Standing on Brain Bowl

What kind of song does 46 shovels banging the ground make? One you can shred to.

There are lots of reasons to get on a plane across the country. Maybe one of the least lucrative, yet most important, is to see close friends. Funny enough, most people might have a tight-knit community where they live, but for me, my community spans across the country. So, I decided to travel to Seattle to see two of the most reliable dudes to ever “stand on business” (a phrase I would beat to death all week), where we would donate our brains and bodies to Brain Bowl 2024.

Matteo Soltane and Alex Kirkland met me at the airport to take me to the promised land: Matteo’s parents’ house. The queen of business herself, Matteo’s mom Natascha, true to her nature, welcomed me, fed me, and took me in as one of her own for the days leading up to the event.

We took a leisurely approach to Shuksan—we were on what felt like an endless vacation. By no means were we standing on business, quite the opposite. Less than 24 hours in the West they had me playing pickleball in the park and drinking passion fruit bubble tea. But before I could get too complacent, it was finally time to stand on business. One hillbilly oil change later, we were on the road to Brain Bowl.

We arrived at our castle in the hills, courtesy of the Prince of Bellingham himself, Brayden Charrette. He graciously offered up his friend’s family’s cabin to us (unbeknownst to them) as a place to crash. Thankfully Max Loeb, our real host, was excited to have us. We would be missing out on the cultural phenomenon of the parking lot camping scene, but a real bed was well worth it. We never shook our leisurely pace, getting up to the hill at noon at the earliest. I was assured that this was the proper way to experience Brain Bowl, kind of like letting a bottle of fine wine air out or whatever excuse one can muster up to not shovel all day.

We did our fair share of shoveling, regardless. When the sun doesn’t go down until 9pm, it’s easy to get lost in the dig. Day 1 we arrived at the course, with the Sesh Up jump almost completed, an absolute monolith of a cheese wedge thanks to Matt Wainhouse and friends’ dedication to the build. Truly standing on business, among the master crafters present, we also had Ben Bilocq shaping the best-hitting quarterpipe of my season, Austin Vizz going to the moon with his snow rainbow, and Adrian Rasmussen, a structural snow engineer, who had created a tunnel system any OSHA employee would sign off on.

By Day 3, building was finally over, and the build crew descended on Chair 9 for the new Shorts and Shades movie in tandem with the northern lights show. It was the perfect excuse to let loose with the homies and drive up the cuttiest switchbacks in Glacier at 1 am just to catch a better glimpse of the lights. No better way to roll up to the first official day of riding than late and a little hung over.

Someone turned the sun on little too bright for day 4, but not bright enough to stop the absolute chuckfest that went down. I was assured it wouldn’t be more than 15 minutes from the first drop until a double would go down. Sure enough, Austen Vizz, Phil Hansen, and Canon Cummins were standin’ on ‘em, ten toes down, stomping back double 1080s and mondo switch back rodeos, while local heroes were doing their damnedest to get every extra degree into their rotations. By the end of Sesh Up’s run, the official hit counter finished at an astounding 1115

The energy was electric, and the levels only went up from there. Matteo, with a hurt ankle, found a new calling as emcee, putting riders in time out, giving out merch, and getting people unfollowed on Instagram for not pulling up to the bowl (Austen and Logan, if your follower count dropped, now you know why). Cannon came to stand on it, opening up his proverbial briefcase on every feature, filing his paperwork properly. 

The DJ in the high castle, Max Warbington, shared his third eye visions with us all, only stepping out of the DJ booth selectively to file his quarterly report and remind us why he is the CEO. Looking for his opening, he struck, airing the hip landing in Adrian’s tunnel and backflipping straight to the tow rope. Watching him was like attending a master class in the Art of the Deal. No one else had tapped into that energy, and no one else could have, with Max literally shutting it down as the contest came to an end.

Through it all, there were two champions riding their hearts out on the course. Our gracious hosts, Max and Cali Loeb, truly stood on business, winning the whole shebang. We didn’t know we would be staying in the house of champions, but like a fairy tale, these two had secured a victory for their bloodline. Brain Bowl was over and I don’t think there could have been a better way to seal off the winter. I’ll be back next year, ready to stand on business with my friends again (and hopefully I won’t miss the midnight jam band in the parking lot).