Westbound Boarder

Hi ya’all.  Just a quick reminder that tonight at midnight PT is your LAST chance to enter our Cushe boots giveaway!  So enter now, or forever have cold feet.

On a similar note, we are also giving away an Oakley prize pack, featuring limited edition Olympics Oakley gear.  Enter here by next Monday night.

This coming weekend marks the last few events of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, as Sunday’s closing ceremonies will officially end the games.  The last two events in snowboarding will happen tonight and tomorrow at Cypress, the men’s and women’s snowboarding Giant Slalom (women’s on Friday, men’s on Saturday).  The Giant Slalom is one of the most grueling events in the Olympic games, where riders race head-to-head around gates against another opponent (and to be completely candid, I’m not too familiar with this type of event, as it is not typically held in American mainstream competitive circuits.  So I’m particularly excited to watch!)

One thing I have noticed about this year’s games in comparison to years past is that snowboarding has taken a much larger role in the overall event, and I really think it’s safe to say that it was one of the most hyped sports in the Olympics this year.  In the past, snowboarding has always taken a sideline seat to skiing, however, I think this year we really saw a shift in perceptions, especially among mainstream audiences.  I, for one, heard many more people talking about the snowboarding events compared to the skiing events.  In fact, I really didn’t hear much about skiing outside of American athletes Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, but everyone from the hardcore riders at my local mountain to the could-care-less-about-sports folks (like my sister) knew the names of the American roster and gathered around their TV sets to cheer them on as they rode though the pipe.  The progression the sport of snowboarding has seen in recent years has absolutely played a contributing role in raising the profile of snowboarding in this year’s Olympics, but the athletes themselves have helped lift the image as well.  In the past couple of years, snowboarders (often seen as “tyrants” on the slopes… sometimes for good reason ) such as Shaun White, Gretchen Bleiler, and Hannah Teter have emerged as role models, and instead of parents resenting the lifestyle that comes along with the sport, they are now encouraging their kids to take part.  It’s really cool to see your sport in the limelight, and to see and hear the nation collectively cheering on the athletes you’ve been supporting since day 1 and giving them the props they rightly deserve.  I’m really interested to see how the sport will evolve over the next 10 years, as the kids who are now growing up idolizing athletes like Shaun White, begging their parents to buy them a new ride, start competing.  Maybe in the next Olympics we’ll start to see quadruple corks?

So, as much all of us involved in the snowboard industry roll our eyes at the Olympic games (it even sounds like Vancouver is feeling a bit of buyer’s remorse this year) they have helped to tremendously raise the profile of snowboarding among mainstream audiences.  And right now, and for the future of snowboarding, that’s a really good thing.

WIN IT! To celebrate the final weekend of the 2010 Olympic games, we have a limited edition Oakley prize pack to give away!  Snowboarding would not be in the position it is today if it weren’t for the major brands behind it, so I’m really excited to announce this fun giveaway.  One reader will have the opportunity to win an Oakley prize pack, pictured to the right.  The pack is part of the Oakley Global Collection of products, which has been designed to honor Oakley’s global team of athletes participating in this year’s Olympics. It includes a set of limited edition Global Crowbar Snow Goggles, Global Fuel Cell sunglasses, Global backpack, women’s Oakley Global t-shirt, an Oakley Global beanie and collector’s pin. The graphics on the collection recognize the heritage of British Columbia and Vancouver, host city to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

How to win…Leave us a comment below and tell us how YOU think that snowboarding fared in this year’s Olympic Games, and how you think the games helped raise the profile of snowboarding nationwide (and if you don’t agree?  Bring it on!)  The contest will close on Monday, March 8 at midnight PT, and we’ll draw one winner the next day to receive the pack.

If you just so happen to be in Vancouver right now (lucky you!) make sure you stop by Oakley’s Rolling O-Lab and Pop-Up Store before they roll away Sunday night.  Details:

• The Rolling O-Lab is a mobile demonstration unit that educates visitors about the science behind quality eye protection. Technology presentations include the use of optical laser scope equipment that demonstrates clarity and prism shift, ultraviolet emitters and measuring devices to illustrate UV protection, and testing rigs that show the effects of high-velocity and high-mass impact situations.  Fans can visit the Rolling O-Lab at Grouse Mountain 9am – 8pm, and the best part?  It’s free! (We love free)
• Meanwhile, the Pop-Up Store features a fully enriched Oakley retail experience complete with an array of the company’s products. One of the store’s highlights is an Oakley Custom Bar, where visitors can customize select Oakley eyewear and goggle products.  It is located at 488 Robson Street.

And speaking of giveaways, in case you haven’t already entered, be sure to also check out our Cushe Boots giveaway.  Ends Monday, March 1!

Update: Dear Readers, thanks for all your fabulous comments – we got some great feedback, and it’s nice to hear that most of you enjoyed watching this year’s team take Olympic snowboarding to new heights.  Congrats to Maria, the winning commenter! (Selected via random.org).  Check back for more giveaways soon!

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.