3 PARTIES on the BLUR TOUR

BLURRED by Huckfest Productions is the EAST COAST snowboard film of the season. Catch it at one of these parties.

Oct. 19 Friday New Paltz, NY at Cabaloosa's, put on by SnowboardSecrets.com, Flexmeters.com and Sacred board shop of New Paltz. http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/blurtour.htm We're expecting a crowd from all over and this will be a banging party. 18 and over.

Oct. 25 Thursday New York City, at M1-5 in Tribeca. The party of the season. Athletes including Yale and Chris and director of the film Tom Vayianos will be there. Snowboard outerwear fashion show. Goody bags with lift ticket deals. Snowboard raffle, And MORE.
DON'T MISS IT. $5 cover, 21 and over. http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/blurtour.htm
Put on by SnowboardSecrets.com, Flexmeters.com snowboard and skate wrist guards.

Nov. 2 Friday Framingham/Natick MA at Eastern Boarder. All ages, join us for this laid back showing of the movie in the shop and check out the latest gear. We'll go out for a drink after.
http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/blurtour.htm
Brought to you by SnowboardSecrets.com, Flexmeters.com snowboard and skate wrist guards.

Gathering of the Vibes, Sunday Report. August 12, 2007

Gathering of the Vibes, Sunday Report. August 12, 2007

Hey, I've got to level with you. After 2 very active days dancing and running around at Gathering of the Vibes in beatiful hot weather and cold rainy weather, I was ready for a chill day. And since I can listen to the show in the comfort of my home on community radio station WPKN, that's where I'm hearing it today. (By the way, WPKN.org is where you can make a donation to this very excellent grassroots radio station that is supported by its listeners, and has no ads.)

So, I'm not there now... you're not there now, we'll reconstruct the experience throught the music. I'm paying a lot more attention to the music for a sustained period of time than I would if I were there.

Kevin Hays & Friends Jazz Session opened the musical day with smoothness, to go with a Sunday morning cup of joe. The World Peace Prayer Society lead their annual peace prayer at noon. The audience held flags and repeated the list of all the countries in the world. See this touching moment as it appeared at last year's GOTV here: scroll down on http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/vibes06.htm

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band brought modern old fashioned New Orleans brassy funk to Bridgeport.

Martin Sexton is an all around multi-talented musician. My local radio station of choice, WFUV, Fordham University in the Bronx, plays his songs, but the ones they play are all kind of the same downbeat strumming. But in concert, this guy can be downright rowdy. And we love it.
Like Picasso, you don't realize his true artistic genius until you see what wide range of mastery he has.

In concert at Gathering of the Vibes, Martin Sexton and his band all showed their stuff. Along with the Sexton standards, they did a Johnny Cash cover, and a wild version of that Billy Preston song "Will it Go Around in a Circle." It launched into a jam, keyboard player and saxophonist from Deep Banana Blackout were in on it and funking it up righteously.

Jah-Jah and Jah-la. The Wailers gave us are old favorites like "Them Belly Full", "Lively Up Yourself," "Exodus," and "Get Up Stand Up" and they kept the arrangements fresh and new. There was a sing along on "No Woman No Cry." Rahstafari-Bless, until we meet again.

After the Wailer's breathtaking set, Wavy Gravy popped onto stage to announce that he had been "Rastah-fied" and was feeling fine, and would meet us over at the other stage for Buddy Guy. He just left the mike, and we heard dead air on the radio until WPKN chimed in from the studio.

We waited and waited, and heard a lot of other music on the radio, but not Buddy Guy. Where was he? Turns out his show was not broadcast on air, a licensing issue that we feared might also affect the Les Claypool and Ratdog shows, but in the end only affected Buddy Guy's.

Los Lobos covered the board in musical style-ations bouncing from Latin, to Zydeco to blues, and making the audience crazy along the way. As headline closing act they finished the Gathering of the Vibes on a high note that just makes us count the days until we can come back for another magical weekend of music and fun.

Props to Ken Hays, Jonathan, Terrapin, The Gathering of the Vibes Family, Radio Vibes, WPKN, and everybody else who made the magic happen.
the magic happen at the 12th Annual Gathering of the Vibes.

