Whole lotta awesome at Northstar

Whole lotta awesome at Northstar

A while back we rolled up to Tahoe to meet with the guys at the Burton Snowboard Academy at Northstar about a couple projects. While we were there we got a full tour of the place and to say it’s amazing would be an understatement.

We went up to meet with Chris from the Academy about a couple projects they wanted to do. The place is awesome! Think of the coolest place you can imagine as a young shred and that’s pretty much it.

Seriously, have you ever seen a better set of trashcans? Jeff said they are carved from a solid tree trunk and cost a pretty penny. I say they’re worth every cent and then some.

The extra amazing tree stump end tables / stools match the all-time trash cans.

The lounge area at the Academy. He said they have video games / the latest videos going on for kids to watch / play.

Check out the ladies room sign, nice touch.

Cool floor detail of the nice multi-color stencil.

Just a touch of the learning area out front of the main Academy tent. They have a whole new type of program going on there. Nice, mellow rollers for people to get used to the edge control.

Seriously, super awesome setup here. Everything makes tons of sense, so much more than the normal drop you off at the top of the run and say “good luck” that so many others learned from. Chris & the crew was talking about how excited the students were riding that day and one of them learned to spin off their heels with the training setup they had done that day. Kids parents rolled in to pick up their munchkins, who didn’t want to leave (it was nearly dark and there were people still putting in time getting turns down out front). When I have munchkins of my own, I know where I’m going to take them to learn to ride. Hell, I’ve been riding since it wasn’t even a novelty yet (let alone something everyone and everyone of their friends did) and the next time I’m in Tahoe – I’m going to take a class, lesson, ride with them. Maybe I’ll finally learn to spin off my heels.

I can only dream of having something like this when I was starting out snowboarding. It’s obvious that Jeff, Chris & the crew thought the same thing when they made the place – it’s got everything you can imagine wanting as a kid learning to ride.