Shred White and Snowflakes: Burton, Yonder and Patrol Olympics

Burlington, Vermont (Shred White and Blue)-Wow, American snowboard superpower Burton announced in a press release that it will shift premium snowboard production from its Vermont-based Burton Manufacturing Center (BMC) to Austria.

The company says that “Product design and development will still be home-grown in Vermont, where the company will relocate its snowboard prototyping resources from BMC into a new, purely R&D-driven prototype facility at its global headquarters in Burlington. BMC, located in South Burlington, Vermont is slated to close in June of this year.”

According to the release, 43 employees will be affected by BMC’s closure.

“When I started Burton Snowboards in 1977, all we did was make snowboards in Vermont,” says Jake Burton Carpenter, Founder and Chairman, Burton Snowboards. “Thanks to the BMC staff, we’ve excelled at prototyping and developing product in Vermont, which is why all four Burton Olympic halfpipe medals were won on snowboards coming out of our local factory. But simply put, it costs us significantly more to produce a board in Vermont than we are capable of selling it for, and sadly, this is not sustainable in the current economy.”

So go ahead, Shred Patriots, and let us know how that makes you feel…

Yonder Mountain’s Ski Town Breakdown

Mt. Crested Butte, Colo (Shred White and Blue)-Shred White and Blue dude Josh Chaiken’s favored Yonder Mountain String Band will host Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s (CBMR) first annual Ski Town Breakdown.

The main event is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on March 27th at the base of the resort and will feature opening act Pete Kilpatrick Band followed by headliner and Colorado favorite Yonder Mountain String Band.
General admission tickets are priced at $35 each and are available for purchase on the CBMR website until Wednesday, March 24th. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Adventure Center in Mountaineer Square beginning Monday, March 22nd through show time on Saturday March 27th.

//Photo by Josh Chaiken

Squaw Valley’s Ski Patrol Olympics

Squaw Valley, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)-From March 21, 2010 – April 16 through April 18, 2010, Squaw Valley USA is hosting the first ever U.S. Professional Ski Patrol Olympics.

While several regions have hosted patrol contests in previous years, never before have ski patrollers from across the continent united for one epic competition. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley USA has invited patrollers from the East Coast, Rockies, Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Northwest to partake in this inaugural event. Several international patrol teams have also been invited to attend.

The competition will host an array of events from sled races and beacon competitions to simulated bomb throws. The weekend kicks off Friday night from 6-9pm with the Registration Party at Squaw Valley’s Cornice Cantina. Saturday morning, the competitions get going with a randonnée race followed by a beacon competition and a GS race down The Slot.

American Made: Postal Snow, POW & The Splitboard Revolution

Postal Snow

Airmail, America (Shred White and Blue)—Shred White and Blue is heading to the Olympics this week, ready to hand out stickers, deliver a few t-shirts and mail some missives about how our homegrown shredders are handling the scene north of the board. To that end, the new Shred Mail stamp should come in very handy.

The U.S. Postal Service is commemorating the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games with the issuance of a snowboard stamp created by Illustrator Steve McCracken. In Wiki-scoop fashion, it’s not the first time stamps featuring Olympic themes have been invoked to help ‘send it.’ During the first modern Olympiad in 1896, Greece issued 12 commemorative stamps. And since 1932, when the Olympics were held in Los Angeles, U.S. stamps have honored the Games.

Jeremy Jones and POW Ride Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill (SWB)—Jeremy Jones (8-time Big Mountain Snowboarder of the Year!) along with a coalition of winter sport filmmakers and industry representatives shared a new perspective on climate change with lawmakers on Capitol Hill: the economic, social and intangible values of winter.

Jones represented Protect Our Winters (POW), the environmental non-profit he founded in 2007, and was joined by Chris Steinkamp, Executive Director of POW, big brother Steve Jones, Founder of Teton Gravity Research (TGR), Elysa Hammond of Clif Bar and Elizabeth Burakowski from the University of New Hampshire.