Gathering of the Vibes, Saturday Night Report. August 11, 2007

Gathering of the Vibes, Saturday Night Report, August 11, 2007

Just got back from spending most of the day at GOTV, and am listening to the end of the Ratdog show live on blessed WPKN 89.5 as I write. WPKN even had the show online at WPKN.org. All of the musical artists today agreed to let their live show's be on air. There was some question earlier about Ratdog and Les Claypool releasing rights to broadcast, but they did. The show at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT seemed to be filled to capacity. Still, it is wonderful that the producers of this show allow people in their area that could be potential concert-goers, to listen from home. A rare treat.

My friend Brian said tonight "sometimes Ratdog is great, and sometimes they're not so great." Which I knew. But tonight they are putting on a great show, as they did last year as Saturday's headline act at the Vibes. Very tight, varied material. "Come Together" cover. Now they are pulling an epic jam on St. Stephen.

For once it's not raining during Ratdog's show, which it did the last 2 years. In fact weather today was perfect with blue cloudless skies and a little offshore breeze. Tonight is even more perfect, with temps in the mid-60s and zero sunburn index.

There were plenty of guests sitting in today. Donna Jean was onstage with Ratdog. Bob Weir played with Keller Williams. Last night Jen Durkin played with Mickey Hart. It's the kind of musical mix-up that we hope for at the Vibes.

Les Claypool's set, once it got cooking, caused handsome men everywhere to spontaneously do a prancing jive dance all through the audience. It was particularly fetching when done while walking. Never saw so many guys dancing before. Funk music has been the undercurrent this year, and has popped up all over the place in different artists' sets over the last 2 days.

Ryan Montbleau Band had the opening spot at 11:00 a.m., which includes the thankless job of reviving a partied-out crowd, with music. Their gentle amusing music did the trick.

Sixteen non-profit organizations are given space and ink at Gathering of the Vibes to spread their worthy words and examples.This year groups on the forefront of developing clean energy techniques were featured. You could get your cellphone, Ipod, camera, or laptop juiced up for free, compliments of The Sun, at the Solar Bus (Solarbus.org). You could have a Solar Smoothie, where the blender worked by solar panels. CommunityEnergy.biz will donate enough wind energy credits to offset 100% of the electricity used for this year's event.

I was just ruminating today again on how well organized and run the Gathering of the Vibes Festivals are. Even the website and free hand-out programs are well written and designed, and a pleasure to use. And I was thinking how I've never seen any kind of "trouble" in the mellow crowd in my 3 yearly visits. Police patrolled the crowd on horseback, Segue, and auto.

I'm sorry to report that today was different and there was a confrontation with police. A trustworthy friend reported that he saw 3 or 4 concertgoers on the ground with handcuffs on, and police around. There was almost a bigger problem when police asked the crowd to move back, and the crowd belligerantly refused. (Later we heard that the arrest was a rowdy concert-goer who was hitting others in the face.)

Sorry to see this and hope we don't see it again. The crowd did seem to be a different mix than the last 2 years. Less old hippie-types, more young urban types, and plenty of Jersey in the house. Lots of full-time tour followers too it seemed. The easy-access location right off the Northeast's main traffic artery of I-95 made the festival more accessible to a wider geographic area.

Fashion at the Vibes
Tie dye is fading out this season. Madras and plaid shorts are making a strong showing especially for men and boys. And shorts and pants for guys with big multic-colored patchwork squares too, from Guatamala I think, are gaining fashion traction.

Camo is still happening but this will probably be the last season, unless some new camo colors arrive on the scene to freshen the look. Cargo pants for men and women are just too comfortable and practical to go out of style at music festivals, or anywhere you need a safe place for car keys, camera, phone, money, etc.

Strapless dresses are looking good on some women. There were surprisingly few new looks in head wear, just the same old baseball caps and straw hats. Afros are back in a small way, but this time on Caucasian men.The once ubiquitous bandana is slowing in popularity, but again, it's a useful item, and I think it won't vanish.

Transportation this year was easy if you had a wheeled device, unlike on the grassy rolling fields of Indian Lookout Country Club.The Seaside Park venue comprises an amazing 370 acres along the waterfront. Skateboards, long and short, were a handy form of transport along the 2 mile long seaside promenade, and there is a full-featured skate park by the beach too. Scooters, bikes, and a neat small electric trike all got people around in style. The people running the show raced around in their golf carts.

