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My Blog: YOU’VE NEVER HEARD ROMAIN DE MARCHI SAY ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE
By: Stephanwb

For video of the Romain Interview, visit http://SlytechProtection.com/blog

Romain Straps it On

Romain de Marchi says: Stop letting the economic crisis paralyze you; don’t listen to the talking heads on TV news; don’t slow down. Your life and the lives of those around you depend on your passion and stoke.

YOU’VE NEVER HEARD ROMAIN DE MARCHI SAY ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE

MAUI, HAWAII – For a moment there I thought I was pondering the intricacies of the Universe, God, and life with Deepak Chopra – the esoteric Indian doctor, author, philosopher – not Romain de Marchi – ball-to-the-walls, huck-myself-down-any-freakin’-thing – snowboard legend.

Prejudiced with images of his suicidal rippings in epic Absinthe films, tabloid sensationalism knocking him as a party freak, and his tattoo covered body, I went into this, our first longer meeting, thinking it would turn out to be another “shoot the shi*t interview” with another fortunate, yet undeserving rider. I got adjusted, hard.

Romain on Travelling

RDM: When I travel I like discovering different philosophies and new cultures. I try to learn more and more the world. TV I don’t think is a good example to learn the world. To me it’s better to be on the terrain and figure out by yourself. That’s what I’m looking for when I go travel: meet new cultures and new people basically.

SWB: How does riding factor into your travels? Can you describe that stoke that you feel?

RDM: Well, I always… when I’m travelling, it’s not really the places you go to, but the experience you share with people. I like the fact that when I go to different resorts, I meet different people and they give me their stoke-ness of wanting to share with me their culture, their mountain and their way of seeing their mountain. That’s what I appreciate a lot when I get to see different places. So, that’s what really stokes me out.

Romain on Fatherhood

SWB: I saw your daughter Annella there. Tell me about her!

RDM: Well, she’s almost 2 years old and she’s growing up by the minute. She’s a fan of Dora as you can see on the T-Shirt and she loves her mama a lot. No, it’s fascinating, I mean, it’s ahhhh, it makes you more mature, makes you go forward in life, to be able to see your kids, the way they interpret life, to see their innocence and their soul. I think it gives you a lot of inspiration! They really inspire me.

SWB: so how did you start to feel in riding after you became a parent? Were there differences in your behavior after you became a parent?

RDM: Yeah, a lot of people said: now that you have a kid your ride should be different, you should be more cautious. Actually for me it went the other way around. I’m more crazy now than before. It really pushed me to go out there and do what I love. Now more than ever, I do it for more and more reason. First it was just for me when I was younger, but now it’s also for my daughter and my kids because I want them to feel my passion and translate that to them, so now I go out there and try to get as stoked as I can, so when I get home they can see how happy I am to do what I love to do and they can feel that. So for me it went the other way around.

SWB: interesting! So she made you live life even more to its fullest?

RDM: Even more.

Romain on the World Economic Recession

RDM: I’m not gonna say it doesn’t affect me. It affects everybody, but, I think that many people live in fear and they’re like “ohhh no, I can’t do this, I can’t do that.” People have been brainwashed with that and they’ve stopped living. I bet if each individual in the world like they did before the crisis, everything would be good, because money would still be spent, people would still be happy and do happy things and the world would still go around. Now everybody is watching TV saying “ohhh no, I can’t do this, because the TV said it’s fear, it’s economic, and it’s the world war, the terrorism and what not…” I think that’s pretty sad that people have been brainwashed like that and have stopped living just because some dude said it on TV. Of course, the economy isn’t as good now, but I think we are as much responsible for it as the people who are leading our country. I think we should keep living and everything is going to be fine.

SWB: ohh man, that’s a great insight. People paralyze themselves by listening to these so-called experts on TV and…

RDM: yeah, it’s been like that for centuries, you know like, create fear so that we can control people. I try to have my own opinion. I know times are hard, but it’s hard for everybody, but you keep living and if you can’t pay the mortgage one day and what not, then well, sell the house and do something else. The world is not going to end just like that. We have many options in life, so it’s not worth worrying about a mortgage or things like that.

Romain on Back Protection and Why Everyone Should Wear One

RDM: For sure it gives you extra confidence. If I hit a rock at least I have the Slytech 2nd Skin to protect my spine.

But I also try not to rely on it too much, because then you forget how your muscles work in your body; they are the first armor, right?

The Slytech 2nd Skin is more prevention. It’s not because I have a back protector that I’m going to launch a bigger thing. Whether I ride the resort or I jump, I always wear it in case something happens. It’s a precaution. It’s not like, “ohhh yeah, I’m just going riding the resorts, so I’m not going to put it on.” No, I put it on anyway.

