Power: Shaun White to pick Olympians!

Chas Smith

By

He's got the whole world in his hands!

Is Shaun White your favorite Olympian of all time? Did you love the Flying Tomato years? Did you thrill at each cork, each gold, each jaunty rock n roll bottom of the pipe celebration?

Is your heart sad now that he is aged? Not as spry? Slightly crusty? Hope of more cork, more gold, more jaunty rock n roll bottom of the pipe celebration fading with each and every day?

Well cheer up! Your favorite Olympian of all time is maybe going to have a hand picking future Olympic stars! Let’s read about it on the CBC!

Though Shaun White will never compete in snowboarding’s newest Olympic event, he could have a hand in deciding who does.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist is interested in turning his Air & Style series into an Olympic qualifier for the Big Air competition, which makes its Olympic debut in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

White’s tour, which returns to Los Angeles on Feb. 18-19, will mix snowboarders soaring 16 stories high off the big-air ramp with the music from about 20 bands, including Major Lazer and Flume. Other stops in the series are in Beijing and Innsbruck, Austria.

White says he has had preliminary talks with Olympic organizers about turning the tour into a qualifier for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and he hasn’t ruled anything out for 2018.

“There are discussions about trying to do something in the future, hopefully in the near future,” White said.

Is your heart soaring again? Oh it should be! And do you think, since he will be picking the Big Air Olympians don’t you think Shaun should be able to dress them too? Maybe something subtle but fabulous from his WHT SPACE line? Maybe in something throwback classic?

screen-shot-2016-12-12-at-2-34-44-pm
Terje seen here with Burton on the nose and Burton in the heart.

Terje: “I’m a company rider!”

Clegg

By

The Dew Tour Team Challenge was a wonderful success but let's make it better!

We are selfish bastards, usually, cuz snowboarding glorifies the individual. It is a solo pursuit. A party of one. That’s why lots of us fell in to begin with. Stick and ball sports, team sports, were fucken lame. Too much conformity. Fucken coaches yelling. Uniforms. Bullshit.

But sometimes it ain’t as fun to watch as team sports. Easier to cheer on the Coloradbro Rockies than one dude. And that’s why I liked yesterday’s Team Challenge at the Dew Tour so much. It was the first, natural, non-patriotic, team based thing that I’ve ever seen work.

The concept was thus:

Six snowboard brands assembled at Dew Tour Breckenridge with a roster of riders to take on the first-ever Team Challenge that combines multiple disciplines to declare one overall champion team.

In similar fashion to this year’s Slopestyle Pro Challenge, teams will take on the jib section for three complete separate from the jump where they will be allotted four jumps with the best two tricks spun in different directions making up that score. However, for the Team Challenge each brand must assign a different rider to each section in addition to selecting a Team Captain from their roster to pump up the riders and talk strategy.

Bad weather canceled the jump part making it a touch lamer but still. I like cheering for some brands and against other brands. Especially against other brands.

Terje Haakonsen, captain of winning Team Burton, said it best:

This has always been my team. I don’t go to big events and cheer on another Norwegian guy just because I’m from Norway. I’m cheering for the guys on my team. I’m a company rider. I didn’t get built up by Norway, I got built up by Oakley, Burton and Volcom—that is my support.

They should do a whole tour of this shit except the brands should really build real awesome teams, use all their best riders, etc. There could be a major league and a minor league and if a minor team league is really good they could move up to the majors. Like Euro soccer. Except with no falling down and crying on the grass.

Gerry Lopez: “We surf the mountain!”

Chas Smith

By

The Big Wave Challenge at Mt. Bachelor is a perfect synthesis!

Growing up on the Oregon coast I pointed my little nose toward the sea rather than the mountain. I was cold and miserable enough and the technicolor dream of California and Hawaii fired my imagination. Oh I went to the hills, to Hoodoo and Willamette Pass and even Mt. Bachelor a handful of times a season and loved but surf had my heart even though the water was near freezing and angry sharks swirled underneath my frozen solid feets.

When I was in the ocean, amongst the waves, I could at least pretend that I was tropical. I was at least doing the same thing that bronzed Australians and even more bronzed Hawaiians were doing.

And I remember like some great tragedy the day that Hawaiian legend Gerry Lopez left Oahu’s North Shore and moved to Bend, Oregon.

“BEND?” I thought. “Why did Gerry Lopez go crazy? What made the poor man lose his mind?”

For those who don’t know, Mr. Lopez is one of the most stylish surfers of all time and Pipeline was his playground. I could not fathom what would make someone move from the warm to the cold. From the sand to the snow. From Hawaii to Oregon.

And then, years later, I snowboarded in powder for the first time and it all made perfect sense. It all clicked.

I crossed paths with Gerry a few years ago. I was waiting on a helicopter out of Bald Face and he had just arrived. The man belongs in both worlds equally and, oddly both world’s belong to each other. And, thus, his surf event at Mt. Bachelor, the Big Wave Challenge, makes perfect sense too.

Watch!

Who runs the world? Canadians!

Chas Smith

By

So their Prime Minister is super hot and they get lots of snow pretty much year ’round and their money is called the loonie and Strange Brew and have you ever been to Vancouver? and Michael Bolton and Celine Dion and have you ever eaten poutine? and Mike Meyers and Jose Bautista and Drake I mean Alanis Morissette I mean Celine Dion.

And now Canadians have SWEPT something at Dew Tour. Let’s head over to the Canadian Broadcasting C…umm what’s the last C? for more information:

Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris took home the Dew Tour snowboard slopestyle title for the fifth consecutive year on Saturday, securing a clean third and final run in the jib section with perfect 270 on, 270 off combinations.

Friday’s jump section score of 95.33 combined with his jib section score of 77.33 was more than enough for McMorris to win the event in Breckenridge, Colo.

“It means everything to me to win,” said McMorris. “Yesterday was a huge milestone, doing that frontside triple that I broke my femur on last season, and then to make it work today in the jib section, I am just so happy.”

It was a Canadian sweep with 22-year-old Max Parrot closing out second place with 161.66 total points, and 24-year-old Sebastien Toutant rounding out the podium with a total score of 160.66.

Canadians Tyler Nicholson and Michael Ciccarelli finished fifth and sixth, giving Canada five of the top six performers.

Damn you, Canadians! You’ve already got enough! Can’t you give us a bronze?

Or poutine?

Step-brothers: TransBoarder is born!

Chas Smith

By

Same same same!

Did you ever have a brother or sister who mimicked you? Who dressed the same, talked the same, acted the same? Were you flattered or annoyed?

Oh you should have been flattered! Imitation is the sincerest form!

And let us look at a gorgeous example in the pages of TransWorld and Snowboarder…

same

The top is TransWorld. Bottom is Snowboarder. Both on the newsstands at the same time. Same jump same session, same angle, same photog, different riders but otherwise SAME SAME SAME!

Twinsday!

The two publications are step-brothers now, living under the same roof. Which do you think had the idea first?