Better than Spam musubi.

Maunakea, the Big Island of Hawaii’s tallest volcanic peak, has received near-record snowfall this winter drawing many rippahs. There is no resort, no lifts, lodge or peppermint schnapps infused hot chocolates for apres but there is plenty of room to shred.

Vermont native, Aaron Todd, for example has waited and waited for this moment since moving to Hawaii in 2018.

“I mean this is insane, right?” he declared after multiple runs from the summit. “I don’t think there are too many people who can say they’ve snowboarded in Hawaii. When I was coming up here I saw the snow thin out, so I was a little worried,” Todd said. “It’s a little icy, but I was able to get some nice runs in.”

Very cool.

He heard a rumor that it snowed in Maui last year and will be checking forecasts etc. to catch if it happens again.

Shreddahs are allowed to drive to the top then have their spouses collect them at the bottom.

A likely bummer for the spouses but better than having to sit on a beach and take pictures of a husband or wife surfing.

The absolute worst.

Got ya!

There are surprises and then there are surprises. Like, finding an extra Taco Bell burrito, unpaid for, in your bag is a surprise. Going into an outhouse near the mecca of Alaskan snowboarding, though, and becoming bitten by a bear from below is a surprise.

But let us meet Shannon Stevens who was on a backcountry adventure with her brother near Haines.

You certainly recall Haines from every recent snowboard film ever.

Very dynamic.

In any case, Shannon and her brother were staying in their yurt when she needed to use the facilities.

Out she went to the outhouse, opened the door and…

“…sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down,” she told The Associated Press. “I jumped up and I screamed when it happened.”

Her brother, hearing the commotion, rushed out to find Shannon tending to her wounds. He assumed she had been tasted by a mink or squirrel but no, she told him. “I said, ‘There’s a bear down there, we got to get out of here now.’”

The next morning they found bear tracks all around the property but Shannon is not mad. “I expect it’s probably not that bad of a little den in the winter,” she said.

What a lovely person.

S.M.R.T.

One would have assumed every extreme sporter knows that ripping and education don’t mix from the wonderful example set by Jeff Spicoli in 1982. Still, there is always some shred that feels themselves to be an exception to the rule.

Take, for example, the case of the world’s cutest snowboarder and Olympic gold medalists Chloe Kim.

As you know, she has been attending smarty-pants Princeton, part of the Ivy League, but just slammed the pause button on her schooling per a just-released CNN report:

Looking ahead to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year, student life is on hold as Kim recently returned to the sport she loves, winning her fifth X Games title in January.

Her focus is on “getting back in snowboarding shape,” and aside from suppressing her craving for sweets, it’s a welcome change for someone who, quite noticeably likes to keep busy.

“I’m so, so happy and grateful that I’ve been able to come back and compete again against all of these amazing, talented, hardworking women,” said Kim. “It was nice to kind of get out and start competing again.”

Kim admits that it’s a demanding schedule in the countdown to the games and combining it with Princeton was not going to help her chances of success.

“I got a leave of absence,” she said. “There’s no way I can handle going to school while being a professional snowboarder, especially before the Olympics.

“I plan on going back, but right now, I’m a full-time snowboarder and one day I’ll be back to being a full-time student. But, yeah, I don’t think I can juggle it.”

If you could rip or be smart, which would you choose?

Me to.

I mean too.

Don't stop believing.

West Texas is not known for its mountains or fresh, fluffy powder, no. It is ranch and oil land, flat for as far as the eye can see and dusty or rather was dusty until days ago when the temperatures dropped, the heavens opened and fresh fluffy powder covered that flat ground.

The weather event was enough to knock much of Texas off the grid, rolling blackouts, tornadoes spinning.

Many were scared.

Many more terrified but not a cadre of snowboarders who dreamed the impossible dream of, one day, being able to shred Lubbock.

And let us meet university student Corbin Antu who snowboarded up and down those snow-silent, white streets, clinging to a tow rope as friends in a pickup truck pulled him around the West Texas prairie town, where, according to the local paper, it’s nearly impossible to find a hill to sled or ski down.

“This is my first time snowboarding out in Lubbock,” he said. “Trust me, it’s not disappointing.”

Does his strong endorsement give you pause?

Will you consider booking your next winter vacation to Lubbock instead of the Rockies, Alps or Tetons?

I must say, I’m compelled.