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Shon Bollock 2011 highlights

Shon Bollock — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:45:46 +0000

Here is a little 2011 highlight reel I did while procrastinating my homework this past weekend, check out what David Miller from the Matador Network posted about it:

“Included are some new scenes from this past spring’s kayak mission in Japan, as well as some of the gnarly lines nearby Shon’s local Mt. Shasta area.

As always though, it isn’t the “adrenaline” aspect of Shon’s work that I appreciate but the overall onda of his filmmaking, the way he never lets you forget the size of terrain and that no matter what we run we’re all pretty damn small”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more pick up our latest film Slippery When Wet and support the next project! Trying to kayak more in 2012 but with film school 5 days a week, I am still trying to keep my hopes up despite this temporary commitment. HUGE thanks to LL for all the support this year, it made 2011 one of the best years ever. Looking forward to many more adventures in 2012.

Review: GoPro Hero 2

Shon Bollock — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:27:58 +0000

If you are into action sports at all then you have heard of GoPro. I have had the pleasure of working with this company from almost the beginning, with 6 years as a sponsored athlete, I have watched the original GoPro Hero transform into the number 1 selling helmet camera in the world. In all honesty most of the kayakers that saw the first Hero were skeptical of its performance and design, but ohhhhh did GoPro shut them up with the release of the first 1080 HD Head Cam under $300.

Once the first HD Hero was released it quickly was seen in every extreme sport across the board, all the biggest names in surfing, motocross, skiing, mtn biking, and even kayaking wanted to get their hands on them. When I first met Nick Woodman (the creator of GoPro) back in 2006 his enthusiasm and aggressive marketing style blew me away. From the beginning I knew GoPro was going to go BIG but I had no idea they would grow so fast, especially during the extreme recession of the US economy. In the past 5 years GoPro has dominated the helmet camera market with many competitors continuously chasing the coat tails of this innovative company. The Hero 2 is no different. This camera will set the new standard of high definition (still under $300) with the capabilities of 11 megapixel photos, 120 fps in SD, and wireless technology coming in early 2012. If you have not gotten on board yet I suggest you do, affordable, dependable, with amazing customer service, GoPro continues to be at the forefront of wearable camera technology.

Here is a short video testing new mounts up in Mt. Shasta over winter vacation. With LOW WATER in Nor Cal and being full time in film school at UC Santa Cruz, sometimes you just gotta take what you can get. Check out some low water Sims Falls laps with the new GoPro Hero 2.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just to show that the original Hero is still EPIC, here is a Slippery When Wet GoPro Reel featuring all GoPro Hero shots, just in case you don’t want to spend as much money on the Hero 2, we used the original Hero for the whole film.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Big shout out to GoPro and all my sponsors that have made 2011 unforgettable, my opportunities with kayaking would be significantly limited without your support, so thank you for the resources to make all this possible. I am very grateful for everything my life and look forward to the 2012 season, hope to see you all on the water.

For more visit www.shastaboyz.com

Slippery When Wet: GoPro Reel

Shon Bollock — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:13:15 +0000

So life has finally mellowed out a little after a busy quarter of film school at UC Santa Cruz. I am on my way up to Mt. Shasta for the holidays and stoked to have a little time off. GoPro has been a pinnacle sponsor in the progression of Shasta Boyz and after almost of 6 years working together our relationship continues to grow. I have watched this company expand from 3 people to a multi national corporation in just a half decade. Impeccable customer service and an unbeatable product, GoPro continues to push the progression action sports videography into 2012.

GoPro asked me to put together a 100% Hero Reel from Slippery When Wet to promote the original GoPro Hero. This segment boast footage from all over the world including California, Pacific Northwest, Mexico, and relief work in Japan. If you enjoy what you see PLEASE order the film (you can order HERE) and support the project. Be sure to check out the NEW GoPro HERO 2 with not only 1080 HD filming capabilities, but 11 megapixel photos as well. BIG shout out to all the boyz involved with this project especially those featured: Ben Stookesberry, Chris Korbulic, Evan Garcia, Cody Howard, Ryan Knight, Devin Knight, and Drew Duval, there wouldn’t have been a film without yall, thanks for your contribution! More content to look forward to with a part 2 photo update from Japan dropping early Jan. 2012.

