Josh Dirksen hurt my feelings. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Josh is a snowboarder and he appeared in my favorite snow film of all time- Robot Food’s Afterlame. If I’m remembering correctly he gives a little speech about how he doesn’t “spin the 900” anymore, unless sponsors are watching or there’s some contest. What a ridiculously cool guy. He couldn’t be among the ski-hating snomophobes that seem to be hiding behind every blog these days, could he?

Well he recently put on a banked slalom event at Mt. Bachelor to benefit an injured friend. You can read a description of the event here, and let me tell you it’s a real honest feel good story. Just the kind of thing I’d expect from one of my snow heroes. But, then I asked if I could run a couple photos of Eric Pollard and Chris Benchetler, who competed in the event, and I was told that Josh specifically requested I mention that it was a snowboard event with a “token skier division.” That’s just hurtful. Haven’t all these years of bigotry taught us anything?

Well here are the pics of Eric and Chris supporting a great cause, and I have a dream, brothers and sisters, that Josh Dirksen and I will slide down the hill on our respective snow devices holding hands in perfect harmony. In fact, I have that dream quite often. Call me.

Photos brought to you by Abe Blair- Blindman Photos

EP on his way to being the first token skier to finish.

Benchetler, just another token in the crowd.