We guess all sports need a mascot, but it seems like The Dingo would get tired of being the mainstream media’s cartoon character idea of “what snowboarding is all about, right there.” Don’t get us wrong: he’s a great guy. Nice, cool, friendly, we’d never say anything bad about him, just let us know if you’re, you know, a little over the whole “Dingo” schtick.
[Link: Transworld Snowboarding]
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Apparently, all those scantily clad images of Gretchen Bleiler from FHM and ESPN are a thing of the past as the high queen of the u-jump decides to stop listening to those people who kept trying to get her to sell her sex.
These days, Bleiler wants to show substance beyond skin, and the shift in attitude is the first signal that she has begun to transcend the sport.
“I feel like in the past I felt pressured to bring exposure to myself as well as my sport. I had those opportunities and maybe didn’t have the best advice and went along with it and never really felt like it was ‘me,’ ” she said. “But now I’ve come so far and am so much more confident in who I am and the path I need to follow, and I won’t be a part of those types of opportunities anymore.
“It’s cool, though. It shows that I have come a long way. It’s too bad that when you are a woman in sports that those are the opportunities you get, to show your skin. But it’s a fact of life, and I’ve learned about it along the way. It won’t happen again.”
Exactly. Thanks for taking the high road, Gretchen. Maybe some of the other girls will follow your lead.
[Link: Denver Post]
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From the Fresno Bee:
3:01 p.m.: Yosemite National Park searchers Tuesday afternoon found three brothers who seemed to be in good condition after spending the night lost just outside the park’s western boundary.
The three, who had been snowboarding at Henness Ridge on Monday, waved and ran to the search helicopter at about 1:30 p.m., said park spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman. They were found near the confluence of Bishop Creek and the South Fork Merced River.
“We will assess their condition after we bring them back,” Freeman said. “But they seemed very responsive.”Park officials identified the missing trio as Ryan Westbrook, 28, and his 16-year-old twin brothers. Park officials declined to identify the twin brothers. The three Mariposa County residents are considered experienced snowboarders.
[Link: Fresno Bee]
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An unnamed British doctor, 40, died yesterday while snowboarding in the French Alps.
The unnamed man was snowboarding with a friend above the hamlet of Joseray, situated about 500 yards from the centre of Val d’Isere – and went off-piste a few yards from last weekend’s downhill skiing world cup route.
The man, who was on a four-day seminar held at Val d’Isere’s congress centre, organised by doctorsupdate.com, took a corridor never used by locals or off-piste guides and fell onto rocks, according to local radio reports.
He is believed to be the father of two children.
[Link: Telegraph]
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While watching the 2008 ESPN Winter X Games “X Course” or whatever they are calling boardercross this year, we found ourselves wishing for a new winner. It’s just that Nate Holland seems to be everything that snowboarding never was: he’s brash, jocky, and completely devoid of style. There really seems to be nothing cool about the guy.
Obviously he’s a great boardercross racer, winning three X Games in a row is not easy to do, but shouldn’t he just be a pro ski racer or something? We were looking at the logos on his board and seriously asking ourselves if he really is sponsored by Burton and Electric or if he just puts the stickers on there hoping he’s going to eventually get paid. Electric cared enough to put him on their homepage so he must be legit there. We don’t get it.
Click the link below for a short profile in his local paper.
[Link: Tahoe World]
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The Von Zipper Feenom Googles are getting all kinds of play from the gadget press. Not a bad PR run for a couple Skull Candy headphone earpieces slapped on a goggle strap.
Maybe this is what Oakley had in mind before its sudden lapse in creating the “Medusa Hat.”
For more from cnet’s Crave blog, click the link.
[Link: Crave]
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From the Daily Yomiuri Online:
HIROSHIMA–Seven snowboarders who had been missing in the mountains near a ski resort in Akiotacho, Hiroshima Prefecture, since Sunday, were rescued near National Highway Route 488 in Masuda, Shimane Prefecture, at 9:35 a.m. on Tuesday, the Akiotacho municipal government’s disaster countermeasures office said.
The snowboarders descended from the mountain, accompanied by members of the Ground Self-Defense Force, and were carried by helicopters to three hospitals in Hiroshima.
The seven are Takahiko Aoki, 34, self-employed, and Yasuo Matsubara, 34, a carpenter, both of Shunan, Yamaguchi Prefecture; Shigenori Hattori, 40, a carpenter of Hiraocho, Yamaguchi Prefecture; Akihiko Sugiyama, 36, self-employed of Nishi Ward, Hiroshima; Nobuyuki Nakamura, 30, a company employee of Higashi Ward, Hiroshima; Muneaki Kaneto, 33, and Shinichi Hatahashi, 31, both of whom are part-time workers at the Osorakan Ski Field resort.
According to the countermeasures office, a rescue team comprising 24 personnel from a local fire brigade and the GSDF found two of the missing seven snowboarding along a road connecting Mt. Kyurakan to Mt. Hiromi in Shimane Prefecture.
Acting on information from the two, the squad found the other five about 100 meters east on a forest road. The five were also descending from the mountain by snowboarding or walking.
[Link: Daily Yomiuri Online]
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Calling a snowboard with no bindings the latest “progression in the boardsports world” is a lot like saying the Pony Express is the latest progression in information transportation. Does every cool new thing have to be “progression?” What about fun? Riding a “noboard” has got to be one of the most freeing feelings in all of snowboarding, and we’re guessing that’s exactly why Burton has signed a deal with Noboard to release a Burton Fish that comes with the Noboard foot placement system on it. Congrats to everyone.
Follow the jump for the whole press release.
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According to Bloomberg News:
Seven snowboarders were missing in a snowstorm in Hiroshima, southwestern Japan, yesterday as search efforts were called off because of bad weather, the Asahi newspaper said in its English-language edition.
Two skiers also died in an avalanhe in the Nagano Prefecture.
[Link: Bloomberg.com]
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Yes, sometimes the glamorous life of pro snowboarding just isn’t enough. But apparently, Christ can made the difference, at least that’s what Kelly Clark says:
Most notable among them is Kelly Clark, who came to her newfound spirituality at the top of her game. As she tells it, she was the best snowboarder in the world. A gold medal from the 2002 Winter Olympics adorned her neck. Sponsors were courting her.
But something was missing. She tried to fill the hole with partying, acting out, more snowboarding. Still she felt “hollow.”
Then she overheard a fellow competitor say something to comfort another rider who had just posted a disappointing performance.
“Don’t worry about it. God still loves you,” Clark heard the competitor say.
Four years later, Clark is still the queen of snowboarding, a medal-harvesting pipe rider whose talents send her flying higher than any other woman in the sport.
But the dopiest comment of the story comes from hippy Hannah Teter:
“I just express it with meditation, yoga and candles,” says Teter, who earned Olympic gold in Turin’s 2006 Winter Games. “I always carry a crystal when I ride, and I do the whole centering thing before a contest.”
Oh yeah, that whole “centered” thing. We know it well.
[Link: Statesman.com]
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