Enjoy the 100% GOPRO REEL and feel free to like, comment, and SHARE! see more at www.shastaboyz.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Slippery When Wet available ONLINE

Shon Bollock — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:10:56 +0000

Sh#t has been hectic in the SBP world lately. After finishing a master copy of Slippery When Wet in late July, I was barley able to get DVDs August 4th before flying to the Outdoor Retailer show on August 5th. After the epic whirl wind of making some great connections and a wicked bender with the boyz, I rallied back to Mt. Shasta to start getting ready to move down to Santa Cruz for school.

A week later I packed my life into my subie and made the night drive to the Cruz to get ready for school at UCSC. The journey down ended up being epic to say the least, concluding with a 4:00am arrival after over heating the whole way down and eventually blowing a bolt out of my radiator, sending locomotive style steam out my hood. From that point on I have been looking for a new whip and occupied with moving in, hence the lack of updates here at SBP. Here is the new whip I ended up with, she still needs racks but damn she’s got class.

More big things in the works for the rest of the year and going into 2012, starting off with the fully operational STORE section of the website. Swing on over there and pick up our NEW release Slippery When Wet, Wet Dreams, SBP Tees, and or a SBP New Ear snapback. Everyones support of this project was the only way it happened and stoked to have been able to work with so many dedicated athletes. Not sure exactly what is in the books for this season but there a couple brilliant ideas floating around including a tour of SWW still to come. While in Santa Cruz I will be coaching and helping out at the UCSC kayak club, so if you are in the Santa Cruz area hit us up and come learn how to kayak! For a more in depth look at the film making process, be sure to check out an interview I did recently for Sanuk dishing up all the dirt http://sanukfootwear.tumblr.com/post/10003150938/shon-bollock-is-slippery-when-wet.

Probably gonna be siphoned out here in SC until an epic rager for Feather fest with all da homies. Look forward to seeing you all out there and don’t forget to pick up a copy of Slippery When Wet! If for some reason you didn’t see all 7 trailer you can peep them here and check out my trailer below. Huge thanks to Liquid Logic for all the support of this project!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

JAPAN: The land of the rising sun

Shon Bollock — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:53:26 +0000

So it has taken a little time to sift through all the different photos and media from the trip so there will probably be 2 Japan updates here at SBP. I am also crazy busy trying to finish Slippery When Wet and get the last 3 trailers out and live so forgive me for my lack of updates since we have been back. Let me start out by saying that Japan was not exactly what I expected, in a good way. This country contains some of the most unique white water I have seen anywhere in the world; everything from steep committed creeking to aqua blue big water. Personally I did not expect such a versatility of white water nor the amount of big drops that litter the island. When it comes down to it the white water was AMAZING but the local people of Japan were the ones that captivated my trip.

Before we dive into all white water some fun facts. Tokyo, Japan boasts the densest metropolitan area in the world while the surface area of Japan is only slightly smaller than that of California. The difference you ask? Well, Japan has a population of 137.5 million people while California only hosts just over 37.5 million. Since Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, rock fall is real business and much different than the millions of year of glaciation displayed in California’s Sierra Nevadas. I found out early to always keep your head up, after pulling a rookie move and standing underneath my boat being roped up a cliff side. There was some rock fall that came down off my boat and luckily I missed the bulk of it but a couple small pieces caught me on the arm and it was a big wake up call to get my sh#t together. Photos courtesy of Ryan Knight.

There were so many highlights from this trip that its hard to narrow them down. We had a great crew that all worked together to make this trip happen, so without each of them none of this would of been possible. Our largest debt of gratitude must be given to our friend and fellow paddler Yoshihiro Takahashi for not only letting up rape and abuse his van throughout the trip, but for his tolerance and kindness of hauling around 6 Americans for 17 days. Since there will be another photo update from the second part of our Japan trip, I am going to give the quick run through of what went down at the beginning. So the trip started May 9th with a drive to LA followed by a flight to Narita, Tokyo on the 10th. The team (myself, Yoshi, Cody Howard, Darin McQuoid, Ryan Knight, Nick Calderone, and Brandy Suppi) quickly hit up the Otaki slide that Cody ran on his first trip kayaking in Japan. From there we jetted up to Minakami for a fews days boating the Tone, Takarogawa, and a little drainage ditch creek that I Pton’d my brains out on. Photo courtesy of Darin McQuoid.

