Shred Up: Still Skiing, Lindsey Law & Order + Pipeline POV

A-Basin, Colo. (Shred White and Blue)-Fear not, fair shredders, for the lift-served season is not over yet – at least not as long as Colorado and Utah can keep riding on those ridiculous late May snows.

According to www.skiinfo.co.uk, “There are four areas still open in the US, all on the Western side of the country.  Mammoth Mountain in California has a 7.5 – 12 foot (2.3 – 3.6m) base and reports a fresh dusting of snow in the past few days. The near-year-round Timberline ski area on Mt Hood in Oregon has a 148 inch (4.5m) base.  Arapahoe Basin in Colorado is looking good with about half of its lifts and terrain open with a 45 inch (112cm) base and yet another three inches (7cm) of new snow in the past few days.”

And Snowbird just went over the 600-inch mark for this season! The ‘bird also announced that they’re going to keep the lifts running up to June 20th, marking a 199-day season at the Utah resort. Check it out: www.snowbird.com.

Lindsey Vonn Helps Close Out Law and Order

New York (Shred White and Blue)- On Monday, May 24 Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn accomplished a life goal of appearing on the final episode of NBC’s legendary drama “Law & Order.”

Early in her career, Vonn began a guerilla lobbying effort to become a character on the program, commonly telling reporters that she’d play a “stiff” just to be included in one episode. 

Vonn was able to visit the set and meet with a number of cast members last year during a New York City media swing, then following her inspiring gold and bronze medal performances in Vancouver, show creator Dick Wolf took notice and invited her to film and episode in early spring.

”I was completely shaking, but I had a grin from ear-to-ear” said Vonn, who plays an administrative assistant at a teachers’ union and tries to help Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) find an anonymous blogger who threatens to blow up a school.

Check out Lindsey (looking just a little Sarah Palinesque), right here.

Pipeline and GoPro

Hawaii (Shred White and Blue)-And for everybody that’s still waiting for spring to start, here’s a little footage of Kalani Robb hitting Pipeline with a GoPro Camera on the nose of his board – looks like some new kind of art!

It’s On! Mavericks Contest Window Opens!

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Shred White and Blue) — On just 24 hours notice between November 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010, 24 of the world’s best big-wave surfers will be summoned to Half Moon Bay, home of Mavericks, one of the most majestic and infamous surf breaks on Earth.

There, they will test their individual skills and vie to be crowned champion of the 2009/2010 Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Sony Ericsson. Competitors will face the dangerous elements of the frigid northern California waters in search of the perfect ride on waves reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet or more.

“The 24” make the call

And according to Mavericks CEO Keir J. Beadling, this contest seasons adds a new and exciting element:  “This season we’re embarking on a new chapter, as the Mavericks competitors will choose the day.  Once potentially contestable conditions are identified, ‘the 24’ will vote and determine whether to pull the trigger.  If they say ‘go,’ we go, and that’s exactly the way it should be at Mavericks.”   Commented longtime Mavericks surfer and Contest competitor Kenny “Skindog” Collins, “This Mavericks Contest combined with this season’s El Niño is going to be historic!”

El Niño in-play

Official Surf Forecaster Mark Sponsler of Stormsurf.com says there is good reason to be hopeful:  “The El Niño season, which has already begun, should bring a higher number of storms moving from the International Dateline into the Gulf of Alaska than in years previous. Those storms should have the potential to push larger and more consistent surf down the Pacific Coast into California. It’s likely there will be several good opportunities to hold the contest between now and March 31 when the contest window closes.”

Once the contestants receive the green light alert, they have just 24 hours to arrive for the event.  The international roster of invited surfers consists of, in alphabetical order: Matt Ambrose, Ben Andrews, Grant Baker, Ion Banner, Chris Bertish, Carlos Burle, Kenny Collins, Shane Desmond, Nathan Fletcher, Brock Little, Greg Long, Josh Loya, Peter Mel, Shawn Rhodes, Ryan Seelbach, Evan Slater, Tyler Smith, Jamie Sterling, Anthony Tashnick, Darryl Virostko, Grant Washburn, Dave Wassell, Tim West, Zach Wormhoudt.

Also named were the 15 alternates, in order of priority: Alex Martins, Danilo Couto, Mark Healey, Tyler Fox, Rusty Long, Nic Lamb, Jamie Mitchell, Mike Gerhardt, Russell Smith, Kealii Mamala, Garrett McNamara, Andrew Marr, Lawton Smith, John Whittle, Colin Dwyer.

Record Prize Purse

This year, the invitees will compete for a record-breaking $150,000 prize purse, including $50,000 to the Champion.  The purse is personally funded by Mavericks benefactors Moose Guen and Jane Sutherland of MVision, and Barracuda Networks. In addition, a $5,000 “Gnarliest Drop” award will be offered to the surfer who exhibits the most impressive drop-in of the day.

