Live Near Mammoth Mountain? Ride it for Free

According to California ski resort Mammoth Mountain, they’ve been absolutely pounded with snow recently, leading to their second-earliest opening ever, close to four weeks ahead of schedule. Lucky jerks! Mammoth will open on Friday the 16th, and feature free skiing and riding all day.

If you’re lucky enough to live out there, enjoy.

Let the Riding Begin!

Resorts out west are starting to open up on a limited basis. Blue Mountain here in Ontario recently reported a dusting of snow. I can feel the season coming, people. Can you?

Film Time: When Helis Just Don’t Cut It Anymore

Got a press release here for a pretty crazy film starring Jeremy Jones named “Deeper”, a new film featuring Jones, Jonaven Moore, Travis Rice and Xavier De La Rue, “who set out to conquer the best lines without the limited assistance of snowmobiles, helicopters or lifts,” according to the release.

You can view the trailer here. The movie is being produced by Teton Gravity Research.

In the trailer, it’s evident that the movie focuses not only on big-line footage but on the struggles to get those lines as well. It looks like the crew had to do some pretty serious hiking and scaling of mountains to get where they wanted to go. And if the trailer is any indication, the struggle to get there was worth it. From the release: “During one shoot, Jones, Travis, and the rest of the production crew spent 27 days camped on a glacier in Alaska. On another shoot in the Swiss Alps, Jones and De La Rue started hiking at 10 at night in order to ride a line at sunrise the next morning.” Damn.

According to a thread on TGR’s website, the movie will drop in late fall.

Intrawest Tightens Policy on Ski and Snowboard Helmets

According to this recent article in the Whistler Question, Intrawest, parent company of resorts like Whistler Blackcomb, Mont Tremblant and Blue Mountain, is getting a bit more serious about ski and snowboard helmets on the mountain.

Beginning this year, all participants in ski and snowboard schools under the age of 18 will be required to wear a lid, no questions asked. Apparently, there used to be a clause that allowed parents to opt their kids out of wearing a helmet. Not sure I think that was a good idea in the first place.

In 2011, all Intrawest employees will be required to wear helmets while in terrain parks. And going forward, Intrawest is modifying its promotional materials to feature skiers and snowboarders clad in helmets.

I expect that over the next few years we’ll see policies like this begin to expand further; I could even forsee a day when everyone has to wear one, period.