Blogs Results

Whistler Blackcomb's annual Showcase Showdown went off last Saturday as onlookers crowded into Skiers' Plaza and onto patios to watch the action at the base of Whistler Mountain. After a hard fought battle, Caley Vanular claimed first place in the women's category. Second place went to Molly Milligan and third went to Janelle Prtichard. Meanwhile, Andrew Burns took first in the men's category, while Rusty Ockeneden claimed second place and Mike Osachuk took third.

The six riders, who won a total of $5,000 cash and prizes from event sponsors, including Nixon headphones and Sandbox helmets, will also be featured in Sandbox's next snowboard film "Shine On."

In its twelfth year, the Showcase Showdown has enjoyed another successful transformation and has proven once again why Whistler Blackcomb's Nintendo Terrain Parks are ranked No. 1 in North America.

This year's course was inspired by the mini-parks in locals' backyards all over Whistler. The slopestyle course design, which included rails and industrial-style jib features with happy faces, was a collaboration of Showcase Team Manager Brad Broughton; Kevin Sansalone of Sandbox Films; Steve Petrie master park-builder and designer and builder of the 2010 Olympic Halfpipe; and Whistler Blackcomb's Park Rangers.

For a complete results list visit www.showcaseshowdown.ca. Showcase Snowboards is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. For all the latest gear and apparel, shop online at www.showcasesnowboards.com.













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Were making a muther f*cking movie:
PIECE teaser from David Brocklebank on Vimeo.

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The 4 annual Jibassic Pro Invitational went down last Saturday night, and the riding was better then ever. Porters team riders Brandon Cocard and Chaz Guldemond dropped some heavy 270's in three different directions. Johnny Lazz had some awesome boarding, but was taken out by a heavy fall later in the competition, and Johnny Brady also had an immaculate backside 180 on to cab 360 out on the rail feature. Forrest Baily produced some awesome combinations on the down rail. And holding it down for the ladies was Jessie with a mean backside lipslide down the rail. All in all the event was a success, with Andrew Brewer taking first with his smooth style and well executed manuevers including a frontboard same way 270 to 5-0. Judge Sean Carney said " The riding was higher quality then the Vans Cup."

• 1st: Andrew Brewer
• 2nd: Brandon Cocard
• 3rd: Forrest Baily

Words: Alex Horgan Photos: Zak Shelhamer

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What is the hardest thing about Snowboarding the first day of the year?  Putting down the board and taking pictures. The mood was epic on the afternoon of the 11th, boards and shovels in hand we embarked on a journey that would bring friends of all types and styles together.  While most kids were playing video games and sleeping in we were playing in the snow that friday nights storm left for us.  Matty McInnis, Chris Bartowski and I headed up there around 11 and met up with the heavy hitting crew including Brandon Cocard, Nick Visconti, Joshua Parker, Niki, Brandon Dury, Who, Brandon Hays, Andrew Brewer and RV. Check out these photos from our long trip to our patch somewhere above the greater Reno/Carson City area.

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Double Post: We had some server trouble yesterday so here's a nice juicy double post to sink your cyber teeth into. Enjoy!

So we're looking through the All Style Apparel and Active wear catalog here at the office and a couple pages in one of the models start looking real familiar.



I'm like, hey Yvonne give me that. Oh shi*t is that...



Holy crap, its Browner doing a sandal wheelie!

Yeah we have our own Nascar. No biggie..



NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brian Keselowski # 92 K-Automotive Dodge reppin' IS Eyewear



"IS Eyewear, the fastest gangsta shade in the Nascar game" - Brian Keselowski

So if you read this thing at all you know we have our flow team working hard on their very own video project this season called "Party Snake" of which they pretty much have free rein to do whatever. The only thing I've stressed is to have our updated logo and website on the teaser. At least they pulled through on the logo. Hopefully for the video they can figure out the correct web address.


partysnake from leepipes on Vimeo.

As you can see this isn't going to be a pretty little art snowboard flick. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little worried. We're also gathering footage from the rest of the IS Eyewear allstars (Dev, Wille, Tadashi, Kale, Duff, Andrew Fuller...) for the Party Snake video which will most likely be its own section. Here's the type of footage you can expect from them..



The video will available online but we'll most likely be doing a small run of DVD's with tons of video extras which will be available for free at premieres, through friends of friends and online. Kale is working on his own Airhole video this year as well which we're working on including within the party snake DVD. Its gonna be out there so be ready!

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Holy crap.. Did you see that Party Snake teaser yet? If so there's really only been two responses. 1. You loved it and can't wait to see more or 2. You hated it and wish it would die. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground on this on. Check out some of the comments I found on the Gnarcore site.

I'm still waiting on a revised teaser before I post it directly in the furious blog but you can check the rough version out on the Gnarcore site or find it on FB. There's some pretty funny comments there too:

39 Comments:

Sarah Ann Thoms (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 8:47pm on September 6th, 2008
sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick

Justin Van Der Poelen (Ottawa, ON) wrote
at 8:59pm on September 6th, 2008
looks sick boys!

Jeff Keenan (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 9:32pm on September 6th, 2008
f*ckING shi*t........

Danny Koriath (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:05pm on September 6th, 2008
a**holes

Christopher Robert Miller (Emily Carr) wrote
at 11:18pm on September 6th, 2008
f*ckyeah.

Dave Cashen (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 12:02am on September 7th, 2008
Killer Boots!

Andrew Prost (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 12:15am on September 7th, 2008
f*ckya

Kenneth Micheal Edwards wrote
at 12:21am on September 7th, 2008
lookin sweet can't wait to see it

Alex Watt (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 1:11am on September 7th, 2008
I love it...Aww i miss you boys,., cant wait till im back near the hill.. lets hit up whis .. come visit ill be moving there in 2 months!!!!

Troy Erickson wrote
at 1:59am on September 7th, 2008
a.k.a...skids 5?

Raymond Bishop (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:31am on September 7th, 2008
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Max Honegger (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:42am on September 7th, 2008
this is AMAZING! MOST ANTICIPATED SNOWBOARD FILM EVER!

Thomas Richards (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 11:03am on September 7th, 2008
hahaha. Yeah! this is siiiick. Im hyped to see the rest

Alex Ploughman (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 1:05pm on September 7th, 2008
so stoked

Mike Rutter (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 4:08pm on September 7th, 2008
yeeeaaa!

Chad Erik Iverson (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 5:19pm on September 7th, 2008
i'm excited/scared for my life....for the premiere...

Laura McIsaac (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 6:12pm on September 7th, 2008
too good

Damon Pyett wrote
at 7:16pm on September 7th, 2008
um oh jeez.

Lee Pipes (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:22pm on September 7th, 2008
Hey Damon, we're tryin' to promote a clean video for the kids.. We would appreciate you not using the lords name in vein, thanks.

Ian Campbell Cymet (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:38pm on September 7th, 2008
whens the premeir?

Michael Warhurst (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 11:02pm on September 7th, 2008
wheres da tittys

David Frederick (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 11:52pm on September 7th, 2008
i don't know what to say!?!?!? UNREAL!!

Andrew Heneghan (Simon Fraser) wrote
at 7:40am on September 8th, 2008
tease of the century
killah

Mark Brophy (Memorial University) wrote
at 11:14am on September 8th, 2008
f*ck this is so rad.

Matt Standish (Simon Fraser) wrote
at 2:11pm on September 8th, 2008
such a stripper song

Marc-antoine Duguay wrote
at 5:40pm on September 8th, 2008
so neff!!!

Geoff Stinson (Alpha Secondary School) wrote
at 9:03pm on September 8th, 2008
wildercats?

Chris Halindy wrote
at 10:22pm on September 8th, 2008
f*ckING SICK JESUS CHRIST
!

Nick Doucette (Seycove Secondary School) wrote
at 11:17pm on September 8th, 2008
i have a hard on for this up comin season

Pat O (Holy Heart Of Mary High) wrote
at 5:34am on September 9th, 2008
wow.

Melanie Prokop wrote
at 3:50pm on September 9th, 2008
RAG GNAR!

Mikey Luke (St. John's, NL) wrote
at 3:50pm on September 9th, 2008
Holy shi*t f*ck superstar......loves dem GT backflips!!! Woooooooooo

Clint Omelaniec (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 1:22pm yesterday
'bout time.

greasin.

Tia Skye Alexandra Iverson (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 5:55pm yesterday
oh dear god...
this shi*t is out of control!

Andrew Mark Geeves wrote
at 6:19pm yesterday
how do i get a snakebullet board ?

Andrew Mark Geeves wrote
at 6:19pm yesterday
where** not how.

Adam Balon (Saskatoon, SK) wrote
at 8:28pm yesterday
wicked.

David Douglass Brocklebank (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 7:02am
D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DAMN.

Matthew Godard (Vancouver, BC) wrote
at 10:16am
f*ckin unreal....free poor Growers in the snow cave!!

DVD art's in the works. Here's some rough Idea's.



I forgot about this, Its an oldie but a goody!



Oh Yeah Zeddy's B-day is at Joey's up on Granville this Friday. Contact Dave@iseyewear.com to RSVP

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The Day I Snuck into COC from David Brocklebank on Vimeo.

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So how's life as the new photo editor at SBC?
Life is definitely good working with SBC, Working for a mag is something I've hoped for since I was a wee boy.  When I found out that I did get the job there was a few days of disbelief that it was for real and then my head swelled and I knew I was officially rad.

What was it like when you finally got told that you are now working at SBC?
This season I did the most travelling I have yet for sure.  Being able to travel with your friends and call it work is still kind of strange.  It was a great season and I hope to do it all again next year.

You've been on the road a lot, how's that?
Travelling in India was awe inspiring, anywhere you look there's an epic photo waiting to be taken.  Getting around and communicating is really easy which makes it that much better.

How did you like travelling around in India?
One of the best parts of travelling this year would have to be visiting the Taj Mahal.  It's something that has to be seen in person since no photo or words can do it justice, truly amazing!! 

Do you have any stories about the best and worst moments of travelling this year?
You have to go with the flow when you travel so any bad moments usually turn rad pretty quick.

You must see a lot of young photographers sending you their photos, any tips for them?
It's been really cool to have young photogs send me there shots and as for tips I just tell them to try new things and be aware of some golden rules.

Anyone this year that is blowing you away behind the lens?
There have been a few photogs that have definitely impressed me this year but you'll have to check out the mag to see their work first hand and judge for yourself.

What new riders do you think are making a big splash in 2008?
Andrew Geeves and Seb Toots have been on a tear this season.  I think they're both going to have a lot coming out next season as far as photos and video parts.

What trend in 2008 do you see us regretting in the future?
All trends are ones that are usually regretted and I try not to pay attention.  Being conscious of Global warming and how you can help out is a trend that won't be regretted though.

What do you think of the Whistler snowboard scene?
The Whistler scene can be like high school if you want it to or it can be amazing.  Depending on the person it can be good or bad.  I've been having a great time here for years and I plan on continuing to do so. Bottom line is that people all end up here for one reason, the mountains not the scene.

Do you still get to go out and shoot as much as you like?
Ya I've been able to shoot as much as I did before so nothing's changed as far as that.

Anything important coming up that we should know about?
I'm turning 29 this summer which should be pretty rad, want to come to my party?

Where can we see your work?
Snowboard Canada is the best place but just check photo credit and it might be mine somewhere else as well

Thanks, any shout outs?
Thanks to my wife Dawn, Family and friends and anyone I've met along the way.  Good times had.

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A Walk in the Park..... with Andrew Geeves from David Brocklebank on Vimeo.

Download this for your iPOD:

http://gnarcore.com/?p=414

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Snowboarders hoping to have their sport included in 2014 Paralympics.

By Andrew Mitchell

If you build it, they will come — at least that’s what organizers of the first ever adaptive snowboarding World Cup event, sanctioned by the Canadian Snowboard Federation and World Snowboard Federation, are counting on.

The race took place on Blackcomb last Friday, with racers making three solo descents of the snowboardcross course — a format that was chosen because it combines elements of racing and freestyle, and because all of the athletes prefer soft boots to hard boots.

Although organizers were hoping for a larger and more international field, everybody knows you have to start somewhere.

“History was made — it was done and done well,” said Christian Hrab, head coach for the Canadian Snowboard Federation’s adaptive snowboard program. “The event was perfect, it was really safe and fast, we had a good course set, and good work on the course, and the athletes rode the best I’ve seen all season.

“It’s a beginning, but it’s also the culmination of two years of work, while it’s also the beginning of another 20 years of hard work. We’ve got the athletes, we’ve got a classification system for all the different disabilities, there are camps and programs, and there are starting to be more coaches. (Adaptive snowboarding) is also getting a lot of attention, because snowboarding is really for everybody — not just the elite World Cup athletes, but also for people with physical disabilities that can still participate and be very good at it too.”

There are plans to host three World Cup snowboarding events next season, including a competition at Cypress Mountain during the World Cup test events in February, and events in Italy and France.

However, while the sport has momentum it’s extremely unlikely that adaptive snowboarding will be included in the 2010 Olympics. But Hrab says things are looking better for 2014, providing all of the organizations involved internationally can work together to increase participation and create an international series.

While that may be discouraging for some athletes, Hrab says his athletes are in it for the long haul.

“I’ve worked with able-bodied athletes with the national team for years, and I can say that these (adaptive) guys are the most positive, constructive, forward-thinking athletes I’ve ever met,” he said. “They’ve overcome some huge obstacles to be here already, which make the little things easier to overcome. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and they know that this is just the beginning and where the sport is heading.”

The next challenge for adaptive snowboarding, which was addressed at a conference and workshop surrounding the World Cup, is networking.

“We have to reach the people who snowboard recreationally with a disability, and get them into a competitive frame of mind,” said Hrab. “Events like this create awareness, and get a buzz going. People who never thought of competing will see it and say ‘I’ll do it.’”

Ian Lockey, who was second in the men’s event with a time of 59.15 seconds — almost three seconds back of Whistler’s Tyler Mosher — was excited to be part of the event.

“I really enjoyed the race, and having us race in a time trial instead of a boardercross was much better and much safer in the end,” he said. “I think the format is a little more spectator friendly, definitely more interesting than watching us wiggle down the course in a parallel giant slalom, and you can actually see people snowboarding, going up, coming down, and ripping around corners.”

Lockey is classified as an incomplete paraplegic, meaning he sustained a spinal cord injury that has reduced his feeling and mobility below the waist.

Riding a snowboard around the corners without full feeling for your edges can be a scary experience, he said.

“It is scary going onto your edge and being on edge, and having to rely on what you don’t have to hold on,” he said. “You can only hope you adapted well enough to survive the turn and not wind up in the fencing.”

Lockey plans to race in the U.S. Amateur Snowboard Association nationals at the end of the month, where he is the reigning PGS and freestyle champion, and will race all three World Cup events next season. If there’s a chance that snowboarding will be in the Paralympics in 2014, he wants to be there.

“Having events like this is great incentive for me to train more and do some off-snow training,” he said. “I’ve always relied on my snowboarding abilities, but as our coach said it’s one thing to get beaten by a better snowboarder than you, but it’s another to get beaten because you’re fat or unfit. It’s tough love, the only way to go.”

Bibian Mentel came from Holland to race in the first World Cup, winning the women’s category.

“I loved it, it was so much fun being here and riding the course,” she said. “It’s really, really nice for the level we’re riding at right now, and it’s just fun.

“Now we may have three World Cups next year, which would be exciting. I think it’s a good thing that adaptive snowboarding is getting more attention, that people with disabilities are going out and having fun, and I think we need more and more competitions to get into the Paralympics.”

Mentel is 35, and is not sure she’ll still be racing if snowboarding is added to the schedule for 2014, but she’s definitely not ruling it out.

“I love riding, and if I feel the same way then as I do now, I might have to race,” she said.

With a classification system, each competitor’s time was adjusted slightly to compensate for their specific disability. This was the first test of a classification system for snowboarding, and judging by how close the times were it went well.

Tyler Mosher posted the top time of the day, 56.3 seconds, making good use of some time off training for the Para-Nordic 2010 team to get some runs in on the snowboardcross course. Lockey was second in 59.15, and Mike Fisher placed third in 64.78.

For Mosher, winning was less important than showing up.

“I feel like a million bucks, it was really a dream come true,” he said. “After my accident (in 2000) there wasn’t anywhere for disabled people to compete. I’m so happy right now — not so much for winning, although I trained hard and I’m proud of it — but because we were laying the groundwork for all the children in the future that want to snowboard and that are living with a disability.”

For adaptive snowboarding to be successful, Mosher says the important thing is to get national organizations around the world involved and supporting their athletes.

“The hardest thing is that it’s not a Paralympic sport right now, so the athletes are pretty much on their own and we’ve had to take a bottom-up approach to getting people involved. All we can do is keep having events, get more people out each year, and sooner or later the sport will be recognized.”

As for the quality of competition, Mosher said that there were no recreational riders in the group and that everybody was out to race and win.

“It’s not just about how many people with disabilities you can get snowboarding, but how many people in that group can be athletes,” he said.

Mentel’s best time was 61.62 seconds, followed by Emily Cavallin in 63.5.

Zach Beaumont raced alone in the youth category, posting a time of 69.82.

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