Four minutes twenty eight secondes

This guy was so lucky, that must be the longest minutes of his life.

Even small avalanches are a serious danger to life, even with properly trained and equipped companions who avoid the avalanche. Between 55 and 65 percent of victims buried in the open are killed, and only 80 percent of the victims remaining on the surface survive. Thus, one normally would have a 20% chance of survival if caught in a significant avalanche. Research carried out in Italy based on 422 buried skiers indicates how the chances of survival drop:

* very rapidly from 92 percent within 15 minutes to only 30 percent after 35 minutes (victims die of suffocation)
* near zero after two hours (victims die of injuries or hypothermia)

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

Mick Fanning is getting closer of N1 spot

Mick is the fastest surfer out there, actually I saw him surfing at my old break, Ponto at Carlsbad and it seriously makes you wonder what you are doing wrong as he goes 10 faster than anybody out there..

Create the next glove for Grenade

Since I was a kid, I always loved when companies would get involved with the kids by doing some kind of artistic competition.

It is also a good way for the winner to get noticed in the industry. More importantly Grenade is going to get bunch of design ideas for free (not quite but almost).

Rob Machado on CNN / "The Drifter"

Rob has lived for quite some time in Indonedisa, so here is his interview from CNN:

O'Neil will start to sell snow goggles and sunglasses in March 2010

O’Neill and Orange 21 (NASDAQ:ORNG) are pleased to announce an agreement whereby Orange 21 will design and develop O'Neill Eyewear under a license agreement. The agreement sees Orange 21 working closely with O’Neill’s designers to design, develop, market and sell O’Neill branded sunglasses and snow goggles expected to launch to market in March 2010.

Michael Neil, O’Neill’s Global Head of Brand Development & Licensing, is excited about this new development for the brand; "Due to O'Neill's integral connection with the beach and snow lifestyle, eyewear is a natural extension for O'Neill and who better to team up with than the experts at Orange 21. They have proven competence in the eyewear category, which they have successfully gained over the last 15 years with SPY OPTIC."

The sunglass line is expected to be released in March 2010 for Spring 2010 delivery and is expected be formally unveiled at the January 2010 Action Sports tradeshows in San Diego, California and Orlando, Florida.

The snow goggle line is expected to be released at the SIA show in Denver, Colorado and ISPO in Munich, Germany. The snow goggle product line is expected to be available for delivery in August of 2010 for 2010/11 snow season sales. All products will be distributed through O'Neill retail stores and O’Neill’s existing dealer network among other channels.

"The convergence of two great brands is not only a story of success in a tough economy, it also signals an amazing level of respect and competency when the leading wetsuit brand pairs up with the leading action sports eyewear brand to produce a line," said Stone Douglass, CEO of Orange 21. "Given the two brands' reputations for quality products in the marketplace, it's safe to say that we expect a huge success with O'Neill eyewear."

"The strength of the O'Neill brand makes for a very attractive partnership between our two companies," said Matt Harkins, Orange 21 Brand Manager, “Like the amazing products that O’Neill develops, we make products that support and protect life out in the elements of nature. The variety in the O'Neill brand has made it an authentic fixture in sport, fashion and board sports culture. This eyewear line is a continuation of that O’Neill story and we are honored to be a part of it."

Artic Challenge 2010

The Oakley Arctic Challenge is pleased to announce our first ten confirmed riders for the 2010 event. These ten riders are some of the best all-around snowboards in the world hailing from Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and the US: Andreas Ygre Wiig, Torstein Horgmo, Mikkel Bang, Eero Ettala, Antti Autti, Peetu Piiroinen, Charles Reid, Sebastiant Toutant, Jake Blauvelt and Chas Guldemond.

In the coming months TAC will be announcing another 14 top pro-riders to the list of competitors on our web site Thearcticchallenge.com. Additionally, 16 final spots are open for amateur riders with a distinct desire to spend the most vital years of their lives in airports, hotels and rental cars. The riders can expect quite the experience in Norway for 2010 with the addition of a slopestyle event to the already world famous TAC quarterpipe.

As previously announced, TAC is providing double rooms for the top 24 invited riders. If opening a bottle of champagne with a friend in Oslo sounds tempting to you, then this is the year to join us for a New Years celebration.

