Mountain Creek Locals

03/14/2026

"Thanks Tom"
In 1963, NJ high school students Tom Sims
created the first snowboard in his shop class in Haddonfield.
Twenty years later, he was the world snowboard champion, and owner of the Sims skateboard and snowboard companies.
Jake (Burton) Carpenter spent a lot of money trying to bankrupt Tom by trying to buy the first snowboard patent after Jake's company, "Burton Snowboards", began a campaign to try to patent everything about the sport, despite the fact that Tom had built the first snowboard.
In the 1980s, we early riders came out with a slogan against Burton's corporate tactics:
"You can't Patent fun" .

When you're out there "shredding" in another corporate "Day for Jake", remember that Tom Sims invented the snowboard in 1963, over a decade before "Jake" had ever heard of the sport.
In "Jakes" own words:
" I then thought, “Well, s**t man, I can start a snowboarding company and I can get rich.” It really was a get-rich-quick scheme. I did a business plan and figured if I could make fifty boards a day I could make $100,000 a year, so that was my mission.":

https://www.snowboarder.com/news/a-paper-trail-the-jake-burton-carpenter-interview
.. Mission accomplished, "Jake". You got rich ...by ripping off the real soul of the sport, and by ripping off Tom Sims.
REAL OGs remember.
Corporate sheep and posers "Ride for Jake"
OGs, especially JERSEY OGs, always THANK TOM

03/06/2026

Back in the early 70s, Vernon Valley and Great Gorge, while still separate resorts without any connecting trails or chairs, each had active NASTAR race programs, and each resort had nationally-ranked NASTAR pacesetters, which was a feat in itself:
Walt Westerveld/ Vernon Valley, and Dave Scott/Great Gorge.
The two pacesetters competed against one another with serious gravity each week.
Walt's two sons raced as well, and other families like the Barkocys and the Millers produced truly serious competitors

03/06/2026

Stein Eriksen at Vernon Valley in the early '70s.
Originally invited by "Asbjorn", Great Gorge's Norwegian
Ambassador to skiing, Stein made a beeline to Vernon Valley
on his first day of his first visit to Great Gorge ( they were two separate, competing resorts at the time, with no connecting trails or chairs) to ski with Vernon valley's Ski School Director Walt Westerveld, with whom he built an immediate bond.

03/06/2026

Remember when the Condos were first conceived, long before they decided to call them "Great Gorge Village"?
Note the Vernon Valley Lodge and Bubble Chair, with Ski School director Walt Westerveld pointing uphill. Great Gorge Lodge is in the photo on the RH side of it.

03/06/2026

What resort do you suppose this finally became?

07/30/2025

A Creek Local, "Storm Sasaki", recently suffered a serious heart attack and could use help keeping his wonderful family fed and squared away during his recovery. PLEASE donate what you can.
We're all in this run together
THANK you-
Jay

Recently, our dear friend and respected member of the snowboard communi… Tayler Stendel needs your support for Help Storm’s Family Through This Difficult Time

07/03/2025

Yard Sale this weekend!

03/24/2025

From our friend Sama Challah:

"Closing Day at Mountain Creek: A Love Letter to Chaos

It would be crazy to think that just this morning, I was enjoying beautiful white snow in 20-degree weather—crisp turns, blue skies, winter still very much alive.
But by the afternoon, I found myself in a very different kind of scene: Mountain Creek on closing day.
I don’t miss closing day. Ever. I will happily drive from Vermont or upstate New York just to make sure I pay my proper respects to the end of the season at Mountain Creek. This is tradition. This is ritual. This is… madness.
This year, only one trail remained open from the top: Horizon.
But don’t let that fool you.
Yes, there was technically only one way down. But in practice? There were many ways to descend.
You had first-time skiers pizza-ing through a minefield of slush and mud, flailing like panicked deer on top of a frozen lake, legs trembling, eyes wide, gravity fully in charge. Criminals exiled from South Peak took over the mountain, building sketchy jumps out of melting snow and questionable ethics.
First-time snowboarders scooted down with rental boards and big turtle shells on their butts, sliding one foot at a time like they were escaping a crime scene.
Some folks purposefully skied through patches of grass and exposed rock, with sparks flying from their skis and boards like it was the Fourth of July. Others gave up entirely, popping off their gear to begin the long walk of shame down the hill.
There were people dragging their skis across rocks and mud like they were rentals (probably were). Kids cried. Adults cursed.
And then there were first-timers huddled over the trail map like scholars decoding ancient scripture, asking strangers for route suggestions as if they were embarking on a weeklong backcountry expedition. There was literally only one trail open from the top. One. You didn’t need a plan. You needed a prayer.
It was chaotic. It was muddy. It was quintessential Jersey (Turnpike).
And through all the slush, the madness, the after-work laps and late-night Sojourn Double rides, one thing is clear: this place is home.
Thank you to everyone at Mountain Creek—patrollers, lifties, park crew, snowmakers, and staff—for making this season so special. I’m endlessly grateful to call this mountain my home.
Let’s aim to save this glorious chaos for mid-April next time. Just a little longer."

03/13/2025

It's been officially 40 years since the real pioneers of riding this resort first snuck on and poached Vernon Valley/Great Gorge on their Burton Backhills, etc. and began the snowboarding stoke that continues to this day, thanks to Creek's amazing team, led by Evan , Joe, Hugh, Jon Timothy and a bunch more.
HUGE respect to NJ Snowboard OGs Denis Connor, Jason Grossi, Brian Reilly Joe Srholez, Ted Curtin and Greg Moore, Shawn Orecchio, John Brunner, Rick Garden and a handful of others; you TRUE OGs started this ripple that created the wave that thousands now ride, here in the state where Tom Sims first envisioned and built his "Skiboard" in 1963, and shredded the golf course in Haddonfield, NJ.
From Tom back then to Joe Hession and his Snow team, TODAY, Jersey's snowboarding culture remains authentic and always at the forefront of innovation.
to all of you and to everyone who shares the stoke at Creek.
Photo credit, Joe Srholez:
Jason Grossi, 1985, poaching "Great Gorge South", now known as "South Peak"

03/12/2025

"Jake's" own words: "It really was a get-rich-quick scheme"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=984038933822389&set=a.441054941454127

When you're out there "shredding" in another corporate "Day for Jake", remember that Tom Sims invented the snowboard in 1963, over a decade before "Jake" had ever heard of the sport.

In "Jakes" own words:
" I then thought, “Well, s**t man, I can start a snowboarding company and I can get rich.” It really was a get-rich-quick scheme. I did a business plan and figured if I could make fifty boards a day I could make $100,000 a year, so that was my mission."

(https://www.snowboarder.com/featured/a-paper-trail-the-jake-burton-carpenter-interview)
.. Mission accomplished, "Jake". You got rich ...by ripping off the real soul of the sport, and by ripping off Tom Sims.
REAL OGs remember.
Corporate sheep and posers "Ride for Jake"

03/02/2025

"DON'T FOLLOW ME"
CREEK LOCALS stickers
$6 for two, postpaid....4 for $10
Message us at the Mountain Creek Locals
page for Venmo info.

02/26/2025

If you don't mind a very short uphill hike (Stay way over to looker's left), this route is the fastest way to Sojo chair from South.
Ignore the artist's misplacement of the Sojo chair base on this map- It should show it to the RH side of "Giant Steps", where we put the little red star.