The New York Times looks into the issue of global warming and the future of the snow resort business. If some scientists are correct the entire business could look quite different in 78 years (not that we’d care all that much at that point.)
Under certain warming forecasts, more than half of the 103 ski resorts in the Northeast will not be able to maintain a 100-day season by 2039, according to a study to be published next year by Daniel Scott, director of the Interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.. . . In the Rockies, where early conditions have also been spotty, average winter temperatures are expected to rise as much as 7 degrees by the end of the century. Park City, Utah, could lose all of its snowpack by then. In Aspen, Colo., the snowpack could be confined to the top quarter of the mountain. So far this season, several ski resorts in Colorado have been forced to push back their opening dates.
Guess by that time the kids will have to move indoors to some refrigerated slopes. Or, maybe the Republicans are right and by then we’ll be entering the next ice age. Who do you believe?
Yep, Kimmy Fasani, Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark, Cilka Sadar, Arielle Gold, and Enni Rukajarvi certainly do know how to push sticks through the snow out in the woods. Check it.
Nixon’s snow team is happy to welcome Nicolas Müller to its ranks.
“Nico is, without doubt, one of the most respected riders in the world,” stated Chad DiNenna, Nixon co-founder and E.V.P. of Marketing. “Not only by pro snowboarders, but across the wider boardsport industry and community. That feeling of respect is also shared by every one of our team riders, and that’s why it was easy to have him join us. We’re all pumped to welcome him onboard.”
For the official word, including what JP Walker thinks of Nico joining the team, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Emily “Mimi” Watts, a 26-year-old British snowboarder (pictured right), is fighting for her life in an Annecy, France hospital after falling headfirst into a snowdrift and being stuck for 45 minutes at Chamonix on Saturday afternoon, December 8, 2012. She had suffered cardiac arrest by the time rescuers arrived, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
Describing Mimi as ‘heavenly’ and with a ‘passion for life’, her aunt Shona Pollock said her parents and brothers had rushed to be at her bedside. . . The design student was evacuated to hospital in nearby Annecy, before being transferred to a specialist unit. . . Miss Pollock said: ‘She is not very well I am afraid, she is still alive, but she is not very well, the family are at her bedside, they are all there. . . ‘We don’t know exactly what happened at the moment, but we believe she was snowboarding on piste and they tend to do little jumps. . . and went into a snow fall and suffocated. . . ‘That is what they think, but nobody quite knows for sure.
Our thoughts are with Watts and her family and friends. We hope she can pull through this.
[Editors’ Note: As of December 12, 2012 it appears that Mimi Watts is and has been “brain dead” since she suffocated on the hill and that her family says “it is only a matter of time before her life support is switched off.” Sad news for everyone. Mail Online.
[Update December 13, 2012: Mimi Watts has died according to a story on Sky News. She was 26.]
For a limited time, when you subscribe to Frequency: The Snowboarder’s Journal you’ll get not only a full year of snowboarding’s most beautiful, thoughtful, and deep print media, you’ll also get an 8″ x 10″ signed Mike Parillo print.
For $69.99 receive a limited-edition, 8” x 10″ signed Mike Parillo print from Asymbol Gallery—the same “Tetons in Blue” image featured on the cover of our December release, Issue #10.3—and a year’s subscription to the timeless coffee table content of frequency TSJ. Or, get two years and a print for $99.99. With only 150 hand numbered and signed prints available, this offer will surely sell out—and maintain its appeal long after that matching slipper-and-bathrobe set has gone the way of baseless bindings.
Not only that, it something you can order and deliver online. And we all know those are the best presents ever.
On Saturday, December 8, 2012 the kids went off at Killington, Vermont for a little early season rail jamming with Rails 2 Riches. Looks like the East Coast kids are all right back on their shred games.
Our Apple TV seemed lost without the weekly Shralp! snowboarding edits and just when we were beginning to think it was over for good we got his message from Shralp! founder Mee-Z letting us know the edits are back on and kicking off with this exclusive edit from the Oakley Shaun White Air & Style.
“When I started shralp! the Video iPod was the latest shit. Downloadable video podcast were basically the only way to distribute a video magazine online.” explains Christan ‘mee-z’ Miessner, founder and maker of shralp! “Now YouTube is the largest distribution platform for video content and shralp! is still on, adapting to the new situation with even more programs.” . . . shralp! is the longest running snowboarding video podcast and now in it’s 8th year. Since October 2005 shralp! covers people, WST/TTR contests, competitions, powder, big mountain riding, tricks, products, events, video previews and everything else that matters in the snowboarding scene.
Someone’s got to wear the uniforms until Mr. White climbs back in, right? And a few of these snowboarders might actually go to Russia for the Olympics. So here are the 2013 US Snowboard Team Members.
2013 U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Pro Team
Men Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA, Mammoth Charter School) 12/19/90 * Matt Ladley (Chicago, IL, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club) 5/17/91 Scotty Lago (Seabrook, NH) 11/12/87 * Benji Farrow (Ludlow, VT; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club) 3/8/92 Louie Vito (Sandy, UT) 3/20/88 * Luke Mitrani (Bondville, VT) 7/20/90
Women Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club) 4/10/81 * Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT; Mount Snow Academy) 7/26/83 * Elena Hight (South Lake Tahoe, CA; American School) 8/17/89 * Ellery Hollingsworth (Darien, CT; Stratton Mountain School) 9/2/91** Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT; Okemo Mountain School) 1/27/87 * Maddy Schaffrick (Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club) 4/24/94 **
2013 U.S. Snowboarding Slopestyle Pro Team
Men Chas Guldemond (Reno, NV) 4/22/87 Sage Kotsenburg (Park City, UT) 7/27/93 Eric Willett (Breckenridge, CO) 1/2/88 Women Jessika Jenson (Rigby, ID) 8/7/91 Jordie Karlinski (Snowmass Village, CO; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club) 8/24/89 Ty Walker (Stowe, VT) 3/3/97
So what about the Alpine racers? Or Boardercross racers? Who? Exactly. Everyone knows, they don’t count. For the rest of the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The Sprint US Grand Prix Snowboarding event scheduled for December 21-22, 2012 at Park City Mountain Resort has been rescheduled for February 1-2, 2013 thanks to some trouble getting a quality superpipe completed in time (see photo at right).
“Park City Mountain Resort is known for having the best half pipe in the world,” said Krista Parry, Marketing Director, Park City Mountain Resort. “We are more confident we will provide the athletes the type of half pipe they’ve come to expect from us by moving the event to a later date.
Better to wait for snow, right? Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
The New York Times looks into the issue of global warming and the future of the snow resort business. If some scientists are correct the entire business could look quite different in 78 years (not that we’d care all that much at that point.)