There were even Festival Cab golf carts with room for 6 passengers. Weary walkers could hop on and pay $1 to get where they're going. Just another example of the fact that the Vibe people are really good at running their show. This is the 12th year and they work at making it better and better. Props to Ken Hays, Jonathan Lobdell, and all their peeps for doing a great job again!

Beer and cigarettes are ubiquitous accessories at this show. Sometimes Ii's hard to get a breath of fresh air, even at the seaside. Non-smokers must jockey for spots where smoke is not shotgunning into our nostrils. A cigarette company was a sponsor this year. But only gave free packs of cigs to people who said they are already smokers. At least that was something. The show is so accessible that takeout pizza was seen. Certainly never in Mariaville.

Someone in the crowd flew a radio-controlled Frisbee or something like that after dark. It spun, with colored lights all around and looked like a real UFO. He was able to make it swoop below the big screen, and then hover right over our heads. It was the coolest thing ever. I must get one.

Hey, tomorrow night is the Perseid Meteor Showers, with up to 60 streaking shooting stars per hour. Hope for clear skies. The dark of the moon will help visibility.
Los Lobos' show ends at 8 p.m. tomorrow, and we know that the shows at Gathering of the Vibes run like clockwork. So you should be home, or well on the way in time to see the meteor shower.

Trying to decide whether to take your kids to a music festival?
Or "what to wear and bring?"
Or "am I too old to go to a music festival?"
Or "what will I eat if I don't eat wheat? Or don't feel like bringing a cooler with ice.?"
Or "what should I wear on my feet?
Or "how to stay dry in the pouring rain?"
Or "what if I don't feel like bringing food, or chairs? "What if I need shade?"
Or "how to have enough energy for dancing from midnight to 4 a.m.?
Or "what festival goers should carry at all times."
Or "what you must NEVER do at a music festival. If you do, you're day will surely be ruined.

Watch for the Festival Goers Guide that will answer these and other earth-shaking questions, and make your life perfect in every way.

Gathering of the Vibes, Friday Night Report 8-10-2007

Gathering of the Vibes, Friday Night Report 8-10-2007

I was at the show tonight, and I just heard Deep Banana Blackout's second encore finish the show at 12:58 a.m. Through the magic of public radio station WPKN 89.5, I heard the finale from the comfort of my nice dry home which is just 30 miles from the Bridgeport, CT, Seaside Park locale of the show this year. We beat the traffic outta there and were able to listen to DBB's set on the drive home.

Deep Banana Blackout was proudly introduced onstage tonight, by the Mayor of Bridgeport, John Fabrizi. DBB only does a few of gigs a year these days, but they wouldn't miss Gathering of the Vibes, especially when it has come back to their old hometown. "Welcome to our 'hood" as Jen Durkin said from the stage. Their show tonight was a "Tribute to the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Biz, James Brown!" And it could not have rocked funkier!
http://www.deepbananablackout.com/dbb/

Before that George Clinton and P-Funk rocked the house. Deep Banana channels funk, but George C. invented it. His band was tight, and loose, hot and cool, earthy and outer spatial. He brought the heat on this clammy night.

Friday afternoon and evening's bands were stellar: Dickie Betts ended his set with "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and it sounded better than some Allman Brothers versions. Mickey Hart and his all star band were musical and danceable.

Today was rainy and downright cold, with temperatures in the high 50's, down from 95 yesterday. But the rain didn't dampen the Vibes crowd. This was my third Gathering of the Vibes, and it's rained some the last 2 years too, though on Saturday night, not Friday like this year. Anyway this crowd expects it and handles it without a whine. And just has a great time, no matter the weather.

And what's not to like? A friend compared this gathering's vibe to the true summer of love of 1966, as opposed to the commercial summer of love in 1967. The crowd is groovy and mellow, the sound system is awesome, the bands that play are incredible and mean every note they play, the food court keeps us well fed. So what if a little rain falls.

The big screen has the projected images from the stage visible on both sides (!) so you can actually sit on the sea wall with the offshore breeze licking your back, and hear and see the show just fine. Mariaville, up in the countryside by Albany, NY, where the show was held for the last couple of years, had many charms, but it didn't have the ocean!

The only bit of a drag this year is that the campground was filled up by Sat. So if you had purchased camping tickets and arrived after the campground was filled, you can still camp, but you will have to move your gear from your car in the parking lot, by shuttle bus, to the campground, and it may take more than one trip. Camping next to the car at Indian Lookout at Mariaville was much easier.

