In the big snowboard agent world, this is likely news. Carl Harris, the former President of Ookii Co Athlete Management & Marketing has joined the action sports division of IMG and has brought Ayumu Hirano and Kazu Kokubo with him.
Harris joins IMG from Ookii Co Athlete Management and Marketing where he served as President for the past three years. Previously, Harris spent three years as Vice President of Business Development at VAS Entertainment. Prior to that, Harris spent five years at Viacom’s MTV Network. Harris has also held positions at Swatch Group, Burton Snowboards, and as Supervising Producer and Director for Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam.
Snowboarder Magazine has invaded Bend, Oregon of the 2013 Superpark 17 at Mt. Bachelor. Rather than making the trek to central Oregon and having no one return out texts, we’re simply going to turn in tomorrow and watch the whole thing live and online. If that’s sounds like a good idea to you, then you should probably do the same. Tune in on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 1:30 PM PDT and watch it.
It’s good to know that the snowboard industry isn’t going to take all the economic gloom and doom laying down. . . in the sun. . . with a drink their tanned, relaxed hands.
No, with the help of the Snow Industries of America they took action and jetted off to Palm Springs this week to get some winter problems solved the old fashioned way: meetings, powerpoint presentations, poolside drinking, tanning, and good old bro-ing down, all under the auspices of The Committee of Snowboard Brands. Committee Chairman Mike West of 686 explains:
“From company founders to CEO’s, it was an honor to have key players from the snowboard community come together to discuss some major issues within the industry,” said Mike West, founder of 686, chairman of the SIA Snowboard Committee and member of the SIA Board of Directors. “Our discussions have led to taking the next steps on increasing participation through retention and allocating our resources towards increasing healthier sales in retail. Our goal is to work ON snowboarding instead of working IN snowboarding.”
For the complete list of industry problem solvers and the additional committees they’re going to form to solve even more snowboarding industry problems, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Someone wanted to check out REI’s no questions asked return policy, and fancy that, it appears to work quite well. Why pay for a snowboard when you can simply buy, use, and return with no explanation at all. Retail is still hell and appears to be getting worse by the day.
Today (May 3, 2013), Burton Snowboards named longtime employee John Lacy (left) as Chief Product Officer and promoted Sasha Dietschi-Cooper (right) to the position of SVP of North American Sales at Burton. Lacy will report directly to CEO Jake Burton while Dietschi-Cooper will report to Burton COO Mike Rees.
“We’re more focused than ever on the long-term success of Burton, and realigning John and Sasha’s roles reflects this priority,” said Jake Burton, Founder & CEO of Burton Snowboards. “During the past couple of years, John really stepped up and got our North American sales house in order. Now, we want to see him focus on key initiatives like product development & innovation, snowboarding participation and our opportunities in China. As for Sasha, he’s also a longtime veteran of the brand and the industry, and it was a natural evolution to have him take on more responsibility in sales. We have no doubt that both John and Sasha will succeed in their new roles.”
Last month, the annual Legends of Tahoe Snowboarding gathering was dedicated to celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the first World Snowboarding Championships and the life of snowboarding pioneer Tom Sims. In memory of the man and the event OG snowboard legends Mike Chantry and Bob Klein put together this memorial edit. Watch it to the end because the edit includes early snowboarding footage that you won’t see anywhere else.
It’s been a cold, hard winter for fans of June Mountain’s rocking terrain, after parent company Mammoth closed the mountain due to budgetary constraints last year. Now, it appears Mammoth Mountain is putting that all behind them by announcing that June Mountain will reopen for business in “mid-December 2013.”
“We couldn’t be more pleased to announce that June Mountain will be back in operation for the 2013-14 season,” said Carl Williams, general manager of June Mountain. “Next winter we look forward to bringing skiers and snowboarders a great on-mountain experience while also planning for June’s future, including the possibility of a new lift and enhanced snowmaking.”
Now all they need is a new way to get up the face and things will be right back on track. Might have to wait until 2015-16 for that, however. For the official word from Mammoth follow the jump.
For those hoping for a new snowboard next season, saving the money can be one of the hardest parts of the planning. Now, Signal Snowboards is helping to share the pain by letting snowboarders make six easy payments of $74 a month. Each month the buyer gets cool free stuff from the Signal 6 program.
Join SIGNAL 6 now and you’ll begin receiving monthly packages filled with all sorts of goodies — sure to scratch that itch during the summer months. Every month for six months another box will arrive at your door filled with soft goods, CDs, stickers and other specialty items from Signal and friends. The final box will arrive just in time for the snow to fall and that box will contain a brand new 13.14 Signal board of your choice.
This limited time offer ends on May 1, 2013 so click here (or over on their ad) to get on the program now.
That new snowboarding reality TV show staring Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson, Frank Wells, Josh Chauvet and the rest of the Snow Park Technologies team hits the National Geographic Channel on Thursday May 9, 2013 at 8 PM EST.
Mountain Movers, National Geographic Channel’s new adrenaline-packed series presented by Chevrolet, goes behind the scenes to show viewers how these world-class, high-intensity snow competition courses are constructed. Starting Thursday, May 9, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, bundle up as the hazards of winter weather, avalanches, heavy machinery and big personalities present constant challenges. But when metal, wood and snow are finally transformed into something Mother Nature never dreamed of … it’s epic.
Normally, a show about people pushing snow around at a resort would be pretty boring. Knowing the people involved we’re guessing this could get good.
Not sure what it is, but Tim Humphrey has created some of the most insane selfie edits of anyone on a snowboard. Here’s one from Northstar-At-Tahoe. How’s that monster back lip? Yeah, we watched it again and again and again. Damn.
In the big snowboard agent world, this is likely news. Carl Harris, the former President of Ookii Co Athlete Management & Marketing has joined the action sports division of IMG and has brought Ayumu Hirano and Kazu Kokubo with him.
