Man Camp

To get some of the big powder lines seen in many of the new movies, days or weeks must often be spent at the bast of a mountain. This is to say the least, no easy feat. Shelter, food, water, clothing and much else must all be provided for, when snowboarding this includes all your snowboard gear.

That’s why Transworld Snowboarding interviewed Jeremy Jones for some tips on snow camping.  The interview itself lacks any any substance or good information toward weather survival. So it’s a good thing they offer links at the bottom to backpacking.net mountainsurvival.com and rei.com.

Not something I have been able to try yet. And probably not until I can secure enough funds to begin such adventures. With that in mind, I imagine the only thing more fun then going to some of these places, would be going there and snowboarding.

Learning to shred.

Christoper Del Sole’s blog about snowboarding is asked readers to write to him with their first adventure learning to snowboard.

The stories are funny, and familiar. One reader posts “At age 55 I took a beginner snowboard lesson, 15 minutes later if my skis had been in my truck I would have quit.” I was about 12 rather then 55 the first time I tried to board, so my compliments to the poster. However if I had skis in my truck at the time I also would have quit.

My ability to go down the hill more then a few feet without falling was non-existent. After a short day (falling just started to hurt too much) I decided to try my luck with a lesson. It only took one, and later that day I was riding down the hill on not only my heel edge but my toe edge.

I guess the moral of the story is you’re never too old, or too young to take a lesson. The poster who took a lesson at 55 still rides almost four years later, hopefully I can go even longer then that.

It a big deal now.

The usual drive before the Olympics for snowboarders to get the biggest and baddest tricks on lock-down is starting to  garner some media attention. The Wall Street Journal article “When Snowboarders Baffle the Judges” addresses how often judges must score a trick often times they have never seen before. This could be a problem for White, who has been training at his secret facility in Colorado.

White decide to show some judges his new moves rather then to unveil at the games, in part to help prevent what happened to Skier Johny Moseley in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. Moseley performed a brand new trick he coined the term “dinner roll” for. While the trick is now considered one of the most difficult to perform, and Moseley did so perfectly, he still didn’t manage to medal.

White’s reason to show the tricks, despite the possibility of other riders imitating his them, is so he could “educate the judges.” There are other factors that may play in to a judge not scoring well for tricks technically harder, snowboarders are not required to give a list of the tricks they will do like some other sports, so there is more of a surprise factor. There’s also a good chance none of the judges can do anything even close to what the rides are doing.

Oh ya, it still gets cold here.

The first real cold this winter resulted with temperatures closing in on 35 below zero. At least now zero will feel great.

Since Jeremy Jones hasn’t had the opportunity to ride enough cool stuff, he now gets to snowboard in Antarctica. Here are two pictures he took of his recent travels. The opportunity to shoot pictures in Antarctica alone must be amazing.

When he’s not worried about the boat getting trapped in ice and actually snowboarding, he has to worry about lines that are anything but mellow, and have abrupt drop-offs into the water.

One look at the pictures and I know exactly what Jones must have been thinking upon arrival, “where to start?” Now that Jeremy Jones is probably the first person to ever shred Antarctica, it makes me wonder what could be next? One thing is for sure, his movie “Deeper” should hit harder then an iceberg.

In the event of a global climate change crisis.

We may still be able to snowboard and ski.

Most would say, with accurate feelings, that without snow these sports we love so much would cease to exist. While for the most part probably true, companies have been working on artificial hills for the last decade. They include completely indoor snow parks, the back-yard solution of astro-turf and soapy water, or a product like Snowflex, which has been used in the first artificial snow slope in America.

I haven’t had the pleasure of riding any completely artificial conditions, but every summer my buddy Cal Whitehill sets up an astro-turf and soapy water drop-in to hit rails. He says it works great, but you can’t turn on it so make sure your pointed in the right direction.

Here’s his summer edit. Snow-free.

 

 

Calb3rt%27s+Stereo+Edit+-+Ski+Videos+-+Skiing%27s+Online+Community+-+Newschoolers.com.

Flurries with a chance of hell ya.

I had to go buy a new snow-shovel we got so much snow today, having nothing to do with the fact I drove over my old one. Snow is expected to continue through the weekend, with temperatures dropping well into the negatives soon after.

When Shaun White isn’t busy building secret halfpipes (see previous post) he’s busy selling his body. Only kidding. Sort of. You can now bid on Ebay for a chance to ride with Shaun for a day. All the proceeds going to Right To Play, a multinational humanitarian organization.   Don’t feel bad, I wasn’t reaching for my wallet to buy a day with Shaun, especially once I saw the bidding was at $4,550. I think it would go against my morals to pay, even a charity, to snowboard with anyone, not just Shaun.

Maybe Shaun should offer one of these underprivileged kids the day to snowboard with him, that would be nice. Remember, keep the halfpipe hush hush.

 

Flurries with a chance of hell ya?

I had to go buy a new snow-shovel it’s snowing so much, even if that’s because I drove over my old one. I don’t have any recent memories of this much snow so earlier on, with all we have in town I can’t wait to see what Skiland looks like. It’s expected to keep up through Saturday or Sunday, but shortly after drop heavily into negative temperatures.

Shaun White is doing all sorts of projects, not only is he building a secret halfpipe (see previous post) he is auctioning off a chance to snowboard with him for a day. Right now all you have to outbid is $4,550. Don’t worry, paying to ride with him didn’t have me reaching for my wallet either. Not to say it isn’t for a good cause. All proceeds go to a Right To Play, an international humanitarian organization. I do think Shaun should take an underprivileged kid snowboarding some day, that might mean a lot more to them. Remember. Hush hush about the halfpipe.

At least with the auction you won’t have to worry about shipping charges, except yourself down to Stratton Mountain, Vermont.