Generations is a film about the consequences of climate change and shows you what you can do to make a difference.

At first I was angered by the overly simplistic and obvious suggestions provided by the subjects in Generations: A Skiers’ and Snowboarders’ Perspective on Climate Change.  If you are reading this blog, on the internet, with a computer that you own or use because you are part of the affluent portion of the world, then you know global climate change is occurring.  You therefore must know a handful of lifestyle modifications that can affect change, which were also proposed in Generations.  After sitting here and wanting to berate The North Face, Teton Gravity Research, Protect Our Winters, and Clif Bar for their minimal approach to inciting action for climate stabilization, I urged myself to step back to analyze the focus and purpose of this short film.

Generations was narrated by Greg Stump, and the featured athletes were JeremyJones, Ingrid Backstrom, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Seth Morrison, Dash Longe, Dylan Hood, and Erik Roner.

TGR gives a nice little intro to their film on the Generations mini-site.  They state that “within the span of a lifetime, one can observe the planet’s changing climate.  Skiers, snowboarders, farmers and climatologists across the world are experiencing the effects of climate change.  Ski areas in the Northeast United States are witnessing shorter winters.  California’s farmlands are experiencing water shortages.  Europe’s glaciers are receding at alarming rates.  Generations is a film about the consequences of climate change and shows you what you can do to make a difference.”  Check it out and let me know what you think!

Sitting and pondering the positives after 17 minutes of information that people who have the funds to ski and snowboard should already know, I found myself thinking of human nature.  In being selfish creatures, while at the same time needing and feeding the establishment that we live day to day, humans will only evolve if the way in which we redefine ourselves is for our own good. 

It’s plain and simple. For those of us who love to glide on powder, here’s the moral of the Generations story: if you don’t affect change within your own lives, thinking and acting differently, then soon enough you won’t be able to ski or ride snow unless you spend thousands of dollars per run, and you eventually will not be able to afford store-bought food.  Any food from markets or restos.  And I don’t think you know how to grow and harvest your own grain, or how to start a fire to sanitize the rabbit you just caught, skinned, and gutted.

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That last one probably seemed exaggerated, but extremes make people react.  So react to my words and save the world!

What is your contribution to healing planet earth, my snowboarder amigo?

It evolved into a company as a grassroots type of thing.

I did a double take when I saw Jim Stevens at his BackYard BoxRails booth during Boston’s Ski and Snowboard Expo.  I immediately approached him and asked “what’s good?”

A week later I had a phone interview with Jim where he revealed that the true inspiration for BackYard BoxRails “really came from being up at the mountains, and wanting to learn how to ride rails and boxes and stuff.  You know some of ‘em you weren’t quite sure how to ride them.  And once you did ride them you’d come home and the kids would always want to practice and slide when they weren’t on the mountain.”

Last year he and his family wanted the ability to hit rails and boxes when they weren’t in the park, so they hit the interwebs.  Unfortunately, they discovered that the only viable option was to spend a lot of money to get quality prefab boxes or rails, and also that there were really no resources providing instructions to create something high-grade on your own.  This is where Jim recognized an opportunity.  Once he made some for his own backyard his family’s friends and neighbors wanted to have their own fun, so it evolved into a company “as a grassroots type of thing.”  If you check out the promo vids and photos on the BackYard BoxRails website, the subjects of them are all family and neighbors.  Maybe that says something about how it all started.

The process of research and development came to: “how do we take this to market and keeping in mind that, when people want to put something in their backyard, they’re not looking to spend a lot of money on it.  We tried to keep the economics of it in mind while still giving the customer something that’s quality, that is durable, and is going to last and give them a clean ride when they get up on it.”

They considered pre-building the boxes for people, but then realized that the shipping of the large structures would inflate the price point drastically.  Included in the kits are a material list of items to purchase at your local lumber yard, step by step instructions with illustrations, and most importantly the top sheet of plastic.  It’s crucial to have the right quality of top sheet plastic, otherwise you won’t slide well and you’ll catch edges, and if you use poor quality plastic it’ll get brittle, crack, and break when too cold.  As an added service, BackYard BoxRails counter-sinks all the holes in the plastic.  This allows for the screws attaching the top sheet to the wooden frame to sink below the surface of the plastic.  Then you don’t have to worry about your board catching an edge or getting gouged by the screws.

