Brain Farm in AK - The Next Level

You may not be familiar with the name Brain Farm Cinema, but I'm sure you're aware of "That's It, That's All". Well Brain Farm is the company responsible for producing that ground breaking film a few years back and they are back at it again. Starting this year, they have set out to again change the way we view snowboarding with bigger mountains, steeper lines and larger gaps. I was lucky enough to travel with them a bit this season. I recently returned from AK where I was able to shoot the craziest and most progressive snowboarding ever. Your gonna have to wait another year to see this new film titled "Flight" but in the meantime here are a few out takes from some of our down days during our month of shooting.

Travis Rice takes everything to the extreme. 50 calibre round and what it does to propane tanks.

Mark Landvik takes his turn behind the 50 cal. sniper rifle.

Myself and filmer Gabe Langois take a moment for ourselves. Not too common when working on this type of project. Notice my AK face, I really wanted to fit in up there.

Even though we brought our own food up there, one night was fend for yourself night. Most of us chose the use of a shot gun, not Travis.

Producer Curt Morgan and Mark Landvik get comfortable before heading into the bushes for a month.

15lb bombs to drop a few cornices that were getting in our way. I think Brain Farm is French for "Blow Shit Up".

No ones denies that our family is dysfunctional.

2010 Transworld SNOWboarding Team Shootout

Its spring time and the busiest time of year for me. You wont be getting a lot of updates here since I barely have time to sleep. Its been a great season for me, I've spent the majority of it in Whistler but it's not even close to done. Right now I am at Bear Mountain in sunny California working with the Rome team on the second round of the Team Shootout. Last year we won and have a lot to live up to. Check out the video of what we've been up to.

Top secret day 1 from www.helgasons.com on Vimeo.

Travis Rice on Justin Timberlake.com

"Travis Rice is the type of dude who can make linebacker-sized men pee themselves and/or scream like girls. After all, the US Open/X-Games/Icer Air medal-winning snowboarder is commonly known for doing jaw-dropping stuff like this........and making it look easy"

Check out the full interview and more photos here.

Olympic Halfpipe Venue Looking Bad.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Winter Games officials have given up on any help from Mother Nature and will now be trucking in snow for the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events at Cypress Mountain, on Vancouver's North Shore. The forecast for the week ahead suggests that there will be no new snow for the mountain, nor will it get cold enough to allow them to make any, the organizers said Wednesday after their final board meeting before next month's Games. "We are planning that we will not have snow," said Cathy Priestner Allinger, executive vice-president of sport and Games operations for the organizing committee, known as VANOC. Contingency plans are now being rolled out which include using straw and wood to take the place of snow to build the base for the courses. But Priestner Allinger says they believe there is enough snow elsewhere on the mountain and they will use trucks, snow cats and if necessary helicopters to move snow to the event sites. "We are going to create a fantastic field of play and we are just doing it a little differently than we had originally planned," she said.

These are the grandstands for the halfpipe event.

Can we still deny global warming?

After you factor in the price for this helicopter, just image the cost for each bail of hay.

Dr. Seuss Re-Visited

Back in 2007 I was lucky enough to have the chance to shoot with Jeremy Jones up in Alaska. While flying around looking for lines that he wanted to ride we stumbled upon this feature, later to be named Dr. Seuss, that had never been riden before. Now we all know that Jeremy is nuts when it comes to the lines that he decides to ride, and I'm fine with that because he truly knows his own ability. What scares me is when he started making decisions of where to drop off the photographer and filmer. Check out the video for what I'm talking about.

Safe in my personal Alaskian IMAX theatre, as long as I don't move.

Jeremy Jones finding his own way down.

They call this a tow in, any gust of wind and all hell breaks loose.

Pioneering a new Canadian wave with Raph Bruhwiler

Canadian professional surfer Raph Bruhwiler discovered what could be the next best wave on the west coast of Canada using Google Earth, but it wasn't until last week when he assembled a group of surfers to find out for sure. With two pickup trucks loaded with all the surf, camping and camera gear needed, we headed to the farthest north west region of Vancouver Island, through heavy rain, snow and hail, miles and miles away from civilization in hopes of coming home with a story of huge perfect surf.

Just a few hours into the 12 hour journey, we had our first minor set back. We just hoped that the heavy rain would only bring down trees and not wash away our access to and from the region leaving us stranded from any kind of assistance.

When searching for the best place to set up base camp, we came across this boot, proving that when you're this far out there, you must respect the locals.

Our base camp which Raph helped to clear, gave us shivering reminders of the Blair Witch Project.

From the logging road we had to find our own way to the beach and there was no easy way down. With a wetsuit and board Raph leads the way.

Almost there, Raph and Jens get first glimpse of what could be a perfect left and right hand point break. Photographed here is the inside section of the right.

Our crew, tired wet and sweaty, watch the ocean for set waves. It didn't take long to realize that the 20 foot swell on the outside was just not making it in to where we were. Next time, we wait for a huge swell from a different direction.

After hours of searching for a route to the beach, finding it along with unsurfable waves, I finally made it back up to base camp. Not all that stoked right now.

With no surf on this trip, our mission quickly took a right turn, leaving Raph excited to blast anything in his sights.

Raph bagged this deer on the way home.

Raph Bruhwiler surfs with Olympic Torch

Hate 'em or love 'em, the 2010 Olympics are almost here and last week the torch relay kicked off on the west coast of Canada. My buddy and professional surfer Raph Bruhwiler from Tofino, BC was asked to run with the torch. He denied, but instead offered to surf with it. At first the Olympic committee said that this would not happen, the torch has never been in the water before and this stunt just didn't seem possible to them. After some time passed, they called him back and said they would like him to do it.