Throwback Thursday: The Good Old Days

I happened to come across this photo the other day and it nearly brought tears to my eyes. Okay, maybe not. I just like to say things for dramatic fashion. However, it is awesome and features two of our sports biggest names: Danny Davis and Kevin Pearce.

 

Kev and Danny shredding in Winter Park, Colorado back in 2006.
Those, indeed, were the good old days.

Now switching gears a bit, Holy Bowly is currently making its North American debut in Park City this week. For those of you who don’t know, Holy Bowly is an “international gathering of style and flow” (www.lib-tech.com). Its goal is to bring together all riders – pipe jocks, jibbers, backcountry, you name the stereotype, they probably have it. This year’s line up features Jamie Lynn, Danny Kass, Sam Taxwood and many, many more. Make sure you check out yobeat.com and snowboardermag.com for more in depth coverage of the non-competitive event.

Love Your Brain: Shop at Burton Tomorrow

I’m not sure how many people this will apply to because WordPress is not advanced enough yet for me to be able to see what states view my blog. Maybe that’d be a bit too creepy anyway.

However, some proceeds of purchases at Burton Flagship stores tomorrow will be donated to the Kevin Pearce Fund. Pretty rad, right? Well, it’s about to get radder. In addition to all of this, Kevin Pearce will be signing autographs from 3-6 p.m. tomorrow at the Burton Headquarters in Burlington, Vermont.

If this is accessible to you (peep the flyer below for additional details) make sure you go out and support a great cause and a great person.

My Thoughts on Shaun White Dropping Out of Slopestyle

What a crazy few days it’s been for snowboarding. First Torstein breaks his collar bone in practice, then Kevin Pearce gets to carry the Olympic torch. And today, Target’s very own super star, Shaun White has dropped out of the first ever Olympic Slopestyle competition. But we’ll touch back on that in a hot second.

KP looking super stoked while carrying the torch.

I am not Shaun White’s biggest fan, so I’ve been trying to think of ways to approach this subject without sounding incredibly biased. Given the media coverage surrounding him, I thought there would be many more supporters of his decision, however that doesn’t seem to be the case.

While I do understand the risks involved with snowboarding, after all Kevin Pearce is still my favorite snowboarder, it’s the Olympics. And as Jossi Wells tweeted earlier, any Slopestyle course is dangerous. Personally, I believe this reflects incredibly badly on him. His job is to be a professional snowboarder, and on the biggest stage in the world, he bailed out. Besides, when did snowboarding become all about winning medals? Not to mention his actions prohibited another American rider from participating in an event that only comes around every four years.

This should make for an interesting Slopestyle competition though. Feel free to share your thoughts below.

The Most Talked About Stories From 2013

As it is clearly a new year, old things have yet to be forgotten.

Today I came across an article Red bull posted entitled “Top 10 Stories From 2013 in Snowboarding.” It’s a nice little trip down some of the biggest events from the 2013 season.

Having it all laid out in front of you makes one realize the somewhat minor yet kind of major changes the sport has made this year – everything from backsides to new tricks to television shows, 2013 treated us shredders pretty damn well.

I don’t want to ruin the list for those eager eyes out there, but if number one does not make you cry, you may not be human.

Check out the article here.

Peace Park: A Danny Davis Creation

My apologies for my lack of updating lately. I’ve been entirely too busy getting tattooed and not being in the Christmas spirit to focus on, well, anything, really.

The Sprint Grand Prix was this weekend and a lot of shit happened. I attempted to watch it online, but the feed kept going in and out. I’m just going to blame that one on the U.S. Snowboarding site and not my internet that is slower than a tortoise.

The main thing I want to address in this post is not a competition, though they are important, but a somewhat new wave of snowboarding that is being brought to us by the one and only Danny Davis.

Danny Davis woke up one day and was like “Hey, you know, I’m really tired of the corporate side of snowboarding, so I’m gonna create some gnarly park where all my friends can have fun and experiment with new tricks. And then we can grill some food and listen to the Grateful Dead”…or at least that’s how I assume the idea came about.

Image from cdn.snowboarding.transworld.net

Regardless, the idea for the park is dope and Danny is a dope dude for pursuing it. Some people are saying it could change snowboarding. Personally, I kind of hope it does.

Find out more about Peace Park here.

