Snowboard Legend Shaun Palmer Speaks

Park City, Utah (Courtesy of the U.S. Snowboard Team)-He’s considered the “bad boy” of snowboarding and a legend in snowboardcross, but what you may not know is that Shaun Palmer has totally committed himself to riding this season. Palmer, who recently moved to Park City, UT to train during the pre-season at the USSA’s Center of Excellence, is ready to strap on his board and hit the slopes.

How’s the move from California to Park City?
It’s going pretty good. I like using the facility [Center of Excellence]. It’s a great gym and skate park, to have it all right here is pretty unique.

Tell us a little bit about your car, you have a pretty cool ride.
It’s a ‘61 Coupe de Ville that I have had since 1995. It’s one of the many Cadillacs that I have owned, but this one is good for the winter time. That’s why it’s out here.

After parking your sweet ride, what do you do in the gym?
I’ve been getting ready to go snowboarding and to get on the snow. I’ve been doing a lot of skateboarding and pumping tracks to get the legs ready before the season starts and working with Tschana [Breslin, the snowboardcross trainer].

How is it training with the young guns?
A lot of them are half my age, but I’ve been doing it for a while so it just seems normal.

When you aren’t making the legs burn, what are you doing?
Skateboarding and motocross riding. I also took a Moab, UT mountain bike trip for three days and it was a lot of fun.

Here until Thanksgiving, then what?
Right after Thanksgiving we head to Colorado for a camp. I’m excited and waiting for the runs to open up.

FOMO: www.ussnowboarding.com/athletes/athlete?athleteId=1192#

// Photo © FIS – Oliver Kraus

Shred White and Pooch

Marty C’s young Husky gets the colors out on the trail. Go pup!

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

3 Cheers for Powder (& More American-Made Decks that Scorch the Soft Stuff)

Shred America (Shred White and Blue)—Yeah, winter is finally here and we’re back on board with another round of decks made by fellow shreds in the U.S.A. There’s been a lot of Colorado coverage, I know, but home is where the heart is… and where lots of killer snowboards are made.

Never Summer SL-R Snowboard

$499.99
Sizes [cm]: 151, 155, 158, 161, 164
neversummer.com
Made in Denver, Colo.

Never Summer’s Colorado-crafted SL-R features rocker & camber (R.C. Technology) and Vario Power Grip sidecut. It’s an extremely agile, all mountain freestyle deck that offers quick edge-to-edge response and maintains a forgiving tip and tail for smooth takeoffs and landings. NS retained the bomber construction but buttered things up with the right amount of rocker and a medium flex. This board excels from the park and pipe to the steep and deep.

Testers’ Take
• “Classic Never Summer battle-ready construction, great flex for freestyle.”
• “Floats in pow surprisingly well for a freestyle board.”
• “Freestyle? I call it fun-style.”

Venture Storm

$985
Sizes [cm]: 148-182.5
(available as a solid version or a split)
venturesnowboards.com
Made in Silverton, Colo.

Emblazoned on the Storm, as well as the rest of Venture’s boards is a photograph of an actual snow crystal taken by Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley. That is the only delicate component of their bomber-built boards, handcrafted in Silverton, Colo. Buttressed by p-Tex sidewalls and a poplar / ash bookmatched core (Venture slices vertically laminated blocks of wood in half and reassembles them to make full cores with consistent edge to edge density and stiffness) the Storm is available in a split and solid version, and waist widths from 24-27cm.

Testers’ Take
• “Very fun to ride—be the star in your own slasher film—REE! REE! REE!”
• “This board moves like a disc jockey’s hands at a rave; super quick.”
• “Don’t be too pushy or you’ll end up on your ass.”

Voilé Mojo

$895
Sizes [cm]: 154, 161, 166, 171
voile-usa.com
Made in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains

Sized for men and women, the Mojo cast a spell on testers this year, dominating in powder and earning high marks for ease of turn initiation with the same directional shape, dimensions and traditional camber as last year. Testers of both sexes succumbed to the Mojo’s magic.

Testers’ Take
• “Springy, sprightly; picks its way down steep slopes and is most responsive to short radius turns.”
• “Gets the Mojo flowin’ in wide-open pow.”
• “The Mojo is light underfoot and has a smooth torsional flex; it’s tough to beat for technical terrain where quick, reliable turns are a necessity.”

