Mammoth Mountain receives more than a foot of snow

It's a bit early to get excited about skiing and snowboarding in California, but with a major dumping underway in the Lake Tahoe area and at Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra, the excitement is understandable.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, about six inches of snow had fallen on Donner Summit in the Tahoe region. Mammoth, which has pegged Nov. 10 as opening day, received lots more and snow was still falling in both regions.

More than a foot had fallen at Mammoth's main lodge, and perhaps double that amount blanketed the upper slopes. Five inches had fallen down below, in the town of Mammoth Lakes.

Tweeted pro snowboarder Greg Bretz, who lives in Mammoth: "I get to set up some rails and snowboard today." Read More

Travis Rice gathers snowboarders of different stripes

Travis Riceglances at the cover of the magazine across the table and sighs.

"That's obnoxious," he says, reading the Snowboarder Magazine cover titled "Will There Ever Be Another Travis Rice?"

On snow since he was 2, the son of a Jackson, Wyo., ski patroller climbed up the ranks of freestyle competition for several years as a teenager and then brought that spinning, airborne prowess to the backcountry and big mountains. Today, Rice is at the top of his game. The best in the world.

And on the heels of a two-year movie project, Rice is scheming to keep his throne. Three years ago he dreamed up a one-of-a-kind competition called "Natural Selection."

The weeklong competition merged snowboarding's best athletes from its two distinct camps: the park riders and the backcountry, big-mountain riders. Of the 17 invited riders competing at Jackson Hole ski area for $75,000 in a variety of big mountain slopestyle and freestyle events, Rice was tapped the winner. Read More

Analog’s Design Unlikely Features

Analog’s Design Unlikely Features Contest invites creative minds to imagine a unique, custom-built snowboard feature. Whether it’s a completely new idea, or build upon something that already exists, submissions can consist of hand drawn, computer generated, napkin sketched or popsicle stick built models… whatever medium works!

Entries will be judged based on creativity, ride-ability, and build-ability. Twice a month, the top five entries will be posted on www.analogclothing.com to be judged by the public. Semi-finalists will receive a swag package just for being a top entry. Read More

Quiver of One - K2 Turbo Dream

Finding one board to conquer it all is tough. Sure it would be nice if we could just have a quiver of boards, but lets be honest, that's not going to happen. So what do you do? Is it possible to find a board that's good in pow, decent on hard pack, fun in the park and somewhat affordable?

It sure is. The 'Quiver of One' series is dedicated to boards that shred the entire mountain. No need to sacrifice performance in the park or in pow, these boards perform in all conditions.

K2 Turbo Dream

K2 Snowboards introduced the Turbo Dream a couple of seasons ago and ever since then it's been one of our favorite boards here at GearGenius.com. We love that it's a go to board no matter the condition. It's the perfect board to throw in the car when you have no idea what the conditions are or will be. Read More

Night vision locates missing snowboarder

A missing snowboarder was located using night vision goggles and a lighter.

The man had been snowboarding with two other friends at Turoa skifield but did not arrive back in the carpark at the end of the day as planned.

Emergency services were called at about 9.30pm on Friday night.

Police headed up the mountain and were able to communicate with the man by cellphone but his batteries were running low.

The snowboarder also could not tell them his location.

Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter pilot Fergus MacLachlan advised police to suggest to the man use matches and a lighter to act as a beacon for rescuers. Read More

Olympians Take on the Amazing Race

PARK CITY, UT - U.S. Snowboarding alumni Tommy Czeschin and Andy Finch are racing around the world together this fall. The Olympians are competing in the 19th season of the hit CBS reality show, The Amazing Race.

The show follows teams of two, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, as they race around the world in competition with other teams. Contestants strive to arrive first at "pit stops" located in obscure locations around the globe. Teams vie for prizes and to avoid coming in last - which carries the possibility of elimination or a significant disadvantage in the following leg. Contestants travel to and within multiple countries in a variety of transportation modes, including planes, hot air balloons, helicopters, taxis, bikes and by foot. Teams are progressively eliminated until three are left to fight for the win at the final leg. Read More

Icelandic snowboarding star wins in Switzerland

An up-and-coming snowboarding star from Iceland won The Freestyle.ch competition in Zurich, Switzerland last weekend.

In the Freestyle.ch competition, snowboarders jump from a giant ramp and perform mid-air stunts. Professional snowboarder, Halldor Helgason, from Akureyri in northern Iceland, was one of many famous snowboarders who took part in the event and ended the weekend victorious. A statement from Freestyle.ch stated:

Blue skies prevailed this weekend as over 32,000 freestyle.ch visitors soaked up freestyle sports at its finest. Making its debut on European soil, the impressive mini-MegaRamp stole the show. Snowboarder Halldor Helgason (ISL), freeskier Elias Ambuehl (SUI), FMXer Dany Torres (ESP) and skateboarder Pierre-Luc Gagnon (CAN) all came out big winners during a blockbuster weekend of action in Zurich. Read More