The triathlon of a new generation! The ULTIMATE BOARDER is a one-week competition to find both the individual athlete and team who can conquer the art of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. The competitors will embark on a journey of a lifetime. Many have reached success in their core sport. UB profiles individual athletes who compete in all three events as well as the team competition that profiles a relay team of three athletes. Each year, they will be given the opportunity to prove to themselves, and the world, that they can master the art surf, skate, and snow. This event will create a new breed of athletes, a new hero for the X & Y generation and generations to follow. Event Dates: March 13th – 20th, 2010 Surfing – Seaside at Cardiff (March 13th – 16th) Snowboarding – Northstar-at Tahoe (March 18th & 19th) Skateboarding – Grand Sierra Resort & Casino (March 20th)

We got into the house and started checking out the place…and in typical Japanese fashion, there was a couple of radical features I had to talk about. First is the cutlery drawer…yea, you have your spoons, knives and forks…but over here you also get the chopsticks standard issue, so fresh.

You ever roll up to the front door of any given rental location and you can’t see the lock well enough to make a smooth entry? Well, with the keys to this pad you also get a sweet LED light attached to the keyring…extra fresh.

Third, and definitely not last is the super duper toilet. Japan takes their bathroom duties really serious, so they’ve built themselves some mighty technical thrones. This might sound made up, but I’m telling you, it’s next level over here! When you walk into the bathroom, the lid raises up for you, the seat itself is heated and if you have the extra deluxe model, music of your choice pops on. After completion of any said maneuvers, you have your choice of small, regular or auto flush, multiple bidet options for a man and a woman, plus the fan inside the toilet. Bathroom breaks made easy and comfortable in Japan! All things feeling fresh!

Beyond my favorite items here in the Annapuri chalet, there’s plenty of room for the crew, some nice views out the windows and a sweet kitchen. I’ll hit y’all back soon with a mountain report…thanks for checking in. Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

After Jack and I checked our baggage onto the next flight, we made our way through security, grabbed some fine Japanese chow mein and traded travel stories from the past couple of weeks. Jack had been touring through Europe with Mikkel attending a couple of contests and photo shoots. Jack, the fine filmer and editor that he is, had plenty of comedic edits to show me along with his stories. Good times.

As we’re waiting in the boarding area, two more peeps from our crew showed up…Tom and Corey. They were fresh off international flights as well…Corey came in from Seattle, while Tom flew from Asia (he was working on an editorial piece about snowboarding in Turkey, which is considered part of the Asian territory). We exchanged a few more stories before they called us for boarding.

A quick 90-minute flight landed us in Sapporo where we were greeted by Keegan, Neil and Yui. Those three were already adjusted to the Japanese time zone, while the four of us were completed sacked out from so much travel and international date line crossing. But the funny thing is, once you reach your destination, that fourth wind kicks in and you’re wide awake and stoked!

After claiming all our bags, we loaded them in the van and made the two-hour drive into Niseko…but not before a cople of stops to pick up our first of many fine Japanese treats. I’ll check back in from the house and post some pics of our scene. Cheers, Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

My next mission is on the North Island of Japan (commonly referred to as Hokkaido) for an editorial shoot with Snowboarder Magazine. Editor, writer and overall epic dude Tom Monterosso has assembled the crew of Mikkel Bang, Jack Mitrani and Keegan Valaika to come and check out this zone made famous by it’s yearly snowfall amounts (lots of it!).

Our homebase is called Niseko, one of Japan’s most recognized snowboarding destinations due to the readily available lift serviced mountains, night riding, hiking and good vibes. We’ll have one week to check out as many spots as possible and document whatever we happen to ride within those zones.

I finished up the shoot in Big Bear on Friday afternoon, made it to LA that evening in preparation for my Saturday morning flight from LAX to Tokyo-Narita Airport. This pacific crossing would involve passing over the international date line, moving 17 hours into the future while flying in the airplane for 11 hours and 21 minutes. I try to book a window seat because the views over Alaska, Siberia and Northern Japan are usually fabulous. AK and Japan weren’t visible this flight, but checking out a bluebird day in the desolate lands of Siberia was cool! I wonder if we’ll book a photo shoot there?

After landing at Tokyo-Narita Airport, I found Jack in the customs line; we cleared our arrival paperwork, grabbed the bags, rechecked them with ANA Airlines and got ready for the next flight to Sapporo. I’ll post some more pics from our travel to the North Island tomorrow. Blotto

© Dean Blotto Gray

© Dean Blotto Gray

Two and a half days of shooting and filming on-hill during the day, while hanging around the rental house cooking and filling in a few scrapbook pages during the evening.

Once again, Bear Mountain hooked up the custom features for the team riders to get gnarly on and secure a few film shots and some choice stills. Big thanks go out to Dan, Clayton, Greg and crew for taking care of the obstacles proper! You guys rule! And thanks to the girls for grinding out the snowboarding maneuvers sun-up to sundown.

