If you like to drink beer and snowboard at the same time, then Whistler Blackbcomb and Kokanee have just the trail map for you, according to a post on the Kokanee facebook page. And if you like to drink and ride and fumble with your phone at the same time, they were kind enough to include a QR code.
“Kokanee is a long standing partner with some of the best Mountain Resorts in Western Canada, what better way to celebrate these relationships than to put their trail maps right on our packaging,” said Mike Bascom, Marketing Manager for Kokanee. “We’re very proud of our Mountain roots and are really excited to be able to bring the mountains to life in an innovative way.”
Snowboarding drunk has never been easier. Now if they only made a can with a map of the Sea to Sky tourists could drink all the way from Vancouver.
Intrawest, the former majority owner of Whistler-Blackcomb and Mammoth Mountain, and current owner of six resort properties (including Steamboat, Winter Park, and Stratton), apparently announced that after getting out from under Whistler in October they’re moving their corporate offices to Colorado, according to a story in the Vancouver Sun.
An an internal memo circulated Tuesday evening and obtained by The Vancouver Sun, CEO Bill Jensen told employees that the company, the former owner of Whistler Blackcomb, will move its headquarters to Colorado from Vancouver by the end of this year. . . He said the move to a more geographically central location will be more efficient for overall business. . . “With shared services and Intrawest’s two largest resorts already in Colorado, this relocation is the logical next step to the continued growth of Intrawest, and is consistent with the company’s long-term business strategy,” he said.
It’s so good to hear stories of Intrawest doing things that make sense.
The wallets of many Washington State snowboarders could take a pretty big hit if a new bill becomes state law, according to this story on KOMO.com. Washington’s Senate Bill 5186 could fine snowboarders (and skiers) up to $1,000 for venturing out of bounds.
It states that people “shall not ski on a ski slope, trail, or area that is designated by a ski area operator as closed to the public and that has signs posted indicating the closure.” . . Under the measure, members of the ski patrol who witness out-of-bounds skiers can collect evidence and turn in a report to the local sheriff, who could then issue a citation.
Nearly 300 people were stranded for two hours on Whistler’s Village Gondola yesterday (Monday, January 10, 2010) around 9:45 AM, according to a story on The Province.
[One trapped woman] said she phoned the mountain’s toll-free number twice, but was disconnected both times. She then checked the mountain’s social media pages, only to be frustrated by a lack of details. . . “Being stuck that long and not being able to contact the staff at Whistler was really aggravating,” she said. “We kept checking Facebook and Twitter and they weren’t saying anything except that it was a mechanical issue.”
The gondola finally moved enough to allow all the guests to exit. Those stranded were reportedly given food and drink vouchers and free lift passes. The gondola is reportedly closed until the cause of the problem can be completely investigated. This is just the latest in a seemingly annual lift and/or gondola failure at the financially troubled resort.
Hundreds of snowboarders had to be rescued from a lift at Wrightwood, California’s Mountain High resort on Wednesday January 5, 2010 after a lift on the mountain’s east side slowed to a stop, according to a story in the San Bernardino Sun.
Ski patrol and sheriff’s search and rescue personnel rescued 212 people from the chair lift after it broke down just after 11 a.m. . . Some snowboarders waited more than two hours to be evacuated from the lift. . . “Both of my legs got numb,” said Hernandez’s sister, Cherrie. . . Some of the evacuees jumped off the lift on their own.
Guests who asked were reportedly given vouchers for a return trip to the resort.
Maine’s Sugarloaf Resort experienced a lift failure this morning (December 28, 2010) at approximately 10:30 AM when a cable fell from a lift tower injuring six people, according to the Boston Globe. The injured reportedly fell from their chairs when the cable dropped. One hundred others were left stalled on the lift, according to CNN.com.
CNN Newsource employee Rob Atkinson was among about 100 skiers stranded on the chairlift 30 to 40 feet off the ground after the accident. At least three people were injured, he said. . . “We heard screams from skiers down below that skiers were off the lift, and we’ve been trapped ever since,” he told CNN’s Tony Harris.
