Mark Sullivan and the Tailgate Alaska crew have resurrected Valdez’s King of the Hill extreme snowboarding contest for April 2010 after a 10 year hiatus.
“It’s the craziest, deepest, powder you can find. It’s the best place in the world to snowboard. It’s pretty scary, and big, and fast―everything is 20 times bigger than anywhere else in the world,” said legend Marc Frank Montoya about the event. . . “These runs will demand massive airs, Cro-Magnon leg strength and cat-like board-handling agility. It’s the ultimate test of a professional snowboarder in one run, pitting the hard-charging exuberance of youth with the accrued mastery of those with years of experience,” emphasized Mark Sullivan (founder of Tailgate Alaska and organizer of RECCO® King of the Hill.)
This invite only event will crown a new King of the Hill on April 3, 2010. Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
On Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 7 to 10 PM ID Prints, Frends, Burton, and PBR are bringing Snomad: A Photo Show featuring the soul-stealing stylings of Cole Barashand Dean “Blotto” Grey to the The Barn. Make the US Open experience complete with a cruise through these images.
In June 2010 Burton Snowboards will close their South Burlington, Vermont production facilities and move all manufacturing to China and Austria slicing off 43 jobs in the process according to a story in the Burlington Free Press.
“The environment here is not very manufacturing-friendly… a board costs more to make than you than you sell it for,” Burton CEO Laurent Potdevin said Tuesday. Burton will keep its global headquarters in Burlington.
Yes. It is much cheaper to make things in China. We’re surprised it lasted as long as it did. Guess from now on they’ll have to do what Apple does: Designed in Vermont, made where ever is cheapest. For the rest of the sad, sad story click the link.
Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Seth Wescott have signed on with a new drink company called Attitude. It’s product is an energy drinkthat uses good old fashioned milk as its base ingredient rather than a witches brew of caffeinated sugar water.
“Phase III Grade ‘A’ milk is loaded with nutrients that work together to form the perfect post-exercise drink that fulfills the 3 R’s (rehydration, replenishment and rebuilding of muscle fibers).” The sponsorship of both athletes appropriately fits the innovative formulation and delivery of Phase III, providing a state-of-the art nutrition source for muscle recovery. Wescott was recognized in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics as ‘recovering’ from an upsetting preliminary run to finish with gold in the finals of this snowboardcross event. Clark, widely known for her innovative approach to halfpipe, also perfectly represents the cutting edge technology and positioning of Phase III ‘Recovery’®.
Milk always has done a body good but we’re guessing neither of them will get a private mountain training facility out of the deal. Follow the jump for more info. [click to continue…]
Catch all the action from the 2010 Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships March 19-20, 2010 without having to drive on any Vermont frost heaves. Slopestyle and Rail Jam on Friday, Halfpipe finals on Saturday. Click here for all the details, results, and live feed.
We’re not even going to explain why being at Mammoth Mountain March 25-28, 2010 might be a good idea for everyone.
Launched in 2004, the Roxy Chicken Jams are the first and most prestigious stand-alone all-girls pro snowboarding events in the world. By bringing together the best riders, the best resorts and some of the biggest prize purses in women’s professional snowboarding, Roxy fosters greater exposure and a higher level of competition for the sport and its riders.
For the past three years the Sessions Lumberjack Log Jam has taken snowboarding back to its roots with a small NorCal contest set up especially for the first 40 sponsored ams who sign up. This year’s jam goes down at Boreal on Sunday, March 14, 2010. Here’s what Sessions says:
The World-renowned Boreal park builders and park staff will be constructing a unique, fun, and challenging course. Look for a feature with a step up, to step down into a quarter pipe, hips on both sides, pole jams on the step up and step downs, hitching post and bonks. Our hope is to provide a fun filled day that you will not forget! So please, grow your beard out, wear your flannel, grab your axe and ox, and come on out for a day of fun at our 4th Annual Lumberjack Log Jam, presented by us, your friends here at Sessions.
Those who shaved this week are going to be bummed. On site registration will be at Boreal on Saturday, March 13th, 2010. It costs $20.00 to enter, plus the cost of a discounted lift ticket. Register early to make sure you can get in.
Screw Apple. . . Neff does it all on a Sony Vaio, apparently. At least that’s what this new Sony ad featuring Shaun Neff appears to say. Borrowing heavily from the wearing lots of shirts Youtube meme the ad is cool, funny, and raw, but will it encourage anyone to buy a PC over a Mac? Hell, no!
According to the SnowSports Industries America trade organization the SIA Denver Show held January 28-31, 2010 had the highest attendance rate of the last six shows. They say the four-day show attracted 18,932 attendees, 3,100 booths representing 845 snow sports brands, and that it featured 125 new exhibitors. We had some pre-show issues with what exactly a “new exhibitor” was but lets just say there were a lot of new companies at the show and while we didn’t see huge crowds anywhere, it was definitely better attended that we expected.
“For the first year in Denver, in the middle of a recession, we’re very happy with the attendance numbers. We were lighter in some regions but we hope they’ll come back next year after hearing all the positive experiences people had this year,” said David Ingemie, president of SIA.
We do have one question: do the attendance numbers include all the kids bussed in from Denver schools? They all had badges. . .
[Update March 12, 2010: The SIA has answered our questions regarding all the school kids at the show. Here’s what they had to say . . . “Kids from Denver schools were bussed to the Show for a special ceremony. They were a part of a Youth Summit that was held at the Show. In conjunction with the Summit, a press conference was held on Saturday, the day that you must have seen the kids on the Show floor, that took place to announce a bold initiative to get 1,000,000 kids involved in outdoor programs over the next 10 years, The Recreation Outdoor Initiative (ROI). SIA is a supporter of this initiative and any other programs that help get more people on snow.
The kids involved in the press conference were given the chance to briefly walk the Show floor to get them excited about snow sports and for some of them, their first time on snow. They were able to go skiing or snowboarding following their visit to the Show. These kids were not counted in our total numbers.]
