Thursday, February 21
12PM-4PM
AT
BOREAL

COME SKI WITH THE PRO
ERROL KERR

X-Games Skiercross - #1 qualifier
5th Place X Games Skiercross
3rd Place Ranking – JKOM Skiercross Tour
Western Region Elite Alpine Team

Clinic Cost (lift ticket is Required):
$12 (12 and under)
$39 (13 -18 old)
$44 (19+)
Passholders for free

For further information, or to Register please contact Boreal
at 530 426-3666 x 187
or info@borealski.com
Helmets and liability forms will be required for participation. E-mail for liability request

Labels: Boreal Ski Area, Errol Kerr, skiercross

You kids wanna get sponsored? Then work this hard... No plain youtube video will work anymore, you need to put some thought and time into creating something this good. So sit back watch, take notes and edit, edit, edit. I am not saying this will win any awards but this is episode 20... which means there are 19 others just like this one which shows some work ethic. Also note the sponsor logos at the end... Its easy to sponsor somebody that does all the work for you.

Labels: Snowboard, tj schneider, Videos

Today marked the fifth and final day of the 2008 Skiing Magazine Ski Test at Snowbird, Utah.  Overnight we got 6 to 8 inches of new Utah pow, and as long as you skied where it was smooth underneath it was pretty darn good.  Lucky for me I caught and early Tram ride this morning with Scott Markewitz to try and capture some of the magic of testing skis and skiing pow.  Turned out that all I did today was shoot photos, so I have no idea how most of the new super-fatties perform.  Overall the testers seemed impressed with many of the skis, especially some of the crazy new reverse camber, and rockered skis.  Quite honestly I don't think it really mattered what you were on today as long as you got a face shot or two.  

Every year around mid February all of the major ski and snowboard brands invite all of the shops around Northern California to go to a resort (this year Kirkwood) and demo NEXT winter's (2009) gear to help shops make decisions of what brands and models they should buy. Unfortunately this year's demo wasn't the best as it was pretty windy and flat light, so we're going to re-test some product in the next couple of weeks with better conditions.


What was good? The party in the Porters condo!! We have a continual supply of East-Coasters that move "west" every season to come to the mecca of riding known as Tahoe. And with them comes some good, ol' fashioned, ingenuity that is born out of the necessity to find fun activities in frigid, long winters at places like the Univeristy of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington (quite conveninetly next to Burton's headquarters).


So with a pick and some hot water, a couple of UVM'ers carved an "ice luge" about 4 feet long into this massive ice melt coming off the roof. Pour a little vodka-cranberry down that sucker.....and repeat.....37 times!!


Awwwwww......good times, good times......

Labels: Kirkwood, Lake Tahoe, Ski Demo, Snowboard Demo, Winter

This is a case of "what were they thinking". On our drive down to Kirkwood yesterday we drove by this car in disbelief of what we thought we had seen so we swung around and took a picture.

Labels: Lake Tahoe, Winter

Every year all the vendors compete to throw the coolest party, I have been to a ton over the years and this years DC party ranked up there. They rented out the Hue Hefner Playboy suite in the Palms. It was one of the nicest hotel suites I have ever seen, two bedrooms huge balcony with its own pool hanging over the balcony, media rooms, bars, elevator, rotating bed, massage room, gym you name it this place has it. Porters being the sick shop it is, got four passes. Unfortunatley we had to leave out a few of our employees out but I am sure they had fun on there own. We had a great night hanging out on the balcony with some friends from Boards and Motion. There was a lot of drinking going on with the open bar of top shelf liquor. The DJ was on point that night and got a lot of people dancing before the end of the night. We had a lot of fun thanks DC can't wait to do it next year. By the way the party was to show off there 09 DC Snowboards and Boots, there sick and we have them on order, come get yours in September.

K2 Ski's has this whole motorcycle theme going next season, they had Orange County Choppers build them a bike for SIA, it's really trick. Two of the Porters girls Kathy and Alicia decided to jump on the hog and strut there stuff.

Labels: choppers, k2 skis, sia

It's dumping here at Snowbird.  They are calling for 9 to 15 inches by tomorrow... not bad seeing as its 50 degrees and sunny in Tahoe.  It's also not bad because all we've got left to test are the fatties, the really big skis, known as "Powder Specialty" skis.  Without some new snow, most of these skis are just way too big, anywhere from 110 mm up to 140 mm in the waist.  Let it snow, and keep snowing.  

