Words and photos Shaun Tangen
Snowboarding in late May is not something Catskill kids get to do very often. Even after a phenomenal snow year here on the east coast, almost all resorts except for Killington had melted down and closed. While most hills are prepping for an exciting summer season of weddings, ziplining, disc golf and old people riding the lift like a low rent Six Flags- Windham mountain came through and gave back to the riders. The resort had farmed snow earlier in the season and used the classic upstate method of “throwing some hay on that shit” to protect the biggest pile of white powder north of Williamsburg.
When we arrived at 1:30pm there was en eclectic crowd of local rail heroes and confused senior citizens out on a saturday walk. The setup that Windham’s park crew shaped followed the recent trend of creative and fun park features, including a skate inspired bowl, flanked on the left by a hip and a flatbox and downrail to the right. A channel gap that launched you onto the deck of the bowl where there was a 10ft pole jam step down was the most ambitious feature, and most riders struggled with maintaining speed. The standard downrail complete with donkey dick was the most hit feature of the day, as it is at every single rail jam, ever. However, the DFD tube saw the least action, due to the fact it is fucking huge and speed was a major issue.
What really stood out though was the complete lack of company/corporate sponsor tents. There were no marketing interns handing out coconut water, and no 40-year-old company reps dressed like 15 year olds. There was one “official” Windham mountain ski patrol, but I’m pretty sure they put him there just to make sure the snow didn’t catch fire. This left it to being a fully organic experience where you just showed up, rode your ass off, cheered at the good tricks, cheered at the good falls, and tried to drink your six pack before the sun baked it to the optimal piss temperature to accompany the flavor.
The ICKS crew came through and provided some of the biggest airs off the of the day, going at least 5ft higher than everyone else like a flying tomato Olympic run. Noticeably absent was everyone’s favorite paisan Joey B, as there was a parmesan convention that needed attending. In his place though was Johnny C (Johnny O’Connor) took over the jersey, standing on the hip and grabbed your board whether you liked it or not. FUGHEDDHABOUTIT.
As the sun started to set the crowd started clearing out leaving 10-20 kids having the last epic hip session of the season. The stoke level on these kids are high and the thirst is desert status. Local mountains take note. Windham closed the tri-state season right.