Westbound Boarder

Lindsey is one of the few females to appear on a SI cover

Throughout the past couple of weeks, we’ve covered the Olympic snowboard games in depth; however, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also take a step back and comment on the Olympic ski games as well. Last week, alongside the men’s halfpipe event, the world also saw world-renowned American athlete Lindsey Vonn take home a gold as well.  However, her path to and through the games is what’s truly inspiring.

Lindsey has always had a knack for competition, with 31 World Cup finishes behind her. But during the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, a crash landed her in the hospital. She returned the next day, however, to finish eighth. But this year, four years later, Lindsey had her sights set on one thing – the Olympic gold.

Heading into the games over the past couple of months, Lindsey Vonn emerged as an audience favorite, becoming the US “face” of the women’s games. With her cute, all-American look, and determination that moved mountains, America was quick to deem Lindsey the rising star and first in line for the gold. Which, I think, is both good and bad. She had so much support from America heading into the games, but she also had a lot to live up to. And we all saw what happened to snowboard fan favorite Lindsey Jacobellis – she didn’t even place. But Vonn pulled through, winning the gold in the downhill alpine event despite a massive shin injury she suffered, an injury that nearly cost her the opportunity to compete. She was the first American woman to ever win the downhill alpine ski race.

Lindsey did have a shot at winning two golds in two days, her second shot being in the Super Combined, however, in the slalom portion of the race she crashed over a gate because she couldn’t get her foot around it fast enough, costing her a podium finish. She claims the crash had nothing to do with her injury. She went on to compete in two other events, winning a bronze in the Super-G and DQing from the Giant Slalom, walking away with a broken finger.

All in all, one gold and one bronze, out of five qualified-for events? Not bad! Despite the two ugly sticks Vonn carries (kidding, of course! We love skiers, too) Lindsey Vonn remains a flippin’ chick in our books.

Side note: We hear Lindsey will be on Jay Leno March 1, so make sure to check it out!

See that girl in the picture to the left with the sexy pink cast? Yeah; that’s me. Near the end of last season – Aprilish (in my opinion, when it was just getting good) – I really wanted to nail my frontside 3s. I was having an awesome day in the park, so I thought I’d attempt a 3 over the big side and get lots of air. Well, obviously it was a bad idea because it resulted in a hot pink cast I sported for nearly three months.

I had always thought I had bad luck snowboarding (you name it, I’ve hurt it – sprained ankle, broken arm, even a bandaged up face), but now I’m pretty sure it just runs in the family.

Last weekend, my mom was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after a nasty fall in the powder due to a binding malfunction (her binding didn’t release properly when she fell).  Well, both fortunately and unfortunately, she ended up with a leg broken in several different places and had to undergo surgery to get a medal rod inserted into her leg.  Good news is, it’s only a broken leg (can you imagine my reaction when her boyfriend called to tell me my mom was being rushed home from the mountain in an ambulance?!)  Bad news is, she’s out for the season, which, for my mom, is more painful than any broken leg could ever be.

Broken limbs suck, but hey, they happen every now and again, especially if you’re continuously taking risks on the slops and trying to improve your skill (which you should be!)  Here are a few tips on how you can take risks, while still practicing good safety habits (and hopefully keep your limbs in tact!)

