Last night (September 30, 2010) the 210 AR4T Gallery, on Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, California, hosted snow photographer Chris Brunkhart’sHow Many Dreams In The Dark? book signing and gallery show.
The well-attended event featured several large Brunkhart prints, a photo wall of close to 400 individually pinned photos, and numerous pieces inspired by Brunkhart photos from collaborators like Zach Egge, Jamie Lynn, Mike Parillo, Matt Donahue, Dan Peterka, Carl E. Smith, and Alex Bacon.
Our digital world is so fleeting, that sometimes it good to hold a collection of work that will survive most natural disasters.
Looks like The Program’s Bryan Knox has been doing good work for the Burton Corporation lately. Today, (September 30, 2010) it was announced the Knox has been promoted to the position of Director of Team Marketing and Media for Burton Snowboards and The Program.
As the former Director of Team for the Program, Bryan has done an amazing job over the past four years not only building up the Program’s team but also helping to strengthen the marketing of the brands. . . Bryan will oversee the current Burton Team Management group and brings a depth of rider experience, perspective and influence that will help to make the best brands in snowboarding even stronger. In this new role, Bryan will continue to work out of the Irvine offices to function as a West Coast face for the team and core media.
If a California bankruptcy court gives the final okay, the Minnesota based Active Sports Inc., parent company of The House, Proboard Shop, etc. . . will end up paying $8 million for the Sacramento, California based Sierra Snowboard, its web site and inventory according to a story on Transworld Business.
According to court records, the purchase price includes all intellectual property, assets, good will, and none of the company’s liabilities. A payment plan has been outlined for the $8 million outlining financial milestones Sierra’s owners, Michael Anthony Management, Inc., must meet. According to Active, the Northern District Court of San Jose, California approved the sale, subject to certain closing conditions on September 28. . . Final court approval is still required.
Sierra’s self-reported 272,302 registered online community members must have factored heavily into what seems like a high sale price for a bankrupt retailer with only one location, especially considering the reported $12-13 million in “outstanding trade debt” that still has to be dealt with by someone. Then again, it’s only money, right?
Mt. Hood, Oregon’s Timberline Resort is opening Friday, October 1, 2010, according to Fox12.
Late spring storms, summer grooming and maintenance of the Palmer Snowfield have provided enough snow for skiing and snowboarding above 7,000 feet. . . Lodge officials said the Magic Mile and Palmer chairs will operate Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through October, weather conditions permitting.
This early opening doesn’t really play into the whole annual “race to be the first open,” but it’s good to know we get riding again on the Palmer.
Wondering whatever happened to pro snow shred Todd Franzen? ESPN/Action has a great story by Devon O’Neill on the demise of Franzen’s pro snowboarding career and his on-going battle with Stage IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
What happened over the next 10 months radically altered Franzen’s world view. Not because cancer destroyed his life — almost the opposite, in fact. In a strange twist he still struggles to explain, cancer — a disease that kills more than 500,000 Americans each year — filled the same role snowboarding had nearly 20 years prior. . . It gave him purpose.
The battle is not over yet, but Franzen’s amazing sense of humor has survived. Click the link to read the rest.
Colin Madden, the former director of sales at Burton, DC, and vice president of sales at Neff,has joined the Holden Outerwear team, according to a release sent out today.
“Hiring Colin is the culmination of an intensive search to find the right fit,” says Holden Co-Founder Mikey LeBlanc. “We recognize that we need to do more than make a great product—we need to deliver it to the right customers on terms that are mutually profitable. We’re confident that Colin’s skill and experience will let us take this fundamental step.”
For the rest of the “Holden Transforms” info, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
On April 19, 2008 snowboarder Amanda Yan caught an edge on the Crystal Road Run and slid off the road and then fell off a cliff resulting in traumatic injuries including dislocated vertebrae and ribs, broken leg, broken shoulder blade, kidney lacerations, and traumatic brain injury.
Now, the BC government is reportedly suing Whistler Blackcomb to recoup Yan’s heathcare costs, according to a story in The Province.
The statement of claim says that the accident was caused by the negligence and breach of duty of the defendant, named as Blackcomb Skiing Enteprises Limited Partnership, the owners and operators of Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountain. . . It says the mountain created a hazardous condition and failed to erect any, or any adequate, warning signs alerting users to the presence of a sharp drop-off and cliff adjacent to the run. . . The company failed to erect a barrier that would have prevented Yan from going down the embankment and over the cliff, says the lawsuit.
A California State bill that would have required all snowboarders under 18 to wear helmets while riding at resorts has died a quick death thanks to an all-or-nothing play by California State Legislature which tied to bill to another (Assembly Bill 1652) that required ski resorts to put up more signage and create safety plans. The Governator said, “No,” according to a story in the Fresno Bee.
“Consequently, while I am signing this (helmet) bill to demonstrate my support for this measure, I recognize that it will not take effect,” Schwarzenegger said in a written statement. Senate Bill 880 would have required children under 18 to wear helmets for downhill skiing or snowboarding.
Kids will get one more season to ride helmet free before another bill comes back around next year.
In a nearly perfect metaphor for the Nike Corporation and the way they treat anyone who gets in their way, Danny Kass is ripped apart by some of his favorite zombies to promote his new Zoom DK snowboard boots. Lick it up.
Nokia (the other phone company) started out bringing skateboarding video games to the street or is it vice versa via their Push Project. Now they’re doing the same this with snowboards through a partnership with Burton Snowboards for Push Burton.
Beginning in 2009, Nokia’s Push project has been working on a small scale to integrate sensors onto skateboards, collecting motion data about tricks and movements the skater is making while riding. This data is pushed wirelessly to a Nokia phone carried by the rider, where individual tricks are collected, analyzed, scored, and potentially tracked onto a game-like interface. Nokia is now working with Burton Snowboards to produce this platform on a larger scale to turn snowboarding sessions into connected games.
Not really sure what the application is, but it is reportedly launching in 2011. Maybe this will get a few kids (and bloggers) off the couch. If only there was an iPhone app for this. . .