What they deem to be their product I consider more of a service, as they offer lego kits without some of the parts.  “You take out all of the guesswork of how do you build it?  Is it solid enough?  That type of thing, you know?  Is it going to withstand people jumping up and down on it?  As well as the whole question of what do we use for the top sheet?  Is it going to last?  Is it going to ruin my board or skis?  It’s a one stop shop where you know when it’s all said and done you’re going to have something that is solid, and gonna be a clean ride that’ll last for years.”

When I asked Jim to describe himself in a few words he offered “adventurous and cautious risk-taker.”  Since those definitely tie into entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition, I then inquired about BackYard BoxRail’s collaboration with other companies, and Jim proceeded to inform me that they have an agreement with Ragged Mountain to outfit a new terrain park with BYBR rails.

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You may require something pre-made for you because you’re a sloth and/or wealthy, well then you probably aren’t part of Jim’s target market.  If you want to have a box or rail in your back yard without having to sacrifice your firstborn, and you’re excitedly willing to build it, BackYard BoxRails provides the guidance through painless methods to avoid painful trial and error of attempting it on your own.

Would you like to build your own boxes and rails, my snowboarder amigo?

Let me really explore the boundaries of what I can do and the tricks that I’ve contemplated over years, and never really had the chance or inspiration to try.
~ Shaun White

Project X is not a sexually deviant playhouse, nor is it an alien research base.  For those of you who don’t know, Red Bull and Silverton Mountain partnered to provide Shaun White with the most innovative sport-advancing facility to date.  Project X is that arena of freshness: a perfectly produced 550′ long monster pipe with a 20′ by 30′ foam pit at the end.

With Silverton being the only snow area designed exclusively for advanced and expert skiers and riders, they have less patrons all year than most resorts have in a day.  It’s also the highest ski area with some of the most prime powder in the nation.  So considering all of these factors, why wouldn’t Shaun and Red Bull go straight to Silverton?

They were sneaky, stealthy, sexy assassins putting the whole venture together.  Before creating any of the snow structure they had to flood the basin with pow produced by means of large 25lb charges (bombs), which instigated 30 avalanches and allowed for 250,000 cubic yards of snow to be molded into Project X.  Then consider the 8,000lb steel structure made into a diesel foam pit.

34 hours in the pipe developing new tricks never seen before, Shaun White learned in hours what otherwise could have taken years.  If you go to the Project X site and meander over to the New Tricks section, you can see his Front Double Cork Ten, Switch Back 900, Double Back Rodeo, and Cab Double Cork Ten practiced and then gracefully executed.

“There was an element of ‘What the hell do we do with it?’ but I had a wish list of the kind of tricks I wanted to do.  And every single trick I set out to do, I can now do, which is awesome.  Trial and error was really how we found out what was possible.  You look at what other people have done and try to improve on that or add variations.  Or you just wonder, what if?  What if I just kept flipping?  That was the luxury of the foam pit, because you would never try it otherwise, you would just beyond hurt yourself.  The first tricks I attempted were just hideous.”

Even though Justin Hynes spells it Sean, here’s a link to the Staying on Top interview I quoted.

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Project X launched Shaun White even further ahead of the game.  Unfair ahead.  If there’s a way, Shaun has the will.

Can you imagine the freedom to practice in an ultimately optimal facility, my snowboarder amigo?

Underage and somehow abide by the law of the land that restricts you from imbibing.

I love deals, treasure hunts, discounts, bogos, thrift shops, garage sales, and bartering. Problem is that coupons for these sometimes include fine print details that you would rather not deal with.  The situation at hand with Long Trail Brewery in Vermont is one which I’m definitely willing to work with the fine print limitations.