Whether big jump or not, you know, now that I’m getting older, I got a family, so I kinda need to have that extra protection for me. But I’m not forgetting as well that my body is my first armor. For my state of mind it’s more uhhh… like in a car, you can have one airbag or you can have 5 airbags. Same thing with second skin: I’d rather have more airbags than just 1.

SWB: There are all kind of back protectors out there. What was it about Slytech 2nd Skin to make you choose to use it?

RDM: It’s easy to put on. It’s really comfortable to wear it. The good thing is, the foam they use, it’s really molding your back, so you really don’t feel it. I’ve tried other ones and they’re really uncomfortable. They’ve been using that for dirt biking at first. I feel pretty confident: dirt bikers get more beat up than snowboarders. When they fall, they hit the hard ground! Snow is soft. It makes you feel even better that it’s tested by dirt bike people.

SWB: How were you introduced to the Slytech people?

RDM: What went down is… basically, I got hooked up with Shred and they said, “hey, you want to try the Slytech 2ndSkin?” and I’m like “YEAH SURE!” They sent me some and I went riding and I didn’t feel it. I went riding all day and I didn’t feel it at all, “OK, wow! This is a freakin great product!” You have it on and it’s extra precaution for you and it doesn’t even bother you; it doesn’t even make you uncomfortable when you ride so I was like “yeah right on! This is a great product, so let’s do something with it!”

SWB: Would you recommend a back protector for non-professional athletes?

RDM: Yeah, I would recommend all the protection they can get. Most of the time, beginners just sit on a hump on the slope and if a skier or snowboarder just comes up from behind and BOOM, it could paralyze them. But if you have a back protector, it might save you from that. Helmet, back protectors are key.

As I left that interview, I never thought that I – as a philosophy guy living in Hawaii with all the inspiration I need around me – would have walked away with so much newfound inspiration to go for whatever I could possibly conceive of.

I want to publicly thank Romain de Marchi for sharing the inspiring stoke he collects through his experiences as a shredder, a father, a world traveler and as a free spirit (the snowboarding world’s own mini Deepak). Thanks also for believing in and endorsing the Slytech Back Protector. It took many years to develop and test, and now that it’s available to the general public we hope it will be as universally loved.

About Slytech Protection
The team and riders at Slytech Protection feel that life is best lived with maximum passion, confidence, comfort and protection (comfortable protection). We’re based around a rider's love for shredding and being free, to keep pushing the limits and to give yourself the chance to get up and ride again. Being sidelined with a bad spinal injury is the last thing we want, and so comfortable back protection is the first thing we grab.

Go to http://slytechprotection.com and signup for more inspiring rider tales from Romain and the rest of the shredders.

Slytech Protection distributors at www.slytechproteciton.com/contacts
Headquarters:
CERSAL srl
Viale Ancona, 26
30172 Venezia Mestre
Tel.+390412517211
Fax +390412517200

www.slytechprotection.com

###

Published On: 9/4/2009

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My Blog: Romain de Marchi - Portrait of Mature Shredder
By: Stephanwb

When asked, if you had a job title, what would it be? he had to stop and think it through for a moment. If I were to put a title on myself as a job, I'd say pro snowboarder, life-time traveler.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of interviewing legendary shredder Romain de Marchi from his new home in far-off western Canada near Vancouver. With kids in tow, tumbling around in and out of the Skype video frame, Romain talked candidly about life as a father, how that's affected his snowboarding and risk taking, as well as other controversial subject matter like the Natasha Richardson tragic death and his bitter divorce with his old sponsor, Burton.

We also spoke about his new dedication to smaller up-and-coming brands like his new sponsors Shred and Slytech Action Sports Protection with whom he recently signed (yes, having 2 little tykes running around now, he straps on back protection wherever he goes to ride). And then of course, we covered that hot new startup brand YES Snowboards you will want to hear about what he has to say about his new partners and why bigger is not always necessarily better.

His answers are not quite what you would expect from the rather notorious party animal we have read about in the past. His contemplative nature and deep insights paint a picture that is more Obi Wan Kenobi than a young reckless Anakin Skywalker.

I'm looking forward to share the insider look into Romain, the pro snowboarder and life-time traveller's life and will let you know when and where it can be found in its entirety!

Later,
Stephan

Stephan is a writer for Slytech Action Sports Protection(http://SlytechProtection.com) and Shred Optics (http://ShredOptics.com). Besides an interest in winter sports, he spends most of his time in Maui, Hawaii where many athletes, including Romain, regularly come through to scratch their tropical itch. Follow his tweets on all things Shred and Slytech at http://twitter.com/ShredOptics and http://twitter.com/SlytechProtect respectively.

