Those individuals who choose to start a business during these difficult economic times have my admiration, especially those who chose to start one in a market that some view as being very saturated. Adam Browning is one such individual who took his 20 years of passion for the sport of snowboarding and has started the Evergreen, Colorado based company, OZ Snowboards. During this the SIA Demo Days at Winter Park, OZ Snowboards took the opportunity to show off their new line of boards for the 2012/13 season. Read the rest of this entry »
Somewhere along the way a few kids got the bright idea to practice their skateboard and snowboard tricks on a trampoline. You get air, and plenty of time to pull an Ollie. But skateboard decks and snowboards were not so kind to the trampoline.
It is not always necessary to have a slope to pull off a few tricks on your board, all it takes is a tow rope and a vehicle. Now, not only is the hill unnecessary, but so is the vehicle. In what may appear to be an ACME rubber band used by Wile E. Coyote, Banshee Bungee is producing a bungee cord that can be anchored to a fixed object, pulled backwards and released to tow a rider on a snowboard up to 35-miles per hour. Read the rest of this entry »
There has been a lot of development with skateboards – including composite decks – but now ARIS Sports is taking a new turn that will allow riders to change the way they turn. The ARIS Blade Runner features conical wheels, which also feature carving wheels with the diameter or regular wheels at the trucks, but become narrower towards the outside.
The boards, which will be available in three models including a snowboard styled deck, long and short boards. Each will cost about $200 and these will be available later this year.
Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew formed a partnership, the Green Mountain Project, late last year that will show more green than the soda’s bottles. As part of the partnership Burton will use recycled Mountain Dew bottles to manufacture a number of its products. The goal is to create sustainable fabrics out of recycled plastic bottles.
We’ll see products roll out throughout the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Among the first pieces to come out will be a hand-crafted line of t-shirts made from 50 percent recycled plastic bottles and 50 percent organic cotton. The first t-shirts from Burton’s Green Mountain Project will be a line of limited edition Burton x Mountain Dew tees. Three styles include Apparatus, Flake and Chairway to Heaven. Each t-shirt retails for $27 and is available exclusively at Burton US Flagship stores.
Winter is coming, and for bicycle commuters that means either having cold ears or trying to fit a cap under a typical cycling helmet. But Bern has another solution, as noted by our friends at BikeRadar. At Interbike, while it was still warm and mostly sunny, the helmet maker showed off its line of winter-friendly brain buckets, which are now available.
The men’s G2 and women’s Cougar 2 feature Bern’s Zip Mold in-mould construction process that includes a detachable soft-peaked liner. The helmet features three-position air vent slider on top as well, so on a warm day the vents can be left open so the wearer doesn’t get too heated, but on the colder/wetter days the vents can be closed up. These weren’t actually developed with cyclists in mind, and were actually first used on the slopes – so whether it is for snowboarding or cycling through the winter these will keep the head warm! And while we’d like to think that this could prevent brain freeze but that’s not something effected by weather! Read the rest of this entry »
Base waxing supplies: Swix Base Cleaner, nylon brush, scraper and wax
As the snow begins to fall, it is time to get your skis or board ready for the season. Depending on the shape that you left them in will determine how much attention they’ll need. If you are lucky, a good wax is all you’ll need. If your edges are rusty, dull, or in rough shape, it is probably time to get them tuned up, which includes edge sharpening and possibly a base grind. You have two options – 1) take them to your local ski shop or 2) learn to do-it-yourself.
For the do-it-yourself type people out there, a few basic supplies and quick tutorial will get you ready. At The Garage, we recommend the book Alpine Ski Maintenance and Repair by Seth Massia. Another option, contact to your local shop to see if they offer any ski tuning classes, if they are anything like the staff at The Garage, they would happy to walk walk you through the basics of base waxing.
There are things that are done simply because someone can do it. That is sort of what resulted in the iShred, a snowboard that has an iPad embedded in it. Created by the crew at Signal during one of their Every Third Thursday events, this is the latest of some wacky combinations – previously they put a boom box in a board, as well as an electric guitar.
This time around the group put an iPad in the board, and to accomplish this meant going with aluminum – the reported drawback being that the board is a little tough to control on sharp turns. But with an iPad on deck, it seems that you can’t have everything! Video after the jump
‘Fresh tracks’… the endless pursuit of most boarders to be the first to descend a mountain full of freshly fallen snow. At most resorts it is tough to be to first on the slopes so this drives the truly hardcore into the backcountry. These people hike up slopes for hours in waist-deep snow just to get one or two runs a day in the virgin snow – a ‘high‘ that is tough to duplicate.
