Author Archives: Jerry Rice

Top skiers prepare for final Rahlves’ Banzai Tour challenge at Sugar Bowl

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The Rahlves’ Banzai Tour will end where it all began more than 70 years ago — the Silver Belt gully at Sugar Bowl Resort.

Some of the best skiers and snowboarders in the West will battle it out to cap off the four-stop skiing competition with a win at Sugar Bowl.

The Rahlves’ Banzai Tour is described as “big mountain freeskiing meets skier/boardercross.” Competitors race in four-person heats over natural terrain in a contest of pure skiing speed. Previous stops include Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley USA.

The Rahlves’ Banzai dates back to the famed Silver Belt downhill race, which began at Sugar Bowl in 1940 and was considered one of North America’s premier ski races, attracting elite skiers from across the nation.

Daron Rahlves — Olympian, X Games gold medalist, one of the most decorated downhill skiers in U.S. history, and freesking film star — helped reshape the race into the four-resort circuit that it is today. Although he does not compete in the other three stops of the tour, he will take on the ski winners of all four tour stops in a one-time, winner-takes-all, $10,000 cash prize Super Final at Sugar Bowl on Sunday.

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Squaw Valley expands its Mainline terrain park with 22-foot super pipe

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A snowboarder takes on the challenge of Squaw’s new 22-foot super pipe, located in Mainline. (Photo by Matt Palmer)

Squaw Valley has openned a 22-foot super pipe in Mainline on the resort’s upper mountain. The super pipe is the latest addition to Squaw Valley’s terrain parks, which include two Start Parks and four terrain parks spread across the mountain.

The terrain parks currently include a 13-foot mini-pipe and a snowcross-course under Big Blue Express, a five pack jump line and wide variety of jibs on Gold Coast, and the 22-foot superpipe in Maineline off of Siberia.

With features ranging from mini learning features all the way up to pro-style jumps and jibs, the terrain parks at Squaw Valley have never had so much variety and offered snowboarders and skiers so many choices for park and pipe fun, a resort spokeswoman said.

The park crew at Squaw Valley has been working with Snow Park Technologies (SPT) to develop and maintain top-level terrain parks for skiers and riders of all ability levels. SPT is the world leader in terrain park development, and is responsible for the park builds at the Winter X Games and the Dew Tour.

Start Parks located at SnoVentures and in the High Camp beginner areas offer the cutting-edge concept of terrain based learning. These snow-sculpted features help first-time skiers and snowboarders make their first turns, ultimately reducing the time that it takes to learn how to link turns.

For skiers and riders who just starting out in terrain parks, Squaw’s Belmont Terrain Park offers small to medium features in various shapes and sizes. The Belmont Terrain Park is now easier to access than ever before with high-speed access from mid-mountain via the resort’s new Big Blue Express and The Pulley – a modern rope-tow that helps skiers and riders make it across the flats.

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Three resorts in one, Mountain High is a SoCal winter wonderland

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Mountain High is popular with skiers and snowboarders from throughout Southern California, including the Inland Empire. They tend to make a day of it at the resort, instead of coming for an extended visit.

By Trevor Summons

The first time I went to a ski resort, I was entranced. I was only passing through but the atmosphere was truly wonderful. The ultraviolet light bouncing off the snow, the warm sunshine, the excitement of the skiers and the clump of their boots all added up to something magical.

Unfortunately, at the time I was very engaged in business and feared the sport for its injuries. Back then we were quite used to seeing returning winter sports enthusiasts with a foot and lower leg encased in plaster of Paris, and trying to maneuver crutches around. We didn’t have the quick-release bindings and other scientific advancements of today. I left it well alone.

Many decades later I did try, and perhaps it was too late by then, as after a few attempts I had two broken ribs, a lack of dignity and the decision to literally walk away from it all.

Had I waited until now, and joined the “Learn to Turn” course being offered by Mountain High Ski Resort, the outcome might well have been different.

“We offer a day’s course, on Tuesdays,” said Kim Hermon, the marketing manager of the resort. “For $39 we provide the equipment, the lift tickets and the instruction to get you started.”