The Crash Reel Is Being Released In U.S. Theaters

Finally, the time has come my American brethren. For those of us who don’t (unfortunately) live in the U.K., or in an American city, or have HBO where The Crash Reel has already been debuted, this is some news to rejoice in.

Via Kevin Pearce himself, the film is due to be released in U.S. theaters December 13th. I can already feel the tears welling up – partially from excitement and from the fact that I know I’ll be a mess during the movie.

Incase you need a refresher of what the movie is about (you shouldn’t, but hey, I’m not here to judge) check out the trailer below:

The Crash Reel Got Released in The UK

This is just another reason for me to be jealous of all you fabulous people in the UK. Even though The Crash Reel is released here, I still haven’t gotten to see it. And I just think everything is better in London, because it is. Even Kevin Pearce related things.

The Crash Reel was released in the UK on October 4th. I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors of trying to see it, because I’ve failed miserably at least three times now.

 

Image taken from snowskool.tumblr.com

Guess Who’s Back, Back Again…

What’s up ya’ll! I’m not entirely sure why I started that out with “ya’ll.” I guess it was just an attempt to bring me back to my American roots however much I may try to resist them in a sad admit to become British. (Side note: I just came back from London hence my less than stoked attitude on ‘merica.)

I’m a bit out of the snowboarding loop right now and I am trying to catch up with everything a.s.a.p. I have seen, here and there, multiple resorts posting about the snow starting to fall. However, none of them were East Coast resorts, so that doesn’t really help me. Thanks for twisting the knife though, guys.

Nothing snowboarding related happened across the pond. I found out that Kevin Pearce was there airing The Crash Reel and I got super stoked, only to find out it was a private screening. The struggle was too real.

Tomorrow we shall return to business as usual. Hope everyone  had a great week!

Image taken from http://www.quickmeme.com

Soon, my friend, soon.

Help a Sista Out

Every aspect of snowboarding is important when you are first learning the sport. However, I believe that mental toughness is the most important aspect. Why? Because you need to have it. There are no if’s, an’s, or but’s. You need to have that little extra something to push you down that trail or that pipe you are are terrified of riding. You need to have that little extra something to help you stand back up after you fall. You need to be a badass.

Two people come to mind when I think of mental toughness and badassery: Kevin Pearce and Calynn Irwin. Calynn suffered a gnarly concussion which kept her out of the sport for two years. Could you imagine two years without snowboarding? I can’t. I can’t even handle the nine month off season, let alone a two year off season.

Calynn Irwin
Image taken from twitter.com

Her dream is to represent Canada in the Winter Olympics. However, despite coming back from a concussion, she is still in need of a little bit of help getting there. She is currently trying to raise money in order to achieve her dreams. And don’t worry, you’re not going to get scammed, she’s giving you some cool shit too. You can read her full story here.

Just take a second to think about this: what if your ultimate dream was in the hands of others? In a way, Calynn’s is and in a way, I can sympathize with this given my current predicament of finding a job in the journalism world. I’ve learned that at the end of the day, if we’re doing all we can, everything will fall into place. Eventually – let’s just help Calynn get there a little bit sooner than “eventually.”

You can donate to Calynn here.

Oooh, fwend!

If you got The Inbetweeners reference that is the title of this post, please do not hesitate to contact me IMMEDIATELY so we can become best friends.

I’m going to admit this and hopefully not going to get shunned for it: I had no idea who the Frends Crew was for the first couple months of my snowboarding career. I know, I know. I apologize to anyone I may have offended with that statement.

However, now I am schooled in the art that is the Frends Crew. The crew consists of a group of boarders, including Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce and Scotty Lago that design headphones. You know the for boarders by boarders thing. I also remember reading a little something something about the meaning behind Frends: it was created because the shred life can get a little lonely sometimes. Pretty dope if you ask me.

Just take a look at these beauties:

Credit: http://www.design-milk.com

AND:

Credit: http://www.get-codes.com

Last but certainly not least:

Credit: http://www.reveal.co.uk

This pictures combines almost everything I love into one: Headphones by a few of my favorite boarders and Harry Styles. I believe I have just achieved the impossible by correlating Harry Styles with snowboarding. Bow down.

Aside from creating beautiful headphones, the Frends Crew also creates and partakes in things like The Frendly Gathering, which is an outdoor music festival. And it’s probably alot better than Coachella.

To learn more check out: http://www.wearefrends.com/frendsvision/frends-vision.html