Straight out of Marquette, MI you may have already seen this on Yobeat or something that’s what I get for waiting until Friday to post links to stupid skiers but if you haven’t enjoy this guy doing his best impersonation of clothes in your closet.

No, we aren’t hating on Shaun White who, among pipe jocks is definitely one of the best, we’re just asking whether the “100″ was really deserved or whether it’s more of a marketing ploy.

Here’s the perfect run, in case you missed it:

Leo: X-Games judges seem to favor amplitude and quietness in the air and Shaun White is obviously superior in both of these departments.Technically speaking, no one can be perfect but in a competitive arena, you can reach “perfection” as long as no one else comes close to the criteria being judged.  

About the hand drag… Really?  It was minor and you know it.  I don’t think he did a 100 run, but the hand drag isn’t the reason why.  He did the same run for the last X-Games and Olympics minus an extra spin on the last hit and a slop double McTwist on his victory run for Olympics.

David: Shaun White actually won with a 94.00 score. Not a 100. The judges handed him a 100 on his victory lap, in the same way that Brett Favre gave Michael Strahan the sack record. It was a token score, not a real score. His  real score of 94 was nearly matched by I-Pod’s third run (93.00).  Watch I-Pod’s run again and tell me that Shaun White’s victory lap was really 7 points better.

In theory I guess there’s an objectively ”perfect” way to execute any trick or combo, but because the judges are not perfect and because of our own biases there’s no way for any of us to reliably identify perfection.

Not to be one-upped by Contour’s signing of Travis Rice which was announced earlier this week, the makers of the more ppopular GoPro® HD Helmet HERO™ Camera and its successor the Hero 2, have announced that Shaun White will be joining their team.

Frankly the Travis’ move to Contour came as a bit of a surprise to me. He’s been using GoPro (not sure if he was actually riding for them) for a while now and in my opinion GoPro makes a superior product. About the only thing that really surprises me about the Shaun White deal is that he wasn’t riding with one of these companies already.

January 27, 2012 - Shaun White signs with GoPro

Also, am I the only one who thinks he looks like the offspring of Destro and Cobra Commander?

Never Summer has been in the game for a long time, with a reputation for making bombproof snowboards that withstand anything you throw at them year after year. The Evo (or the Revolver for big-footed guys) is their answer to the “Do you guys make a freestyle board?” question.

I’ve been riding the Never Summer Evo since late last season and it has been my main board this season.  I loved it then and love it more each time I ride it.  But it was time for Dave to hop on this and he finally did so here’s our take:

2012 Never Summer Evo

First Impressions:

Leo: When I first laid eyes on this board, the awesome zombie graphics stood out.  I mean, who doesn’t like zombies?  The Evo felt light and the rocker camber profile was noticeable.

Dave: I own an old NS Legacy from like 2005 and it was indestructible. I also enjoyed riding the Proto CT last spring and this is supposed to be a little more playful than that, so I’ve got high hopes to see what this deck will do.

Conditions: everything but the pow.

Size: 157
Shape: Never Summer’s patented Rocker+Camber hybrid, so, camber starts just outside the inserts rocker in the middle and tips.
Bindings: Dave rode Ride Deltas and Leo rode with Rome 390 Boss
Dave’s stats: 6′, 210 lbs 25″ stance at 15/-15
Leo’s stats: 5’9″, 180 lbs, 23.5″ stance at 18/-12

Flex

Leo: The Evo is Never Summer’s freestyle focused snowboard.  Originally, I gave it a 4.5/10 flex rating.  The board has since broken in nicely and sits at around a 4.  Torsionally flexy and stiffer in the tips.

Dave: Felt fairly soft by NS standards but this board definitely isn’t a noodle. Good amount of mid flex with slightly stiffer tips to plow the chunder as needed. Torsionally soft enough to get pretty much whatever you want out of the board. Overall definitely agree with Leo it’s a 4 out of 10.

