Some songs just get me so pumped up to shred. One year at Stratton I was rocking out to M.O.P and I must of hit mach 10 and lost my mind. Ladies and gentlemen I present Brownsville finest The MASH OUT POSSIE! SALUTE!

Today’s post features another east coast shredder Mike Troast. Mike has always been a big influence on my surfing. We have a lot of dawn patrol missions logged in! Mike is currently getting his daughter ready for her second season on the snow, and she loves it!

Name: Mike Troast

Age: 34

Home Town: Long Island NY

Stance: Surf Goofy, Ride either.

Board: snow – 154 east coast groomers, 157 out west all mountain, 166 powder board

surf – 5′5 fish daily driver, 9′4 log, 5′11 round pin for heaving beachbreak, 6′7 pintail for when it’s real good

How long have you been Snowboarding, skating or surfing?

snow – 23 years, surf – 16 years, skate – 22 years

Where was your first Snowboarding/ skating / surfing experience?

snow – jay peak, skate – street in front of house, surf – hampton bays

What made you want to try it?

best friend moved to jay in 6th grade, went to visit and riding looked cooler than skiing at the time. rest of it followed.

What is the most memorable day you ever had to date?

1st powder day out west. stomach deep utah backcountry days. first chair up scott’s @ alpine after 100″ storm cycle. gnarly baker straightlining. pushing my 2 year old daughter on skis. they’re all good.

what was your worst day?

best friend dying on the day before we were supposed to leave for a season in utah. ended up in tahoe for the season but was too bummed to stick it out. left in the middle of the biggest season they’ve ever had & came back to ny.

Any places you would like to travel to ride?

the alps, AK, middle east, japan. did all of my snow chasing domestically, time to cross oceans.

have you introduced the sport to anyone?

yep. hope they stuck with it.

How do you feel about board sports in the Olympics?

meh. glad they’re getting recognition, but competition really isn’t what it’s about. no need to have a trainer for any of them. takes the fun out of it & turns people from bros to jocks. should be about burning bowls on the chair not endorsements.

if there was anything you can change about the sport what would it be?

cheaper lift tickets. $70+ a day is nuts.

Are there any riders out there that you respect in the game?

anyone with a smile on their face.

I shred because?

I don’t know anything else.

Today’s post is really cool. I ride with a lot of people all over the world, but it’s always something about the east coast aka Beast Coast shredders. Riding on that hard pack and occasional ice patches builds up a certain type of rider. If you ride out east, you know what it takes to keep coming back after slamming your head hard on a unforgiving surface. Katy Walker just keeps on ticking and pushing her self to ride more and enjoy what natures gives us on this side of the map.

Name: Katy Walker

Age: 32

Home Town: Brooklyn, NY

Stance: goofy

Board: Omatic-Beniatar

How long have you been Snowboarding?

since I was 14

Where was your first Snowboarding experience?

I learned to really snowboard properly in high school from my friend Molly, we went Sante Fe, New Mexico on the weekends.

What made you want to try it?

Well my boyfriend at the time skated and taught me some stuff and I had skied a lot but wasn’t really into it. I love the mountains so the natural progression was to snowboard. It helped to have a good friend that was already really good, too.

What is the most memorable day you ever had to date?

It was in high school, I went with a big group of people to Park City Utah. Someone knew someone who worked there and he took us up the backside, we hiked to the very top, strapped on our boards and flew off a 20 foot drop into about 10 feet of powder.

what was your worst day?

When i first moved up to the east coast, I didn’t realize how icey it was and didn’t know you have to wear a helmet. I hit some ice in Vermont and hit the back of my head on ice. I saw stars but didn’t realize what had happened. We were going to dinner and I kept feeling like I had been there before, major deja vu. This was my first time to Vermon. Plus I was super nauseous. I’m not sure at what point I figured out I had a concussion.  I think I actually rode the next day.

Any places you would like to travel to ride?

Whistler/Blackcomb, Tahoe, Swiss Alps, Chile

have you introduced the sport to anyone?

pretty much every boyfriend I’ve ever had, some stick with it, others give up.