SIA 2008/2009 report

However it is important to note that each brand may appeal to a different market, here is an example from Ride corporate info:

"At the end of the 07/08 season, based on rider submissions & Ride Chronicle registrations, Ride's demographics are approximately 85% Male and 15% Female, with the largest age grouping being 18-24 years old. On average, $300 - $600 is spent annually on snowboard gear, and though over 20% of respondents are lucky enough to get over 50 days a year on the slopes, most ride 11-30 days, which is well above the reported industry average of 9 days per season. And there you have it!"

Note: I found those diapositives on transworld business site


We received the following insight from SIA's research guru Kelly Davis explaining the growth in snowboarder visits:
Participation was up across the board for 2008. It correlates with the 60.5 million (a new record) skier/rider visits to resorts reported for the 2007/08 season when La Niña conditions brought record snowfall to alpine resorts across the U.S (there were 57.4 million skier rider visits reported in the 2008/09 Kottke End of Season report). According to the NSGA Sports Participation Study, alpine skiing participation was up almost 19% and snowboarding was up 16% for 2008. The sample for the NSGA study is a bit small so we triangulate the results with the Kottke Skier/Rider visits report issued by NSAA and another participation study SIA sponsors along with OIA, SGMA, tennis, golf, NCPPA and others that includes 41,500 responses. We have two seasons of data from that study and cannot use it yet to trend participation, however, for now it serves as a good check on the trends reported by NSGA and a better view of the actual number of snowboard participants. Additionally, that study looks at participation by season rather than by year. The NSGA and the larger SIA Participation Panel study correlate well:

NSGA Participation Study (participated at least 2 times in the given year) – 5,063,000 riders in 2007 and 5,854,000 riders in 2008
SIA Participation Panel Study (participated at least 2 times in the given season) – 5,874,000 for 2006/07 and 6,099,000 riders in 2007/08

Partysnake " Again"

partysnake again teaser from leepipes on Vimeo.

Here is the new movie from party snake called "Again", that should be available by November

Good Wood Award

Over 30 brands sent in a total of 450 boards to be tested last spring in Breckenridge, Colorado’s Park Lane Park, Freeway Superpipe, and the 2,400 vertical feet of all-mountain terrain on Peak 8. The 23 testers scored the boards based on characteristics that define a good board such as turning, flex, high-speed stability; and also those specific to park, pipe, or all-mountain boards.

The results are broken down into categories including Top 10 Men’s And Women’s Under $399, Top 10 Men’s And Women’s Over $400, and Top 5 Best Pipe Boards.

Top Ten Women’s Under $399
Burton The Social
Capita Space Metal Fantasy
DC BFT
Endeavor Boyfriend Series
Gnu B-Nice BTX
K2 VaVaVoom Rocker
Rome Detail
Roxy Ollie Pop BTX
Signal Vita Park
Technine Women’s Jib

Top Ten Women’s Over $400
Arbor Cadence
Burton Lipstick (All-Mountain)
Gnu B-Pro BTX (All-Mountain)
K2 EcoPOP (All-Mountain)
Lib Tech Skate Banana
Nitro T1
Rome Lo-Fi 1985 (All-Mountain)
Roxy Eminence BTX (All-Mountain)
Salomon Gypsy
Technine One Love

Top Ten Men’s Under $399
Artec Gabe Taylor
Burton Blunt
Capita Horrorscope FK
Forum Youngblood Chillydog
K2 Darkstar
K2 WWW Rocker
Nitro Swindle
Omatic Extr-Eco Wigglestick
Salomon Drift
Rossignol Angus (All-Mountain)

Top Ten Men’s Over $400
Burton Easy Livin’
Burton Custom V-Rocker (All-Mountain)
Burton Joystick (All-Mountain)
Forum Destroyer Chillydog
Gnu Park Pickle
K2 Parkstar
K2 Slayblade (All-Mountain)
Lib Tech Skate Banana
Nitro Rook
Ride Machete

Pipe
Burton Vapor
Forum Seeker
Gnu Danny Kass BTX
Lib Tech TRS
Salomon Official

New Salomon 09/10 site

Salomon Snowboards announces the launch of its new website featuring the award winning 09/10 product line, Global and Am team info, exclusive video content that you won’t see anywhere else, photos, and a regularly updated community page.

Salomon Snowboards current Pro and Am team consists of Josh Dirksen, Louif Paradis, David Benedek, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Jed Anderson, Annie Boulanger, Sylvain Bourbousson, Scotty Arnold, Jenny Jones, Chris Grenier, Bode Merrill, Desiree Melancon and Werni Stock.