All Prospect Snowboards offer bamboo sidewalls and longer effective edges for better overall control. The Bamboo sidewalls offer multiple benefits. Specifically it is lighter, stronger, and adds stability to the overall ride. Without getting too technical, bamboo is 25% lighter and its tensile "burst" strength is 2 times as strong as regular core material meaning more pop. Being set at the sidewall, the stiffer bamboo offers torsional stiffness and natural vibration dampening, leading to a faster, more stable platform. Bamboo is being used more in snowboarding not only because it of its high strength to weight ratio but it also lasts because it is continuously strong even when temperature drops. Neil Henderson, the owner of Prospect snowboards says "My goal was to make the fastest, hardest carving true twin snowboard available".

To accompany the benefits of bamboo sidewalls, Prospect's geometry stretches out the effective edge, aka contact points as far as it can go. This adds to the ride stability andactually provides the performance of a longer board. According to Neil, "It's like adding 2 to 4 cm of length without having to ride a heavier, longer board." The longer effective edge puts the contact points closer to the tip of the board giving your edges more surface contact to grip in turns. This means less washing out of hard carves and smooth, stable turns for maximum control. Together, bamboo sidewalls and the longer effective edge Prospect's boards offer harder carves and a ride smoother than other freestyle decks. Neil believes this sidewall and effective edge combination are the most underrated manufacturing techniques that contribute to his goal of making the fastest and hardest carving true twin available.

Also underrated in the design of snowboards is rubber dampening, carbon fiber beams, and even more so their placement inside the construction of the board.

Prospect uses rubber in sandwich/sidewall snowboard design to reduce shock and vibration in turns and while landing big hits. According to Neil, rubber stripping is placed around the outside of the board and in the middle sections to act like a shock absorber. He says “Rubber placement is key to a boards ride because it turns the overbearing rigidity into smooth fluid movements.” His smooth ride philosophy on rubber dampening also contributes their boards lasting ride and overall durability. The way snowboards are ridden they are continuously flexed over and over again. Without sufficient rubber dampening the epoxy bonds break down leading to a lifeless board with no pop and it will eventually break. The rubber Prospect places inside the board allows small amounts of flex between the layers reducing wear on the epoxy bonds.

The Carbon laminates Neil puts in Prospect’s boards are common among most snowboards, but he believes his carbon “X-beams” also add to the boards ride. “Our X-beams are placed from the feet to the contact point at the edge. This allows Prospect to have lighter cores with added spring back. The carbon placement also contributes to their tensional stiffness, adding to the overall stability at high speed. Neil’s take on carbon fiber is: “We tried different carbon patterns, stringers, an “A” pattern on each end, Inverted “A’s”; the X pattern is the only thing that directly transfers power from your feet to the edge. There is a small sacrifice in low speed carving, but who rides slow?”

Also on the top of Prospect’s priority list is making bombproof boards. While no one should condone using a snowboard as a bomb shield, the fact is Prospect has developed 2 more ways to ensure Prospect is known as a brand that makes premium snowboards that perform and last. Neil’s philosophy is “I’m a product guy. I believe that the best products are better than the best marketing. Prospect isn’t a statement in style as much as it is a statement in quality.”

There is a few steps Prospect has taken to assure they achieve that quality. First, the Premier Special Edition Models have “Seamless edges”. Their edges are high carbon, hardened steel with no cut seam; a real 360 degree edge. This was developed to reduce edge failures from hard hits against rocks, trees, and rails. Second, the Two-part flexible epoxy serves as a dampening system, increases flexibility, and prevents delaminating. Neil’s take on Prospect’s epoxy system: “Our epoxy mixture adds a rubber like characteristic to the compound. It makes the boards tough as nails. “When we do Prospect Demos we always tell riders Hey, go break this board. We’re still waiting.”

Prospect Snowboards is on a mission to bring some killer decks to the table. They aren’t well known and they don’t dump their cash into marketing. Instead they stick to their mission. To drive home their point they gave all Prospect Snowboards a 2 year warranty and Neil Assures they stand by their warranty; if you break your board riding we’ll fix it free or you get a replacement if we can’t fix it. Good points, and Neil concludes by saying “Hey, ya know, we’re putting up a true effort here to bring out boards that pushes the accountability of a snowboard company. We listen to what each individual rider wants and we work to build that into our boards.”

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New Seymour Partysnake edit

Matt Heneghan just uploaded this new Seymour Partysnake edit laced to some CNN.

# posted by Furious @ 2:18 PM 0 comments

Monday, March 02, 2009

Silver, Bronze, Gold, youngbrownwalsh and a fishburger.