The pursuit of freshies just got a little easier! MTN Approach has announced the first three-part, light weight, folding approach ski. Designed by snowboarders and weighing just 3.5 pounds per foot, each ski has two hinges that allows this 150cm ski to fold down to 53cm (approximately 21”). This might not sound like a big deal, but as someone who has snowshoed all-day to ride on some fresh powder, the use of skis make the ascent much quicker and easier as they do not sink into the snow as deep. Sure, snowshoes work fine to hike up a slope, but they often do not fit snowboard boots very well. This means that more equipment is required to be carried if a second set of boots is needed.
The MTN Approach skis do not utilize traditional ski bindings requiring specific, ridged boots. The MTN Approach skis has bindings that a straps similar to snowboards which allows the use of just about any snowboard boot. These skis also feature metal edges, side cuts and full camber. This permits the rider to perform a more confident ascent of the mountain, especially when traversing a slope. Read the rest of this entry »
The reports from the Snowsports Industries America Trade Show last month were that this the best year ever for those in the snow sports business. And next year another player will be on board – as Icelandic snowboarding brothers Eiki and Halldor Helgason announced their new company Lobster Snowboards.
“Eiki and me wanted to get on the same board program since day one. We really have fun and push each other when we ride together so this was a logical step for us,” said Halldor in a statement.
The new brand will be launched for Fall 2011, and will be using triple base technology on the Jibboard, the Parkboard and the Girlboard, and the company will also introduce Eiki Jib Board and Halldor Park Board graphics. Given the new trend towards “rocker” technology, we have to ask… any chance we might see a “Rock Lobster” snowboard. We guess we’ll find out this fall.
While much of the country is again trying to dig out from a major winter storm, the white stuff probably has the snow sport industry smiling. After all, if it is going to snow you might as well enjoy it. This week the shift has moved from the show floor halls at Snowsports Industries of America to the outdoor demo days, but we look back at the word from the show.
The buzz is that the slopes will feature skiers and riders clad in “svelte” high-tech gear of all sorts, including down sweaters, as well as faux fur and tight fitting outfits with bold colors. On the board there will likely be more rocking, as the major trend continues to be the rocker shapes, as well as a greater emphasis on all-terrain freestyle boards.
Snowboarding and skiing will likely take a cue from cycling, with helmets becoming a greater emphasis for safety. According to numbers from the show, the numbers of people wearing helmets has increased to a record high 57 percent. And as with other sports, the helmets are evoking a new sense of style, becoming fashion accessories rather than just protective gear. Read the rest of this entry »
The snow sports market is big business, and according to numbers from last week’s Snowsports Industries America trade show, which took place in Denver, more than $1 billion (with a B) worth of equipment apparel alone, and reached $2.1 billion season-to-date.
So while the evening news may be complaining about the falling snow, and cities on the East Coast continue to dig out, this has been a boom time for those who partake in winter sports. This is also the first time that in history that snow sport sales have topped a billion dollars for sales in a single month. Sales this season are also 16 percent higher than last year, suggesting that despite a still sluggish economy winter sports are taking on the winter blues. Read the rest of this entry »
There are headphones you can use while riding the slopes, and there are even snowboarding helmets with built in speakers. But how about taking a snowboard and combining it with a 1980’s era boombox? That’s what the gang from Every Third Thursday did. Introducing the Boombox from Signal Snowboard:
While most of the electronics are much smaller than those from the 1980s, the result is a board that can be still be ridden. Now that’s a new way to bring music to your ride.
Those individuals who choose to start a business during these difficult economic times have my admiration, especially those who chose to start one in a market that some view as being very saturated. Adam Browning is one such individual who took his 20 years of passion for the sport of snowboarding and has started the Evergreen, Colorado based company, OZ Snowboards. During this the SIA Demo Days at Winter Park, OZ Snowboards took the opportunity to show off their new line of boards for the 2012/13 season. Read the rest of this entry »
It is not always necessary to have a slope to pull off a few tricks on your board, all it takes is a tow rope and a vehicle. Now, not only is the hill unnecessary, but so is the vehicle. In what may appear to be an ACME rubber band used by Wile E. Coyote, Banshee Bungee is producing a bungee cord that can be anchored to a fixed object, pulled backwards and released to tow a rider on a snowboard up to 35-miles per hour. 
There has been a lot of development with skateboards – including composite decks – but now ARIS Sports is taking a new turn that will allow riders to change the way they turn. The ARIS Blade Runner features conical wheels, which also feature carving wheels with the diameter or regular wheels at the trucks, but become narrower towards the outside.
Winter is coming, and for bicycle commuters that means either having cold ears or trying to fit a cap under a typical cycling helmet. But Bern has another solution, as noted by our friends at BikeRadar. At Interbike, while it was still warm and mostly sunny, the helmet maker showed off its line of winter-friendly brain buckets, which are now available.
There are things that are done simply because someone can do it. That is sort of what resulted in the iShred, a snowboard that has an iPad embedded in it. Created by the crew at Signal during one of their Every Third Thursday events, this is the latest of some wacky combinations – previously they put a boom box in a board, as well as an electric guitar.
