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.
Baby Paul Cullen, life-long friend of Jay Adams and the youngest of the skateboarders made famous by artist/photographer Craig Stecyk’s Dogtown stories, died on July 23, 2009, according to a story on Yovenice.com. He was 47.
The C.R. Stecyk photo (above) will remain our favorite image of Paul if not our favorite skate photo ever. Paul’s worn down Vans, torn shorts, and complete overflow of innate style in motion captivated us as kids and made us want to be skateboarders even though we didn’t know any.
Christie Martin remembers him:
I want people to know, that his life wasn’t about drugs. He had great friends and wanted to do whatever it took to support his daughter and live a good life. It just so happens that when the pressure got to much drugs knew just how to sneak in in those moments and grab him. . . .He should be remembered as a ripper skater, shredder surfer, and loving doting father. We will love, and honor you forever in our hearts.
A memorial service was held at 10:30am Saturday the 25th at St. Monicas Catholic Church on California Ave in Santa Monica.
Volcom had a very large stone balloon that flew for a short while over the streets of Nikeington Huntington Beach, California during the Hurley US Open of Surfing. But somehow it “mysteriously” floated away (who would do such a thing). Now Volcom wants it back.
The balloon was seen last at the US Open in Huntington Beach on Saturday July 25th. The rope mysteriously broke and the balloon took off into the sky. . . Volcom is giving out $250 + a box of Volcom gear for the person who finds the balloon and gives it back. If you find the balloon, please contact us at 949-646-2175 and we’ll hook you up.
Those in Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Anaheim or Placentia (or Pamona or Fontana for that matter) might want to look around in the yard a little. Then again, it may be all the way to Salt Lake City by now.
[Update July 29, 2009: According to sources, the Volcom balloon is now in the possession of the Huntington Beach Police department. After the rope was allegedly cut the balloon drifted to 17th Street where it landed on a residence. The occupants believed that a plane towing a banner and dropped it on their house so they called the police.
Now, the Huntington Beach Police department along with the FAA are allegedly beginning an investigation into exactly who put numerous small aircraft and passenger jets in danger by cutting the the balloon free from the roof of The Closet.]
This morning while writing a post about how good and timely Transworld Surf’s coverage of the 2009 Hurley US Open of Surfing was this year (they had winning photos up minutes after the fact) we popped over to the site to find it completely down for the count. Like, blank white page. Then a while later there was a black page with some old content on it.
Turns out most of the Transworld Media sites were down this morning including Snowboarding, Skateboarding, Surf, and Motocross. As of 11:30 AM PST most of the sites were back up, however, it appears to be from a backup made on July 22, 2009. Most all the US Open content from the final four days is gone.
We’re guessing there are some pretty pissed people right, especially those who labored night and day all week to get it all up. [Link: Transworld Surf]
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?
We have to give credit to Scott Tilton, founder of Loop’d Network. He continues to land great press release fodder for his “online community for action sports.” This time he’s lined up to be the “official online community” for X Games 15, according to a story in the San Diego Business Journal.
As part of the agreement, ESPN.com Action Sports will provide year-round news for Loop’d Network across all of its action sports hubs. ESPN will also provide RSS feeds from ESPN’s columnists and bloggers in skateboarding, snowboarding, free skiing and surfing.
Wait, can’t anyone run and ESPN RSS feed is they want? Isn’t that what RSS feeds are? Guess this is just one more thing about Loop’d Network that we’ll never understand.
Ogle Vision video was shooting footage of Elite Helicopter Charters off-shore near Pepperdine University in Malibu, California when they spotted a 12-14 foot great white shark, according to video featured on Surfline.com.
Thursday, July 23rd saw the beginnings of a pumping south swell — and a white shark spotted about 300 yards off Malibu. This is on the heels of many sitings at both San O and Sunset Beach in LA.
Watch the video, the thing is huge and just cruising offshore. On the up side we humans wouldn’t even be an appetizer for a great white this size. We’re hoping we’re just not worth the trouble.
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.
A man dressed like a snowboarder robbed a Ballard, Washington convenience store this morning shooting and killing the clerk on duty, according to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“When our officers got there, the victim, who is apparently a store employee at that gas station/convenience store, had sustained gunshot wounds to the abdomen and thigh,” Seattle Police Det. Jeff Kappel said. . . .The suspect is a skinny man of unknown race in his mid 20s and about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a dark Burton snowboard cap, sunglasses, a dark bandanna with stars, a dark jacket with a “multicolored ethnic pattern,” dark pants, black shoes with a white stripe and carrying a black satchel bag, Kappel said.
If this guy looks familiar call the Seattle Police department.
[Update July 28, 2009: A 17-year-old local resident and former student-athlete at Ingraham High School with a history of violent crime was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with Sunday’s slaying of Melwani, according to a story in the Seattle Times. “The suspect is already facing a felony third-degree assault and attempted robbery charges in an unrelated case, according to juvenile court documents.” via comments . . . ]
