Gazing back to 2004, snowboarding was in full bore progression mode with boundaries being pushed to the limits. On the international front Travis Rice had already kicked the door down with an array of burly  tricks on the infamous Chads Gap in Utah in March of that year.Back home park developments at Cardrona were starting to see our riders lock in solid spin tricks in a controlled environment.

However it’s one thing throwing down on a park jump, but a whole different ball game when attempting into powder.Snow conditions are crucial, and its especially hard here at home in NZ  to get it just right. As luck would have it, Treble Cone was having an epic season in 04, and after a 50 cm snowfall, Nick Brown made the trip over from Queenstown to hook up with photographer Phil Erickson. After attacking the home basin for few warm ups, the saddle was opened earlier than anticipated and the crew sped over to be met with wall-to-wall fresh. After some hot  laps, a spot below the Saddle Quad loading zone looked like it had the right landing and the boys got to work. After a few safety spins, Browner went for it, despite a less than clean landing zone. Here’s the result, in what turned out to be his first ever published shot.