It was Thursday night and the weather forecast into Friday was calling 6-8″ of snow to kick off our Burton Spring Break 2013 experience. A weekend of snowboarding fresh 2014 Burton snowboards, drinking and all out midwest party shenanigans was soon upon us, but we had to get there first.
The journey had begun a day earlier than originally expected as Andrew, Cody and myself trekked out on our 3 hour travel to Chestnut Mountian to try to beat the brut of winter storm “Q” (yes, we’re naming winter storms now in America) and arrive in time for fresh tracks Friday morning. After about 50 miles of blind driving through the hills of western Illinois with about 10ft of visibility for most of the ride, we arrived.
Enter Friday. Storm “Q” had now dropped a fresh 8″ or so and was still cranking out the pow. Most of you midwest riders understand that power days in the midwest are almost as common as cats casually riding unicorns. That said, we were all really pumped to kick off our Burton Spring Break with fresh tracks. The topper? Unlimited access to the majority of the 2014 Burton Snowboards and binding lineup.
As seen in this photo here, we had some difficult choices to make. Which shred stick to pick and kick off the day with? Cody went with Burton’s “Cloud Splitter’ split tail, Andrew took out a Barracuda and I went with the Burton Antler Snowboard for first tracks. The day would continue on with full access to the demo fleet like it were our private stash. For a more in depth line review, checkout our 2014 Burton Snowboard Sneek Peak coming soon…
Friday night came and went with drinking followed by more drinking and topped off with a side of drinking. The drinking heavyweight highlight of the evening was quick swap M1 goggle contest. Here is how it worked: Both competitors would put on a pair of M1’s. The object was to see who can take them off, swap a lens, put them back on then chug a beer. The quickest man wins. You can see a snapshot of the final round between St. Louis Mike and Cody here from Windward. St. Louis Mike took the win and soon after continued on to a cozy resting spot for the remainder of the nigh. The evening rounded out with a party back at the Windward room with some friends from local shops, chestnut natives and our new friend from ski patrol.
Saturday was a day of more demos and feats of strength. These challenges included a scavenger hunt, top distance and top speed challenges. Prizes included 2 iPads and 2 Nug Snowboards. I ended up taking the top speed challenge with a 61km (38mph) top speed run and won a 146 Nug. I could have opened it up a bit more but it was pretty icy in the afternoon when I was getting at it. Congrats to the other winners on the trip including our friends from Alpine Shop and Moda3 with a scavenger hunt tie to each take home an iPad.
All in all it was an awesome weekend of Midwest Snowboard fun. Thanks again to the Burton and Midwest Represent for the hospitality all weekend long. Can’t wait for SB14 next year.