How do you feel about board sports inthe Olympics?

I think its amazing, especially for women. I am glued to the TV when snowboarding is on.

if there was anything you can change about the sport what would it be?

It wasn’t so expensive for lift tickets, pretty much in general, its too expensive.

Are there any riders out there that you respect in the game?

Shaun White is awesome for so many reasons. He’s a red head like me and thats good for us gingers plus he’s an entrepreneur, humble and an overall badass.

I shred because?

I hate the cold weather and it gets me totally pumped about winter in NY, its the best workout, the closest thing to flying (next to surfing) and is pretty much the only thing better than sex.

Today’s feature is on a all around cool shredder straight out of Compton! nah, just kidding the homie Joshua Stock aka “The Reverend” is a good friend of mine that I rode with him at Liberty Snoflex grand opening last year.

Name: Joshua Stock “the reverend”

Age: 29

Home Town: Dillon, COLORADO (transplant from New Germany, PENNSYLVANIA)

Stance: GOOFY, 22.5

Board/Setup(Sponsors): ZION Z1 155Reverse Camber and ZION WONK 155, SALOMON Relay Bindings, VANS Jamie Lynn Boots, VANS Outerwear, ME.GLAD Brand apparel, VONZIPPER Eyewear

How long have you been Snowboarding?

I was 13 on that pink directional Sims in my backyard, so yeah, I guess 16 years.

Where was your first Snowboarding experience?

The hill by the sawmill. *see photo

What made you want to try it?

I was into skating (Ban This – still the most entertaining vid of all time), my older brother brought home this thing and I said, “Ohhh, I want one.”

What is the most memorable day you ever had to date?

No clue. I’ll give you one of several. First real pow day EVER for an Ice Coast kid. 2003 in Japan at Norikura Kogen Ski-jo. Deep stuff in the trees, slough falling, I had never ridden UNDER the snow before, so I was freaking, and all of this RIGHT under the chair. In Japan, they won’t cut ropes, so we had a field day with it. All by ourselves. Sooo fun.

What was your worst day?

The injuries suck. Hidden Valley in PA. I was 17. Overshot a jump, blew my hip, a rib and some other stuff. Even worse are the days where everything falls through with a jump or a jib and THEN you get hurt on top of it. Uff! Why are we here right now?

Any places you would like to travel to ride?

Still haven’t been to South America. Korea scene is popping. That could be fun. A few spots in Europe, but mostly, we got the best parks in the world here: KEYSTONE! There’s no reason to leave.

Have you introduced the sport to anyone?

Plenty of kids along the way. Teaching can be fun or a total drag. If you make it fun, it’s fun. It should be about expression and freedom, not about performance.

How do you feel about board sports in the Olympics?

Everyone likes to act like they were on the bandwagon before everyone else was. It’s the nature of man. “Dude, no, I was the one who used a fork first.” Forget it, man. Forks are good. They make eating easier and more enjoyable. Everyone should eat with forks. Shredding IS an individual sport at least as far as being able to xpress yourself (and I guess it’s still one person controlling the direction of this weird, gravity-fueled, fiberglass-covered piece of wood projecting them across water crystals) but it can’t be owned by one man. Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy it, so if Joe Moneybags and Senator Wannabe make a multi-million dollar industry out of it and exploit it, that’s their business. I am responsible for my own actions. I will be answerable for my motives. And you will be too.

If there was anything you can change about the sport what would it be?

Whatever I don’t like about my involvement in the sport, I change it myself. I don’t like the attitudes on the hill, so I change mine. I don’t like particular tricks, so I don’t do them. I don’t like a particular style, so I have my own. People’s personalities come out in the way they treat others and the way they act. Play it cool or act a fool. It’s up to us to set the standards and therefore change the industry one step at a atime.