Ollie/Pop

Leo:  Carbon stringers in the tips… what do you think?  Nice and satisfying pop on the Evo.  Ollie or nollie, choose your weapon.

Dave: Pretty damn snappy and never had any trouble with ollies or boosting over hay bales or whatever random obstacles were around.

Jibs/Playfulness

Leo: The Evo shines in this department.  It feels lively underfoot which was great on log and box jibs as you feel everything that’s going on underfoot.  The soft flex makes for easy presses and butterability.

Dave: For what it’s worth I tried to bust it up on some tree bonks but the sidewalls came away unscathed. Only had a few jibs set up when I rode this board and one was really grabby that day so didn’t have the best experience in this department but I blame it on the features not the board. The Evo was good for general jibalicious buttering, stalls, stump bonks and that sort of thing hopefully I can update this if I can ride it for some park laps.

Handling

Leo: Last season, I did a lot of tree runs with the Evo.  Loved it as the soft torsional flex lent to effortless edge to edge.  I was able to turn on a dime.  This season, I’ve taken it through some steeper terrain and was actually pleasantly surprised.  Although not damp by any means, it handled well.  Just don’t lay on an edge too long as it the Evo does experience chatter if you do this on steeper runs.  Even on a 157, the Evo’s swing weight is a non-issue.  Thank the blunted tips for that.  Never Summer’s RC profile feels like a rocker until you engage an edge then the camber section takes over.

Dave: alt-camber R+C tech does a good job holding an edge even on the icy banks of the trick tube the Evo handled pretty well but it meets its match on the blue/bulletproof ice common in the midwest and northeast. As a softer board it’s not super damp, there is a lively ride to the Evo and it doesn’t favor those longer drawn-out carves and not superb at higher speeds, but no problem with quick short radius turns. Twin shape & flex so it’s your fault if you can’t ride it switch.

Pricing: $499.99 is not a shocking price in terms of Never Summer snowboards.  They are American made and have a 3 year warranty which is one of the best in the industry.  If you have the dough, I say it’s worth it.

Summing it up

Leo: I love the Evo for my freestyle/tree shenanigans.  It’s a nice flexy, playful board that handles decently outside the realm of freestyle.  But that’s not what you’re really looking for is it?  You want a badass freestyle stick and the Evo is just that.  I’m going to say that beginners should look away.  Normally, a park board doubles as a great beginner setup.  However, I can see the NS RC being a little tricky for noobs.  Intermediate and above freestyle riders shred it!  Works for all-mountain freestyle too with more focus on the freestyle side of the spectrum.

Dave: Despite all the hype over the Proto CT I actually preferred the Evo, something about the more traditional flex was more comfortable for me. The Evo is squarely a freestyle oriented board and although it doesn’t have to be simply a jib stick. Backed by NS’s bombproof construction it’s a serviceable all-mountain freestyle deck, too, as long as you don’t ask too much out of it. I’d also say not really for the beginners but for the intermediate+ riders who will spend a lot of time in the park but still bounces around all over the mountain.

In the midwest, we don’t so much chase the pow as we do hunt for strange, and with nearly 40 ski areas in the state of Michigan alone, it’s not difficult to find a place you’ve never ridden, it’s just a matter of getting there.

Under new management since mid-2010, Cannonsburg Ski Area has been making news in the local scene lately with a number of events and promotions like a 70-foot booter last spring, and most recently their ambitious park plans for this season. Located 2.5hrs  west of Detroit, I had never been there before so when they invited me to come check the place out I wrangled up a few friends, put the roof rack on the Jeep, woke up earlier than I do on a work day, and took a day trip (1/22/2012) to the west side.

Lift tickets: Standard fare lift tickets are about average for the area but they have a promotion good all day every day for 2-for-1 tix as long as you get a voucher from a participating Shell gas station (10 gal minimum fill-up required).  This brings the per-person price down to about $18 for a weekend day which is on the ridonculous side of ridiculously affordable.

