FLY BY First Tims at Big Snow Amic Dre Words Ben Shanks Kindlon Photos Shawn Kalatucka LJ and his friends Damien Long (middle) and Chase Pepperman goofing around during a High Ollie contest at Big Snow. “DID YOU KNOW there’s a big contingency of Dominican snowboarders out this way?” Danny Hairston asks me as we cruise down I-87 from Al-bany, NY, to East Rutherford, NJ. As the founder and president of the SHRED Foundation, Danny’s tuned into these kinds of things. Having spent the past eight years living in Washington state, this is the first I’m hearing of the Dominican snowboard scene near New York City. This is also the first time I’m going snowboarding in New Jersey, and for sure the first time I’m going snowboarding in-doors. Today is Nov. 6. This morning was the first time I’d ever voted in person. A lot of firsts today. A few hundred miles and several confusing LJ Henriquez, gap to backside lipslide at Big Snow American Dream, NJ. ramp closures later we’re pulling up to American Dream, the hilariously named, massive mega-mall On my third lift ride, a girl named Sofie Rita introduces herself. She’s across the street from MetLife Stadium, where the Jets and Giants play here a lot, too. By the way she’s riding I would’ve guessed she’s been football. A ramped structure towers over most of the mall. That’s where snowboarding for years, but it turns out last season was her first. “This is we’re headed: Big Snow. North America’s first and only indoor slope, my home mountain,” she says with a laugh. “But seriously, it is. It’s where boasting roughly 1,000 feet of rideable manmade snow with a little ter-I learned to ride and where I spend the most time.” Sofie says she and rain park to boot. other Latines in the area have tried snowboarding for the first time at Big We link up with LJ Henriquez and his dad, “Senior,” in the lot before Snow and, like her, are now hooked. She tells me about how she never heading into the shopping center. They come to Big Snow a lot. “This enjoyed winter before learning to snowboard but is now a proud season place is like a second home,” they’d both say near-verbatim at different pass holder at Big Snow and nearby Mountain Creek. Her Big Snow pass points in the day. The Henriquez family lives less than 20 minutes away, costs $99 per month. “It’s like a gym membership,” she says. One that lets which allows LJ plenty of time to practice on rails without making it up you ride through the summer months. to the mountains, no matter the month or the weather. It’s an odd blend, the pompousness of such a grandiose shopping cen-Heading toward Big Snow feels like getting ready to play laser tag. ter and its indoor runs providing people living in this urban area with Wading through the tackiness, it’s difficult to imagine that we’ll soon access to a sport that, until now, required distant travel to a snowy slope. be lacing up our boots and getting on a quad chair. We make our way in A two-hour session goes for $50 and, given its prime location, the Big through a room with fake gondolas and walls sporting a wintry scene, Snow facility is attracting entirely new demographics to snowboard-like something you’d see in an amusement park. Then it’s into a locker ing—consistent riders who might’ve never considered trying it other-room and onto the slope. wise. It begs the question: Could the potential payoff of people from LJ’s already gone ahead to ride with the other teenagers while Danny these demographics becoming lifers in our sport be enough to inspire and Senior shoot the breeze in the locker room. I make my way into the snowboard companies to get behind more indoor slopes? Would bring-fridge to take some laps. It sounds like snowboarding, feels like snow-ing snowboarding to the kids in Chicago, IL, Austin, TX, Los Angeles, boarding. It’s weird. But still, it’s snowboarding, and the conditions are CA, and other major cities be more cost efficient than trying to bring the even better than expected—better than plenty of days I’ve ridden here kids from those cities to the mountains? on the East Coast. Given the controlled atmosphere, it’s safe to bet on Surely it’s a thought worth further exploration—building new, more conditions being similar next time around, too. Dropping in rider’s right accessible home “mountains.” Who’s to say that’s far-fetched? That’s there’s an open lane with a few little moguls. To the left is the park, com-something I’d vote for. And hey, there’s a first time for everything. prised of an inviting array of entry-level rails, boxes and a jump. 034 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 20.4: Page 34
