There’s much to be re-enabled on the site, things that were shut down because I didn’t think there would be a season this time around; but, sit tight. 449 photos were taken on Saturday but that’s the number before tossing out bad shots. Give a few days for everything to be edited and uploaded and at that time, an e-mail address will be made available to contact and identify. This time around, unknown photos will stay up for three weeks from the date of upload - after that, they’re gone - slim chance of being brought back.

It was great to see everybody out there and to everybody, thank you for supporting the site. The season has been made possible by Magnum but there is still a substantial amount of money that needs to be raised to cover transportation and supplies - esepcially considering one of the cameras is in need of retirement.

Congratulations also to Scott Schlosser for winning the first leg locally of the Next Snow Search.

Ten years of running has taken its toll in many ways. For various reasons, the site can no longer continue as more than an archive. Requests for its return will fall on deaf ears unless there’s a large amount of cash is included to make it all happen. The site itself runs on server fees, gas, lift tickets or season passes, lodging for long trips, etc. not to mention having reliable and quality cameras, software, and storage. Also in the shuffle of everything, people seem to forget just how much time it takes behind the scenes to run the site as well. Photos are not immediately put on the web but also cleaned up for clarity, color, and sizing too; it’s a full-time deal. The requirement for the cash isn’t for my profit but just the basics to make everything happen. The site was NEVER designed to be a money-maker; my profit was the joy it brought to those who knew of it
For everybody from Minnesota - it really was the best season for the site. Eric, Jackie, Lucas, Seyffers….. you’ve been the best. To everybody, I’ve done everything in my power to have tried making it happen but it has finally beaten me. There’s a major part of me missing though and without that, the positive drive and desire is gone - and I can’t make it happen on my own. The season had its highs but indeed, Minnesota is NOT “home” and in many ways I regret ever making the move. Michigan will always claim that for reasons known and unknown. Take away the positives and there’s nothing left.
Those who have asked the resort why I’m not there - simple answer - they “don’t aggree with the content of the site.” When it was asked what they didn’t like, they refused to answer; likewise, when asked for an in-person meeting, they declined as well. Society looks around and wonders why everything is going downhill? It’s clearly visible to me… Where was the negativity on my site? -there wasn’t! Put something positively reinforcing for today’s youth out there and you’ll get shunned yet at the same time, run a site full of negativity and you’re A+ material.
Congrats to those who have been helped by the site over the years and thank you to those very few who have ever supported the site financially. The site has been the one thing that stood strong over time but I guess in fitting fashion, like its owner, everything must fail in the end. I pushed the site down in May and brought it back only because of the push of others but it’s finally been made clear; the site can NOT continue as a one-person deal and without the money being provided by others. Go to a ski/snowboard camp and see what you’ll get for photos there - $500 for 50 photos - sure, I could’ve made money off of the site by selling the photos but that would mean so much more paperwork since profit would be made off of the images of others - not to mention, who has $1,000 to pay for 1,000 photos that I may take of them in a season? …it’s not going to happen. I ran the site to be a positive reflection of today’s youth but as with everything else, it’s not what “the people” want; they prefer the gangs, drugs, crime, and violence - it’s true - read the newspaper or watch the news.

-skunkboy

October 28, 2006: Unannounced previously, we made an appearance today at the Mount Kato Jibfest. In total, just over 1,300 photos were taken - more than originally anticipated would be had. Needless to say, I must admit I was impressed with the turnout to say the least. It was nice catching up with people I (Skunkboy) knew very little but also meeting new people as well. While few actually realized and some questioned thinking perhaps especially I was crazy to get in the line of fire, I invite all to look around the site and see just what’s here. In short the site is now going into it’s eleventh season and is still keeping up with millions of pageviews per month. Feel free to have a look around.

Before everybody sends in e-mails wanting to know where the photos are, keep in mind that it takes time to go through sorting, editing, and then finally they will be posted. Hopefully they’ll be up by Tuesday but that’s not set in stone. Be sure to check the Calendar link on the menu as it will make mention for sure of when everything is done. Once the new photos are posted, then feel free to send in your name and photo numbers so that we can move them into your own page. Failing to notify, leaving them unclaimed, makes them first in line when we go through cleaning the site.

Those new to the site, there’s no money made off of the photos, no login registrations needed, etc.; what you see is what we have. If things go well, I hope to make it out to Mount Kato a time or two this season as well. Enjoy the site as you wish; thank you to everybody for having made today enjoyable.

October 25, 2006: Yes, if it hadn’t been noticed before, THREE new video edits are on the site! Saturday, A Minnesota Film, submitted by Tony Seyffer, triggered the start of the new 06-07 ski/snowboard season. A Minnesota Film is the longest edit to ever make its way to skunkboy.net and we’re proud to have been selected as a way for Tony to broadcast his footage yet again. Surprisingly, we were able to reduce the file size to under 100mb and still keep the quality decent. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

Then, in going through backup DVD’s in preparation for the skunkboy.net promotional DVD, an edit that was given to us during season had been overlooked but now has been revealed. Most likely due to excessive photo editing, somehow the Spirit Mountain Quick Edit slipped through the cracks. Nevertheless, it too is now an addition to the fresh footage available on skunkboy.net.

Think it’s too early to go riding? Don’t see snow at the resorts and think then that there’s no rails and boxes to ride? Think again! Mankato Pre-Season Comp was recorded right out by the road in Mankato Friday, October 20, 2006. Imagine the looks on faces as people drove by to see a ramp rigged up, snow, and toys to grind. Well, it was done and Allen Lam was there to record it.