Jeremy here, coming at you after day three of testing here at Snowbird, Utah.  Another beautiful day in Utah, felt like I was home in Tahoe.  For me it was another thrilling day of lapping it up on the Gadzoom chair.  I skied on the remaining sixteen pairs of Big Mountain Expert skis in my category.  I'm not at liberty to give away any trade secrets or insider information, but by the end of the day it was clear which skis were on the top of the heap, and which were not.  It was also clear that my brand new Dalbello Krypton Pro's are completely broken in and are even better than my old ones.  Thanks Dalbello.

Well, my posse actually turned it into about 72 straight hours of fun….but who’s counting? We certainly weren’t by Sunday morning when we stopped by the Squeeze In in Old Town / Downtown Truckee for breakfast grub and a pitcher of Mimosa’s. After 4 hours and many pitcher’s later we just moved over to Casa Baeza to continue the day-drinking festivities! With the best tequila selection in all of Truckee, the girls eventually managed to get their hands on these cute mini bottles of AsomBroso and did their birthday / gift shopping for the entire year!! Later we bounced over to Bar of America and then concluded the day (now well into the night) over at the Pastime to visit Shannon and Keith.

That was a nice way to cap off a weekend of festivities, concerts and contests. There were actually two highlights in my book. While headliners like The Roots and Pepper were good to see, I was pleasantly surprised by The Devil Makes Three and Crystal Method. I was able to snap some shots and take a couple of good video clips of The Devil Makes Three tearing up an encore set that ended with a searing rendition of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. Unfortunately my battery went kaput for Crystal Method’s set so no pics or vids. Rather than a bunch of stock-standard stuff, though, there was a good mix of old and new, rock, funk, hip hop and their trademark delicious and booming bass.

Actually there was one other highlight – the awesome rolls at Java Sushi in Truckee on Saturday night with the bestest server Jenny Jenny from around the block and chef Miles throwin’ down some seriously yummy treats.

All in all a great time at Squallywood and around Truckee and all of the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. If you missed this year’s 48straight / Jeep King of the Mountain event, bookmark that sucker for next year. It only got bigger and better with more music this year compared to last so I’m already stoked to see what will be headed our way next winter!

Labels: 48straight, Jeep king of the Mountain Tour, Skiing, Snowboard, Sqauw Valley, Winter

Fried! Sunny and warm again! The snowboarders took on the Halfpipe yesterday for a nice start to the work week on a Monday morning. Lets just say that the atmosphere was laid back and there was not a TPS report in sight. On the mens side of the competition, we had some old faces show up as well as some newcomers. Olympian Ross Powers made the trip and broke away from the family. Ross recently had another baby girl and did his family proud having a strong showing after not competing in 1/2 pipe for quite some time. Mammoth Boys Tommy Chezchin and Luke Wynen were in the house as well. Luke was equipped with Stihl chainsaws and all. Fuel TV & X Games host Keir Dillon also made the trip and took a break from behind the mic. He loved the pipe and was going LARGE as always.
For the young bucks, the charge was led by Louie Vitto & Luke Mitrani. These kids are so awesome! Not only are they all on the forefront of the future for snowboarding, but these kids have such a great attitude and are a joy to be around.
For the ladies it was pretty much all the up and comers; Elena Height, Clair Bidez, & Ellery Hollingsworth. Yes guys, these girls do ride better than you and they are way better looking as well. These girls are doing backside & frontside nines now as a stock part of their pipe runs! They rule!
Porters own Andy finch was in the house going HUGE! It was a tight race in the final between Andy & Louie and it could have gone either way. Andy went bigger, but Louie was cleaner. Both riders were stoked on their riding both throwing back to back 10's. You have to have that in your runs now to even be considered for the podium in todays events.
Some local love out to James Brumfeld on the mens side and to Kelly Marren for making the finals. I'm glad it's over and now it's time to get some rest...I think I got the SARS.
(View Eric's Photos)

Labels: Andy Finch, Halfpipe, Ross Powers, Sqauw Valley

THINK YOUR BOARDING SKILLS ARE ALL THAT? PUT THEM TO THE TEST.

Enter now to win your shot at riding with US Snowboarders Lindsey Jacobellis, Steve Fisher, or Nate Holland. In a no-holds barred, three-day, mind-blowing shred fest. All you. On us.