Published On: 5/27/2009

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My Blog: WSSC- Who We Are
By: WSSC

Who we are:

With our world class private terrain park, professional coaches, hotel accommodation, meals, and activities, Whistler Summer Snowboard Camp is the place to be this summer!

what's included:

• Interactive coaching environment. Our coaches are not only professionals, but genuinely love kids and love coaching. Our coaching groups provide a better opportunity for campers to progress, as your coach will get to know you during the week and anticipate your needs and goals.

• Value. Everything is included in the camp price. ALL scheduled activities (extra charge for some optional activities) , ALL meals including dinner, a free camp T-Shirt and a camp video.

• Private pipe, race lanes, and park. Our on-hill facility is world class with private pipe, race lane, groomed area, terrain park, and lots of other terrain. Because we limit the amount of campers that we can accept each session, our park is never crowded. This means less time standing around waiting your turn, which is the case at the busier camps, and more time for you to focus on your goals!

• Supervision. We don't hold back the older campers or forget about the younger ones. All campers under 19 are supervised 24 hrs by our live-in hotel staff.

• Luxury-suites, not crowded dorms or small hotel rooms. The suites are equipped with a full-kitchen, living area, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and a big balcony to enjoy the beautiful mountain views! There is also a heated pool, huge jacuzzi, basketball court and volleyball net. The resort is located just minutes from the base of the hill, too, so there is no traveling to get to the lifts - they're just a short walk from breakfast!

• All meals are included in the price of the camp. Some other camps don't provide you with dinner. This can add-up to $100's of additional dollars to the price of your camp.

• No hiking. Our lifts run all day.

• Walk to the lifts. Some of the other camps have a 30 minute bus ride just to get to the hill but at our camp you can walk there in 5 min after you eat breakfast at a nice restaurant.

www.whistlersnowboardcamps.com

Published On: 4/24/2009

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My Blog: WSSC- Who We Are
By: WSSC

Who we are:

With our world class private terrain park, professional coaches, hotel accommodation, meals, and activities, Whistler Summer Snowboard Camp is the place to be this summer!

what's included:

• Value. Everything is included in the camp price. ALL scheduled activities (extra charge for some optional activities) , ALL meals including dinner, a free camp T-Shirt and a camp video.

• Supervision. We don't hold back the older campers or forget about the younger ones. All campers under 19 are supervised 24 hrs by our live-in hotel staff.

• All meals are included in the price of the camp. Some other camps don't provide you with dinner. This can add-up to $100's of additional dollars to the price of your camp.

• No hiking. Our lifts run all day.

• Walk to the lifts. Some of the other camps have a 30 minute bus ride just to get to the hill but at our camp you can walk there in 5 min after you eat breakfast at a nice restaurant.

www.whistlersnowboardcamps.com

Published On: 4/24/2009

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News and stuff: Partysnake Seymour Edit, Silver, Bronze, Gold, Youngbrownwalsh and fishburgers..
By: ISDesign

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.

IS Team Rider BRad Martin sent me this photo of himself on the podium with a Silver Medal around his neck at the recent world cup event held at Stoneham. Yeah Brad!

New IS team rider Janelle Pritchard (No relation to "Dean Pritchard" from the movie Oldschool) got some podium action of her own up at Whistler this weekend receiving Bronze at the Showdown. Good work Janelle! Don't blow all that loot on some fancy radio.

Hey Dave found the gold. Follow this link to a low res version of the YoungBrownWalsh vid he found on our other bud Dave's site.

Call with Kale: Kale gave me a call Sunday afternoon to share his excitement about trying out the new fishburger at Wendy's. He was like "they're using the good fish now, some delicious Alaska code or something". Then he let me go so he could place his order. I decided to call him back Today to see if the fishburgers lived up to the hype. Kale ensured me that they did and stated the new fish burgers at Wendy's actually tasted like some delicious type of fish burger you'd find at a high end fish and chips spot. I felt good about the conversation and let him go.

Published On: 3/4/2009

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My Blog: Sunbaked fun
By: Porters_Tahoe

I love receiving last minute phone calls with the 2 stroke hum of snowmobiles in the background. PortersTahoe.com Team Rider Brendon Drury hit me up and said he and his younger brother were up at Mt. Rose riding around on his snowmobiles in search of some terrain for some snowboarding.

It is always fun riding side saddle getting up to your destination as it can be quite a task. I did bail once off the sled on my belly like a land seal! Out in the backcountry you never know what kind of characters you'll run into as we ran into these slednecks who offered us cheeseburgers, beer and some of that funny smelling "rope".

