by The Editors on February 20, 2009
Luckily, snowboarding has not gotten to Major League Baseball nor pro cycling levels of drug scandal, but as this LA Times story points out, drug testing is a pain in the ass for everyone who hopes to snowboarding in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency actually requires snowboarders to submit their schedule so they can be available to be tested for 60 minutes every day for three months sometime during the 12 months before the Olympic games. Then there are the surprise visits. . .
Mason Aguirre, 21, recalls the rap on the door of his Mammoth Lakes home by a representative of the United States Anti-Doping Agency during the summer as he slept with his girlfriend. . . . “I wake up in a daze and have to wrap a towel around me, and I open my door and it’s like a 60-year-old dude,” Aguirre says. “And he’s like, ‘Hi, I’m Paul. I’m with USADA and I’m here to watch you pee in a cup.’ “
At the US Grand Prix at Boreal the woman pictured above was there to “chaperone” top female competitors and make sure that only their urine was making it in the cup during post event testing. For a complete understanding of how crazy intrusive the USADA has gotten follow the link.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on February 19, 2009
Billabong profits are down 7.1 percent in the “first half” thanks to the US economy, according to a story on News.com.au. Not knowing all the much about currency markets it’s always funny to hear companies saying things like this:
“While the company has experienced margin erosion in its biggest division, the Americas, the effect is being partially offset by strong appreciation in the US dollar against the Australian dollar,” Billabong chief executive Derek O’Neill.
So, if we’re hearing this properly, sales in the US are down, but luckily for Billabong the Australian dollar is going all to hell. Good times in international business, huh?
[Link: News.com.au]
by The Editors on February 19, 2009
The economy didn’t seem to pull Volcom down too much last year according to their 2008 Q4 and full year results released this afternoon. Total consolidated revenues for 2008 were up 25 percent, and probably the best news: “the company generated $24.7 Million in operating cash flow,” has $79.6 in the bank with absolutely no long-term debt. Wooly explains it:
“While the ongoing global macroeconomic turmoil affected our results for the 2008 fourth quarter and full year, the underlying strength of Volcom is well intact,” said Richard Woolcott, Volcom’s chairman and chief executive officer. “In the face of this economic uncertainty, we are working to maintain a healthy balance between being aggressive when we see opportunities and pulling back where we can, including reducing our cost structure. We have a solid cash position and a strong global brand with a devout following. Further, we believe that our product line-up for 2009 is one of our best ever. We plan to approach the year with discipline, commitment and focus, and we remain confident in our ability to ride this period out and prevail as an even stronger company.”
According to the OC Business Journal, however, moving into 2009 things aren’t going so well. Volcom “warned of a big shortfall in profits and sales for the current quarter” . . . projecting “a profit of $3.1 million to $3.9 million for the current quarter, well below the $6.3 million analysts had been forecasting.” That may explain why they cut eight percent of their employees and are giving many others reduced pay.
We would have listened to today’s conference call, but apparently the Volcom audio server doesn’t like Macs, or maybe it’s just us.
For all the press release details follow the jump, or click here for a complete transcript of the call from Seeking Alpha.
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by The Editors on February 19, 2009
While on a shred trip to the continent Transworld Snowboarding scribe Jennifer Sherowski ran into a little pain on a train in Madrid, Spain and was relieved of her camera and some other stuff, according to a post on her blog.
We make our move to get off, and suddenly swarthy guy shoves me hard from behind and before I have time to turn around and be all, “What the fuck?!” I’m on the platform and the doors are closing behind me. And that seedy motherfucker is on the other side of those doors getting carried off by the train to the next stop—with my camera and whatnot in his hot little hands.
The guy is lucky those doors closed when they did, because he obviously didn’t know who he was messing with. That’s all we’re saying.
[Link: Jennifersherowski.com]
by The Editors on February 19, 2009
Shayne Pospisil (right) follows up his win at the Redbull Snowscrapers event with a tie for first in The 2009 Oakley Arctic Challenge Highest Air competition with Norway’s Daniel Josefsen, Terje Haakonsen was third.
Riders dropped down a 130m in-run at speeds of over 80km/h, launching themselves off the scientifically shaped 10.6m Quarterpipe. Josefsen and Pospisil came like freight trains at the giant wall of ice, consistently hovering over 6m. Pospisil was pumped after becoming the joint winner with Josefsen and looking forward to the main event. “I hope it will just turn out as good as last year but today was a good start to the Arctic Challenge and I am really looking forward to Saturday”, he said.
