As I had posted before, Andy Finch is out from snowboarding right now due to a dislocated wrist and fractured elbow. He is still in San Diego getting a second opinion on surgery for his wrist...the elbow will heal on it's own. On the positive side Nate Holland is still celebrating his XGames 11 Boardercross Gold. Yeah Nate! Nate is still in Colorado right now continuing to compete on the Grand Prix circuit and then take off for the Legendary Mt. Baker Banked Slalom. Go get em Nate! We will be throwing a big bash for nate when he returns from Japan sometime in late February. We'll keep ya posted. Pray for snow......please snow.
Eric

Well today was the last day of X and I’m glad that it is over. It is amazing to see that in only four days of EXTREME action sports, I’m totally burnt on it. This is my second year of attending X and running from event to event can take it’s toll on your whole being. I watched most of X for this day just like you, on the couch. Total slacker! Thanks to The Collection for supplying me with a great place to stay. Anyways straight to the event I did get to cover, Mens Snowboard Halfpipe. COLD! My camera started to do freaky things on me again as the cold hit us photographers on the deck hard. I looked over and saw fellow photographer Ryan Hughes with hand warmers taped to his camera body. I had warmers but no tape…dammit! Most of the riders for the evening were taking it easy through practice cause that pipe iced up real good…even more so than the qualifying rounds. Stevie Fisher was busting having good clean runs with the best backside 9 I had ever seen. Shaun White was well, Shaun White. He didn’t really bust out anything we hadn’t seen him do before but the kid is a machine. New Collection team member Kevin Pearce was having a great night showing the judges that the young bucks for sure came to represent. Mason was going big and clean and did receive some treatment from The Collection trainer Brad Jones for shin splint problems. Danny boy Kass wasn’t looking to hot but did show us some nice and stylie stock airs. When it cam to the actual runs, my camera finally quit and I proceeded to the riders tent for the finals. Wow, they get it nice and warm in there…supplied with Hot Cocoa, Gatorades, Fritos, and all sorts of other goodies. Instead of plastic chairs they should have some couches. Note for the staff next year. The topic of discussion that was prevalent in the tent brought up by riders, GET RID OF KRIS JAIMESON from the announcing booth! HE sucks sucks sucks! Richards has to constantly correct him and “Jaimo” has no trick knowledge. During the best trick final his analogies and comments are completely uncalled for. Put someone else in there with Richards PLEEEASE! Maybe I’ll start a petition. If anyone else is down, let me know. The finals panned out by what you saw in practice. Fisher, Shaun and Mason. Pearce missed the podium but was stoked to see his buddy Mason there. Some real action went down at the awards ceremony when the guys decided to throw their boards out into the crowd. Total Mayhem! Fish first, then Mason, and then Shaun. There was the biggest mad dash and fight once Shaun tossed his board out. Security had to get in there and break things up cause it was nasty for some 5 to 10 minutes. There were for sure 3 lucky kids out there. See ya next year
Eric
Click here to see photos

Nate Holland owned the BX course yesterday! He was smooth, relaxed, aggresive and damn fast! Being up at the start of that course was intense. The final was stacked with the Palm, Wescott, Paul, Xavier, Huser and Nate. The racers were constantly pshycing themselves up and the techs were always on the lookout to what would give their racer that special extra edge. Nates Tech, Curtis was a magician keeping Nate fast throughout the day. Nate's speed was evident once he turned on the jets and passed Palm on the section after the double jumps. After that, it was game over. No one could catch him. Congratulations to Nate and also to Nate's Brother Pat making a strong showing and making it to the consolation final.
Yesterday was a busy day with both mens and womens BX finals, Mens & Womens Slopestyle finals, Mens 1/2 pipe qualifiers, SnowCross finals and Monoski finals. Mr. Finch was busy making apperances and there are some great photos of what went down during his appearances. Anyway, I'm back out to the hillto get some more coverage. Tonight Mens 1/2 Pipe final.
Eric
Click here to see photos