After a brief chat with these friendly dudes (Brendon snatched a brew), we proceeded to find our zone where we could get some shots. Brendon dropped into a face that was really sunbaked and it was hard to get the spray that we wanted. It was a fun turn but we wanted more.

Brendon got another ride up on the sled and I was scouting a zone trying to find a good place where he could snap a turn. The snow surface had about a 3-4 inch crust layer on it so I had to find an area that was thinner. I found just the spot.
Brendon hiked over to where i was camped out & we planned our shot.

In pure anal photographer fashion...I had to light this shot up. Packing light this time out I had my Lumedyne 400 WS Action Pack, Canon 1D Mark II, Canon 15mm fisheye lens, Canon 50mm 1.4 prime, and my Canon 70-200mm lenses. This is a great 3 lens & one light setup to have out in the backcountry or anywhere for that matter.This is what we got.

Not bad considering the snow only had an inch of crust in this zone. He did break through to the bottom and hit the rock, but in the end it was all worth it. On the way down we had to stop just one more time to take in another epic Lake Tahoe sunset.

Published On: 1/7/2009

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My Blog: TRANSWORLD!
By: YoungWillingandEager

EXTRA, EXTRA 'YOUNG, WILLING
& EAGER' Episode on Transworld.
Transworld Magazine online wiis currently airing a free episode of ‘ Young, Willing, & Eager’ on their website. The episode
entitled ‘Milking It’, features Sr. Transworld Photographer Scott Serfas
trying to squeeze out some magazine worthy photos of Johnny and Logan up
in the Mt. Seymour backcountry!

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/2008/11/09/milking-it-with-scott-serfas-v
 
Check it out!

YWE

Published On: 11/20/2008

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Snowboard.com News: GIGI RÜF SIGNS WITH VOLCOM SNOWBOARDING!
By: Snowboard.com

Volcom is proud to announce that Gigi Rüf will be rocking Volcom outerwear and riding Volcom snowboards for the 2008/2009 season and beyond.

Gigi has been a part of the Volcom family for more than 15 years. The young Austrian made his first trip to Volcom when he was just 12 years old. At that time Volcom Art Director, Ethan Anderson sent Gigi home with a hand made Volcom card. In the card EA wrote “Christian aka Gigi- Thank you for coming to America and hanging out. You rule. You are the future keep it up. Ethan”. The future is now.

VISIT: http://www.volcom.com/news/article.asp?sid=&articleID=3015 for Gigi's welcome video

Published On: 10/21/2008

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My Blog: FIAT ROOKIE CAMP
By: anne-flore

Today I just arrived in Saas Fee for the first day of the FIAT rookie camp.. we all arrived in saas fee in the sun which became rain after a short and necessary lunch brake.. Romain de Marchi, the 15 kids and I. The rookies were selected based on small video parts they sent of themselves snowboarding, and invited by FIAT to come spend 3 days with us.. we first introduced each of us.. the hello my name is, i come from and my favorite trick is.. etc.. then we played beach volleyball in the sand with a soccer ball so right now i m pretty much soaking wet with about a pound of sand in my hair 2 radiating red fore arms and 2 scratched knees .. oh! and guess who is here? remember Ramona? the coolest letter i ever recieved? well her sister and brother are here.. and she draw another really cool pic!

our first riding day was chill.. i didn’t feel like riding much but it was cool to watch the kids ripping and to feel their motivation.. being in saas fee reminds me of when i came here to ride everyday for 4 months.. and those kids are in that exact state of mind.. they want to shred all day everyday.. it s inspiring! after riding we had a run through the vita course with Romain explaining to the kids how important training is to avoid injuries.. and we played some more volley ball..

the second started with very icy slopes and kicker but got really fun after a couple hours.. it was fun to shred and to get some of their motivation. the afternoon was spent on tips on how to contact sponsors, the basics of a sponsorship contract and a couple of what to do and not to do on interviews.. then we went hitting some golf balls.. the cool thing with this camp is that they didn’t know eachother before coming here and now they are shred buddies! i m sure they ll keep in contact with each other the camp.. and that’s really cool!

sunday sunny morning on the glacier of saas fee judging all the kids hitting the last 2 kickers of the park.. out of the 15 rookies, it was cool to see the 2 girls shred.. Anais Cettou was doing good on her frontside 360 and 540.. for the boys the top 3 rode really well; Basile Specker got 3rd with stylish and good amplitude on backside 720 to frontside 720, David Bertschinger finished 2nd with good style on frontside 900 to cab 720, and our FIAT ROOKIE 2008 is Patrick who stomped almost each time with great style and technicity, changing tricks on each of his runs, backside 720 to frontside 720, cab 900, switch backside 900 to backflip (those are the stomped ones).. quite impressive for a 14 years old!!

