We left around 10am after stopping by Starbucks of course. Anyone who knows me knows how addicted to coffee I am so there will be many more references throughout this post. The skies were blue, the road was clear, and we had my one and only Highlander set at a comfortable 78mph cruise control.Tthe speed limit is 75) With about 500 miles of open road in front of us, we thought it was necessary to set out at a diligent pace. Fortunately for me, I just got an I phone, thanks to my stepdad, so I had lots of entertaining things going on during the drive. I have become an instragram user as well so we took a ton of pictures.

Upon arriving, I was devastated to see how little snow there was in Tahoe, I had heard there wasn’t any, but it’s hard to believe until you see it! We checked into our place at the base of Northstar, and got to bed early to get ready for training the next morning.

Another beautiful spring-like morning in California had us up on the mountain around 9am. The course wasn’t open until 10, so we had a bit to check out the other features on the mountain. The rail line that was setup before you got to the course was really fun to play around, and get warmed up on, but the course was the place to be if you were trying to ride park.

I had a great day training on the course, and felt pretty good. Considering I didn’t compete until Friday, I didn’t want to push it too hard. A few more days of fun in the sun and Friday had already snuck up on me.

It was a crisp bluebird morning the day of the 13th, and the course was incredibly fast. I had no complaints about the course which consisted of; two options up top, on the right was a down box to a flat-down box, and to the left was a down rail, to a really fun wall ride. To finish it off was two jumps. I chose to hit the left side because the judges had determined it was the “more difficult” line of the two. I had a blast weaving my way through the course, and got two laps in before the contest started.

I was 3rd to last in the heat of about 30-40 girls, so I had a long time to try to stay warm, and focused. Being so early in the morning, I knew people would have trouble putting a run down due to the shady conditions on the course, so I played it pretty safe on my first run, and qualified 2nd for finals.
When finals started the top 6 ladies were gathered at the top around 11am the sun was just peeking out around the trees to light up the course for us. Again I was 4th to drop so I had to stay entirely focused, and warm while waiting for my other competitors to take their runs.

I stomped both of my runs, but in the end I played it just a little too safe. I took third on the podium behind some very talented girls that were really fun to watch. Lots of respect to all of the other women throwing down on this course, it was wildly entertaining! I did my research before awards and found there was a Starbucks conveniently located right in the village where awards were being held so once again, I got some coffee.
We left early the next morning to head back to Park City, arriving a little later than expected we were both so tired at the end we had to hit the hay. Now, off to to Breck for some training, big jumps, and S.I.A.

Thanks to everyone at the REV TOUR and NORTHSTAR for putting on a wonderful event, as well as a thanks to all of my sponsors for your support (Gatorade, Capix, Akinz, Fydelity)

And one special thanks to ECHELON SNOWBOARDS for making this trip possible for me!

HoodLife with Erika Vikander from Alice Owens on Vimeo.

“Oregon is truly one of the most majestic places I have ever traveled to. Low clouds, rolling green mountains, thick forest, cold rivers, and amazing hot springs just to name a few things that took place while I was there this summer. I did a ton of snowboarding too, but thats not what I made this edit about. This is more for fun to show what the lifestyle is like up there when you’re NOT riding. And let me tell you, it’s a lifestyle I could definitely get used to.” — Erika “The Viking” Vikander

Woodsy Shenanigans with Erika, Jonny and JP from erika Vikander on Vimeo.

Over the past couple months I have been looking forward to being a “guest pro” for Woodward at Copper’s first session sponsored by angrysnowboarder.com. So when June 13th rolled around, I was more than ready to hop in the car and drive to Summit County for adult week at Woodward.

The campers arrived on June 14th and had the day to settle before a welcome dinner that evening. After the dinner the wonderful staff at woodward took the time to walk everyone through the facility and the schedule for the next day. I am still in awe as to what an state-of-the-art facility they have to offer. With real snow jumps, and an airbag outside, to multiple trampolines, foam pits, and snowflex jumps in the barn, Woodward offers a variation of features for all ability levels.

The following morning was the first day on snow, the excitement was in the air as we all loaded up the buses after breakfast, which was supplied all week including lunch and dinner! (Thanks Woodward!) When we got to the snow, we had a little time to check out the features and decide whether or not we wanted to hike, or take car laps, I opted to take advantage of the car laps and not tire myself out hiking in the hot sun. First day was pretty mellow as everyone was getting their legs back, and I had some work to get accomplished as well. I showed up to camp with several awesome products from my sponsors; NICHE SNOWBOARDS, GATORADE, AND AKINZ to give to the campers. Niche had given me a snowboard to specifically give to the girl I thought deserved it the most, and I had already made a decision the first day. Just as anxious as the rest of the campers, I had trouble sleeping that night and couldn’t wait to get back on snow the following day.

