We all hold our breaths each time an avalanche story reaches the mainstream news. First, hoping no one was hurt while at the same time recalling our own interactions with slides, and then selfishly hoping that it was no one we knew.
Unfortunately, on Saturday April 20, 2013, the action sports industry was faced with the sobering reality of Mother Nature’s deadly power when five comrades died in deadliest Colorado avalanche since 1962 when a huge field of snow slid near Loveland Pass in Colorado.
The four snowboarders and one skier who died in the slide all lived in Colorado and were all either ski and snowboard industry professionals or veterans of the backcountry, They were equipped with avalanche beacons and proper backcountry gear. The victims included Christopher Peters, 32, of Lakewood; Joe Timlin, 32; Ryan Novak, 33; Ian Lamphere, 36; and Rick Gaukel, 33.
The group had gathered on April 20, 2013 at Loveland Pass Resort for the Rocky Mountain High Backcountry Gathering sponsored by Snowboard Colorado Magazine according to a Colin Bane story on ESPN.com. Timlin was a sales representative for Jones Snowboards and an organizer of the backcountry event. Lamphere was the founder of Gecko Skins and Gaukel was an American Mountain Guides Association-certified climbing guide from Estes Park with extensive avalanche eduction. Jerome Boulay, the only person to survive the slide is the sales manager for Silverton, Colorado-based Venture Snowboards.
It’s April 22nd and “everybody knows today is Earth Day, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to whoever’s being born,” and to celebrate the day, Burton Snowboards has announced that they have “stepped-up efforts” to support Protect Our Winters.
“Burton has a deep responsibility to the sport we helped pioneer and to the people and environment that sustain it,” said Burton President Donna Carpenter. “We are riders, and we take climate change personally because snowboarding is our life, our livelihood and our passion. By working more closely with POW, our hope is to encourage snowboarders to get involved with the very important work the organization is doing. Together, we can protect our winters.”
Burton is also working to “encourage more riders to join POW’s efforts.” Today they’re launching an “awareness campaign on Instagram. . . To get involved, riders simply upload a photo and caption that shows how they protect our winters to @burtonsnowboard on Instagram and tag #HowYouPOW.” For the official details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Four snowboarders and one skier died on Colorado’s Loveland Pass Saturday afternoon, April 20, 2013, in an massive slide officials believe they likely triggered themselves, according to a story on NBC News.
Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies several hours after the slide, which was about 600 feet wide and eight feet deep, said Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger. . .A sixth snowboarder caught in the avalanche was able to dig himself out and call for help, Krueger said. That person’s condition wasn’t immediately known. . . The victims all had avalanche beacons, Krueger added.
The names of the snowboarders have not yet been released. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (quoted in a story on ABC News) this is the second deadliest avalanche in the United States since 1950. Our thoughts are with all of their families and friends.
[Update Sunday, April 21, 2013 via Fox News: The Sheriff’s office released the names of the snowboarders and skier this morning and sadly they are snow industry family. They are: Christopher Peters, 32, of Lakewood; Joseph Timlin, 32, of Gypsum; Ryan Novack, 33, of Boulder; Ian Lanphere, 36, of Crested Butte; and Rick Gaukel, 33, of Estes Park. The survivor was Jerome Boulay.
For more details check this Colin Bane story on ESPN and another in the Denver Post.
Due to the high cost of half pipe upkeep Whistler Blackcomb decided to close their halfpipe on Sunday, April 21, 2013. But that hasn’t gone over well with the shred crowd. Canadian national snowboard team member Katie Tsuyki even started a petition, according to a post on Pique News.
For Tsuyuki, now is the worst time of year to close the pipe. “It’s a big feature and it’s intimidating for some people to ride when it’s cold and icy, and I know people wait for spring for it to soften up and you have a bit of leeway before they ride that feature. It’s a great opportunity for the public, not just athletes, to get out and enjoy it,” said Tsuyuki, adding that a lot of riders also get distracted by powder and big mountain riding during the winter months, and wait for spring to ride the park and pipe.
The mountain reportedly says they’ll keep the halfpipe open if Snowboard Canada or others “provided some funding.” Otherwise, guess everyone will just have to head to Mammoth, huh?
An avalanche near Vail, Colorado claimed the life of one snowboarder on Thursday, April 18, 2013, according to a story on The Denver Channel. The slide happened after the friends had been “taking turns” riding Avalanche Bowl all day on Thursday.
Deputies say it appears the avalanche was triggered by two snowboarders who were dropped off at the top of the bowl by the third person on a snowmobile. . . One snowboarder escaped the avalanche, but the other was trapped. The friends found the trapped snowboarder using avalanche beacons but were unable to revive the person.
The Eagle County Sheriff’s office also thought it was important to mention that the snowboarders were under the includes of “Dead-Head OG” at the time of the avalanche. Our thoughts are with the snowboarders family and friends.
The latest work of shred artists Ben Allen, Will Barras, Pete Fowler, French, Michael C. Hsiung, Tim Karpinski, Phil Morgan, Schoph, Corey Smith and Owen Tozer will be featured at the 71a Gallery in London’s Shoreditch in a show titled, Looking Sideways London April 26-28, 2013.
“I wasn’t gonna show in the UK for a couple of years”, says Schoph. “But the opportunity to exhibit at a show where all the artists still shred, surf or skate makes sense. The line up is brilliant as well, with such a diverse range of styles. They’re all great artists with their individual deal going off. Standard”.
Watch as time runs out and we decide to stitch together a new idea for top honors designer Kelly Knaggs for her runway debut, then give it to Manu Dominguez and Pat Garvin to shred and prove we didn’t just use safety pins and double sided tape. Sew, what are you waiting for?
Former shred photographer Thomas Stöeckli a.k.a. “Creager” talks photography, snowboarding photography, and where his photography is going now that he’s not shooting the shred any longer with The Morning News co-founder Roscrans Baldwin.
I had a very good decade of capturing some of the world’s best riders and chasing the snow around the globe. It offered me so much, snowboarding in general, I still cannot believe where it brought me to today. It is still my favorite thing to do in my spare time. But snowboard photography is only a little piece of the whole cake. I was always hungry for more. Plus, I could not imagine myself being a 40-year-old dude traveling all year with 16-year-olds.
Yes, that is a problem. For the rest of Stöeckli’s interview click the link.
Far From Home is the story of Brolin Mawejje. Born in Uganda, Mawejje moved to America in 2004. Now, “nearly a decade later, he finds himself in Salt Lake City, Utah; studying towards a doctorate in Neuro-Oncology at Westminster College and training to represent Uganda in the 2018 Winter Olympics as a snowboarder.”
We all hold our breaths each time an avalanche story reaches the mainstream news. First, hoping no one was hurt while at the same time recalling our own interactions with slides, and then selfishly hoping that it was no one we knew.
