We’ve been meaning to mention this for a while, but never ended up posting anything. For the past year we’ve been keeping up on the international competition shred scenes with the Shralp! podcast on our Apple TV.
Every two weeks Shralp collects video from the best snowboard events around the world, VO’s them up with a euro-english accent, and pushes out a podcast in every format known to video. The clips are super timely, well edited and smooth.
Shralp is created by Christian “mee-z” Miessner with help from Boris Bendek (David’s brother) and Quirin Rohleder and has been rolling since 2005. Don’t ask us why it took us so long to mention it, but now we have. The best way is to subscribe via iTunes.
Nike plans to eliminate 4 percent of their 35,000 person work force (about 1,400 jobs) according to a story on Oregonlive.com.
The decision to reduce our work force is a difficult one, but it will put our business in the strongest position possible to continue to deliver long-term profitability and growth,” President and CEO Mark Parker said in a statement. . . . The layoffs would be Nike’s first since 1998 and 1999, when the company cut about 2,500 positions — but not the first belt-tightening measure of this recession. Late last year, Nike executives instituted a hiring freeze, reined in travel spending and said they would slow their plans for opening new stores in 2009.
Another analyst who follows Quiksilver’s stock has downgraded her rating thanks to Quik’s rather large debt, according to a story in the Orange County Business Journal.
Caris & Co. analyst Claire Armstrong Gallacher downgraded Quiksilver’s stock to “average” from “above average,” saying the company’s profits are “at risk” due to its heavy debt and the retail sector’s downturn. . . . “Given the large debt burden, tight credit markets and worsening consumer spending trends we would recommend investment in companies with debt free balance sheets,” Gallacher wrote.
A 14-year-old boy died February 9, 2009 while snowboarding near the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to a story on Rian.ru.
Rescuers said a group of four teenagers ventured off piste on Mount Sopka Mishennaya when they were caught in the avalanche. . . The body of the victim, who was trapped under the snow, was found early on Monday. The teenager is believed to have died of various fractures and suffocation. Three other teenagers were unhurt in the accident.
It was the battle of the boardercrossers as Nate Holland and Maelle Ricker won the Pro divisions of the 24th Annual Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom event. Here’s more coverage (Jake Blauvelt Photo: Brooke Geery/Yobeat):
Sean Newsom (pictured right) is the ski editor for The Sunday Times of London. He’s apparently taking one for the team to illustrate a story on a new snowboard training device called the Human Touch Board.
When you turn it on, the board wiggles. Technically speaking, it’s “pitching, rolling and yawing”, but wiggling covers it — and what’s more, it wiggles at three speeds, controlled by a remote you hang around your neck.
It’s hard to believe he would pose like that in his own newspaper. Then again, he is a skier. Yee haw!
The course was quick, if a bit icy. The riders who could stay on course put up some fast times, but more than a couple cartwheeled past gates. One victim was Blair Habenicht, who fell twice and missed a gate on Friday. He made the most of his Saturday run, qualifying 8th in Pro Men.
A snowboarder named Wetzler discovers an entirely new board sport while on vacation in Hawaii, in this post on A Good Read.
The people (I call them “waterboarders”) paddle their boards out to the surf lying on top them (the good ones duck under the waves) where they wait for a wave to come. When a wave does come they paddle like crazy to get in just the right spot and when the wave breaks it forms a slope steep enough to propel them along and allow them to stand up on the board. Voila! It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. Snowboarding on the ocean. Except better!
Yep, snowboarding on the ocean. . .and he’s even got four reasons why he thinks this new sport will catch on.
We’ve been meaning to mention this for a while, but never ended up posting anything. For the past year we’ve been keeping up on the international competition shred scenes with the Shralp! podcast on our Apple TV. 