I was stoked to take part of this FIAT camp and get to meet all those young shredders.. hopefully i ll see them soon again.. they’ll probably take my job soon enough!

ANNEFLOREMARXER.COM

Published On: 10/20/2008

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My Blog: Hey Guys, By: YoungWillingandEager
Just to let everyone know the winner will be chosen within the next couple days... so keep checking in!!! Also, be sure to keep checking out mobovivo and downloading episodes!!! http://www.mobovivo.com/store/programs/young-willing-and-eager Also... great big news... get ready... Published On: 10/10/2008 Add/View Comments (0)

News and stuff: Rep of the month / Monster Sale / 1984
By: ISDesign

REP OF THE MONTH: its been awhile since we featured a rep of the month. Ben Couves "sandwiched between a young Rod Stewart and Mr. MC Hammer piano pants" secured the coveted award yesterday when he sent over this amazing photo

with this explanation to my what the hell is going on in this photo. "Hahaha it was in grade 11, I won that guitar on the radio for a short story I wrote high on mushrooms about being high on mushrooms.hahahha amazing." -Ben

Hey we're having a MONSTER SALE October 16th and 17th.

Don't miss out, Dave's BBQing big time!

Welcome to 1984, where money was for nothing and chicks were free.

Sorry if you're (G) because they say the (F) word in the video. In their defense, they're calling themselves (F's) so I guess its not that bad but I'm not (G) so I wanted to make sure we didn't catch any heat like the time we posted Kale's Airhole commercial. We good?

Published On: 10/3/2008

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My Blog: wear red
By: Asmurf24

Will you give this to my Daddy?

As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support 'Red Fridays.'

Last week I was in , attending a conference. While I
was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me
beginning to clap and cheer I immediately turned around and witnessed
one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they
began heading to their gate, everyone (well alm ost everyone)was abruptly
to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.

When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and
cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded
American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their
families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young
unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so
we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.

Just when I thought I could not be m ore proud of my country or of our
service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran
up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said 'hi.'

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy
for her.

The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself,
said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then
suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the
biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of t he little girl, who said her daughter's name was
Courtney, told the young soldi er that her husband was a Marine and had
been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her
daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all
of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the
other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They
started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to
Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he
told me to give this to you.' He then hugged this little girl that he
had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying
'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and
he is coming home very soon.'

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young
soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was
standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people
resumed their applause As I stood there applauding and looked around,
there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in
one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney
with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and
thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's
good to be an American.

RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing
Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to
be called the 'silent majority'. We are no longer silent, and are
voicing our love for God, country and home in record b reaking numbers.

We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing.. We get no liberal
media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions. Many
Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize
that the vast majority of supports our troops.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity
and respect starts this Friday -and continues each and every Friday
until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every
red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear
something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the on every
Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the
bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with
acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the
once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever; certainly more
than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make
things better for you?' is...We need your support and your prayers.

Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and
wear something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON.

IF YOU COULD CARE LESS THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON --- IT IS YOUR
CHOICE.

Published On: 9/29/2008

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Snowboard.com News: ZION Snowboard’s – POP Program
By: Snowboard.com

SNOWBOARDERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CHILD SEX SLAVERY

Wouldn’t it be rad if you could help make someone else’s life better by doing something you love? While you’re out shreddin, making turns and having a good time with your friends, someone’s life is making a turn for the better. We have come up with something pretty epic and it’s called the ZION POP Program (People of the Planet). The POP Program is people driven and is all about Social Justice. We have made it our mission to help out our fellow humans who have been dealt a bad hand. This is the part of ZION Snowboards that we call “serious fun.” There are some hardcore issues happening in our world and we thought it would be rad to involve core snowboarders in making a difference. With the POP program we will be donating 10% of the sale of our participating products to charities that help make people’s lives better. Cool thing is - you can do this while you’re doing your switch backside 10’s or Tindy’s!

ZION is stoked to announce that our first partnership for the POP Program will be the Ratanak Foundation! ZION will be donating 10% of the sale of POP Products sold in our Flagship Online Shop to the Ratanak Foundation's New Song Project. The New Song Project is dedicated to

fighting child sex trafficking in Cambodia. We had a chance to meet up with Brian - the Founder of the Ratanak Foundation and we literally had our jaws on the floor after hearing about what was going on in the brothels of Cambodia with children as young as 5 years old. These children are being violated 10-20 times a day for a cost of 2 dollars per customer. Young virgins however, can go for up to five hundred dollars because customers that have AIDS believe they will be cured if they have sex with a virgin. You can imagine the devastation that this brings. The New Song Project is all about rescuing these children and rehabilitating them so that they can learn what if means to be a normal human being. The children that are rescued are brought to a top secret, high security location where they are in rehab for about 2 years. They are taught to be children again - most of them do not know what being a child is - they never got the chance. This stuff is not a cake walk - this is secret mission James Bond and Chuck Norris kind of stuff because the children need to be extracted from the brothels and pimps and then secretly brought to a safe location. As you can imagine the pimps do not want to lose their "product" so this is a very dangerous job for the rescuers whose lives are at risk every time they do a rescue operation.

