Westbound Boarder

Well, Shaun White and Kelly Clark stuck it again in today’s US Snowboarding Grand Prix in Park City.  Shaun saw a near perfect score of 49.5 (out of 50), with Scotty Lago trailing just behind with a 48, and Luke Mitrini coming in third.  Today marks Shaun’s fourth first place finish (out of 5) in all Grand Prix Olympic qualifying events.  But then again, Park City was just practice for Shaun, as he was already confirmed as an Olympic team member after last round.  Scotty has now had two second place finishes and one third, so he will likely be invited to join the US Olympic team a well, alongside Shaun.  Danny Davis, the one competitor to beat out Shaun (in Mammoth), and formerly a likely Olympic teammate as well, unfortunately broke his back during an ATV accident last Sunday.  He underwent surgery Monday and is now being cared for in a local hospital, alongside Kevin Pearce.  Danny is an awesome rider - one of my personal faves - so it is unfortunate to hear he won’t be joining the team in Vancouver this year.

On the women’s side, Kelly came in first (again), followed by Hannah Teter and Kaitlyn Farrington.  Kelly, in comparison to the other riders, is absolutely going bigger, which is putting her in prime position to land some of the tougher spins and tricks that you need more time in the air to solidify.  She has been doing awesome through the thick of it all, so I’m excited to see what she’ll pull in Vancouver next month.  I also really like Hannah’s riding because she always throws down a smooth, solid run that’s fun to watch, and, minus a few small flubs, I think she really stuck it in Park City.

For the women, it is pretty obvious who will be going to Vancouver, and who will be watching from the sidelines.  For the men, however, there is some stiff competition, so it will be interesting to see how the last two spots play out.

Results, Day 1 (Friday)

Men
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 49.00
2. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 47.70
3. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 46.70
4. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 44.00
5. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 44.00
6. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 43.30
7. JJ Thomas, Golden, CO, 43.00
8. Danny Kass, Portand, OR, 42.70
9. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 42.00
10. Dylan Bidez, Minturn, CO, 41.30

Women
1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 45.20
2. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 44.80
3. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 43.60
4. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 42.50
5. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 40.00
6. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 39.20
7. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 31.40
8. Kelly Marren, Hillsborough, CA, 29.40
9. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 19.30

Results, Day 2 (Saturday)

Men
1. Shaun White 49.5
2. Scotty Lago 48
3. Luke Mitrani 45.3
4. Gregory Bretz 44.8
5. JJ Thomas 44.2
6. Jack Mitrani 42.3
7. Dylan Bidez 42.1
8. Steve Fisher 40.6
9. Zach Black 38.5
10. Broc Waring 38.2
11. Danny Kass 37.5
12. Andy Finch 36.7

Women
1. Kelly Clark 47.40
2. Hannah Teter 43.90
3. Kaitlyn Farrington 41.00
4. Madeline Schaffrick 36.50
5. Elena Hight 36.20

This week’s best, from around the snowboard Web:

• Kimmy Fasani Talks Filming: Recently presented with an opportunity by DC to film a part with Standard Films, Kimmy Fasani is on the fast track to film stardom.  Read about her experience!  Kimmy is one of my favorite riders to watch in film parts - I think her moves are so smooth and she has a lot of style - so I’m particularly to see what she is able to create during this immersive experience.
• Surfing Under the Golden Gate Bridge? Yes, it’s true.  California’s insane winter storms are creating waves under the GGB … and some local fellows are using this as an opportunity to catch some serious tube.  Check it out on CNN!
• 2010 Olympics - Learn to Speak Canadian: Fellow WTS blogger at Pretty Tough put together a guide on How to Speak Canadian in preparation for this year’s 2010 Winter Olympics.  So, if a double-double is a coffee with two creams and two sugars, and a triple-triple is, well, do the math … do they call a coffee with one cream and one sugar a single-single?  Sounds like a single shot to me; come on Canada, totally misleading!  I’ll take a triple-triple espresso with a single-single, please.
• Double Mc-What? Just when you thought Shaun White couldn’t pull anything better … he goes and captures an insaine Double Mc-Twist 1260 on video last night at the final Grand Prix practice at Park City, Utah.  Watch it over at Transworld Snow!  Yep, that move’s next on my to do list …
• MICA Minute #5: Some cool stuff from Loren Brinton over at Dan’s blog.

Another Dew Tour - the second stop this winter, also known as the Wendy’s Invitational - has come and gone at Snowbasin, Utah, and it has been an interesting, jam-packed couple of days of competing.  Several competitors, four awesome days of riding, two courses, one competition.  But the results are in, and Chas Guldemond with a 95.25 and Spencer O’Brien at 91 took first in slopestyle, while Danny Davis and Elena Hight won first in the superpipe.  Check out the highlights below, and be sure to catch the final Winter Dew Tour stop Feb. 4 - 7 at Mount Snow, Vermont.