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning. With the sun dancing on the iridescent mountain-tops it was one of the most inviting spectacles I have ever seen. Fifteen minutes later I arrived back at breakfast got my coffee and was back on the bus being shuttled to the hill. There were a couple of other invited pro’s there, and I had the chance to get to ride with those guys, which was awesome! Woodward was also flexible enough to let me interact as much or as little with the campers, and especially the female campers. I gave pointers where I could, but most of the girls were separated into all male groups, so I went around to the girls and let them know that the following day we were having an all girls group and it was ON!

Before leaving on Thursday, myself and the two other male snowboard pro’s were invited to stay after the campers left and have a private photoshoot in the park. We were all so excited to just be able to ride without a lot of people there, but we also got snowmobile laps on the park! What an end to an already amazing day. WOODWARD you really outdid yourselves there! And a huge shoutout to RYAN SABOL for taking great shots! That evening there were some fun activities geared towards the adult campers, I came out and spectated for a while at the beer pong tournament, we had some fun!

Friday was the last day of camp, although the spirits were up, the mutual feeling about camp being
over was a sad one. Determined to make sure the girls specifically had a good time, I grabbed each one from their separate groups, and formed our own. I wanted to work, but also make it fun for the girls, so I told them that I would give them each prize packages for really trying new things. Every single girl in my group took at least 3 huge steps up their personal ladders, which is more than any coach can ask for. The looks on their faces at the end of the day was priceless, and it feels awesome to get people stoked on something you truly love as well. The day flew by, and we barely had enough time to hit the jump, before we started the highest high-five contest for the entire camp. Everyone participated and had so much fun, the pictures will justify.

After the on-snow session we came down to “The Edge,” to have lunch, and do the giveaways. I had prize packages put together for all the girls, and the seemed pretty stoked! I had one snowboard to give to a girl, as well as Scott having bindings and boots to giveaway. Lisa Collier was a camper in my group from New York who clearly deserved a new setup, she had a great attitude, and was riding a setup straight from 1997. Upon receiving her new setup, she wasn’t sure what to do, cry, laugh, jump, scream, or just stand there in total disbelief. In the end she was so excited and it was rad to see what an impact you can make on someone’s life. Around the same time we had cases of Gatorade show up for the campers and staff to enjoy… Thanks Tera!

Hope everyone had as much fun as me and comes back for the Angrysnowboarder.com session at Woodward at Copper! THANKS ESPECIALLY TO AVRAN, GATORADE,NICHE, AKINZ AND OF COURSE WOODWARD FOR HAVING ME!

Friday May 26th I hopped on a plane from Salt Lake City up to Portland, OR. This is the second time I have attended the Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour Finals, and probably my tenth time competing in the series. The guys at the tour do a great job keeping everything legitimate, therefore its easy to come back year after year! I landed around 7pm and my friend Janessa came and picked me up, we got some food then went to her house to rest up for the following contest day.

The following morning we woke up to some true Oregon weather, rain. Thankfully I had checked the weather prior to leaving so I was prepared. Janessa was patient and kind enough to play tour guide all day before the contest, and she took me to some pretty spectacular places around Portland. We checked out Pittock Mansion, downtown, and some other areas, it was really nice and I appreciate her putting up with me being such a tourist!

The contest didn’t start until about 3:30 after we had about thirty minutes to practice. Trying not to get too wet or wear myself out, I only hit it twice during practice to feel the speed.The girls were all grouped together, in the 3rd heat, so we had a while to hang out and socialize. I spent most of my time with Janessa and her boyfriend and fellow Shred Betties team rider Randa Shahin. Between the crowd, the setup, and those two girls my spirits were high and I was ready to get out onto the course.

With about eight or nine other girls competing, I wasn’t sure what to expect. These girls not only met, but exceeded my expectations for the level of riding. I was very impressed with what girls were doing, and trying to do. It poured rain on us the whole time, but I had enough in me to get some solid tricks on every feature which included; a down-flat-down rail on the lookers right, a launch box in the middle, and down rail with a kick at the end of it on the lookers left. The jam lasted about 30 minutes, then they announced the top 5 finalists which included myself and Janessa!

The crowd was pleased to have this going on downtown Portland and the CRJT guys always find a way to get them involved. This time they had a dance off featuring some of the very colorful people in the audience. Needless to say it was amazing to watch. After the dance-off it was time for finals to start, all the the guys and girls on ski’s and snowboard’s were at the top strapped in, itching to drop first.