The goal of the ZION Snowboards POP Program is to put as big a dent as possible into the beast of child sex slavery. Partnering up with the Ratanak Foundation is going to change children’s lives one at a time and give them a chance to be normal humans after everything has been brutally stripped from them.

ZION is a company founded and run by snowboarders. Our office is the mountain and the only suits we wear to work are snowsuits. We hope that building boards with maximum fun factor, offering products that set you apart at your local scene, and involving you in making other people’s lives better will get you stoked on ZION.

Please visit www.zionsnowboards.com and click on the shop online link to view our latest POP Products. More Products will be added on a regular basis.

Published On: 9/19/2008

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Snowboard.com News: Japan dominates LG Snowboard FIS World Cup season opener
By: Snowboard.com

Cardrona New Zealand hosted the start of the 2009 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup and Japan showed the world that when it comes to halfpipe, they have the skills. Kohhei Kudoh schooled the field beating out Ryoh Aono. As for the womans, Nakashima took gold.

Kudoh is 18 and has already had two second World Cup finishes. 2010 in Vanouver is going to be interesting for this young fellow.

Canadian Crispin Lipscomb came in third.

Published On: 9/10/2008

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Snowboard.com News: Infamous Management Signs Kyle Mack, he's only 11!
By: Snowboard.com

11 year old snowboarder, Kyle Mack is added to the Infamous team?

British Columbia - September 8, 2008 - Infamous Management is proud to announce the signing of young snowboard phenom, Kyle Mack to a multi-year contract.

Kyle has been a force on the Burton Smalls since his introduction to the team in 2005. As a part of the Smalls crew he has shot, filmed and competed with some of the sports' most influential riders, photographers and videographers. Recently Kyle was featured in two back to back issues of Snowboarder Magazine, a feat for snowboarders twice his age. With his career on the upswing Kyle's parents sought honest representation for their son, and found it in Infamous Management.

"I'm looking forward to being part of the Infamous crew! It's going to be great working with Roberta and getting to meet the other team riders. My sponsors believe that this is a great step in my career, and I just keep thinking that I'm only 11, what is a career? I'm just having a great time shredding. But seriously, I do believe that being part of this crew is going to be an awesome experience all around, both personally and professionally." -Kyle Mack

At just eleven years old Kyle has begun to make his mark in the snowboard industry because of his raw talent and good style. Infamous has taken note of Kyle's athletic ability and achievements, and wants to provide him with direction as he makes the first and most vital decisions in his snowboard career. Infamous will ensure that he becomes a well-rounded and highly marketable athlete, and that his snowboarding will continue to stand out among his peers.

"In an era where there are more followers than leaders Kyle stands out, not just with his talent and style, but also with his knowledge and passion for snowboarding. Kyle knows what a real pro snowboarder is and doesn't let the mainstream market dictate that to him. He respects the riders that are doing real tricks and pushing the sport. In the near future Kyle will be the one setting the standard, I have no doubt about that. He has talent, maturity, and passion, plus the support of a loving family behind him. With the added support of Infamous and our athletes he will succeed." -Roberta Rodger

Kyle's ultimate goal is to become one of the best snowboarders in the world, which is why he wants to develop experiences in heli-boarding, the backcountry and at rail events. Not to mention he would like to have continuing success in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions.

About Infamous

Infamous Management Inc. represents only the best athletes in the action sports industry. Our riders are professional, talented and highly marketable. IMI believes there is a balance between the rider and the company and that by working together they can profit equally from each other. At IMI we want to work with the companies as much as the riders to maximize marketing potential of both the athlete and the company. Roberta Rodger 's vast knowledge and experience in the action sports industry helps IMI's athletes reach their full potential in the market. "I believe that, with us, an athlete can grow, have a successful and lucrative career, and still maintain our ethical guidelines which are: loyalty, respect, trust, integrity and of course true love and dedication to improving their sport and their talents. The Infamous crew is JP Walker, Seth Huot, Chris Haslam, Simon Chamberlain, Stevie Bell, Leilani Gryde, Spencer O'Brien, Stian Solberg, Meghann O'Brien and Joe Sexton. For updates and profiles on our athletes check out both our website: http://www.infamousmanagementinc.com and myspace page http://www.myspace.com/infamousmgmt

Published On: 9/9/2008

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Snowboard.com News: COMPETITION UNDERWAY AT THE 2008 BURTON AUSTRALIAN OPEN
By: Snowboard.com

Today saw the second day of the Burton Australian Open go down at Perisher Blue Resort, where men’s and women’s halfpipe qualifications took place. Athletes from all over the world were vying for a coveted spot in Thursday’s semi-finals and a chance to grab a piece of the $50,000 AUD prize purse.

