LGBTQS: Set your closeted skier free!

Chas Smith

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Stop hiding from your true self!

Did you start snowboarding because that is what the young and cool people were doing? Because the fashion was banging? Because you were handed down boots and a Gnu from your older brother? Because it was just expected?

But did you never really feel it? Like, on the hill would you gaze longingly at the skiers schussing or bumping the mogs and know, deep in your heart, that you were one of them?

But did you think, “I could never come out and ski. I’ve got snowboard boots.”

Well, my closeted friend, we live in a brave new future where gender is no longer binary and where the stiffness of your boots doesn’t define what you slide!

A husband and wife team are kickstarting a brand new technology named MadJacks. Let’s read about them!

Today, MadJacks, the simple snowboard boot adaption system designed to make skiing more comfortable, is officially announcing its arrival to the public. This patent pending system, launched last week on Kickstarter with a goal of raising $85,000, is a revolutionary system looking to bring the ease and comfort of snowboard boots to skiers across the globe.

Developed by husband and wife team Kristin and Eric Mehiel over the course of the last three years, MadJacks was born out of their desire to make it easier for their entire family to ski more comfortably.

“We spend so many of our weekends with our kids on the slopes, and were constantly complaining about the discomfort we felt in our ski boots,” said Eric. “Since I’m an engineer and Kristin is an entrepreneur and sales veteran, we came up with the MadJacks concept to give skiers the comfort they want without losing any agility while on skis.”

Oh what a wonderful world we live in where anything is possible! Absolutely anything!

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A little Hawaiian dust…  | Photo: kilaueaecoguides.com

Just in: Hawaii Gets Three-Feet of Fresh!

Derek Rielly

By

Shelve the trunks and strap in!

You like novelty? How about sinking into three-feet of tropical ice? Hawaii’s biggest mountain, the dormant volcano Mauna Kea (14,000 feet above sea-level), sank under two feet of fresh on Friday and today y’going to get knee-deep white.

How do you get a taste? According to the The Hawaii Ski Club “there are no lifts, no grooming, no resort, but a road goes to the summit to serve the dozen or so world-class observatories located at the summit. You must have a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get to the summit, which serves as your ‘lift.'”

You know the game. Take turns driving. Pick up pals from the bottom, drive up, repeat.

Apart from the pretty tired novelty of surfing in the morning, riding after lunch (think Israel, France, NZ) Mauna Kea ain’t a bad place to stretch your intellect. It’s one of the finest places on earth to observe the universe, thirteen telescopes from all over the world, and if indigenous culture thrills, the joint is a sacred site too.

Take this aerial tour. Click! 

This vid from a few years back is pretty low-fi, but you get the idea of what it’s like to ride Mauna Kea.

Contagious: Bad Santa got skate fever!

Chas Smith

By

Got backside tail bro?

Skate fever is an affliction hotter than a pepper sprout. No snow? Skate! No surf? Skate! Kinda shitty snow? Skate! Little wind blown surf? Skate!

Skate! Skate! Skate! Skate!

It is, by far, the most utilitarian of our boardsports because it the pavements don’t much change.

Also, skate is cool right now thanks to Thrasher etc.

And look here at Burton’s Greg Dacyshyn aka Bad Santa burning up the sidewalk! He says, on the accompanying Instagram caption “Backside tail… easy style.”

But style ain’t easy! Also skating ain’t easy! I remember when I was a younger boy that I would pose on curbs, at the edge of ramps, etc. pretending like I was doing some sick move.

I wasn’t.

I kicked mongo until yesterday but now I know what I’m going to ask Bad Santa for come Christmastime!

Skate skillz!

Witness: A Snow Beach Spectacular!

Chas Smith

By

The greatest era in snowboarding's history!

Which era in history has been the best? Like, if you could hop into a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 with a Flux Capacitor etc. etc. and punch in a date what date would that be? The 1960s? The 1890s? 1944?

For me there is only one answer. Twenty-five years ago directly to 1991!

Oh how the grungy music pulsed and the day-glo popped. Oh how the rules stacked up just begging to be broken. Oh how snowboarding in its tweenhood was the most banging thing ever. The personalities crackled. The best of times were genuinely the best of times.

But guess what? You can do the next best thing to time travel right now courtesy of the fabulous new book Snow Beach! Shall we read its description?

Snow Beach is the definitive book of snowboarding in the late 80s and early 90s: action and style on the mountain.

In these early years, snowboarding culture was full of rebellious riders: off-season skateboarders and generation X’s outcasts trying to find their way through early adulthood and adolescence. At the same time, the sport was maturing and growing into the mainstream giant it is today. Snow Beach draws on the best photographers of the era to document the lifestyle, fashion, and feats of athleticism that defined the decade.

In these tightly cropped action and lifestyle shots, snowboarders flaunt their outsider status as champions of the alternative winter sport. The images in Snow Beach are of snowboarders with grunge, punk, and hip-hop sensibilities. There is a lingering 80s ski flair mixed with the emerging 90s look pioneered by fledgling brands like Burton, Sims, and Ride, showcasing looks that are popular in modern fashion.

The book doesn’t drop for a few more days (BUY HERE!) But the New York Times T magazine has a fabulous photo feature. Click and feel the sheer joy wash over you like a snowy wave.

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Opinion: Santa better than God!

Muzzey

By

"Hope. Pray. Sit, stand, kneel. Repent!"

We’re naturally inclined to put our faith in ridiculous bullshit ideas. Like, “I can clear that gap” and “My method is pretty stylish” or: “El Niño year, bro, it’s gonna dump.” Straight up Fantasy Island.

Hope. Pray. Sit, stand, kneel. Repent. C’mon. Why bother? There’s no puppeteer pulling the strings. You knuckle. The photo of your method is actual dogpuke and … sadly … Colorado right now.

So stifle those prayers to little baby Jesus and face reality head on. Suffer or thrive on merit and chance. On effort. On physics! And/or, if you just can’t let go and still need an all-powerful space fairy to lead you through life, choose Santa Claus instead. Here’s why:

• He rewards you before you die.

• He leaves gifts like Union Ultra bindings and Airblaster Ninja Suits no matter what your religious beliefs, sexuality, gender, or lifestyle may be.

• Santa’s “plan” is to stoke you out, not to teach you a lesson about humility by breaking your leg.

• If you’re naughty, he might punish you but next year you start with a clean slate.

• Santa has just one rule: Be nice.