Another person on one of the chairs that fell was the mother of Bomberonline.com’sJack Michaud. He was on the lift next to the one that fell and had the following to say about the incident:
I was on the other side of this unique “double-runner” style chairlift when this happened. I saw the other side stop with a strange jerk that I had never seen before. Then we came up to the scene where the rope was on the ground, and it was a very scary and bizzare thing to behold. And then I saw my mother – she was on the side that crashed, on one of the chairs that hit the ground. She is ok. Very shaken-up and some bruises, but basically fine. . . According to my mom, the crash appeared to be caused by a mechanic who was up on the tower. He was banging on the shieve-train with a hammer or something, which they are known to do from time to time for god knows what reason, but he was doing that around the time the rope came off the wheels somehow. The worst looking injury was a guy pinned under a chair and he couldn’t get himself out, I believe due to his injuries, but he was conscious.
This may go down as the worst Christmas holiday ever.
Snowboarder Christian Rea, 35, of Tuscon, Arizona died on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at Colorado’s Wolf Creek Ski Area after dropping a 40 foot cliff in the resort’s Water Fall area and landing on his head, according to a story in the Valley Courier.
Mineral County Coroner Charles Downing said the injuries from the landing resulted in his death. . . “He ruptured an artery in his neck. He hyper extended his neck backwards and ruptured the artery that goes to the brain stem, and that cut off the blood supply to the brain stem and it killed him quickly.”
Apparently, one of Rea’s friends had made the drop but told Rea and another snowboarder to go around.
“He was hollering to his other friends ‘don’t do it, go around,’ and it was too late for the young man and he skied down off of that at a pretty good speed and ended up landing on his head.”
Wolf Creek is having a rough early season. After Rea’s death on Saturday the resort was closed on Wednesday afternoon December 22, 2010 when the resort experienced another avalanche. No one was reported injured in that slide. Our thoughts are with Rea’s friends and family.
Wondering what 17 feet of new snow looks like? This photo from the top of Mammoth Mountain’s Chair 23 gives a little idea.
This photo was taken yesterday (December 21, 2010) during a break in the storm as Ski Patrol was throwing hand charges off the top of the Chair 23 for avalanche control. Ski Patrol is working really hard to get the terrain open so props to them for all their hard work during this storm!
When they finally get the top open snowboarders will be exiting the chair into a snow tube at 11,000 feet the right into the Wipe Outs. . . amazing.
Five people suffered minor injuries today at Sierra-At-Tahoe when high winds broke the top of a tree off sending it falling directly onto the cable of the resort’s West Bowl Express, according to a tweet from @Sierra_at_Tahoe around 1 PM. Sierra’s Kristin Cattell told the Sacramento Bee that:
. . . the impact of the falling tree top caused the occupants in two nearby chairs to be “bounced out of their seats and into the snow between 5 feet and 15 feet below.Cattell said the ski patrol arrived at the site within minutes and provided aid.
Sierra closed a few minutes later at around 11 AM because of increased high winds.
The last thing we need while stumbling though one of our favorite snowboard parks is more distractions. Apparently, Mammoth, AR4T and the JLA Project aren’t building their new Round Robin Art Park for us.
“Snowboarding has always been about creativity – finding your own line. Art is the exact same. That’s why cultures like snowboarding, skateboarding and art have always gone hand in hand. The great part about the Art Park is that there are no rules; we can get as creative as we like. The artists can go nuts, Dustin – the person who makes the rails come to life and who is an amazing artist himself – can push the limits, and hopefully the folks who come through the park will have fun and go home inspired, feeling a part of the whole experience” said Torrey Cook, AR4T’s curator.
Torrey may be right. It could be quite inspiring to see something beautiful moments before folding into a face whip halfway through an up/flat/down. For the rest of the details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
If you like to drink beer and snowboard at the same time, then Whistler Blackbcomb and Kokanee have just the trail map for you, according to a post on the Kokanee facebook page. And if you like to drink and ride and fumble with your phone at the same time, they were kind enough to include a QR code.
