It was a low snow year. Everyone knew it going in. We got lucky. Mammoth caught a refill right at the end of winter and we pulled up in late April to find more than we had any right to expect. Eighteen people, two filmers, five days, and a quiver of 26/27 boards that hadn't seen real snow yet. The mission was simple enough on paper. Get footage we were proud of, put the new line through its paces, come home with something. Nothing went exactly as planned and it was better for it.

Monday hit like a reset button. Almost the full crew out of the gate, guns blazing. Bluebird sky, park dialed, Jesse Gomez locked in from run one. Jesse has this spontaneous energy that's hard to put into words, a vet presence that makes everyone around him quietly raise their game without him ever making it a thing. Cali Carlson right there with him, smooth and consistent, exactly what you want on day one. Kolman Lecroy was already finding every side hit on the mountain. Ezra Adams was putting a skate twist on every feature he touched. Matt Carlyle rolled in late that afternoon and got right to work. It was a good first day.

Tuesday the mountain said no. A few wet hours on hill and then someone made the right call. Distant Brewing. What happened back at the condo that night is genuinely hard to put into words. Full crew, tired and happy, dying laughing for hours. I was sober and I still couldn't tell you exactly what was so funny. The video will do a better job explaining it than I can. Some nights just happen and you know while they're happening that this is the whole point.

Wednesday we woke up to snow on the ground. A crew of us split off and headed to Lincoln Peak to find the deepest stuff we could. What we found was about as close to bottomless as late April at Mammoth is going to give you. Party pow laps, full send energy, the whole thing. Myrie had a binding malfunction that had his foot locked in permanently for the day, no hiking, just riding straight off the lift and somehow making it look easy, which is very on brand. Lincoln eventually spits you out through a neighborhood at the bottom, which led to a full shuttle ride from downtown Mammoth back to the resort. Nobody complained.

The new powder rigs got another taste of deep snow late season and the reaction was immediate. People were grabbing the Disruptor, the Ludo, the Yup, and the Ambient, for some, boards they don't normally ride every day, and coming back with that look on their face. You know the one. Levko Fedorowycz is the kind of person who is built for every kind of day, powder included, which probably explains why he showed up to the deepest snow of the trip in a sweatshirt. No jacket. Full send. He's on the US team with Olympic ambitions and the work ethic to match and watching him work with the right board under his feet was something to see. Wednesday was long, productive, and a fun reminder of why we do this.

Thursday the full crew was finally together. Myrie Metzger and Levi Kaseroff proceeded to shut down the down-flat-down with a level of technical precision that makes you feel like you've been snowboarding wrong your entire life. Both of them are operating on a different frequency entirely. Kolman was everywhere, side hits, jumps, rails, the kind of all-around performance that looks effortless because it basically is. Matt Carlyle brought that smooth clean style and great attitude that quietly holds a crew together when you're deep into a shoot.