Ski Town Profile: “The Smug Guy” The lift ride would begin as any. Just by looking at him it would be impossible to tell. Really there was no way in your power to avoid it. Perhaps you tried to start a conversation or he got impatient and started it for you. You had gotten on the chair with Smug Guy. Smug Guy is having a better day than you, and he will be the first to tell you that fact. Smug Guy is smug, not much can be done about this. For the duration of the lift ride you will be stuck with him. This isn’t to confuse anyone who is having a good time with being smug, on the contrary, but what truly makes Smug Guy so smug, is that not only is he better than you, it is […] Featured Article Andy Hays | January 29, 2015 8 Comments
Ever Fall in Love With a Pair of Skis? | “A Boy & His Skis” When I made my way out west ten years ago I possessed a lifetime worth of hopes, expectations and dreams, along with two brand new pairs of skis to make it happen. That day that I first laid eyes on what would be my powder skis, a pair of grey and silver Rossignol Scratch BCs, I would have no idea whatsoever just how far they would take me. My first impression was that they were huge. All 90mm under foot of them just seemed so unbelievably wide. Sure I had skied on bigger skis before, my dad was an early adopter of the true powder ski with a pair of Volant Ti Chubs. He had a pair of Bandit XXXs until I lost them, which is another story for another day. Those were huge, but sitting in my […] Andy Hays | January 5, 2015 2 Comments
Crash and Burn It may not have happened yet. It might not happen for some time. It could happen at any moment really. It could be the first run, of the first day of the season. Or not. Even when it occurs you won’t know until the end of the year if it really was… the Crash of the Year. The Crash of the Year can manifest itself in various forms. It can be particularly violent. It can be terribly embarrassing. It can be […] Featured Article Andy Hays | November 12, 2014 2 Comments
What’s Better on Skis? Speed or Air? My thoughts wandering afar, I glanced down. Yikes! I’m speeding again. I try to be as law abiding as possible. Sure, I don’t obey the speed limit very often, but I try to refrain from truly speeding. That is until this time every year. About the second week of October or so. Every year. It doesn’t happen on purpose. I can’t really explain it. Like salmon returning from the sea to spawn, it just happens. I start driving too fast. Given that it happens quite subconsciously, I can’t even chalk it up to trying to achieve some kind of cheap thrill. Something […] Featured Article Andy Hays | October 23, 2014 3 Comments
$1.00 Season Passes at Squaw Valley, USA If you screw up royally and no one notices, did you really screw up…? Well of course you did, but not nearly as badly as you could have. Kind of like the time that we were horsing around my friend’s basement after school and knocked his dad’s bear skull off the bar and it smashed into several pieces. As if it was out of some cheesy episode of the Brady Bunch or something we carefully put it back together with Elmer’s glue. To my knowledge he never found out, and in the end it makes a terrific story so I guess it worked out for the […] Industry News Andy Hays | October 10, 2014 4 Comments
Bottom of the Barrel: The Andy Hays 2013/14 Squaw Valley Edit Some good ol’ fashion self promotion. Is it a little early for edits? Absolutely, but I’ve been in a mid summer funk and well I’m ready for snow. Yeah, it might be a little gangsta for snowbrains, but you know me, that’s how I roll and shit. See how I did that? How I made fun of bros making edits and then I make one of my own? Is that hypocrisy or is that me being able to make fun of myself? It’s a tight rope spud…a tight rope. […] Andy Hays | September 3, 2014 2 Comments
Choose Your Own BroVenture: Bro, I can’t believe it bro. Seriously bro, I thought we was hella tight? Bra, we was bros, bro, like the Bash Brothers, the Blues Brothers, like Bartles and James and shit. Bro, don’t you remember when we used to__________? A). Shred the gnar like almost every day. B). Not shred the gnar and get hella drunk off jager instead. C). Get hella drunk off jager and shred the gnar. D). Drink hella jager and watch lifetime movies. Bro, I always had your back. You can’t forget that time______? A). I helped you hide from the cops that time you crashed your car into a telephone pole. B). I helped you report your car stolen that time you crashed your car into a telephone pole. C). I helped you with all those dead hookers […] Featured Article Andy Hays | August 6, 2014 1 Comment
More Big Screens, Please. A recent report highlighted the jump in sales for ultra big screen televisions. Televisions 50 inches and up now account for 25% of all sales. Screens 65 inches and greater have seen a 69% boost over the past year. All of this news had me a bit concerned… Is my screen large enough? No one wants word to get out that his screen is disappointingly small. This was all very disconcerting, indeed. It was true seemingly everywhere I looked there were more screens and they were getting bigger and bigger. In Reno, Nevada, the Grand Sierra Resort is […] Featured Article Andy Hays | July 20, 2014 1 Comment
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