Legendary snowboard lensman Jon Foster will present a solo show titled Free Movement: Timeless Moments in Surf and Snow at Bottlecraft Beer Shop and Tasting Room in San Diego, California’s Little Italy neighborhood on Saturday evening August 25, 2012.
The show will feature a sampling of Foster’s 1970’s classic surf style and 1990’s classic snowboarding style images. Show begins at 6 PM. Bottlecraft is located at 2161 India Street in San Diego. If you’re in the SoCal zone, don’t miss this.
While that silly sport where six snowboarders bomb down the same race course all together is still in the Olympics, it will not be in the 2013 X Games, according to a story on ESPN.com/Action.
“There wasn’t one single factor that led to this decision,” said Tim Reed, senior director of content strategy for ESPN X Games. “It just comes down to filling the schedule with how much we believe we need to make the event enjoyable to the fans and deliver on what we need from a product standpoint.”
Reminds us of the way we felt when ESPN cut super modified shovel racing from their live, faux-sporting, action entertainment television event schedule. Yeah, we didn’t feel anything at all. Hey, maybe someday, there won’t even be an X Games.
It’s amazing that with season after season of delivering ground breakngly progressive video parts that Burton’s Jeremy Jones isn’t ready to coast for a season or two . According to the second teaser from Burton’s upcoming film 13, nothing could be further from the truth:
I just want people to get stoked on snowboarding and take away a different idea set. . . . I guess that’s the driving force. It’s just like, what can somebody see me do that’s going to get them stoked.”
With the addition of Slopestyle to the Sochi Olympics in 2014, medal magnate Shaun White believes he’ll have the chance to nab even more Olympic glory, according to an interview with Buzzfeed.
“I’ve actually got more medals in that event than the other one. I just don’t do it, because it’s not at the Olympics.”
Because if it’s not in the Olympics, there’s no reason to do it, right? Snowboarding is a business, after all. Listen to the entire interview here (we have no idea who those people are):
Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi’s flying through the apperati in the women’s final.
The New Zealand OpenBurton High Fives “invitational” contest in Wanaka, New Zealand wrapped up the Slopestyle finals today with Mikkel Bang and Enni Rukajarvi taking the top spots.
Burton rider Mikkel Bang (NOR) was the clear standout throughout the men’s competition as he took the lead right off the bat with his first run score of 91.00 – only to top it on his second run with 95.40 points. Mikkel’s winning run started out with a switch backside 1, front 270, back 5, switch back 12, front 10 double, and a backside rodeo 5 stale over the final hip jump. Head Judge, Mel Simmons, commented, “Mikkel’s run had everything, it was tech, it had the spins, and it was totally stomped. It was the complete package”.
For the rest of the official word from Burton, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Chainsaw Productions’Shaun Palmer documentary The Miserable Champion is finally available on DVD and shipping, according to a story on Pinkbike.com.
The Miserable Champion is a shocking portrait of one of the most notorious athletes of all-time, action sports’ hero Shaun Palmer. 7 Sports, 7 Times World Champion, 6 X-Games Gold, 38 Elite Victories, 117 Tour Podiums and ESPY 2006 “Action Sports Athlete of the Year”. USA Today asks the question “Is This The World’s Greatest Athlete?”
This episode without a doubt will lure you in and make you smile as we tackle our first build of the season combining Abel fly reels and Signal snowboards for the ultimate catch and release adventure on the Mt. Hood glacier with pro snowboarder Kazu Kokubo and Yusaku Horii!
This also marks the beginning of a new partnership between Signal Snowboards and the Network A Youtube channel. For more on that, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Over the weekend a photo got out that allegedly shows a banner for the 2013 US Open Snowboard at Vail, Colorado. It was posted on the AngrySnowboarder.com site, then reposted on Yobeat.com.
Now, Burton has officially released the information. “Burton Snowboards and Vail Mountain officially announced today that the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships is moving to Vail, Colorado starting in 2013. The 31st edition of the US Open will take place at Vail’s Golden Peak from February 25 – March 2, 2013.”
Here’s what Jake has to say about it:
First off, I just want to thank Stratton Mountain in Vermont where the US Open took place for so long,” said Jake. “Stratton not only hosted the Open for 27 years, but also played a pivotal role in making resort riding a reality. And as we look to the future progression of the US Open, I feel that Vail offers us the ideal venue to host the event. Vail is an incredible mountain and has been my snowboarding home-away-from-home for over 20 years. I have no doubt that the US Open at Vail will only grow in its legacy as the premier rider-driven event in the world.”
Moving the Open to Vail kind of makes it just another contest and rips the whole heritage thing out by the roots, but changes have to be made sometime and it might as well be now. Have to admit we’re not going to miss that cross country flight. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
A 28-year-old snowboarder from Sydney, Australia died at New South Wales Thredbo Resort on Friday, July 27, 2012 after slamming into a tree, according to a story in the Canberra Times.
The Sydney man suffered ‘‘massive internal injuries’’ and died almost instantly after hitting a tree about 11.30am on Thredbo’s Supertrail run, police say. . . He was treated by a number of off-duty doctors and the Thredbo Ski Patrol also responded. . . But the man was dead before he arrived at the Thredbo medical centre.
The SnowSports Industries America released their participation numbers from the 2011-2012 winter season and as you might imagine (given last season’s dismal snowfall) and aside from snowshoeing and Telemarking everything was down.
Overall, snow sports participation fell from 21M to 19.8M. An additional 8.8M people said they considered themselves skiers or snowboarders, but have not participated in the last two seasons, most often due to time constraints. Alpine ski participation fell 11% to 10.2M, snowboarding participation declined 8% to 7.6M and cross country skiing participation fell 5% to 4.3M participants.
We’re guessing splitboarding would have been up as well if it had been tracked. When financial times are tough, we would expect more people to be taking to the backcountry and skipping the $100 a day lift tickets. Follow the jump for the official word from SIA. [click to continue…]
