Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Golden Turkey...


As we arrived to our destination at Erzurum in the Mountains of Turkey. Once again we have lucked out and were able to watch the most anticipated game of the year on a 10x10 projection TV at our Hotel. Kind of surreal seeing shots of Vancouver and the fans while we are all the way over here. Its really funny how it always seems to work out well for us. Literally, the middle of no where.. Nearly touching Iraq and Russsia. Now its time for some shred and "high octane apres" sessions.. Thank you lonely planet handboook..

Thanks again to the Turkish tourism board for all the amazing hospitality we have received on this trip.


Istanbul, Turkey - The Grand Bizarre...

After being awake travelling for over 35 hours we descended upon Turkey and made the most of a down day. We rolled into Istanbul and soaked in some culture before leaving on our first mission to the Palandonken resort in Erzurum tomorrow morning.

Tourism Turkey had it dialed for us. 50 people waiting for cabs and these vans out side of the airport, yet we get 2 of them for 5 of us. 1 van for our bags, one for our exhausted, smelly canadian bodys.


The legendary blue mosk. Probably one of the craziest man made things our crew has seen yet. Not too much blue about it though..

Sagliginiza!
...i think thats what you say when you do that..

We went to check out the Mall near the hotel we are staying at and found this little shred shop that for some reason sells tennis rackets. And Marius's pro model jacket!




Marius is big in Turkey! Pleasing the fans with some very facebookable photos..



We met the turkish santa! That smile was not going anywhere and it was making this guys soo much money. Everytime we walked by him later in the day he yelled "HELLO CANADA!"


The Grad Bizarre was a heeaavy culture shock for the crew.
No marked prices. Everything in this place is about haggling. You ask how much, they ask "how much you think"?, then its a fast paced price argument until one side caves.

These fellas seemed like our best turkish friends until we found out they marked up the turkish delight we bought by 200%..


Rasman building the turkish fan base.



Wicked times in Istanbul. Off to the east to do what we came here to do! See you in 2 weeks crazy city.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Vancouver Bound--->



Here we Come...

The war is over, and we are on our way back Home! We are currently in Vienna, staying the night before we catch our flight in the morning. The trip has been incredible. Bosnia was littered with the reminance of war, lots of meat+cheese and cigarette drenched clothing. Slovenia had great food, great people and fantastic night life! Even though the majority of our time was spent in Sarejavo, both places have cheap food, cheap drinks and an oozing European feel.

We are all stoked to get back home and are convinced you will like the Bosnia section in the up and coming Alterna Movie!

See you around,
Tadej, Domon, Jesmond, JF, John and Byron










Thursday, February 18, 2010

Olympic Spirit



We came across a war struck hotel that was built for the 1984 winter olympics here in Sarajevo. Doesn't look like an elite hotel anymore! We also stumbled upon the Olympic Ski Jump from the '84 games. Defs a much smaller venue than what we got going on in Van!

The rain has started and we have a full day of travel to get back to Maribor. If there is enough snow left over on our way back through Croatia, we will hit 2 rails that have already been scoped for us!

Keep your fingies crossed for some left-over snow!











a day in the backcountry

Been out in the Whistler backcountry shredding with Dave Short and Hockenstein. We've been on a superfun program - just drawing our lines on to the white untouched mountains and exploring new valleys and bowls.
Here is a little video Brian made on one of those days last week…

A Day Out in the Whistler Backcountry from brian hockenstein on Vimeo.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Beware of Mines :x



Not everyday do you come across a sign that warns, beware of land mines. Only in Bosnia I guess? Other than that, Jahorina rocks! Fresh pow, small lift lines and the most amazing thing ever; Concession stands at the bottom of every chair lift! The ski patrol on the other hand are very tight. We got kicked out of 4 spots in one day. even the most mellow of sections on the side of cat tracks. I guess they never see people building jumps and/or riding powder.







No matter where you go, you can not escape remnants from the war. The craziest thing to see, is the occupied apartment buildings littered with bullet holes. Some even have larger holes from either tanks or rocket launchers.

Click images for a closer look!



Tomorrow, a new resort and some war torn jibbing!

Bosnia...Here we Come!



Packed up the van and headed South through Croatia and into Bosnia. Roads were covered with snow and our 8hour drive took us 12. The border crossing into Bosnia was very difficult, we almost had to spend the night in the van but with the right paper work and $fee$ for bringing in our generator we made it through!

If you like MEAT+CHEESE+BREAD! You will love Sarejevo! That lovely combination of carbs and protien is served
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (NO EXCEPTIONS!).

After Our breakfast of you know what, we headed to Jahorina to hit up a local resort. The locals here are afraid of powder and stay on the groomers which makes for good times for us! Started dumping in the evening and continued all night in the city. Small change of plans and we have decided to do some jibbing for the next couple of days.

Until later, don't take your vegies for granted...











Thursday, February 11, 2010

Gettin at er!


































We've been having some lovely conditions over here in the west coast of BRITISH COLUMBIA. Despite the lack of parking, inflating prices, and hundreds of police officers with little to do except write tickets, ( in case you haven't heard, there is a large sporting event going on in whistler/vancouver right now) our crew has kept high spirits and continues to kill it! Here are some photos from a day building a jump on Blackcomb mountain and another day up sledding near Pemberton (check the photo's of photographer Phil Tifo shreddin some lines).

Austria Shred with friends!



It's amazing how a good powder day can cure any form of hangover or any other lame stuff! clears your head and keeps you focused on the fun stuff! 1st day of shredding in Europe and many many more to come. This is gone be the perfect warm up for our Alterna shred trip to Turkey end of this month!

keep the shred alive,
Cheers,
Marius