What Now: Build Your Own Bonezone

Now that there’s no snow in the woods, this is actually a great time to start building your own spot. Everyone cool has one — a place where they can go work on their moves without the scrutiny of park hussies, as well as smoke weed with their bros and make sick edits. Here’s a guide to making that dream a reality.

First things first, you’re going to need a chainsaw. Since you’re poor, your only option is to steal one. Hopefully your dad has one, cause he’s the easiest target. Just get him drunk. The most sure fire way to make this happen is by being a giant piece of shit, so much so that Pops is forced to turn to the bottle to cope with what a piece of shit his kid is. A face tattoo is a good way to start. Now that you have an alcoholic father, things might be rough at first, but eventually he will pass out long enough for you to rummage through the garage and find a chainsaw. Good news, you now have a chainsaw. Bad news. Your dad is a mean drunk and you do NOT want him to realize you stole this thing. Things could get ugly. So your next step is to frame someone in the neighborhood. This is as simple as cutting down a tree in the yard of the neighbor your dad likes the least. He’ll have no trouble blaming them. Now you’re ready to head out into the woods and start building. Since we’re kinda useless when it comes to actually using our own two hands, we tracked down the purveyors of Utah’s most famous Bonezone, Ted Borland and Alex Andrews.

Step 1 – FIND YOUR SPOT

Ted: Find a spot that’s off the beaten path, but not too inaccessible. You want it to be easy to get to, but hard to find. if people take the effort to find it, you’ve already succeeded in one way.

Alex: Decide when you want to ride your spot. The reason we chose the spot for BZ is because we wanted a zone where we could ride early season before the resorts open. It’s really high in the mountains, and on a north facing slope so it keeps the snow for a longer period of time.

Step 2 – BUILD STUFF!

Ted: Go up there with an open mind. With the right spot, you can build anything you set your mind to, but you’re not going to find the perfect spot with a checklist of things you wanted that are ready to go. Spend a lot of time just walking around the woods looking for things that would look like they would be fun to snowboard on. Then make them happen. Bringing your own rails is one way as well, just make sure it’s a good spot for em.

Alex: Decide the materials you want to use to build features. We use logs because they are available all around us. We don’t cut down trees unless they are dead already. If you use logs you need a good saw – chain or hand, a solid hammer, and the long 10 cent nails from Home Depot. Dig some post holes and use rocks and dirt to secure the support beams. It is good to so this in the summer while the dirt is soft, and by winter time it freezes and is rock solid. We also notch our support beams like a V so the top log fits in really nice, and finish it with a few solid nails and a good cleaning on the top part of the log.

Step 3 – KEEP IT GOING

Ted: You can start with just a few things. Just see what works/what doesn’t and go from there. It all comes with experience. After you have made a couple things, you’ll learn how to progress with building from there.

Alex: We tend to build our rails a fairly normal height so that we can shred early season with 3 inches of snow or a foot. Usually by December the resorts are open and the BZ gets buried. So if you want to ride it all year they should build there stuff pretty high so it doesn’t get buried.

Step 4 – Get TECH

Ted: you don’t want anything to fall out. try and dig in spots that aren’t too rocky. but you can also use rocks to your advantage to wedge things into the ground.

Alex: If you want Metal in your zone, the best way is to make it yourself at home, either in pieces if it’s pretty long, or just one if you can fit it on your moms mini van roof. Get your buddies and truck that bad boy up there.

Step 5- PARTY TIME!

Ted: Invite all of your friends and have a party. The more people involved, the better and easier it is. Just try not to blow up the spot too hard; stay respectful of the land and keep it clean. And as always, no marks, no busters, and no mark ass busters…

Alex: We like to have a solid camp fire zone for drinking beer and smoking dope, and a couple rules.

1. pack it in pack it out, NO TRASH.
2. No Skiers
3. Work to ride AKA shovel snow, build shit, cut fire wood. anything helpful.
4. have fun with your friends.