With the Bear Mountain shoot wrapped up, I’m off to LAX to catch a flight over to Japan for the next mission. I’ll check back in ASAP. Blotto.

© Dean Blotto Gray

© Dean Blotto Gray 2010

In a stacked final that included Shane Dorian, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Carlos Burle, Ramon Navarro and Grant Washburn, it was Mark Healey who rose to the top and took home the top prize — a Costco-sized bottle of Patron, a ton of bragging rights and his first international big-wave victory. Often a bridesmaid but never a bride, Healey was long overdue to win something like this. His calculated but aggressive backhand approach has been blowing minds in heavy rights across the globe for more than a decade now, but this was the first time he was able to channel that skill and put it all together in a final.

In absolute elation and still a little out of sorts from the celebratory fiesta, Healey commented: “I’m fired up! It would have been nice to win some money, but to be honest, it feels like I just won $100,000. We’ve got a movement going on and the caliber of surfing in the event was as high as any other event, every heat was like a final. Guys are hungry and going to the end of the world to chase these waves. It feels good to win.”

Last year Healey won the XXL Tube of the Year Award, and now he has the Todos trophy to add to his mantle. For the tiny freckle-faced haole who grew up battling for respect and waves on the North Shore, Healey’s always earned everything he’s achieved. As a stand out at Pipe, a regular outer reef charger and a world-class diver, the only thing missing from the résumé was a title. He can now check that off his bucket list.

But giving credit where credit’s due, Gary Linden and his crew deserve a huge amount of praise for finally bringing an event back to Todos — without the support of a primary sponsor, no less. It’s been 10 years since “Killers” hosted a contest and it’s about time. The event was about as grassroots as a professional event could be, but you wouldn’t have known it from the high level of judging, organization and efficiency with which the contest was produced. Running a big wave event 10 miles out to sea on a tiny island in Northern Baja is no easy task. Greg Long also deserves special recognition for putting in a few nickels of his own to finance a portion of the contest’s production costs. Without his investment and the countless hours of production by the “staff,” the event would not have happened. After the success of this contest, hopefully it’s only a matter of time before we are back here again with jerseys.

“After 10 years of trying to get a sponsor to renew the event, we finally had a commitment in August but when it came down to the start of the waiting period, they pulled the plug,” explained Linden, a legendary shaper, event director and father to this contest. “Faced with not having the event after six months of work, we made a decision to continue on our own without prize money. Greg said he would donate his Eddie bonus, inspiring us all to go the extra mile to make the dream come true. Knowing it was an El Nino winter, we had to take advantage of the opportunity. A big-wave world tour without Todos does not seem legit.”

Throughout the day, the level of big-wave surfing was incredible. In second place, Shane Dorian put on a style clinic and surfed Todos with such a relaxed approach that it almost looked effortless. Good to see he didn’t waste any time getting back on the horse after his heavy wipeout at Mavs two weeks back. During the awards, Shane commented, “There will never be another event like this, guys surfing for nothing else other than the love of it.”

Gabriel “Peru” Villaran won the “Wave Of The Day” award, but he was thrilled just be in the event, let alone walk away with the best ride of the day. With a celebration to match the day’s biggest sets, the victory party went on well into the night.

There’s only a month left in the North Pacific swell cycle and it’s safe to say this was one of the best winters on record: Numerous big-wave events were seen, epic rides were had in all conditions and the paddle barrier was pushed to new heights. As the long days of summer near, it’s a bit sad to think the party’s almost over. Here’s hoping the ocean has one more swell in her to give us all a proper send off.

© Jason Murray

The early bird mission was scheduled and the weather cooperated! With a sunrise departure from the airport, we entered the mountains around the same time as the Northeast facing snow was gaining light. With our spots already picked out, we simply dropped the riders at the top, placed the filmer and myself in our locations and started shooting. Mads and Sammy were able to handle eight runs by the time noon rolled around…at 12:30, the weather front had arrived and started to engulf the southern end of the range, so we packed up and got out. Hopefully this fresh storm will produce plenty of new snow for all to enjoy in the coming days…Blotto.

On day two we continued our journey into different areas of these gigantic mountains. With the sun still hanging low on the horizon, the good light is passing over the best snow very quickly (mid-winter characteristic). It’s been key to pick a zone, move efficiently, grab a shot or two, then move onto the next. We’re still in the process of figuring out exactly where our top picks will be once this approaching storm moves in, and then out.

At the very least, the snow has been great for blower turns and general snowboarding tactics including cliff drops, airs and mini lines. We’ll be back in the bird first thing tomorrow morning; I’ll post some images from our sunrise start. Cheers, Blotto.