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Maryhill Fall Freeride - Pack Riding Playground

October 01, 2015

Here is a pack of skaters coming down through the corner known as "Backbreaker." Photos by Zerene Gurian

We just had an amazing weekend at the Maryhill Ratz Fall Freeride in Goldendale, WA. Maryhill Freerides are the best way to ride nuts to butts with some of your best friends down one of the most perfect downhill playgrounds known to longboarders. The reason that Maryhill is so perfect for large pack riding is for a couple of very unique reasons. 1. It is a private road that is closed for about 90% of the year, meaning no traffic, and very little road wear during the winter, so the road stays in pristine condition year after year. 2. The road is 2.1 miles long, and has 21 bends, with 16 of them being over 90 degrees allowing "racing lines and tactics" to be played out for over 3 minutes of downhill skateboarding fun. This is a catalog of photos taken by Zerene Gurian during her first time at Maryhill, and witnessing some of the fun times being had while skating in close proximity with your buddies.

Here is a mob of skaters stacking up in the entrance to backbreaker, one of the first corners on the hill where people really start to get close, and potentially wipe out.

Here are three OMEN riders getting through one of the final turns on the hill known as Cowzers.
Kaleb Haddish leading Rain Daley and Simon Sneethen.

Slightly out of focus, because Joanna was hauling so much ass on her tricycle of power. This vehicle was in no way sketchy or dangerous. As it rolled down the hill it sounded like someone shaking a tin can full of rocks, so naturally we loved it.

Falling off the side of the road may not seem like such a bad thing, until you realize that there are big drops and sharp rocks. Luckily though, the Maryhill Volunteers pad the outside of corners with speed reducing haybails to keep you from flying off the road.

Here is a pack of animals charging into the part of the hill known as "spaghetti" because of its sweepy nature. If you look closely you will notice quite a few people wearing Animal Costumes. It is not uncommon at Maryhill to see some heinous outfits.

Speaking of heinous outfits, how about no outfit. Yes that is right, many enthusiasts love to bomb the hill in a birthday suit! Here a clothed Cord Brown regrets his line choice.

Look as they all line up going through Cowzers. What do you think happens when the first person falls...

Our team riders were told to go get some action shots at Maryhill. Nate Blackburn and Jackson Wells taking some artistic liberty as to what "action" means. They were both trying out some prototype decks that you can find more info on by digging through their instagram photos.

A group sends it through "ambulance" corner, as the windmills slowly churn in the background.
It is called ambulance because during the Maryhill Festival of Speed, the organized racing version of a Freeride, the ambulance sits just off the road after this corner.

Here is a shot of both Sam Galus and Nate Blackburn hiding under the shade of the OMEN #mobileruckus van, and pop-up tent. One of the few forms of currency at Maryhill is shade.

Here is Sam Galus rocking the skitching edition up the hill, rocking a prototype deck, and a flossin Kitty-Kat Shirt.

Maryhill has been having some issues with fire this summer due to the extreme heat. The last Maryhill Freeride that happened was a Fundraiser for the Wolfe Family, who has been living at the bottom of the hill since before any skaters knew about the road, after their house was caught in a rogue fire earlier in the summer. Here you see a group of shredders finding their line on the road with fire damage in the hillside behind them.

It would not be a Maryhill without the Perkins boys and their Drift Trike Antics, shenanigans, and "send it" mentality. Here is a no footed "can-can" drift on one of their expertly homemade gravity vehicles.

Here is a condensed pack rocking through a corner in a tightly organized chaos.

All Photos courtesy of Zerene Gurian.

-nate
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