Hit the Deck! Domestic Decks 2010 – USA-Made Boards, Round 2

Here it is Shred Nation, part two of the All-American star spangled snowboard test. This week, three more great reasons to put your money where your mountains are, and get some certified USA-made carve beneath your feet.

Unity Dominion

$480
Sizes [cm]: 159, 164, 168, 180 / 160wide, 165wide, 170wide
unitysnowboards.com
Made in Silverthorne, Colorado

Unity’s Dominion surprised testers with its ability to be nimble quick, but with a bulldog’s tenacity after tearing up everything from untracked steeps to blown-out crud. It’s stiffer in the tail than nose for better float, and features a carbon fiber wrapped core, creating carbon “X’s” under each foot that are aimed at increasing responsiveness. The Dominion had testers feeling downright subservient to its mountain muscle after a couple runs. They couldn’t believe how well it slashed powder up high, and then handled the crud down low.

TESTERS’ TAKE:

• “This board did almost everything better than expected.”

• “Very lively for a p-Tex sidewalled board, quick turning, even in the trees. Not the lightest because of its construction, but you’ll forget that after one turn.”
•“The board gets Ginsu in the crud, and is awesome in powder,” said another.

Gnu B Pro C2BTX [Women’s]

$499
Sizes [CM]: 146, 149, 152, 155
gnu.com
Made in Sequim, Washington

The B-Pro C2BTX (C2BTX=a new version of rocker, where there’s camber at the tip-and-tail but not between the bindings, paired with Magne Traction [serrated-like edges]) is an all-terrain machine. It’s also on the planet kinder side (which should make you smile), featuring a Bio-Plastic topsheet made from castor beans, and Mervin’s “Eco” aspen core. Barrett Christy donates of portion of the proceeds from her pro model’s sales to “Boarding for Breast Cancer.”

TESTERS’ TAKE:

• “I’ve never ridden a board with such an easy flex that holds up in the steeps.”
• “Holds a very solid edge, and keeps magnet-like contact with the snow.”
• “This board was like a mountain lion in the crud and variable conditions—great stability!”

Venture Euphoria Splitboard

$985
Sizes [cm]: 146-170.5
venturesnowboards.com
Made in Silverton, Colorado

Fully rockered for the first time, Venture’s Euphoria splitboard scored off the charts for soft-snow performance, due to a soft flex between the bindings and a fat nose and tail. Venture’s boards are tested in the sacred steeps hunting ground known as Silverton—even the local bar is named POW (Pride of the West). The results are meticulously manufactured decks built to endure.

TESTERS’ TAKE:

• “Strap in, put the iPod on Lionel Ritchie’s ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning’ and slash every piece of powder you can find.”
• “One thing is for certain, this baby needs some room to roam. For wide-open terrain and powder bowls it can’t be beat.”

Renaissance Rider: Shred White and Blue’s Jeremy Jones Interview

Tahoe, California (Shred White and Blue) — It’s no secret what huge Jeremy Jones fans we are around here at Shred White and Blue. From his unbelievably smooth big mountain snowboarding style to his visionary planning and implementation of the Protect Our Winters Foundation – already one of the coolest movements in action sports environmentalism – the guy’s been a hero for awhile.

But when we saw the trailer for Deeper, the turn-earned big mountain backcountry snowboard quest he’s developing with his brothers at Teton Gravity Research, we collectively said, “how does he do it all?” Then we got word that he’s about to introduce his own signature JONES Snowboard line, and had to give him a call.

Halloween Day, on his way to Antarctica, Jeremy took the time to talk. Here’s what he had to say:

Shred White and Blue: Jeremy, thanks very much for taking the time. It looks like you’ve got five different careers going right now, including being a dad, an extreme athlete, making a movie, building an action sports environmental movement, and now launching a snowboard brand? How do you stay focused on all those things, and make sure they’re all moving forward at the same time?

Jeremy Jones: It can be a little overwhelming at times but the key is the people I am surrounded by.  I have made amazing relationships over the years and I draw on those relationships to achieve success in all these different ventures. In order for my world to work I rely on a lot of people to do their job. Being a pro rider is job number one and I have no problems unplugging and losing myself in the mountains for weeks on end. This keeps me grounded and energized.

