Porters Sports

2010 Battle in the Bubbles

2010-03-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Unofficial Squaw has assembled ten of Tahoe's best unknown skiers and put them on one of the sickest, most challenging faces on the North Shore.

Now you get to decide who skied the best, and crown the champion of the 2010 Battle in the Bubbles. Go to unofficialsquaw.com to view the runs and vote for the winner.

Matt Nelson Honorable Mention for Level 1's Superknown VII

2010-03-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Porters Ski Team member Matt Nelson and his Honorable mention in Level 1's Superknown VII contest. Nice work Matt and to your homeboy from Stonebroke films with some solid editing skills. Look for Matt at the Alpine Meadows "Take the Lake" contest coming up later this month. Kill it buddy we're rooting for you

Level 1 does not allow embedding on this video so follow the link below

http://vimeo.com/9865345

Another Few Days in Utah...

2010-03-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

Our destination: Mt. Raymond

This past week I found myself back in Utah with the goal of getting some still photos. The last few days have been action packed with lots of skinning, hiking, standing around while waiting for the light, skiing pow, hanging out with my Utah buddies and watching Chad's Gap get hit by Mike Wilson and crew.

Beautiful scenery on our lengthy skin to Mt. Raymond

Jamey Parks checking his line while waiting for a break in the clouds

Mike Wilson sending it over Chad's

Jesse Hall doing the perfect lawn dart

Tahoe Dangerzone Season 2 Episode 14 - "Dangerzone Sucks"

2010-03-12T17:48:00.001-08:00

A tribute to all the fallen soldiers this past season. Rude boy.

Featuring Nick Visconti, NJ Peterson, Brent Oftedal, Joshua Parker, Brett Butcher, Brendon Drury, John Foy, Jason Robinson, Kyle Miller, Chris Larson, Johnny Lazzareschi, Nicki Slechta, Durell Williams, Sammy Spiteri, Nial Romanek, Brandon Cocard, Kartier, James Brumfield, and Ben Rice.
Filming and Editing by Tim Bradley.
Music by NJ Peterson and Nick Visconti.

TahoeDangerzone.com

Dangerzone Season 2 Episode 14 - "Dangerzone Sucks" from Nick Visconti on Vimeo.

Let's Send Iris to AK!!

2010-03-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

This winter I have been competing in the NorthFace Masters. I have had consistent solid performances in the Masters. That has earned my invitation from Nick Perata to compete in The King of The Hill during Tailgate Alaska in Valdez, April 3-11. I am pursuing my dreams and passion snowboarding in this event, I am so excited to represent Tahoe and shred like I do here! I'm so grateful for my sponsors support of gear and limited travel funds to help make this happen, but I really need the most important support of my home town to really make it a reality. I'm raffling off all my extra gear, donated prizes from local resorts and businesses and a day of private coaching with myself at Squaw Valley USA. BassHeavy drops sweet beats and good vibes every Thursday, so come out, have a good time, support, get some raffle tickets and win some gear this Thursday, March 18 at Bar of America and next Thursday, March 25 at Lanza's. Big thanks in advance for your support and huge thanks to my sponsors, Signal, Smith, Porterstahoe.com, O'neill, Bula and Squaw Valley USA.

Nick Visconti wins Nike 6.0 "The Farm" Contest in Germany

2010-03-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last month I was invited to the Nike 6.0 "The Farm" Contest. It was outside of Munich, Germany. Good riders good people, good sausage! Check it out! ~Nick~

From the Nike6.0 website:
"On Sunday, February 7th 2010 twenty international riders came together for an invitational Best Trick session at an abandoned farm close to Munich, Germany.
Amazing tricks went down during the heated session held in a cash-for-tricks mode. For a total purse of €10.000, invited riders including Jed Anderson, Nick Visconti, Louis-Felix Paradis, Marc Swoboda, among others, brought out their best tricks.
Nike 6.0 supported the locals, including team rider Basti Rittig, in setting up a stunning jib park, made out of natural materials that served as the location for this stunning event. And naturally, the park will be around for the locals to shred whenever there is snow…"

Nike 6.0 The Farm from NiKE 6.0 on Vimeo.

Best day of the year? Squaw. POV

2010-03-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, this really was one of the best days of the year. Crazy dry snow, landings very filled in, cold temperatures, a little humor and plenty of sunshine. I just skied by myself this day. It was actually kinda nice. I just looked at my list of lines to ski for the day and went after 'em! Truly an unbelievable day that I don't think I'll soon forget!

Unofficial Daily: March 4, 2010 from UnofficialSquaw on Vimeo.

