Story & Photos // Jake Sullivan
January 4, 2026
Kaiden Paulson. Classic spot, classic trick. Minneapolis.
“Why did you break the spot down? I’m still trying to get this clip…”
Those words will forever ring in my head. Delirious after sixteen hours behind the wheel, I paused just to make sure I’d heard Lucas right. Twenty-four hours earlier, Tonya had called to say their truck engine had blown, and no one knew how this year’s tour was going to carry on. On a whim, I threw responsibility to the wind and made the long haul from the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts straight to Michigan, committing to drive the next two months of the trip in my truck.
After cutting through Canada and finally rolling into town, all I wanted was to crash. But having known Lucas since he was an eleven-year-old terror running wild around Killington, I should’ve known there’d be no rest anytime soon.
I pulled up to the Airbnb just outside Detroit while the crew was out filming, and not long after, my phone rang.
“Lucas is in the hospital. He lost his finger in the winch.”
My first thought was that it couldn’t be real—but reality set in fast.
Lucas was taken to the closest ER while the rest of the crew stayed behind to clean up the spot. After a doctor explained they couldn’t do what was needed—and the words “amputate more of the finger” started getting tossed around—they wrapped his hand, sent him on his way, and the wise decision to get a second opinion was agreed upon.
But, in true Gooner fashion, Lucas didn’t head straight to the next hospital. He drove back to the spot instead. Seeing everything packed up and no one riding, he jumped out of the van, clearly frustrated.
“Why did you break the spot down? I’m still trying to get this clip,” he said.
No one replied.
Lucas laughed and flashed his signature devious smile, and just like that, it was back in the van to get everything sorted.
The devious smile. The missing finergtip. The one-and-only Lucas Magoon.
You’d think losing a digit in the third week of a nearly three-month endeavor would force a change of plans. But Gooner doesn’t just have Shred Till Death tattooed across his body—he’s the living embodiment of those words that he first heard in my old apartment in Rutland more than twenty years ago.
Fern at the first spot of the tour, Upstate NY.
Over the last few years, the cross-country Goon Jam tour has enabled Lucas to stay connected to snowboarding on a community-based, grassroots level while simultaneously allowing him and his crew to be in the streets between events to stack clips for a video. Last year's squad saw some new faces - Kaiden Paulson, Storm Rowe, and Scotty Korwes, while tenured team riders Jack O’Keefe, Jake Fern, and Michael Throck hopped in for stints along the way. It was a rare chance for the rookies to film alongside someone like Gooner, learning his ways in the streets and getting a crash course in life on the road.
Kaiden and Scotty. Goon Gear's newest team members. Instant homies.
Realizing the opportunity in front of them—and with Lucas in their corner—everyone was motivated to go all in. For many riders, it takes years of experience to learn how to find spots that truly work with their style while filming a part. Lucas’s lifetime of knowledge helped fast-track that process for the rookies, and before long, everyone found their lane.
Storm Rowe. Jamaica, Vermont's pride and joy.
Storm, whose snowboarding résumé includes top-tier slopestyle events and massive jump lines—including the fabled 125-footer at Superpark 21—quickly learned that spots that keep him in the air felt most natural. Roof drops, gap-to-rails, and creative transfers became his go-to.
Put Scotty in front of any kink rail in the lower 48, and this Midwest miracle looks right at home, sitting comfortably on it like he’s back at Ski Gull lapping the ropes with the boys.
Kaiden Paulson at the lake in Minnesota.
Kaiden proved he’s a workhorse, ready to go to battle on whatever stands in front of him. He stepped up to some of the heaviest, most intimidating spots we encountered on the road, knowing he was either walking away with a heavy clip—or not walking away at all.
Everyone brought their own style and flavor to the mix, and together it made for one of the best tours to date.
You can take the kid out of Rutland, they say. Gooner in South Dakota.
And then there was the finger.
While at the hospital in Michigan, Lucas somehow convinced the doctor to let him take the severed digit with him. That decision quickly turned into a nonstop game of Where Is Lucas’s Finger?
At one point, we forgot it was still in the freezer at an Airbnb after we’d already checked out, forcing us to rush back to the house, hoping the cleaners hadn’t arrived yet. They had.
In northern Minnesota we linked up with Austin Young from the Bald E Gal crew to go ice fishing, and before we knew it, the fingertip was on the line, acting as bait in an attempt to catch lake trout. It didn’t work.
Then, while heading west one afternoon across the high plains of South Dakota, I dropped the visor to block the sun. The medical bag—now at room temperature after days in the car—fell straight into my lap. “Oh, there it is,” Lucas said, with that same devious grin, never once breaking eye contact with the road.
Moments before the finger dropped from the visor.
At the end of the tour, we returned to the East Coast—just in time for Lucas to compete in Red Bull’s Heavy Metal in Boston. Ryan Runke walked up to me at the hotel bar in full business mode, speaking with the same excitement he’d use after signing a new athlete.
“I just negotiated the finger. We own it now.”
We meaning the Bomb Hole.
We’ve all heard about being an organ donor or donating your body to science. However, for someone who has dedicated their entire existence to snowboarding, it’s no surprise that a part of Lucas might end up somewhere like the Bomb Hole set, on display for everyone to see.
Gooner ending the tour where it all started for him, Darkside in Killington.
Check out the new Goon Gear video, dropping soon, to see all the chaos that ensued on the road. And be sure to make it to your local stop of the 2026 tour this winter.
Thanks to Slush Magazine and all the other tour sponsors who make this whole thing possible. And of course, Tonya Magoon for putting it all together.