Shred White and Blue: Starting with the snowboard launch, it looks like you’ve already been riding some prototypes on some pretty big exposures – what’s different about what you’re going to bring to market? Why pick now to start a snowboard brand?

Jeremy Jones: The last few years I have had a growing desire to put more focus toward the freerider.  There are hundreds of park boards out there but a limited number of good freeride boards and I am seeing more and more people stepping away from the park and starting to explore more of the mountain. This is super important for the growth of snowboarding. We are losing a lot of older riders because all they know about is the park and they are getting sick of getting hurt so they are heading to the beach.  With this company and my new movie Deeper I hope to inspire people to keep evolving their riding.

We will have a strong focus toward freeride boards. Unlike most companies where freeriding is an afterthought, for us it is the primary focus.  This focus will hopefully lead to innovative products for people that like to ride the whole mountain – steeps, jumps, etc. and keep snowboarding.

Shred White and Blue: And I’ve got to admit that I already watched the teaser for Deeper 8 or 12 times. Not to put too much pressure on your filming for this year, but so far it looks awesome. Why does it appear so unique? What’s so different about what you’re doing?

Jeremy Jones: Hiking has always made up a large part of my winter but when it came time to film I often used heli’s and snowmobiles. These areas (where we film) have become over crowded and we had hit all the low hanging fruit.

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

Shred White and Blue: On the environmental aspect, part of our mission here is to celebrate that inherent sense of soul and native soil in American boardsports, and we’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from what you’re doing with the Protect Our Winters Foundation. Why has this movement begun to gain so much traction?

Jeremy Jones: From the start all my energy was put toward making Protect Our Winters a legit organization. I have relied on experts in the field and 98% of the money we have raised has gone toward programs that show tangible results. Real front line programs were I can show people where their money is going and they can be confident that their money is going as far as possible to slow down climate change.

A lot of these projects are just getting completed now and are starting get some attention.  Our volunteers have really helped in are success too. Chris Steinkamp, our executive director, has been working nights and weekends the last three years keeping everything in line. I am proud to say he is now full time with Protect Our Winters and we are now expanding faster then ever on all fronts.

Shred White and Blue: Mentally and physically, what are you bringing home from all this time in the mountains?

Jeremy Jones: The mountains are my energy source. They make me the person I am and if I am away from them for to long I become lost.  So I am in this weird world where I do not want to leave my family but it is on these longer trips that I get inspiration and I bring that home and feed it to my kids.

Shred White and Blue: How are you sharing it with your children?

Jeremy Jones: I have been taking my kids into the mountains since they were born. I think my daughter’s first peak she climbed she was six weeks old because I needed to get out. Now they are getting older and starting to be part of the activities.  A day of skiing with my four-year-old is in many ways as fulfilling as a day in the backcountry for me.

Shred White and Blue: And last time we talked you said you were about to head to Antarctica – what have you got planned?

Jeremy Jones: We are focusing on the northern peninsula where the mountains rise right from the ocean. So we will be staying on a boat and riding these 2,000 to 4,000 foot peaks. The photos look promising but the weather is a crapshoot. As always we will take what the mountains give us. We will shoot a documentary about the trip and if the riding is legit a segment for Deeper.

Shred White and Blue: Thanks, man.

// Main photo by Bernhard Ritzerlow, Jermey Jones Portrait by Jeremy Jones.

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.

Domestic Decks: 2010 USA-made Snowboards

I don’t know if this is the “first ever” American-made Snowboard Review. But let’s just say it is anyway. There are a lot of things to like about these boards—from bomber, detail-oriented construction to eco-smart design. Not to mention they’re built in our backyards. If a product makes the cut for this review, it has earned the SWB stamp of approval.

These aren’t just arbitrary grab-bag picks based on graphics and gratifying advertisers. Truth is, this past March we had a crew of testers romp and stomp on over 70 boards for a week at Crested Butte Mountain Resort as part of Backcountry Magazine’s Annual Snowboard Test. I’ve managed and written BCM’s Snowboard Review for the last 4 years as their “Rider in Chief”, and we have hyper-intelligent, ripping testers that make selecting the best decks easy as… riding pow.

We’ll post three boards per week until we run out, or it takes too much time away from snowboarding. Let us know if there are any American-made boards you want to see reviewed, and we’ll do our best to put them through the paces. Ride on… —Mike Horn Read 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/

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.

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