In the end I believe they were looking for consistency across the board and a variety of tricks. I cleaned the down-flat-down rail a few times, got some solid back lips and 180′s on and off the down rail, and some good 180 taps over the launch box. I was very happy to take 1st and Janessa got 2nd and another lady shred friend Krysta got 3rd! It was a great event and a lot of love goes out to the guys who put this on year after year. Another successful year down, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year. THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT EVENT GUYS! Till next year…

When it finally came time to compete I was more than ready, and the setup looked really fun. From lookers left to right the setup consisted of; a down-flat-down rail, a launch box with a gap on the end, and a down rail with little kink at the end for added technical difficulty. I climbed all the way to the top of the scaffolding, strapped in, and dropped into the launch box. Trying to set a high standard for the girls, I tried to do a smooth press and grab my board off the box, when I landed I sunk in about 6 inches into slush, and had to readjust my game plan.

Next up I tried my luck with the down rail. I got it first try, with a clean frontside 180 out, but that slush got me again, and I couldn’t stick the landing. After that, I decided I would not fall anymore. Nervously peering over the edge of the drop-in to get a look at the rail, I strapped in and went for it. Success! I was feeling very good about that rail, and spent most of my time on it. I did some pretty good tricks on there including a solid frontboard through the kink, which was a personal goal of mine. By the end of the 40 minute heat we were all down right exhausted.

I cheered on the rest of my friends who were competing including Cat who was up next. She killed it the whole time and WON! YAY CAT! In the meantime while Cat and I were competing, Madee was holding it down on the dancefloor for us. She even won the “Teach me how to dougie” contest! We all had a blast hanging out all day, but it was finally time for the results! With the suspense building up inside me, knowing there were some good girls there, I couldn’t barely even listen when they announced the 2nd and 1st places. Lejawn Allen ended up in 3rd. Alexa McCarty took 2nd, and I ended up in the top spot on the podium! After a quick interview with Fuel Tv I had to fly up the canyon to get to work! Needless to say, it was a long, busy, and super fun day! Thanks to CRJT for putting on yet another great event. Keep up the good work guys!

Friday the 18th of February marked the 2nd event in the “Friday Night Live” series hosted by Park City Mountain Resort. After snowboarding for a little bit at Canyons Resort, I headed to the base of PCMR around 4:30pm to register. With the contest starting at 5, I had just enough time to hit each feature once before they started the “17 and under” competitors. I was a little surprised at how many girls showed up for the contest, considering there usually are only like three girls total, enough girls showed up at this event to have a 5 girl final!

Our heat consisted of all open class men, women, skiers, and snowboarders, so it was a fight to drop in. We had fifteen minutes to jam and try to make it to finals, with quick hike back up the hill, I got a sufficient amount of drops, and some really solid tricks. Temperatures dropped quickly, and we were all anxious to get the finals started. They announced the finalists, including myself, and some other great riders, and we got the show on the road! My first drop I did a frontside 180 on and off the down rail. As soon as I landed, the lights went out. Apparently this is the first time this has happened, and it was a little ironic that it happened at a time when we REALLY needed the lights. I hiked back up, and waited for about 20 minutes with the rest of the competitors before we were allowed to drop again.

When the lights came back on, everyone was back on the course with full force. I did a couple of legitimate back-lips, and 180′s onto the down rails, along with some proper boardslides, and frontboards. I felt pretty good about my performance by the end, but I was exhausted! Awaiting patiently at the bottom of the course for results, everyone was all smiles. After working so hard, and then standing around, most were shaking from the cold, and everyone was ready to get out of there.

They announced the top three in each category and I’m happy to say I got 2nd, behind my friend Wiki Jones who had a great night of riding. Thanks to PCMR for hosting a great event. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that fifteen minute jam sessions are the way to go!

It had been relentlessly snowing all night, and it hadn’t let up much the next morning. Apprehensive as to whether or not we would even be able to hit the course, we got to Buttermilk around 9:30am. With so much snow overnight, we were told the course was unable to open until further notice. A couple of us decided to go check into our place in Aspen, and get settled. The weather forecasted sun for the next few days after, so we were anxious to train the next day.

It proved to be sunny, and bitter cold the next day. The course was big, and fast. With a semi-sore ankle still, I was nervous on the course. The jumps are big step downs, which have bad consequences if you don’t clear them. I trained for a couple hours, and planned to visualize my runs, which usually ends up being just as helpful as actually doing them. After a long day of skiing, we wound down at our condo next to the fireplace.

Thursday the 10th was another beautiful sunny day. With a little bit of the chill dissipating from the air, it was a much more inviting day. After drinking some coffee, and sleeping in, we went up to the hill around 11am. I hadn’t intended on snowboarding, and was going to film Jonny in the halfpipe, when I looked around and realized, there was only one other girl riding the halfpipe! I walked down to registration to find out there were only 5 girls registered to compete in the competition which was taking place the next day, so I signed up. Halfpipe is not my strong point, but I do have fun riding it, so I figured I’d give it my best shot! I bought a ticket for the day, and lapped the pipe. With some solid runs through, I called it day, and got some rest for the next day.