I think that would have been just what I needed.
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Mountain High’s fresh powder prompts a cool video production

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At Mountain High, they must be excited about the 8 to 10 inches of new snow the resort received on Wednesday, given this video that was posted on Vimeo…

Conditions at the Wrightwood resort should be wonderful for skiing and snowboarding all weekend long. Daytime highs through Sunday are expected to be in the upper 40s, and lows will dip into the 20s, according to weather.com.

Swatch Freeride World Tour set for a landing next week at Kirkwood

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The Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North Face, featuring some of the best skiers and snowboarders on the planet, comes to Kirkwood Mountain Resort next week.

“With unmatched inbounds terrain and some of the deepest snow in the country, Kirkwood is an appropriate choice as the only U.S. stop for the Freeride World Tour,” said Casey Blann, Kirkwood’s general manager. “This event really solidifies our position as one of the premier big mountains in the country, and I personally can’t wait to see these athletes tackle The Cirque.”

Kirkwood’s big mountain venue, The Cirque, is comprised of exposed, steep and raw terrain, which is permanently closed to the general public, allowing for a unique and exciting North American freeride venue.

Athletes are set to arrive on Monday, and the opening ceremonies will be Tuesday. The first day of FWT competition is scheduled for Wednesday, with a weather window extending to Sunday, March 3.

Kirkwood will be the fourth stop on the tour, which started with 36 male skiers, 14 male snowboarders, 14 female skiers and seven female snowboarders. The 2013 FWT features five stops for male skiers and snowboarders, and four stops for female skiers and snowboarders before a cut will be made for the Swatch Xtreme Verbier in Switzerland.

After the fifth stop in Fieberbrunn, Austria, the top three results out of five events for men and the top three results out of four events for women will be used to qualify riders for Verbier and the 2014 FWT.

Next week’s tour stop will be a homecoming for Lake Tahoe’s Josh Daiek, the 2012 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour champion.

“I’m simply stoked for the competition to be at Kirkwood,” he said. ‟It has some of the most fun terrain and is one of the best competition venues in the world.”

For a live webcast of the competition, visit www.freerideworldtour.com. Here’s a video preview…

Welcome to Begaebong, a North Korea ski area that outsiders rarely get to see

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By Jerry Rice

Never thought I’d see the words “ski resort” and “North Korea” in the same sentence – much less type them myself for a post on this SnoWonder site – but here they are.

Eric Lafforgue has made a name for himself by taking amazing photographs the world over, from Cambodia to Kazakhstan to the Papua Islands (with many more locales listed on his website, www.ericlafforgue.com). One of those other places is Begaebong, in North Korea’s Mount Paektu region, where he visited a small ski area.

OK, with a ski run that’s barely 875 yards and a lift with only 80 chairs, there’s no chance this place will ever be mistaken for the resorts at Heavenly or Mammoth. But his video offers a rare glimpse at an attraction that makes for some interesting viewing. We noticed, for example, that there are no skiers whatsoever on the slopes.

Mount Paektu, by the way, is an active volcano that erupts two or three times a century. It has been in the news of late because of warnings that earthquakes from North Korea’s nuclear tests may trigger an eruption.

Go East, young skiers and snowboarders at Mountain High

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Skiers and snowboarders tend to get more out of those banner days on the slopes at Mountain High when they visit the less-crowded East resort. (Mountain High photo)

By Art Bentley

You know who you are.

Evidently, 1,600 vertical feet with a consistent pitch doesn’t appeal to you. Perhaps speed on skis or a snowboard isn’t an attraction. Maybe your legs (or your nerve) aren’t up to the challenge.

Or it could be that you simply don’t do well in your own company. You need to be surrounded by masses of humanity, often with a slightly maniacal streak, a perverse taste for short runs, and an insane fondness for lift lines that can border on anarchy.

Or maybe you’re simply not the sharpest ski on the slope.

Whatever your shortcomings, you’re a Mountain High skier or snowboarder with an irrational preference for the crowded West resort, where any minute, especially on a weekend, you can be run down from behind or sideswiped by an out-of-control snowboarder. Meanwhile, you display an unfathomable disdain for the tranquil, unhurried East. Are you masochistic? How else to explain why you avoid it in droves?

