Westbound Boarder

Once again, our favorite “must reads” from around the Web.  Make sure you check out the ESPN X Games going on right now and through the weekend in Aspen!  Oh, and if you haven’t already entered our socks giveaway, make sure you do so!

• 15-Year-Old Snowboarder Named to Austrailian Olympic Team: I love seeing and meeting young shredders, but this is unreal!  In Austrailia, a 15-year-old snowboarder was named to the Aussie Olympic Team.  Rad!
• Teter for Haiti: We all know Hannah Teter is an awesome snowboarder, but she’s also an awesome person.  She typically donates all of her prize money to a clean water charity, however, this year she donated her winnings from the US Snowboarding Grand Prix to Haiti.
• Preparation is key to ski trip success: Great advice from the New York Times on taking family ski trips.  Key theme?  Efficiency!
• Snowboarding Postage Stamp Revealed: Wow.  You know snowboarding has made an impact when they release a postage stamp with a snowboarder on the face.  Very cool!  Bummer that it is only available at Park City post office locations, though.
• Will Bright be the First Female to Crack The Double Cork Code? Well, I can’t exactly answer that question, but she sure does hope so!  FYI, love her training schedule - eat, sleep, and snowboard.

Not too many people can say they snowboard for a living, but for Chanelle Sladics, a SoCal native, board sports are her life.  In her words - “Snowboarding is just … so fun.”  And with a first place finish in the Aspen Open, third place finishes in the US Open and Mount Snow Winter Dew Tour, and a 2007 X Games Bronze Medal in slopestyle behind her, Chanelle is living the dream.

Chanelle grew up as an aspiring surfer in Newport Beach, California.  She loved hitting the tube, but never had anyone to ride with so she never really got into it.  She started skating on a regular basis in place of surfing and ended up getting sponsored by a local skate shop, after which she began competing.  However, skating never really “clicked” for her, so she stopped competing, and that was that.  But she always had a connection to the mountains.  She grew up traveling frequently - her parents took her somewhere nearly every weekend, whether it be to the mountains, the water, or somewhere else - so she developed an itch for traveling and adventure at an early age.

When she was in fourth grade, Chanelle suffered a terrible injury that gave her a new perspective on sports, and life.  While playing soccer, she fell and broke her arm, a break so bad she nearly had to have her arm amputated.  She knew she had a long recovery ahead of her.  After the break, it took her nearly two years to regain mobility and feeling in her arm.  She came back and “sucked at everything,” in her opinion, so she decided to start over and take up snowboarding.

At first, she had no idea what she was doing on a snowboard.  She didn’t even know how to carve, but she would charge the jumps anyway and kill it.  By her third lesson, she was sponsored by her local snowboard shop (the same shop that sponsored her for skating).  She became a member of USASA and won the Jr. New Zealand snowboard comp, both which helped land her a spot in the X Games her senior year of high school.

Snowboarding was Chanelle’s passion, a passion she pursued on the weekends, while still attending school full time.  “I was the beach girl [who] thought she would never be a pro snowboarder,” she said.  She went on to college and moved into the dorms, and became a cast member on a new MTV show called “3 Way Threat,” which profiles the lives of athletes who excel in either snow, surf or skate (or all 3) and also features Shaun White, Todd Richards, Hannah Teter, and MFM.  After placing 12th in the X Games, though, Chanelle began to think, “what would happen if I really tried snowboarding, full time?”  She talked to her parents, who offered Chanelle a compromise.  They said they would give her one year to make it as a pro, during which they would offer their full support 100 percent, but after that she would be required to go back to college, snowboarding once again only as a weekend hobby.  Chanelle said it was the best way to really jump-start her career on the slopes.  Looking back, she feels it was one of her best decisions, because it allowed her the opportunity to truly focus on achieving her dream of becoming a pro snowboarder.  And, well, we all know what happened next.

Since then, Chanelle has dominated the pro snowboarding circuit, winning competitions and starring in a number of film roles, one of her most recent being Oakley’s “Uniquely,” a 35-minute travel inspired women’s action sports film.  On her job (if you could ever, possibly call snowboarding a “job”), Chanelle says, “It is just a dream that I get to travel the world and have amazing sponsors.  The older I get the more I realize what a blessing it is.”  And of the industry, she expresses sheer gratitude - “It is amazing that action sports is getting this sort of respect, and to be part of that growth is even more amazing.”