Beautiful Blackwood

2010-03-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

This last week me Eric Messier, Ben Rice and Ryan Scardigli went out to Blackwood Canyon. I had never been out to Blackwood, but so far it has got to be the best snowmobile accessible terrain on the West Shore. To my amazement we were the only ones out there on two amazing blue bird days in a row, with bowl upon bowl of 2-3 feet of the lightest snow Tahoe has experienced this year, all to ourselves. Built some jumps and did some lines. We didn't have a photographer out there with us, but I had Diggles take some screen shots of the days activities. Sorry they're not of the best quality because they are screen shots.

Squaw Mini QP

2010-03-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

The other day my buddies Stefan, Matt and Lino called me up to go ride Squaw! The weather was not so good so we decided to go to Papoose the lift. There was a burm of snow at the bottom that was perfect for a QP! That bad mother got shaved up and we had such a good homie session! I love days that end up like this-One for the books for sure! Here are some photos from the mini session! Enjoy!
-Brendon Drury

Raleigh White a Local Sensation

2010-03-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

Check out this short edit from one of the local young guns straight killin it. Raleigh White AKA "Ral Dub" you may know him, you may have heard of him, you may even be getting shown up by him at you local hill. If you don't know now ya know.

check it

Chas Guldemond throwing down at Euro X Slopestyle

2010-03-10T08:39:00.001-08:00

Check out Chas' elimination round run at Euro X games Slopestyle!

Refresher

2010-03-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

While I heard it was pretty good today at the resorts I have no regrets about cruising down to Mt. Tallac to ski some high, north facing pow. High elevation snow was still good cold powder before our 6 inch refresher last night, which was icing on the cake. In the photo above my buddies scope their line before dropping in, with some really fun terrain in the background...The terrain on Mt Tallac is second to no other mountain in the basin. Check out the rad lines in the background as we get ready to drop our next line. The short video below is from my best run of the day today. Its hard to see in the clip but the top three quarters of this line are exposed above a 150 foot cliff, blowing a turn or getting caught in your sluff are not an option...

Best run of my day 3/9/10 from Jeremy Benson on Vimeo.

Needless to say, there is some great skiing out there, and judging from the snow that has just started falling, I'd say its looking to get even better.

Mammoth & 30 inches of Fresh

2010-03-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

I went down and skied Mammoth on the last day of February to get away from the heavy snow of Tahoe. We ended up waiting in line for 1st gondola for over 2 hours. But when it popped, it was worth it! They also got more snow than we did in Tahoe and 30 inches of fresh didn't hurt anything.

The people screaming in the end are screaming because the USofA had just tied the Gold Medal Hockey Game with only 24 seconds left! A killer game. U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A!!!

Mammoth & 30 inches of Fresh from UnofficialSquaw on Vimeo.

No Regrets in Silverado

2010-03-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

By Miles Clark

This is me getting a couple of sweeeeet laps on Silverado on Feb. 25th, 2010, with NO ONE around. This was one of my favorite days of the season. I literally only skied Silverado all day. Never done that before, and I certainly don't regret it.

Silverado Sledgehammer from UnofficialSquaw on Vimeo.

Chas Guldemondat NorthStar at Tahoe

2010-03-08T08:21:00.001-08:00

Chas Guldemond@North Star from Filmer X on Vimeo.

Chas shredding the park at North Star, be sure to count the number of rotations in the last jump run.

Kirkwood Pow- Early ups

2010-03-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last week my Physical therapist gave me the go on riding after I hurt my mcl last month- Abro gave me a ring asking if I wanted to head to Kirkwood for a photo shoot for Kirkwood! Abro, Greg Lindsay, Natalie Gough, Dan Krenicki, and myself headed out the night before. They put us up in some super nice condos in the village. We got early ups with Coop and Jimbo, some long time kirkwood skiers-classic dudes! They took us to the goods before the crowds hit hard. 2 and a half feet plus of blower pow and good friends made out for one of the best days of the season for ripping turns for sure! Everyone killed it and the highlight was Greger sending a solid drop to a baked up landing stomping hard-that guy kills it so hard! Thanks to Kirkwood and Abro for the good day!

www.endeavorsnowboards.com
www.porterstahoe.com
www.smithoptics.com
www.volcom.com
www.kirkwood.com

2010 Skiing Magazine Ski Test

2010-03-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 days I've been attending the 2010 Skiing Magazine Ski Test at Snowbird, UT. This was my fourth consecutive year testing skis for Skiing Magazine and one of my favorite events of the year. I'm always excited when I get invited back, even though I know how challenging it can be to ski on 60 different pairs of skis in 4 days. Luckily I enjoy skiing, testing, and giving my opinion on skis, so it all works out.

We arrived last Sunday to the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird, met up with the folks from Skiing Magazine and hung out with the 15 or so other testers. One of the perks of testing is that they put you up at the Cliff Lodge, something I could never afford, and feed you for the duration of your stay. We also get hooked up with a bunch of swag from companies that sponsor the test.