Labels: Aspen, Nate Holland, Porters Sports, X games

Yesterday there was lots of practicing and qualifying going on. Boarder Cross, Skier Cross, Best Trick, Slopestyle, and Snow Cross. I focused on the Halfpipe skiing finals as that was the marquee event for the evening. Let's just say that the women have a ways to go to catch up to the men, but they did give it their best. When center stage was handed over to the men, they delivered a great performance with a little added drama. Once again the judges were faced with a dilemma, going big or technical? But could someone put it all together? Simon Dumont layed down a blistering 1st run with an almost over the 20ft tower 540 that scored a 90. Tanner Hall then layed down the law with a switch 1080 on hit first hit and ran the rest of the pipe clean to score a 95. Peter Olenick had home court advantage and stoked the crowd out with a gigantic double back flip on his first hit. He never really nailed it but it took balls to throw that in this icy pipe. Coming into the final runs Hall still led but with the way Dumont was skiing, who knew what was going to happen. Hall dropped in switch, got hung up and was down for the count in the flat bottom of the pipe. The follow cam guy was filming Tanner down for a while when he then finally stopped filming and called down the emt's. Even Tanners best friend and Porters Team Rider CR Johnson dashed down from the top of the pipe to attend to his bro. Sure enough everything was fine but Tanner did give everyone a scare as he layed motionless t the bottom of the pipe for what seemed an eternity. Dumont was stoked to not see Tanner hurt, and proceeded to put his game face on and slay the Pipe. I would have hated to be a judge on this one cause Dumont lit up that pipe with an EL GRANDE first hit! The rest of his run was solid as well, but it was Tanners technical prowess that took gold. Today is a big day and I gotta get out to support our Nate Holland and defending X gold medalist in BX.
Eric
Click here to see photos

Torah Bright raised the bar last night with some insane and progressive 1/2 pipe riding. The Tricks...Air to Fakie tail snatch....Cab 7...straight air...Huge nasty McTwist...Truck driver...backside 3...and the switch backside five el stompo!!!!! The girls definitely stepped up the game this year and it shows by the tricks they were throwing and in the amplitude as well. Elena Height and Kelly Clark were BOOSTING. Elena Height threw down with a unheard of Backside 9. Gretchen Blieler therw down some frontside 9's as well. all I can say is that the action was HOT HOT HOT!!! YOW!!! And done by some hot women as well!
Results:
1. Torah Bright
2. Gretchen Blieler
3. Elena Height
Freestyle snowcross went down also...but to tell you the truth after the 1st backflip you see...thats all you see...booooring! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Bring back the modified shovel racing..now that stuff was funny! Lets see how fast you slam into a padded wall.
P0rters UPDATE:
Finch OUT: Dislocated wrist and fractured elbow
Parker OUT: Dislocated knee cap
Holland IN: Riding super fast and making the BX course his! GOOOOOO NATE!
Clik link to see some photos:
http://ericasistin.com/XGames_2007_Gallery1/index.html

So here the deal..it's 2am here in Aspen and we just got back from the hospital...unfortunately Andy will be out of the X Games once again...he was riding strong and just bailed on a stock trick after the womens final in the FAG Bag suit we found here in Aspen...decked out and dislocated one of the bones in his wrist and has a slight fracture in his elbow. Bummer!!!! It sucks too cause the judges were already taking note of his riding and complimenting him highly on what he had been doing for the past 3 days...essentially saying it was his year....he's getting great help from The Collection trainer Brad Jones who will be overseeing his recovery and reccomending him to a hand specialist in San Diego tomorrow. Good news...Nate Holland is riding strong as well on the BX and will be having qualys tomorrow....Michelle will not be competing as well as she injured her knee @ the Open @ Copper but will be back shortly. I'll be making a blog post in a few hours cause once again I will be needing to get some sleep.

