Born and Praised in New York Part II
Photos and Words by John Centi
Welcome back everyone for the second installment of Born and Praised in New York. In case you did miss Born and Praised in New York Part One you can catch it here.
Western New York- The great lakes blessed us with an early snow season this year. Snow totals for a combined November and the first week of December were up to 75 inches. This is an amazing amount of for us to see at this time of year. Generally each year we get a few “Lake effect” storms that dump heavy loads of snow on our little zones allowing us to go hit all the features we can find.
These sessions took place with NY Born and Raised Snowboarders Ben Farrell, Cody Voit, Steve Pelc, Maxwell Scott, Ricky Bueler and Matty Mo. Each of these riders brought a unique outlook, style and personal motivation to the table and it resulted in the best Western New York early season session I have witnessed. The most unique part about these sessions was that each one of the riders, although living in different areas throughout the world, returned to their home state for this.
Return To The Lake.
Once again we headed back to a familiar zone by the lake. This time the session wasn’t on wood but on a 20 foot stair down bar, that had a mellow run in which allowed for a progression session of tricks. Matty Mo wasted no time in setting it off proper once again. Trick after trick, he consistently stomped with serious power. On top of multiple front side 270 stomps he did a switch 180-tail press 180-out that was so solid. Ben Farrell broke out a new board after the snap attack of his first board. He put this board in its proper place right away with a flawless switch backside 5-0, half cab 5-0 a switch backside lip slide. This place is seriously a gold mine and after two days of riding there the crew still was scheming up what features they would want to ride next time they could go back. The second best part of this zone is its close proximity to Ashville General Store, the best place to chow down on some food after a long day of boardin'.
- Ben Farrell setting it off, right where we left off last week.
- Matty Mo getting pressed out.
- Ben Farrell Switch Back Lip.
- Captain Mark, the Dark Mangler, the man behind the lens, Senior, whatever you would like to call him. Mark Dangler knows how to work a camera.
- Matty Mo mid 270 switch front board while Mark captures the moment. See this shot and more in the video.
- Ashville General Store, the best Subs on Earth.
- Maxwell Scott can't get enough of the hot sauce.
-Ashville General. Something you wont find in Utah.
More Than A Sunset Shot
The next session took place at The Alleghany Reservoir shoreline and was a very cool feature that could provide for the dopest sunset shoot, weather permitting. This rail Matty was about to hit was gnarly; not just the rail itself but also the landing because it had only snow where we had placed it, a shipload of sharp rocks, and chains that anchored the docks that were in the water. Matty Mo is just one of those guys that is always stoked to try something out though so he turned up the Motorhead in his headphones, called his drop and just as the sun was dippin down over the hills of Western New York bagged himself another photo and video shot.
- Matty Mo reps Omatic, The Levitation Project and definitely reps it proper.
- Sunset Shot with a gnarly landing. Matty Mo was landing on rocks, and super solid.
- This is what Matty Mo was landing in on this sunset rail.
The 4AM Mission
All good things come to an end and so was the case with our trip. We returned back to where we started, Ellicottville, NY where thanks to Pat Morgan we had full permission to hit whatever rails we would like at Holiday Valley Resort. Everyone was psyched to hit rails that would be guarantee bust free, but the other half of the deal was we had to wait until the mountain closed to start riding and shooting; at this point we knew it was going to be a long night. At 11pm the set up mission began. After reviewing our options a decision was made, a moster close out at the base of the Yodeler Lodge with a consequential drop on one side and sharp cheese grater stairs on the other. This was a full commitment rail and the likes of Matty Mo, Cody Voit and Ricky Bueler stepped to. Rains rolled in and at first the rail was a bit of trouble but eventually everyone got their shot, the generator turned off, the lights went out and that was it. 3 a.m. lets pass out.
- Holiday Valley, Literally Close out the resort.
- The cheesiest cheese grater stairs ever.
- Cody Voit strapping up while Ricky Bueler awaits his turn. These local riders are very talented.
- Cody dropping his way through the kink.
- Matty Mo getting through that kink with authority. Its reasonable that you don't understand the power of this kid because you have to see it to believe it.
- Matty Mo going back for more as Ricky Bueler prepares to drop.
- Ricky Bueler frontside 180 out of the close out.
- Matty Mo closing out the session with a 4:00 AM front side 180.
Canadian Rockies or Hills of Western New York?
Every year for the past ten I have gone out looking for rails when the first snow hits. This year was different for me though, and I attribute to my time I spent in Jackson Hole last season. I love riding rails but something in my mind was telling me to seek out something more, something to satisfy my need for steep, rugged, open terrain. I have become an explorer of the land I grew up in, seeking something steep to ride, anything to ride. Something out of the ordinary in a land with a high elevation of 2000 feet, and the highest vertical resort offers 750 feet of vert. One day while driving on the highway I noticed an area that looked like a Valley drop but couldn’t quite make out if it would be rideable. My first thought was that it will be covered with trees so dense that it would be unrideable. My second thought was, stop the car and check. As I pulled my car over to the side of the road and ran into the woods I noticed that this was not your average Western New York zone. This thing had open terrain, and cliffs, and lines that looked like something out of interior BC, but on a much smaller scale.
The next day I called up Bill Cooley and Pete Scheira and said to them both “You wont believe what I found”. With that signal coming from me I figured they would both be open to the exploration. We headed out to this spot, hiked off the side of the road and they were both in shock. We had to see if it was true. Billy Cooley set it off with an official cliff test. As he stomped the cliff we all realized, this place is for real. From a distance and the direction that we arrived we could see what looked like a spine run. We hiked across the ridge line and ended up standing on top of a few hundred vertical foot spine run, with pow, in Western New York.
- Maybe the Mountains don't rise above tree level in Western New York, but how often do you see mini spines on the East Coast?
- Bill Cooley knows how to send it off cliffs. Its the skate style shining through. Bill is testing out that gear Vans sent through for a product review.
- Billy putting that Vans gear to the test. He said "My jackets muddy but my arm is so dry." This jacket has Billy's vote.
- Bill gets cut off.
- Billy is pretty deep in the gut of the pow.
- My ankle is still killing me but I couldn't resist getting a little slash in there.
The moral of this part of our story; Open your mind and look beyond what you know; for when you do, you may find what you have been searching for your entire life.
In case you missed Born and Praised In New York Part One check it here