All of the major brands are represented in the test like K2, Volkl, Elan, Rossignol, Dynastar, Head, Black Diamond, Nordica, etc, and a number of boutique ski manufacturers like Liberty, Faty-pus, and Bluehouse. I find it incredibly interesting to see what different ski companies are putting out there since all I ever ski on are Elans. This year rocker was the name of the game and almost every ski I tested had some kind of rocker, or reverse camber. This type of "technology" isn't exactly new, but is finally being brought to the masses by all of the major brands. A big thanks to Shane McConkey for being the mastermind behind what is now seen as the most innovative advancement in ski design for the past several decades.

We skied as hard as we could and put all of the new skis through the wringer. Check out the September issue of Skiing Magazine for next years gear guide, and hopefully a picture or two of me...

Highlights from the Nissan FWT on Silverado

2010-03-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

On Monday March 1st I posted up at the bottom of Silverado with Captain Short Shanks camera. People were throwing down regardless of the somewhat firm conditions. Who was throwing down you might ask, well how about Porters Ski Team members Cody Townsend, JT Holmes, Timy Dutton, and Elyse Saugstad. Among the boarders were some local legends Ryland Bell, and Jeremy Jones. Ryland did really well against some tough competition. Jeremy is actually human he does fall, It was not his day but we all know he is the number one big mountain rider in the world. ( at least in my opinion for skiing or boarding)

The comp started at 8:30 which I was a little butt hurt about because spectators were not allowed on the tram until 8:45. Oh yeah and special tickets were not willing to hook me up with a shop pass or any sort of deal. (typical squaw move)

I missed Cody's first run and I also missed JT's. JT was injured during his first run luckily it was nothing too serious. ( glad your ok buddy)

Once I finally got up there it was sick! super fun contest and really good support from the local crowd cheering on their local shredders. This first edit is highlights from the Mens skiing and snowboading runs. also a small crash section that is coed.

Now the guys did a good job for sure. The Europeans ended up taking it down even though I felt the most exciting one to watch out there was Timy D. Now the Ladies really killed it out there I was super impressed. While editing this footage I realized that I had to do a separate edit for them. Elyse, Ingrid and Jacyln Passo were among my favorites. They all were choosing technical lines and charging them with little hesitation. Passo probably had the biggest air of the day over the men and women, and for sure had some help from the angel's in the outfield as she landed then bounced about 30+ back onto her feet. This edit is strictly for the "ladies" of the FWT. Excuse my Barry White/Ladies Man commentary in the beginning I could not help myself. If you don't have sound on your computer don't bother watching this you will not get the full effect I was going for.

A Busy Weekend

2010-03-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday was a good day, I spent it riding powder. That night I arrived home to find an email with an invitation to The Nissan Tram Face 2010 stop of the Freeride World Tour. Stoked doesn’t capture the excitement I felt. The opportunity to ride a face that gnarley on home turf is too good to miss.

However, it was a tough call, I had already payed and signed up for the final stop of The North Face Masters of snowboarding in Kirkwood scheduled for the same days. I was in 2^nd place for the tour and feeling good. I decided Tram Face would be my top priority, and if at all possible I would ride the Kirkwood comp.

I drove down to Kirkwood Thursday morning, and scoped the qualifying venue. Then back to Squaw by 5pm for the Tram Face athlete meeting. A 5 AM wake up on Friday to drive the 2 hours back to Kirkwood, for qualifyers only to learn I was prequalified for the Finals set for Sunday (the same day Tram Face was scheduled). Back to Squaw by 4:30 for the bib draw, I drew bib 10 giving me a pretty early start.

Saturday was a nice break from driving I rode Squaw. Good times, the snow was deep and wet.

Sunday, up at the crack, to Squaw ready to make some history. Just two minutes before the first athlete dropped, a photographer looking for a better shot sympathetically triggered a big avalanche. Cancelled for the day.

Panic back to Kirkwood. With time as an issue I only scoped my line from the top. Had a butt check, but felt good about my line. I can’t complain about getting to ride a permanently closed area with a foot of windbuffed powder.

The competition was fierce, the lines were legit and my buddy Ralph Backstrom came out in third place, Stoked! Stayed for the awards then back to North Lake.

Yesterday, Monday March 1^st up at 5 AM at squaw by 6 AM to load the tram for our inspection run. The snow was looking deep and fast, and the tide was pretty high on the venue. A 2 run format, best run counts, was a cool way to judge the comp. I was especially happy with the format when I crashed my last air leaving me in last place after run one.