October 23, 2006: While season hasn’t started yet, skunkboy.net is already back at it. Teaming up again with Tony Seyffer, skunkboy.net is proud to offer A Minnesota Film, an edit by Tony of past-season footage. This edit brings together video from their ventures to Welch Village, Tyrol Basin, Spirit Mountain, and various urban locations from Duluth on south to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Esepecially due to the length of the film, Tony was having issues finding an outlet to host it but once again, we were delighted to make the offer. Whether you’re a skiier, skiboarder, or snowboarder, the simple truth is that montage is nearly a half hour of pure winter enjoyment. Be sure to check it out - A Minnesota Movie - produced by Tony Seyffer.

October 11, 2006:

Welcome Back!
After a few months of downtime, it’s true, skunkboy.net has returned to the web. No questions will be answered via e-mail; so, hopefully the following will cover everything.

Why did the site go down?
The site went down for numerous reasons. The reason I’ll publicly admit is a lack of time. With a site as time-consuming as skunkboy.net is, there’s only so much one person can do. Other activities that had to happen in life took away from being able to dedicate the needed time to running the site and therefore, rather than run something at less-than-desirable level; the choice was made to completely shut down. This did cause a few upset people but to them I simply say, feel free to run your own site; you’ll see that something as successful as skunkboy.net doesn’t happen overnight but rather over time. The demands of the site were getting (and still in many ways are) too much for me, myself, and I to handle by ourselves.

What are the detailed changes with the new site?
Most noticeable is probably the lack of summer sports. Yes, this is a step backwards that I don’t fully approve of but it’s what has happened. It’s true that in reality, there were more summer photos on the site than winter; but, for now, they have been removed. Everything has been backed up and could return in the future but for now, they’ll remain a memory to the general public.

With Winter sports, all of the unknowns have been removed as well. I did notice many people were using photos from the unknown sections on their MySpace, LiveJournal, and other personal sites but if it’s too much trouble to send up a quick message with your name and photo numbers so that we could give you your own page, I guarantee that it’s too much extra work for us to keep up with everybody who was using them; its your loss. We do apologize for taking them down but had given more than enough time to claim them. They are now removed from the site and no, we will not honor any requests to bring them back.

There is also now a calendar which will be used as a way to notify everybody about photos taken, uploaded, and removed. It’s planned that unclaimed photos will only remain on the site for a short period of time; after which we will remove them. It’s unknown even to us as to when we’ll be out at the resort except when we’re taking further trips that require pre-planning; these too will be mentioned in the calendar. Any questions e-mailed to us in regards to when and where we’ll be, how many photos were taken, or when photos will be posted will go unanswered; that’s what the calendar is for.

Expansion
Yes, that’s right, expansion. Depending on how things go, skunkboy.net is trying to migrate even further west. We have a direct connection to someone in Colorado who has been with the site for quite a few years and depending on how the financial situation goes out there, if he has a ski season, there’s talk of Colorado being the next place for skunkboy.net to leave a mark. Also, while I myself most likely won’t be able to make it to Michigan this ski season, I am looking into a possibility of someone else there being able to shoot - again, it’s a matter of finances but hopefully something will work out.

Overall
Overall, the site has been torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Behind the scenes there is even more automation than ever before. While you may think that this has nothing to do with you since you, the visitor, are not the main gurus behind the site but to that I simply say - quite the opposite! With the automation that has been added to the site, if YOU would like to submit photos, it’s just as easy as adding photos to MySpace, gMail, HotMail, Yahoo, or any other web-based place you may decide you want to upload. Everything behind the scenes has been upgraded to the latest versions with this very thing in mind; in hopes that others will contribute. While we can also consider hosting video edits for you as well, please keep in mind that the primary purpose behind this site is photography. If you would like to submit video edits as well, feel free to contact us and we’ll see what can be worked out. The main thing to keep in mind is that they must be “kid-friendly” - aka - watch the language!

In Conclusion
In conclusion, welcome back! The site will once again grow and hopefully that will include bringing the summer sports back; but, for now, enjoy!

-skunkboy

October 5, 2006:

Prior to the site’s rebuild, a video had been created that was never seen; now is your chance!

Throughout the season, many people left impreessions on us; some good, others not so. Nevertheless, between that and overall progress through the season, there were some people who stood out. J.S., a snowboarder, had stood out for many reasons but perhaps best was his attitude and outlook. No matter if he was riding with friends or on his own, he was easy to get along with. For having been his first year on a board, a convert from skiing, I look back personally and remember when he was almost afraid to go over certain terrain but by the end of season, nothing stood in his way

Much of the footage within was recorded toward the end of season when I personally had a chance to ride with him without other distractions. Unfortunately the groomers did leave some “issues;” but overall, I was impressed that on skiboards I had an overall rather smooth ride. Couple that with wax that was faster than I wanted (which can be seen in a few places as well) and indeed I was impressed that the footage turned out as it did. Again, almost everything was recorded on the Fuji cameras.

Enjoy,
SB

May 7, 2006: We are proud to say that, as if we weren’t already behind with video clips, special thanks to Tony Seyffer for helping to unlock the remaining 8+hrs of video! It will take quite some time to get the footage transferred and split prior to editing; but, indeed the end of the edits is not in sight yet. YAY! …for the Scratch Cam!

May 6, 2006: As promised, more videos continue to be rolled out. The latest, Elevation - with Colten Welch, is now available for download. This isn’t the end. We still have at least one more Farmington video as well as then some Hastings videos and a few general videos.

April 30, 2006: Once again, Jade has been busy again at sorting clips and editing more videos resulting now in the latest: Thump - with Dan Guelle, Jim Seidl, and Max Fox. There are more edits to come but it does take time and now the time we had available in winter is being occupied with other warmer activities (both site and non-site related).

Be sure to check it out!