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im pregnant and having a baby girl due in june..im naming her chloe delilah!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding 2009 Tour Dates Announced by The North Face and Mountain Sports International

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding is the largest big mountain snowboarding tour in the country, with a prize purse of $45,000 and two new world-class venues

Registration is now open on www.thenorthfacemasters.com

Salt Lake City, Utah, December 17, 2008 – Now in its sophomore year, The North Face Masters of Snowboarding (TNF Masters) has become the largest cohesive competitive big mountain snowboarding tour in the country. A three-stop tour, TNF Masters is designed to cater to the motivation, talent and skill of world-class big mountain snowboarders. The 2009 tour visits Snowbird, Utah, Crested Butte, Colorado, and culminates at the ultimate big mountain competition venue of Kirkwood, California.

“The North Face Masters tour is going to be off the chain this year,” said TNF Masters Alyeska, Alaska, 2008 champion Rob Kingwill. “I am excited to be a part of the movement toward giving big mountain snowboarding competition the recognition it deserves. All three 2009 venues are world-class, and I can't wait to see what happens.”

TNF Masters features a $45,000 cash prize purse and serves as a qualifier event to the Freeride World Tour. Winners from the Snowbird and Crested Butte TNF Masters events will have the opportunity to compete in the Nissan Tram Face at Squaw Valley, California.

"Freeriding, the use of natural terrain, fall line, and innovation from riding style is the essence of big mountain snowboarding,” said TNF Masters Head Judge Tom Burt. “The TNF Masters series is designed around this and that is the reason why I agreed to become the head judge. The terrain will be delivered by Snowbird, Crested Butte, and Kirkwood. All have different flavors of terrain so each will bring its own challenges for the riders, and every rider will bring their own style and innovation to each venue. When the two mesh the best freerider will emerge.“

TNF Masters gathers big mountain snowboarding tribes from all around the world. All male and female snowboarding competitors above age 18 are welcomed to participate. Registration is now open on www.thenorthfacemasters.com.

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding 2009 Series Schedule

Stop #1 – Snowbird, Utah.                  January 29-February 1, 2009

Stop #2 –Crested Butte, Colorado. February 12-15, 2009

Stop #3 –Kirkwood, California         March 5-8, 2009

Fans of big mountain snowboarding can catch same-day coverage of the Semi-Final and Final rounds of each TNF Masters event on www.thenorthfacemasters.com where there are complete videos, photos, athlete profiles, detailed event schedules, registration information and more.

For more information please visit www.thenorthfacemasters.com.

Special Thanks To:

The North Face

Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort

Crested Butte Mountain Resort

Kirkwood Mountain Resort

Primaloft

Snowboard Magazine

Mountain Sports International

REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND ATHLETE INQUIRIES CONTACT

Sara Pinsoneault

Athlete Communications

Mountain Sports International

801.349.4650

sarap@mtsports.com

MEDIA INQUIRES AND FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

Cara Williams

PR, Communications & Media Manager

Mountain Sports International

801.349.4608

cara@mtsports.com

Pamela Bennett

Communications Manager

The North Face

510.618.3654

pamela_bennett@vfc.com

About MSI

Mountain Sports International (MSI) is a private company, founded in 1997, to develop and produce action/adventure sports events and programming in North America. MSI owns and produces the U.S. Freeskiing Series, the U.S. Skiercross Series, and the Freeskiing World Tour, in addition to several other properties and concepts.

MSI provides event management services for Burton, Salomon, and Red Bull and has provided infrastructure and expertise for the NBC Gravity Games and ESPN Action Sports Projects, including the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour. MSI specializes in matching clients with events for brand penetration into target demographics, developing product identification and loyalty. MSI matches brand and culture, company and credibility to create sought-after events that help to define the action sports culture.

About The North Face

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1968. Headquartered in San Leandro, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company’s products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

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A couple years ago, I fell in love in Jay Peak. An otherwise cold, windy and miserable day would also prove to be one of my best. There is something to be said about visiting places that were the setting for important moments of your life. Since November 22nd was set to be opening day at Jay, and due to the personal significance of the resort, I decided to get a car load of bros to go down there and ride.

The unusual suspects of the bro-down in Jay.

The road trip started out early, I picked up Yeti and Brad, and with Yahoo! directions in hand, we proceeded east for what we hoped would be a good day of riding (first for Brad and Yeti, second for me). The drive was mostly uneventful up until the Canada-USA border where we got pulled aside by the customs agent. He asked us if we were carrying more than $10,000 in cash (I wish we had that much scratch). I guess he wanted to search our stuff to make sure we weren't secretly part of the wealthy elite.