Conditions: Unfortunately, not all of the trails were open for skiing/riding yet, but what was open was in very good shape. Mostly hardpack and groomed runs with the occasional sidepow on the steeper, less-traveled trails.  Buffered by a recent snowfall of 8″+, the conditions were as good as could be expected given this winter’s roller-coaster ride of freeze, snow, thaw, rain, repeat.

Amenities: Although it is not a full-service overnight “resort”, Cannonsburg does a great job with a resort-like vibe. The bar is nice, clean, and up-to-date and the service was quick & friendly. They have a condensed menu serving staples like appetizers, chili, sandwiches and wraps. Prices are exceedingly fair (a 22oz. draft and a club sandwich set me back $12 and some change). There is also a cafeteria-style dining option on the main floor of the lodge. Both dining facilities offer panoramic views of the mountain.

Solid looking pro shop with a nice selection of hard and soft goods, it didn’t have that “We just added a pro shop to sell you crap” feel to it that you get some places, it was all legit stuff and laid out like a real shop.

Everyone we met from the front desk to the ticket counter to the lifties, shop kids and bar staff was friendly and accommodating.

Terrain Parks: This is what you’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately only a fraction of the features/park was set up yet, due to lack of cooperation from mother nature. Fortunately, what was set up was really dialed in. They had a few areas open.

1. Front-and-center, the big park out front had a bike-rack style rail, a 24′ down box, a 22′ street-style rail next to a wall made of snow (saw a kid hit his face on said wall, LOL), and a nasty looking flat box to acid drop that was about a 7′ drop to flat. There was propane tank bonk set up sideways and a big ass Monster can that you could slide, and the Subway bank/wall at the bottom. In between donkey rail and the street rail was a nice lip you could jump, too.
2. From the base, all the way to the left there was a set of rollers that were legit, a nasty cannon that probably could’ve been a bit mellower of an angle (I swear it was about 55 degrees), a wall ride, and some crazy donut type bonk.  All the way to the right there were a few small kickers, next to the progression park, that were pretty tame.
3. Last but not least, the progression park was pretty solid with 9 features, 3 lines of 3 features, all ride-ons. Left: flat box, battleship box (wide), butter box. Middle: flat bar, rainbow bar, something else. Right: flat box, flat-down box, butter box (wide). All of them funneled in to a skate-bowl type hip thingy. The flow in this park was good and you could really dial in new tricks here, since it was serviced by a tow rope you could lap it non-stop.

Park Maintenance: It’s obvious that Cannonsburg emphasizes their terrain parks and focuses on providing a unique experience for skiers and riders. They’re definitely doing it right. Several times throughout the day we saw two employees raking the lips, landings and sides of all the features, keeping them from getting too rutted out.

Summing it up: 

The prices were right for skiers/boarders on any budget, the facilities were nice, the staff was friendly and the park was in tip-top shape all day I’m not sure what more you could ask for (more, please!).  Well it is not the biggest mountain and in most regards it doesn’t compare to a full-service resort,  don’t let that deter you from getting over there and checking them out.  Pretty easy drive from Chicago or Detroit and there are plenty of lodging options in nearby Grand Rapids where you could enjoy the downtown nightlife, dining, etc. I’d feel confident putting their parks up against any in the state or even the midwest and although they have a heavy park focus,  they assure that if nature will cooperate, there will be plenty of terrain for the groomer-cruisers, as well.

Overall Cannonsburg is a winner in my book and I will try to get back there before the lifts stop spinning this spring.

Hailing from Layton, UT, Blank Snowboards makes blank snowboards. We got a 157 reverse to try out so let’s see what they’re all about.

Conditions: 30ish degrees mix manmade & natural snow, corduroy, hardpack, sun-softened snow, fast, bluebird early-season fortunately no ice.