Upon standing in front of the beer fridges at the liquor store, contemplating what tasty beverage I wanted to sedate my senses with, I noticed Long Trail’s 12-pack mixer.  Why not?  For those of you who are underage AND somehow abide by the law of the land that restricts you from imbibing alcoholic beverages, I’m sorry if I am teasing you with talk of the forbidden fruit.  In any case, I purchased the twelve pack only to get home and discover that there was a half price ticket voucher attached to the assortment of delicious liquids.  Since Long Trail is based out of Vermont all of the participating resorts are in the Green Mountain State, and lucky for me out on the east coast, there’s a lot of prime snow up there.

I put up these humungo photos so that you could inspect the fine print to debate whether buying a Long Trail twelver for the offer is worth it.

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If you’re reading this blog because you love to hit the mountains, and maybe you also love beer, then check out Long Trail’s delectable selection.  Oh yeah, and their IPA is bomb.

Would your beer selection be influenced by this half price ticket, my snowboarder amigo?

I love the icy design, defrost-able with your fingers.

If a brand wants to make money advertising to me via their applications, I won’t pay to use it while providing them with an additional revenue stream.  For simplification of this review, I’ll divvy the apps into two categories: Snow Resort Info and Miscellaneous.  I’ve also included my ratings to further distinguish app quality.  1 (wanted to throw my phone at the app designer ) 2 (just don’t bother) 3 (on the fence because there’s potential) 4 (thoroughly enjoyed myself and is useful) 5 (will do anything to baby-make with the app designer).

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Addicted to Snow – Calendar Shots 2009 2**

ATS utilized rupa’s eBOOK for their Calendar Shots 2009 photobook.  It’s not a utility calendar, but simply an iPhone photobook.  It doesn’t refresh with new photos every time you open it, so once you get to December you’re punked.  There are some beautiful images.

Addicted to Snow – Snowboard Photography Around the Globe 2**

125 virtual pages of great shots and film clips where the introduction describes “this snowboard book… captures some of those moments that not every snowboarder will witness personally.”  And then I arrive at page ten to find that I have to pay $1.99 to see anymore of this.  Addicted to Snow, so far you have not impressed me.

Boarder Lounge 3***

This is an app for people to add and show off their favorite spots for skating and riding, with the capability to add media and descriptions of the spot’s details.  The Lounge is a forum.  Unfortunately, the community isn’t too large right now, so if you search for spots with relevance to your location there most likely won’t be anything.  Maybe in a year.

Crossy 3***

Insert a photo from your phone behind the falling snow/crosses.  Not really useful, but it made me giggle.  I thought it was Swiss propaganda at first.

Malakye 4****

Malakye is all about jobs, business, and news  for action sports and outdoor lifestyle industries.  You can browse job openings posted daily in these industries, check out the Malakye news, and if you’re running a biz they have a B2B offering many resources.

Phresheez 1*

Sign up for an account.  Select different items.  Waste an hour for nothing.  I believe this app is supposed to be a social networking platform for snowboarders, but who knows…

Ride Snowboards 4****

I love Ride Snowboards.  Their app gives you access to great news, wild videos, rider information, and of course Ride product selling tools.  Other than the sales pitch inherent in any company’s app services, this is a rad app for media.

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Fizz Snow 4****

Add your preferred mountains.  It provides 24 hr forecast of temperature, wind, visibility, and precipitation, as well as surface conditions resort information.  Trail maps and photos.  There is a cool “view all mountains” button that displays all your favorites, and includes the new snow and base depth info for each.  Pretty good artwork and user interface.

iTrailMap 5*****

If I ever end up using a map, I don’t think I could stand using paper ones that get ripped or lost or are poorly made.  Once you have your mountain’s high quality map logged in your phone you’ll love it.  Come to think of it, it’s pretty impractical to use gloves or mits on the surface of an iPhone.  Take your hand covers off because I don’t care, I’m still repping this as five stars because of how it fulfills the simple purpose of providing resort trail maps.