Aside from being one of the best pro riders our generation has ever seen and a “triple threat” in snow, surf and skate, Chanelle is a super humble, down-to-earth human being who lives life one step at a time.  She spends her summers living in San Diego, where she has a huge garden and grows her own food, and her winters in Breckenridge, Colorado.  “To be so close to all the resorts is pretty rad,” she says of Breck.  But she definitely doesn’t restrict herself to these two, physical locations.  In fact, she spent this past summer getting her skydiving license in Hawaii, then went on to co-produce a yoga DVD, traveled to Costa Rica for a wedding, snowboarded in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and finished with racecar driving school in Florida.  Her idea of a perfect day on the hill would involve heading up with a group of her best friends, riding powder all morning then hitting the park in the afternoon, with good music and high fives all around, then carving laps until sunset.  It would begin with a “kick ass” organic, vegetarian breakfast, and end with a long yoga sesh.  Her perfect day would also involve learning something new, as she feels it is important to always learn from your obstacles and grow as a human being.

Where will life take Chanelle next?  Well, she doesn’t exactly know at the moment.  She loves to compete, but she also loves to film, and she doesn’t like defining her life by just one thing.  One thing she does know, though, is that there is a lot more traveling in her foreseeable future.  “I have a massive itch to see the world,” she says.  She has already been all over - China, Japan, Bosnia, Fiji, France - and she loves going to third world countries.  So where will Chanelle go next?  That’s another story to be told.

Last week, Danielle, Rochelle and I all took an epic trip to Vail, our second annual snowboard trip to Colorado.  But this year, instead of spending the entire time riding Vail, we decided to try something new and shred at several different resorts.  Enter, Breckenridge.

Ever since last year’s Winter Dew Tour, I’ve been dying to ride at Breckenridge, CO.  Several of the biggest names in snowboarding call Breck their part-time home - Shaun White, Chanelle Sladics, JJ Thomas and Bobby Brown, just to name a few.  And the park and super pipe consistently top Transworld’s best list.  The combination of the high elevation, expansive free terrain and variety of terrain parks makes Breckenridge a top-notch resort in my book.  Oh, and parking was free for parties over four the day we went - love that they promote carpooling! (Normally, it’s $5 weekdays and $10 weekends, which is still pretty inexpensive in comparison to Vail).

This would be the medium park

When we arrived to Breckenridge, we thought we might as well start out the day right with a run through the park.  Looking at the trail map, we noticed there were three different types of parks - small, medium, and large.  We decided to settle for the in between and hit the medium park (also because it was the most convenient from where we started out, Peak 7).  Well, apparently the folks at Breckenridge do not quite go by the standard definition of “medium” we had envisioned … Compared to what we’re used to riding at Hood and High/Bear, this “medium” park was HUGE!  After staring awe struck for a moment at the top, glancing down at the tables below, we decided to bypass the park (this time around) and sit on the side, watching some of the local riders pass through.  Well, nearly thirty minutes later, our jaws were open just as wide as they were when we first sat down.  We had never seen so many amazing free skiiers and snowboarders all in the same place!  We sat and watched 720 after 720 whiz by, and then quickly came to the conclusion that everyone who rides at Breck is pro … or all pros ride at Breck.  Either way, it was really cool just watching all the talent built up at the mountain throughout the day.

Come on dude, really?!

After watching the pros in the park, we rode through the pipe for a while (not the smoothest pipe I’ve ever  been in, but I definitely blame it on the conditions - it hadn’t snowed in days - and not the resort itself).  The 18 foot walls were super fun, and the pipe was nicely cut.  One of the things I really liked about Breck was their “progressive” park system.  Their parks are set up in steps, or difficulty levels, so riders can start from the small parks when they’re first learning to jump and work their way up.  There are three small terrain parks and one small pipe, one medium park, and one large park and super pipe.  So riders who start  riding at Breck can go through the park system and take it up a step when they’re ready.  And since I am a person who grew up learning to ride a baby park, then immediately transitioning to a large, comp-style park, I can definitely appreciate this style of “at-your-own-pace” learning.  Also, Breckenridge has a really neat Web site called Breck 1080, where you can actually preview the features, meet the team riders, and watch videos before you head up to the slopes.  But park riding definitely isn’t all there is to Breck, unlike some jib-heavy resorts.  There’s tons of free terrain to ride as well, and several bowls and fun tree runs, really making Breckenridge a well-rounded resort.

