6/1/08 “08 Season Wrap Up”
Another great season is now behind us and sadly the snow is gone foe now. Time to put away the snowboards (not Really) and start the summer training. This summer will be busy with lots of skateboarding, wakeboarding, football camp and some surfing mixed in there. In August, Colton and I are going to Camp Woodward for a dry land snowboard training camp. Thats where the "not really" comes into play since they have a synthetic snownoard park complete with a big air. Should be a blast!
The end of the 2008 season was highlighted with some training out west at the Aspen Klug Camp 08 (another great camp. Thanks Chris!), free riding in 2+ feet of fresh pow in the back bowls of Vail and of course the 2008 USASA Nationals at Copper. The venues at Nationals were huge, the BX course was insane, the competition was great, the free riding was awsome. I really can not think of a better way to end a season.
A BIG Thanks to all our sponsors. Your support is much appreciated.
For now, enjoy the summer, hang loose and see you soon on the snow.
2/25/08 Racing for SG Snowboards at the 2008 National Championships
The month of February was an exciting month for Colton and I. Training continued every day that we did not have a competition and the full week of February school break was devoted to team practices daily. Competitions for the month so far have included boardercross, half pipe and slopestyle. This is great time to have fun and let the freestyle side shine.
As of now the both of us will be heading to Nationals and looking to make SG Snowboards proud. Both Colton and I will be ripping up the courses at Copper on SG decks. Colton will be riding a 06/07 SG Speed and I will be riding a 07/08 SG Race.
For the 08 season, Colton and I are both ranked #1 in the Mass. Series for GS and will be part of the USASA Massachusetts Series 2008 Giant Slalom National Team (I am also the alternate in Mass. Series for the 2008 Slalom National Team).
At the time of this update our USASA National Ranks for age groups and disciplines are as follows:
Tyler Colton
GS – 6 rd GS – 12 th
SL – 8 rd SL – 18 th
Our status for slalom is still yet unknown, but things look good based on our national ranks. Typically if you are ranked nationally in the top 50 you should receive an invite, so we will just sit tight for now and ride fast. Boardercross, slope style and half pipe are still yet to be determined
2/2/08 Race Season has Begun
The past several weeks went fast but we now have 6 alpine events under our belts; three GS and three SL events. To sum the races up; results are as follows:
Tyler - 6 Podiums Colton - 6 Podiums
GS - 2 Gold, 1 Silver GS - 3 Silver
SL - 1 Gold, 2 Silver SL - 3 Bronze
Big Thanks to SG Snowboards for making the fastest decks on the planet! Colton is even riding my last season SG and is ripping it up. Also, Bid Thanks to Kwik Snowboard Products and KUU for the waxes that own the mountain. Thanks to Catek (awsome bindings), Kaenon Polarized (Colton's perscription Kaenons rock!), and XO Energy Beverage for the race fuels.
1/9/08 1 Plank Park is now Open!
Last week was the grand opening of “1 Plank Park”. This is our backyard snowboard park, complete with a 10’ tall launch tower, 4’ high launch ramp with tabletop and down ramp, 10’ long box and a 14’ rail. Not to bad for some after school play and night time jam sessions with the friends. Our parks’ slogn is “where 2 planks are too much”. Just joking. We have had one skier stop on over for some fun. Check out the pics!
Big thanks to our friend and master box and rail builder Jay Ray. This guy has a local reputation for building some of the coolest custom park features for many of the local mountains.
Need some bomb proof custom built features for your private park? Let us know and we can custom design and build it for you.
11/15/07 “On Snow Training Finally Starts at Okemo”
Welcome back to all and hope your non snow season was great! The Gray boys have been training hard and are ready for the first snow to fall in VT. For the 2008 season Tyler and Colton will back, training hard on the Okemo Mountain Snowboard Team and competing in the USASA. Their goal this 2008 season is qualifying, attending and placing the top 10 at the 2008 USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain in April.
To start off the 08 season a very BIG Thanks goes out to all our 2008 Sponsors . The season would not have been the same with out your support. Please check out all our sponsor’s sites, try their products and share the love! Again, with out your help the season would be a lot harder and not as much fun.
