We’re super stoked to report that according to a memo sent out to Burton employees this week Jake Burton’s “cancer is toast.” Jake says:
It appears that my cancer is toast. It’s scans and observation from here forward. There is still the possibility of surgery or some radiation down the road, but it will be clean-up in nature and I’m not too stressed about it. As my oncologist Steven Ades said, “Jake, you get your diploma”. . . As I transition from being a patient to being a survivor, I move on with enormous respect for both cancer (‘The Emperor of Diseases’) and chemotherapy (how can something so beneficial be so simultaneously harmful).
Jake goes on to thank Donna, his three boys George, Timi, and Taylor and the entire Burton family. We knew he’d power through this flat spot and now we’re wishing him prolonged health. Follow the jump for the complete memo. [click to continue…]
Everyone’s favorite WQS five-star event could fire up on Monday, January 23, 2012 as the Volcom Pipeline Pro waiting period starts. This year 112 surfers will charge Pipeline and Backdoor for a shot at $130,000 in prize money.
The surf at Pipeline has been on fire for the better part of January, and Surfline.com – the official forecaster of the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro, is happy to report that there is plenty more surf to come. . . You can tune into www.volcompipepro.com to watch the live HD webcast of the event, see video warrior stats, up to the minute results, daily videos and more. iPhone users can also download the VolcoMobile iPhone App and stay up-to-date on the live webcast wherever you are, as well as purchase Volcom Pipe Pro Merch and access all features of the full website.
Salomon Snowboards has added a flexible heel loop to their bindings making them reportedly offer up much better board feel and a more natural flex while riding. It’s called ShadowFit.
Featuring a flexible heel loop for enhanced natural fit and flex with boot, Kevlar Quickwire for optimal strength, support and transmission, and a baseplate engineered for weight reduction and better board flex under foot. The result — a fully anatomical fit with unrivaled response and tweakability, in one ultra-light and comfortable package that allows your whole kit to flex as one.
Louif Paradis seems to like it. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
On Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Hurley will debut Craig Stecyk’s new short film Fin at the H Space Gallery in Costa Mesa, Callifornia.
FIN, the first installment in an evolutionary series of digital film shorts, details Stecyk’s method of working with a wide variety of personages in the southern California region and reflects the social and sonic landscapes in which these creators inhabit. People whose work has been documented so far include Von Dutch, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Evel Knievel, Dave Sweet, Julian Ness, Tom Blake, Dale Velzy, Tyler Hatzikian, Scott Anderson, Mitch Abshere, Scotty Stopnick, Mike Ness, and Roland Sands. The featured soundtrack is also a nod to West Coast visionaries, with Social Distortion, Breakdown, Tommy Guerrero and Steve Alba and the Powerflex 5 contributing to the project.
Along with the film will be a series of four T-shirts featuring artwork and still photography created during the making of the film. The H Space Gallery is located at 1945 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa, California. Follow the jump for the T-shirts and more info. [click to continue…]
Not that snowboarders need another reason to be distracted, but RED and Frends have teamed up on a Helmet with sound.
RED’s team favorite gets juiced up with the Frends music experience. Audio inspired and designed with the Air Band 180 Fit System, removable ear pads and internal padding for a lower profile fit—Make Frends with the Hi-Fi.
As the video suggests, Danny Davis thinks it’s a pretty nice set up. . . even for driving trucks.
Gabriel Lee Hilliard, a 30-year-old snowboarder died Wednesday, January 18, 2012, after hitting a tree on the run Deep Temertiy at Aspen Highlands, Colorado, according to a story in the Aspen Times.
The man was discovered, unconscious, by another skier who notified the Ski Patrol. A patroller performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on the man for an unknown period of time before he was pronounced dead at the scene. . . An investigation into the incident revealed a single snowboard track leading into a tree. It is believed the snowboarder hit that tree, continued and struck another tree. A branch from the second tree impaled the man in the left side of his chest, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Our thoughts are with Hillard’s friends and family.
From early pioneers such as Jay Adams, Tony Alva, and Steve Caballero through the giants of the 1980s and 1990s, including Tony Hawk and Brian Anderson, to such legends of the scene today as James Hardy and Justin Figueroa, every icon of skating has graced the cover of Thrasher, captured in mid-air and mid-action by the sharpest shooters around. . . Organized chronologically, and including every cover published in Thrasher’s first thirty years—even long out-of-print and hard-to-find collectible issues—the book at last reveals the stories behind these legendary cover-photo shoots, as told by the skaters, photographers, and editors who made these the most iconic mementos of skate culture.
Glen “Lenny” Folkard, a 44-year-old surfer was “dragged from his board and mauled” by a seven foot long shark on Wednesday, Janaury 18, 2012 while surfing Australia’s Redhead Beach, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
More than 100 people were in the water when the shark attacked. Witnesses in the surf said Mr Folkard was lying on his board about 20 metros from a large group of surfers when the shark struck about 4.40pm. . . Believed to be a bull shark, it took a large chunk out of Mr Folkard’s thigh as well as his board before dragging him underwater, witnesses said.
After Folkard got free he was able to surface where other surfers reportedly helped him catch a wave in. The man is currently in stable condition with a “deep wound to an upper thigh. For the rest of the story click the link.
686 is looking for some snowboard industry people who would like to settle a score, knock someone out, or just dust it up for a round in their Lights Out boxing matches during the SIA Show on January 26, 2012 at Casselman’s.
They’re describing it as “a fun-filled evening of your friends from the snowboarding industry kicking the s*$t out of each other!”
We’ve been diving into all the new Youtube “channel” content lately to see what it’s all about. (Want to read more about Youtube’s somewhat skewed logic check out John Seabrook’s story Streaming Dreams in The New Yorker).
Livin’ Louie Vito is just one of the shows Red Bull is populating their channel with that, not surprisingly, promotes an energy drink sponsored athlete. If you hadn’t noticed yet, self-serving media is the new media.
We’re super stoked to report that according to a memo sent out to Burton employees this week Jake Burton’s “cancer is toast.” Jake says:
