Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The 20 Most Notorious Snowboarding Criminals



What kind of legal trouble have snowboarders got themselves into over the years? Illicit Snowboarding lined-up a veritable rogue’s gallery of snowboarding miscreants who have run afoul of the law for a range of criminal misdeeds…

First up its snowboarding’s version of Point Break...

The Snowboard Bandits.......Read On

Saturday, December 26, 2015

How to Ski Better on Pistes


Hot! Ski Technique: How to Ski Better on Pistes

There are few better places to boost your ski technique than on the groomed pistes of Morzine, France.

Welove2sk.comi give  some tips on how to ski these slopes more smoothly. We whittled the list down to four key points to think about while you’re carving:

1. Stay Centred Over Your Skis

Your weight needs to be evenly distributed right along the length of your feet, which means you’ll be able to maintain downward pressure right along the full length of your skis. Don’t lean back.
Four Steps to Better Carving | Welove2ski
RIGHT
Four Steps to Better Carving | Welove2ski
WRONG

2. Even Up the Weight Distribution Between Your Feet

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The evolution of carving (and how to do it right)

The evolution of carving (and how to do it right)

Courtesy of  The Fall-Line Blog 

The first carver, built 68 years ago with a 52mm waist, didn’t catch on. But the radical race models of the 1990s paved the way for today’s skis, as Ross Green relates

Every now and then the ski industry creates some new technology which leaves everyone wondering why it hadn’t been thought of before. Carving skis have a bit of a surprising history, sitting on designers’ shelves for many years before finally getting the green light for production.
Get low... |Courtesy of RossignolIn 1994, I was sponsored by Kneissl and they gave me a pair of Ergo skis. At the time they looked ridiculous, with a tail so fat that they looked like a set of flippers. I felt quite unsure about using them and remember standing in the lift queues in Val d’Isère being mocked by racers on a daily basis. They weren’t laughing once they saw how fast I was going!

The history of carving skis dates back to 1948 when a couple of guys in Winter Park tried to make a turnier slalom ski by slimming the waist down to 52mm. The ski turned sensationally but wouldn’t stop turning so after a run each, the skis were put away and probably used as firewood. They never considered widening the tip or tail as skis were made from standard four-inch timber and this would have been a more involved process. It was nearly 40 years before the idea surfaced again.

In 1984, at the request of one of its executives, Olin developed a ski aimed at making learning easier. The initial prototype wouldn’t fit in Olin’s ski production presses so they did away with one edge, leaving a straight ski on the outside. They patented the design, produced 150 pairs and took them along to the SIA trade show in 1986. Unfortunately, retailers thought they looked crazy and designs were shelved.

From 1986 to 1989, Olin teamed up with Kneissl and Trak to form Tristar Sports. At the time, Kneissl was producing Bigfoot skis. This short skate-like ski could be worn with shoes or ski boots and they were all the rage. It’s possible that Olin’s designs were seen by Kneissl as they went on to create the Ergo ski in 1992. It was 180cm with a turning radius of 14 metres. For recreational skiers and to me personally, it was a game changer.

Elan’s ‘sidecut extreme project’ (SCX), initiated in 1988, spent several years working out how to create the right dimensions for a perfect turn. In 1993, they brought the S-Ski to the trade shows and it caught the imagination of US ski schools who started using the ski as an accelerated teaching tool. All the manufacturers started to pay attention.

When I was given a race prototype of the Ergo to try in 1994, I found the difference unbelievable. I was creating angles and speeds through gates that were eye-catching. Every turn was a new experience. The faster you went, the more you had to commit to throwing yourself into the turn. This resulted in mistakes and crashes as I tried to find the perfect balance point!

The technique for skiing on today’s skis is an amalgamation of new and old styles, but with the same core principles.

Five tips for creating the perfect carve

  1. Pick easy, wide terrain to practise on.
  2. Roll the skis onto the edge sideways
    to start the turn.
  3. Keep your shoulders level throughout
    the turn.
  4. Hold that edge and ride it out.
  5. Speed up the same movements for
    a tighter turn.
Carving is now accessible to all. It’s an amazing feeling that goes hand in hand with going fast and the technology is still evolving. Rocker shapes and ever greater carving sidecuts are opening up the mountain to even more extreme performance and play.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Plight of skiing’s homemade lunch

http://www.powder.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/sacklunch.jpegby: 

I find temporary solace in my homemade sandwich—it’s simple, effective, and even tricks me into thinking I’m not spending my life savings on a day pass. So when an attendant at a resort’s mid-mountain lodge told me my lunchtime masterpiece wasn’t welcome on premises, I was a bit—how should I put this—pissed. 

The Lunch Enforcer at Crystal Mountain, Washington, continued tickling rage receptors by informing me that not only was my bagged lunch not welcome at the mid-mountain hut, but also not on the top two floors of the base lodge, at least from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., when lunch hours are enforced. Graciously, the mountain would, however, let me eat my meal in a basement locker room. A brown bagger for life, I had become a ski area outcast, my scarlet letter written in gooey raspberry jelly.

So, uh, what the eff guys? With more resorts jumping on the bandwagon, I have to wonder when packing a lunch turned into a badge of social inferiority.


The brown bag has been a part of mountain life since people started sliding downhill, and definitely before base lodge cafeterias and ski-up pho shacks. And banning sack lunches hurts a lot of folks besides the dirtbags like me. Let’s be honest—I will still whip up Saltine and ketchup sandwiches no matter how many lunch police you throw my way.   READ ON..

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

23 Ways To Make A Chairlift Ride Incredibly Awkward


shutterstock_103307735 Lift rides can be pretty uncomfortable. Here's some hints on how to make them even more so!