Board shape: 157cm twin, reverse camber

Stance: Dave rides 25″ 15/-15 regs, Leo at 24″ 18/-12.

Stats: Dave 6′ 210 lbs, Leo 5’9″ 180 lbs

First impressions 

Dave: I’ve heard about this company before building boards with no retail markup and no graphics to keep their costs down, it will be interesting to see how it stacks up. By the eyeball test it’s a pretty mellow reverse camber. No nonsense black on black colorway makes it look like you’re in between sponsors but leaves you plenty of creative freedom to sticker it up.

Leo: I knew about blank through SbF from a few years back.  I’ve always been interested in this brand and liked the fact that they came completely, well… blank.  From the limited reviews I’ve read, I was looking forward to a decent ride.  At first glance, the Blank felt light and sturdy with a mellow rocker.

Flex

Dave: The Blank reverse was somewhere around a 7 for me, so a bit stiffer than middle-of-the-road, due to the 4 carbon beams running lengthwise.  Torsionally this board was also on the stiffer side, the sort of feel you expect from an all-mountain deck.

Leo: Above mid flex and slightly below mid-stiff.  As Dave stated, torsionally stiffer, but not Custom X stiffer.

Jibs/Playfulness

Dave: A little stiffer than what I would really consider “playful”, and triax ain’t the best for this application but it’s still a full reverse camber so you butter it around or press this board but it seems better suited for all-mountain riding.

Leo: Not a butter board, that much I’ll say.  The rocker helps, but it wasn’t the best board to press on.  Was alright with the 50/50 on boxes, but not as lively as I would like underfoot for that.

Ollie/Pop

Dave: Reverse camber boards always feel like they’re a little lacking in this department for me but the carbon and triax gave it decent snap for boosting rollers and natural terrain. This board seemed well-suited for jumping, and even though we had only a few small side hits and tranny to play around on (such is the curse of early-season riding…) it felt stable on the landings even if you landed a little tail-heavy.

Leo: Ollies felt decent on this board.  I feel that they can definitely improve in this department.  Unfortunately, no jumps were to be had yet at that point in the season.  Popping off trannies and side hits felt pretty good.  As with most rockers, it allowed for some slop landings in which case, I’ll take all the help I can get.

Handling

Dave: I felt like I got a little more response from the board at medium to high speed, short-radius turns (think glades) especially felt better when I was really pushing it than at lower speeds but for the most part  you could hold longer carves without issue. With its twin shape and flex, this board was as well-suited to riding switch as it was regular.Dampeningwas pretty solid and I felt comfortable even at high speeds without losing stability or getting that squirrely feeling even through rough, choppy snow.

Leo: Handling on this board was good!  I was carving/making turns on the Blank just fine.  Not super quick edge to edge, but not at all sluggish.  As I said earlier, this board isn’t the liveliest which means it was damp.  Didn’t experience a ton of chatter, although the icier spots got a little sketchy.

Pricing

$199 is a tough price to beat without venturing in to some Big Box wasteland and really sacrificing quality.

Where to buy: Blank Snowboards are available direct from BlankSnowboards.com.

Summing it up

Dave: For me the flex pattern on this board seemed to favor all-mountain riding even though its extruded base is not the fastest (they will be adding an optional sintered base in the future). Some may gripe that Blank is not really breaking any ground in terms of innovation or groundbreaking tech and that’s true, but you have to take it for what it is. Seemed like a no nonsense boards at a no nonsense price point. Especially if you’re on a budget and looking for a cruiser or even something that will do a some all-mountain freestyle Blank is an option that can save you some cash without breaking your bank.

Leo: I’d also place this pretty squarely in the realm of all-mountain riding.  You can play on it, but it’s not its strong suit.  What surprised me the most is the performance-to-price ratio.  If this Blank had graphics, I would fully expect to pay around $300 for a board like this.  Although I wouldn’t really place a straight up beginner on this board, it won’t be a bad choice overall.  It’s not stupid fast or stiff and the light-weight lends itself to reduced swing-weight.  I would confidently recommend this to an all-mountain rider on a budget.