As many already know on December 31, Kevin Pearce sustained a severe brain injury while training in the half pipe in Park City, Utah.  Kevin has a long recovery ahead of him, and we continue to show our support for Kevin, his friends and his family.

Check out all the various ways to show your support for Kevin at the Burton News and Events page.

In the meantime, Westbound Boarder is riding 4 Kevin…

Very interesting interview (click on the link to watch) with Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, in AdAge this week highlighting his take on the future of the ad industry and why Vail Resorts has turned to social media to find the answer. I find it especially interesting that Vail Resorts chose to reduce this year’s print budget by 80% — 80%!! - due to print lead times (which are often more than 4 months out) no longer fitting with their business model. Katz points out that consumers are no longer planning their vacations 4 - 6 months in advance; they are instead planning spur-of-the-moment trips as close to one week prior their departure. Vail has changed their ad model to reflect this new sentiment, now crafting marketing messages on a weekly basis. Smart strategy, and in my opinion, Vail is leading the charge in a new ad model that many other resorts will soon follow. I wonder if the magazine industry will follow suit?

What do you think - In what way do you see online and social media changing the way the action sports industry does business, particularily in terms of advertising?

Danielle and I have been quite the world travelers lately.  Well, US travelers, anyway.  Danielle just spent what I hear was an amazing week in Hawaii, and a day later she took off for a week in Alaska!  Not without a fair share of surfing/snowboarding, I’d imagine.  And me, I’m in Vegas right now for a marketing conference, enjoying my first break of the entire couple of days. (Whoever said you can’t get business done in Vegas… obviously didn’t go to my conference :/ )  And when I found this e-mail in my inbox, I couldn’t help but not share my excitement with you all.

Tomorrow, Heavenly ski resort in Tahoe (Nor Cal) will open for the season with nearly 40 acres of skiable terrain accessed by the Heavenly Gondola, Tamarack Express and Dipper Express Chairlifts.  Heavenly will open at 9:00am and lifts will operate until 4:pm, and will continue to operate from 8:30am - 4:00pm on weekends, and 9:00am to 4:00pm on weekdays throughout the duration of the season (weather permitting, of course).  And, if that’s not good enough news, it is rumored that a big storm is supposed to pass through Lake Tahoe on Friday, bringing long a foot of new snow with it.  So this weekend in Tahoe should be pretty legit.

Love that El Nino is bringing us fantastic skiable terrain a few weeks earlier than usual.  Can’t wait to make my season debut run at Hood next weekend.  I haven’t had the opportunity to make it up to Heavenly or any other Tahoe resort in quite a few years, but I’d like to visit at some point.  In fact, I didn’t buy a season pass this year so I could actually spend some more time traveling to different resorts, instead of limiting myself to just one resort.  Mammoth’s on the list this year, along with Park City, Vail and Breck.

How about you?  Which resort are you excited to ride this season?

Kona Brewing, Co. and many others, are at it again. Bringing you another sick event (check out the infamous pond skim), The Backyard Bang Rail Jam, with beer, prizes and costumes to boot is happening this Halloween - Saturday October, 31st (for those of you who don’t know when Halloween is).

According to the press release, onlookers will be treated to am and pro athlete snowboarding antics, fun games and prizes from the respected sponsors; Bonfire Snowboarding, our very favorite Skull Candy, Mt Hood Meadows, Exit Real World and US Outdoor Store.

The event is free to spectators and those who attend are encouraged to visit the sponsor village where you can pick up your own fresh orchid lei, enter the numerous giveaways (free flight to Oahu sound appealing?!), all while sipping some liquid Aloha courtesy of Kona Brewing, Co., and a few bucks of course.

Our Contributing Writer, Rochelle, will be there to capture the event in mind and of course digitally. So if you see her representing Westbound Boarder, give her a high five, a hug, or a beer.

Who? YOU

What? Third Annual Backyard Bang Snowboarding Rail Jam

When? 10-31-2009 from 12pm-4pm

Where? Art Institute of Portland in the Pearl District @ NW 11^th and Davis.

Why? Be there or be square.

Photo from GadgetRepublic.com

I was checking out PowderRoom.net this morning (cool site, BTW, if you haven’t been yet) and read that it has been confirmed there will be a sequel to Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip hitting the shelves this fall.  It will be called Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii gaming console, and will feature events and competitions around the world (such as a half pipe in Times Square!)  You can read more about the game and its new additions here, and if you head to the official site you can get a free wallpaper download.  More details will be announced at the E3 gaming expo in LA next week.

I tried out the first game a couple months ago, and have to say that it was pretty cool.  Not exactally like snowboarding, of course, but the closest I’ve come to bringing virtual snow and rails straight to my living room floor.  Can’t wait to see what the next edition brings!

Action sports enthusiasts everywhere live, think, and breathe their own respective sports… but how often do they think about discussing, or even trying, other sports, just for thrill’s sake?

