The Canadian Olympic Snowboard team has been announced and is posted on Push.ca. Here are the halfpipe players:
Men
Jeff Batchelor
Justin Lamoureux
Brad Martin
Women
Sarah Conrad
Mercedes Nicoll
Palmer Taylor
For the complete list including the Boardercross and Alpine racers (Jasey-Jay Anderson is on it) follow the link.
[Link: Push.ca]
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Seems like the Frends logo has been everywhere lately. On the snowboards of Mason Aguirre, Luke Mitrani, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce and on some get well signs we’ve seen at the bottom of the pipe lately. Now, the whole Frends crew is beginning to make sense. Frends today announced the roll out of a line of six styles of electronic accessories that look amazing.
Our products are inspired, designed, engineered, field-tested and built to meet the same parameters we have for each other. Just like our friends, we want our gear to be strong, reliable, original, fun, dependable, and interesting. Frends has taken the time to build our gear from the ground up using our crew as the inspiration. For us attention to detail isn’t just a slogan we saw on one of those inspiration posters with a bald eagle carrying a baby goat in its talons into the sunset—we actually mean it.
The music listening devices will be available this spring and will retail from $33 to $88. Knowing the people behind the business end of Frends we’re guessing this could be pretty huge. Follow the jump for photos of the first three products off the line.
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Not sure if this just shows how out of the loop we are or if it’s been a big secret, but last week Yobeat.com uncovered a strange news item in which Australian snowboarder Torah Bright was awarded the “keys to the City of Gaylord, Michigan“. Huh? Then it was discovered that oddly enough Gaylord, Michigan is the world epicenter of snowboard halfpipe training.
Enter the Otsego Club in Gaylord, MI and Planet Snow (who built the massive pipes at resorts such as Park City and Winter Park) to build a 22′ halfpipe at the private club. To date Canada, France, Poland, South Korea, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Italy and Switzerland have arrived in the small town to train, and as of Friday the 22nd, and team Finland was en route to the Alpine Village. Not only is there a world class halfpipe, but Marc Andrew Tart brought his own personal mega bag “for people to learn doubles or break fibulas in,” Corey said. Team USA plans to visit the private facilities after the Games are over.
If someone beats Shaun White, Louie Vito, or Scotty Lago we guess we’ll know who to blame.
[Link: Yobeat.com]
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Gregory Gladstone, 38, was found floating by his board near the Newport Pier in Newport Beach, California on Saturday January 23, 2010 and was later pronounced dead at Hoag Hospital. Officials still don’t know exactly what happened, according to the OC Register.
Lifeguards were alerted to an unattended surfboard and a possible missing surfer at about 9:50 a.m., said Jennifer Schulz, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department. Lifeguards originally reported the victim unconscious after they found him floating near the surfboard.
The coroners office said an autopsy will be done. According to the story Gladstone was a “longtime Newport surfer” who had two young children.
[Link: OC Register]
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The downhill skateboarding underground is alive and well in Hawai’i not that anyone was worried, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.
The burgeoning sport has found particular traction in Hawai’i, where outlaw events like the Tantalus 420 are captured and transmitted across the Pacific, where informal groups like 808 Bomberz of Maui bring together longboard enthusiasts of all stripe, and where skaters such as Ryan Lau have become local legends. . . “They’re their own subculture,” said 18-year-old skateboarder Noil Buscaglia.
Watching these guys blowing by big, green, leafy jungle does have an hypnotic effect.
[Link: Honolulu Advertiser]
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The crew at IllicitSnowboarding.com has created a beautiful little “infographic” that illustrates how a few corporations run most of the brands in action sports. It makes a nice little quick reference card for those times when you’d like to do business with a small guy.
[Link: IllicitSnowboarding.com]
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Hey, looks like the perfect day check out the reef at Pipe (with a mask and snorkel). No VeeCo contest on Day 1 or 2 (Jan. 23-24, 2010), but there is still time.
[Link: Volcom Pipeline Pro]
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Things keep going like this and it seems we’ll see a couple gold medals on the necks of Shaun White and Kelly Clark as they both threw down the best runs of their lives in Park City for the final US Snowboarding Grand Prix.
When Fuel TV’s Keir Dillon asked Shaun what we should be expecting from him in Vancouver he wasn’t shy. “I think a little bit of that and then some,” White said. “We have a little bit of time before that so I’m going to put a little more practice in. . . The team is shaping up pretty heavy. I’m pumped man. I happy for my teammates.”
The real stand-out of the night was Luke Mitrani. His style, speed, amplitude, and consistency tonight showed that he is totally capable of the kind of riding the Olympics require. He’s always been and amazing kid, but this year it seems that his riding and competitive attitude have matured. Greg Bretz is certainly on the up, but if we had to make the decision on who to send to Vancouver it would definitely be Mitrani. And if you’re wondering what happened to Louie “Tiny Dancer” Vito, he sat on both runs on the same trick: his second double cork.
The women’s event was marred by falls. In the first run Kelly Clark was the only top four rider to make it down the pipe. And after slipping out on her first run Gretchen Bleiler chose not to take her second. She didn’t need too. Hannah Teter slipped into second with a super safe B or C run. All Ellery Hollingsworth needed to do was land one run, but it escaped her. With the big girls out Kaitlyn Farrinton and Madeline Schaffrick had no problem stepping right in. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Follow the jump for the results and our guess at the 2010 US Olympic Team.
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Kind of crazy that with all the drama surround the US Snowboard Grand Prix Olympic Qualifiers that it’s taken until the last event in Park City, Utah to get a live Internet feed rolling. Now, thanks to Fuel TV, we can all see the final stop of the Olympic qualifying series Saturday January 23, 2010 at 5:30 PM PT.
Seems like doing more of these live web events would be good for Fuel’s business, doesn’t it? Follow the jump for the official start list.
[Link: Fuel TV]
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To commemorate the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the US Postal Service created a snowboarding stamp. The stamp, created by illustrator Steve McCrackenm, features a snowboarder who looks not un-like Scotty Lago. The “first-day-of-issue” ceremonies followed the US Snowboarding Grand Prix halfpipe event last night.
Alan C. Kessler, member, Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, and Dick Coe, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, are the dedicating officials.
“We are proud to support the Olympics and are pleased to be able to continue the tradition of honoring the Games by issuing postage stamps celebrating different Olympic sports,” said Gov. Kessler.
As usual with postal art, this image appears to be an artist’s mix of tricks and terrain. Follow the jump, check out the stamp, and let us know who it is and what trick they’re doing exactly.
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