Two weeks ago, professional freestyle skier Sarah Burke suffered a head injury while training for a competition on the same halfpipe where olympic snowboarder Kevin Pearce also suffered a traumatic brain injury while training for the 2010 games. Pearce survived. Burke, ultimately succumbed to her injuries; both of these accidents bring to the forefront how dangerous it is every time we step in to our skis or strap on our snowboards — a danger we often ignore.

How big is too big?

Can you imagine a halfpipe with a 28 foot wall? Probably not. But ten years ago if you had mentioned 22′ superpipes people would never have imagined those either. That’s the pace of progress.

As long as we keep building bigger booters and more ridonculously super superpipes, people are going to get broke off with some regularity. Some of them will never ride, or ski again. Some will never walk again. Others will, unfortunately, die.  Sooner or later, someone has to step up and say “No f*cking way that’s just too gnarly”. But he, or she, probably won’t because that’s not how they’re wired; the hubris of a competitive spirit.

What about Progression?

Does anyone really believe that, if we were stuck with 18′ pipe walls, that we’d all think pipe riding/skiing is lame? I doubt it. We just wouldn’t be seeing as many double- or triple-inverts. Will that ruin progression? I don’t think so. There’s a contingent of folks who are not stoked on the spin-to-win mentality that is dominating most competitions these days (what, you mean you don’t have all four doubles on lock?)

So no, I think progression would be just fine, “bigger” does not always mean “better”.

There will always be avenues for the truly daring to express themselves. The backcountry, and to another extent, urban skiing and riding, present limitless opportunites to get rad. It’s possible that the perfectly groomed nature and “controlled” environment of a contest halfpipe or jump set creates a moral hazard, actually making things more dangerous because of a false sense of security.

The Fine Line Between Risk, Reward, and Safety

We all know the sports we participate in are dangerous. Even at an amateur or recreational level many of us routinely put ourselves much closer to death or serious injury than most people probably imagine. We pretend to accept that risk, but really, I think we’re usually pretending it isn’t there.  That’s part of the thrill, right?

There may be relatively safer ways to do things, and some limits truly are “for your own good”.  I’m not in favor of the wussification of sports like, what the NFL is doing to football is tragic and how baseball players cart off the field if they sprain a finger. But snow sports might look to other organizations like NASCAR that throttles engines, and engineers tracks in such a manner to reduce speeds, etc. Perhaps the competitors can learn from tragedies like Sarah’s, or near-tragedies like Kevin’s, and scale things back a bit, or put the brakes on the “build it bigger” mentality.

Final Thoughts

Nah I’m not going Jerry Spring on you. I don’t have all the answers.

It’s unfortunate that it often takes a tragedy like this to make us collectively reconsider just what the f*ck we’re all doing out there, like it stops everyone right where they stand.

For now, our thoughts are with Sarah’s family & friends.

Still not snowing where you’re at? Me neither. But we’ve got a cure for the lack-of-winter blues with a couple of giveaway promotions in the works. This week, we’re giving away a pair of goggles thanks to our sponsor Sunglassesshop.com.

Full details on how to enter can be found at our Facebook page.

What’s up for grabs is winner’s choice between a unisex pair of Oakleys or a women’s specific Roxy goggle.

Oakley Catapult

Roxy Broadway

Who’s eligible?

This promotion is open to anyone with a Facebook account.

To avoid potential conflict of interest, owners/editors of websites linked to on our “Friends” page are not eligible, also, if I’ve ever bought you a beer you’re also not eligible.

Rode day sesh at Alpine Valley on MLK day here’s the scoop on what’s set up and what looks to be coming soon. Sorry no pictures but enjoy the mini park edit from Alpine’s crew.

