I am sitting here in a motel room in Elko, Nevada – an oasis of civilization (depending on how you define it) somewhere between Reno and Salt Lake, and a world away from anything remotely resembling snowboarding. This part of I-80 is one of the most barren stretches of highway in the country. I lost track of time before I realized that if I didn’t find a place to stay immediately, who knows when I’d run into the next town. So here I am, in a motel that smells like a combination of a retirement home and the waiting room of an auto body shop, so with that fresh on your mind, here’s what’s happing in the snow world:
The Freeride World Tour is Done and Dusted for 2016
The FWT season wrapped up in Verbier, Switzerland this week. The 55-degree face is a high-consequence exposed monstrosity that separates the chumps from the champs. Seriously, check that vid out. Congrats to Tahoe local Sammy Luebke on a world title.
Nine Knights, World Records and Stuff I Think is Still Weird
Christian Haller just set a world record for biggest air off a hip. The Suzuki Nine Knights Perfect Hip Contest went down this past weekend in Italy, and their claim to the perfect hip was pretty much on point as Haller sent it, boosting over 11m off a hip the same size. That’s 36 feet to those who’ve yet to comprehend the metric system, or 72 feet from the bottom of the tranny.
This setup looked pretty rad. I know I’ve ranted in previous columns about snowboarding being in the midst of an identity crisis, even leaning toward being pessimistic on the industry. Yet the innovation by the shapers of the hits, the equipment, and the riders themselves continues to escalate. This is good news. The bad news is that a skier boosted nearly 10 feet higher than the snowboarder, also setting a course record. And therein lies the problem: Snowboarding has in recent years started to amalgamate itself with skiing events. This is not a new trend, and it escalated fiercely when the sport entered the olympics, but seems to be happening more often.
And that’s still weird to me. Why the urge to homogenize? One answer is that it’s easier for sponsors – perhaps they can bundle everything under “action sports” and call it a day. But in doing so they have alienated the very thing that got people into snowboarding in the first place – the fact that it’s not skiing. For me, snowboarding extends beyond the actual act of sliding sideways on snow. It’s the ability to remain in your boots until 2AM after a really good day. It’s in pounding out a bootpack and sessioning a jump with your buddies until you get a trick down that you didn’t know when you woke up that morning. It’s using your board with your hands to help you ascend those last hundred feet of waist deep powder to get you to the peak where you can drop in.
Snowboarding–the industry–will do what it has to to survive, and if it means teaming up with skiing on some events to maximize reach, let it be, I guess. But that said, the criteria for success must differ enough from skiing that comparing the two sports doesn’t become a dick-measuring contest worrying about statistics. The differences between snowboarding and skiing shined brightly through at Nine Knights. While skier David Wise was the undisputed height champion at 47 feet, Christian’s 36-foot snowboard record was also completed with a huge method grab that easily won the style contest. That’s all that matters. And that’s pretty much how it’s always been – skiers love their stats: how fast they ski, how much vertical they get, how high that air was. Snowboarding has a different operating system altogether based on style. If you can’t make it look good, don’t bother. I’ll take a massive backside 180 method that’s clean and with purpose over a sketchy triple-cork-whatever-kids-can-spin-now any day.
I Love Girl Power
While the desire to one-up the competitor has biological importance for surviving and passing on only the strongest DNA, that is but only one aspect of humanity, largely concentrated in masculine energy. The feminine side gives us the sense of nurturing, community, and not taking oneself too seriously. All of this was on fine display this past weekend at Boarding for Breast Cancer’s 20th anniversary celebration at Sierra-at-Tahoe resort.
Snowboarding is usually a very dude-centric sport. Not this weekend. I already shared some background info on the event earlier this week so will refer you there. Expect a respectable photo recap soon, but what I will tell you now is… girl power is real and was in full force. Gold medalist Jamie Anderson stole the show, putting in solid time all day starting early with a two-hour yoga session, then a two-hour big air expression session and finally spending the afternoon drinking beers, doing interviews, and signing autographs – all while sporting her trademark smile. It was long enough for me, and I was able to keep my mouth shut and fly under the radar. She is handling her position at the top with poise and humility, which is always a welcome attitude in professional sports.
The event gave me faith in the power of community, as the B4BC crew is simply a group of friends who banded together to honor a friend, using her legacy after death to educate and inspire a whole new generation of health-conscious athletes. Well done, ladies!
Deep Thoughts From the Road
The ironic thing about Nevada is that the name means “snowy” in Spanish. Yet ask any goon off the street and they’d probably laugh at you if you tried to tell them that. However, this winter has been different. Throughout northern Nevada the peaks received a healthy snowpack, a landscape that you’d never believe unless you saw it. Hillsides that are typically brown have sprouted a blanket of green, showing the dormant power that springs from the desert when it receives moisture. My eyes have been opened to brand new possibilities for backcountry zones. I might stick around a bit. If you’re reading this and have any frickin’ clue how to use Google Earth, GO HERE NOW. It’s empty and waiting and spring is the best time to be in the backcountry:
This is what you’re missing.
Bonus Footage: Geeves Goes Jerry
Andrew Geeves is a damn good snowboarder. He also likes to party. This weekend at Mt. Seymour’s inaugural Baked Salmon banked slalom event, Geeves showed why you should not mix the two. In a moment of “what was he thinking”, he attempts to gap a section of the course and fails miserably. Luckily he was ok, but it’s a good reminder to watch your alcohol intake, especially when all your friends are filming.