E

Labels: Andy Finch, Michelle Parker, Nate Holland, X games

Boy am I tired! Operating on an hour and a half of sleep to bring you my little insight on Winter X Games 11. Don't worry, I'll be here till the end to give you the skinny on whats going on with X and with our Porters Athletes who have been invited to X. Invites include Andy Finch, Michelle Parker, and Nate Holland. Today was the qualifiers for the womens 1/2 pipe and boy, the cold once again took its toll on me. Me thinky a little sicky. So in response to the cold, I proceeded to watch the qualifiers from the riders lounge with Mike Goldschmidt. Nice and warm, on the couch, and with hot chocolate in hand. Here's a few picks for you to view cause I really gotta get some sleep. Big week coming up and I promise to give you a little more insight
Eric
Nate Holland
Parker & Goldie


Gretchen Blieler and family after her winning qualifying run







Finch and I Aspen Extreme R&R! See you at the Bar!

Labels: Andy Finch, Aspen, Gretchen Blieler, Michelle Parker, Mike Goldschmidt, Nate Holland, X games

I just got to Carbondale last night. Came here from the Open in Copper. I'm currently staying with the Olenick's. Their house is huge, made for tall people. The basement has all sorts games for entertainment and plenty of beds. It's a nice place to resign for a couple of nights. Today was the first day of practice for halfpipe. Check out www.expn.com for all the info.

-Michelle

Labels: Aspen

Just finished riding my first X Games Practice. I was going through accreditation straight off the plane from Vegas when I found out they were having a night practice sesh. Pipe is long and good. Not the biggest pipe, but that don't mean some big airs can't be thrown down! Damn good time.

Labels: Andy Finch, Halfpipe, Snowboard, X games

We want your feedback. Our site has been live since October and its about time to get some real feedback from our shoppers. Its very easy to see things one-sided and miss a lot of the "big picture" ideas. We respect our competition such as K5, UsOutdoor, and DogFunk and what they bring to the e-commerce world. We looked at theses sites as well as larger more diverse companies doing business online. We tried to keep the consumer in mind in the initial design process and making it as easy as possible shop for what you are looking for. Please leave your comments below this post and let us know what you think, all of our customers thoughts are very important to us.

-web guy

Labels: Dog Funk, feedback, k5, UsOutdoor, Website

So what so you do when there is no new snow to ride? Well that's easy, concentrate on some halfpipe rippin and park shredding. I've got to admit even though we haven't had the most ideal snow conditions in a while, the park & pipe riding in Tahoe has been fantabulous! The park Crew at Northstar at Tahoe unveiled their halfpipe and has been making the most out of the snow conditions and the riding is quite good. Rumor has it that the Pipe & Park @ Boreal is quite fun along with the park at Squaw Valley USA and Alpine Meadows.
Today I did a little R&R with Andy Finch at Northstar at Tahoe in their halfpipe and snapped a few shots in the process. Before we did some shooting, I had to get me some hot laps in that park. Northstar has a great variety of boxes, rails, jumps and my favorite, 50 gallon drum jibs. I love these things! they remind me of the good old days when the closest things we had to jib at resorts was picnic tables, snow gun covers, and trash cans. These "older" obstacles were sure to get you some stink eye or your pass pulled from ski patrol back then. Hopefully some more snow will be in the forecast soon but take advantage of the good Park and Pipe conditions. The Pipe at Northstar is large and in charge! Some good airtime can be achieved if you commit and would like to say hello to some of the planes Landing at the Truckee airport.

Labels: Andy Finch, Halfpipe, Northstar at tahoe, Snowboard

I have a second job teaching snowboarding at Squaw Valley USA on the weekends so from time to time I can give some on the snow updates and I was rather surprised by the snow quality today. I guess let me clarify that a bit, there is still some great snow out there but its in some difficult areas. Granite still has some great chalky snow but I think alot of people get scared away due to the over all difficulty of the current state of the run. There are no groomers for easy decent but if you have the skills then its one of the best areas we found today.

Another strong area is KT, with 75 chute having some great pockets of snow all the way down. Again no real easy way down so it deters many of the weekend warriors away from the run. To kinda sum it all up, their still is alot of great snow in Tahoe to be found but you need to realize your limits and not push beyond them. Save yourself till the good stuff flies again, but if you can chance it, try some of the good north facing runs for great cold chalky snow.

