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

That is so 1974 – The Return of Plaid Rock!

Stuck in the ’70s, Colo. (Shred White and Blue) — Mike Horn and I have this dream where we get a 1969 Camaro, convert it to run on vegetable oil, slap some big ass snow tires on it, paint the Shred White and Blue on the hood and go chasing powder this season – non-stop!

It’s kind of our re-imagining of what we figure was one of the absolute highlight eras of ski bumming, with no traffic on I-70, double chairs, long boards, in-bounds faceshots and wet t-shirt contests. Of course we’d have an 8-track, and we’d be playing lots of plaid rock. And not that Nirvana Seattle sound of super fuzzed amps and anguished vocals right from the gut, but more Neil Young and The Band, early Eagles and maybe a sweet scratchy version of the Flying Burrito Brothers singing “Close Up the Honky Tonks.”

And Creedence Clearwater Revival, of course.

My dad loved that stuff. So we loved it. Up and down the mountains my brother and I would be listening to his off-key butchering of “Take it to the Limit,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” while we played air guitars and ski boot drums in the back.

He took us to see the Last Waltz when it came out. And we were kind of bored, but we dug it. We just didn’t realize yet what it meant for Robbie Robertson and Neil Young, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell and Muddy Waters to share a stage like that.

But I hear “Helpless” come on the radio now and I get all fired up. I hear “Peaceful, Easy Feeling,” and I head down memory lane thinking about every chairlift with a girl with a ponytail on it. And “Born to Run” makes me think of moguls, pounding the monster bumps of Prima, Frenchman’s and Palli all wired on Snickers and 7-Up.

And lately I’ve heard a couple bands that make it sound like the whole plaid rock grassy roots of it might be coming back. You know, with a spare honest sound that isn’t over-produced and a couple hungry-eyed Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm-looking guys that can either play you some pretty music or come down off the stage and whoop your ass.

Here are a couple videos of what are some very hopeful signs for plaid rock – starting with one from the Avett Brothers that was actually recorded on the Jackson Hole gondola. Check out writer/film man Jay Sweet’s description of the experience putting it all together for Paste Magazine as well.

From the Northwest, land of hairy trees and deep powder, the hard-rocking boys of Blitzen Trapper singing Wild Mountain Home:

And representing the fast, cold slopes of New York and New England, the Felice Brothers getting urban with Frankie’s Gun

Camaro photo: flickr/brokenrhino

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.

« Previous Page