As many of you have probably seen from other news posts, Icer Air 2008, was less than stellar -- if not downright disappointing. Having been born and raised in the Bay Area, and having been to every Icer Air event since I was still in High School (the event has been running since 2005), this year's was by far the harshest yet to watch.

This year, they didnt have the funds due to sponsors dropping out last moment. The right side hip, with a mad ghetto slingshot catapult rope system was nearly a disaster. Not enough snow, and a bad landing nearly killed the event, but the show went on, and at least the skiing was surprisingly impressive, as some of the guys were throwing stuff that was pretty difficult even if the hip was real.

(A side note - turnout wasn't even remarkably bad, seeing as 100,000 people were distracted by the Red Bull event going on 4 miles due east of the Icer Air location. Wacky, Crazy, Soapboxes built by SF hippies are so Red Bull...)

The stadium that has hosted the event the last two years sits vacant, as the 2008 event had to be moved to the adjacent parking lot.

Riders performed surprisingly well, regardless of the rutted out - deathtrap landing, and the unconventional manner of  getting there...

Fortunately, somebody decided to put some good money out in the open for the in house skatepark, and the Moto X jump. The Metal Mulisha crew were throwing down some sick backflips, and combos, and anything you could imagine. In the skatepark, they had tons of kids and teenagers, and basically all ages just tearing it up with whatever you could think of - kickflips on to rails, 540's and 720s on bikes... from an ameteur group, it was pretty impressive to watch, and kinda fun. Didn't quite make up for lack of a serious snow jump, but hey, least they tried.

Moto X riders tore off backflips on the jump in the backround, while skaters tore up the skatepark in the foreground.

While all this was happening, there was also some excitement going on at the D-Structure Proshop tent. The Boone Crew was holding down the fort with D-Structure SF store owner, Azikiwee Anderson, slangin skis, and T-shirts, while getting everyone as excited for winter as possible - regardless of the poor snow conditions that were prevelant across the way.

Sean Crosby and Azikiwee Anderson discussing plans for when the real snow falls...

Just about everyone was super excited at the deals going on. D-Structure was hooking everyone up with some of the most incredibly generous deals on T-Shirts and 2008 ski movies, as well as hooking everyone up with 10% off any item in the store. Boone Skis had their own deal of the century going on, and all of the local riders were super stoked on the product after viewing, flexing, and in some odd cases, eventasting the skis. Really though.. It was good times, and everyone was super stoked for winter.

Bay Area citizens had no choice but to throw down the skrill with deals as hot as these...

Everyone was enjoying the fresh new offerings from Boone -- even the guy wearing the straw hat was super stoked on them.

We were also able to get some drinkage into the event to relieve the pain of the terrible jump. It took some brownbagging, and some sneaky behavior, we were able to get substantially good amounts of booze past security, and save us from having to pay the 9$ But Lights they were selling over at the Beer Garden. Seriously. 9 bucks for lite beer in a paper cup... What the hell...

Overall, the event was fun, and we met a lot of chill folks that were stoked on skiing, and itching for more.

Boone will be back up this coming weekend for JPI4 at Boreal Mountain in California. So if you're in California, or Nevada, definitely come out and see the event. There will be some big names throwing down, including Boone's own Sugar Dorzynski, Zach Steele, and Dylan Curry. If you do decide to head over, swing by the Boone tent, and say hi to the crew. We might even hook you up with a can of something sweet! and we swear wont charge you 9 bucks for it!

Winters getting closer... PRAY FOR SNOW!