Save our Snow 5*****

Brilliant design by none other than CLIF BAR.  By clicking above the main header a box fades down, highlighting different energy alternative uses by snow resorts.  In addition to the information, forecasting, and mountain conditions, each resort has been individually rated for different energy-oriented categories.  I love the icy design, defrost-able with your fingers.

Ski & Snow Report 3***

The only nominal value added is the ability to view mountain cams.

Skullcandy 4****

Music, media, shred spots, and Skullcandy shopping capabilities are all rolled into one app.  In addition to the other snow resort information provided as other apps do, this one lets you map the resort you are browsing in google maps.  The music offerings are quality but not quantity.  It is a little excessive and pertains to skate, surf, snowboard and their accompanying cultures, but I personally enjoy having all the options at hand.

Snow and Ski Report 3***

This is leans more towards a promotional and sales tool.  Once you figure out how to get past the REI-centric opening, you can select your favorite resorts to be a part of this same opening.  The app enables you to have a multi-faceted start page of sorts.

SnowBomb 3***

Although this doesn’t pertain to snowboarding, I wanted to give props to the developer of this app for thinking of cross country skiers, as they are hardly ever included in snowsports considerations.

The Snow Report 4****

The North Face is overrated.  That means that even though this app deserves a five star rating due to brilliant user interface and graphic design, unlimited amounts of resort information, and mountain specific twitter feeds, I scorn this application because I am not a fan of the company that produced it.  Check it out for yourself, because I’m clearly biased.

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The applications that are now on my phone are iTrailMap, Save Our Snow, and The Snow Report.  Seeing as the CLIF BAR and The North Face applications are practically the same, I’m debating which of the two to keep.  I would rep CLIF’s company culture over The North Face’s ANY DAY.

What do you think of the trade-off between corporate sales and beautiful functionality in applications, my snowboarder amigo?

BEWARE THE SNOW MONSTER!

Video games you say, well why not just hit the snow? First off there isn’t snow year round.  Secondly, do you also have those long trips where you forgot to bring a book or zine and your headphones broke the day before?  I do.  The first three I have tested since they’re free, but the rest of this list costs money.  I think my rent is a higher priority.

1 – Crazy Snowboard (Lite) – Xmas Edition

They keep coming out with holiday versions, like the Halloween and Xmas ones.  Then there’s the regular edition which is exactly the same setup, with the difference being non-themed courses and riders+gear.  If you enjoy it enough to purchase the full version, good for you.

Free Ride: endless downhill action, and I mean infinitely long til you get sick enough from the same jumps and grabs to throw your iPhone at the old lady sitting next to you on the bus.  You start with the aerial options of pulling a method, stalefish, nose grab, or front grab, and then if you play missions you can unlock bonus items (boards, dudes, and grabs).

Missions: in each mission there is a purple hint box that unlocks a bonus item.  But wait, once you unlock those items, you still have to purchase them by acquiring enough points via these missions.  I can only describe the first three since the Lite version doesn’t allow for further off-mountain practice.   Mission 1 you need to grab 10 coins before time runs out, mission 2 you must accrue 2500 points before time runs out, and mission 3 is to jump through 15 rings before time runs out.

2 – Slope Rider (Lite)

In this game you have many more options than in Crazy Snowboard.  Let alone the inclusion of rails and halfpipes, Slope Rider lets you do aerial spins and flips, and since there are many more possibilities things tend to get a little hectic on the iPhone.  To get more control on my rider, I turned down the sensitivity in options and voila!, I can actually stay on course.

Alpine: race against a computer-controlled snowboarder to the finish line while simultaneously trying to beat the fastest times in the highscores table.

Freestyle: test your trick skills on jumps, rails, and halfpipes to see if you can beat your last high score.

3 – Shred Snowboarding

Think of the game you used to play on the comp wayyy back in the day where you’d always be eaten by the snow monster, Ski Champ, but now you’re a snowboarder and can slightly develop your features.

Here are the games with a price-tag:

Adrenaline Snowboarding (Take on the role of an extreme snowboarder and shred down the slopes, grind rails and bust out huge aerial tricks.  Score big to compete against your friends, or others from around the world.)