Lunch!

Now, Breckenridge boasts a lift with the highest elevation in North America.  It’s called the Imperial Express Super Chair (at the top of Peak Eight) and it sits at a record elevation of 12,840 feet.  To put that in perspective, the highest point reached by a chair lift at Mt. Hood Meadows is 7,300 feet, and the top of Palmer at Timberline, one of the few resorts open for skiing year-round, is 8550 feet.  That’s kind of a big difference.  Even though the dismal Colorado snowfall (or lack thereof) during our stay made for some pretty icy runs near the peak, we finally decided that we couldn’t not take at least one run down.  So after lunch, we headed up the 6 Chair to make it over to Imperial before it closed for the day.  We had to rush because the lift stops operating at 3:15.  We made it over to Imperial by 3:02, but of course with our luck the lift had just closed at 3pm, early due to conditions.  Bummer.  But then again, we now have an excuse to go back to Breck next year!  Insider Tip: If you get a chance to make it to Breckenridge, especially on a powder day, I’d recommend starting out your day on the Imperial Lift before the bowls get chopped out.  And before the lift closes.

After our journey to find the top (which we didn’t) we made our way over to Peaks 9 and 10, the final side of the hill we had yet to experience.  And we finally found the small terrain parks!  The small parks were a lot of fun to ride.  We particularly liked Eldorado, because the jumps had a lot of pop and a nice, solid landing.  The perfect way to end our day.

The lifts at Breckenridge are open 8:30am to 4:30pm, with the gondola operating 8am to 5pm, but one of the cool things about Breck is that if you think that 8 hours on the hill isn’t enough (???) then you can head straight to Keystone, which is one of the only resorts in the area open for night skiing (your ticket is good for both resorts).

Overall, I really enjoyed riding at Breck, and I think it is one of my favorite places I’ve ridden at so far due to the vast versatility of park and free-ski options.  I was really surprised at how big Breckenridge is.  Though it’s only half the size of Vail, it really didn’t seem like it, and we definitely didn’t cover as much ground as we would have liked to in just one day.  We had also heard that Breck was a lot less steep than Vail (our skiier friend, Kevin, said Breck isn’t his favorite for this reason), which is true to some extent, but there are definitely a fair share of steep runs as well, especially if you hit the back bowls above peaks 8 and 7.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of super steep runs because I like straight-lining it the whole way down, so I thought Breck was perfect, especially since there wasn’t much powder or fresh snow when we rode.  Insider Tip: If you head out to the Vail area during icy conditions and are able to add some flexibility to your resort riding plan, I’d recommend riding Breck over Vail or any of the other resorts, namely because there are more options to ride less iced-out runs than the other nearby resorts.

Also, if you can swing it, I’d recommend staying in Breck for a night or two, at the very least.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity this year, as we had prior arrangements in Eagle-Vail, but the town of Breckenridge is so adorable, I wish we could have stayed and checked out the nightlife!  Unlike Vail, which is a bit more family-oriented, IMHO, Breck tends to attract a younger crowd, likely due to its stellar reputation within the snowboard community and younger audiences.

Now, I had always thought that Breckenridge (or any Colorado resort, for that matter) was purely a winter resort with not much to do in the summer other than dream of the first snowfall of the following year.  However, in talking with a few Breckenridge locals, I learned that this is not the case.  Not at all.  Breckenridge boasts more than 100 miles of bike trails (yes, I say “more than” because they stopped counting after they reached 100), the Peak 8 Fun Park, which features everything from Alpine slides to Colorado’s largest human maze.  Also, we hear the vibe is a lot more chill and laid-back in the summer, so this might be a good option for a relaxing, laid-back summer vaca.  Like the saying goes, “Perfect Mountain, Perfect Mountain Town.”  I’ll add “year round” to that one.

After an amazing six days in Vail, CO (hence the six days sans blog updates), we’re finally back home :(  We were able to squeeze in four days of riding, though, and tried two brand new resorts - Beaver Creek and Breckenridge.  Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks, because we can’t wait to share all!

Right now, Rio de Janeiro is at the top of my “places to go once I have the money” list (and trust me, the list is a pretty long one) but watching this video made me want to go even more