Normally a customs search would be no big deal, however, in this instance Brad really needed to use the restroom. So he asked the customs agent "do you guys have a public washroom in here?" To which the agent replied "It makes no sense for us to have public restrooms here because if you were smuggling drugs you could go flush them, or if we say something you don't like you can smear the whole place in poo." (no joke, he said that). Of course that's when we realized that Brad had probably set off a red flag with his request. Fortunately it didn't take long for them to search the car and they didn't make a huge mess of it. Once we were out of visible range of the border, we had to pull over to the side of the road so Brad could take care of business.

Yeti meets his doppleganger. What are the odds of seeing two of the same gaper.

With our urinal emergency behind us, we continued on toward Jay. However, we ended up taking a wrong turn (we turned up VT-105 instead of VT-242). Once that feeling of being in the wrong place set in, we decided we should pull over and ask someone for directions. Fortunately there was a pedestrian up the way. Yeti started joking how it was probably hillbilly with a shotgun. As we approached, we realized that this guy did in fact have a rifle slung over his shoulder. Not to be deterred, however, we stopped and asked him for quick directions. He confirmed that we had in fact taken a wrong turn and kindly directed us on how to get back. We thanked him and made our way. When we finally arrived at Jay, we were stoked to realize that it was snowing pretty heavily.

No sooner had we started unpacking did the gaper hunt begin. The first victim: Yeti. He decided to rock a purple one piece but because he does it in typical Yeti style, it had a certain panache that couldn't be ignored. However, Brad had been instructed before he left to make sure to spray a gaper wearing skier, so he looked at Yeti and said "expect to be sprayed."

Although Yeti's was the first, it certainly wasn't the last gaper we saw. In fact no sooner had we gotten our lift passes did we notice another skier wearing the exact same gaper. An instant friendship was forged.

For our first run of the day, we decided to go with the more difficult of the runs that were available to us. The snow was good but the moguls were large and the visibility basically nil. Which is probably why we hadn't noticed that we had ventured onto one of the closed sections of the run. This is when I fell in the creek (I seem to do this at least once a year). None the worse for wear, I tried to make my way back to the lift except I found the going to be tough (Yeti and Brad were already way ahead of me). That's when I realize that I have about 2 inches of sluch caked onto my base. I finally cleaned it off so we could resume our riding.

Gene Kelly sings in the rain but Yeti and Brad sing in the snow. The Jay clouds strike on opening day.

We spent the rest of the morning shredding up any run that was open until our legs were sore and our finger tips frozen. We decided to head inside for a while to warm up our fingers and take a bio-break. This is when things almost went south. While going to the restroom, Yeti's iPhone fell out of his pocket. He realized it was missing and we spent the next 15 minutes or so re-tracing his steps trying to find it. After asking pretty much everyone in the lodge if they had seen it, and only seconds before Yeti lost it and started throwing tables around, he realized that it had fallen into the hood of his gaper. Crisis averted.

The rest of the afternoon was a lot more of what we experienced in the morning: snow, lots of riding, some freshies, some gapers, more snow, and lots of laughs (did I mention it was snowing). At one point, while marveling at the heavy snowfall, we came upon a guy sitting in the snow, seemingly trying to fasten up his bindings. What was significant was that he was complaining that he wanted to go back to Delaware. I said "But there's no snow in Delaware!" "Exactly" he said which made me wonder what he was doing in Jay in the first place.

Finally when it was time to call it a day, we packed up all of our gear and made our way back toward the border. Four hours or so and 63 litres of fuel later, we made it back to Canada's capital craving massages and sleep. We were thankful to have benefited from the mystical Jay clouds for a truly epic opening day in Jay and to have averted any potential buzz-kill worthy crisis. I was happy to have gone back to a really important junction place of my life. The day was truly epic but at the same time made me realize how much I missed those who could not be there.

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THE MESSAGE  - OCTOBER 2008

Hot Dawgs and Hand Rails

THE BLOCK BOOTCAMP 2008

Knock on Wood

Upcoming Events

Big Bear

Lake Tahoe

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You Can Fix the Xbox 360 Red Light Easy!

Click here: Xbox 360 Red Light Fix

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Westbeach is proud to introduce the industry’s first UV-responsive jacket. The YVR’s discreet white design features a default suitcase print; as UV exposure ncreases, so does the visible contraband in the suitcase. Just like the variety of planes that pass through Vancouver’s International Airport, the YVR is available in a wide array of sizes, from S -XXL. Westbeach does not condone the use of contraband substances… unless it’s maple syrup.

