There’s nothing like a good road trip. A van, some friends, endless pavement and the heartbeat of now. 

Austen Sweetin recently hit the road with some friends. The location? Montana. Yep, that Montana. Austen is a man of many boards. He’s a professional snowboarder who froths on surfing and skating as hard as anyone. Which, in other words, means he’s always riding something. 

Turns out it’s pretty hard to find waves or snow in Montana during the summer, so Austen skated through the road trip. However, you don’t have to look too hard to see the surf/snow influence in his skating. 

It’s fast, fun and radical. Just like a road trip.

“The future of snowboarding is in good hands.”

That’s what Austen Sweetin said after the 2018 Quiksilver Young Guns Snow final. Austen, the YG Snow head judge, had just spent four days boarding with the four finalists — Miles Falcon, Jadyn Chomlack, Jack Macdougal and Cooper Whittier. He was blown away by the level of riding.

He was also blown away by how much fun they’d just had. On the first day, Austen and the boys went heli-boarding with Travis Rice. Not a bad start. They spent the next three days ripping around the mountain, hitting anything and everything, lapping the park, bombarding the lodge, letting loose and having the time of their lives. There were zero down moments.

The result? Some damn good clips, a ridiculous amount of fun, a $10k check for the YG Snow Champ and this edit from one of the best new contests in youth snowboarding.

If you haven’t got the picture yet, Austen is incredibly respected by everyone who is incredibly respected in the snowboarding community. A more in-depth explanation of Austen’s rise, including a must-watch clip can be found atSnowboarder’s site here. It’s well worth a read.

The results are in: according to a high-level list of snowboarding’s elite, Austen Sweetin is the 6th best snowboarder in the world right now. The results we speak of came from Snowboarder Magazine’s annual Peer Poll. Once you get voted in the Top 10, you get to vote for the Top 10. So a collection of past and present snowboarding legends combined to give Austen that very special tip of the cap. But how’d he earn it? Mostly his part in Absinthe Films’ AfterForver. As Torstein Horgmo puts it, ‘’From start to finish, raw shredding on all levels. So much energy and style.’’ Or, as Mark McMorris puts it, ‘’His part is insanely well-rounded and makes me want to go snowboarding! Surf shreddy style.’’ Or, as Lukas Hoffman says, ‘’ I saw a lot of great riders this year throwing down insane tricks. What made Austen stand out was his style. Austen has a style and grace that is all his own and this genuine approach to snowboarding, partnered with serious talent, is why he gets my vote.’’ If you haven’t got the picture yet, Austen is incredibly respected by everyone who is incredibly respected in the snowboarding community. A more in-depth explanation of Austen’s rise, including a must-watch clip can be found at Snowboarder’s site hereIt’s well worth a read.

Tis the season, friends.

To be jolly, sure — but it’s also the season to be on a snow-smothered mountain with a board in your hands or, better yet, under your feet. That’s the plan, right?

Right.

Good news: the northern hemisphere winter outlooks seems to play right into that plan. Now, predicting the weather isn’t the most simple undertaking. There are mysteries and variables and mysterious variables and even variable mysteries. Despite that, these outlooks are typically accurate. Thanks for that, modern science.

So here’s what you can totally-maybe expect this season.

For North America, yum. The East Coast should anticipate a colder-than-average winter and a few good beltings from storms. The West Coast is said to face an above-average amount of storms rolling on into a good range of temperatures — still plenty cold enough to snow, though. Just maybe leave the glove warmers at home on some trips.

If you live in Europe, you should be in for a treat. And by “a treat,” we mean “a few great days on the mountain.” Most of the region is expected to experience above-average storm activity with a mild tinge to the air. That should add up to three things: snow, snow and snow.

And Japan? Already dumping there. Here’s our boy Austen Sweetin with proof.

So we suggest you get yourself, a friend who shreds and head north, cause winter is coming! Ya'll might even see one of our boys hangin out there! Enjoy.

Two dudes. One double-sided course. Race and repeat. That’s the Double Tap.

The event brought some of best riders in the Pacific Northwest together to hang out, high-five and go really, really fast. Over 200 competitors showed up last weekend to do just that. Some set records. Some ate shit. And at the end of the day, champions were born.

Actually, that was a lie — that wasn’t really the end of the day.

The REAL end of the day went down at The Church for the awards ceremony and the premiere of event organizer Bryan Fox’s new movie Energy. There were tacos. There was beer. There was no better way to welcome winter.

All proceeds from this event went to water.org, an organization dedicated to providing access to clean water to all. If you’re in a position to give, please do so here.

Double Tap was pretty insane....thanks to all who came, all who worked, and all who ate shit.

A video posted by @bryanwfox on Dec 11, 2016 at 11:44am PST