Paul Rodriguez was in Sacramento, California yesterday (March 7, 2010) for Nike SB’s roll out of the new Omar Salazar shoe at the 28th & B Skatepark. By 2 PM the park was packed. Close to 1,000 made it in and maybe 200 more lurked in the parking lot and peered in through the fence. Police were on the scene, the Sacramento Fire Department showed up worried that there weren’t proper exits from the park.

Amidst of all this chaos, P-Rod took time to play a game of skate with two kids who will probably remember this day forever.

Today, March 8, 2010 marks the end of the IOC’s Rule 41 embargo that kept sponsors from marketing Olympic athletes during the Games. It didn’t take Flow Snowboarding long to dive back in and begin reminding everyone that bronze medalist Scotty Lago rides for Flow.

We also noticed that some of the other Olympic athletes are back up on their sponsors teams lists as well. While others are a little slow on the uptake.

[Link: Flow Snowboarding]

Iris Martin is a “former psychotherapist” who blogs for the Huffington Post most likely without getting paid in hopes that people will buy her seemingly self-published books. But today Iris is not talking about Mortgage Wars. No. Today she is expounding on what the United States can learn from Shaun White.

White’s recent round of interviews and appearances has provided a portrayal of an old soul in a highly tuned young body–and potentially a global leader in the making, if still in a somewhat unassuming embryonic state. He has not only transcended the myth of the hippie-haired snowboarder on his quest to stick the perfect run, he has laid down a style of being in the world that’s awesome for our times.

Ms. Martin is probably the first (and hopefully last) writer to reference Goldie Hawn, Ghandi, New Age theorist Michael Sharp, the Obama Administration, Bill Clinton, the Dali Lama, Marie Antoinette, Edward Gibbon, and Toynbee and Burke in an essay about snowboarding. After slogging through the entire piece we’re not sure it something anyone else should attempt. But we agree with the premise: we all could learn a lot from Shaman White. . . especially in the revenue department.

[Link: Huffington Post]

For the second year in a row Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen has won the TTR World Championship title. And on his way he won the Oakley Arctic Challenge. For the full story, follow the jump.
Continue reading ‘Peetu Piironinen Wins TTR Title Again’

A Vancouver snowboarder died Saturday, March 6, 2010 after apparently hitting a tree while snowboarding at Big White Ski Resort, according to a story in The Province.

Michael Ballingal, spokesman for Big White, said the young man died while snowboarding in bounds down Whitefoot Bowl run, an intermediate level hill. . . It’s believed the snowboarder may have struck a tree, but Ballingal did not have further details on the circumstances that led to the death. . . “It’s a tragedy. It’s very, very seldom that these things happen, a sudden death like that. It’s so close to home and it’s the first Saturday of spring break,” said Ballingal.

The snowboarders name and age have not been released.

[Link: The Province]

The video includes what went down on March 5, 2010 during qualifications at The Arctic Challenge. Here are the results from Saturday’s semi-finals (read the story here):
1 30 Peetu Piiroinen FIN
2 23 Mikkel Bang NOR
3 8 Tore Holvik NOR
4 14 Eric Willett USA
5 9 Seppe Smits BEL
6 22 Torstein Horgmo NOR
7 33 Mark McMorris CAN
8 7 Ville Uotila FIN
9 12 Roope Tonteri FIN
10 15 Sage Kotsenburg US

There is still time to catch the final event live on Sunday, March 7, 2010. Click here beginning at 4 AM PST.

[Link: Two Left Feet and Freecaster.tv]

We’re not the biggest fans of where all these halfpipe shenanigans are going. Yes, Shaun White got a big jump on everyone with his double-McTwist, but by summer we’re guessing all the top dogs will have them on lock. See, Iouri Podladtchikov already has them (although a little late for the Olympics). Then Shaun will have to triple up and the whole arms race will start all over again. Is this really where snowboarding should be going?

[Link: Two Left Feet]

We’re thinking about putting a little Omar Salazar into our Sunday afternoon. Omar and Nike SB are celebrating the release of his new shoe with a demo at Sacramento, California’s 28th & B Street Skatepark from 2-4 PM on March 7, 2010.

Omar will be joined by Paul Rodriguez, Stefan Janoski, Brian Anderson, Justin Brock, Grant Taylor, Daryl Angel, David Clark, Elissa Steamer, and Brad Staba. Yeah, it’s a pretty big deal.

[Link: FTC Sac and Nike SB]

Snowboarder Erica Patterson, 43, of Hidden Hills, California was found dead in a tree well on Saturday, February 27, 2010 on Mammoth Mountain’s Lincoln Mountain, according to a story in the Orange County Register.

At 1:30 p.m. Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol were told that Patterson. . . had become separated from her husband while snowboarding through the trees. . . .Ski patrollers searched the area and at 4:25 p.m. found Patterson about 50 yards off the side of a run in a tree well. Patterson was found when a senior ski patroller probed tree wells and first discovered her snowboard buried under the snow.

The Mono County Sherriff’s office is investigating Patterson’s death, according to the story, but officials believe she suffocated under about three feet of snow. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

[Link: OC Register]

Stephanie Gilmore wins again at The Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks. Melanie Bartels was second.

“I was definitely really relaxed but kind of nervous at the same time – just a little mixture of feelings,” Gilmore said. “As defending event champ and defending world champ, I guess it put some pressure on me to win this event so it feels good to win.” . . . “It’s really tough,” Gilmore said. “They’re hungry and I think when you start off the year with not the result you were looking for, you just go into the next event even more focused and more hungry and it’s just getting harder and harder from here and then. She (Bartels) was one of the few girls really pushing us towards progressive maneuvers and really using that judging criteria to her advantage, so I’m definitely going to have to surf it up for the next events.”

We’ll go out on a limb and guess that Steph will win most of the events this year. Follow the jump for all the details. . .
Continue reading ‘Steph Gilmore Wins Roxy Pro’