Snowboarding

Caleb Acker, 22, a senior environmental design student at Montana State University triggered and was caught in an avalanche on Monday February 14, 2011 while riding with a friend in Truman Gulch on on the West side of the Bridger Mountains, according to a story on ABCMontana.com. He died as a result of his injuries.

His friend immediately started an avalanche beacon search and called 911. . . Bridger Bowl ski patrollers and Gallatin County Search and Rescue volunteers found Acker’s body buried in more than five feet of snow about 45 minutes later. No other injuries were reported. . .

Our thoughts are with Acker’s family and friends.

[Link: ABC Montana Photo via Sheboyganpress.com]

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The Oakley Arctic Challenge runs February 16-18, 2011. That’s in two days. A little late to book a flight but there is plenty of time to catch it live online and in Norwegian on nrk right here or in English on Freecaster.tv.

Here is who was invited according to Snowbroader.eu:

Invited riders – Men:
Peetu Piiroinen, Bradon Reise, Janne Korpi, Alexander Østerng, Marko Grilc, Staale Sandbech, Gjermund Braaten, Markus Malin, Benji Farrow, Spencer Shaw, Ethan Morgan, Seppe Smiths, Werner Stock, Mark McMorris, Eric Willett, Patrick Burgener, Sebastian Toutant, Niklas Mattson, Roger Kleivdal, Torstein Horgmo, Chas Guldemond, Sage Kostsenburg, Tyler Flanagan, Zak Stone, Sam Hulbert, Per Iver Grimmsrud, Emil Andre Ullsleten and 2x wild cards for the leaders of the Norwegian Cup.

Invited riders – Women:
Enni Rukajärvi, Sina Candrian, Sarka Pancochova, Jamie Anderson, Ty Walker, Silvia Mittermuller, Cilka Sadar, Kjersti Buaas Ostgaard, Chanelle Sladics, Katarzyna Rusin, Aimee Fuller, Spencer O´Brian, Silje Norendal, Cheryl Maas and Jenny Jones.

[Link: The Arctic Challenge]

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Harry Kearney, the 17-year-old snowboarder from Norwood, Colorado, blew in and snaked the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom title from the old guard (including Josh Dirksen in second, Mike Robertson in third, and Terje Haakonsen in fourth) with a time of 1:28.07.

On the pro women’s side Maelle Ricker won her 5th straight LBS title with one arm tied to her chest, according to a story in the Bellingham Herald.

During Sunday’s Banked Slalom finals, Ricker tucked her arm inside her coat, close to her chest, and made like a one-armed rodeo queen down the mountain, beating second-place Maria DeBari, a Glacier native, by more than 2 seconds to earn her fifth straight Banked Slalom title.

Hopefully, Mt. Baker will get their LBS results website fixed up so we can all see a little more detail on how it all went down.

[Link: The Bellingham Herald and ESPN/Action]

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A 49-year-old snowboarder who was reported missing at Colorado’s Winter Park Resort Friday afternoon (February 11, 2011) was found dead later in the day Friday in a tree well, according to a story on KKTV.com.

The snowboarder. . . was unresponsive when located, and after rescue efforts, was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been wearing a helmet at the time of his accident. Specifics of his accident have not been provided.

Resort officials say the man was snowboarding outside the ski area boundary at the time of the accident. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.

[Link: KKTV.com]

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In a perfect world every day snowboarding would be a WWSRA On-snow demo. Think about it: No gear to haul, a 1,200 board quiver waiting at the bottom of the mountain—all perfectly tuned and ready to ride no matter what the conditions. Pros like Capita’s Durell Williams on hand to swap out your bindings and explain the latest technology, and on top of all that free beer (and lunch). What more could anyone ask for?

Held February 7-8, 2011 at Lake Tahoe’s Alpine Meadows, the WWSRA Northern California On-snow featured products from more than 50 snow hardgoods and accessory brands. Employees and buyers from 65 shops showed up to try out as many of next year’s snowboards as they could in two days.

Follow the jump for the rest of the story and click here for photos.
[click to continue…]

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The world of snowboarding has moved to Mt. Baker this weekend for Mt. Baker’s Legendary Banked Slalom. At 9:45 AM this morning (February 11, 2011) racers are scheduled to begin dropping in for qualification runs. Qualifiers will continue all day Friday and Saturday with finals on Sunday. Organizer Gwen Howat told the Bellingham Herald that this year’s course is a little different.

One feature unique to this year’s course will be crop circles, a figure-eight feature made of two complete bowls connected. Riders will have to choose which way to go. Howat has also enlisted as many turns as she thinks has ever been allowed. . . “This could pan out to be one of the more interesting courses I’ve set in a really long time,” Howat said. “It’s going to be a head game as well as a fitness game.”

Click here to see who was lucky enough to get a spot in the race. Or here for a full event schedule. And yes, there is still time to jump a flight to Seattle.
[Link: Mt. Baker]

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At 7:30 AM (PST) Saturday, February 12, 2011 the Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich will kick off. Luckily, for those who didn’t linger on in Germany after ISPO the entire event will be live on Freecaster.tv.

If you’re into the stadium rock huck scene, click the link and watch it all tomorrow morning.

[Link: Freecaster.tv]

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