Conditions: low-30s on arrival warming up to near 40 by mid-afternoon. Partly cloudy sun-softened manmade snow on top of skating rink ice but still pretty ridable on account of the softness. There were a few spots of “ice cubes” that you just had to loosen up and GTFO quick, but otherwise the slopes were in pretty good condition.

Mini-park: The Mini-park was in full effect. Up top they got an 8ft ride-on flat bar and an 8ft barely-ollie-on flat box.  This leads down to a 6″ wide rainbow rail that dumps you right in line for a longer flat box maybe a 16-footer (ride-on) or you can veer right and hit the barrel tap. Alternatively you can hit this from the other side if you traverse from the other trails.

Below these there is one more flat box (ride-on) about a 20-footer which was pretty smooth.

At the very bottom was a small kicker with a relatively icy lip but a surprisingly soft landing.  Snow today was soft and slushy and I saw a lot of knuckling even though this wasn’t a very big jump, it is relatively steep and I think people were just scrubbing too much speed on the approach (happened to me a few times).

The big park: The southernmost side of the ski area where they normally have the “big” park set up looked pretty much primed, like they had done a ton of snowmaking and were prepping everything. It was obvious there was enough snow and they had already been pushing it around to set up the larger features. Word on the street is they start shaping Tuesday, January 17 (weather permitting).

Pray for some snow and some better weather and before long hopefully we’ll be able to ride the big side of the park, and maybe if we’re really lucky they can open the mini pipe.

I’ve given my local ski areas hell for their terrain parks in the past but this season, with our awesome 4″ YTD snowfall I am just happy they are all open, and all are offering something in the way of terrain whether it be a few boxes and ride-on features or something a bit more burly, this year I’ll take whatever I can get.

Anyways I rode some night-time hours at Pine Knob on Friday evening despite the bad weather I think they’re doing better than I’ve seen there in years.

Around closing time at Pine Knob - January 14, 2012

Conditions: Low 20′s and low wind.  Crust to ice to verrrrry sketchy in places. Unfortunately unless they get some real snow, or unless you get there on a day that’s warm without rain/freeze, it’s not likely to be any better any time soon. No fault of the resort (OK some of the postholes could’ve been marked), it’s the damn weather, rain and flash freezes we’ve been having.

Pinery: Generally considered their “progression” or beginner park.  As a result, it’s always crowded as all hell and despite the icy conditions Friday was no exception.  Compared to years past, Pine Knob has added some features so there is the normal hip/tranny with random bumps up top that are sometimes mini jumps, a c-box banked up top of that, a 3ft wide butter box in addition to their normal 20 x 1ft box and the other 8ft box that they normally have set up. My biggest complaint with this park is the grade; on all of these features (in the BEGINNER) it is like a 6ft dropoff from the edge of the feature to the snow which is just super sketchy especially after a full day of kids has cratered out the landings.

Snowbird: As per usual, set up as a triple- or quad-jump line. I honestly don’t recall whether it was 3 or 4 because it was too icy for my old ass to bother with park.  Nobody ever hits the first jump in this line for some reason but it is in good shape if you don’t mind icy park jumps of death at about about a 20-25 step down. There is not very much room between landing and the second hit which is another ~20 footer with a retardedly rutted out lip and equally bombed out landing.  Hopefully they groom this out each night. There was at least one more and possibly two more jumps in the line, smaller about 15s. Sometimes they add some intermediate box/rail features but there were none set up yet.

Timberline: Legit this year they have added new features and a slightly improved layout although there is still too much empty space on rider’s right line. Up top there was a flat-down yellow rail, d-f-d box type thing, that box that kind of looks like a house which I don’t know what it’s called, a cannon made from a telephone pole, a small hip, a smallish 15′ kicker towards the end of the line, and a cable spool for bonks as well as a few other rail/box features that I did not make mental note of. With some more snow I would expect to see a few more small and medium-sized kickers in this park.