Westbeach Peak to Creek Thermostat Jacket

 

 

Westbeach Introduces Temperature-Regulating Jacket

Named after the legendary Peak to Creek run which stretches 7 km from mountaintop to valley floor, the Peak to Creek is our highest performance jacket, boasting built-in climate control. The shell is comprised of C-Change, a revolutionary fabric from Schoeller, which reacts to body heat, becoming more breathable when you sweat, or sealing in warmth when it’s cool. Tested and triumphant at Whistler, this jacket will deliver optimal comfort anywhere you ride, important when you start in knee deep pow, come down through a fog band and end up in rain—four times in one day.

RPL pocket
Classic pocket package: Music, goggle, cell and key clip pockets
Pit zips with mesh lining
Passholder pocket
Fixed waist gaiter with GCS
Fixed hood
Peripheral hood adjustment
Inner lycra cuffs with thumbhole
Hem adjustors in front pockets.
Laser cut waterproof zips on cuff and left chest
“Blow Me” Whistle
RPL pocket – cell radiation reduction lining
Safety whistle to make noise
Fixed powder skirts
GCS – gaiter connection system
Fixed hoods.
Inner lycra cuff with thumbhole
Classic Series inner pocket package: RPL, mesh goggle, cell phone, music pocket with key clip
New and improved peripheral hood adjusts
Pitt zips with mesh lining
Hand warmer pockets
New and improved hem adjusts through front
Mesh lining

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Rider: Shayne Pospisil / Photo: Alex Roberts 

A perfect day with sunny blue skies today at Stylewars meant the first day of competition at Australia’s most notorious snowboarding event went down like a bowl full of delicious poutine. The 45 invited riders from around the globe were annihilating the course with a level of snowboarding never before seen in Australia.

Ripping all day and finishing in number 1 and 2 spots respectively was the French Canadian connection (ie: Canadian Club) of Charles Reid and Matts Kulisek who were both sending and stomping their runs all day. Matts was unleashing huge frontside 7 to backside 7 combinations amoung some super smooth 900s. While Charles Reid was dropping insane frontside 1080’s and massive 90-foot corked frontside 360’s that had everyone scratching their heads.

Sitting in third is a very consistent New Zealand rider Jacob Koia who looks poised to strike for the lead. NZ team captain Will Jackways had one of the most interesting lines of the day with a perfect 90 foot backside 900 melon followed by a method from the step-over kicker landing on the side of the landing 80-feet away, stomping a method perfectly amoungst the rubble and grooming debris.

The course is a 3 jump line that consists of a 15 foot flat cliff step-down, a 90 foot high speed step-down kicker and a 75 foot step up/over kicker.

Stylewars 2008 – the freestyle marathon continues tomorrow with sunny days again forecast and riders amping to step it up the rankings for a shot at the Grand Master Title.

Tonight the parties start, a free/private concert for the riders with Australian Producer KATALYST and MC RUCL ready to bring home the first day.

For video footage of the days event check out

www.stylewars.com.au

Stylewars Presented by Oakley

Top 20 after day 1 of 3.

1.      Charles Reid (CAN)      BURTON          722

2.      Matts Kulisek (CAN)     APO                     667

3.      Jacob Koia (NZ)         OAKLEY          618

4.      Torstein Horgmo (NOR)   DC/OAKLEY               602

5.      Roland-Morley Brown (NZ) ELECTRIC/FORUM 595

6.      Wille Uotila (FIN)      ATOMIC          593

7.      Shayne Pospisil (USA)   BILLABONG               570

8.      Stef Zeestraten (NZ)    K2/OAKLEY               568

9.      Robbie Walker (AUS)     BILLABONG               550

10.     Will Jackways (NZ)      BURTON/VOLCOM   529

11.     Mitch Allan (AUS)       BURTON/OAKLEY   525

12.     Tore Holvik (NOR)       BATALEON                505

13.     Clint Allan (AUS)       BILLABONG               484

14.     Mario Kappeli (SUI)     FORUM                   474

15.     Ryan Tiene (AUS)        DC/OAKLEY               467

16.     Keiji Okamoto (JPN)     VOLKL/FLUX              462

17.     Jye Kearney (AUS)       BURTON/OAKLEY   395

18.     Nick Brown (NZ)         BURTON/RPM              368

19.     Masaharu Nakao (JPN)    NP ATHLETICS/REVOLT 313

20.     Cohen Davies (AUS)      ROME                    292

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