Over the Olympic break, I have not only had the oppurtunity to film sports but some lifestyle footage from downtown. Below are a couple of the shots I have been working on, along side Andrew Lee. The plan is to create a film showing the spirit of Vancouver, especially within the 2010 Olympics as many of you have witnessed.
Jeremy
Hey folks,
I’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding the 2009/2010 Blogospondent search. Actually, just one. Have the bloggers been picked yet? Here’s what’s been going on in the Grouse Mountain Batcave.
Firstly, we have successfully developed a fully functional Grousepark.com replica of the late 70’s Batmobile. No joke, it’s there. So don’t be surprised if you see parachutes in the parking lot. We’ve gotta slow this baby down somehow.
Naturally, with all the work involved in developing such a sensational vehicle, we’ve had little time to review and short list applicants. All jokes aside, Michelle Evans has been doing her best to get things moving, but she’ll be going on maternity leave in a mere three weeks (on my birthday, coincidentally), so understandably she’s got a lot on her plate. We are trying our best, currently, to get things sorted on Thursday and hopefully announce the next contestants on the Price is Right…er, Grousepark.com, by the end of this week.
So, sorry for the delay, we’re working on it, we promise! See below for one of the perks you get if you ARE chosen as a blogger.
Not even available in stores. Who says writing for Grousepark.com doesn’t pay off?
Cheers without the beers,
Sam
The trend for 2010 in the industry seems to be towards the green movement. Eco-friendly materials and recycled construction. Stepchild too claims to be going green, and by green, they mean the colour green. That’s it. Stepchild founder Sean Johnson sums up the decisions to take a jab at companies claim green by saying “…It’s not poking fun at the companies that are really making a difference in the world today with the environmental issues. It’s more aimed at the companies that claim to be green for the sole purpose to increase sales….If you take this catalog too seriously, you need to lighten up – it’s snowboarding.”
If anyone understands snowboarding, it’s Stepchild. Since day one, they’ve been about putting the shred before the paper pushing. Entering their seventh year of business, the continue to look into more eco-friendly materials and construction methods. In the meantime, they promise to reduce their footprint by wearing smaller shoes and building boards that last longer. Here’s a peek at the boards they’re talking about for 2010.
First of all, it’s worth mentioning that select models will be available with RETT (Round Edge Tapered Tuning). Team rider JP Walker describes RETT as “The board comes from the factory with the option of pre-dulled edges between the bindings that gradually gets sharper as it reaches the nose and tail. Basically, you can put bindings on it and dive into your local double kink without any hesitation.”
Stepchild’s entry level board, the Latchkey, is geared towards park and rails. It’s got a soft flex and a true twin shape. If you’re looking to dive into park next season, take a look at the Latchkey. It rides great and have an affordable price tag to boot.
Slightly stiffer flexing than the Latchkey, Everything Sucks is next years version of the Powder Sucks board from this season. They graphics are sick and you know it’s legit when a company can say they suck with ease. The board also names a bunch of other things that suck, but don’t get distracted while riding.
New for next season is the Chi Borg. This twin tip board features 6mm of reverse camber to keep it buttery and give you smoother pop. It’s got a medium flex rating, but falls more on the softer side of medium when riding. Perfect for all you mountain needs, it handles itself well in the park but also in the deep, fluffy stuff.
The Jib Stick is back next season with 3 different sizes of reverse camber corresponding to the size of the board. The 148 will feature 4mm rocker, the 153 will have 6mm of rocker and rounding the line up with 8mm of rocker will be the 156. Once again, this is a medium flexing board, but feels much softer when you’re actually riding it. Specific to the Jib Stick is the Trojan rubber…strip inserted into the sidewall for shock absorption purposes. It also has the option of RETT. PS: I love this board.
JP’s pro model for 2010 features a new mini 138 and a 157 in the size line up. This board is a twin tip, but it designed with a Kicker III core, basically meaning that it can cross over from street to backcountry with no problems. It’s also got a 14 hole insert pattern on each foot so you can dial your stance in. No need for Buton ESTs!
Long time team rider, Simon Chamberlain’s new pro model should remind a lot of you about those good times as a kid, playing with Lego. Simon went with a directional nose shape this season to stay above the snow in the pow, but has a centered stance and a twin core shape, to keep it riding like a twin in the park. The carbon stringers in the core add hecka pop!