Trip for two to Killington Mt. Resort March 15-17, 2008
Ride for a day with one of our three Chevy boarders
Airfare and roundtrip transportation from airport to hotel
$500 Spending cash
VIP access to the Chevy US Snowboard Grand Prix and take a tour of Chevy's fuel technologies display

ENTER NOW

Labels: Chevy Ride With Us Sweepstakes, Nate Holland

Hey, Jeremy Benson here reporting from the 2008 Skiing Magazine Ski test from Snowbird, Utah. Blue skies and cold snow have dominated the forecast for the past couple days, giving us perfect conditions to test out all the new skis for next season. Snowbird ski resort is the perfect venue to host such an event, with big vertical, steep varied terrain, and fast chairs to help us lap it up on all the different skis. This is my second consecutive year as a ski tester, and this year I'm skiing on the "Big Mountain Expert" skis(pretty much everyday skis for west coast rippers), and "One Ski Quiver Advanced" skis(more like everyday skis for those who actually ski on groomers sometimes).

Labels: 2008 Skiing Magazine Ski Test, Jeremy Benson, Ski, Ski Testing, Snowbird, Utah

Our weatherman Joe just sent me over these photo and I had to post them. Joe's Words "Looking back, we should have skied it from the top of the peak.....the first 50ft was steep but after that is was nothing crazy. Even 5 days after the last storm and all the wind we endured, Annie and I skied binding deep soft wintery snow the entire 1500' ". With some warm days here the backcountry should be running rather nicely.

Labels: Backcountry, Desolation Wilderness, Lake Tahoe, Mount Tallac, Porters, Skiing, Weather

Sunscreen please! Skiers took on the stunt ditch today in honor of Tom Cruise. "Sorry Goose....it's time to bust the tower!" Yes, it's true, skiers DO go BIG in the Pipe. Simon Dumont made the trip but was ailing a separated shoulder. Porters Team rider Sean Field was in the mix and had a solid 1st run in qualys but was denied entrance into the final. Super lame, cause Sean was boosting and had a tech line! The Kiwi from down under was boosting as well, Jossi Wells, no pun intended. Can you say big and techy spinning both ways going Dumont large with style & control? Yeah, he ruled it all day in qualy's and the final taking the win.
Aside from the competition itself, I do have a complaint or can I say grievance to file. Organizers, please STOP LAGGING AND KILLING THE ENEGRY OF A CONTEST FOR TV! First off, this is not a live feed so there should be no major delays. Second, the field wasn't even that big 25 men total and 6 women I believe. I've seen local contests run faster for Pete's sake! There's nothing better than fans & the rest of the media standing around waiting for something to go down. I love it when I'm standing on the deck and an interested fan asks me "When does the competition start?"
I respond "Um it already did like 15 minutes ago."
They reply "Really??? Then what is going on ? I haven't seen anyone go yet."
"My point exactly!"
Yes, granted I know a few of the guys on the crew and I like them all. PLEASE get it together....
Delays like that just kill any kind of energy not just for the fans, but the participants as well. The X Games is a live feed and they ran quicker than this event. Some of the same crew was used here as well. I don't know, whatever. It's beautiful and sunny out...just rock it straight no BS.....you can fix your edit later in post.
After all my ranting, something did lift my spirits.....I looked over underneath the banners on the deck and there were a bunch of groms waiting for guys to hit the pipe. They all had big old smiles and were stoked to see the skiers going huge! Some of them may be in the ditch someday.
View Eric's Photos

Labels: Jeep king of the Mountain Tour, Jossi Wells, Sean Field, Simon Dumont, Squaw Valley

What a full day of racing today. Can you say warm and sunny? Well, it was just that and the racing on the course was hot as well. The competition was stacked with US heavyweights and competitors from abroad. Of course I was routing for our local boys Errol Kerr and Daron Rahlves, but the field was stacked. Thomas Kraus, Casey Puckett, Stanley Hayer & Jake Fiala.
With this short course you'd better be 1st or 2nd out of that gate and hold your line or else it was all over. There was not much in terms of lead changes going down so every one was gunning for the holeshot.
In the mens competition, Tomas Kraus was fast all day and made his presence felt as he took the field. Errol Kerr took the consolation final and was an exception to the rule of getting the holeshot coming from behind to win. Daron unexpectedly went out in the quarters, but be sure to see him ste it back up in Sun Valley.
Sorry for the short post but I'm beat. I've got 2 more days of shooting & posting to do. Also, my son is screaming for some daddy time. Come on out and join us on the hill for the next 2 days for skiing & snowboarding halfpipe.
(View Eric's Photos)

