Snowboarder Nic Sauve and his ER doc wife, Geneviève Gaumond, have built a stylish little mountain get away in the hills on Mont Tourbillon near Lac-Beauport, Quebec, according to a story in Maclean’s.
Inspired by their mutual love of Québécois architect Pierre Thibault, Sauve and Gaumond envisioned a tiny two-floor retreat that used only three materials—bleached wood, grey aluminum and white tile—to minimize visual noise. The build cost roughly $400,000. “We wanted the design, textures and colours of the chalet to be linear, sober and clean, so the house kind of fades away and lets you connect with the surrounding nature,” says Sauve.
The cabin is currently being rented out on AirBnB so if you’re in the area maybe you can stay there. . . or in one of the Sauve’s two other modern masterpieces. All the info is right here: chaletsmicroelement.com.
Have enjoyed Lydon’s music since Never Mind the Bollocks. Our thoughts go out to Lydon and his wife. And the song? What better way to slide into the weekend. Aloha, indeed.
A group of female Alpine snowboarders has sued former coach Peter Foley, along with the US Ski Snowboard organization, its former CEO and others for “sex trafficking, harassment, and enabling and covering up repeated acts of sexual assault and misconduct,” according to a story on ESPN.com.
Three-time Olympian Rosey Fletcher, 2010 Olympian Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and former national team member Erin O’Malley alleged in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that Foley, the national federation, its longtime CEO Gale “Tiger” Shaw and the USOPC “conspired and acted in concert with one another to commit unlawful acts.”
No one from the defense has weighed in on this most recent lawsuit. Previously, Foley’s lawyer Howard Jacobs stated that all the allegations were false. For all the details, please click the link.
Thank you, Travis Rice. Thank you for leaving out the helicopters filming helicopters. Thank you for cutting it all down to snowboarding. Thank you for taking the sickest drops, for slicing all those spines. Thank you for the perfect snow and brilliant light. Thank you for the epic POV. But, thank you most of all for riding all those lines so we don’t have to (even though watching this kinda makes us feel like we did)!
Ever since Doug Palladini disappeared mysteriously and suddenly as Vans global brand president on March 17, 2022, we’ve had a nagging sense of “wonder what happened to Doug?” And not being close to Doug it was not a story we pursued with anything nearing tenacity. We’d ask here and there, some would make hints, but no one seemed to have the details, or was willing to share them with us.
Well, last month, on December 28, 2022 Doug shared his story with his Instagram followers. It goes something like this:
On December 28, 2021, I went to see the cardiologist with a strange “twinge” in my left shoulder. Two hours later, I was in the cardiac ICU and two days later I was recovering from quadruple bypass open heart surgery. Today, exactly one year later, as I watch the sun come up over the Sierra’s, I am overcome with gratitude: gratitude to still be here, gratitude for the doctors and nurses who literally saved my life, and gratitude for all of the friends and family who got me through a very difficult recovery. Because of your love and support I am today the healthiest I have been in 20 years, because without health, nothing else matters.
Great news. According to his most recent Insta post, Doug is now an adjunct professor at San Diego State University (his alma mater) teaching, no surprise, brand marketing and communications. As so many have pointed out, those seniors are lucky to tap into a wealth of in-the-trenches wisdom from someone who has done it all and done it well. Seriously.
The specially-developed app on Apple Watch syncs with the scoring system in real time. This provides athletes in competition with the information they need including scores, wave priority, and time in the heat directly to their wrist. Apple Watch is uniquely suited for this task due to its large bright screen, durable design, and cellular connectivity.
Surfers will have their choice of the Apple Watch 8 or Apple Watch Ultra while surfing their heat. Not the worst move this entertainment company has made in the past.
The San Francisco Standard has an interesting piece on Thrasher owner Tony Vitello made up of quotes from a September 2022 interview in which he discusses Jake Phelps’ fentanyl overdose and why Thrasher didn’t mention Phelps’ cause of death when the news broke. And, more importantly, why Tony was even willing to speak about Phelps’ death with The Standard in the first place:
“There was some concern about Jake’s parent’s reaction to how he passed. And my position was—and has always been—that his family’s word is the word I go by. And that’s why we’re here in this interview today because Marie [Phelps] told me that she wants to talk about it and that she thinks it’s important to talk about.”
No one is ever happy with these kinds of stories. And yes, it’s kind of sus to point the finger at anyone for how they handled a personal tragedy while they were in the middle of it. Drugs are bad, kids. Don’t do ’em.
It was a great show. Fun to watch. The waves were huge. And a 27-year-old Oahu lifeguard named Luke Shepardson fittingly won the 2023 Eddie Aikau Invitational. We were most stoked by the fact that the event, which some argued would never happen without a previous corporate sponsor’s involvement, seemed to run flawlessly. The crowd onshore was massive (estimated at 50,000), the Kam was a parking lot, and the live show rolled well all day with all the angles any fan of big wave surfing could ask for. Best surf event ever? We think so.
Top 10 results went like this:
Luke Shepardson
John John Florence
Mark Healey
Billy Kemper
Kai Lenny
Ezekiel Lau (Best Wave of the Day)
Landon McNamara
Keali’i Mamala
Lucas Chianca
Ross Clarke-Jones
Paige Alms was the highest placing female surfer in 31st place ahead of Makani Adric, and Keala Kennelly.
Congratulations to the Aikau family and everyone involved with making January 22, 2023 an epic day at The Bay for everyone. For full results and coverage check out Surfline.com. Or, just press play to watch the whole thing.
It is sad to see them go. It really is. Snow Valley, one of California’s last independent snow resorts (a quiet, fun place where neither super mega pass was accepted) has been devoured by the Alterra Mountain Company, according to a press release from the Denver, Colorado based mega resort corp.
“Snow Valley Mountain Resort has been a treasured destination since 1924 and together we will continue its incredible legacy,” said Kevin Somes, Vice President and General Manager of Snow Valley Mountain Resort. “By becoming a member of the Alterra Mountain Company family of destinations, Snow Valley will continue to deliver exceptional guest experiences to ski and snow enthusiasts in Southern California and beyond.”
Sadly, it will also limit the ability of Southern California snowboarders to ride a mountain without handing over all their shred money to the Alterra Mountain Company a year in advance in the form of a super-mega pass. If business goes a usual, Alterra will raise the prices at Snow Valley so high that only super-mega pass holders will be able to afford a visit. Resort consolidation is bad for everyone. Snow Valley, we will miss you. But, we guess somebody’s gonna have to jump. For the official word from Alterra, please click to continue.
A group of female Alpine snowboarders has sued former coach Peter Foley, along with the 
Ever since Doug Palladini disappeared mysteriously and suddenly as 
It is sad to see them go. It really is. 
