Back in the December issue of Snowboard-Mag there was an article written by Mark Sullivan that was the spark that got the thoughts moving for an Alaska trip in the spring. I don’t think I could say it better myself.

Most Alaska stories focus on the epic-big, continuous vertical, unthinkable angles and endless esscalators of cloud-soft fluff. Indeed, a good trip to Alaska includes thousands of face shots and crossing tracks only by choice. Like sex, you can read about it, look at pictures and ask questions, but until you actually do it, you probably think you know more than you actually do. And once you have, you want to do it again and again. - Mark Sullivan

My mind was painting pictures like Picasso of what Alaska was going to be like as I left Seattle. Boarding the plane, most of the imaginary paintings had strokes of pillows, chutes, endless mountain ranges, untracked pow lines, burly mountain folk, and me having terrible diet for the next 8 days. All but on of these were true.

Tent life is epic.
My diet in the MTNOPS tent was arguably better than mine at home in Seattle. Good friend and shredder Aaron Robinson knows how to cook a mean omelet, banana pancakes, and homemade hashbrowns. Generally my previous snowboard trips have consisted of overpriced beer, overpriced fries and Clif bars for breakfast. I had 36 clif bars packed for my trip. As I was unpacking all my smokefire infested outerwear today and hanging it out to dry, I realized 30 of those Clif bars made it back to Seattle.

If sharing stories around a woodstove inside a 250 sqarefoot tent, drinking a tastefully unlimited supply cold Alaskan IPA and munching on a bacon wrapped, sauerkraut infested bratwurst doesn’t sound like paradise, hell I know where is. Many a times someone would swing by the tent either in the morning for breakfast or for dinner in the evening and say… “Damn, you guys don’t mess around. I think you may be eating better than anyone else here and you’re cooking on a woodstove.” This was true. There was no messing around when it came to food preparation in the tent. I don’t take more than credit as the Line Cook for cooking in the tent but I give Aaron Robinson the title he deserves. Head Chef in the MTN OPS tent. He killed it.

The daily routine usually started around 6:45, rollin’ over scrambling to throw another log on the fire, taking a gander outside to check for blue and as it popped blue 4 out of my 8 days, you’re out of bed by 7 devising a game plan. As we were a little larger crew, or a sled down, we were mission’ing to spots aiming for the easiest taxi route and best run. A crowd pleaser and a run that won’t really make your knees shake, but will leave you grinning for an hour or two is a run known as Skatepark.

The Skatepark Map

Aaron Robinson looking down at the bowls.

As my budget kept me away from the ABA office, and it didn’t come easy saying no when I was asked… “Hey Barry, we’re doing a safety briefing, you want to step in just in case.” I knew if I stepped into that safety meeting it would have been gameover for the bank account, especially when all I could afford was maybe two or three bumps in the heli.

The Easter Bunny face is one of the heli landing zones that can be accessed by sled and a quick hike.

$100 Toyota Chinook Camper.

Aaron “Epic’ing on the “Clit” Stay tuned to the Tailgate Alaska webisodes for HD shots of the Clit.

After it was all said and done, it was down to the Mountain Sky lodge where MTN OPS had fished enough salmon and Alaskan IPA to feed the city of Valdez. Somewhere around 500 servings of fish was cut and seasoned by the MTN OPS crew, SNOWRevcrew (you guys killed it) and led by Sheyla, the manager at the Mountain Sky. By far by best meal in Alaska.

Mark epic’ing.

I wanted to give a huge thanks to Mark and the MTN Ops crew for putting the whole event together. With a call to anyone who is consumed by snowboarding, Tailgate Alaska brings together the young, the old and the legendary of big mountain riding together to share their love for snowboarding in one of the most unique places on the planet. Thompson Pass is a one of a kind place, I just wish that it was more like football stadium with 16 games, 4 months long and you could tailgate all season long.

Until next year. Salud Basecamp.

Keep your browsers, readers, feeders and friends pointed at TailgateAlaska.com because there’s still 8 episodes to be released!

Hilary keeps it real on the dashboard in Aaron’s blazer. Shout out to Arob! Hilary says thanks for the good times and so do I.

And a shout out to the SNOWrev army. Doin’ it right. All roads lead to Alaska right?