Snowboarding News - April 2008

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Australia - Twenty-one-year old Torah Bright is voted as the best female snowboarder of all time in a poll at the extreme sports channel EXPN. The Cooma-raised snowboarder was regarded as one of the future women snowboarding leaders during her teenage years.

Bright has won two successive world professional tour championships this year, and has dominated women’s snowboarding since her 2006 Torino Olympics injury. Mary Buckheit of EXPN credits Bright’s all-around ... Read Full Story skills and progressive style as her advantage in taking the women’s snowboarding to a new level.

For more details on this news, please visit www.news.com.au.

 

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The latest super cold snap has put Mt. Hotham in the record books, recording the coldest day on record for April in Victoria yesterday. The maximum temperature at the alpine resort was just -3.3C, recorded at 2pm. The previous record for the state was -2C set in 1985.

The new record has also seen more than 25cm of snowfall at Victoria’s highest resort, with blizzard weather conditions normally associated with August.

Most of the snowfall dumped down ... Read Full Story from about 5am to 1pm last Sunday. With an additional 3cm overnight and more snow yesterday, Hotham has been inundated with snow, with cars buried and chairlifts covered.

It has been so cold that snow has reached down to altitudes of 1000m. The snow showers are expected to continue today before clearing up by Wednesday.

Many tourists and locals alike have taken the opportunity to check out the April whiteout, and many are building snowmen, having snowball fights and tobogganing. Several cars got bogged on the Great Alpine Road last Sunday but the road has now been cleared.

This is the fourth pre-season bout of snowfall since February and is by far the largest. Collectively, Hotham has now received well over third of a meter of pre-season snowfall. The latest snowfall combined with record cold temperatures will freeze the ground, the perfect ski field preparation for the season ahead.

Pete Taylor’s website www.snowatch.com.au predicts this season to be the best since 2004 (when Hotham’s official snow depth peaked at 2.39m) and is expecting a maximum snow base of around 2m this year.

Adding to the promising signs from Mother Nature is the fact that Hotham’s Heavenly Valley snowmaking project is almost complete. “The extended snowmaking network is looking extremely good as we are on schedule with this project,” explained Belinda Trembath, General Manager of Mount Hotham Skiing Company. “We are looking forward to showing resort guests our new snowmaking capacities.”

The ski season officially opens on June 7, just 39 days away.

Source:
www.boardtheworld.com

 

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PORTLAND, OR - With Mt. Hood still buried under more than 16 feet of snow, one local non-profit organization is already gearing up for an even bigger season next year. For the past eight years, SOS Outreach, an organization that builds character and self-esteem in at-risk and underprivileged youth through snowsports, has been quietly establishing itself in Oregon. This winter, nearly 100 young Oregonians participated in SOS snowboarding programs on Mt. Hood and in Central Or ... Read Full Story egon. SOS aims to double that number in the coming years through organic growth and an ever-increasing number of strategic partnerships.

The organization’s core offering is a five-day ‘Learn to Ride’ program, which provides professional ski or snowboard instruction, lift tickets, and all necessary clothing and gear. ‘Learn to Ride’ students also complete a curriculum that focuses on five core values of courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom, and compassion. The combined experience is designed to promote self-esteem, strengthen social competencies, and instill solid personal values - both on the hill and in everyday life. Successful ‘Learn to Ride’ graduates have the opportunity to continue with SOS Outreach for an additional four years through a ‘University’ program, which features a continuing curriculum and incorporates community service, mentoring, and life skills workshops.

The SOS mission is made possible through strategic partnerships with local mountain resorts and youth agencies. This season, Mt. Hood Skibowl joined Mt. Hood Meadows and Timberline as the third resort on Mt. Hood to donate lift tickets, equipment rentals, and snowboard instruction to SOS students from the Portland area. Students and counselors from Portland YouthBuilders, Mt. Scott Learning Centers, Reynolds Learning Academy, and Janus Youth Programs, all metro-area alternative schools and youth agencies, participated in SOS programs this year. For many of these students, this is the first time they have had the opportunity to visit Mt. Hood and try a snowsport, and the experience can be truly life-changing.

Megan Barrett, a teacher at Mt. Scott Learning Centers, speaks to the positive impact she has observed during the school’s three-year partnership with SOS Outreach. “SOS encourages my students to support one another, and also teaches them self-reliance and discipline. It's incredible to watch students go from worry and doubt to happiness and pride when they make it down the hill for the first time without falling. At the end of five days, there is a bond between the kids and their teachers that lasts far beyond the mountain. Through SOS, for the first time in their lives, many of these kids are experiencing the pride and confidence that comes from personal success. Through SOS, these kids learn that they are the type of people who are capable of anything.”

