Westbound Boarder

Andrea has left the country! She has accepted a last minute invite to chill with the best shredders out there at the best snowboard camp in the world. That is right, she escaped to South America Snow Sessions (SASS) and after two long days of travel, she has finally arrived! In case you are not aware, camp is located at Barichole, Argentina and reforms humanity into more cultured, Spanish speaking, snowboard pros. Stay tuned for Andreas comprehensive camp review and in the meantime check out SASS for yourself. Have fun Andrea we miss you!!!

It was a couple of weeks ago, but nonetheless an amazing event. The 2010 Campus Rail Jam Tour Finals went off Memorial Day Weekend and all contestants were absolutely killin it. If you are not familiar with the Jam here is the gist - it includes the best skiers, snowboarders, ladies and gents from the the 2010 Campus Rail Jam Tour contests. The stops along the way have included, Corvallis, Salt Lake City, Reno, San Diego, the list goes on…Riders compete at a jam session competition and the best of the best are invited to the finals in good ole Portland, OR.

We joined in the fun at Pioneer Square in Portland, OR and witnessed the best shredders of the tour throw down in the pouring rain for over three hours straight. The rain didn’t stop the intensity and the guys and gals really raised the bar against one another with the sickest tricks. The winners of the contest took home some cold hard cash and more steeze then they could carry. Check out our favorite shots from the contest and the results for the mens and womens ski and snowboard finals.

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Ski

Womens

1- Kristie Giles

2- Katie Powers

Ski Mens

1- Garrett Rowley

2- McRae Williams

3- Joey Vandermeer

Snowboard Womens

1- Krysta Pelchar

2- Ashley Thornton

3- Randa Shahin

Snowboard Mens

1- Lou Macias

2- Christian Hobush

3- Jordan Welter

Was just at a local shred shop and saw this flier that caught my eye so I wanted to share with all my snowboard lady (and gentlemen) friends. It’s called  the “I Love Boobies” campaign and it stems from  “Keep-A-Breast.org (KAB).” This campaign is a unique approach to increase awareness about breast cancer and encourages young people to engage and talk about the ‘taboo’ subjects while keeping it all positive, fun, and upbeat.

The entire idea of “I Love Boobies” is to take this serious horrible subject, break the ice, and make it easy to talk about; which is done through a number of ways. The easiest way to participate is through their must see artsy casts. These casts are KAB’s unique campaigns to use art and artistic expression to inform young people about methods of prevention, early detection, coping and support. This awareness campaign is like no other, harnessing the power of art to communicate complex feelings and thoughts about health, the female form to ultimately educate everyone about breast cancer. Combining sculpture, philanthropy, and symbolic artistry, the one-of-a-kind plaster forms of the female torso are customized by artists and auctioned to raise funds for breast cancer programs all over the world.

On top of the artsy casts, what also caught my eye was the wrist bands, t shirts and of course stickers that say I <3 boobies! Picked up a sticker to slap on my board in support of this awareness raising campaign. This campaign has also partnered with the well likes of Foo Fighters, Jacks Mannequin, and Katy Perry, along with Zumiez skate shop. You can help promote/donate by contacting them @ www.keep-a-breast.org. If you love boobies, you will do it.

It is Friday (finally), so here are our favs of the week:

• Apparently you don’t have to be able to walk, to snowboard. Check out this incredible video of a ONE year old mini shredder. Ya, you heard me right, now go see for yourself.
• Free Jack Johnson Concert! Help out the environment and yourself all at the same time. What have you got to loose?
• Helmets really are cool! As reported on Transworld Business and a recent study by the National Ski Area Association (NSAA), 57% of skiers and snowboarders are wearing helmets. Think about it.
• As if the Vail Resorts are not classy enough, check out their 75-85mill in upgrades Heavenly, Vail and Keystone will be experiencing just in time for next years winter season. Now even more of a reason to check out these resorts next season.

StillNotSponsored.com has teamed up with Timberline Lodge to offer all of you shred heads out there an opportunity to attend Timberline Summer Snow Camp for FREE! To enter, upload a 30 second video of yourself explaining why you should be chosen to go to camp. You must be a beginner to intermediate skier or snowboarder and be able to attend the June 11 session. Winner takes a free camp session and a StillNotSponsored.com prize package. Enter by 5.31.10 at 8pm. Its that simple, what are you waiting for?

Ryan Paul takes home the $10,000 prize purse. Photo by Peter Parra.

This past Saturday, pro riders from all around the nation headed to Mammoth Mountain for the West Coast Invitational, which included two big events this year: The inaugural Eddie Wall Ride Invitational and the ninth annual Mammoth Rail Jam.  Competing riders included pros such as US Olympic team rider Greg Bretz, Eddie Wall, Luke Mitrani, Peter Line, Dan Brisse, and Tyler Flanagan (and I even saw some old pros like JP on the hill).

