HOLY BOWLY | GALLERY RECAP & VIDEO

WORDS & PHOTOS ROB LEMAY | VIDEO COURTESY OF SNOWBOY PRODUCTIONS


The Holy Bowly is an event unlike any other in snowboarding. It’s a labour of love from Snowboy Productions’ team and owner Krush Kulesza. It’s not a competition, but more alike to a bonus level in a video game.

This was my third Holy Bowly and the best yet. I was invited/invited myself to stay at the Dinosaurs Will Die house. It was a jam-packed house with roughly 15 or so boarders. There was no shortage of quality good times and hijinx. Thanks again to Geno and Jeff.

I drove down from Pemberton, BC to Mammoth Lakes, California with Keenan Filmer and Nick Elliott. After a long 19 hour drive, we showed up to the house with a fully stocked bar and some rowdy Dinos ready to get fired up. A bit of Cee-lo, and a healthy amount of liquor and we kick-started the week. I don’t recommend starting the week off hungover, but it seems unavoidable with this group and it’s the Holy Bowly!

A snowboarding event built around flow and transition riding, it takes around a full week of work or “quality hand jobs” to create almost endless lines full of volcanoes, skate bowls, and some shapes that I’m still trying to figure out what to call them. It takes some time to get a grasp of the lines; every run you see or find something new. The workload is shared with an hour rake at the end of each day by everyone.

You get to ride 10am-3pm, and most nights there’s something to get everyone together. This year there was bowling one night, music by Russell Winfield & Mikey Leblanc, and midweek out of nowhere, Jeff Holce found a street spot. Jeff and 27 of his friends set up the spot and he got clipped up! Yup, 27 people at the spot. It was a party for Jeff.
The last night, the Dino house had an ender party thrown by Darrah Reid-McLean. Darrah had been saving herself for the last night, but by ten o’clock, during the second round of Settlers of Catan, it wasn’t looking good for her party. It looked like it might’ve been an early night, but Darrah is a persistent human, and she prevailed. There’s was an old school scrap between Marty Vachon and Nick Elliot, 90’s jams by DJ Desiree, mystery Darrah margaritas, Keenan sucking face, and questionable plank offs.

The night activities are fun, but in no way overshadow the days of bonus level boarding. It’s like the best side-hit runs with concrete skatepark precision flow. It’s an unimaginable amount of work and love given to a community of snowboarders. It’s hard to explain it to anyone who hasn’t been. To me, it’s a yearly reunion with a part of my snowboard family. Thank you to Krush, Smiley, all the diggers, Jeff, Geno, Hene, and everyone who helped make it happen.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qUlP32nMNw&feature=youtu.be

TIMMY SULLIVAN, REACHING FOR THE SKY
KEENAN FILMER, METHOD
KEENAN FILMER, NOSE GRAB FRONT 3
KEENAN FILMER TAIL SPIN
HORN, COULTER, BRYAN
JEFF HOLCE, CREEPER 50-50 TO FRONT BOARD
DARRAH REID, HORN, OVER UNDER
NIC HERINGA, EXTREME CARVER
HIKARU TAIRA, ONE-FOOT BACKY
HIKARU TAIRA, ONE FOOT BOARDER
DARRAH REID, DRAG
DARRAH REID, METHOD
BRYAN BOWLER, INDY NOSEBONE
ANTHONY MAZZOTTI, BLUNT BUTTER
TIMMY SULLIVAN, DRAG
BEN BILOCQ, INDY SPIN
BEN BILOCQ, BS AIR
JOHNNY MILLER, TAIL
EVAN STUM, MELON
NICK ELLIOTT, RIDER
NICK ELLIOTT, UFO
KEEGAN HOSEFROS, TAIL
MARTY VACHON, STEP DOWN
MARTY VACHON, BACK ONE JAPAN
MARTY VACHON, NOSE GRABBER
KEENAN FLMER, FLOATING
KEENAN FILMER, FRONTSIDE SPINNER
JJ WESTBURY, THUMBS UP
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