Clearly, you need help. Even those who run Mountain High can’t figure you out.

“It’s always a challenge getting people to go over there,” says John McColly, chief marketing office and an unabashed fan of East.

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Step aside Gangnam Style, it’s time for the Harlem Shake

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By Jerry Rice

Sorry, Psy, but Gangnam Style is so 2012. The dance of this moment is the Harlem Shake.

With tens of thousands of Harlem Shake videos on YouTube — including nearly 9,000 uploaded today alone — it’s safe to call it the latest craze that’s sweeping the nation. Students at campuses around the country, office workers, firefighters, grandmas, and a unit of the Norwegian Army are all busting a move to the techno beat.

Anderson Cooper (inset) watches a video of his staff doing the Harlem Shake.

One video asks whether Wolf Blitzer would do it. His CNN colleague, Anderson Cooper, apparently wouldn’t. When the “Anderson Live” crew interrupted a morning meeting to shake it, they couldn’t get Cooper to join in.

“I gotta say, I was horrified. It made me so uncomfortable,” he said on Tuesday’s show.

Many of the videos are called “original.” Perhaps the one with the best stake to that claim was posted by five bored Australian teens who were stuck indoors during a storm. Their version, “The Harlem Shake v1 (TSCS original),” has 6.3 million views (and counting) in its first week on YouTube. Their story was told by The Courier-Mail in Brisbane.

A quick search came up with several Harlem Shakers in the Inland Empire, so we featured them in a Daily Bulletin story.

Skiers and snowboarders at Mountain High also have gotten in on the act. Here’s their version:

‘The Burn’ is the best video yet from Salomon Freeski TV

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By Jason Blevins
Denver Post 

Now in its sixth year of releasing 12 videos every ski season, Salomon’s Freeski TV has more than established itself as a force in the increasingly congested world of ski films.

Produced by Mike Douglas, the Godfather of Freeskiing, Salomon’s short videos have grown from TV-oriented documentaries to full-blown art. Encapsulating the graceful cinematography of, say, Sweetgrass Productions, with the charging action of Matchstick or TGR, Salomon Freeski TV has found the perfect formula for brief yet titillating ski films. (They could teach the big boys a thing or two on the brevity end.)

This season’s 10th episode, “The Burn,” is the outfit’s best yet, with stunning imagery and top-tier effects merging fire, ice and some mad skiing.

Get ready for family fun and games during Kid-O-Rama at Squaw Valley

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Squaw Valley’s Kid-O-Rama Kastle features four towers, three slides and four staircases. (Squaw Valley photo)

Big trucks, street parties, balloon animals, skating parties and kids’ concerts are just a few of the festivities for families taking place during Squaw Valley’s Kid-O-Rama.

From activities sure to entertain the littlest visitors to action-packed teen snowsports lessons, Kid-O-Rama offers non-stop fun for kids of all ages. Be sure to check out Big Truck Night in the Village featuring fire trucks, snowplows and grooming machines, as well as an outdoor kids’ concert and Dance Party on Ice at High Camp.

Using a chainsaw, tons of snow is transformed into the entrance for the Kid-O-Rama Kastle. (Squaw Valley photo)

New this year is the Kid-O-Rama Kastle, an enormous castle made entirely of snow that is located at the SnoVentures Activity Zone at the base of Squaw Valley. The 5,000-square-foot snow castle was built using 30,000 cubic feet of snow and features four towers, three slides and four staircases. The Kid-O-Rama Kastle is free to enter and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather and conditions permitting.

Kid-O-Rama runs Feb. 15-23.

Families looking for the best deal to ski or snowboard during the Presidents week holiday period can purchase a Tahoe Super 4 Pack, which offers four unrestricted days of skiing and riding anytime this season for less than $83 a day for adults, $70 for young adults and seniors and $43 for kids with no blackout dates. Tahoe Super 4 Packs are available at www.squaw.com and www.skialpine.com, or by calling 800-403-0206.

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