During the Eddie Wall Ride Invitational, riders competed on a course of, well, you guessed it - wall rides.  The course was pretty insaine, and rider Tim Humphrys took home the $5,000 prize after a three-hour session on the course.  Apple iPads were also awarded for best trick, one going to Peter Line for a backside 540 on the wall and one going to Scott Blum for a backside invert on top of the wall.

But the real fun began once the sun went down.  The folks at Mammoth set up a rail park in the village which consisted of three jib hits - a C rail, a kinked rail, and a down skate rail - and riders vied for the WCI title during an hour-long rail jam session.  Most competing riders were under the age of 21, so it was cool to see the next generation of pros taking the industry up a notch.

Throughout the course of the West Coast Invitational event, riders attempted to throw down their best tricks in hopes to take home the popular vote and, ultimately, a $10,000 prize purse.  Though the event started out a little slow, it quickly turned into a “if you can clear the kinked rail, you’re set.”

But it was Ryan Paul who quickly emerged as the rising star, throwing a front flip 50-50 onto the down rail with a 180 off, cinching his victory (see the video below… unreal!) The crowd went wild, and though the competition continued, victory was already in the bag for Ryan.

Ryan Paul’s $10,000 trick Mammoth WCI from Adam Cogley on Vimeo.

Though Ryan threw down some awesome tricks throughout the evening, my personal favorite rider was Mammoth local Tyler Flanagan.  Though he didn’t really bring a ton of progressive tricks to his set, he was definitely the most consistent rider.  Had Ryan not pulled out his awe-inspiring front flip, I think Tyler would have given him a good run for his money.  It was also really cool to see US Olympic team member Greg Bretz compete in the rail jam, and though his rail-etiquette wasn’t anything to scream about, he was still pretty legit on the course.  And this event really showed his versatility.  Though we all know he kills it in the pipe, as proved during the 2010 winter Olympics (which the announcers would never let him forget) it was neat to see him also dominate the rails.

Check out some photos from the event from our WbB photographer friend, Peter Parra:

As many of you know, professional snowboarder Kevin Pearce was seriously injured during a half pipe training session on 12/31/2009. However the Pearce family shared good news with us today, nearly four full months later.

As reported on the families preferred outlet (The Well Wishes to our Friend Kevin Pearce Facebook Page) for Kevin, his family and his friends to post inspiration as well as Kevin’s progress, brought the world some great news today. As of April 14, 2010 Pearce was released from the inpatient Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Program at Craig Hospital. Kevin will continue daily outpatient therapy with Craig Hospital while residing in the Denver area (in a home that has been generously loaned to the Pearce family for the last several months.) Kevin’s outpatient treatment is expected to be the final step in Colorado before returning to his Norwich, VT home in the upcoming weeks, where he will continue to make strides towards a FULL RECOVERY!!!

It really shows that the prayers and inspiration everyone has been putting out there are really working for Kevin. With that, the Pearce family was sure to express their most sincere gratitude to Kevin’s rehabilitation team and for all of the continued support from all of you which they know is speeding up his progress.

Keep riding for Kevin as he continues to make drastic strides to a full recover. Keep it up Kevin!

Sunburns suck… almost as much as Mondays! :P  But here’s another giveaway to make your Monday (and your sunburn) just a little bit better as the summer surf season draws near - a Smart Girls Who Surf gift bag.

Smart Girls Who Surf is a a natural skin care company based in Laguna Beach, California.  They make all kinds of cool all-natural and organic beauty products, from lotions, conditioners and soaps to sunscreen.  They recently sent us a couple products to try, and I was very impressed.  Sometimes I find that organic hair care or skin care products just don’t have the same conditioning effect as the products loaded with chemicals (ha, that sounds totally bad, but its true!) but I loved all of their products I tried.  I really liked the chapstick (I have another all-natural lip balm - I’ll leave the brand name out - and it sucks) and I also loved the sunscreen sticks. These products made me stoked for summer to arrive!

WIN IT! Smart Girls Who Surf has given us one gift bag, complete with all the sunscreen, lotion, chapstick, and haircare products to suit your surfing needs, to give away to one of you!  To win, leave a comment by Monday, April 12 at midnight and tell us why your totally stoked for the summer to begin!  We’ll choose one random winner to take home the prize pack.

Also, don’t forget to enter our Backcountry sleeping bag giveaway; ends tonight!

Last Saturday, it went down at the Cholula Triple Air comp. at Mt. High.  My snowboard friend Peter Parra, the best photographer in Cali, sent me some photos from the event, so naturally I wanted to share! (Click photos to enlarge)

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