Labels: Lake Tahoe, Ski, Snowboard, Squaw Valley

Yesterday was the finals of the slopestyle competition in Copper. The men had qualifiers in the morning and then there was a practice session before the women's finals. The practice went super well. I got a better feel for the course and my nerves calmed a bit before our finals. My run went like this...switch straight air, switch five, seven, five. Then I finished it off in the rail section hitting the down rail to the up rail and a 270 off to a disaster the up flat down switch out. The competition was heavy. Girls were throwing everything from switch sevens, rodeos, to d spins. It was really fun to watch the progression of women's skiing out there. The men's event was absolutely insane. The Scando's were throwing down hard and earned 4 out of the 5 top finishes. The Swede male model Jon Olsson stomped his double flip multiple times without a flinch, PK Hunder had ridiculous grabs and style along with Stion his fellow Norge. On the women's side, a girl from down under, Anna, took first, I came in second, and Kristi Leskinen placed third. Overall, it was some of the most fun I've ever had at a competition.


Michelle

Labels: Michelle Parker, US Freeskiing Open

Just headed to Northstar before off to X Games. Northstar finally got there pipe open today and going to check it out. Just another typical day for Tahoe, sunny and sick!

Labels: Andy Finch, Northstar at tahoe

Wenesday January.17.2007


When brothers attack at boreal we get stuff done.
Porters Team rider Andy Finch Invited me to join him in a photographic adventure and how could I pass that up? We headed up to Boreal to hit up the pipe cut by the true master Eric Rosenwald, when we got there the sun was out and the pipe was perfect. and no one in it besides this random guy hiking up the middle (who does that?).
Even though i was super bummed being hurt and seeing this beautiful pipe i was still super excited just to shoot some photos of my brother. fun fun fun. Andy was getting pumped starting out with some big Finch airs.
After that he did his thing stomping huge tens. switch 7s.
You know how he rolls.
"This is how we do it in Dixie."

~ Zak.Shelhamer

Labels: Andy Finch, Boreal Ski Area, Lake Tahoe

I'm drunk.

Well, not really. I'm just trying out our new, fancy-dancy blog to make sure my account works fine and my posts come through.

But give me a couple of hours to work on that.........

It is true that the winter is slow to start out here in Tahoe. I had a fun day at Northstar today, though. They have a fun park up, and there is decent snow to be found in the trees. It is still early season conditions, but that could change in one night in Tahoe. We just have to keep our heads up and stay positive.
I want to wish the best of luck to the Porters athletes out at The Open. Enjoy yourself out there and kick some ass. I have confidence that you both will do well. Enjoy it!
CR

Labels: Northstar at tahoe

No snow and blue skies remain in good ole Tahoe. Could see something tomorrow but we really doubt it. With Cold temps still hovering alot of resorts will be making snow and at our current temps the snow being made isn't half bad. We got some US Freeskiing Open diaries sent to us from our Team members Michelle Parker and Billy Mann.

Michelle writes
"Today was the first day of practice. The registration tent was packed with kids, all different ages and races. The course has four jumps and a variety of rail features. The jumps have a good flow. Lot's of kids over shooting the third and coming up short on the fourth, but everyone was still throwing down. Practice was on. There were a couple of injuries here and there due to sticky rails. The mountain police had a few power trips, but overall the day went well. Lot's of fun."