Tyler Sponsors and Hook Up’s
- SG Snowboards
- Kaenon Polarized
- Arbor Sports
- XO Energy Beverage
- Kwik Snowboard Products/KUU
- EVS Sports
- Head Sports
Colton Sponsors and Hook Up’s
- Kaenon Polarized
- XO Energy Beverage
- Level Gloves
A big Congrats goes out to Tyler for making it onto the SG Snowboard Rookie Team (check it out at www.sgproteam.com .
Up dates will be monthly so keep checking out GRAYboarding.com for all latest news, results, pics and videos. Buckle up; it’s going to be a fast ride!
5/28/07 “Tuckermans Ravine 2007 Highlights”
Its a wrap! The fat lady has unfoutunatly sung and the snow is now gone for the season.
Tyler and Colton spent the Memorial Day weekend hiking and boarding at Tuckermans Ravine on Mount Washington with family and friends and had a blast. Tuckermans is kind of a magical place thats hard to describe and needs to riden to understand.
Over the summer both boys will be training hard to be ready for the first snow of next season. Thanks again to all our 2007 Sponsors for making the season possible.
4/13/07 “Aspen Klug Camp 2007 Highlights”
A “Big Thanks” to Chris Klug and his gang of world class snowboarding coaches for making the Aspen Klug Camp 2007 was great success! Tyler and Colton had a blast boarding, learning and hanging with all the coaches and exponentially advanced their alpine and freestyle skills as a result. If you are looking for a training camp, it does not get any better than this!
Tyler and Colton both had a great time and tweaked their alpine skills on day 1 and 3 of camp with Chris Klug, Justin Reiter and Erica Mueller. If you want to race, this is the team to teach you. I can honestly say that both boys started the camp riding fast and left riding a hell of allot faster. The coaching benefits were very noticeable in both boys with a refined riding form, increased speed and a more pure carving ability.
On day 2 of camp, the boys choose freestyle training with Tricia Byrnes, Alex Diebold, Jamie Clup and Jesse Wright. These coaches are some awesome freeriders who dominate the pipe, BX and the park. They each worked with the boys and brought them to a new level of freestyle riding and trick amplitude that I have not yet seen in them. Great job guys! (and gal)!
At Aspens Buttermilk Mountain (Home of the Winter X Games) we also watched Gretchen Bleiler in a photo shoot at the massive quarterpipe, and later that same day saw Joerg Egli from Pure Boarding with his Swiss snowboarding entourage carving up the slopes. After training camp, Tyler and Colton also sampled the slopes and terrain at Aspen Highlands and Snowmass.
Next season, the Aspen Klug camp will be the weekend prior to the 2008 USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain, so it looks like the boys will be heading back to Chris’s camp and then hopefully have an opportunity to carry those skills learned over to Copper Mountain for the Nationals Championships.
3/16/07 “Training at the Aspen Klug Camp 2007”
It’s a wrap; the 2007 USASA season is history and now it was time for some big decisions to be made. Both boys were stoked after receiving invitations to the 2007 USASA National Championships for Giant Slalom and Slalom, but the late invitations coupled with the high costs of late minute travel forced us to re-look at the pro and cons of attending Nationals.
Then the opportunity arose to attend the Aspen Klug Camp 07. With this new and exciting option, we talked to them and gave the boys the choice; Nationals for the second year in a row or 3 days of hard training with Olympic, X-Games, Triple Crown and National Champions in Aspen. The decision was unanimous and Tyler and Colton both decided on the training camp after talking to their Regional USASA Series Director. This late season decision is really exciting and we believe that this will put them both in an excellent position to dominate in their regional alpine and race events for the 2008 season. The boys see this move as an investment that will yield bigger dividends next season and beyond.
6/1/08 Summer Training and Waiting for Snow
The snow is gone and now its time to relax, put the snowboards in summer storage (not really)and get out the skateboards and wakeboards. The "not really" is because this summer Colton and I are heading to Camp Woodward for their dry land snowboard program. Can't wait to give the synthetic slope a try. Check out the new pics from the 2008 USASA Nationals and see you on the mountain soon!