Index & Bird’s Snowboard Park (Using multi-touch technology, it allows you to ride a snowboard with your fingers.  Simply strap into the snowboard’s bindings by utilizing the yellow circles on the snowboard.  Now you can ride the board by twisting your fingers on the screen.)

iStunt (iStunt is an addictive 2D snowboard game with a strong emphasis on physics.  Perform amazing stunts while snowboarding through impossible scenarios in a unique game experience.)

Shaun White Snowboarding: Origins (The game spans four different countries – Chile, Japan, Spain and USA.  Become part of the Shaun White community and take on the players all over the globe.)

Ski Champ (BEWARE THE SNOW MONSTER!)

Snowboarding TnT (Get massive air and perform over 30 unique tricks to earn points, maneuver through gates, and battle time and obstacles to unlock new courses.)

Snow Dude (Go little Snow Dude!)

XPEED Snowboard (Durability of your board will be reduced after every stage, but you can repair your snowboard at STATE menu)

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Next time you wish you were riding freshies just reach in your pocket, take out your iPhone (that’s if you have one, and if not you can otherwise substitute this step with your imagination), and tap your favorite snowboard game’s icon.  Play away.

Which games have you tried, my snowboarder amigo?

Board sports, for the most part, are about expressing individuality.

When contemplating what to wear on the mountain, most riders will attempt to conjure images in their mind’s eye that stray from apparel conventions and blow away what we know of snow-safe outer wear.  This is why, when the first outfitting of snowboarder Olympians took place in ‘98, Burton took the stance that our sport’s individualistic culture deems uniformity as contrarian.  Burton’s come around since ‘98, deciding that this is a prime opportunity to show the masses you can be truly unique while stylistically conform at the same time, or maybe this is still just another way Burton can rake in the dough and dominate the industry even further.

They are the provider of gear for the US Olympic Snowboard team, and recently unveiled their not-so-uniforms this past week.  This time around they have a fresh idea to take the red white and blue, transpose it into plaid outerwear, and then combine a complementary worn-jean pant look.  Not exactly a lame spandex suit, is it?  I don’t really think the team would be caught dead in those onesies anyways.

As with all product development, Burton purports that this Olympian garb has also been through rigid rider testing and input.  They even held a roundtable discussion with top pro-snowboarders and Olympic hopefuls Elena Hight, Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Jack Mitrani, Luke Mitrani, Steve Fisher, Scotty Lago, and Louie Vito to review design concepts for the outerwear before arriving at the final creation.  The main issue was to harmoniously balance individualistic boarder style and team togetherness, and since last time around Burton’s outfits were baseball jersey reminiscent, this year the “sports team” concept has been ousted.

“Board sports, for the most part, are about expressing individuality — that’s what makes them cool,” said Greg Dacyshyn, the company’s creative director.  “So the whole uniform thing, you know, it’s a sensitive subject.”

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I’d def rock this outfit to work if I could.  Well, that’s if I had a job.  Plaid aligns with boarder taste and is back in mass style again, while the ripped and ravaged look is always fresh.  Good job Burton (or the underpaid/unpaid product design intern)!

What do you think of the US Olympic team’s new outfits, my snowboarder amigo?

Change is in the air.

Check out the Thirtytwo Team featuring: JP Walker, Simon Chamberlain, Markku Koski, Marie-France Roy, Chris Bradshaw, Jon Kooley, Nima Jalali, Scott Stevens, Joe Sexton, Chris Grenier, Johnny Miller, Stale Sandbech, Tyler Flanagan and Ben Bilocq.

Here’s their edit from the happenings of this season so far:

Don’t forget to admire:
0:52 where Chris Grenier rides up a set of stairs to the jump onto the outside railing and backside Boardslide down.
1:25 where Scott Stevens does a mighty One-Footed Boardslide.
1:53 where Chris Bradshaw launches of a little trailer to Boardslide a covered one to hop into a 50-50 atop the van.

