CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

Cole South : Poker Blog

December 18, 2008

Poker has been lousy lately, so I decided to take the end of the year easy and enjoy myself. Right now I'm in Vail, CO on a snowboarding trip with 10 friends. We've been here all week and the conditions have been incredible! Our house is pretty sick and we've been pushing it really hard, riding from open to close each day. I remember going on snowboarding trips as a kid when my parents would drive us to the mountain and I'd push it 150% from the second the lifts opened until they kicked me off the mountain. Now that I'm a bit older and the cost of a lift ticket is less important, it is easy to go out for a couple of hours and take it easy for the rest of the day. This trip we have all pushed it really hard though and it's felt great.

Obligatory shot of me flying off of a cliff,

The crew out here is a great group of guys that I've done a fair amount of traveling with. Our house is me, thatpfunk, sponger, TJ, MN Dave, Jay, Bill, and Mike P. We've also met up with a fair amount of other poker players up here including BradL, BK, Dave P, and stinkypete. Bill knows the mountain particularly well and has been a great guide -- we've basically been living in Blue Sky Basin. Can't beat the fresh powder of riding Lover's Leap over and over.

My new gear is awesome. I picked up a Burton Malolo 162 with the Channel binding system, Burton CO2 EST bindings, Burton XIII boots, and a Burton Custom Wide as well for some park stuff. The Malolo handles insanely well in powder and is what I mostly rode. It's still versatile enough to get away with some airs as well. I took the Custom out for a day as well and it will be a good east coast board.

I'm leaving Vail today and can't wait to get back out on the mountain. Martin is living in Whistler this winter so I will definitely be going to visit him when it dumps in BC. Last year I went to Baldface in Nelson, BC which was incredible. I would definitely be up for going back there, or possibly do some heliskiing in Alaska. And to fulfill the need to ride, Pennsylvania has some bushleague mountains (Liberty and Whitetail) that are a short drive away.

This trip has been incredible and I felt that I've rode very well, but I'm excited to get back home to my girlfriend and puppy. The holiday season is here and we're visiting her family in Michigan for Christmas. They're great and I'm looking forward to (hopefully) a white Christmas.

Life is good. Hope you all are running well and have a nice holiday.

Entry Tags: christmas, Vail

Dec 18, 08 17:44:01

Telluride?

I am in Telluride if you ever have the itch to come down, lots of expert terrain. I could make sure you stay in the right places, eat, ride....just sayin. We got lots of snow down here too, snowed a foot plus in 4 hours today, weeee...

Dustydwn

Dec 18, 08 21:35:10

haha I live in vail, glad you enjoyed it here and you caught some great snow. As for Lover's Leap, it avalanched about 40 minutes after I rode it on Sunday :S

red_deck

Dec 18, 08 23:05:46

Merry Xmas, Cole

RodeoBlue

Dec 18, 08 23:35:23

pic looks sickk

David B

Dec 19, 08 07:57:39

How is the knee holding up after the accident last season?

MarkWahlberg

Dec 19, 08 09:40:51

man I'll be boarding in 1 week two, can't wait! :)
our setup is pretty similar btw..

I don't know if you're into snowboarding videos but I just have to recommend "that's it that's all".. sickest movie ever made and it makes me wanna ride so bad!

gl for 2009, keep us updated!

antiplanB

Dec 21, 08 20:16:33

liberty

come on man you cant hate on the sweet mountains we have here in the metro area!! haha good to see youre having fun

obga

Dec 29, 08 20:40:49

next time you should get some turns in at a-basin if you're going to be staying in/around summit. Loveland Pass is also great for some afternoon hiking/back country.

B1ight

Feb 21, 09 09:22:30

Just a question.....

why do you have that stupid look on your face the entire 5 shows of PAD?

jkipfer