Tomorrow and Sunday's weather forecasts online are showing the smiling sun face that we love to see. But it was worth braving the weather today to see some of the finest bands scheduled in this 4 day festival. Cheerio!

See photos and article on Gathering of the Vibes 2006 here http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/vibes06.htm

See photos and article on Gathering of the Vibes 2005 here
http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/vibes.htm

Snowboard Cross new Pro Tour - 1st round at Sugarloaf

Sugarloaf/USA to Host World's Best Snowboard Cross Riders Mar. 24
Seth Wescott launches Champion's Cross pro tour

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine - Sugarloaf/USA welcomes the world's best snowboard cross riders for the inaugural running of the Champion's Cross Sugarloaf Open hosted by Olympic Gold Medalist Seth Wescott . On Saturday, Mar. 24 the top 24 SBX athletes currently on the FIS World Cup tour along with other qualifying American riders will compete at Wescott's home resort for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

"Our goal is to create the premiere boardercross tour in North America," Wescott said, because there has not been a professional tour of this kind since 2002. "As a result, we haven't seen progress in course design and evolution of the sport. Putting an alternative to the World Cup out there gives a lot more riders a chance to stay in the sport professionally."

The Sugarloaf event will be the only stop this year in the United States and a spring date in British Columbia is currently under consideration. Next winter, Wescott envisions the tour making multiple stops across the US and Canada.

To kick off the series, these elite athletes will converge at Sugarloaf to compete on a course designed by Wescott with the winner taking home at least $10,000 in cash plus a Suzuki Motocross motorcycle. The course will begin on Lower Competition Hill and cut over to Lower Narrow Gauge and will feature jumps, hips and rollers. The event is designed to be spectator-friendly and the course will include viewing areas across the length of the course.

"There is no better representative of the sport of snowboarding than Seth or a better place to take snowboard cross to the next level," said Sugarloaf President John Diller. "Seth built his dream of winning Olympic gold on Sugarloaf's slopes. Events like this will inspire the next generation of Sugarloafers to follow in his footsteps."

The weekend-long event will include a time trial on Friday, racing on Saturday and Parade of Athletes and Award Presentations Saturday evening.

About Sugarloaf/USA Ski Resort ? Located in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, Sugarloaf/USA is recognized as one of the top ski and golf resorts in the world. Sugarloaf/USA is part of the American Skiing Company family of resorts which includes Killington and Mount Snow in Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA in Maine; Attitash in New Hampshire; and The Canyons in Utah.

Mountain Creek - Sunday - TransAM and Concert

Montain Creek, Vernon NJ is hosting 2 too cool events this Sunday!

The Transworld TransAm Contest Series presented by High Cascade Snowboard Camp will go down on Sunday March 11. Comp starts at 11:30 a.m. Pre-registration necessary.

At noon come out and watch 25 members of Paul Green's SCHOOL OF ROCK ALL-STARS - 10 to 18 year olds play the greatest hits of Rock and Roll, just like in the movie starring Jack Black. Vernon Base.

Details on both events at
http://www.mountaincreek.com/todo/events/index.htm

Boardercross at Plattekill - want to try it?

Everybody wants to try Boardercross since the Olympics,but the race course set-ups are few and far between on the mountains.

Plattekill - now - is the answer!
The Catskill Mountain Series of USASA (grassroots snowboard competition league) is holding their Boardercross and Skiercross at Plattekill Mountain, in the Catskills of NY state, this Saturday, March 10. If you want to compete, you'll have to register for the day http://www.usasa.org/

But, will the boardercross course still be open inthe days after the event? Check with the mountain. http://www.plattekill.com/winter/index.html

Never visited Plattekill? Plattekill has big mountain terrain, with small mountain charm.

Plattekill Mountain
469 Plattekill Mountain Road
Roxbury, NY 12474

Info & Lodging: (607) 326-3500

Snowphone/Conditions: 800-NEED-2-SK

Grenade Strikes Back at NJ Mountain Creek This Weekend

Olympic Medalist Danny Kass and Grenade Gloves Team head to Mountain Creek

Grenade Strikes Back Rail Jam February 16-17

Danny Kass returns to Jersey with his Grenade Strikes Back tour. This event will be held over the weekend of Feb. 16-17 with a slopestyle competition, rail jam, and live music at Mountain Creek.