For the rest of the story plus more photos and a look into the relief work we did while over there please visit www.shastaboyz.com

Back to Big Timber

Evan Garcia — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:58:00 +0000

Growing up in Bozeman Montana I always heard legends of the burlest creek in Montana being only an hour away from my house. As my skills progressed through out the years I wanted to go see what this high mountain creek had to offer. The first time I ever went I just filmed my Brother and friend Bobby Jackson bomb down the bumpy steep slides. I was hooked…for the next few years all I talked about and wanted to do was “Big T”!

The last time I was up Big Timber creek was late May of 2006 over 5 years ago. I had a great high water run with my brother Ian that ended in epic carnage off the Lower Big Timber falls. Kick flipping and grinding upside down off a huge sliding falls made the carnage cut in YGP’s movie The Source. So let’s just say I had some unfinished business to attend to.

After years of boating around the world I finally made it back to my home class V creek! We walked up as far as the snow would let us and put in at a great drop call Fine Line! Seal Launching off a meter tall snow bank we started our descent. It was just as fun and beautiful as I remember it, but a bit more manky and scrappy after so many big volume creeks. None the less we had an epic time and ran everything I thought to be sane. I almost completed the total mank fest above the Pinch, which is a woody steep mess of a drop. I re-ran the Lower Big T falls 4 times in a row, and did my personal first descent on Shakedown a super technical steep manky one at the end of the run. Over all it was an epic day I got to share with my two brothers, Erik Johnson, and Ryan Lucas. Here are a few shots from the day that Ian snapped off and there will be an video coming out soon as I catch up on some editing work.

This is the last drop of Big Timber…it is a nasty set of drops called Shakedown.

Ryan in the middle of Fine Line.

Nate Dogg getting a big boof over the shallow landing of fine line.

Myself getting vengeance for the 4th time in one day…I was having a bit too much fun maybe.

Wanna bet? Let’s make a deal and toss the dice…Gambling like Kenny Rogers.

Hitting a great boof above the Pinch…don’t plug this one it’s called Ankle Breaker!

Mr. Lucas running the meat of the Lower Big T falls.

Coming super hot into the tightest spot of the Pinch.

Erik getting real stylie on the bottom tier of the falls.

More Montana updates coming soon…the water levels all out west are holding high, but soon we will be back on the mega huckfest going hard!

Later E.G.

1-5 BFTV Grand Prix Updates

Evan Garcia — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:00:40 +0000

Ok egcreekin hommies sorry about the scares updates the last two week, but priorities were towards the bombflow.com site and getting hits and traffic for our new project…bombflow TV! These videos have been up for about 10 days or so depending on the day, but if you haven’t seen them they are all epic, all time, brown, awesome-ness! This is day 1-day 5 and there is plenty more from where this came from…enjoy the sick cinematography, edits, tunes, and kayaking!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Days 6-10 edits coming soon and tons of photos to go along with them! Insane amounts of epic content came from this event make sure to check out everybody’s sites to get the full picture and all the stories.

Later E.G.

Solo Middle Falls

Shon Bollock — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:49:24 +0000

For the past few weeks rivers have been rising and dropping up here in Nor Cal. A gauge I always keep my eye on is the McCloud river about 25 mins outside Mt. Shasta. During the middle of last week I saw it was on the rise and tried to rally the troops. Unfortunately everyone has a life or something and can’t drop everything to come huck a perfect 50 footer, so I weighed my options. It was pretty clear the flows were going to peak thursday and I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be another chance for me to run it this year. With those facts in mind I rallied out with Callie and my father to check out the falls. When we arrived at Middle Falls thursday (April 28th) around 4:00pm it quickly felt different from my previous experience there with all the boyz a couple years ago. I looked at it from the top viewing platform and it looked like a little more than half the flow we had during the the previous record high descent in 2009. Dream flows peaked at just over 1700 cfs @ the reservoir that morning. We walked down to the base of the falls to get a better look. From there I saw a really solid line with a great boil at the bottom and felt confident it would be good to go.

