MOUNTAIN CREEK SOUTH
The rare substantial snowstorm can drop multiple feet, but usually when I look down from the chairlift, all I see is brown. Every trail coated in manmade, loose granular, icy “snow”.
New Jersey may be the most densely populated state in America, but one of Jersey’s rare rural areas, is home to ski resort, Mountain Creek. The usual icy conditions do not stop the skiers and riders from getting on the hill to butter the boxes, carve the slush, send the massive booters, and grind the rails. Every trail on the South mountain head to toe is covered with jibs and ramps. The many jumps, tricks, crashes, and grinds start the instant you step foot off the chairlift, until you plop your booty back on the seat for the ride up.
After a school day, me and my buddy, Brandon, who snowboards as well, take the hour trip for some after school shredding. Having a season pass, snowboarding nights were more than frequent during my final year of high school. As night arises on the slopes, the icier she gets. Once the sun sinks below the horizon, Mountain Creek is an ice rink under the lights. Racing daylight on a chilly evening in February, we pull into the muddy parking lot and rush to the hill so we can catch some laps under the sun. Night swings by after a couple runs and now, we embrace the biting cold air.
Speaking of biting, mid turn, Brandon caught an edge in front of me and totally bit it. As the regular footed rider he is, meaning his left foot stands in the front, he took this baring right turn on his toe side. Following behind, I watched him crash the hardest I have ever seen anyone fall. His toe edge got caught, whipping him around to where he was riding switch, which in his case, is riding with the right foot in front. At this point, it looked like he had saved himself.
“Nice save!” I yell at him. Following my compliment came the disaster. Snowboarding on your nondominant side is a challenge, as it compares to a right-handed person completing tasks lefty. It’s the opposite of your comfort zone. Brandon got twisted, facing me up the mountain, board perpendicular to the slope and he was carrying a lot of speed. His heel edge latched onto some snow and sent him in a full flip, plus more, landing on his head. This was the definition of whiplash. Me, in shock, frantically speaking in some “French” seeing him lay still and stiff, I rode to Brandon as quickly as possible to check on him.
“That was f*cking sick!” were the words that came out of Brandon’s mouth. And holy sh*t was it sick. Relief would be an understatement when I heard him say those words. I was thinking stretcher down the mountain for sure.
We rested alongside the trail for a little while so he could recover and take in what just happened to him. While we rest, we make bunches of snowballs, waiting for the perfect opportunity to nail someone. A park rat, a skier or snowboarder who mainly focuses on sending tricks in the terrain park, rolls by, and once he passes, Brandon unleashes the beast and beams a snowball right past this meathead’s dome. In immediate fury, this kid unstraps his board, runs up the hill to us, and threatens to fight. “I broke a vertebrae last season when I got waffled on Jumping Jack. Don’t f*cking throw snowballs at me.”
Me and Brandon both give each other a look, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about, because he sounded like an idiot. We laughed at the way he spoke, making the angry elf even angrier. It took us a bit to figure out “waffled on Jumping Jack” …. Jumping Jack is a trail known for big jumps, and last year, he was hit with a snowball midair, throwing him off kilter, causing him to fracture vertebrae when he smacked the ground. We realized we shouldn’t pelt fellow riders that we have never met with snowballs, due to the potential danger, and confrontations that could arise. We apologized to the snowboarder without getting into any more trouble with him. Acted all tough, didn’t even have the balls to fight.
After Brandon taking what looked like a stretcher-down-the-mountain spill, he almost head-shot a snowboarder with a nice Mountain Creek snowball, well, iceball to be more accurate, who in the previous season, was nailed by one in the air, resulting in him taking the stretcher down to the base. So, don’t go wafflin’ other riders on the hill or else you could get yourself into a scrap…. Karma works wonders.