Story & Interview // Jake Sullivan.
Photos // Peter Mirando.
March 16, 2026.
Growing up with Killington as my home mountain, I never thought the words “Let’s do a snowboard trip to Connecticut” would come out of my mouth. But like I said in the first Small Mountain Missions article, the whole point of this series is to break away from the norm.
Sure, Connecticut has been a longtime destination for crews filming street parts. But there was no street mission planned for this one. We were heading to the Constitution State for one reason: to log some vertical.
All 600 feet of it that Mount Southington has to offer.
A few years ago, I realized a lot of the younger Darkside crew are actually from Connecticut—Maggie and Joey Leon, Mike Garceau, Erin Alexander, Joey Okesson, Nick Garcia, Ben Gyulay, and a bunch more. Once I put that together, I kept wondering the same thing:
Why is everyone from there so good?
So when we started planning this whole series, I figured there was no better time to find out.
After just one day of riding MTS, I think I got my answer. When you grow up somewhere like that and fall in love with snowboarding, you learn to appreciate—and use—every inch of the mountain. Riders who grow up at bigger places like Killington (myself included) can get a little… spoiled. When you’re used to a perfectly dialed setup all the time, it’s easy to start complaining the second something’s a little off.
But the MTS and Connecticut kids seem to just ride whatever is in front of them.
The rail is setup crooked and kinda terrible? Perfect—ride it all day and try every trick you’ve ever thought of.
The jump is just a giant tombstone with no landing? Looks good to me.
You can see that mindset come out in a lot of these kids riding, and it's cool to put it all together.
(Disclaimer before Josh kills me: none of the setup was like that when we were down there. The park was dialed, and Josh and the crew absolutely crushed it.)
Ben and Nick handled most of the groundwork for this trip. They got us on a thread with the park crew, sorted out the ticket hookup, hit up the homies to roll through, and basically made sure the day turned into exactly what we’d hoped for—a proper session at MTS with the crew they grew up riding with.
The park was super fun, the sun was out, the temps were in the 50s, and the whole day was all-time. To top it all off, I heard a kid on skis yell “Gang, gang!” at least forty times, which really helped solidify my preconceived notion of Connecticut suburban life.
Huge shoutout to GTI Josh, Amber, and the rest of the park crew for the setup and all the work they put in throughout the day. Also, big thanks to Peter Mirando for rolling through and shooting photos all day so I could focus on filming.
Definitely a trip to remember.
An Interview with Ben Gyulay and Nick Garcia.
Originally, my plan for this part of the story was to sit Ben and Nick down for a proper interview about growing up snowboarding somewhere like MTS—to get a real local perspective. But whether they were in a rush to get back out on the hill or had just given Cheech and Chong a run for their money, this is what we ended up with…
Enjoy.
Jake: Thank you, guys, for sitting down to do this. So you both started snowboarding in Connecticut?
Ben: Yeah, I started snowboarding… (very long pause) You’re gonna have to go first, Nick. I gotta warm up. (laughs)
Nick: I started snowboarding in 2016 at Mount Southington. The first place I ever really rode a snowboard—outside of my backyard—was the SnowAtHome office, the original compound. Matt was my best friend, so I had access to it while I was growing up. My first actual mountain, though, was Mount Southington.
Jake: Was there a park back then at Southington?
Nick: I was lucky enough to know everyone, so I got on the park crew my first year. I didn’t really know much about snowboarding, but I was in the scene with a bunch of good homies. There’s been a park at MTS since the ‘90s—or early 2000s for sure.
Jake: What was the scene like at MTS back then? Was there a lot of older riders throwing down—people you looked up to?
Nick: Yeah, for sure. I was lucky to have older kids to watch and learn from. Tubby was the first person who really showed me parks. He always kept me in with the crew, even though I was younger.
Ben: I started snowboarding around 2015–2016. Originally, it was Parks and Rec at Wallingford that got me into it. I grew up hanging with the older crew—Kevin Tubby, the Buck 90 kids—people who were destroying Mount Southington back then. Josh was always rocking a Witchity Grub hoodie, yellow pants, same glasses for years. I got to see him and Pat really grow up riding.
Jake: What made you guys decide to move from Connecticut to Vermont?
Ben: It was riding in Vermont and seeing the parks here. I started on the park crew in Southington and loved it. Eventually, after high school, I had to choose between staying in Connecticut and following snowboarding full-time. So I followed some friends up to Killington to work park crew.
Nick: Same—an opportunity came, and I took it. I’ve always taken opportunities and made them work.
Jake: How was it going back to Southington this past week?
Nick: So sick. Got to see all the old homies. Everyone was just animals out there. The older crew pulled up —Tubby and the rest. It was awesome.
Jake: Favorite feature down at Southington on this trip?
Nick: The up tube.
Jake: Ben, any comments about the up tube?
Ben: I almost knocked myself out.
Jake: Was it worth it?
Ben: Yeah, all worth it. Clips fire.
Jake: What would you say to kids at Mount Southington who might want to move out of there, like you guys did up to Vermont?
Ben: Do what you want first, but if you want a longer season and the best snowboarding on the East Coast, Killington’s the move.
Nick: Take the risk!