The King’s Crown: K2’s Shane McConkey Ski

Seattle (Shred White and Blue) — Big kudos to K2 for introducing the Shane McConkey Ski, with about 500 unique, numbered pairs all to be sold so that the profits can directly benefit McConkey’s widow and daughter.

In classic K2 style, the Shane will have a topsheet celebrating Shane’s oversized personality, all built on a Pontoon chassis. McConkey introduced the Pontoon design in 2004, built on his revolutionary rocker construction, which effectively changed big mountain skiing forever.

Like K2’s Coomba (celebrating the life of off-piste astronaut Doug Coombs), and even the Jerry Garcia ski (nicknamed the ‘Jerry Launcher’) it’ll be interesting to see how many of these you see on the mountains, and how many you see behind somebody’s desk, mint, mounted like the wall art they are.

McConkey died BASE jumping in the Italian Dolomites on March 26, 2009, at the age of 39, but his achievements as an athlete in ski films, as an advocate and architect of the International Freeskiing Association, and as a Chuck Yeager kind of engineer and test pilot made it seem as if he had lived several lives in his short time on the planet.

Check out Matchstick Production’s Claim for some classic McConkey. And see more about the ski at www.k2skis.com

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 Salute: Disabled Vets Get Fresh Waves

Malibu Beach, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)—I can’t think of anything more appropriate to post on this site for the 4th of July than a link to an organization that helps real American heroes go surfing.

Founded in 2006, Operation Amped gets veterans wounded in the service of our country a hand up hitting the waves again (on those very same beaches that they sacrificed to keep free for the rest of us, I might add).

Really cool. Check out some of the events, and give these guys some love. Visit Operation Amped.

Happy Birthday America!

Photo: Operation Amped

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.

Jessica Alba’s Sweet Spot for Sharks

ALL THE WORLD’S OCEANS (Shred White and Blue) — I’m not sure what I feel more defenseless against, a great white shark, or Jessica Alba’s smile.

Put them both together, in Oklahoma of all places, and I become even more confused. But it seems that the fan-cute-tastic Miss Alba has become a big supporter of the shark fin hunt protesting White Mike campaign. She was apparently doing some business in middle America, decided to moonlight by plastering copies of the enviro-fanged White Mike poster (talk about hands on!) over some other charity media, and got accused of vandalism.

She apologized. Paid a fine. And got tons more publicity about how despite our already epically grotesque human wastefulness, with the continuing stupidity of things like shark fin hunts, we only continue to accelerate our collective loss of mind.

I dig this lady more all the time.

In honor of Miss Alba, and this totally stupid practice, here are some sobering scoops from the fine folks at the White Mike campaign. Don’t look away now, weenie, because this is happening right now, in your lifetime: (and check out White Mike himself).

“The reason is that illegal shark fin hunting affects the people of Oklahoma. It affects us all.”

As the apex predator of the oceans, sharks have evolved over millions of years to manage the immensely complex and fragile ecosystems of the ocean kingdom.

The largest study ever done on marine ecosystems has proven that when sharks disappear a deadly domino effect is triggered in the food chain, ultimately resulting in the collapse of the coral reefs, the spawning ground for the fish we (and other species) depend upon. With the growing demand for shark fins, shark populations have been decimated. By some estimates, over 90% of the shark population has been lost in the last 30 years. This year an estimated 100 million sharks will be killed, a mortality rate which will almost certainly end in the extinction of the species.

Check out more at the Humane Society.

Read about shark fin hunting via the BBC.

Read a first hand account from the filmmaker of Sharkwater.

Rider Down: The Electric Surf of Bob Bogle

LOS ANGELES (Shred White and Blue) — No sport other than surfing has its very own music – not skating, snowboarding or even skiing unless you count reggae, and can somehow make an inseparable match for mystic Jamaican rhythms and snow-covered mountains in your mind.

But surfing? Man, that certain clean twang of guitar and snare snap of drums can conjure up the blue waves and bright sunshine every time.

Guitarist Bob Bogle helped create that sound. Bogle, who died on June 14, at the age of 75, was a founding member of the Ventures, whose tightly paced instrumental masterpieces such as “Walk, Don’t Run,” “Hawaii Five-O,” and even their cover of the Surfaris legendary “Wipeout,” set the template for surf music in the 1960s.

John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) called them “the most popular instrumental rock and roll band of all time,” just last year when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As for Fogerty’s own two degrees of surf separation? That’s CCR’s Susie Q that the two Playboy bunnies are dancing to in Apocalypse Now, shortly after “Lance” and Robert Duvall grab a quick session amidst the smell of napalm.

Here are two quick YouTube clips of Bogle’s immense contribution to the stoke. Every time the needle hits the wax, he makes you feel paddling.

Thanks, man.

Walk Don’t Run

Wipeout