jamie Anderson, Kimmy Fasani, Reawyn Reid, Liam Griffen and Ashley Wendorf. 

Myself, Jamie Anderson, Reawyn Reid, Burton Australian Open podium

Wildlife is also a bit different there.

Other resorts include:

• Falls Creek
• Lake Mountain
• Mount Baw Baw
• Mount Buffalo
• Mount Buller
• Mount Hotham
• Mount Stirling
• Mount St Gwinear
• Tanjil Bren Accommodation
• Alpine National Park
• Baw Baw National Park
• Mount Buffalo National Park
• Mount Torbreck
• Mount Donna Buang
• Charlotte Pass
• Perisher Blue
• Selwyn snowfields
• Thredbo
• Kosciuszko National Park  
• Ben Lomond 
• Mount Mawson
• Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
• Ben Lomond National Park
• Mount Field National Park