Vernon, NJ (February 7, 2007) – Two-time Olympic Silver Medalist and Vernon’s hometown hero, Danny Kass will return to Mountain Creek to launch the Grenade Strikes Back rail jam and shred his original terrain February 16-17.

Kass and his Grenade Gloves Team will tear through Mountain Creek for the second of only two East Coast stops during the industry renowned Grenade Strikes Back tour.

Each day, one rider will win a free ticket to compete in the grand finale to be held April 20 at a resort to be determined in CA. All contestants will compete for prizes from tour sponsors in this two-day contest. Sponsors include Boost Mobile, Vans, Zumiez, Vestal, Libtech, Gnu, Monster Energy Drink and Transworld Snowboarding.

The weekend will get underway Friday afternoon with an autograph signing with Danny Kass and the Grenade Team. Riders may register for the contest Friday afternoon in the Tubing room at Vernon base from 3-4pm. Practice will be held from 4-4:30pm at the bottom of half pipe at Vernon followed by a riders meeting at 4:30pm as riders prepare to take to the superpipe. The competition will start at 4:45pm and kick off with live music from Retard Riot.

The competition will continue on Saturday, February 17^th as contestants demonstrate their versatility in a slopestyle jam contest. Registration will once again be held in the Tubing room from 8:30-9:30am and practice will run from 9:30-10:30am. The event will kick off at 11am on Independence at Vernon base.

Top riders from the Men and Women’s division will end each day riding with their favorite pros and one person will also be chosen as that day’s overall winner. Danny Kass and the Grenade crew will head up judging for the contest throughout both competitions.

Gearing up to the event, Danny Kass will be signing autographs at Zumiez in the Rockaway Mall on Tuesday, February 13 from 6-8pm.

DETAILS: Schedule

Friday 2/16 – Rail Jam at the bottom of the halfpipe

3:00pm Athlete Registration

4:00-4:30pm Practice

4:45-7:50pm Competition

8:00pm Awards

8:30-10:30pm Live Music

Saturday 2/17 – Slopestyle competition on Independence

8:30-9:30am Athlete Registration

9:30-10:15am Practice

10:45 Competition Begins

Log onto the event page at www.mountaincreek.com for more details.

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Find 223 other fun snowboard events at http://www.sbeventscalendar.com/

The biggest snowboard events calendar in the world!

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Windham Hosts Jeep Terrain Park Challenge Sat.

Windham Mountain will host a regional qualifier for the Jeep Terrain Park Challenge, Saturday, Feb. 3 at 11 am.

The Jeep Terrain Park Challenge offers amateur skiers and snowboarders a chance to showcase their best moves in the nation's best terrain parks. Proceeds will benefit the Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis.

Windham Mountain is hosting one of 75 qualifiers for thousands of eager participants. This group will be whittled down to the top 24 athletes through six regional qualifiers spanning from the East and West Coasts to the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions.

Top finishers will be invited to the National Championship, which will be held in Lake Tahoe, California, in March of 2007.

Windham's course will consist of a combined Big Air and Half Pipe run. Registration is from 8-10am. The cost to participate is a $10 donation to The Heuga Center.

Personally speaking, I rode Windham this weekend, and they are ready to ROCK!! The snow is thick and excellent. The halpipe is sweet. The terrain parks are ready and waiting. The new "G Lift" is fast and takes you to uncrowded parts of the mountain that I never found before. And the trail "Why Not" was like nothing I've ever seen with huge 20 foot mogul rollers that made you feel like an ant cavorting in a bag of giant marshmallows!

Snowboard Rail Jam Spectacle in New York City

2 Rail Jams in NY, Feb 8 and Feb 10

NEW YORK CITY HOSTS FIRST MAJOR PRO SNOWBOARDING COMPETITION

on Thursday February 8,
World’s Top Riders Meet for the Union Square Street Sessions, Presented by Jeep®

Amateur Rail Jam in Central Park Saturday February 10 by NY Parks Dept.

Aura360 in partnership with NYC Parks & Recreation announces New York City’s first major pro snowboarding rail jam competition, The Union Square Street Sessions, presented by Jeep®. Thursday, February 8, the world’s top pro riders including Marc Frank Montoya, Danny Kass and Eddie Wall will compete head-to-head for a prize purse of $30,000.