I decided I needed redemption, and to change up the top of my run. I had always wanted to jump off the roof of one of the tram buildings, and there was an amazing natural hip right below that landing, too fun to miss. My second run felt good, stomped the roof drop, did a backside three of the hip, and slogged out the landing of my bottom air. It was enough to put me in third. I am so F@$#ing stoked!!!!

Next stop, Verbier.

HELLTRACK

2010-03-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Helltrack has been an ongoing project in the hills of lake Tahoe, Thanks to B.J. Baur and Roan Rogers for inviting me and some friends to go shred it. Don't ask me where it is because I was literally blindfolded and flown in by helicopter.

Austria Part II

2010-03-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

A little pillow here, a little pillow there = FUN

After waiting for five days for some fresh snow we finally got some, about 30 cms to be exact. Apparently we had great dumb luck when we choose this valley for our trip, it seems that when a storm from the southwest comes through Austria the Defereggental Valley usually gets the brunt of it. Since the first day of new snow was going to be a cloudy, stormy day we decided to stick to the trees and do the unique experience of tractor skiing. What fun! The tractor has a sleigh attached to haul people up a snow covered road, and most utilize the tractor to reach the restaurant/hut at the top and then go tobaggin sledding down the road. It's pretty awesome when you have fantastic pillow skiing to yourself. At the end of our day we switched it up to the sleds and raced each other to the bottom after having some locally-brewed schnapps and beer, typical Austrian style.

Cody in playland

The next day went blue so we headed up the resort to see what we could find. What we found was avalanches on every aspect all over the valley, and then the wind kicked in as the morning progressed so going up high was completely out of the question. We were able to find a small zone that worked fine (the snow was quite nice), but by the end of the day the avalanche conditions became worse. We completely anticipated this and worked with the conditions accordingly, but when I ended up propogating a substantial slide we decided to call it for the day. No need to put ourselves in anymore danger. That just about sums up our sweet little trip to Austria. Good skiing, good beer and good friends equals great times!

The tractor that gets us up to the goods

I don't mind making powder turns

Cody logging in some airtime

Hmmm... which sled looks the fastest?!

Getting ready for some sledding

Cody bringing out his dorky side, the GoPro cameras have a knack for that

Saucer sledding was a great way to kill downtime

Austria = Beer

Cody making pow turns the Euro way

A quaint little village in a dangerous canyon

As you can see, natural slides eluded no faces

Ben, the cameraman, also enjoying the pow

At the beginning of my slide, you can see it propagating around me

The outcome...

Contemplating our trip. Well... we had a blast!

Freeride World Tour Tram Face in Silverado

2010-03-02T08:54:00.001-08:00

Squaw Comp Run from Tim Dutton on Vimeo.

Auction for Sherry and Ayla McConkey

2010-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Hello all Marker athletes and Industry Friends,

By now I hope you have all heard of our partnership with the good people at Gibson Guitars. They made us three custom, one-of-a-kind instruments featuring Marker & Volkl graphics. We are launching the Marker auction today, and it is the most important one, so we need your help.

All proceeds (every single cent) of the final auction price will go to Shane McConkey’s wife Sherry and daughter Ayla. We will also add to the total amount. The auction is currently live on-line at www.markerusa.com:

http://markerusa.com/auction.php

The auction will conclude next Friday, March 12, at 12:00 midnight Eastern Standard Time. We need you, our athletes, partners, colleagues, and friends to help us increase awareness of the auction so that we can raise as much money as possible. Please forward this email, post on your own websites and blogs, post to your Facebook pages, twitter feeds, etc. I have attached a couple of photos.

How do I bid? Click on the “Bid Now” button on the link above. You will be asked to set up a user name and password. Once you do this, it will work much like ebay. IMPORTANT for international bidders: the username and password form is in USA address format. To overcome this, simply place “NH” in the State field and leave the rest blank. This will allow you to register. If you have any problems registering, please reply to this email and I will help.

Can I see the guitar before the auction? If you live in Northern California, yes. It will be only display the last night of the auction at Plaza Bar/Bar One in Squaw Valley. We will have more details on this event in the next few days.

What if I don’t play guitar? Doesn’t matter. It’s a collector’s piece. You can always donate it to a third party (like a music charity) or perhaps even to Shane’s family.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give us with this effort. It is very much appreciated. The final donation will be made through http://shanemcconkey.org/

BO REAL!! SON

2010-03-01T09:56:00.001-08:00

Squaw Valley Prom Highlights

2010-02-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

So here are a few Highlights from the Squaw Valley Prom presented by High Fives, Porterstahoe.com, and Biking for a better world. It was a great night the were a lot of good costumes as well. Chappy wondered around and played with his new camera while listening to the sounds of the Silver Boombox Thief and Mike Relm. If you were there I am sure you had fun and if you were not you should go next year. Not only is it a great time but the proceeds all go to a great cause.

Check it!