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   The other day I uploaded with two good buddies; Stu and Derek. Stu had his Vholdr cam so we were on a tree mission! It’s no secret the coverage hasn’t been good enough to venture too deeply into the woods this season. That was until last weekend when a huge storm hit Whistler Blackcomb dumping 158cms in total. So that was our cue to head out and rip some pow!

   Stu’s been around these parts for ages, so I was expecting him to teach us a thing or two, but it just so happens we showed him some sweet spots he had never hit before. We started in Crystal by dropping off our bags at the snow fort, from there we headed to a super fun & short section of trees referred to as “the picnic table.” It’s literally a picnic table sitting on top of a knoll in the trees. It has an awesome view of the valley but that’s not why you go there. Below the table is a sweet pillow line, but watch your speed as it ends in tight trees and comes out onto a cat track.

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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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The partners of the Freeride World Tour 2009 events are:

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It's sick out there for early season hiking. So Pete and The Blend crew got some face shots in the blower lake effect snow.

With so much snow and great snowmaking temps, Holiday Valley is set to open early on November 20th.  We'll be there...

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Effective April 1 - 30, 2003 the Forest Service will be implementing and enforcing a Supervisor's Closure on Vail Mountain, which will prohibit unauthorized access to the Minnie's Deck area where the end-of-season BB&B event has occurred. The Forest Service issued a directive to Vail Resorts under the terms of their special use permit to shut down the BB&B event on Vail Mountain. Historically the BB&B event has taken place at Minnie's Deck and the event had evolved into a gathering of as many as 2,000 people. The behavior of participants posed serious risks to public health and safety as well as caused resource damage. The Supervisor's Closure will be in effect to ensure protection of public health and safety.

So, with a stroke of the pen, the US Forest Service ended the infamous end-of-season party on Vail Mountain, ending a 22 year tradition.  Know by many variations, Boobs, Boomers and Beers; Buns, Boobs, and Beers; Boobs, Booze and Brews, etc, (BB&B) was held on the second Tuesday in April as a way for Vail valley residents and employees to blow off some steam at the end of the season.  The event started in 1980 as a small end-of-season birthday party on Minnie's deck. BB&B devolved into an orgy of drinking, snowball fights and raucous behavior. During the last several years, partiers spent days before BB&B building large snow forts, stashing large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and, too often, hauling up more illicit substances.

Historically, the end of season party probably started much earlier with the Great Race.  This season-ender was usually held in Lionshead and People would dress up in all kinds of wild costumes. A photo of Vail local hooligan Packy Walker standing on the winner’s podium wearing nothing but a fig leaf and his gold medal made the front page of the Vail Trail newspaper. After Vail executives and lawyers killed that event people continued to get costumed up and party at Minnie's Deck.  In those days it was called the mountain formal.  Costumes included top hats and suits as well as high school prom dresses, horrible powder-blue tuxedoes and ballerina tutus.  The event grew and was combined with Warren Miller’s Mad Mountain Marathon and the Rubber Legs Slalom.  The race involved 150 or more slalom gates at the bottom of Vail Mountain and the event raised money for local charities.

When I was there in the spring of 2002, my brother Travis, his wife Michelle, Mayela and I went to the BB&B.  We all carried backpacks loaded with beers, booze and buds.  When we arrived at Minnie's deck the atmosphere was relaxed and people were lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the event.  We set up camp on the deck and in one of the nearby snow forts crafted by a group of Beaver Creek's happyshack community.  We took some runs and explored the other various snow forts in the woods.  It was amazing the elaborate complex of forts and the adornments within.  Some had full Ice sculpture bars complete with barstools carved from compacted snow.  Others were complete igloos with only a small portal in the roof for ventilation.  Another was an elaborate maze to thwart cops and security spies.

As the day continued, there were jam sessions on the numerous rails that had been created in the woods.  One was a 50 foot long triple wave that dumped out into the main area opening.  Eventually the traditional snowball fight erupted with the main focus from the snow forts surrounding the opening at Minnie's deck.  Some forts were equipped with water balloon launchers.  A couple of times I snuck out through the woods with my snowboard to take runs down born free.  After riding the gondola back up to the top, I'd come rolling into the woods with my pants down and flipping the crowd off in my black afro.  The trick was to ride fast and get to the fort as quickly as possible.  Poor unfortunate souls that tried to follow in the wake turbulence of my entry would get blasted into oblivion.  I would stand on the wall and yell out obscenities to the enemy forts.  The response was a furious barage of snowballs.  People were getting pissed because we were getting bombed with snow.  One time, standing on the wall, I took a water balloon launcher shot to the chest that blasted me flat on my back.  Heffe came right up like a  medic with the Jaegermeister bottle to nurse me back to insanity.

