Snowboarding

The 2012 World Snowboarding Championships closed on Sunday, February 19, 2012 with Chas Guldemond and Spencer O’Brien taking world titles in Slopestyle. On Saturday, February 18, 2012 Iouri Podladtchikov and Kelly Clark nabbed titles in the halfpipe.

For the complete results, follow the jump. (How’s that for in-depth coverage?) [click to continue…]

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A 41-year-old snowboarder died after an avalanche swept him 500 feet off a cliff near Washington’s Alpental Resort, Sunday, February 19, 2012, according to a story in the Seattle Times.

The Alpental slide happened around 11:30 a.m. . . The man’s friends called the ski patrol, who found the man partially covered in snow, the Sheriff’s Office said. Rescuers were unable to revive the man.

According to a story in the Seattle Times, rescuers were not able to find the man for “a hour and a half.” The snowboarder was one of four people to die in two separate avalanches on Sunday. Our thoughts are with the victims family and friends.

[Link: Seattle Times]

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Sandra Thompson, a retired British school teacher, was celebrating her 59th birthday with her family at Austria’s Kitzbuhel Resort when she fell and hit the back of her head in what is being reported as “an innocuous little fall” according to a story in the Daily Mail. Two days later she was dead.

The following day Mrs Thompson, who was wearing a helmet, fell and hit the back of her head on the snow, while coming down an easier ‘blue’ route. . . She was airlifted to hospital but never regained consciousness and died at Innsbruck University Hospital – just a week after her 59th birthday. . . Holding back tears, her husband Mr Thompson, a managing partner at a solicitors firm, said: ‘One minute everything is fine, you’re all enjoying yourselves, laughing and joking. . . ‘The next minute Sandra was unconscious and never came around.

Our thoughts are with the entire Thompson family.

[Link: Daily Mail]

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The 2012 World Snowboarding Championships from Oslo, Norway are going down live this weekend. But if you can’t be there, might as well watch it live on Livestream.

Friday morning, February 17, 2012 features the Finals of the Quarterpipe with Halfpipe finals on Saturday (Norway time) and with Slopestyle finals on Sunday. Remember: they are 9 hours ahead of PST. Click here for all the details.

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It appears that not everyone is happy about the way the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships in Oslo, Norway are going down this week, according to a story on Views and News From Norway. For one thing there’s only one Norwegian in the slopestyle semi-finals.

It was the latest in a string of disappointments for the organizers of the World Snowboarding Championships, being held at Oslo Winter Park in the hills above the capital. They failed to secure a main sponsor, which means Oslo taxpayers look likely to be stuck with a bill of NOK 28 million since city officials agreed to mount a guarantee for that amount. . .

Ticket sales were also a problem according to the story. Organizers who hoped to sell 25,000 tickets had only sold 3,350 by the start of the event and 5,000 as of yesterday. That’s compared to the 270,000 that were sold for the Nordic skiing world championships.

Norwegian snowboarding legend Terje Håkonsen himself had told Aftenposten that his goal was to convince “snowboard haters” that his sport is worthy of respect.

Still think it would be great to be there right now. We wouldn’t be disappointed at all to see it live.

[Link: Views and News From Norway]

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Nate Soules, 38, of Telluride, Colorado died on Monday, February 13, 2012 in an avalanche on Lower Bear Creek, according to a story in the Telluride Daily Planet.

Soules was an expert snowboarder who had stacked up years of experience traveling in the backcountry. He was equipped with an avalanche beacon, Avalung and ABS airbag system on Monday when he ventured alone into an area known as The Fingers in Lower Bear Creek, but those precautions proved inadequate against the large slide that swept him up. Soules was discovered and unburied shortly after noon by two skiers who came across the slide path, and his body was lifted out of the area by helicopter. He was apparently killed by massive trauma, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office.

Our thoughts are with Soules’ friends and family, especially his 3-year-old son, Ben, and his wife, Hilary.

[Link: Telluride Daily Planet]

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