The two-day agenda included a screening of Generations, a film about climate change, to a theater of Congressmen and environmental leaders, and a meeting with key lawmakers from US mountain states to discuss how climate change effects winter sports culture and the $6 billon winter sports industry. Said Congressman Jared Polis, (D-CO). “The ski industry is the lifeblood of my district and climate change is already taking a toll.” FOMO on POW, check here http://protectourwinters.org. (you can find the Generations move there as well). Or watch a clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPCObLVislY

The Splitboard Revolution

The Backcountry, Colo. (SWB)—Longtime SWB buddy Mike Horn – when not riding deep backcountry pow in the mountains around Crested Butte – keeps a keen eye on the latest developments on the snowboard scene. What does he says is the next big sensation?

“Splitboards are going to go mainstream,” says Horn. “The companies like Never Summer and Venture that have been honing this market for years are going to see brands like Lib-Tech and the new Jones Snowboards introduce their own big mountain boards for backcountry stash skinning.”

In the SnowPress Show Daily, the official magazine of the SIA Snow Show (just held in Denver for the 1st time), Horn writes, “Not only are there at least eight snowboard manufacturers producing splits—Jones Boards, Lib-Tech, Atomic, Burton, Never Summer, Prior, Venture, and Voilé—but two big mountain heroes named Jeremy Jones and Travis Rice will have their own signature decks.”

These guys at Spark are making very cool splitboard bindings – check out their how-to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuiTKdFVttc

Sunday Shout Out: Squaw Named West’s ‘Greenest’ Resort

Squaw Valley, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)—The 2010 Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition ski resort environmental score card, just released, ranked Squaw Valley USA as the highest scoring Western ski resort for environmental initiatives.

This is the third consecutive year Squaw Valley USA received an ‘A’ grade from the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition, a third party group that supplies a comprehensive analysis of ski area environmental efforts.  This year the coalition grouped the criteria for which the ski resorts were evaluated into four categories – Habitat Protection, Protection of Watersheds, Addressing Global Climate change, and Environmental Policies and Practices.  Report card data is obtained from an annual survey and public records from government and environmental agencies. Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act requests are filed with appropriate land managers to identify ski area development projects and management plans each spring. All document sources and detailed information about the grading criteria can be found on-line at www.skiareacitizens.com.

“The environment is our asset,” said Chairman and CEO Nancy Cushing. “A beautiful and pristine mountain experience brings guests and employees to Squaw Valley. It is our duty to make every effort to protect that experience.”

From the geothermal heat pump that heats the entire Squaw Kids Children’s facility, to the multimillion dollar water run off filtration system in the parking lot, the state-of-the-art heat exchange system at High Camp’s Ice Pavilion and Lagoon & Spa, and comprehensive forest re-vegetation projects that help to preserve Squaw Valley’s natural eco system – aspects of the conscious environmental commitment are ingrained in Squaw Valley’s culture.

Squaw Valley USA’s exemplary work in 35 categories in regards to preservation of sensitive areas within ski resort boundaries, water conservation and commitment to recycling and alternative energy rendered the resort the highest score of the 83 resorts evaluated.

Teaser Alert: Deeper is 4 Real!

Jackson Hole, Wyo. (Shred White and Blue) - Got into checking out this trailer from the snowboard flick Deeper and it could be the only movie I’m more stoked to see than Black Dynamite.

Still shooting right now, and scheduled for a release sometime in 2010, Deeper is a joint production between big mountain snowboard kingpin Jeremy Jones and the boys at Teton Gravity Research (run by Jeremy’s real-life bros Steve and Todd Jones). Filmed without choppers, chairlifts or even snowmobiles the super steep shots these guys are still able to access absolutely made my palms sweat.

“I wanted to get back to solitude, adventure, and new descents,” Jeremy Jones said. “By hiking past boundaries set in place by helis and snowmobiles we were able to get into bigger mountains, away from people and back to first descents.”

