BUELLERSHIP DAY 9: Of Face Shots and Parental Disappointment

That's right folks, we haven't forgotten about the Buellership! We simply took a few notes and words of wisdom from our friend Ferris and let the contest chill for a minute!

Back in full force, we present: the Buellership, DAY 9!

Kieth Tuan

Age 17

Poughkeepsie, NY

"Grounded for 2 Months"

Hi Joystick Poles,

My story starts off, If I can remember, with me sitting in class and dreading High School as I look outside and see it dumping snow. Because of a lake effect, the East Coast was getting the most snow it's seen in a while. I just wished I could leave school and go skiing in that very moment. I suddenly realized "why am I sitting right here when I could be doing something better?" After class I caught up to my ski buddy Steve and explained how we could be skiing right now. Overhearing our conversation, my english teacher explains when he was younger he would always cut school and go skiing for the day. After hearing this, my friend Steve and I were convinced about ditching school, but I suddenly realize the consequences from my parents and school if we skipped. I thought about it for a second and looked at my friend. I said to Steve, "Dude, we gotta go today cus I can't miss out on the pow pow that's being dumped outside(it probably didn't go like that, but it was somewhere close to it). He looked at me and all I remember is him silent with a big grin on his face. Understanding what he meant and that we have to go skiing. We hurried to his car and dug our way out of the parking lot and headed off to his house.

The day before, Steve and I were sessioning his backyard setup with turf, snow gel, dirt, and handmade rails so we had to throw everything in the car before his mom got home from work. I remember thinking about what I would wear because I didn't have a jacket or pants at his house and if we went to my house we would waste a hour or even longer. I can still see the red lettering of the alarm clock on his dresser reading 1:45 and thinking that we only have another three hours and twenty five minutes until the lifts close. If it means hiking, I would do anything to keep on skiing, but what would I use to keep me from freezing weather outside. As suddenly as I think about my problem, Steve pulls out a old one piece suit from when his dad went skiing in the 80's. I look at him, laugh, and take it from his hands. I had no other choice unless I wanted to freeze outside. We quickly packed up the car and headed off to the mountain.
Steve and I usually ski at Mt. Snow where we stay at his uncles house near the mountain, but we weren't fortunate to be close to the house and had to make due with what we had. We decided to go to Belleayre, a state run, small, may I say "crapy" mountain, but it was the only mountain that wouldn't take two hours or more to get to. Along the way, I remember blasting some Biggie and Tupac, which almost made Steve crash about three times. The roads were so bad that we had to stop the car and clean the windshield wipers about five times (damn those subaru's and their wipers). We eventually arrived and realized that we were almost the only ones at the mountain that day besides lift crew, maintenance, and some other workers.

We put on our boots as fast as we could, and my one piece suit (embarrassed to say that I will never wear one again because it's the most uncomfortable thing when the waist was all the way at my belly button) We didn't even bother to buy tickets because no one was in the ticket booth. I clicked in my skis and I realized I couldn't move because the snow was about knee high. I was so stoked and ready to ski. We eventually made it down to the lift where we couldn't see anyone in sight except for the lift attendant. I remember seeing the lift attendant giving the biggest smile making me so stoked and anxious to ski. I couldn't wait until we got to the top of the lift so I can finally make some pow pow turns and slashes, but as soon as I thought about it, the lift stops awry. It took the lift crew a half an hour to start the lift again, I remember thinking about if they forgot about us and decided to stop the lift for the day.

Half frozen and uncomfortable in my one piece jumpsuit, we finally made it to the top. I hopped off the lift, glanced at my friend, and all the negativity went away as I am caught in the moment of the best day of skiing I ever had. The feeling of the snow run across my knees and against my chest as I can feel my feet swimming in a pool of snow is the greatest feeling ever. Each new turn feels like skiing a new trail, but suddenly I came to a halt and was ejected face forward. I superman as my skis were caught in a branch (curse east coast woods skiing, there's so many random branches everywhere!) Steve was trying not to laugh but couldn't hold it in as I found myself half buried face-first, trying to gain a breathe. I was covered in snow! Snow somehow made its way down my one piece, but I was laughing as hard as I ever had. "This was the greatest day ever! I don't care if I get grounded for a month, this was so worth it!" (I can say that I remember this because I was later grounded for two months by my parents) I got my skis together and continued to shred because this was the greatest ski day ever!!!

Skipping school for powder days are the best days of the season for many reasons. One, pow pow. Second, gnarly pow pow. Third, you can appreciate every second on the Earth because it's worth going through school, doing home work, taking "shit" from parents, and going through everyday life to ski. Fourth, I guess you can say you'll never forget it!

Ryan Burke

Age 18

Blue Mountain, ON

"Getting Faceshots"

This all happened one snowy Ontario day, i was sitting wanting to leave my morning english class that ended up being taught by a supply teacher. Thank god she was young (mid 20s) and pretty foxy. With skiing obviously apparent in my mind, i mean come on, Max Hill should know Blue mountain doesn't get many pow days and booyyy did i wanna ski pow. So, i whipped out my freeskier mag i picked up at chapters and me and my friend started looking at pictures. Now i should mention that I was subtlety hitting on the foxy supply teacher who shall remain unnamed the whole class. It was obviously annoying her that a grade 12, 17 year old guy was hitting on her as she tried to be professional. Well, as me and my friend looked on through the magazine i noticed the Mark Abma shogun salomon ad. I looked to my friend and said "Boy i could go for a face shot like that". Little did i know foxy supply was behind me bending over helping a student (may i just add, dat ass ;) ). She turned around to me and asked me "What did you just say?" in a demanding manner. I responded with a " Uhhh , what?" she then told me that she had enough of me hitting on her and told me to go to the principal's office. She called him as i was walking down so the principal told me what i was doing was unacceptable and payed little attention to my side of the story. After spending an hour in the office i finally got up in front of him and walked out. He asked me what i was doing and i finally said, 'I'm gonna get some faceshots". So i got in my mothers envoy which i drove to school got my skis and such from home and went skiing. Boy, the 5 day school suspension and 7 day in school suspension i got was totally worth it, cause that was the closest Ontario pow day ive ever had to BC pow.