"The Union Square Street Sessions will expose residents to the thrill of a professional snowboarding rail jam set in Union Square Park, the gateway to downtown Manhattan," said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Twenty-four men and eight women will participate in Union Square Street Sessions and will show off their skills on a customized urban rail fabricated at Mountain Creek Resort’s Jib Lab. This will be the largest such structure ever produced for an event of this kind in New York City.

“We have been working on the concept for a major pro snowboarding competition in New York City for several years,” said Dan Gacetta, partner of Aura360. “We wanted to produce a breakthrough event in a world class venue that would demonstrate the long standing involvement of urban communities in the sport of snowboarding.”

The Union Square Street Sessions will begin with athlete training at 3:00 p.m. leading up to the rail jam competition commencing at 5:30 p.m. During the contest, the neighborhood of Union Square will be transformed into an action sports block party with celebrity judges, live music provided by Fuse TV and a sponsor village comprised of action sports retailers.

The invitational pro field of top riders will be augmented by up-and-coming athletes selected at three Street Session qualifiers. Winners at The Block Party in Tahoe and Rails to Riches and Shop Wars events at Killington receive automatic qualifications.

Union Square Street Sessions partners include Jeep as the presenting sponsor and supporting sponsors Burton, Fuse TV, Snowboarder Magazine, Lat34.com, Boost Mobile, Plantronics, Mountain Creek Resort and Killington Resort.

“Freedom and adventure are among the core values of the Jeep brand, so we’re excited to sponsor The Union Square Street Sessions,” said John Plecha, Jeep Marketing and Global Communications. “Snowboarding is one of the many outdoor activities Jeep owners enjoy. Snowboarding in New York City fits naturally with the ‘go anywhere-do anything’ versatility of the Jeep brand and its vehicles.”

The winter sports celebrations will continue in New York City on Saturday, February 10 with NYC Parks & Recreation’s Winter Jam, a pro/am rail jam and winter carnival with snowshoeing and cross country skiing held in Central Park.

UNION SQUARE STREET SESSIONS SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Street Sessions Pre Event Demo For Media – 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m..

o Athlete Demo

o Athlete Interviews

o Fashion & Gear Demo

Street Sessions Pro Rail Jam – 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m. – Demo & festival area opens

3:00 to 5:00 p.m. - Athlete autograph signing and demos

3:30 to 5:00 p.m. - Athlete warm-up

5:00 to 5:30 p.m. - Music act 1

5:30 to 6:30 p.m. - Rail competition preliminaries

6:30 to 7:15 p.m. - Music act 2

7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - Rail competition finals

8:30 to 9:00 p.m. - Awards

9:30 p.m. - VIP Rail Jam Party

WEBSITE: www.lat34.com/streetsessionsnyc

DIRECTIONS: Subway: N,R,Q,W, 4,5,6, or L to 14^th Street/Union Square

NYC PARKS & RECREATION’S WINTER JAM IN CENTRAL PARK

Saturday, February 10 - 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

o Winter Sports Gear & Product Demos

o Amateur Rail Jam

o Music & awards

WEBSITE: www.nyc.gov/parks

DIRECTIONS: Subway: 6 to 68^th Street; B or C to 72^nd Street

Halfpipe at Windham Opens!

Windham debuts their new Halfpipe Sat. January 27, 2007

Halfpipe Update for Northeastern US

A lot of halfpipes this season are late or non-existent in the Northeast due to the lack of natural snow.

But the mountains have been pumping away, making snow like crazy, and we're excited that we're going to ride Windham's brand new pipe tomorrow. The pipe is being cut now by a former Stratton superpipe cutter, with Windham's new Zaugg pipecutter, just in time for the Catskills Region USASA Halfpipe Competition Saturday.

Btw, Windham had plenty of water and even extra air on hand so they could make as much snow as possible this season as soon as the temperatures cooperated. They rented air compressors to be on the ready.

What's USASA? It's the largest grassroots snowboard competition group in the world, and one of the only ways you'll ever get to try Boardercross or Slopestyle as an amateur. Read more here
http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/QandA/qascross.htm
and here
in "How to Go Pro" http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/QandA/howgopro.htm

And check out USASA's page here:
http://usasa.org/series/series.lasso?-token=browse&SeriesCode=catskill&-maxRecords=1&-database=regions.fp3&-layout=region_info&-search

Speaking of halpipes, Okemo's SoBe Superpipe is ready to ride now, and Whiteface will have their pipe open soon. Killington is working toward Feb. 1 opening of their superpipe.