And how. It looks to me like they could release a longer sample of what they’ve already got and it would be better than almost any snowboard footage hitting the screens this fall.

But I digress. Because what’s also awesome here is that on the other side of the camera, in order to capture the lines on film, cameramen are required to climb alongside athletes, without the aid of helicopters or other assistance.

During one shoot, Jones and the rest of the production crew spent 27 days camped on a glacier in Alaska. On another shoot in the Swiss Alps, Jones started hiking at 10 at night in order to ride a line at sunrise the next morning.

Also cool, the production crew must also use solar chargers and other technology to be able work for extended periods in the backcountry. “Being away from electrical outlets for such long stretches really forced us to plan differently. But if it wasn’t for all that, Deeper wouldn’t be half as unique,” said Director of Photography Chris Edmunds.

Good luck, dudes, as the word is that this project will take at least two years to complete.

Visit Teton Gravity Research for more.

Sweetgrass Takes Signatures on Tour

Rocky Mountain West (Shred White and Blue) — Longtime Shred White and Blue friends Sweetgrass Productions, the Colorado-based film company, is tooling around the Rockies right now showing off Signatures, their super soulful new film.

Filmed last year in Hokkaido, Japan, this human-powered powder quest is a kind of poetic homage to the inherent beauty of winter and deep snow skiing. Seriously, the storytelling and cinematography are all top notch – way better than the action porn you’ll see in most shred flicks these days – and the overall feeling is one of timeless transience.

At the IF3 film festival in Montreal last week, Nick and the crew were honored with the Best Cinematography Award. Here’s the blurb Nick posted about the film – check out the trailer and the tour dates below:

“At the heart of this lovely tale of deep powder mystery: the seasons. In Japan there is a cultural connection to the different Signatures of our terrestrial home — a sense that the rhythm of fall, winter, spring, summer influences the rhythm of the person, their energy, their style, and the lines they choose. Niseko local photographer Yoichi Watanabe explains, “As a photographer, the change in season brings a change of subject. I have to be ahead of this change in nature, like I have to be thinking about flowers before they actually bloom in order to capture what really goes on. I can say the same about the snow as well.” Rooted in winter backcountry and mountain culture. We give our time to filming remote freeride lines, from snowsurf and noboard to alpine and tele. We focus on the riding, we focus on the art, we focus on blending the two into what we call film, both form and content.”

SEPTEMBER
30th  Crested Butte, CO The Majestic Theater 7pm $8

OCTOBER
1st  Salida, CO Benson’s Tavern 7:30pm $9
3rd  Colorado Springs, CO Colorado College Armstrong Hall 8pm $6 for students / $10
6th  Denver, CO The Oriental Theatre 7pm $12, Live music to follow from Paper Bird Band
7th  Boulder, CO The Boulder Theater 7pm $12
8th  Fort Collins, CO TBA
10th Telluride, CO The Nugget Theatre 8:30pm $9
13th Durango, CO The Abbey Theatre 7pm and 9pm $8
14th Golden, CO Bent Gate Community Night 8pm

Check out the site for more: http://www.sweetgrass-productions.com/

South America Bound

Santiago, Chile (Shred White and Blue)—Big storms are breaking down South America way, especially in Portillo, Valle Nevado and La Parva, Chile, where over the past week they’ve been counting the snow by the footload.

So the Shred White and Blue crew is taking a plane to Lima for a midnight changeover, and then to Santiago to see what we can ski. Termas de Chillan is on the menu, (not for the casino, but maybe for the spa), as is Portillo, and Valle Nevado, right next door to where the Subaru World Freeskiing Tour kicks off at La Parva on Sept. 3. (check out www.skipressworld.com for regular updates on that, as well as reports and photos on the trip overall). And please excuse us if we don’t answer your e-mail right away.

