One of the best parts of travel is blasting your hippocampus with a solid stream of new sights, smells, and sounds. Sometimes, however, the sounds can get in the way of properly adjusting to life off the jet in a new time zone. Those times call for the cone of silence. And we’ve found no better way to do that than with Happy Ears ear plugs. They block sound at night, and keep every last drop of the ocean out of our ears while surfing. At only about $17 a pair, it’s not that big of a deal if you happen to lose one (we haven’t yet).
The reason we’re talking about this now is that the Malmo, Sweden based Happy Ears company has just launched a line of new plugs made entirely from post consumer ocean plastics.
Introducing Happy Ears OP; The first reusable earplugs made of ocean plastics! Sourced from post consumer ocean plastics in the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans, Happy Ears OP offer the exact same fit and functionality as our Original earplug. Happy Ears OP packaging is made of paper with water based ink making it both recyclable and compostable. So long foam earplugs!
Happy Ears come in three sizes. Order a “discovery pack” for $35, which includes a pair of each size, and then once you find your size, you can order more. We’ve tried a bunch of different ear plugs, and for all-around use in and out of the water (and at concert venues) nothing compares.
The FAA cited several pieces of evidence that Jacob intentionally crashed his plane in November, saying he did not call air traffic control, try to restart the engine or attempt to land the plane “even though there were multiple areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing.”
And because of this, they are taking away Trevor’s right to pilot an aircraft in America. Looks like he’ll have to stick to skydiving and ultralights from now on if he wants to go flying. Hope the Youtube views were worth it. He certainly got some milage out of this one.
Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, the guy who long ago built a business out of shaping snow at resorts around the world (Snow Park Technologies), has been named the new President of Woodward, the “action sports experiential” company owned by POWDR, who also own Snowbird, Park City, Mt. Bachelor, Copper Mountain, Killington, and six other mountains.
POWDR’s CEO, Justin Sibley, commented, “Woodward is an amazing brand with world class facilities and a focus on safe progression that are a critical ingredient to the future of action sports. I don’t know anyone with a better track record in the action sports, snow sports, and youth programming than Gunny. He is an invaluable advisor to our leadership team, and I look forward to his vision and counsel going forward as we continue to strive to grow, expand, and unify the Woodward brand.”
Yes, indeed. It looks like Gunny is doing well these days. Big job. Woodward now consists of Woodward Park City, Woodward PA, Woodward Copper in Colorado, Woodward Tahoe, and Woodward West in Stallion Springs, CA. (And yeah, Woodward PA still does dance, cheer, and gymnastics camps among other things.) For the official word from POWDR please follow the jump.
Apparently Japan’s big air ripper Reira Iwabuchi became the first woman in snowboard history to land a frontside triple underflip 1260 on April 5, 2022. At least that’s what the press release says.
The 20-year-old Japanese rider, a multiple X Games medalist in Big Air, first tried the front triple 12 at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but wasn’t able to land it there. “Ever since Anna did her cab triple I knew I had to do a triple,” Iwabuchi said. “After I came so close at the Olympics, I really wanted to try again. . .”
And she did it. All we can say is, enough spinning. This sort of “progression” leads no where but freestyle skiing where the top 10 competitors do the same trick off the same jump. Reira is an insanely talented snowboarder, but upping the spin cycle is simply boring. Yes, we’re a broken record, but every time it happens we have to say it again.
This was going to be the Ides of March news listers. Then the Holi lister, now it’s just the late-in-March list of news stories that caught our eye and might be of interest to you. That’s all. No snide asides, no out-of-context comments, no misinformed snark, and no 200 word headlines. Just links to stories that are at the top of the news tonight.
It’s newsies time. Obviously, this list is overloaded with Olympic content since that’s what snowboarding is up to right now. And Shaun White is the biggest news from Chinaland. Shaun, and the terrible judging. But, oddly, few outlets wrote about that. Censorship? Probably not, but you know the journalists who are visiting China and hope to stay and/or return to the country don’t want to upset the PRC media watchers. Click the link for the list. And get going. This is enough to make it look like you’re working for the rest of the afternoon!
After 18 years and introducing over 6,000 kids from historically forgotten communities to action sports STOKED founder Steve Larosiliere is stepping down as president and moving to a new role on the organization’s board of directors. The new president is Dr. Patricia Charlemagne.
[Charlemagne] is a seasoned nonprofit executive with an amazing track record. She’s also an attorney and just received her doctorate in education and organization leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
The BBC questioned Burton Snowboards China CEO Craig Smith on why the company continues doing business in Xinjiang, China in spite of reports of human rights violations a.k.a. genocide in the region.
Human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million members of the Uyghur minority community against their will over the past few years in a large network of what the state calls “re-education camps”, and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.
Obviously, China is big business and that is the reason Burton, Tesla, and Intel and many other global brands are there. For his part Smith said that human rights are not his area of “expertise.” A nervous, stumbling interview for Smith and a serious problem for Burton and many other companies as well. But profits do come first. It’s only business afterall.
Smith has added 21-year-old Australia big air and slopestyle snowboard pro Tess Coady to their global snow team.
“Tess brings a truly unique style, personality, and flare to snowboarding that keeps us on the edge of our seats before she drops into each run. This x-factor mixed with her pure love for the sport is infectious. We’re thrilled to introduce Tess as a member of the global SMITH team and proud to have her passion and talent representing female athletes in Australia and around the world” said Thomas Edgar, SMITH Marketing Manager, Australia.
For all the official details from Smith, please follow the jump.
Gotta give Emerald credit. They’re definitely doing all they can to get people to their Outdoor Retailer Snow Show in Denver January 26-28, 2022 (a.k.a. the peak of the Omicron wave).
OR and the Board Retailers Association are reportedly giving away three nights free lodging in a convention center adjacent hotel room if you are a member of BRA and were planning on going to Denver, but cancelled because it was too expensive. Here’s the official word:
Were you planning to go to the OR-Snow Show January 26-28 but don’t have enough funds to pull it off? BOARD RETAILERS ASSOCIATION AND OUTDOOR RETAILER ARE OFFERING “SCHOLARSHIPS” TO HELP YOU AFFORD A TRIP TO DENVER FOR THE SHOW! As a BRA Member you can qualify for 3 complimentary nights at hotels near the Convention Center at the Outdoor Retailer Snow Show. Over $600.00 value! Email doug@boardretailers.org to confirm that you qualify and are added to the recipient list.
Not sure that would do it for us, but if you’d like to go, please hit them up. We’re still waiting for the winter show to move back to Las Vegas where it belongs!
Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, the guy who long ago built a business out of shaping snow at resorts around the world (Snow Park Technologies), has been named the new President of Woodward, the “action sports experiential” company owned by POWDR, who also own Snowbird, Park City, Mt. Bachelor, Copper Mountain, Killington, and six other mountains.
Smith has added 21-year-old Australia big air and slopestyle snowboard pro Tess Coady to their global snow team.
Gotta give 
