Jake, Tanner, and I kicked off our first day in Cincinnati. We woke up to a massive overnight snowstorm, and my anxiety about our little SUV handling the steep hills and fresh pow was starting to feel real. After some digging, we managed to free the car and hit the road.
Meanwhile, Cole, Jed, and Marc had managed to snag a rental truck, so they were seemingly good to go.
As we drove across the bridge from Cincinnati into Covington—heading to our first spot of the day—I noticed one of the tire pressure readings on the dash was showing zero. The car was driving fine, so I figured it was just the cold or snow messing with the sensors. But when we pulled up to the spot and I got out to check, the tire was completely and undeniably flat.
While we scrambled to get that taken care of, the other crew realized their truck was only two-wheel drive. And if you know anything about winter driving, that’s not exactly ideal.
Photography by: Marc O'Malley
Words by: Kennedi Deck
Jake, Tanner, and I kicked off our first day in Cincinnati. We woke up to a massive overnight snowstorm, and my anxiety about our little SUV handling the steep hills and fresh pow was starting to feel real. After some digging, we managed to free the car and hit the road.
Meanwhile, Cole, Jed, and Marc had managed to snag a rental truck, so they were seemingly good to go.
As we drove across the bridge from Cincinnati into Covington—heading to our first spot of the day—I noticed one of the tire pressure readings on the dash was showing zero. The car was driving fine, so I figured it was just the cold or snow messing with the sensors. But when we pulled up to the spot and I got out to check, the tire was completely and undeniably flat.
While we scrambled to get that taken care of, the other crew realized their truck was only two-wheel drive. And if you know anything about winter driving, that’s not exactly ideal.
So we split up for a bit to sort out our rental situations. And when we finally met back up, we realized both crews ended up with matching Dodge Rams.
From there on out we referred to them as Red Truck and White Truck. But as our trip and joking progressed, we realized who was in what truck and they soon became gay truck and straight truck.
Jokes aside, this was one of the coolest groups of people I’ve ever traveled with. If you haven’t seen the video yet—or don’t know who was involved—let me refresh your memory. Jibbers: Jake Kuzyk, Casey Pflipsen, Jed Anderson, Cole Navin, Devi Gupta, and myself. Camera masters: Tanner Pendleton, Jon Stark, and Marc O’Malley.
This was actually the first trip I’ve ever been on where queer folks outnumbered straight folks. When Jake and I started tossing around ideas with Tanner about what the project could be, who should be in it, and how we wanted it to feel, one constant theme kept surfacing: we wanted to make sure that the queers can have a platform to shine. I think we did a pretty solid job of capturing the connections between old and new friendships, queer and straight joy, and professional and amateur takes on street snowboarding.
As the trip went on, the locations kept changing, and different riders came and went. With the rotation of people, the seating arrangements in the gay and straight truck began to shift as well. If it wasn’t dinner preferences that split us up a few different times, it was in the hopes to be able to mingle with everyone while also trying our best to stay productive. We’d split up to cover two spots at once—dividing shovelers based on location, choosing which spot might make for a better photo for Marc, and deciding what filmer should go where.
Even though we only had a month to film and hang out, the project ended up packing in a surprising amount of energy, emotion, and perspective. A lot of that credit goes to Tanner for helping encapsulate those moments and relationships so naturally.
It’s not often you see the video before the photos drop—if ever. Some people might think that’s kind of backwards or even pointless, but I disagree. Sure, the video’s been out since February. Maybe you’ve seen it once or twice, or maybe you haven’t even heard of it. Either way, I think the photos still matter.
These days, it’s rare to be on a trip with a dedicated photographer, and it’s such a gift when it happens. A second set of eyes, a fresh perspective—sometimes the things that don’t even seem worth filming end up making the best photos.
We extended our rental cars several times, making the drive from Cincinnati to Syracuse and then down to a small town outside Pittsburgh called Altoona. Amid all the bouncing around, we somehow managed to hold onto the white truck, but the red one had to be swapped out for something new. The end of the trip was starting to feel near, but not without one last mishap: another flat tire on the white truck. With Casey and Jake by my side, holding the flashlight and cracking jokes, we got the spare on the old gal and figured it was probably time to call it in.
I like to think there’s something more to see in the stills than in the clips. Maybe these photos give you a different angle on the project. Maybe even a whole different read on the experience. I could ramble about this forever, but you get the point. So stick your nose in there, smell the paper, and take in the photographs.
Session spots were definitely the vibe of the trip. Everyone got some on this one. Once we figured out we could mess with these rails that were everywhere, we definitely had some fun with that. Cole Navin, jam-up, jam-down. Cincinnati, OH.
Bump to bar, or as they say in Canada, bar hop. Frontside 180. Cincinnati, OH.
This was a fun session to watch. Cole, Jed, and Jake clipped way differently at one spot. Childhood me was having a heyday watching the GOATs at work. Cole, hardway cab 270. Cincinnati, OH.
Jake probably did like 30 different takes on this to get it how he wanted. Everyone in the crew had their favorite variation, and thought he was crazy to keep going, but he knew he was holding out for the perfect one. Jake, streetside sideways jam. Cincinnati, OH.
I found this spot on Google Earth and checked it the night before it snowed. I figured the best time to hit it would be during the snowstorm when the roads were basically closed, because if you came off the outside you’d land in oncoming traffic. Kennedi, frontside 5050, back 180. Covington, KY.
Play it as it lies. Jake, frontside 180 over the car in Kentucky.
This spot was so cutty. If you came off to the outside you were definitely cutting your butt cheeks on the wall and getting trapped in there. Jed handled business. Jam into a tight, awkward backside 5050. Cincinnati, OH.
This was some straight-up Minnesota behavior. A huge kink off the highway. We had to build the worst, little, short run-up drop in for Casey. That didn’t even seem to bother him. He laced this up so quickly. Frontside 5050. Altoona, PA.
We went on a little ice adventure after dinner one night and probably poured eight to ten gallon jugs on this thing. It was pretty glassy when we left. But when we got back to the house Jed filled them again and went back on a solo hit to make sure it was absolutely perfect. Front tail on a long, low one, followed up with a switch back tail, second try I think. So damn impressive. Syracuse, NY.
