Snowboarder Guide just spent a blustery two days testing 08-09 equipment at the WWSRA “on snow” event in Keystone, CO. Strong winds and blowing snow didn’t stop me from getting on some of the boards I have been interested in riding. Unfortunately, due to time and weather, I completely missed several companies. The boards I chose to ride were based either on my own interest or on feedback I had heard from fellow shredders that invoked in me a specific curiosity about certain boards. Continue reading…

Oscar Wilde wrote, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” All the riders in all the events of the Vans Triple Crown were there to ride - whether they wanted to be there or not- and, including those who made the “mistake” of winning, each rider came away with a different experience. Take Chad Otterstrom as an example. He woke up tired on the morning of the free style finals and told a friend he didn’t even feel like competing. His “not feeling like competing” resulted in a 4th place positioning. Continue reading…

Arctic Man is a party; a damn big party. During the weekend, Arctic Man weighs in at around 20,000 people, making it the 4th largest city in Alaska. (Anchorage is at 350,000, Fairbanks at 85,000, and Juneau has close to 30,000.). The original concept was for a team race, the team consisting of a skier/boarder and a puller on a snowmachine. The puller races up a mountain, links up with a skier/boarder, tows him/her across the top, and then the skier drops the rope and books down the other side of the mountain. This is done one team at a time, and the fastest overall time wins the purse for their division. There are men and women divisions for both skiers and boarders, and the total purse was over $100K last year. The race is one day, the party almost a week. Of course there are tons of other events throughout the week; including snowmachine and snowboard big air competitions, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Continue reading…

The drive from Boulder, CO to Breckenridge is only a couple of hours including traffic, but the anxiety makes it seem longer. Snowboarderguide was in the mountains for the Breckenridge Grand Prix, the final qualifying event for the 2002 Olympics. The main event was the halfpipe competition, but there was also a nighttime big air and the video premier of 411 Snow #3. Continue reading…