Two snowboarders, one “understood to be Winter Olympics double medallist” and another an Olympic hopeful are scheduled to appear in court next week in Wanaka New Zealand on charges of possessing the weed, according to a story in The Southland Times.
The pair, aged 26 and 21, were arrested in Wanaka on Saturday night after being stopped for random roadside breath testing. . . Sergeant Paul Crosswell, of Wanaka, said the pair were allegedly caught with “not an insignificant amount” of cannabis in their car. . . They will appear in the Queenstown District Court on Monday.
According to the New Zealand Herald “The maximum penalty for a conviction for possession of marijuana is three months’ jail and/or a NZ$500 fine (US$330),” or about the same fine as running a red light in LA. . . now let’s see. . . who is 26, American, and has two Olympic medals. . .
Ryan Manu Campbell, 30, of Queenstown, New Zealand died on Sunday August 2, 2009 while snowboarding with two close family members. One of the group triggered a category 2.5 avalanche at 5 PM near Coronet Peak and Campbell was buried, according to a story on Stuff.co.nz.
Campbell was buried under 2½ metres of snow. . . . His female companions raced to raise the alarm, and emergency alpine rescue services were sent to the area. . . Rescuers managed to free Mr Campbell yesterday afternoon, after almost two hours of frantic digging. . . He was given medical attention at the scene before being airlifted to Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown, where he was pronounced dead.
Yesterday we linked to a completely erroneous story on a European website involving Salomon and Bonfire’s parent company Amer Sports. Maarit Mikkonen, Communications Manager, for Amer Sports was kind enough to set us straight.
Amer Sports Corporate headquarters is not moving from Finland to Germany. Amer Sports operations in Germany are moving under one roof.
We apologize for unknowingly promoting incorrect information on the site.
Regis Roland, visionary founder of the original Apocalypse Snow films and brand, put his French snowboard/freeski company Apo Snow “into administration protection” on July 6, 2009, according to an interview on Board Sports Source. Here’s some of what he had to say about it.
I think everybody has noticed that the financial crisis has hit companies badly and it has unfortunately hit my company at the wrong time. Indeed, in the past 5 years, we have been investing in costly innovative projects such as our patented bindings, (Our Dual Entry System) and more recently our new ski range. . .The returns have been decent, but as an independent brand, we do not have the financial clout to support such a large investment without the backing of a strong financial group or the support of our banks.
Roland says the company is “not dead,” production of the 2009/10 has been launched, and he is currently looking for a private investor to make the company stronger.
We just purchased the Transworld Snowboarding Team Shoot Outvideo from the iTunes store. And while the Rome Team’s winning segment is well-worth the $4.99 in and of itself, we did get the feeling that we were paying money to watch 35 minutes of advertising. And in reality we were.
Borrowed from a similar sort of team competition that Transworld Skateboarding did previously in their print magazine, the Transworld Snowboarding Team Shoot Out video is really a promo video in four parts featuring teams from DC, Burton, Forum, and Rome (click for team bios via TWS). And yeah, it was kind of weird that of all the companies in the snowboard world this video would be 50 percent Burton, but we’re guessing that these were the only companies who bought into the concept of Transworld’s editorial/video package.
Each team, armed with a Transworld Snowboarding photographer, was allowed to do whatever they wanted to set up the best possible photo/video shoot. All the teams had to complete their builds and shoot in the same two week period each at a different resort. The teams then were to submit a five minute video and 10 images for the judges to rate. The five minutes videos were then compiled and released as the Team Shoot Out, while the still photos were used as editorial in Transworld’s print magazine. [click to continue…]
Pro snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and pro skater Lauren Perkins are joining pro baller Steve Nash, pro paintballer Johnny Perchak (and others) in backing a new website that reportedly will help people learn how to become pro athletes. The site, which launches Wednesday July 29, 2009 is called Makeitpro.com, according to a story on Forbes.com.
These optimists are launching MakeItPro.com July 29, a site targeted to young athletes, especially those not growing up in sports hotbeds, offering them sport-by-sport advice as well as a social network to help connect with coaches and recruiters.
Because we all know that by following a few tips from our favorite pros we all be living the good life in no time. God, we just hope Gretchen and Lauren are getting paid upfront. . .
Five men were nearly killed near New Zealand’s Remarkable’s ski area when they set off an avalanche on Saturday, July 25, 2009 that resulted in 1,000 “tonnes” of snow sliding down the mountain, according to Radio NZ.
Chris Cochraine, an avalanche forecaster for the Mountain Safety Council in Queenstown, says the men were not prepared and were not carrying locator transponders or shovels. . . . Mr Cochraine says the men are lucky to be alive, and that their actions were foolish when clear warnings had been given about avoiding steep terrain. . . He says the avalanche risk in the region is the worst he has seen in 25 years.
Transworld Snowboarding’s Team Shoot Out video drops today in the Apple iTunes store at 3 PM PST 5 PM PST. From the looks of the teaser it will likely be well-worth $4.99.
[Update: As a commenter just pointed out it is now 4 PM and there is no Team Shoot Out video released anywhere. This wouldn’t be Transworld’s first web glictch for the day. Earlier this morning there were no sites at all. Let us know if it ever shows up. We do, however, love it when websites to countdowns to absolutely NOTHING. . . Oh, 4:35 PM Update: They’ve put some time back on the clock. Now it looks like the release will be at 5 PM PST. But we’re kind of over it now.]
Snowboard Club UK is reporting that the European Winter X Games will be held March 10-12, 2010 in Tignes, France.
The event will bring together ESPN’s world class X Games franchise with France’s leading pay TV broadcaster and local expertise of Tignes. A definitive list of the world’s top winter action sports athletes will be invited to France to compete for medals and prize money.
ESPN’s X Games franchise is getting a bigger and bigger footprint every day. Why not?
Back in the mid 90s Trevor Snowden was a hard charging snowboarder on the up. But at a 1997 big air competition in Washington State all that changed. Trevor went in a little hot and overshot the landing. In the crash he ended up breaking his T12 vertebrae and losing the use of his legs, according to a story in the Nevada Appeal.
In the 12 years since the accident, Snowden has become a pioneer in adaptive action sports. He’s turned his “disability” into his brand. Even his motorcycle, a Honda 450 that is customized with a roll cage around his legs, boasts his nickname, “Trevair.” And Trevor has seen a lot of air. His Web site, trevair.com, is littered with photos from stunts ranging from a 55-foot jump over two Cadillacs to a box grind over fire that was broadcast on ABC.