About two weeks ago, Danielle and I had a chance to catch up with Simon Jeremy, creator of The Conch.  Launched into public beta on March 30 (Danielle and I tested the service for two weeks while it was in private beta, too), The Conch is a social network that brings together action sports enthusiasts nationwide.

Danielle and I spoke with Simon initially a couple of months back because he wanted to gather perspectives from people actively involved in different action sports and use their outlooks in the development of his social network.  After months of development and weeks of tweaking the site to perfection, on Monday March 30, the Conch was born.

Simon started the Web site on the foundation that people involved in various action sports frequently talk with each other about their adventures, but don’t really venture into conversations about other action sports.  As an avid action sports enthusiast a la board sports myself, I would have to agree with his initiative - I talk to people about snowboarding, surfing and wakeboarding all the time, but I can’t remember the last time I spoke with someone about rock climbing.  Many people try new sports without ever returning, and The Conch provides members a support structure in hopes they’ll try new sports on an ongoing basis.

“We aim to bring together everyone with a passion for adventure and the outdoors,” Simon said during our conversation when describing The Conch.  I really feel like the site needs no further explanation - its a place where action sports enthusiasts of all types can congregate and converse about where to go and what to do, and their different experiences as participants in the adventure arena.  Members are encouraged to create a profile describing their hobbies and interests, join groups, upload photos and podcasts, create a blog, find “friends,” and more.  There are also interesting opportunities for businesses, including the ability to connect with advertisers and audiences they’re attempting to reach.  It’s the perfect landing space for the action sports industry to join as one.

One of the site features Danielle and I found most interesting while talking to Simon and testing the site was the adventure rating application, which is a tool that takes into account the adventures you have taken and assigns you an adventure rating.  “We wanted to create an application that encouraged people to, not just find new adventures to do and different adventure sports to try, but also to keep coming back and doing them on a regular basis,” said Simon.  Your adventure rating is based on factors that make the sport more or less adventurous; for example (with snowboarding) do you snowboard at resorts, or frequent the backcountry? (Obviously the latter being more adventurous).  But of course, the overall goal is to help you keep track of what you’re doing and the adventures you’re pursuing and encourage you to share these moments with others.  Simon noted that while researching the development of this application and talking to people across different industries, it was interesting to find and compare how different people define the blanket theme “adventure.”

Overall, the Conch is a neat site, and it really fits into a trend that we’ve been seeing a lot more of as online social media becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives - the rise of niche networks that serve to complement offline groups, conversations and activities.  Its really a neat concept, and while it has caught on in several other personal and business areas, I’ve noticed this theme has been fairly absent from the action sports industry until fairly recently.  I’m excited to see this concept come to play in the industry I, myself, am passionate about, because it really opens up so many doors and possibilities in the way of people connecting and supporting a common initiative.

So with that, go check out The Conch - and be our friend while you’re at it!  You can also join our group page here.

I talked to my mom briefly this morning on my way to work, and she told me quite the sad story.  She was at Mt. Hood this past weekend for the Pond Skim (great event, BTW; keep an eye out for Danielle’s post coming soon).  My mom had heard of a traffic accident somewhere near Sandy, so instead of sitting in traffic she decided to make a nice, long (overnight) stop at a friend’s cabin in Government Camp.  Well, turns out, the traffic accident was a triple fatality… and the next day, my mom received a phone call informing her that one of the persons involved in the accident was a friend of hers from work; Pam Benson.

According to my mom, Pam and her 11-year-old daughter were driving home from a baseball game in Sandy, her son and husband in a separate car, and an 18-year-old driver ran a red light and hit the pair from the side, killing them both instantly.  Sources at the scene say the driver ran two red lights in a row, and was obviously driving recklessly.

My heart and deepest sympathy goes out to the Benson family.  Though I did not know Pam personally, my mom says she was a kind, caring human being with a good heart.  She always practiced proper safety procedures, right down to buckling her daughter in the back seat at all times just to be extra safe.  The irony pains me to think about.

So why am I telling you this?  Accidents happen all the time, especially near the mountain.  Sometimes just a fender bender, but sometimes more serious, and in this case, even fatal.  I know Danielle and I often discuss safety on the hill, but don’t often talk about (or really even think about) safety off the hill.  In reality, driving in unpredictable conditions can be dangerous, and its important to be cautious at all times.  Please take this accident as a small reminder to always follow the posted speed limit and traffic laws, and to be well-aware of your surroundings and drivers around you.  In this case, Pam couldn’t have foreseen the situation; but you can.

If you have a spare moment tonight or this week, please feel free to leave a comment below in sympathy of the Benson family, or say a silent prayer in their memory.

UPDATE: I stand corrected - I just learned that the driver walked away from the crash.  Unharmed.  He was arrested shortly after for robbery and wreckless driving.  This really hits my former point home - it seems that it is always the innocent who pay for others’ mistakes.  I truely hope that this driver does not go unpunished.

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