Westbound Boarder

A couple weeks ago (March 25 - 28) top female snowboarders from around the world all came together for the sixth annual Roxy Chicken Jam at Mammoth Mountain, CA.  The Roxy Chicken Jam is one of the premiere industry events for females, and it plays a huge role in raising the profile for women in the snowboard industry.  And in case you missed the event live, no worries, because you can catch the recap on FUEL TV (schedule below).

The Roxy Chicken Jam women only snowboard contest gathers the world’s best pro riders to compete in both a slopestyle and superpipe competition at Mammoth Mountain. With more than 100 girls from around the world, Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark, Rana Okada, Olympian Elena Hight, X Games gold medalist Jamie Anderson and Cheryl Mass all compete for a chance at $15,000.

“ROXY CHICKEN JAM 2010″ Air Dates:
Monday, 5/10/2010 8:00 PM ET / 5:00PM PT
Monday, 5/10/2010 11:00 PM ET /8:00PM PT
Wednesday, 5/12/2010 12:30 PM ET / 9:30 AM PT
Friday, 5/14/2010 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT
Saturday, 5/15/2010 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT
Sunday, 5/16/2010 11:30 AM ET / 8:30 AM PT
Monday, 5/17/2010 3:30 AM ET / 12:30 PM PT
Wednesday, 5/19/2010 6:30 PM ET / 3:30 PM PT
Saturday, 5/22/2010 12:00 PM ET / 9:00 AM PT
Sunday, 5/23/2010 9:00 AM ET / 6:00 AM PT
Tuesday, 5/25/2010 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT
Tuesday, 5/25/2010 11:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM PT
Friday, 5/28/2010 2:30 AM ET / 11:30 PM PT
Saturday, 5/29/2010 9:00 AM ET / 6:00 AM PT
Tuesday, 6/1/2010 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT
Wednesday, 6/2/2010 12:30 AM ET / 9:30 PM PT
Monday, 6/7/2010 3:30 AM ET / 12:30 AM PT
Tuesday, 6/8/2010 9:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM PT
Wednesday, 6/16/2010 6:30 PM ET / 3:30 PM PT
Monday, 6/28/2010 12:30 PM ET / 9:30 AM PT

The Winter X Games is one of the largest annual contests of the year and is notorious for pushing its competitors to the next level and raising industry standards year after year.  This year was no exception, especially since the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver B.C. are right around the corner. The X Games are a great opportunity for women snowboarders to showcase their skills, while raising the bar for womens snowboarding. There were three female snowboard competitions during this past weekend’s event.  Snowboard Cross, a treacherous, windy, and super fast, five person race, the Slopestyle park comp, and of course the 22′ Super Pipe. The super pipe contest was awesome this year, and the U.S. girls ripped it up. In fact, the girls who podiumed where all on the U.S. woman’s Olympic team. First place went to Gretchen Bleiler, a Colorado local, second was Kelly Clark, and third was Hannah Teeter. Kelly was the only girl to do a 900 and absolutely popped the highest out of the pipe, but it was Gretchen Bleiler who had her trademarked crippler 720, which is sort of like a rodeo, but more inverted and stylish. Hannah Teeter had a great bag of tricks with perfect 540’s as well. Unfortunately, one of my favorite riders, Elena Hight, didn’t medal, though she did kill the Dew tour stop at Snow Basin (Ogden, UT), getting first in the woman’s Super Pipe.

Slopestyle was impressive this year, with a few different riders than the Super Pipe and plenty of tricks to go with them. The slopestyle course was made up of a rail garden and three giant jumps, stretching from 50′ to almost 70′ to finish off the run. Jenny Jones from Great Brittan won the Gold, Jamie Anderson won the Silver, and Janna Meyen-Weatherby won Bronze. Janna has been tearing up contests for years - she’s 32 years old and making it look effortless over the jumps. She was also the only girl to stick a 900. Jamie Anderson was great on the rails, doing a 360 nose bonk, and she killed it on the jumps with clean 7’s all around. It was Jones, though, with her perfect run with big air and style over all of the jumps pulling the consecutive 540’s with no sketchy landings, who conquered. Also have to give credit to Eero Ettala for the mens, stomping the best run I’ve ever seen in a contest. His first slopestyle run consisted of the double cork 1080, double backside rodeo 900, and then a double back flip. I knew this guy was good, but wow, taking a safe gold with no one even coming close to his score.

With all five Grand Prix events officially behind us, today, the 2010 US Winter Snowboard Team was finally announced, with one spot on both the women and men up for grabs.  Without further ado, here are the six shredders who will be representing the US in Vancouver next month (the last two will be announced in a press conference Monday afternoon):

Men
Shaun White
Louie Vito
Scotty Lago

Women
Kelly Clark
Gretchen Bleiler
Hannah Teter

Congrats to all, and good luck!  And in case you missed yesterday’s Grand Prix in Park City, you can catch the highlights and full event coverage today at 3pmET on NBC.

UPDATE: Elena Hight and Greg Bretz were added to the half pipe team, rounding it out to a full team of eight riders.  Yeah!

I know we have all been anxiously waiting to hear who will be riding on this year’s 2010 Olympic Halfpipe team.  This weekend, Park City, Utah will play host to the fifth and final round of the Olympic qualifiers, where 30 riders will be vying for the remaining spots on this year’s team.

The US Snowboarding Grand Prix made stops earlier this year at Copper Mountain and Mammoth Mountain, so Park City will be the third and final stop of the tour where the 2010 Olympic team (four men and four women) will officially be announced.

We know that Shaun White, who has already seen two first place finishes in former qualifying rounds, has already solidified his spot on this year’s US Olympic team in the men’s category.  Louie Vito, with two second place wins, is in good shape as well. Other probable contenders include JJ Thomas, Zach Black, Scotty Lago, and Mason Aguirre, though the last two spots remain somewhat uncertain.

