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Yesterday Koia found out that he had gotten not one but two covers, both magazines where released in the same day… not a bad day at all. I heard he congratulated himself with a Cordon Bleu at 3am after a night of partying. One cover was for Transfer with a photo by  Jussi Grznar and the other for Australia New Zealand Snowboarding with a photo by Jeff Patterson. Nick Brown also got a 14 page interview in Transfer, I think Jussi got all the photos for that too. You can checkout a preview of the Transfer issue by clicking here.  This past season is paying off pretty good for all these guys so far. Expect stand out parts from both Koia and Nick in our upcoming movie, Now You Know, out this fall.

On April 10th and 11th the stars finally aligned for the Sandbox crew to get our first backcountry heli shoots going. We had been planning to take the heli into the backcountry all spring but the snow and weather conditions just hadn’t worked out for us. We got really lucky because these two days of shooting seem to have been the last days of powder for the Whistler area this season. We had two crews of riders go out and build jumps the few days prior to the predicted good weather. With everything ready to go we woke up on that sunny Saturday morning pumped to get out there and get’er done. On the first day we had two jumps ready to go and the riders were Jake Koia, Brendan Keenan, Nick Brown and Andrew Geeves. The boys all rode really well and we walked away with some great shots. Day one was a huge success, we got shots and everyone walked away safe and sound.

On the second day we woke up to sunny skies again but the winds had blasted overnight making the planned jump for day two a total right off. We didn’t want to cancel the shoot so the riders scrambled to find a zone that had been sheltered from the winds. Day two riders were Mikey Pederson, Beau Bishop, Scot Brown and Rusty Ockenden. We found a spot and the riders and crew built a killer jump in record time. We used the GPS to notify the pilot of the new location and to not waste any time trying to find us out in the vast backcountry. The jump worked out amazing and again everyone got a shot for the video. It was Beau Bishops first day back filming after missing the whole season with a busted colar bone. When the boys rosham’d Beau drew the guinea pig jump. Beau manned up and set the pace. On his first day back he walked away with four shots.

Every heli shoot is a high pressure high pace hectic frenzy. No matter how well prepared you are or how many heli shoots you’ve done there is just so much excitement and anticipation every time the rider hits the jump. I have a radio on me that communicates to the pilot and the filmer inside the helicopter. I also have another radio on me that communicates with the riders, filmers and sled shuttle crew on the ground. The whole time it’s crazy communication between everyone about riders speed, filmer angles, who landed what, wind speed for the heli etc… It’s really high energy and chaotic and when we get our first landed trick it makes it all worth it and everyone freaks out with excitement.

Special thanks to all the riders, photographers and filmers, Blackcomb Aviation and our awesome pilot Dan, last but not least Helen and Rube for helping shuttle the riders.

Check out the new teaser for Sandbox’s September release Now You Know and get a sneak peak at some of these amazing heli shots at www.sandboxland.com

Story by Kevin Sansalone & Photos by John Scarth and Jussi Grznar

The sled ride up to the drop in zone with the heli hot on our asses. Photo: John Scarth

Photo: Jussi Grznar

Clay sometimes communicates directly with the riders from his seat on the edge of the helicopter. He gives them a thumbs up and then they drop in. Rider: Andrew Geeves. Photo: Jussi Grznar.

These shots make it look like the chopper is pretty far away from the riders but it is actually pretty damn close as you'll see in the video clips. Rider: Jake Koia. Photo: Jussi Grznar

Rider: Scot Brown. Photo: John Scarth

THAT'S A WRAP! ... and the heli goes home. Photo: Jussi Grznar

Here is our second teaser for Now You Know. Click on the play button above or if you would like to embed it somewhere, here is the Vimeo