Ski resort chairlift queues are usually buzzing with joy, laughter and unadulterated hatred. It’s one the strangest vibes on the mountain.

The fact that everyone is slowly trying to edge in front of one another means that all civility is either false or non-existent.
And the communal rage directed at anyone who does manage to skip the queue is only matched by the awkwardness felt when you end up on a lift with a silent stranger.

Of course, more often than not the rider you’re seated with is nice enough, easy to chat to and turns out to be pretty cool.
Other times, though, they just stay silent and refuse to talk. If you’re feeling like a bit of dick when that next happens, here are 23 things you can do or say to make that ride incredibly awkward…


Read more ...

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Who Invented Snowboarding?

Who Invented Snowboarding? Not Jake Burton

By Michael Frank, Adventure Journal on June 7th, 2012
On Christmas Day, 1965, Muskegon, Michigan’s Sherman Poppen’s pregnant wife, Nancy, wanted their two daughters, Wendy and Laurie, to play outside so she could get some rest. When the girls were disappointed they couldn’t safely stand up in their sled to go down the snow-covered dunes in their backyard, Poppen fastened together a pair of kid’s skis and after some tweaking invented Muskegon’s most famous toy, the Snurfer. The rest, as they say, is history. By 1968 Muskegon was hosting the World Snurfing Classic, and Poppen licensed the Snurfer name to Brunswick, which sold over a million of the proto-snowboards by the early 1980s. And even though Poppen didn’t actually bother to take up snowboarding until he was in his late 60s, he’s still considered the father of the sport, honored by the Olympic Committee when snowboarding was inducted into the Games. Poppen is being honored by the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce at a ceremony this week. Via Transworld.
Read more stories like this at Adventure Journal.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Skiing The Portes Du Soleil Circuit

The Portes du Soleil is one of the largest ski areas in the world with over 650km of marked pistes encompassing twelve resorts. It stretches between Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva, which creates a microclimate that is excellent for snowfall.

Jean Vuarnet was responsible for developing Avoriaz and then linking it to the surrounding resorts creating the Portes du Soleil ski area. The highest point in the area is 2466m and the lowest is at 1000m and there are more than 200 lifts linking the area, which stretches over 14 valleys. Luckily, for skiers and snowboarders who are keen to explore, most of the Portes du Soleil ski area can be reached in a single circuit. The circuit will take most average skiers and snowboarders a whole day to complete so first lifts are advised!

There are two directions the circuit can be skied; clockwise or counterclockwise. Completing the circuit counterclockwise could mean challenging La Chavanette otherwise known as The Swiss Wall or facing the getting the chairlift down. The Swiss Wall is classified as an orange, as it is considered too dangerous to even be a black. The wall should only be attempted if you are a very accomplished skier and are confident you can complete it safely. For this reason, we are taking a look at completing the circuit clockwise – a little bit more achievable for everyone!

There are many different ways of completing the Portes du Soleil circuit but here’s just one of our suggestions…
From Les Gets head up the Chavannes lift and follow signs to Morzine. Ski down the Pleney slope to the bottom where a bus stop is located. Take the petit train across town to the Super Morzine lift, take this up and then the Zore lift and follow the cat track to the Proclou lift, which will take you up to the top of the Lindaret bowl. From here ski down into the bowl - you can even stop to have a play in the famous Burton Stash park on the way down.

From Lindaret, take the Chaux Fleurie lift up and ski down to the bottom of the Plaine Dranse. Take the Chaux-des-Rosées chair up and ski down to Les Combes. Take this lift up and follow the long run down into Linga. From here you can again get the bus across the town of Châtel, to the Super Châtel lift.
If you are doing well for time, you could get the bus across to the Petit Châtel lift and take this followed by the Barbossine. From here ski down and take the Tronchay lift up. From here you can enjoy some great views across Lake Geneva towards Montreux before heading back towards the Super Châtel lift.

From the top of the Super Châtel, take the Chemillon and ski down to the bottom of the Le Corbeau. From here, you can take the bus across the town of Morgins to the Folleuse or it is actually also possible to walk there and take in the beautiful church.

Take the lift up and then ski to the Bochasses following signs for Champoussin. Ski to the bottom of the Aiguilles des Champeys and take the lift up then ski down to the bottom of the Pointe de L’Au, take this lift and then you can ski down into Les Crosets.

From Les Crosets, take the new Grande Conche lift and ski down to the bottom of the Cuboré, take this up and over lift into the Fornet area. Then ski back down into Avoriaz, take the Stade lift and ski down the Prodains home run.
Again take the A bus back into Morzine and take the Pleney bubble up, from here follow signs all the way into Les Gets. Then enjoy a drink before collapsing after a long days skiing - phew!

Friday, December 4, 2015

PDS- still best value ski pass!

Each year Source Magazine Morzine like to compare our own Portes du Soleil lift pass prices with those of Europe’s other large ski areas. This always prompts loads of debate over whether the Portes du Soleil can be called a truly ‘linked’ ski area, but that’s really not the purpose of their comparison. 650km of piste (regardless of the ‘linked’ debate) are available to ski with one lift pass, and that’s the basis of our price comparison.
The Portes du Soleil 2016 lift pass is still the best value big area ski pass in Europe. With 650km of piste available for €247.50 per adult for a 6 day standard lift pass, it costs you just €0.38 per kilometre to ski in the Portes du Soleil.
Click here to see how the other big ski areas break down…

Partying Hard In Morzine and Avoriaz

  Partying Hard In Morzine and Avoriaz ...