In the meantime, here are a couple Foam Bits for you:

How Clean is Your Beach?

Surfside, USA (SWB)—Our beaches are not enjoying the summer at all according to a report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Across the country, they posted more than 20,000 closing or advisory days last year – and not because of dangerous waves!

Water quality the culprit, including everything from raw sewage to chemicals to nasty body eating bacteria. The NRDC rated how badly the most popular beaches bit it with a cool interactive feature that you can check out here.

Save the Waves and Mavericks Pitch Cool Tee

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (SWB)—Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc. (Mavericks) and Save The Waves Coalition announced a special edition t-shirt – made from recycled PET plastic bottles.  The shirt is the result of a multi-year partnership between the two organizations with five dollars from the sale of each shirt going directly to Save The Waves, the non-profit dedicated to the preservation and defense of the world’s surf spots and their surrounding environments. Get one at www.savethewaves.org

Classic Utah Powder Video

Worldwide Web (SWB)—And then there’s this – some absolutely ridiculous old-time ski footage from Alta, Utah. Stein Eriksen is the legend in the flashy space pants. These guys kill it on old school longboards.

//photo by flickr/jcablarca

Shred Salute! U.S. Snowboarding’s Man in Afghanistan

Afghanistan (Shred White and Blue)-Thought this was super cool that U.S. Snowboarding star Graham Watanabe traded the snow for sand – and that ain’t beach sand! – a couple weeks ago to pay a visit to the American troops deployed in Afghanistan.

Here’s what the X Games silver medalist had to say about the experience in a post on his Facebook page: “For those unaware, I’m currently touring Afghanistan to visit some of our troops stationed here over the last few years. While I’ll never be able to truly comprehend what they experience and sacrifice, I’m learning to appreciate what little I do understand much more than I ever have. If you know anyone serving, who served in the past, or just see someone on the streets serving at home, give ‘em a high five, hug, salute or whatever embodies the gratitude they deserve. While we may not always agree with the reasoning behind the wars in which we’re involved, these men and women didn’t make the choice to be there. They selflessly agreed to protect our freedoms and lifestyles. They fight far away from home, often for years at a time, so that the fight may not be fought on our soil. So, cheers, troops! Thanks for your service and hospitality!”

Last summer, Watanabe’s teammate Nate Holland, who will be going to Iraq this year, had the opportunity to visit troops in Afghanistan on the same tour Watanabe did this summer. Right on, shredders! Hope you guys have a great season. And that it’s not too much longer before all those brave troops are carving it up back home!

www.ussnowboarding.com.

Shred 4 Cred: Your South American Snowboard Class

Bariloche, Argentina (Shred White and Blue) — Unbelievable – you can actually shred for classroom credit this summer!

The crew at South American Snow Sessions (SASS) has partnered with Sierra Nevada College to offer a full on-snow curriculum of cool courses from Introduction to Ski Business, Principles of Outdoor Leadership, Map and Compass, Snowboarding and Downhill Skiing in the southern hemisphere beginning in July.

All the courses offer fully transferable college credits. For real. And according to the Sierra Nevada College website, all this higher learning has still kept a firm focus on the perfecting the art of the turn: “Our academic program on the SASS campus is designed to work around the typical ski day. We expect that our students will also be taking full advantage of the Patagonian slopes, so all courses are offered in the late afternoon.”

SASS built their beautiful campus near the Cerro Cathedral Snow Resort. And students who enroll in SNC courses will automatically co-enroll in the full-service SASS camp experience, which will provide them with room and board, transportation, winter sport coaching and cultural activities in the fantastic Argentinean Andes mountains and the Bariloche area.

Here’s a quick look at the remaining dates and sessions

• Session 1: July 17-August 2, 2009
• Session 2: August 1-August 15, 2009
• Session 3: August 15-August 29, 2009

So sweet that it begs the question of what’s next? A graduate degree in video games?

 Check out SASS and Sierra Nevada College.