by The Editors on February 11, 2008
The Bellingham Herald reports on the Legendary Banked Slalom.
It took a bit of anxiety and an ill-timed break right in its midsection, but the Legendary Banked Slalom celebrated another successful year Sunday. . . The event’s second day (Saturday) didn’t happen and its third day nearly didn’t, but all the necessary factors came together early Sunday morning and the show went on.
The Mt. Baker Highway was closed due to avalanche danger, but on Sunday it was all go.
[Link: The Bellingham Herald]
by The Editors on February 11, 2008
We guess when you design your own contest the chances of you winning it are pretty good. That’s exactly what happened for Travis Rice. According to an early press release the Natural Selection contest was created by Travis and funded by Quiksilver:
This innovative event is the brainchild of Quiksilver athlete and one of today’s most versatile and accomplished snowboarders, Travis Rice, who envisioned a competition that removes the constructs of snow parks and half-pipes, and instead uses a natural-terrain course to bring out the best in riders’ style and technique.
Seems kind of weird to compete in your own contest, but apparently Travis has no problem with it. Congrats, Travis and Quiksilver is nice that you aren’t letting a little thing called a “conflict of interest” get in the way of some great riding.
[Link: Transworld Snowboarding]
by The Editors on February 11, 2008
From Press Media Wire:
A record number of fans consumed the extensive Winter X Games 12 content featured across ESPN’s many global ESPN and ABC distribution platforms, including television, Internet, iPods and more. The unprecedented multimedia offerings provided complete coverage of the world’s leading winter action sports competition, held January 24-27 in Aspen, Colorado, to fans everywhere.
Yeah, the press release is a little over the top, but they did the media right this year, no doubt.
[Link: Press Media Wire]
by The Editors on February 6, 2008
From BusinessWire:
Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) a leading specialty retailer of action sports related apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories, today announced the company’s comparable store sales increased 1.7% for the four-week period ended February 2, 2008, versus a comparable store sales increase of 12.4% for the four-week period ended February 3, 2007. Total net sales for the four-week period ended February 2, 2008 increased 16.3% to $20.7 million, compared to $17.8 million for the four-week period ended February 3, 2007. Due to the addition of the 53rd week in fiscal 2006, January 2007 had five weeks of sales versus January 2008 which had four weeks of sales. Total net sales for the four-week period ended February 2, 2008 decreased 11.7% to $20.7 million, compared to $23.4 million for the five-week period ended February 3, 2007 due to the loss of one week of sales in fiscal January 2008.
To hear the Zumiez prerecorded January sales message, please dial (888) 317-6095 (no passcode is required).
We’re going to dial it up right now just for kicks.
[Link: BusinessWire]
by The Editors on February 6, 2008
We guess all sports need a mascot, but it seems like The Dingo would get tired of being the mainstream media’s cartoon character idea of “what snowboarding is all about, right there.” Don’t get us wrong: he’s a great guy. Nice, cool, friendly, we’d never say anything bad about him, just let us know if you’re, you know, a little over the whole “Dingo” schtick.
[Link: Transworld Snowboarding]
by The Editors on February 6, 2008
Apparently, all those scantily clad images of Gretchen Bleiler from FHM and ESPN are a thing of the past as the high queen of the u-jump decides to stop listening to those people who kept trying to get her to sell her sex.
These days, Bleiler wants to show substance beyond skin, and the shift in attitude is the first signal that she has begun to transcend the sport.
“I feel like in the past I felt pressured to bring exposure to myself as well as my sport. I had those opportunities and maybe didn’t have the best advice and went along with it and never really felt like it was ‘me,’ ” she said. “But now I’ve come so far and am so much more confident in who I am and the path I need to follow, and I won’t be a part of those types of opportunities anymore.
“It’s cool, though. It shows that I have come a long way. It’s too bad that when you are a woman in sports that those are the opportunities you get, to show your skin. But it’s a fact of life, and I’ve learned about it along the way. It won’t happen again.”
Exactly. Thanks for taking the high road, Gretchen. Maybe some of the other girls will follow your lead.
[Link: Denver Post]
by The Editors on February 6, 2008
From the Fresno Bee:
3:01 p.m.: Yosemite National Park searchers Tuesday afternoon found three brothers who seemed to be in good condition after spending the night lost just outside the park’s western boundary.
The three, who had been snowboarding at Henness Ridge on Monday, waved and ran to the search helicopter at about 1:30 p.m., said park spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman. They were found near the confluence of Bishop Creek and the South Fork Merced River.
“We will assess their condition after we bring them back,” Freeman said. “But they seemed very responsive.”
Park officials identified the missing trio as Ryan Westbrook, 28, and his 16-year-old twin brothers. Park officials declined to identify the twin brothers. The three Mariposa County residents are considered experienced snowboarders.
[Link: Fresno Bee]
by The Editors on February 6, 2008
An unnamed British doctor, 40, died yesterday while snowboarding in the French Alps.
The unnamed man was snowboarding with a friend above the hamlet of Joseray, situated about 500 yards from the centre of Val d’Isere – and went off-piste a few yards from last weekend’s downhill skiing world cup route.
The man, who was on a four-day seminar held at Val d’Isere’s congress centre, organised by doctorsupdate.com, took a corridor never used by locals or off-piste guides and fell onto rocks, according to local radio reports.
He is believed to be the father of two children.
[Link: Telegraph]
by The Editors on February 5, 2008
While watching the 2008 ESPN Winter X Games “X Course” or whatever they are calling boardercross this year, we found ourselves wishing for a new winner. It’s just that Nate Holland seems to be everything that snowboarding never was: he’s brash, jocky, and completely devoid of style. There really seems to be nothing cool about the guy.
Obviously he’s a great boardercross racer, winning three X Games in a row is not easy to do, but shouldn’t he just be a pro ski racer or something? We were looking at the logos on his board and seriously asking ourselves if he really is sponsored by Burton and Electric or if he just puts the stickers on there hoping he’s going to eventually get paid. Electric cared enough to put him on their homepage so he must be legit there. We don’t get it.
Click the link below for a short profile in his local paper.
[Link: Tahoe World]
by The Editors on February 5, 2008
The Von Zipper Feenom Googles are getting all kinds of play from the gadget press. Not a bad PR run for a couple Skull Candy headphone earpieces slapped on a goggle strap.
Maybe this is what Oakley had in mind before its sudden lapse in creating the “Medusa Hat.”
For more from cnet’s Crave blog, click the link.
[Link: Crave]
The Bellingham Herald reports on the Legendary Banked Slalom.