Labels: Casey Puckett, Daron Rahlves, ericasistinphoto.com, Errol Kerr, skiercross, Sqauw Valley, Tomas Kraus

Once again, it's been beautiful and sunny out here in Lake Tahoe. Today was the 1st day of competition for the Jeep King of the Mountain Tour here at Squaw Valley USA. Todays event was mens and womens boardercross racing. The course wasn't the longest, but fast and sweet. If you had the holeshot, you were pretty sure to keep it if you held off the other competitors and held your own.
PortersTahoe.com athlete Nate Holland was on course as well still enjoying the high from his 3-peat XGames Gold. Competition was stiff today though, as Shaun Palmer who was very disappointed with his X Games appearance looked for revenge. Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott and the burly Nick Baumgartner were on hand as well adding excitement to the racing. Former Olympic halfpipe Gold Medalist Ross Powers was also in attendance trying to rejuvenate his boardercross roots.
in the end Shaun Palmer took all the marbles and I don't think he was ever behind anyone on the course. Nate Holland came from last place all the way into 2nd in the finals. If the course were a bit longer he may have caught up to Palm. Nick Baumgartner & Nate did make some contact throughout the course and I think a protest was filed. But as the saying goes, rubbin is racing. In the womens final, Lindsey Jacobellis does it again. Joanie Anderson was pressing her hard, but couldn't catch her.
Tomorrow is the mens Skiercross event and it should be another beauty as the weather forecast is looking great for the entire weekend. Errol Kerr & Darren Rahlves will be out there representing Truckee once again. Come out and join the fun and all the concert event that will be going on in the Village after the competitions.
View Eric's Photos

Labels: ericasistinphoto.com, Nate Holland, Seth Wescott, Shawn Palmer, Squaw Valley

Labels: Beer, MSR Snowshoes, Soap Shoes, Truckee Skate PArk, Winter

Oh Squaw Valley let me count the ways I love thee:

I love your steep peaks and open bowls.

I love your sunny spring days in the park.

I love your powder days when it is so deep.

I love your fun natural jibs in the trees.

I love that you love the One Piece Maf.

I love your long lines at KT-22 on a powder day…

Wait, wait, wait… I lie I do not love that about you…

But when so many others love thee also, there must be a price to pay

on a blue bird powder day…….. Long lines at KT-22 and long lines it shall be..

Labels: KT-22, Lake Tahoe, Snowboard, Squaw Valley, Winter

For two years now Andy Finch and I have been looking at this feature we,ve been wanting to shoot. With the help of Zak Shelhamer, we decided to get this thing built the day before and try to hit it with the great morning light we've been experiencing. Well, Andy wanted to get a snowblower down to the location to help and that might have been a bad idea. Ya think?!
Anyway, we put two of Andy's pro models underneath the blower to get it down. It was a pretty funny site to see. After only being down at our location for about 45 min....Truckee's finest showed up waiting for us. Busted!
The officer was real mellow and even offered us a ride home. I thought it was a ploy to get to the station, but he actually took us back to Andy's house. We rode in the back of the custom blue & white chariot in the plastic back seats! For once I was back there without any cuffs. I noticed another funny detail, the white perpetrators actually outnumbered the colored in this particular scenario. LOL! He gave us all the reasonings behind the custom upholstery explaining it was mainly for drunks and you know, the occasional bloody felon after a good night stick beating. The officer proceeded to tell us why we couldn't do what it was were were doing and we accepted as he wrote us up citations. Anyways we all have court dates now and have to try to clean up our mess. Sometimes that's just how it goes.

Finally a little update about conditions at good ole Squaw. I would have posted something sooner but, well the snow has so freakin good that I have neglected my post responsibilities. But I digress, so today started out looking like it could be kinda overcast but all the early clouds dissipated and the sun peaked out making the early riding really good. Anything north facing stayed extremely good and once the sun cooked the southern exposed runs they softened up like a fine spring day. All in all it was a good day and Last chance is still in great shape, if you're up for the hike. A friend of mine joined me for the hike and we were very suprised at how good the snow was and how spring like it was. Should be a great weekend to go check out the 48straight event.