Next blog is about the 2 rail jams in NYC next week.

Mountain Creek Loses Snowboard Grand Prix Stop

Sad news indeed, reported today by Snowboard-mag.com.

Especially since Mountain Creek was the scene of the last stop of the Grand Prix last season, and the stop that determined the final Olympic Snowboard "team". AND the scene of the most kickin' snowboard party of the season. See pix of the Mountain Creek Grand Prix Jan. 20-22, 2006 here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the Huckfest Productions video clip. http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/grandprix06.htm

Also go to the second picture page to see the white bikini and boot clad go go dancers at the party. When the police dept. shut this party down at 3:30 a.m instead of the planned 4 a.m. there were a lot of disappointed dancing snowboarders left standing around. When I got home from the Grand Prix I slept for like 16 hours straight! Now THAT's what I call a GOOD TIME!!

Well, ok, so there's very little snow in NJ and no way to build Mountain Creek's beautiful world class halfpipe in time. We'll just keep going to rail jams and hope for snow soon!
http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/Articles/grandprix06.htm


Mountain Creek Loses Snowboard Grand Prix Stop

Vernon, NJ - The second stop of the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix, originally slated for Feb. 2-4 at Mountain Creek Resort in New Jersey, will be relocated to a resort in the western United States due to unseasonable temperatures on the East Coast.
Mountain Creek was to host the second of three halfpipe competitions along with a slopestyle exhibition as part of the Paul Mitchell Progression Session. An announcement on rescheduling both events will be made as soon as a suitable location has been secured for the same weekend.
Mountain Creek has been an instrumental partner in the continued progression of the Grand Prix series. Located just 40 miles west of New York City, the resort has hosted elite level halfpipe competitions for the past three years with thousands of fans showing up to see world class snowboarding just minutes from the biggest metro market in America. Mountain Creek also was the site of the announcement of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team that won an unprecedented seven medals, including three gold, in Torino.
Also, the first stop of the Chevrolet Revolution Tour - the pipeline to the Grand Prix - set for Spirit Mountain, Minn., has been postponed to February 16-18. The event, originally scheduled for Jan. 12-14, will include halfpipe, snowboardcross, slopestyle and rail competitions.
Remaining Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix Dates:
Feb. 2-4 - location to be determined
Saturday, Feb. 3 - Halfpipe
Sunday, Feb. 4 - Slopestyle
Feb. 24-25 - Tamarack, ID:
Saturday, Feb. 24 - 22-foot Halfpipe
Sunday, Feb. 25 - Snowboardcross (part of the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Championships)
The 2007 Chevrolet Revolution Tour:
Jan. 26-28 - Copper Mountain, CO - HP, SS, SBX, Rail
Feb. 9-11 - Mt. Bachelor, OR - HP, SS, SBX
Feb. 16-18 - Spirit Mountain, MN - HP, SS, SBX, Rail (*new date)
Mar. 2-4 - Okemo, VT - HP, SS, SBX
June 21-22 - Mt. Hood, OR - HP, SS

Grenade in talks with Section Outerwear for Friendly Merger

Grenade Outerwear is in talks with Section Outerwear for a friendly merger.

You heard it here first. The rumor mill is pretty sure that Grenade and Section outerwear will be teaming up, to the benefit of both companies

Grenade of Mammoth Lakes, CA is the creator of style-setting snowboard gloves and outerwear and was started by smooth riding Olympic snowboard medalist Danny Kass with his brother Matt Kass and several friends. They formed the company Grenade Gloves and soon expanded into the snowboard outerwear and goggle market where they are poised for world fashion domination.

Section Outerwear was founded by brothers Troy and Trent Bush and John Walbrecht in Boulder, CO, in 2002. Section is one of the fastest growing global snowboard apparel brands with distribution in over 40 countries for 2006. The Bush brothers have played a significant role in the development and growth of the progressive snowboard market. The Section line is based on industry leading design and development, tested and backed by a team of top professional snowboarders led by Marc Frank Montoya and Lindsey Jacobellis. Technine merged its operations with Section Inc. in November 2005.