Everyone’s doing collabs, so why not Stepchild? Upcoming is the Thirty Two/Stepchild collaboration using the Everything Sucks board. It comes in a limited colourway and Thirty Two will be putting out its Lashed boot in a matching, collab colour too!
On the women’s side of things, Stepchild offers you two boards. The Harlequin, which is the entry level twin tip with soft flex, or the Moustache Rider, a narrower twin tip featuring Kicker I core (Read: smoother flexing and poppy!) for those with small feet and a slightly stiffer flex.
Thanks to Perry Pugh at OB1 Enterprises for helping me out and allowing me to take a Jib Stick out to the hill for some testing. Like I said, I loved the board. Keep your eyes peeled for all the product reviews to start falling in a matter of days.
Hit the foam pits!
Sam
Hiya folks, you know the drill.
Fellow blogger Dan Jonas and I were able to get out paws on some 2010 Ride gear to take to Grouse mountain. With the help of Rodrigo Caula, proprietor of Choice Apparel, and two femmes from Grouse’s local J-Crew, Alice Gorton and Sydney Schram, we were able to test the Crush, Machete and DH on the men’s side, and the Canvas and Compact on the women’s side as well as a bunch of bindings and those crazy light boots. Keep your eyes peeled for product reviews coming soon.
Speaking of Choice Apparel, the new product was shipped out last Wednesday and the line is officially launched as of March 11th. If you haven’t already done so, hit up the site and get your orders in via email at choiceapparel@hotmail.com!
Some more Choice news. Grouse Mountain pro team rider, Jenelle Pritchard is the first girl on the Choice team. Yay!
It’s been flaking kittens for the past week and that good ol’ west coast snow is covering the mountains. It’s wet, it’s heavy, and it’s so much fun. Get out and play in the trees, but don’t slow down or get stuck.
Is it just me or is that quarter pipe amazingly fun? Good job, park crew.
I currently have no park board due to base delamination. Lucky for me, it’s been pow so I’ve been able to get my 159 out of retirement. Anyone wanna help me out with something a little/a lot smaller?
I’m going to be sitting down with the founder of Spacecraft Clothing, Stefan Hofmann, for an interactive interview this weekend. For those that haven’t heard, Spacecraft is an art project using clothing as a medium. Go and check it out. The product is sick and the art is even better. They’re currently based out of Bali and keep a grassroots feel to everything they do. Pacific Boarder will be carrying the spring line, so make sure you go and take a look. I’ll have more on Spacecraft in the next couple days.
Shreddies for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,
Sam
The first year Union hit the snowboard scene, their bombproof bindings had a zero percent warranty return rate. Entering their 5th season, their 2010 lineup remains an industry standard in strength and versatility. Union isn’t all hype either, there’s a very good reason riders want to strap into a pair of their bindings.
I’m a huge tech nerd. When it comes to boards, bindings, boots, whatever, I want to know what all the tech means. Leafing through tech profiles, it is apparent what sets Union apart from the rest. First of all, their belief in their product quality is so high, that unlike other brands, they offer you a lifetime warranty on their gear. Guaranteed you probably won’t use it. They’re using industry firsts, such as magnesium and aluminum injected heelcups for strength and injected EVA bushings to dampen vibrations while riding. Their bindings also reduce the dead zone bindings create in the natural flex of the board. If you’ve ever mounted a pair of bindings, then taken them off after a season, you’ve noticed the wear mark on the board from the base of your bindings. Try throwing on a pair of Unions. Only 19% of the base is in contact with the board, eliminating a lot of the dead zone and allowing you to experience a lot more of the true flex of your board.
Union offers two shapes of highbacks. Asymmetric/Symmetric highbacks distribute the force and stress on the highbacks out from the bottom of the highback to the outer edges near the top. Multizone highbacks layer the design into three zones, each with its own strength to flex ratio, with the most strength located at the base and going up to a 50-50 split between strength and flex at the top.
The base structure is made to dampen vibrations. It layers a solid, one piece fibreglass blend base with injected EVA and purethane bushings, followed by a durometer dampener to essentially eliminate dead zones.
Union was one of the first five companies worldwide to use injected magnesium for their heelcups. When it comes to snowboarding, they are the only company to use this tech. It results in a stronger and lighter heelcup, reducing the overall weight of the binding. Their also use injected aluminum heelcups of most of their models, which are anodized after they come out of the mold. Anodizing basically means that it’s strong than straight up aluminum. I’m switched my old heelcups to anodized injected aluminum (thanks Dad!) when they broke and I’ve sh*t kicked them to the curb, but the heelcups still hold strong. It makes a difference.
