‘I looked just like Shrek’ – how snowboarder Mike’s heart almost gave out in the Alps

The active dad was on the piste at an altitude of 2,500m when the heart failure he had unknowingly suffered for 18 months took hold.

Michael, 35, said: “For every three runs everyone else was doing, I could barely manage one on my snowboard, I couldn’t even make it up the lift most of the time.

“At this point I looked like Shrek, I was huge, but my stomach was solid with fluid, all the pains I was getting were my internal organs sending out signals because they were being squeezed.

“I had gone from being able to swim 60 to 80 lengths of a swimming pool in an hour, to nothing.” Read More

Local snowboarder resists off-season

What if a skateboard could ride like a snowboard with edging and carving sensations, and even the ability to flat-spin?

One local rider says he's been doing it all summer. And with steep hills and a strong snowboard culture, Summit County is a great candidate to have people riding Freebords, said Dallas Phillips, local representative for the manufacturer.

The technology is not new, about 11 years old, but the trend is starting to take hold, in California especially, for people who don't want to give up snowboarding in the summertime.

“All summer you have that itch to be snowboarding. You can longboard; you can skateboard, and it will kind of cure it,” Phillips said. “But, this is the real thing. You're snowboarding on the street. It cures that itch until you can get riding again.” Read More

Gnu introduces the special “Ladies Choice.”

Gnu introduces the special, early release of “Ladies Choice” a snowboard designed for and with full input from Jamie Anderson, the world’s most progressive female freestyle rider. Starting this fall in a limited edition run, Gnu shares the snowboard that helped Jamie to win virtually every major slopestyle competition last season. The Ladies Choice blends Jamie’s favorite shapes, flexes and geometries with many of Gnu’s award winning technologies including Magne-Traction, Pickle Tech and C2 Power Banana contours for a proven winning combination.

“It’s amazing! This board is designed for my riding style and everything I like to do,” Jamie says of the Gnu Ladies Choice. “It’s the best board I’ve ever ridden. I couldn’t be happier!” 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