On the women’s side, Kelly Clark’s two earlier wins in qualifying rounds have already secured her a spot on the team, with Gretchen Blieler being a shoe in as well.  Elena Hight and Hannah Teter also have the odds in their favor, though Ellery Hollingsworth will give them a good run for their money.  Between these five ladies, the four open spots up for grabs this weekend in Park City seem fairly predictable.  The only question now is, which one won’t get to see Vancouver this winter?

Catch the US Snowboarding Grand Prix on January 23, 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT on Fuel TV or via the live stream here: http://www.fuel.tv/USSnowboarding

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.

Busy week in snowboard land; here’s some of our fav picks from around the Web!

• Catch the Olympics on Yahoo!: Today, Yahoo! announced it will provide Olympic fans with an exclusive Web site and mobile experience for the 2010 Vancouver Games. (Check out the microsite here).  Less than one month to go!  Also, starting January 25^th, fans will be able to submit their favorite winter sports photos for a chance to win multiple prizes, ranging from digital cameras to a trip to the U.S. Freestyle Skiing Championship at Squaw Valley in March 2010.
• Haiti Disaster; How You Can Help: By now, many of you already know about the 7.0 Earthquake that devastated Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 12.  Check out this blog post from Spectacular Adventures for more info. on how you can help.
• Bearics Teaser: Inside Etnies and Bear Mountain’s private snow park; sweet vid!
• Surf Expo 2010 Gallery: The 2010 Surf Expo is currently going on, and Transworl has the low down (in 140 pictures or less) here.  I’m really digging some of the new swimwear lines.
• Dew Tour Comes to Utah; Results Are In: After a successful first event at Breckenridge earlier this month, the Dew Tour, Round Two, moves to Snowbasin.  Elena Hight and Elijah Teter lead in the Pipe Prelims (surprised?)  Be sure to catch the Pipe Finals on Sat.

News Bits

• FUEL TV launched an iPhone application.  The application is available here in the iTunes store, free of charge.  The content is syndicated from the Fuel.tv website and includes nine video podcast channels, updates from the FUEL TV blogs, and Twitter integration. There’s also a community photo blog; FUEL TV show information, news updates, and schedules; and all of it can be seamlessly shared via a simple Twitter button. The app will also allow for streaming live events, and will be able to download a selection of FUEL TV shows in the near future.  Sounds pretty sick (I wish I had an iPhone!  Maybe now I have incentive to go buy one…)
• College Night returns to Mt. High.  Last year, Mt. High announced a series of three College Night Events, and apparently the series was popular, because it’s back!  And this time with six events.  If you’re in college and live in SoCal, this event sounds like a lot of fun - $20 Night passes, half-off appetizers, half-off draft beer (21+), $1 hot dogs, live DJs, and hookups from industry partners. College Night will take place from 5pm to 10pm in the Bullwheel Bar & Grill on January 14th, January 21st, February 4th, February 11th, February 25th, and March 4^th, 2010.  This season the January 21st, February 11^th, and March 4^th events will also include a rail competition complete with its own prize pool.
• Gatorade Free Flow Tour, the official amateur series of the Dew Tour, coming to a town near you.  We watched part of the pipe tour go down in Vail this past weekend, and it was pretty sick.  Now, let’s see some ladies!

Despite the fact that we are still in the thick of summer, the 2010 Winter Olympics are right around the corner. In less than 6 months Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada, will host the 2010 extravaganza. Consider this your friendly reminder that if you are planning to witness history in B.C. this year, that you better act quickly!

The ladies U.S. Snowboard Team Olympic roster includes hopefuls Hannah Teeter, Elena Hight, Gretchen Bleiler, Lindsey Jacobellis and Kelly Clark (all who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics). Ellery Hollingsworth, also a 2010 hopeful, has never been to the Olympics, although is no stranger to the sport. Check out her specs and accomplishments to see for yourself. No matter who makes the team, these stunnas will not disappoint the US of A, that is fersure.

The Dew Tour continued today, kicking off with the Women’s Superpipe comp.  I’m glad I got to watch some of the women riders today because they were freakin’ awesome.  Here’s a quick recap of some of the highlights:

•  In the prelim. round on NBC, Gretchen Bleiler stepped up first and performed an awesome run.  Her spins were impressive, though not quite enough to bring her into first in the prelims.  Her second though began with a frontside 9 into a backside crippler - her signature move - straight into a backside 5.  The run was amazing and propelled her to first, with an outstanding score of 90.25.
• Kelly Clark went second; though she didn’t spin as much as Gretchen, her run was so solid and clean that she walked out of the prelims in first place, with a score of 86.75.  Her second run was solid, but a quick scrub on the third hit cost her first.  
• Hannah Teeter, known for her unpredictable runs, was up third and took second place in the prelim round.  She threw out two 5’s and a 7, and though she didn’t get as much air as Kelly, her second place finish in the prelims was well-deserved.  Her second run, though, was a bust, and a bit surprising for Hannah.  She landed too far into the pipe on the first hit, which ultimately cost her the run and a chance at top 3.
• Elena Hight was up next with her second run of the day; she threw out both back and front side 900’s in the run, however, clipped the side of the pipe in landing after the first which impacted her speed and height quite noticeably.  But being the only female thus far to throw a backside 9, it was enough to boost her to second place.
• Holly Crawford and Kjersti Buaas also performed throughout the day; Holly’s run was smooth but not enough to place, and after a nice first run, Kjersti fell hard during her second.   

The final scores:

1. Bleiler - 90.25
2. Clark - 86.75
3. Hight - 82.00
4. Teter - 78.75
5. Crawford - 75.50
6. Ostgaard Buaas - 58.75