FIRSTS WITH MARK SOLLORS

Everyone remembers their first day on a snowboard, their first snowboard movie and their first turns. So we decided to grab possibly the nicest man in snowboarding, Mark Sollors and take him for a stroll down memory lane. We picked his brain and found out who and what first inspired the big man to become a pro snowboarder.

When did you first strap-in to your shred stick? My first time boarding was when I was 8 years old. My brothers pushed me into it, literally. It wasn't until the following year that I got my first board and really got into it. Read More

USASA Nationals 2011: Recap

USASA Nationals concluded just under one week ago, and there is word that some competitors are still resisting to take off their medals. Here at USASA, we view that as a pretty big sign of success! Objectively, however, we had ski and snowboard athletes come from 49 of 50 the United States from their respective series, as well as a small number of international competitors. This culminated in a total 1,641 competitors, and over 2,500 single event entries in slopestyle, slalom, halfpipe, giant slalom, and boardercross/skiercross. Read More

Gear: Chewgash powder board

While most young snowboarders dream of a perfectly-groomed park, or landing their first double or triple cork, many *cough* older snowboarders have this other, reoccurring dream of 40- 50-degree pitches of never ending powder fields lined with wind lips and rollers. Luckily the mad scientists at Lib Tech apparently share that passion. For die-hard powder seekers the Chewgash is love at first sight.

WHAT IT IS:

It's a snowboard.

A better description is what it isn't: It wasn't made for buttering, jibbing, snapping off the lip, or carving groomers. It was built for over-30, slightly-overweight guys who dream about soul arching and laying huge pow roosts -- people who rejoice at the thought of never having to ride hardpack again. Read More

Skiers and snowboarders launch into air bag technology at Canada Olympic Park

CALGARY - Big air, soft landing.

Freestyle skiers and snowboarders rocketing off a jump into an enormous air bag Monday at Canada Olympic Park compared it to jumping into a giant marshmallow.

The new inflatable landing pad billows like a waterbed when an athlete lands on its surface and slithers off the side.

"It's a good tool to learn new tricks," freestyle skier Luke Heck said Monday.

The behemoth landing cushion — 17 metres long and 11 metres wide — is the first one in Alberta and one of the few air bags in Canada.

The head of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association believes, however, the use of air bags is going to take off in popularity. The International Olympic Committee recently added freestyle and snowboard slopestyle, as well as women's ski halfipe to its Winter Games menu. Read More

Snowboarders lower curtain on Winter Games

Some of the world's best half pipe snowboarders thrilled crowds at Cardrona, wrapping the New Zealand Winter Games up in spectacular fashion.

The finals of the LG FIS Snowboard Half Pipe World Cup, the Games' marquee event, were fiercely competitive yesterday, with top ten ranked riders riders filling the run sheets of both the men's and women's finals.

Flying Finn Janne Korpi claimed the mens' crown. His first run looked like it would be the one to beat as soon as he landed an incredible backside rodeo to backside nine on his first jump.

World number four Yiwei Zhang (correct) of China took out second, while Dutch rider Dimi De Jong (correct) scooped third with a strong second run.

Korpi, a two-time Winter Olympian, said his day went completely according to plan, landing the tricks he wanted to land.

"When I got my first run I was pretty happy," the 25-year-old said. "I did what I planned to do today, landed all my tricks." Read More

(One of) the world’s largest indoor slopes for Thailand?

Work has begun on a new super resort in Thailand which eventually hopes to be home to one of the world’s largest indoor snow centres – although there are no details behind that part of the plan as yet.

The $400m(US) Club Koh Samui Resort (http://clubkohsamui.com) aims to be, “...a comprehensive, world-class Stadium and Sports Academy including football and tennis academies.” with its own high-speed gondola that rises from Chaweng Noi to the CKS Project and continues to the summit of Samui’s second highest mountain.

Other facilities will include a theme park, water park and man-made lake as well as a luxury marina and 18-hole championship golf course. Accommodation will be provided in a four star hotel and five star suites complex.

“Ski Samui will be one of the largest indoor ski slopes in the world.” Read More

SIGN UP FOR THE EVEREST CHALLENGE

Snow-Camp, one of Britain's most innovative youth charities, will be holding its third annual charity ski-a-thon in the French Alps on January 26th to 29th 2012

The Snow-Camp Everest Challenge gives snowsports enthusiasts the opportunity to fundraise for charity by doing something they love to do: skiing or snowboarding, but like they have never done before! Held in Morzine this time, the challenge is designed for skiers and boarders of all levels who will seek to ride over 150km of terrain in 48 hours, including 2 night stages and of course a huge party to finish! All funds raised will go toward Snow-Camp’s work supporting inner-city young people through skiing, snowboarding and life-skills development. Read More

No surprises in LG Snowboard FIS Halfpipe World Cup qualifier

Japan's Ryo Aono had the run of the day in the qualifiers of the LG Snowboard FIS Halfpipe World Cup at the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games scoring a total of 92 points. In the women's field it was Xuetong Cai from China in the top spot with an overall score of 87 points.

Two heats of 21 men each, representing 19 nations, competed today with the top three from each heat going straight through to finals and the next six in each heat going to a 12 man semi-final. The top six men in the semi-finals will then progress to the final. Read More

Swedish Sven Thorgren wins 2011 Mall Sport South America Rookie Fest

Riders from Chile, Argentina, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden and Austria competed at the second edition of the Mall Sport South America Rookie Fest 2011 this past weekend, hosted in Valle Nevado, Chile. The event was dominated once again from Sven Thorgren, the big time Swedish talent who won it for the second time. Thorgren conquered a free invitation to the Protest World Rookie Finals 2012, to be held in Ischgl, Austria, in April 2012. The Tour will move to Australia this upcoming weekend for the last stop of the Southern Hemisphere session.

NEW ZEALAND: Top snowboarders to fight it out

The Winter Games NZ will finish in style tomorrow with one of the signature events attracting the strongest snowboarding halfpipe field seen in this country.

The Snowboard FIS World Cup Halfpipe reads like a who's who of snowboarding as the world's top riders vie for FIS points as well as the prestige of gaining a podium finish at the first FIS World Cup event of the 2011-12 season.

Terry Kidwell: father of freestyle

Terry Kidwell wrote snowboarding's style bible. His tricks on the rudimentary Tahoe "vert" of the early 80s and airs on natural terrain (Wine Rock!) made him peerless for more than half the decade. Even when other riders "caught up" to his skatey handplants, McTwists, and confident tweaks, nobody rode with Kidwell's style. Nobody. "I couldn't have asked for a better subject to let me practice the technique of photography while truly being the essence of the art that I was trying to capture," says photo pioneer Bud Fawcett.

Some Winterstorm is cooking up

"Welcome to winter"