Greetings all! Welcome to the first of many Friday Photo posts. Jake Darwen is first to the plate with this epic photo of AK ripper Kayle Lawson doing a noseslide that even Darren Harper would be proud of. Now sorry about the lateness of the post but I went riding at Ruapehu yesterday and I had trouble getting out of bed, five am starts will do that to you. I couldn’t have had a better time: sun, a sweet tailwind and fast uncrowded runs. That was until my companion and I experienced the rudest treatment by not one, but two, RAL lift operaters. Now, I don’t mean to get up on my Soap Box in Jake (and Kayle’s) moment of fame, but hey I couldn’t help myself, and you know this stuff is better out than in, I say. Anyway, it was a trivial issue that we were pulled up on, and I admit me and my friend were out of line, but it was what I consider to be a small issue (knocking snow off one’s board inside the lift area). Now, I know it would be a bitch to have to shovel mountains of that crap out of there everyday, and fair enough you should tell people to not do it, but you don’t have to be a dick about it. We were met with hostility and fowl words straight off the bat from one lift operator (and yes we got lippy back, who wouldn’t when treated like that unnecessarily?). Then he had the nerve to call the lifty at the top who then pulled us aside and threatened to clip our passes. Oh dear, what a joke. This is such a trivial matter that could have been handled by a simple, “hey guys, do that outside next time”. I know from years spent dealing with security guards while shooting photos, and a tour of duty in retail, that an aggressive approach never bought about anything good. Anyway, enough of this. Photographers out there, submit your photos now, and please write some words to accompany them so you don’t have to listen to my crap.