The next morning was just as beautiful, I got up at 9:30am, registered, and took the extremely long lift ride to the top of the mountain. With a quick warm-up lap under my feet, I dropped into the halfpipe, made it to the bottom, and figured well that’s about as good as it will get! All of the girls stood up top anticipating the others’ drop. I was very last, so I got to watch everyone throw down! When it came to my turn, I took in a lot of speed, did some good grabs, and some alley-oop spins in the pipe. The 3 run final seemed to fly by, due to the snowmobile rides we were getting back to the top of the pipe after every run. When it was all over I wasn’t sure how I was really going to match up to the other girls who only ride pipe. I ended up in 4th, which I was pretty excited about considering I haven’t done a halfpipe contest in years.
Saturday the 12th, more sun in the sky, I took a couple laps in order to get ready for the rail jam that was taking place that afternoon, only to find out that they called it off for girls! Apparently there were only about 3 of us signed up, so they decided to just kick us out entirely. That did not sit well with me, but it was fun to watch my friends kill it, and I enjoyed cheering them on. We got back to our condo around 6 o’clock, and got some well needed rest before my slopestyle contest on Sunday.

I still had reservations about the course, mainly because my ankle was still sore, and weak. So when I showed up on Sunday morning to practice, I was scared. I rolled through the course without hitting anything twice, and then decided to hit the first jump the next time around. Bad idea. I came up short on that jump by about 5 feet, and seriously hurt my ankle, figuring I would definitely clear it next time, and charged even harder into the jump, and came up even shorter! Ouch. That was it for me, I decided to call it a day and not compete. With a sore ankle, and a knee that started to hurt after that silly mistake, it really wasn’t worth it to end my season for the Aspen Open. But watch out next year!

The 2nd annual GFFT has begun. The first stop was this past weekend at Mtn. High. I decided to catch a ride down to southern California with my friend Tim, who was also competing. We left around 8a.m the morning of the 13th. We were driving all the way to Orange County, so he could drop me off with my family, then continue down to San Diego. After 9 hours in the car, we hit some traffic around Riverside area, with little patience left, we made it through, and he dropped me at my sisters house in Newport Beach.

The next day we had off to re-cooperate from the drive, and spend some time with our families. My sister and I took the ferry to Balboa Peninsula, walked around the shops, and grabbed lunch. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day, but my mind kept wandering to the slopes regardless of the 75 degree weather on the beach. I met back up with Tim in the early evening,
and we drove up to our hotel just outside of Wrightwood.

Registration started in the morning at around 7:30, and we were there right on time to get registered, and indulge in some great breakfast that was provided for us. It was a perfect day. Sunny and about 55 degress. We had about an hour to practice on the course, which was relatively smaller than last years. With 3 jumps that were all under 20 feet, and one rail, or box option, I felt pretty confident about the competition. After landing my run I wanted in practice, my friend Kim and I ventured to the West side of the mountain to meet up with a couple of my other friends who were up there riding. We all rode around the cluster of people and slush for a couple hours, before catching the bus back down to where we were competing.

We showed up just in time to take our runs! I was happy to be surrounded with a couple of friends from last years competition, and we all encouraged each other at the top of the course. My first run went well, I landed everything pretty clean, but it was my safety run. The next run I decided to step up my run, and unfortunately I slightly butt-checked doing a 540, determined to not let it shake me, I continued with the rest of my run, and was actually scored higher on that run than the run I landed clean. With no finals for girls, and the best of two runs format, I was a little disappointed with myself, but was having such a great day in sunny southern california, nothing could get me down. We hung out in the lodge for a while before the awards started. I ended up getting 2nd place! I am very happy being on the podium, despite not landing the run I really wanted. Congrats to Jamie and Nirvana who took 1st and 3rd! And thanks to Mtn. High and Gatorade for putting on a really fun event.

Another two hour drive back to orange county, and I was back at my sisters house in Newport. It was Saturday night, so we went out to a little place on the peninsula and danced! We had a great time! The next morning, my mom came and picked me up, and we took Pacific Coast Highway down to her house in Laguna Beach. My stepdad came and met us with some delicious lunch, and we all caught up and figured out the rest of my schedule for the season. After a successful meeting he took off, and my mom and I met my sister and her boyfriend at their new house in Laguna.

After a while, they hit the beach, and my mom and I cruised around Laguna Niguel. The day ended too quickly, and before we knew it, it was dinner time! With full tummies, we decided to go see the movie Black Swan, it was by far the craziest movie I have ever seen. Knowing I had to leave the next morning we stayed up late that night and watched movies, and caught up on the past couple of months, its always nice to hang out with family.

Monday the 17th was another beautiful day at the beach, which didn’t make it any easier to leave. We hit the road around 11am, and didn’t make it home until about 11pm. It was a long drive to say the least, but we hit some really great souvenir shops on the way! All in all it was a successful trip for everyone!