Each December for the past 18 years 686 owner Mike West has been thown a holiday party for employees, friends, and family. This year his annual Black & White Party was held at Hollywood’s Bardot on Vine. By 9 PM there was a line 60 people deep all dressed in some kind of mix of darkness and light, and truthfully, not standing out a whole lot from regular Hollywood night visitors.
Inside guests were treated to caricature artists, DJ Barbie and DJ Quickstat, the requisite photo booth, not to mention the warm hospitality Mr. West always provides. At 9 PM models showed off 686’s next wave of outerwear. It was an amazing evening of holiday cheer that reminded us that Hollywood still isn’t overrated.
Chuckbuddies may be the perfect snowboard finger toys. They seem to stomp landings, never get haired, and come in eight colors. But they’re not cheap. Each Chuckbuddies action figure costs €21.99 ($28 each plus $6.50 shipping). On the other hand, we could buy three Chuckbuddies for the price of one Vail lift ticket.
Vimeo says this clip was uploaded 17 days ago so that means, we’re about two weeks behind. Good thing it’s never too late to revel in the wisdom of the Lizard King—especially when it comes to snowboarding. Click here for part one of this interview.
The US Ski and Snowboard Association announced their “Pro Halfpipe” team and aside from Greg Bretz and Louie Vito it’s all girl action in the pro ranks. As we’ve said for years, all the US Snowboard Team does during non-Olympic years is fill uniforms. Aside from bronze medalist Kelly Clark none of the Vancouver Olympic medal winners stayed on the team. Wonder if that hurts any feelings at USSA?
Denver’s Westword Weekly visited Cooper Mountain for post-Thanksgiving Leftover Yam Jam and talked to snowboarders about fashion. Here are two:
Mike Perle, 16, snowboarder “I like Volcom because they are the biggest company. I also like Quiksilver. Tight pants and tall tees need to go — I like normal clothing on skiers and riders.”
Andy Harris (pictured right), 22, snowboarder “I’m wearing Tech Nine. I like Big Clothes and like to look like a gansta. I think your gear needs to be steezy.”
These civilians certainly know what they want. Steezy, indeezy.
If The Guardian is going to give Cooler Magazine Editor Sam Haddad a trip to Stratton she might as well write it up the old-fashioned way. And do it she does. Going as far as to claim that Stratton Mountain is the place “where it all began.”
Today, snowboarders are such a ubiquitous sight on the slopes, it’s hard to imagine there was ever a time when they were universally banned, not to mention ridiculed as renegade punks who wore too much fluoro. Those of us who get our kicks from riding sideways through the snow have a lot to thank Stratton Mountain for. In 1983 the Vermont resort became the first to allow snowboarders on its slopes, and in doing so catapulted the sport towards its modern-day incarnation. Skiers have Wengen, surfers have Santa Cruz, and we have Stratton.
Well, Haddad got the East Coast version of the snowboard story down, but we’re still kind of stumped by the Santa Cruz reference?
Alternate Groove Snowboard Shop owner Marc Ebdrup may live in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a desert bad-ass, according to a story Cowichan News Leader. He and teammates Nick Caldwell, Paul Gallagher, Don Hatton finished fifth place in the plus-30 pro class for “enduro bikes.”
Duncan Motorsports owner Don Hatton, sales and parts manager Nick Caldwell, technician Paul Gallagher and Nanaimo’s Marc Ebdrup teamed up to complete the race Friday in 33 hours, two minutes and seven seconds . . the big event began Thursday at 7 a.m. from Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, about 65 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border. . . The course covered a distance of 1,061.69 miles before racers finished in La Paz.
Congrats. The team averaged 30 MPH for the entire race. As anyone who follows the Baja 1000 know, just finishing is a win.
Tahoe’s Sugar Bowl Ski Resortis opening today (or so we’ve heard) with what is likely the best opening day snow they’ve had in years.
With 101 inches of new snow in the last seven days it would seem like they’d have all kinds of great things to Tweet about. Right?
So what was their last tweet? It was on November 9, 2010 letting all their followers know that they had “fired up the snow-making guns.” Since then, not a peep.
Each December for the past 18 years 686 owner Mike West has been thown a holiday party for employees, friends, and family. This year his annual Black & White Party was held at Hollywood’s Bardot on Vine. By 9 PM there was a line 60 people deep all dressed in some kind of mix of darkness and light, and truthfully, not standing out a whole lot from regular Hollywood night visitors.