The big event is tomorrows Quarterpipe which has $100,000 in prize money on the line. Follow the jump for the official press release.
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by The Editors on February 19, 2009
So what ever happened to Fall Line Films’ founder Jerry Dugan, one of the guys responsible for some of the most iconographic snowboard films of the 90s (Western Front, Critical Condition, Riders on the Storm, Roadkill)? According to a story in the Reno News & Review he is still running FLF Films.
Today, FLF Films does a variety of projects from advertising for big-name clients to documentary films to art pieces and music videos. The permanent staff at FLF Films is fairly small, considering some of the projects they take on. Dugan almost always does his own camera work even on larger-scale projects—he directs and composes the shots and the look of everything. . . The size and scope of the projects vary. Over the past summer, the company shot a series of commercials for Disney’s Hannah Montana. The commercials were shot in Reno, and they daily had about 50 people on the set, including stylists, clients and extra camera operators.
Oddly, this story left out any mention of Dugan’s days in the Reno “private entertainment” industry, but we’re glad Jerry (pictured right with Erika Frick) is doing well.
[Link: Reno News & Review]
by The Editors on February 18, 2009
These are the avalanche stories we like to hear: A 100 foot-wide slab of snow broke loose on the Slide Mountain side of Mt. Rose in an out-of-bounds area. The search was called off at 2:20 PM after crews searched the area for several our they finally called off the search after deciding that it was unlikely that anyone was caught in the avalanche, according to a story in the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
In all seven search and rescue personnel and four search and rescue dogs from Squaw Valley Ski Patrol and Washoe County Search and Rescue combed the site for about 3 hours by ski and snowshoe for any potential victims. . . .Regan said rescuers did not receive any type of transceiver signal coming from beneath the snow.
Would be nice if all avalanche stories ended like this.
[Link: Tahoe Daily Tribune]
by The Editors on February 18, 2009
When the Whiskey Militia site rolled out sometime last year we thought it was one of the coolest concepts to hit online retailing in a while. The site simply sold one action sports item at a time at a ridiculously low price until they were all gone. It mixed a little of the Home Shopping Club with a pop-up closeout store. It’s a model that seems to work well for Backcounty.com.
On February 19, 2009, Whiskey Militia is launching a site that will do the same thing with snowboard gear. The site is called Brociety.com.
Brociety is the new snowboard-only one-deal-at-a-time (ODAT) store, slinging everything from split kits to steezed out one-pieces to buttery jib boards–all at face-melting prices. It’s the pow-lovin version of Whiskey Militia, with one ridonkulous steal after another (50-80% below retail). And it’s strictly for snowboarders. Nothing but endless winter. Whiskey Militia can keep the warm months.
Kind of goes back to the old art as business adage: do one thing and do it well, over and over and over again. Follow the jump for more.
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by The Editors on February 18, 2009
Apparently Shaun White’s little 90 day test run of clothing in Target stores last summer went pretty well because the uber box retailer is announcing that it has signed the Red Hot Flying Tomato to design a year-a-round collection for the company.
Shaun and Target decided to collaborate again to produce a fashionable line of apparel inspired by Shaun’s life, along with his interest in music and travel. These influences will be reflected in the hand-drawn art and humor infused throughout the line and is epitomized by the return of the skate monster that debuted in the limited edition launch. The collection will be filled with reasonably priced pieces including: denim, hooded sweatshirts, jackets, graphic tees, wovens and shorts.
Maybe this will bust him up past Tony Hawk on the Forbes list, and maybe get him a little more helicopter time for quick trips to his top secret training halfpipe in Silverton.
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by The Editors on February 18, 2009
Brendan Shoemaker, 23, of Fullerton, California was riding Mt. High Resort Tuesday afternoon February 17, 2009 when he slide down a 40-foot ice chute and ended up spending the night out-of-bounds, according to the LA Times.
Rescuers in a helicopter spotted Shoemaker about 7 a.m. today and lifted him to safety, Bonsall said. Shoemaker told KTLA-TV that he made a “wrong turn and just ended up way out of bounds.” He told the TV station he tried to light a fire to keep himself warm overnight, but his lighter was out of fluid and the brush was not dry enough to ignite. So he dug a cave in the snow and huddled up inside his jacket to keep warm.
Digging a snow cave: smart. Getting lost and having to spend the night in a snow cave: not so smart.
[Link: LA Times]
Luckily, snowboarding has not gotten to Major League Baseball nor pro cycling levels of drug scandal, but as this LA Times story points out, drug testing is a pain in the ass for everyone who hopes to snowboarding in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
