Thumbs Down to Great Britain

(Yes, that’s a “thumbs down” on the map of Great Britain.)
Thumbs down to Great Britain, who is reportedly cutting their Olympic snowboarding budget by almost half despite great improvements in Turin. And check out this amazingly defeatist quote from a British official, as reported by the folks at worldsnowboardguide.com:
“Our approach to Winter Olympic and [...]

East Coast, West Coast, Aspen, Whistler: So Many Options

My friends and I are having a debate.
We are going to Whistler without question. This year, however, we will go slightly later than December; mid-January appears to be our target. This way, we should be able to experience more of the mountain than in early season.
I am probably also going to Tremblant. I have a [...]

College Kids Get No Snowboarding Love from NCAA

Transworld (yes, I’m linking to them again) has an article today on the growth of the collegiate snowboarding market, which apparently contributed significantly to snowboarding’s growth between 1988 and 2003. Unfortunately, the NCAA doesn’t recognize or sponsor snowboarding events, so this growth has not been fully represented in the collegiate sports scene down south (by [...]

Transworld Brings the Pain With its Snowboarding Videos

Every Monday, Transworld Snowboarding posts the “Monday Mallet” in its videos section. The “Monday Mallet” is essentially a video where someone is getting their ass kicked by a rail, jump, etc. This week’s is particularly painful, I recommend checking it out.
There’s actually a ton of new videos up that are all worth viewing, especially if [...]

Report on Resort Improvements

It’s summertime, which means many ski resorts are busy upgrading their facilities for next season. Here’s a look at what some resorts are doing:

Steamboat in Colorado is replacing a triple with a quad, and is opening a new trail.
As reported here earlier, Whistler Blackcomb is building a new lift, the Piccolo Express, to open new [...]

Shaun White, Hannah Teter Win at ESPYs

Another quick one before I head out the door to whack golf balls in the middle of a heat wave: Shaun White and Hannah Teter both won big at the ESPY Awards, which seem on their way to becoming quite a big deal. White went inside the show right before Kobe Bryant, and got a [...]

You Learn Something New Every Day

According to this article in the New York Times, there are only two places in North America designed for year-round riding (or close to it): Mount Hood and Whistler. The article takes a look at the summer snowboarding life on Mount Hood, and how the summer attitude differs from winter.

Official Declaration for 7/11: Leave Work, Drink Slurpees

I have decided that today is 7-Eleven Day. To celebrate, everyone should have the day off to drink Slurpees. It’s only fair. So turn off your computer and go home.
That is all.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: It turns out 7-Eleven is one step ahead of me. They’re giving out more than three million Slurpees today! All the more [...]

Want to Teach Snowboarding in France? Learn to Ski.

This is interesting. According to the article, German and British snowboarding instructors can’t get hired in France, because France doesn’t recognize snowboarding as a discipline that’s separate from skiing.
The end result? Snowboarding instructors technically face arrest unless they get a diploma in skiing.
As the article points out, I can see the logic in requiring knowledge [...]

Why Hockey Rocks

Check out this Euro 2004 soccer ad from Britain.