Best Story Ever

Photo: Crispin Cannon

Back in the day, snowboard contests were the coolest. I remember going

to the US Open every year when I was a grom and being so hyped

to climb a tree just to see Todd Richards do a McTwist or Ross Powers

do a method. Terje and Daniel Frank were throwing snowboards out

of their hotel room windows into a plaza of wild screaming fans after

the event. Shit was wild and raw, and snowboarders were full-on rock

stars of the snow world. Things have changed now and we can only

hope that snowboarding will turn back into the raw sport it once was

when we were hated by most.

Anyway, this story is about an event that went down at Mountain

Creek in New Jersey back in 2002 for the Specialty Sports PRO/AM

Halfpipe Jam. It was pretty much the biggest event they ever held in

the Dirty Jerz and all the pros who rode halfpipe came out to try to

win the 10 grand that was up for grabs. The contest was fun, the fans

were hyped, and they actually built a decent halfpipe. Hometown

Mountain Creek and New Jersey hero, Danny Kass, won the event, so

that got everyone fired up and ready to go HAM.

After the event, we all headed to The Legends Hotel and Resort

for the big after party. We all got word that this old hotel used to

be called the Great Gorge Playboy Club back in 1972, so we were all

pretty excited. I don't think it stayed a Playboy club for long because

no bunnies wanted to visit a shitty mountain resort in New Jersey with

no snow, but this hotel was massive and being a young snowboard

amateur who just started competing professionally, I was ready to

party just like every other athlete that was in the event who fantasized

of Playboy bunnies.

The night started off pretty mellow with all the athletes, event

fans, and organizers coming out to the Legends Hotel. That would all

change quickly. The hotel had it all! Indoor pool, lobby bar, huge club,

DJ’s, free drinks, and the thoughts of 1970s Playboy bush roaming

around the same hotel we were about to send it in. The place was

definitely not ready for the 300 pro snowboarders who came there to

rage.

Shit got crazy fast and we took over the hotel like we owned it. The

party started at the main club with the DJ’s. There were not enough

bartenders, but that didn't matter. People were just taking bottles of

anything they wanted when the bartenders weren't looking and getting

away with it all. Then the party moved into the hotel lobby bar,

where people were stumbling around left and right, breaking bottles,

jumping into the pool with their clothes on, and performing numerous

other acts of vandalism. The place had no idea snowboarders were so

reckless and they paid for it.

By the end of the night, the place looked like a tornado had gone

through it. The hotel was so big and had so many unoccupied rooms

everywhere that eventually someone got the word out that half the

rooms were just open. That led to random after parties in the rooms,

which led to more raging, which led to furniture being thrown out

of windows five stories to the ground. I remember waking up in the

morning and looking out my hotel room window and just seeing piles

of beers, couches, chairs, and anything else that could fit out of the

windows.

I'll never forget that event. If only they had brought back the 1970

Playboy bunnies to keep the testosterone at a normal level, maybe the

place wouldn't have got destroyed. It was the best snowboard event

party ever, which resulted in none of us ever being allowed back to the

legendary Legends Hotel.