In the evening when security starts to herd everybody out of there is a Chinese downhill of sorts.  This race to the pub progresses down the mountain. There is one particularly steep pitch where people who are so f*cked up that they just take their skis off and hurl themselves bodily down the face, laughing their drunken asses off.  I came up to the edge and launched the hand bag I was carrying as high in the air as I could--only to find out Mayela had her camera in it.  We all ended up at the bars in Vail village till the weee hours of the morning.  It was amazing.  I'm glad I got to experience the greatest party on earth before it was over.  Good times

As kind of a sick footnote to all of this, the event has been commercialized in a couple of different forms. Never shy about making a buck off the sweat and toil of the locals Vail Resorts promptly christened Siebert's Mad Mountain Marathon and Beaver creek Blues, Brews, and Bar-B-Que. There is no limit to the depth of slime with Vail Management.

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http://www.porterstahoe.com

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The completion of the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola ropework and the arrival of 28 Sky Cabins set the stage for what will be the biggest construction milestone of the lift installation – the first Sky Cabin to cross the record-breaking 3 kilometre/1.88 mile, unsupported span between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

“With the haul rope spliced and all 28 Sky Cabins transported to the Blackcomb terminal, our next objective will be to get the cabins on the line and to send 12 across the span to Whistler,” says Rick Temple, PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola Construction Manager. “We are aiming to send them over by mid to late September, and are on track for the upcoming December grand opening.”
The Sky Cabins were shipped across the Atlantic from Olten, Switzerland where they were manufactured by CWA, global leader in design and construction of cableway vehicles. The Sky Cabins were then loaded onto ten trucks for the journey through Canada. Two cabins feature glass floors, enclosed by a railing, for a bird’s eye view of the Fitzsimmon’s Valley 436 metres/1,430 feet below.

Another significant milestone was the splicing of the haul rope to create a continuous loop, which took place August 29 and 30. The splice was 68 metres/220 feet long, and took a crew of 14 people over 15 hours to complete. Norm Duke, a FATZER AG certified splicer from Wyoming, lead the team of seven Whistler Blackcomb employees and six Doppelmayr/Garaventa employees to complete the job. Duke has spliced many of Whistler Blackcomb’s FATZER AG ropes and spliced the Symphony Express rope in 2006. The splice was achieved by untwining strands from each end of the steel cable and then re-braiding them together to ensure a perfect bind that maintains the haul rope’s diameter of 46mm.

Doppelmayr’s unique 3S gondola technology has each cabin traveling along two 56mm track ropes which bear the weight of the Sky Cabins, with the haul rope pulling in the middle of the two tracks. The haul rope was the only splice needed for the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola since the track ropes are stationary and do not loop from Blackcomb to Whistler.

The terminal buildings are nearing completion with cladding installation in the final stages and station set-up taking place. Construction progress of the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola is captured daily via webcams, and weekly via photography and construction blogs on the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola microsite at www.whistlerblackcomb.com. The PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola will open in December.

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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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Porters Sports of Lake Tahoe – one of the country’s premier ski and snowboard shops – is proud to announce the launch of a new version of its website porterstahoe.com. In less than two years, its first version achieved multi-million dollar revenues and became one of the fastest growing ski and snowboard ecommerce websites in the country. The new website offers greater and easier navigation, the inclusion of community forums and user-generated product reviews as well as a series of Porters-produced, on-snow ski and snowboard video reviews.

Beyond the enhanced features, there have been several major customer service improvements. Porterstahoe.com now pays the sales tax for California and Nevada residents, meaning that any purchases made online from porterstahoe.com are completely sales tax free. In addition, porterstahoe.com now offers a 100% “Satisfaction & Price Match Guarantee” as well as lifetime, unconditional return policy. It still offers free, ground UPS shipping for anyone in the United States’ “lower 48.” This past spring it also began shipping a large percentage of the almost 20,000 items available to purchase on porterstahoe.com to international customers. However certain brands, such as Burton and K2, can only be shipped domestically due to contractual limitations.

Porters Sports of Lake Tahoe began selling ski equipment in Tahoe City, CA in 1960 – the year the Winter Olympics came to Squaw Valley. Since that time it has added two other locations in Truckee, CA and Incline Village, NV. It also has an “off-price” only store next to the Tahoe City dam and Truckee river outlet affectionately named the “Dam Outlet.” Porterstahoe.com was launched in the fall of 2006.

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HERE IS TO MAGGIE VALLEY AND CATALOOCHEE SKI FOR HIRING ME FOR THE BEST JOB EVER. I GOT TO TEACH YOUNG AND OLD PEOPLE HOW TO SNOWBOARD AND THEN RIDE FOR FREE.THE SNOW WASNT LIKE OUT WEST BUT THE GOOD COMPANY OF THE OTHER INSTURCTERS MADE UP FOR IT.  WE WOULD JUST SHRED FOR HOURS JUDGING AND ADVISING ON HOW TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE AND THEN  VIDEO RECORD EACH OTHER HITTEN THE JUMPS AND RAILS. WOW WHAT I LEARNED IN 3 MONTHS FROM OTHER PEOPLE COMPARED TO ME BEIN A FLORIDA BOY GOIN ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR  IT'S LIKE NIGHT AND DAY. HAPPY DAYS AT THE RANCH AND IF YOULL READ THIS YOU SHOULD GO NEXT YEAR CAUSE I WLL BE THERE!

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