• Wear a Helmet: This is the number one rule if you want to minimize the risks of getting seriously injured on the slopes!  Helmets can significantly decrease the risk of injuries, and even if they aren’t the greatest “fashion statement,” I’d like to think that your life is pretty worth it.   Not sure if you all remember the tragic incident that happened at Mt. Hood Meadows two years ago – an unidentified snowboarder hit skier Geoff Bradeen (45), who died due to a head injury.  Sources say a helmet could have saved Bradeen’s life.  Personally, I can say that a helmet has likely saved my life on more than one occasion and should be worn at all times.
  • Also, if you’re scared about hurting your wrists and planning on trying new things in the park, it might not be a bad idea to also invest in a pair of wrist guards.
• Make Sure Your Gear Is Functioning Properly: In the case of my mom’s recent accident, her injury was due to a gear malfunction.  In her particular case, the accident could not have been foreseen, but it’s always a good idea to check your gear before you head to the hill.
• Practice Good Mountain Etiquette: Our friends over at Highly Obsessed offer some great tips on mountain etiquette for both snowboarders and skiers.  Practicing good etiquette on the slopes will not only keep you safe, but it will make others around you happy as well!
• Those Ahead Have Right Of Way: Plain and simple, keep an eye out for those ahead of you in order to prevent collisions.  If you can’t quite tell who’s ahead (ie; intersection coming from the same direction) stop anyway to give the other rider the benefit of the doubt.
• Don’t Stop In The Middle of the Hill, and Especially Not A Lip!: I’ve personally witnessed a number of accidents due to people stopping either in the middle of a hill or in front of the lip of a jump (and then there’s the people who are just plain stupid, cutting in front of someone who’s already halfway over a jump).  If you want to stop on a run, make sure to do it on the side.  If you fall in front of or behind a jump, make sure to move over ASAP – sometimes it’s difficult for others to see you’ve fallen.  And definitely make sure you wait to drop into the park until the person who dropped before you has fully cleared the first jump and is already on to the second (this will make your run better, too, because if you happen to get stuck behind a slow person, you won’t have to stop on their heels in frustration).
• Don’t Ride Out of Bounds: Though it may be tempting, its dangerous.   It’s also a good idea to carry a cell phone or walkie talkie with you at all times, just in case.

For more safety tips and rules of the sport, check out the National Ski Patrol’s Responsibility Code.  What would you add to the list; did we miss anything?  Leave a comment below!  And keep it stylish’ (without a pink cast) this winter.

I love getting out and riding new terrain every now and again, so when Danielle asked me a couple of months ago if I wanted to take a trip to Vail, CO, I couldn’t say no! And after spending 5 days at this amazing resort, I can see why it boasts “like nothing on earth.”

But let’s start with tradition: Every year for the past several years now, a group of 10 to 15 of us have taken a trip to Whistler/Blackcomb, BC. Whistler is, of course, an awesome resort – one of the top in the world – but now that we’ve all graduated college and parted ways (ie, took off our party hats and traded them in for professional shoes – well, kinda ) we decided to try something new. Meanwhile, our buddy, Kevin, wasn’t quite ready to fully step into his professional shoes (who knows if he ever will be, come to think of it) and decided to move to Vail for the winter to teach ski lessons. So, free place to stay, good company, and a top US ski resort; how could we go anywhere but Vail this winter?

On to the trip: Dani, her husband, Lance, and I all arrived to the Denver airport Wednesday evening (Kevin was super awesome and offered to drive the two hours to come pick us up) – we did have to wait around for a bit, since massive amounts of snow dumped earlier that morning and the pass was slow moving, but a few beers later we didn’t mind one bit.

We arrived at Kev’s house later that night, after a nice (but dark, and very crammed) ride. He lives in Eagle-Vail, which is about a 5 to 10-minute drive from the Vail resort, and a $3 bus ride. I’m pretty sure he forgot to tell his roommates we were coming, but they were chill and super fun to hang out with (two were from South Africa!) Anyway, after goofing around in the snow for a bit (it was well past midnight by the time we arrived) we went to bed in preparation for a looong day of riding.

We spent the whole of Thursday and Saturday boarding at Vail; we really lucked out because there were perfect blue-bird skies with several inches of fresh powder from the day before. We spent most of Thursday riding the park (we tried to free ride from 2pm on, but with the mountain closing at 3:30pm, all we managed to find were damn cat tracks) and we spent all of Saturday exploring the hill. We would have loved to ride all 3 days, but with lift tickets pushing 100 bucks a pop, we opted for a day of kickers in Kevin’s backyard on Friday.

We definitely picked the perfect time to go on this trip. With kids going back to school that very week, the holiday rush was officially over; however, the mid-winter rush hadn’t fully begun. I was surprised though that even on Saturday, the lift lines weren’t crazy long. During busy weekends at Mt. Hood Meadows, you might wait in a lift line for up to 45 minutes, but I think the longest line we saw in Vail only took about 15 to get through! The mountain is HUGE – 193 named runs in all, 5,289 acres of skiable terrain, and 30+ chair lifts – so there’s a lot of ground to cover. One of the great things people kept telling me is that at 1pm in the afternoon it is still possible to find fresh tracks!