The men were first to drop into the pipe this morning under cloudy skies, where 14 men were boiled down to six. Sage Kotsenburg (USA) took the top spot in men’s halfpipe qualifications by putting down a solid run that started off with a frontside 900 melon into a backside 540 mute, followed by a frontside 720 indy, into a switch frontside 720 mute, finishing with a stylish melon to fakie. Aussies Scotty James, Samuel Murphy and Charlie Steinbacher, in addition to Chris Sörman (POL) and Marco Grilc (SLO) advance on and will be competing against invited riders Mason Aguirre (USA), Danny Davis (USA) and Kevin Pearce (USA), among others.

1 Sage Kotsenburg USA QUIKSILVER 90.00
2 Chris Sörman SWE BURTON 85.17
3 Marko Grilc SLO BURTON 80.17
4 Scott James AUS --- 74.50
5 Samuel Murphy AUS --- 73.67
6 Charlie Steinbacher AUS FORUM 55.67

The women’s field was dominated by Paulina Ligocka (POL) who stuck an extremely strong run, outscoring her nearest competitor by over 20 points. Ligocka, riding in her first competition after an injury set her back last year, proved that she is still a force to be reckoned with. Her second run, which scored her a massive 89.17 points, started off with lofty frontside air, followed by a method air, into a 540 tailgrab, followed by a backside indy, finishing with a 720.

Joining Ligocka will be two Aussies, Erin Tanner and Lauren Staveley who advance on to Thursday’s semis and will take on the likes of NZO halfpipe winner Jamie Anderson (USA) and Olympic gold medalist, Hannah Teter (USA).

“The men and women’s halfpipe qualifiers showed a glimmer of brilliance with the inspired riding of Sage Kotsenburg of the US and young Scott James of Australia leading the way,” said Competition Director, Greg Johnson. “Paulina Ligocka showed that she is back in a big way by locking in the top spot, truly an outstanding effort.”

1 Paulina Ligocka POL BURTON 89.17
2 Erin Tanner AUS BILLABONG 68.33
3 Lauren Staveley AUS --- 47.83

The Burton Australian Open continues tomorrow with the men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifiers. For further information visit www.opensnowboarding.com.

If you can’t make it to Australia, watch the semi-finals and finals live on www.Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

VISIT http://www.opensnowboarding.com for more details!!

Published On: 9/2/2008

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News and stuff: A whole bunch of juicy time wastin' blog ready to go!
By: ISDesign

The twin ninja babies are here! We love Mexico. Kale..

Congrats Tadashi and Yuko on the cutest twin ninja babies I've ever seen. Can't wait to meet them.

Its a fact, we love mexico. I remember. not too clearly but I do remember celebrating Halloween dressed as what we "drunk Canadian teens" thought mexicans looked like for something like 3 years in a row.

The photo above of Dev and Kale was taken somewhere around 98. I think we dressed up as mexicans for like 3 halloweens in a row... It only took us roughly a decade to finally come out with a goggle dedicated to the special little place in the world that blessed us with fish taco's, salsa, guacamole and terrible hangovers. Better late than never. Mexico, this ones for you!

Kale news: Kale has devised a new method of remembering all the super important things he has to do on a daily basis.

# posted by Furious @ 1:33 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 22, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen, can I please have your attention...

Our office is located in East Vancouver. For those who don't know East Van has a bit of a bad rep. Everyday I show up for work there's something weird going on. Here's just a taste of what I witnessed Today.

Actually this isn't that weird, its my collection of old skate shoes. If I actually still skated there'd be way more up there.

This was in the way of the first place I was gonna park, no biggie but then I

Roll up to the next spot and See Mic Mac invited a buddy to live next to him on our street.

Steve scored the only decent parking spot left on our street snuggled in tightly to some old mattresses.

When we told Dave about the old mattresses he rushed right out and tried to 3 flip them.

As I capture the moment our good buddy Birdie strolls by. Just a warning if you run into Birdie in our hood or at the Bourbon on any given Thursday night... He's more of an outdoor, keep a good distance, don't actually talk to him, just take a photo while you're driving by and hope he doesn't throw anything at you type bud. We tight though..

# posted by Furious @ 2:53 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Dev "the boss man" gets another TWS cover!

