Blog : Joe Curren

In early April I was lucky enough to be snowboarding Mt. Bachelor when the best snow of year arrived. While I was there I took these portraits of Bend resident and dedicated snowboarder Gerry Lopez at his shaping bay. He’s such a nice guy. He showed me his Clark Foam blanks, of which he probably has the largest stock pile left. Gerry’s surfing, positive attitude and dedication to healthy living has always been a big inspiration for me. I also find it very interesting that he moved from Hawaii to Central Oregon and started a new life. He’s seen so many changes in surfing, but instead of becoming jaded with crowded lineups he realized there are new places and experiences left to discover. I boarded a couple runs with him. He rips!

In January I went on my first trip to Whistler and Blackcombe Mountains in British Colombia with some of the “Momentum” era surfers including Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian, Taylor Knox, Ross Williams, Pat O’Connell, Benji and Jason Weatherley, Greg Browning, Jay Larson, Taylor Steele, Saxon Boucher, Keith Malloy, Keoni Watson and Abe Lerner.

It snowed everyday of the trip. One day we took a snow cat into the back country where we enjoyed some super deep untracked powder. It was a great four days of boarding and hanging with old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a few years.