Skiing participation up 5.4 percent, snowboarding up10.4 percent last 2 years

Escalating costs and a bad economy don’t seem to be affecting the overall participation in snow sports.

According to SnowSports Industries America (SIA), the organization’s comprehensive 2011 Snow Sports Participation Report detailed that there are more than 31 million Americans participating in snow sports.

The report covers alpine skiers, telemark skiers, park and pipe (freestyle) skiers, snowboarders, cross country skiers and snowshoers. SIA works with its Physical Activity Council partners to survey more than 38,500 American households on their sports and leisure activities.

This year, the participation data collected uncovered a number of burgeoning trends among snow sports’ 21 million active participants, as well as information about the 10.5 million Americans,who consider themselves skiers or riders, but did not participate in the past season and why. Read More

THE SNOWBOARDERS OF SSX DEFY REALITY IN NEW TRAILER

The pure, untouched powder of the globe's most exotic and dangerous locales are the perfect setting for the newest SSX trailer, Defy Reality. The trailer takes the SSX crew to the razor sharp peaks of Patagonia, the tree-lined ridges of the Rockies, the unpredictable terrain and vast crevasses of Antarctica, and back again.

Familiar faces cut their own trails through the vast mountainsides, quick to pull reality-defying tricks, as an exclusive electronic beat from The Qemists pulses in the background. Leaping out of helicopters, pulling off boards for mid-air acrobatics, soaring over sheer-drops and deploying wing suits with no hesitation: you'll see it all and more inthe brand-new video. Read More

Burton Welcomes John Jackson To The Team

As the grand finale to Burton’s annual fall meeting today, the company announced that pro snowboarder John Jackson will now ride for Burton, representing both hardgoods and softgoods. Burton employees, team riders and industry guests were the first to hear the news, breaking out in cheers and applause all around as John joined his fellow Burton pro riders on stage.

John is widely recognized as one of the most dynamic riders in the world and makes it look easy to dominate backcountry terrain. At this year’s TransWorld Riders’ Poll Awards, John became the first snowboarder in history to win ‘Video Part of the Year’ twice. And he didn’t stop there. John also took home his second consecutive ‘Rider of the Year’ award. This year, John continues to blow minds with his part in the highly acclaimed movie, Art of Flight. Read More

Innovations on snow

Every year at this time, ski and snowboard shops around the country start bustling with anticipation for the upcoming winter. The shelves are stocked high with new gloves and Skittle-colored goggles and the walls are lined with shiny hard goods. But how do you make sense of all the new stuff? And what do you actually need? Don't worry. We're here to help sift out the overly hyped gadgets from the truly useful innovations. Here is a cross-section of the upcoming season's products and trends worth paying attention to.

100 percent recycled outerwear: Many companies are stepping into the eco-friendly outerwear game, but Lib Tech is leading the way with its line of outerwear made completely (down to the zippers) from recycled bottles ($175-280). Why bottles? "Hemp technology isn't quite there yet to make it as waterproof as we need it to be," says Lib Tech's Trevor Phillips. "Bamboo is a good renewable resource, but it takes a lot of chemicals to break down. We found that recycled bottles worked best." Why doesn't everybody jump on the bandwagon, then? "Cost," says Phillips. "It just costs more." Read More

Freeze Festival champion Billy Morgan teaches Asylum how to snowboard

Some of Britain's top young snowboarders and skiiers had gathered at SNO!ZONE in Milton Keynes to show off some of their skills ahead of the Freeze Festival at London's Battersea Power Station next month.Find out if Oli tamed the slopes after the break.

Yesterday, when I woke to hear Jim Naughtie casually crashing the monotone parps of the Radio 4 pips, I was not a snowboarder, and nor did I want to be. But today when I woke, okay... I still wasn't a snowboarder, but I really wanted to be one.

Being Asylum's features chap comes with its fair share of perks: I've learned how to lasso cattle and throw knives, I've driven a six tonne armoured Jackal assault vehicle, and I've even been to Spy School -- where a man with scary eyes made me shoot an actual gun. So when an email dropped into my inbox offering to teach me how to snowboard, you'll have to forgive me for being a bit "meh" about the whole thing. Read More

Snowboard Cores and Benefits

Making perfect snowboards is all about getting the right balance of weight, flexibility and strength. You need to make sure that no matter how the board is configured, the experience of snowboarding will be of a very high quality. Something that plays an important part in this is the core of the snowboard.

Generally, snowboards are formed of a core, normally made out of some sort of wood, around which is fashioned fibreglass to give the board its shape. Some boarders have a preference over the wood that is used in the core of their board as it can often have an impact on the snowboarding experience.

For instance, if you are looking for a board that will be really quick, you might want to go for something light. This means you might want to consider a core made out of softwood, such as aspen, spruce or poplar. Softwoods are easy to mould, which makes them very useful in making snowboard cores. Read More

Ski, snowboard expo will be Nov 4-6

ALBANY -- The 50th annual Ski & Snowboard Expo will be held Nov. 4 through 6 at Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. The show, presented by Alpin Haus and sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts, will feature equipment and apparel exhibitors, and representatives of ski resorts from the Northeast, the western United States and Canada.

Auctions, sales of used equipment, workshops and seminars also are planned.

Tickets are $8 at the door and $7 in advance, with children 9 and under admitted free when accompanied by an adult. The show will run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. Advance tickets and other information are available at its website. Read More