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My favorite shot is a simple one, but majestic nonetheless.  At 1:56 Simon Chamberlain comes through trees where it feels like his tail will clip the camera, but gracefully launches off the hill into a frontside 180° Backflip, and the cam follows him into the air and down the mountain.

What’s your favorite segment, my snowboarder amigo?

I honestly felt sorry for the woman who was trying so hard to seem approachable inside of the concrete jungle known as the Bayside Expo Center.

Trade shows and expos are the brilliant monsters of business meet and greets.  Although some exhibitors go to parade products and services to their target market, these events are truthfully inspired by the need to get out from behind desks and potentially do a little networking with like-minded industry players.

For Boston’s 2009 Ski & Snowboard Expo, the majority of those presenting were ski resorts from around the USA, and the floorplan was set up so that the one’s from New Hampshire had their own particular enclave, those from Vermont also had their area to cluster in, and so on.  Let’s say that 70% were resorts, 20% were ski and snowboard product/service companies, and then the remaining 10% were what I deem to be randoms.

I can see how Sojourn bicycle adventures aligns with the outdoors enthusiast characteristic found in those of us who partake in snowsports, and how Stonyfield Farm’s organic yogurt may align with the granola side inherent in us as well, but McDonald’s?  Are you guys at BEWI, the production company that put on this expo, implying that the typical rider is a pothead who resorts to fast food because he doesn’t have funds (or patience) to understand the delight found in savoring Alaskan King Crab Legs a la Royal?  Wrong.  Anyways, they weren’t sampling munchies, simply their “new” McCafe segmentation.  But for real, the most random company there, which I actually did an “are you serious?” double-take when they offered me a free window consultation, was A&A Services – Home Improvement.  Mad props for showing up to a completely irrelevant trade show, but I honestly felt sorry for the woman who was trying so hard to seem approachable inside of the concrete jungle known as the Bayside Expo Center.

There was even a Ski Market inside of the convention.  And no, I don’t mean another building within a building.  On one end of the trade show, fenced off from the rest of the snowsport industry hustlers and thugs, was a fully functional store with fitting room stalls and all.  The underbelly of Boston’s Ski Market, Underground Snowboard, provided the snowboard community with our own back room to shop in.  It was minimally illuminated with dingy lighting, either to infuse a cool lounge atmosphere or to trick buyers into thinking $700 was actually $100.  Everything you’d ever find in the brick and mortar version of a ski shop was on display, but the discounts were better than your grandma can get at Macy’s with her purse full of coupons and promo vouchers.  I wanted thick socks and low profile gloves, but by the time I was free to meander over to the shop on the second day, all I had to peruse were the leftovers of bargain hunting vultures.  No socks left for me.

I was there with SnowRiders, a badass band of brothers, three to be exact, who have come together to start an epic company providing the snowsport community with gnarly trips and events.  They are getting ready for an interwebs-site relaunch (hopefully real soon) to replace the existing one with tremendous user interactivity and functionality.  It’ll be bomb we promise.  Our boys over at Bean Snowboards were also holding down the fort. This is Scott geekin it:

Aerialists Trace Worthington and Kris Feddersen put on an indoor aerial display that’s always a crowd pleaser.  Or so the press release says, but that seems to insinuate that Worthington and Feddersen were executing those aerials.  What I saw was a group of young bucks performing phenomenal maneuvers on the trampoline setup, while Mr. Feddersen provided his voice through a mic.  He MC’d and the emerging Flying Ace All Stars were the dancing bears.  Please don’t get me wrong, they were most definitely super duper spectacular all stars.

Sunday River had quite an expansive area to attack and overwhelm their potential clients.  They had a wheel of wondrous fortune, one of their gondolas to sit in and hot box, and some We Ski for Wii action.  I’ve always been amused by the use of the Wii console when energizing a company’s community, and here’s why:

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Trade shows are a blast if you know how to rock them.  Do a couple of laps around the venue, because you’re bound to have missed something.  Approach strangers to strike up conversation, because you’re clearly attending for similar reasons.  Get deals or retain information.  Either way you’ve gained valuables.

Would you be a trampoline all-star, my snowboarder amigo?