Labels: Powder Skiing, Powder Snowboarding, Snowboard, Squaw Valley, Winter

These photos were sent over to us from our good buddy Mark "Scary" Cernosia. The two riders pictured are Brandon Cocard and Taylor Carlton.

Labels: Brandon Cocard, Snowboard, Truckee, Winter

Usually when you live in a small area like Truckee you meet and know almost everyone in town before you know it. The problem arises that once people live here for a few years they feel like they deserve a deal when patronizing local shops. Most small local stores will give a deal and really with as expensive as rent is these days a deal sometimes makes it so that store barely makes it. So the Bro deals sometimes is good for you but not for them. I never expect the deal since I want to see our local shops do well and when I get a little local love I need to make sure that store gets a little pat on the back for being a good local shop.

2 Weeks ago I left my car in our warehouse parking lot overnight trying to be a responsible driver. Upon my return in the morning my right rear tire was completely flat. So I took my car on over to Stones Country Tire just up the hill from work. They took my car in, checked out my tire and tried to fix the problem and did not charge me for the time. Fast forward to yesterday, I was about to leave work and I noticed the same tire flat once again. I was able to get my car up to Stones again and this time they were able to find the leak, one of my studs had pushed into the tire causing the slow leak. I was expecting some kind of charge for the repair and again they did not charge me. A big thanks goes out to Stones Tire, they give great service and have always been honest about prices for tires and other maintenance. Check em out when ever you need some tire love, but don't expect the bro deal rather thank them when they do help you out.

Stone's Country Tire & Auto

Labels: Bro Deal, Stone's Country Tire and Auto, Tires, Truckee

There are lots of different tricks you can do while snowboarding and skiing. On a powder day, my most favorite thing to do, as it may be yours as well, is looking back at all that spray your slash has created! Every slash has it's own power and glory. Depending on the snow consistency, you can get various types of spray. Light & fluffy, thick & chunky or backlight and beautiful. Here's a few slashes I did yesterday that I'd like to share with you all. Yes I'm stuck behind the desk this morning on this beautiful bluebird day......GO OUT AND GET SOME!

Labels: Powder Skiing, Powder Snowboarding, Ski, Snowboard

After all the chaos of the X Games, I decided it was time for a family day. I took my wife and my 8 month old son up to Northstar and had some fun. The new storm was coming in and we only had a little window of sunshine. my wife and I scarfed down breakfast and I loaded up my son in the Baby Bjorn carrier and took him for a couple laps.
Mom was firing away on the camera and we were loving it! I can't tell you how stoked I was and my son and my wife we smiling ear to ear. The wind really started to blow, so we got one more run in and his cheeks were turning super red! Didn't want mom to get mad, even though I thought he was ready for some tree runs:)!
The next week is going to be great up here in Tahoe, so don't miss out on all the good snow and fun. I plan on getting my boy in some Pow soon!

Labels: ericasistinphoto.com, Northstar at tahoe, Porters Tahoe

How many days can we keep talking about pow pow in Tahoe? Is that real question? I was lucky enough to reach the KT line this morning before to many others had arrived in the Valley which allowed me to relax and enjoy the thunderous sounds of explosions all around the mountain. I was surprised at how may bombs they were throwing this morning since it didn't seem like last night was such a large snow event. With a slightly late opening due to ongoing snow safety we all raced as usual to get on chairs and find our lines. As I rode up and started taking pictures I heard a familiar voice and as random squallyworld goes John Huston from our TC store was sitting next to me, its so hard to tell who people are when you're all bundled up. John was rocking the Armada ARG skis and sitting a few chairs behind us was Kyle from the Truckee store spending some time on the K2 Gyrator store demo. Being on the right equipment on a pow pow day is vital and you can always tell who is having more fun than the next guy mainly from know how to choose correctly from the quiver. Huston mentioned that the ARG's were perfect for todays snow conditions but to me they are still funny looking skis. So were started off on KT going towards the alternate chutes but opted for 75 chute instead. Next I hit up tower 16 followed by the sun chutes. And on a hunch me and a my buddy Brahma headed toward the Resort at Squaw Creek and amazingly nobody tracked much of it out. The snow was amazing and should be for days to come and another storm is lined up to hit us Saturday night!!

Labels: Armada Skis, K2 Snowboards, Lake Tahoe, Powder Skiing, Ski, Snowboard, Squaw Valley