As I was getting changed I realized I forgot my Canyoneers (standard rookie sh#t) but decided to give er anyway since the flows were peaking. The only thing I had to wear were my Sanuks which were a little sketchy on the hike in but all in all much better than nothing. After getting geared up I handed my Dad a throw rope and showed him were I wanted the most moral support as I knew a throw bag wasn’t going to do much if sh#t hit the fan. As my Dad hiked down to the bottom of the falls, I set up a trip pod and got Callie dialed for photos. During the hike down above the falls, I found myself thinking about the crew from the last trip and how much I was missing that camaraderie. As I got into my kayak I gave Callie the thumbs up and she confirmed with the “safety” we were good to go. I peeled out the eddy and started stroking for the lip. Came off a little far right but was able to get a good stroke off it stomping it down to a 45.

A quick offside roll at the bottom and I paddled away from the right wall with a successful decent. The priceless look on my Dad’s face was probably what made the day but being able to fill the line I saw in my head, without the support of any other paddlers, was a big step forward for me. It was a perfect training session before our big trip to Japan going down in 7 days, plus after finally getting that waterfall off my mind I may actually be able to get some school work done. Look for the footage to be featured in my new film Slippery When Wet coming out in July. Big thanks to my Dad and Callie for providing the support needed to make this happen!

Enjoy this gallery from the day courtesy of Callie Daniel.

Next update from the Shasta Boyz will be LIVE from Japan!!! 3 more trailer for Slippery When Wet trailers upon our return!!!

Sac DaZe and SWW trailer #4

Shon Bollock — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:02:29 +0000

Kinda late getting this up here but better late than never. With heavy snow pack throughout most of Cali, including up here in Siskiyou county, the Sacramento has been swollen most of the winter bringing in rare waves and hosting really fun water very close by. The Sacramento is one of the smaller drainages in California but holds water extremely well and can be run as high as it ever gets. Kyle Hull came through and was keen to get on some water so we got on the Sacramento @ 9500 cfs for a couple days with some Tunnel of Love, Mears Creek in there as well. Good times, enjoy the edit shot completely with the Go Pro HD Hero.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On another note, the 4th of 7 Slippery When Wet trailers dropped a week ago featuring white water legend Ben Stookesberry. Ben’s trailer boasts incredible footage from all over North America. Some highlights to look out for would include record high water on the North Fork Payette in Idaho, fastest one day decent of the Middle Kings in California, Royal gorge of the NF American, footy from the 1st decent of the 2nd deepest gorge in North America the Rio Presidio (Mexico), plus much much more. Enjoy the edit and look forward to 3 more trailers set to drop in the coming months. DVD’s should be available by July 2011, and will be for sale through Shasta Boyz Productions and select outdoor stores. For more please visit www.shastaboyz.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pacific Northwest Going Off

Evan Garcia — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:26:50 +0000

I’m out here in Southern Washington/Oregon staying with my good friends…The Wells! This family has put me up more than enough times to be sick of me…but they aren’t. Their two boys are badass hucksters and all around good boaters who we come to visit as much as possible to hit these amazing rivers!

So far we have hit high water Green Trus on the White Salmon, Metlako, Bridal Veil falls, Rock Creek, and today we are up for some new stuff!!!! Hope the spring season is starting off right for all you boaters out there across America and Europe…We have a sick trip video that will drop at the end of the trip so keep your eyes on egcreekin…as well as some lost updates from Chile. These are all just freeze frames from video, but you will get the point and see what we have been up to…

The boys celebrating at the Bottom of a big dawg drop!

Coming hot off Metlako with my wings out for a long fall.

Todd stomping BZ falls at 4.75 feet…I walked!

The left line at Big Brother…this is a good way to avoid the cave, but still a very tricky line.

Coming into the straight up maw of Double Drop!

Sam Freihofer hitting the sweet spot…

Nate Garcia my little bro on his first ever Metlako run…this thing has become such a well known and run drop these days…but its still ridiculously BIG!

Later E.G.