Cover Story: Mt. Hood, Oregon

Snowboarding is better with friends it is as simple as that. While there are undoubtedly those powder hounds that will tell you friends don’t exist, the good times to be had on a board are always heightened with the right crew.

Stomp a trick you’ve been working on for hours? Even more satisfying with a cheering section. Slashing skiers? Way funnier if five people do it in a row. Outrunning ski patrol? Always better with a partner in crime. Pounding beers on the lift? Kind of sad when you’re solo.

One company that seems to exemplify the better-together, party-board mentality more than most is Spring Break Snowboards. With love for slashing powder that extends to some sweaty slush slashing, the good times roll when these hooligans head to the hill. So with most resorts closed for the warmer months, photographer Kealan Shilling ventured to the summer snowboarding promised land of Mt. Hood, OR to camp, ride, and shoot with the Spring Break boys including Corey Smith, Brendan Gerard, Alex “Ozman” Scott, Tyler “Tybud” Walker, and cover riders Maxwell Carl Scott (handplant) and Ben Rice (slash).

“We just rolled up on the hip and thought it would be a cool shot to have two tricks in one frame on the same feature,” comments Shilling on capturing the photo. Getting the perfect snap of one snowboarder moving at Mach speeds is hard enough, so it’s certainly no easy feat immortalizing two mid-maneuver. “It was tough to get that shot with both of them,” Shilling mentions. “It took maybe 5 or 6 tries if I remember correctly, could have been a few more.”

We chose this photo for the cover not only for its perfect composition, solid tricks, and epic backdrop but because of what it represents. No matter how far our little lifestyle progresses, there will always be the side of it that’s lesser known to the general public; the side of pure joy.

While everything from contests to heli trips to mind-blowing video enders have their place, the majority of us strap on a board just to go have some good times with friends. We could tell right away that Kealan, Maxwell, Ben, and the whole Spring Break crew expertly captured with this photo the fun in the sun vibes that snowboarding is really all about. Although taken in 2012, an eternity in snowboard media years, the groups’ effort is proof positive that good times with friends will never go out of style.

Words by Jake Kenobi

Photo by Kealan Shilling