Now, the powder at Vail was out of this world. If you’re used to riding West Coast powder, like me, you’re in for a treat when you head to the Rockies. When it snows heavily in the Cascades, the powder is usually a bit heavier, and thus tougher to ride through, but the snow in Colorado is light and fluffy, and it literally feels like you’re riding on a cloud. Due to the warmer-than-usual weather we had in Vail, though, the powder wasn’t as light as normal; it was kind of a bummer that we didn’t get to experience “true” Vail powder, but no bother to me!

If we could go back and do things over, we would have spent more time riding the back side of the mountain (we didn’t discover this until basically the very last run of the day Saturday). If you get the chance to go to Vail, I would highly recommend heading over to the Blue Sky Basin part of the hill and taking Skyline express to the top; the run under the lift is unreal in untouched powder, and it was definitely our favorite run of the weekend.

Now, I really love riding the park and would be totally happy spending an entire day in it (as we did Thursday). The parks in Vail were pretty cool (there are currently two main terrain parks, and one for kids), but nothing really to brag about. They had some awesome jibs (pics to come soon!), and a good mix for riders at all skill levels, but the jumps were pretty beginner, which we realized after clearing every hit our first “test” run through. Now, I’m totally all for beginner jumps to practice new tricks on, but they did get a bit boring after a while; I would have loved to see a progression to give riders something to work up to.

Along the same lines, Vail is definitely a resort geared toward skiers (I’m assuming the beginner parks have a lot to do with it). We would have loved to ski at Breckenridge, which is more of a snowboarder’s resort, for a day (and actually had planned to do so) but with only three full days in Vail we didn’t get around to it. However, if you like freeriding, Vail is the place to be (being Colorado’s largest resort) especially if you’re planning a trip with both snowboarders and skiiers. And surprisingly, there wasn’t an overabundance of moguls, as we had expected – there was a pretty decent mix of everything.

Another caution before you go and plan your trip to Vail – it is expensive! Lift tickets are $97 (plus tax), however, if you’d like to save a spot of money it is *only* $87 for a half-day! Or $55 for an hour and a half (2 to 3:30pm). Hotels are at least $500 a night for an average, 2 person room, and can even run a few grand for a nice condo. Even parking is $25 per day. If you’re looking for a cheap place to go with a few friends for a weekend of boarding, Vail probably isn’t the place, but if you’d like to go on a nice family vaca or annual trip with your friends (and are willing to pay for the added luxury), the price is definitely worth it.

There are also several ways, though, that you can make your Vail vacation a lot less expensive. For example, since we stayed with Kevin, we didn’t spend any money on hotels (Kevin graciously accepted a weekend of drinking on us in return for his gratitude) and since he is a resort employee he was able to get us $45 lift tickets (a steal of a deal!) After our first day of riding, we made a Wal-Mart trip for food, and made sure to stock up on lots’o'liquor so we didn’t have to spend too much at the bars. There are also plenty of happy hours that offer awesome deals on food and drinks (some of which Dani will highlight in Vail post part 2); there was even one we went to on Thursday night that offered free (yes, FREE) beer! If you don’t have the luxury of staying with a friend but still want to save a few bucks on hotel costs, I’d recommend looking at hotels or motels in Eagle-Vail (10 min; $3 bus ride from Vail) or another near-by city. Also, if you don’t want to snowboard every day (well, of course you’d want to, but if you don’t want to spend the money to) then do what we did Friday – find a hill and build a tight kicker! There’s also lots of things to do in town that require little or no money, so that in itself is definitely enough to keep you occupied for a day.

All in all, Vail was a good time. Glad I went and I’d definitely go again! And if you are serious about planning a trip to Vail, stay tuned for Danielle’s post about things to do in Vail when you’re not on the hill, coming soon.

Tignes, France; photo from the Telegraph

Here at Westbound Boarder, we typically cover local, west coast (USA) mountains and resorts, but in case your New Years Resolution is like mine – plan a snowboard trip to a resort in another country – this article in the telegraph profiles the world’s best.  What I found a bit interesting (and also somewhat depressing, given I don’t get out of the US to ride too often) is that not one resort from the US made the list.  If you were to rank your fav local spots, what would you have on the list?  Leave a comment below, and we’ll compile our own list!

As for me… I think I’ll start planning that trip to Tignes, France