Lars
www.porterstahoe.com

Labels: Lake Tahoe, Porters Sports, US Freeskiing Open

for more photos go to www.porterstahoe.com

Brandon Cocard

I have to agree with my associate Lars that I am now a human Popsicle. Sub zero temps have hit Tahoe and my fingers, feet, nose, and all other body parts no like. Today was the final installment of the contest series for the Block Reality show at Boreal Ridge. This contest was a chance for invited local Amateurs to show their stuff against the Pros. Added incentive was $1000.00 dollars cash winner take all put up by Northwave and Drake. Also $250.00 Gift Certificate for 1st, $150.00 Gift certificate for 2nd and $100.00 gift certificate for 3rd courtesy of PortersTahoe.com. The Pros the Ams were to go up against were Lane Knaak, Jimi Tomer, Jake Divine and Stephen Duke. The criteria for the invited Ams were if you took 1st in any of the other Block events, you were in. There were some substitutions due to injuries and riders having previous commitments. The contest was a 45-minute Jam on a 3-option staircase and wallride. The Judges consisted of The Block Proprietors Mark Frank Montoya, Liko, and now full time Truckee boy Andy Finch. I snapped a few shots to document the contest, but had some camera malfunction issues due to the cold. It's amazing how things just don't work right when the COLD sets in.

Brandon Cocard

Let's just say that the contest was a real fun time for all the riders and the added cash gave some incentive to show up the Pros. The judging deliberations took a while as MFM, Finch, and Liko could not decide what criteria were going to take the cash. There was such strong riding from everybody and it was very difficult to come to a decision. I for sure did not want to be in their shoes. You can see all of the action on Mondays at 10 pm starting January 15th on G4TV.

http://www.g4tv.com/theblock/index.html

Results:
1st Place Niko
2nd Place Brandon Cocard
3rd Place Jimi Tomer

Labels: Block Hotel and Porters Sports - Snowboard Contest, Boreal Ski Area, Brandon Cocard, G4 TV

www.porterstahoe.com

Day two, well day two was a wee bit warmer but still pretty cold by Tahoe standards. Also we arrived at 7:30 in the am and at that time I think it may have been hovering around a balmy 0 degrees.

Suzie Cuddy

From my perspective on the course the skier men were still way over shooting the gap and not thinking too far ahead to the double switch back that awaited them below. All in all our riders faired rather well. Devin the Dude, rode hard , but got caught up in a shoving match while the race went one below during the semis. Suzie on the other hand was pushed out by some mean older gals in the finals and didn't finish.

Sketchy

I was very impressed that our guys and gals showed such a good showing against some real skier nerds and the "ITFL" club that showed up. Honestly right around where I thought we should be. Tomorrow will be the snowboarders turn and we stand a better chance of climbing the ladder, but it all depends on who shows up and who really wants it.

Devin the Dude

I need to warm up for the night,
Lars

Labels: Lake Tahoe, Sugarbowl Ski Area, X games

I am a human popsicle, rarely Tahoe is ever cold but today is one of the coldest days ever... with that being said I can begin. The guys at Global Event Management deserve a big high five for their hard work in putting on this kind of event. Also, before I forget from my de thaw, are the park crew guys over at Sugar Bowl, they are some super cool guys who are there to help not yell. One final shout out goes to the guys who no one really sees, the course builders. Those guys put together one amazing course that destroyed much of the competition.




Looking up at the course

I was given a chance to witness the event on one of the features standing along side Link, one of Porters backroom tech's. We watched as countless skiers and boarders tried to qualify for the weekends final. All I really have to say about that was the amount of carnage was amazing. I really only saw 5 boarders go by well, the rest were very intimidated by an extremely difficult course. A total of 48 spots were up for grabs for the weekend final and all the Porters Riders made the cut. Even, a one, Mr Shawn Farmer showed the young guns he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. On the women's skier side 9 were competing for 6 spots and only 5 made it down safe... of course Porters Rider Suzy Cuddy showed the women they have some good competition for the finals.




oh the carnage


I really wanted to stay for the men's skier qualifier but I was so cold that standing around that it was time to find a hot shower and a beer. Poor Link was out there all day in the weather as were all the G.E.M. guys.




Hitting the gap properly.

The weekend finals should be great to watch and as we go through the weekend I will be updating results and other happenings.




Mt Farmer


Web Guy,
Lars

Labels: Lake Tahoe, Porters Tahoe, Sugar Bowl, X games

Labels: Block Hotel and Porters Sports - Snowboard Contest, G4 TV