Are there any riders out there that you respect in the game? Oh my gosh. The olden days when dudes were innovating; Terje, Peter Line, Iguchi. The Think Thank kids now are super creative. Bringing it back to the skating roots. Old school skating inspires me so much. All my friends and fellow shredders; all the SFC guys, the Willetts, Floyd, Mikey, Seth, Adam, Luke, Jerry, and everybody I shred with. You all

know who you are…

I shred because?

God is good and gracious enough to let us do it. Haha. I think that’s just a general answer to “Why?”

Specifically, though, it was fun when I started and it still is. It’s art, it’s a flash-in-the-pan fad, it’s recreation, it’s a textbook sport, it’s spiritual, it’s as shallow or as deep as you make it. It brings smiles to people who are seasoned pros and to complete foreigners, in small towns and mega resorts. It’s universal. We own it, we make it, we live it.

Name: TONI FIELDS

Age: DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

Home Town: STOCKTON

Stance: GOOFY

Snowboard: Lib Tech Banana Rocker

Skateboard: Sector 9 longboard

Surf board: Isle longboard

How long have you been Snowboarding, skating or surfing?

Snowboarding – 4 years

Skating – Over 20 years

Surfing – 7years

Where was your first Snowboarding/ skating / surfing experience?

Snowboarding – Aspen, Colorado

Skating – Down my Grandma’s street

Surfing – Wiki Beach, Hawaii

What made you want to try it?

Snowboarding – I was in Aspen for the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival. There were a lot of celebrities there who surprisingly were snowboarders. One of my friends suggested we hit Snowmass for lessons and by Day 2 I got a little overzealous and went under a boundary line. It led to a straight drop into a wooded ravine. Thankfully, my friend pulled me back from certain death. I’ve been hooked ever since! These days I stick to the Slalom race course to get my adrenaline kicks

Skating – Over 20 years – I grew up a tomboy playing basketball and running track with my brother. My parents couldn’t get him a GI-JOE without getting me one either! So when he received his first skateboard I naturally received one too. My brother and I tested our new rides out in front of our Grandma’s house on a gravel road. I chipped my front tooth that afternoon, but it was so worth it!  These days I stick to my longboard and the smooth bike path between the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach.

Surfing – 6 years

A friend of mine moved from the Midwest to Hawaii because he wanted a “new life.” That was a ballsy move at the time, but he was determined to have the life he always wanted. I went to visit him  a year later unsure of what I’d find, but he had a successful business and was surfing everyday. I couldn’t believe it! I hit my first waves at Wiki Beach then graduated to the North Shore. When it was finally time for me to fly back home to my corporate 9-to-5 I was so inspired to live the life I always dreamed for myself, regardless of the risks. Today I primarily surf in Venice Beach.

What is the most memorable day you ever had to date?

I’m still waiting for it!

What was your worst day?

Does today count?

Any places you would like to travel to ride?

Japan’s Happo One and France’s Chamonix. I hear the powder is deep, the terrain is challenging and the views are breathtaking!

Have you introduced the sport to anyone?

I started a tradition with my siblings where we ski/snowboard in Tahoe every Christmas holiday. My brother’s children are now old enough to join us, so it is fun to see his kids in Ski School enjoying the mountain. I discovered snowboarding as an adult, so it is such a gift to share with the next generation.

How do you feel about board sports in the Olympics?

It’s fun to watch and I think it is great platform for the sport to earn the international recognition it deserves.

if there was anything you can change about the sport what would it be?

“Snowboard Only” mountain resorts. I would love to see a real mountain designed for snowboarders in mind (ie. no catwalks!).

Are there any riders out there that you respect in the game? I have to admit I do not follow any of the pro-riders. I think they are great competitors, but I prefer real life stories about how ordinary people use sports as a catalyst for change in their own lives…and the lives of others. A story that recently touched me was of Sean Busby, a professional snowboarder with type 1 diabetes. He started Riding on Insulin and offers snowboarding camps to children with diabetes: http://ridingoninsulin.org He found a way to merge the two biggest areas of his life. Now that’s finding your purpose!

I shred because?

Therapy is too expensive!