Hello all, happy soon-to-be New Year's. For a select lucky few, your parents have, for some crazy idea, decided to cash-in part of their 401K's and take the family on a shred vacation. First things first-thank them! Most people can only dream of visiting such snow Mecca’s, like those of Whistler, Baker, Jackson, the Bird or wherever else it is that you and your family will be going.

Snowboard vacations are not cheap when factoring in plane tickets, rental car/shuttle transportation, hotel accommodations, food, rentals (if needed), lift tickets, après drink and food, and stupid t-shirts that let the world know where you did your first backside 180 Japan Air. You get the point-thank your folks, as you are one of the very fortunate few.

The second thing you will want to do is research your mountain destination. In this day and age of the Internet, life has become so much easier to find highly useful information. So, use Al Gore's Internet to your advantage and dwell into the belly of your new resort. Scope the resort's characteristics; altitude, acreage, terrain park location(s), ski patrol huts, backcountry access gates (for the educated and more advanced riders), as well as restaurant locations to re-fuel. Knowing the basic facts of where you are riding will help you make the most of your time and steer clear of some of Mother Nature’s downfalls, for example when visiting epic shred palaces like Baker, Whistler or other coastal snow resorts. Avoiding lower elevations when it is warm could mean not getting rained on. And let's face it; if you wanted to get rained on, you would have vacationed on Bourbon Street.

Three-make sure you know where the town snowboard shop(s) is located. You never know when you will need to make a pit stop for equipment, a change-up of wax, or a fresh base grind after not clearing that rock gap, etc. More importantly shop employees live in the area that you are visiting, these are the peeps that know the best shred zones. Be respectful, you are a guest of their town, tell these fine, local shreds what type of terrain features you are looking for-whether it is steep powder fields, rock drops, natural hits, stick lines, etc. I guarantee you, they will be able to point you in a direction(s) that you would not have thought about going before...making your first day even better than expected. Be sure to thank these local homeboys and girls, and if possible make a purchase, like a shop t-shirt, as token of gratitude. This purchase will later also prove worthy when you go back to school with a 'Board of Missoula" shirt. Your friends will be so jealous knowing that you were knee deep in a remote part of the world, far from depths of your classroom. Be sure to thank the employees of the snowboard shop, as they are taking a risk divulging some of the mountain's gems-what has taken them months or even seasons to find has just been gifted to you, know this and respect the information by not spreading the locale(s) via message boards or like a particular Skiing magazines does.

Number four is important-take it easy, don’t be an out of control chump. Elevation effects people in different ways, all of which are not good. So, take a pre-emptive strike by staying hydrated. A lot of vacationers neglect to drink water and/or sports drinks on the hill which can lead to negative physical and mental effects, such as dizziness, fatigue, oral pain and even night mares to name a few. The key to not getting exhausted and/or hurt is pacing one’s self. Every season I see someone who has pushed his or her limits of not knowing when to call it a day. The end results are vacations cut short with a trip on the ol’dead sled down the mountain and to the hospital. Which brings me to this-having a few suds with your comrades is encouraged (if you are of age, of course) just remember not to over do it. Who wants to be stuck in a hotel room recovering from a hangover the next day while fellow riders are tracking the hill like a junkie’s arm?

Five, lack of avalanche awareness-I see this all the time, and it freaks me out; people going into the back country that have no knowledge whatsoever and lack the basic essentials of out of bounds riding. Any person who ventures through a backcountry gate must have an avalanche transceiver, a buddy, a shovel and probe, a first aid kit, space blanket, food, waterproof matches, a cell phone/radio, as well as a firm understating of terrain selection and escape routes, not to mention a complete knowledge of Rescue Breathing and C.P.R.

As you all know, we lost the legendary Craig Kelly to an avalanche. Mr. Kelly was a pioneer of snowboarding and an expert rider, as well as a certified guide for Bald Face Lodge in British Columbia. If you think you know about snow science, think again. You are visiting a mountain that you are vacationing at-not living at. Think about this, at best you may have limited information on the last several storms but do you really know where the faceted area(s) lies within the snow pack? I don’t, and I ride almost every day at the same resort.

A few seasons back, I was present when Ski Patrol had to tell a family that their daughter and her husband were killed in an avalanche. Trust me when I say you would never want to inflict this type of pain and sadness on your worst enemy. Don’t be selfish-be responsible and stay in-bounds, so that you can go home to your family in good health. There will be plenty of backcountry for you as soon as you are old enough to move out of your parent’s basement and to that of a more mountainous region where you can take avalanche education courses and seminars.

Now, I don't want to sound like Professor “Savoir Tout”, I just want you all to have fun on your white wave exoduses and go back to Jersey in one piece. Which brings me to number Six, be sure to thank your parents by offering to baby sit those little rats (your siblings, stony), so that they can have a diner by themselves...remember you are not the only one who wants to have a good time.