As a seven-year veteran with SOS in Oregon, National Program Coordinator Malee Lucas has seen firsthand the power of the program. “The mountains are place of sanctuary from the challenges of daily life, and SOS offers a safe and supportive environment that makes a powerful difference in the lives of at-risk youth - one day of snowboarding at a time,” Lucas says.

As Lucas and a small team of dedicated volunteers and ‘Learn to Ride’ graduates look forward to next season, they list several priorities that will help fuel the program’s growth in Oregon, including:

• giving back to the community through SOS-sponsored service project on Mt. Hood this summer;
• increasing community outreach to build awareness and expand the local volunteer base;
• fostering additional in-kind and financial support by pursuing new strategic partnerships;
• increasing enrollment in the SOS ‘University’ program;
• expanding the ‘Learn to Ride’ program to additional Oregon resorts; and
• maintaining positive, ongoing relationships with local resorts and youth agencies.

About SOS Outreach
SOS Outreach is a non-profit organization that builds character and self-esteem in at-risk and underprivileged youth through snowsports. Headquartered in Colorado’s Vail Valley, SOS Outreach offers multi-day snowboarding and skiing programs at 30 resorts in eight states. More than 2,500 kids participated in SOS programs during winter 2007-2008 - the organization’s 14th year.

The 2007-2008 ski season marked the organization’s eighth year in Oregon. This winter, nearly 100 young Oregonians participated in SOS Outreach ‘Learn To Ride’ and ‘University’ snowboarding programs on Mt. Hood - at Mt. Hood Meadows, Mt. Hood Skibowl, and Timberline resorts - and in Central Oregon - at Hoodoo Mountain Resort and Willamette Pass.

For more information about SOS Outreach and its range of programs, visit www.sosoutreach.org.

 

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Sorry guys, Celia Miller is officially off the outerwear market, BETTY rides has signed her to contract! We are so excited to make this announcement as Celia is not only one of the nicest and cutest girls in snowboarding; she is also coming off a season of slaying it! I mean seriously slaying IT!

Most recently, Celia was one of six pro riders invited to Whistler Blackcomb’s “If Ullr Was a Girl” competition. Earlier this month, she was at June Mountain for Ms. S ... Read Full Story uperpark, where her hand-plant shot not only makes the impossible look easier than slicing bread, but also got props from the hard to please, expert eyes, of Pat Bridges.

This season has also seen Celia throughout Colorado, Whistler, Vegas, and Mammoth. When we caught up with her, she was on her way down to Denver to skate the city park, and will be out to Mt. Hood this summer to coach the campers at Windell’s.

Her advice to other girls trying this whole pro snowboarder thing? “Don’t give up and take it one step at a time…start with the 180.”

Celia also rides for Never Summer boards, Pow Gloves, Smith Optics, and Broadcast Snowboard Shop. This girl has some big things poppin’ fo’ sho’.

We welcome Celia to the team with all our support and warn you to watch out for her. She is a slayer!

Visit www.bettyrides.com for more details.

Source:
www.futuresnowboarding.com

 

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Cooper Mountain, CO - Brandan Conroy, America's second ranked 13-year old snowboarder, took silver in the Combined Overall Snowboarding Competition for his age group at the United States of America Snowboard Association 2008 National Championships, held at Cooper Mountain, Colorado.

The 13-year old Long Island, New York eighth-grader finished second in the highly competitive "Breaker Boys" Division at the USASA Nationals, based on his top scores in Overall Alpin ... Read Full Story e, Slalom, Giant Slalom, Bordercross, Half Pipe and Slope Style events.

"It was so much fun and I'll try to add a few more tricks next year," said snowboarding's rising star and future Olympic hopeful who won his first USASA National Championship at age 11.

An East Coast snowboarder who practices on weekends five months a year, Brandan competes with kids across the nation, many of whom live in Rocky Mountain states and areas that provide longer snowboarding seasons.

Raised in flat Long Island, Brandan Conroy has become a natural wonder competing on slopes from Vermont to California as the athletic snowboarder gracefully airs through routines with moves called 360s, 540s, and Alley-oops. "I did my first 10 this year at Nationals," said Brendan with a big smile on his face.

Snowboarding is America's fastest growing winter sport and members of the USASA snowboard organization compete in more than 500 events in 36 regional series nationwide. The 2008 National Championships marked the 19th Annual USASA Nationals.

Brandan said, "Competing at the Olympics is a dream of many snowboarders and I'll try my best to make the team one day. When that day comes, I will not forget that my main focus is to have fun."

Brandan's father, Anthony Conroy, said, "All the buzz about winning and ranking is fun for the kids, but bottom line, competing in the USASA system helps kids learn to compete in a supportive environment that helps bring out the best in America's young people."

For information about the USASA, visit www.usasa.org. (PRWEB)

 

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