For those of you that I’ve bored with the tech, perk up. Here’s a sneak peek at the product.
The Force-MCs feature an asymmetrical carbon highback and magnesium hardware to ensure strength and resulting in one of the lightest bindings out there.
The Data features 3D molded ankle straps, aluminum heelcups and comes in a killer Rasta colourway. Next year also marks the first season Union is putting out a true pro model.
The Danny Kass is based off the Contact chasis and features carbon infused into the baseplate and highback. Available in Danny’s own Turbo colourway.
Speaking of the Contact, this binding offers minimal board to binding contact and is designed to compliment reverse camber boards and their flex patterns and is exteremely lightweight.
This year, Union is also hitting the sustainable, enviro conscious maket with the Re-Union. This binding is the same as the Cadet but uses recycled EVA and excess/byproduct materials left from the manufacture of the other bindings in the Union line. Along with creating an amazing binding, they’ve also essentialy eliminated all nylon waste. Couple this with the Capita Geen Machine and you’ve gotta yourself a hippiemobile on snow.
On the woman’s end of things, the tech is the same, but the fitting is made for a woman’s physique.
The Trilogy features a highback made specifically for a woman’s calf, which is lower than a man’s, provide a more comfortable fit. It also has a woman’s specific baseplate and a softer flex profile designed with a lighter weight rider in mind.
The Milan is another woman’s specific binder featuring an anatomic specific Multizone highback for more comfort and super cush padding that’ll let you ride all day.
Keep your eyes peeled for Union on store shelves next September. Thanks once again to Mikey Scott and Tony Lefroy for helping us get some of the product in the park for some reviews, which will be coming your way soon.
See you on the hill,
Sam
Capita has been on the up and up since 2000. This Seattle-based company currently has one of the sickest teams in the industry, featuring the likes of Danny Kass, Dan Brisse and TJ Schenider, to name a few. Capita created a lot of hype last season with their late release Horrorscope FK and had people raving about this soft park board. Just ask fellow blogger Dan Jonas, he’d probably marry his Horrorscope if it was a girl. Recently, I was able to talk to Mikey Scott, Marketing Manager for Capita and Union in Canada. Capita is sticking to the saying that you don’t change a good thing… unless you’re making it even better, and that’s exactly what they’ve done. The line up is super diverse and covers all your riding needs.
The big news for next year are the Green Machine FK and the Charlie Slasher Pow FK. This season, the Horrorscope featured Park FK, which kept the base flat between the bindings, reverse camber to the the effective edge and flat kick tips. This tech is featured on their Green Machine, which features a sustainable core to make construction more eco-friendly. If there’s anything us Canadians like, it’s eco-friendliness. Next season will mark the introduction of Pow FK, which is featured on the Charlie Slasher. This keeps the base flat from effective egde to effective edge then goes up into flat kick tips, to give the board more lift on those epic “I’m stuck in waist deep pow!” days… except you won’t be stuck with this deck.
Park FK on top, Pow FK on the bottom
Keeping it hippie conscious! The fine print says Mother Earth thanks you
Capita has also extended the number of boards that now feature Park FK. Decks that feature this tech include the Indoor Survival, previously my favourite Capita board with traditional camber, Horrorscope, Green Machine and Space Metal Fantasy for women. Needless to say, I’m super stoked on the Indoor Survival FK. All these decks look sick., but don’t take my word for it, judge for yourselves!
In addition to all the FK boards, the keystone Stairmaster and Stairmaster Extreme decks are back. As some of you may know, the Horrorscope is based off the Stairmaster series. It’s basically a FK Stairmaster, which explains why Stairmaster doesn’t feature FK. That’s just be silly and redundant. The Stairmaster Extreme in particular is looking amazingly rad with it’s tabloid collage influenced art work and screen printed base. Let this board be a reminder to all you wanna be rockstars. Keep your clothes on and you’ll stay off the front page.
Tried, tested and true, the Stairmaster Extreme is back
Mikey and Tony are also letting us grab a few decks off them to test THIS WEEK! The tests will be dropping on Wednesday, so if any of these decks look interesting to you, and they should, be sure to check back soon, as we will have have some feedback for you and even some video footage of how they ride. We even have the lovely Alice Gorton helping us out with the women’s boards, for you ladies out there.
Cheers without the beers,
Sam