Here's the cover of the September issue of Transworld Snowboarding.

Dev was the only one out of the crew to hit this death gap. When "the crew" includes Jussi Oksanen and Andrea's Wiig it really puts into perspective how insane the gap is. Dev truly is the King of modern day back country riding. It's gotta be the goggles.. Look out for his part in Double Decade. He'll blow your mind... Again!

Zeddy called me to say: Hey did you know Todays international sex day!

Update from J man's Portuguese vacation:

Only J Man would meet sand ninjas on his first day in Portugal. I was skeptical too till he sent me this photo to back up the story.

The sand Ninjas were kind enough to take J Man in as one of their own and share their Choco Crack with him.

While enjoying the new exciting Portuguese treat J Man saw what seemed to be a familiar character dancing in the distance.

Thinking it was Zeddy stuck in a dance trance, he ran up to greet his good buddy.

As he got closer he realized it wasn't Zeddy at all. It was actually a young gentlemen by the name of Alvaro. The two conversed on the beach the rest of the day and have now become inseparable. Alvaro, pictured above in the stripes has since invited J man to join his Portuguese folk dance crew.

They'll be touring Portugal for the rest of the month.

# posted by Furious @ 3:06 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 15, 2008

One down, a bunch to go...

! made! Through my first week back to work from vacation that is and wow, what a doozy it was. Not sure if its just me but I never feel rested or relaxed after time off. I actually usually feel like I need another vacation. I must be doing something wrong.

See the shades Tman's sporting in the photo above. They're the Mont Royal white stripes, we're all sold out of em. Leave a comment below if you think we should do another run. If you need them right away I did see one pair in the display case at Boardroom on west forth yesterday after lunch. Good luck.

# posted by Furious @ 3:31 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Dave loves animals, butter and Jager.

Above, Dave Bestwick enjoying some quality time with friends after a long day of slanging goggles and shades.

e-mail to blog:

FW: Is China ready for English Speaking Tourists

# posted by Furious @ 4:14 PM 0 comments

Published On: 8/27/2008

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Snowboard.com News: Nitro MMIX - Too fast to live too young to die By: Snowboard.com
I'm told that you can expect to see the release of this video in your local shops come October... Published On: 8/27/2008 Add/View Comments (0)

My Blog: Chas Guldemond: Joining forces with PortersTahoe.com
By: Porters_Tahoe

PortersTahoe.com is excited to announce the addition of Chas Guldemond to their snowboard team!Now calling Tahoe home, Chas has decided to ground himself in Truckee, Ca to continue pursuing his snowboarding career. There is no better place to call home base than in Tahoe known for its legendary terrain and bluebird powder days. Chas decided to affiliate himself with a long-standing retailer, Porters Sports who in the past couple years has made a strong presence online with PortersTahoe.com.

Chas brings to the table excellent contest results like 1^st 2008 Vans Tahoe Cup Rail Jam, 1^st 2008 Honda Session Rail Jam, 3^{rd 2008} Honda Session Slopestyle and is currently in 4^th in the Ticket To Ride World Tour Standings. Chas’ impressive competitive career has opened the door to the cinematic side of snowboarding earning him a spot with the legendary Standard Films .

PortersTahoe.com is honored to support Chas in his snowboarding endeavors at the local level and abroad. “I’m super stoked to be on board, the crew at Porters is all about having a good time and sharing their passion of Tahoe and snowboarding. I really feel like I fit in well with everyone and the whole Porters mission. I just want to share my love of snowboarding and inspire people to go out with their friends and get creative on their snowboard “-Chas. “We couldn’t be more stoked on such a dynamic individual who is down to earth, willing to work hard and be inspirational to all those young kids out there who want to have fun snowboarding,” says PortersTahoe.com Snowboard Team Manager Eric Asistin.

Chas joins the established Porters team of Andy Finch and Nate Holland along with the young blood of Brandon Cocard, Bobby Witty and Johnny Lazzareschi. Go to the PortersTahoe.com BLOG to stay updated on what’s going on in Tahoe and abroad as the PortersTahoe.com Snowboard Team looks for an epic and bright season

Published On: 8/26/2008

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News and stuff: Twin ninja babies? New 2008/09 ad campaign.. Church party scene!
By: ISDesign

Twin ninja babies? New 2008/09 ad campaign.. Church party scene!

According to my Japanese news source the best ninja snowboarder in the world is having twins! Two babies! Dam, is there anything Tadashi isn't good at.

Our 08/09 ad campaign has hit the news stands. Yep we're hitting hard this season with spreads in Snowboarder, no biggie.. Keep posted for Dev's ad in the October issue which should be out any day now.

I didn't know the church party scene was so wild.