iRide
Zaskoda’s Snowboarding Journal

Looks as though our dear friend Burton is getting into the movie biz with For Right or Wrong. Being a web guy, I gotta talk about the website first. It’s sexy, the preview is awesome… but someone smack the designers in the back of the head for the text. I don’t know what size monitors they’re working with, but I’ve got a 21″ Dell LCD with DVI and I can barely freak’n read it! Because it’s flash, you can’t increase the font size. You can’t even copy and paste it into something else!!! Come on guys, stop being so geh (and I mean that in the bad way, not the other way)….

The movie looks to be very entertaining. The site has a nice preview and a variety of downloadable media. There’s also an upcoming tour that isn’t scheduled. Strangely enough, no Dallas dates! (lol)… Anyway, because some second rate designer (actually, the visual design on the site is stunning, it’s the practicality that’s broken) I hand typed all of the description text in human readable form, just for you:

Produced by Mandalay Entertainment, “For Right or Wrong” takes an inside look at what it’s like to snowboard for a living and combines action and documentary-style footage about riders’ lives both on and off the hill. The movie carves out individual story lines that focus on the different facets of pro snowboarding, including the urban snowboarding scene, the competitive snowboard lifestyle and a riding trip to Russia with competitive snowboard lifestyle and riding trip to Russian with Jake Burton, his oldest son George and select Burton team riders.

“When we set out to create ‘For Right or Wrong’ our vision was to show the variety in snowboarders’ personalities, their riding styles and the terrain they ride - all from an insider’s viewpoint,” says Jake Burton, Founder and Chairman of Burton Snowboards. “It’s a perspective on our sport that has never been seen before.”

Shaun White, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Jake Burton Carpenter, George Carpenter, David Carrier-Porcheron, Terje Haakonsen, Dave Downing, Mads Jonsson, Jeremy Jones and Nicholas Miller all star in the movie, which was filmed in Japan, New Zealand, Italy, Norway, Russia, California, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Vermont, Minnesota and Alaska.

So there it is, enjoy!

I happened across another link for the Coolzone Winterplex announcement last spring on the Dallas Biz Journal. Sure it’s old news, but I wanted to get an entry pointing to it.

Wow, it’s not even November yet, and it’s already getting started. First of all, the news is buzzing about a heavy snowfall that hit the north east. This is actually kinda creepy as some places are reporting record snow falls for october. I’m one of those people who buys into the whole theory of us screwing up the planet’s weather patterns… Of course, I’m also one of those people who buys into the whole theory that mother nature will just get rid of us if we cause too much of a problem too..

Anyway, the race to open first is over, and Arapahoe Basin wins! Of course, they cheated and used man made snow - but hey, what do you expect? I guess this means the season has official started. Well, at least temperatures have cooled off here in Texas. While a select few people start carving early, I’ll try to fill my time with some mountain biking, rock climbing, or trips to the gym so I can be in shape by the time my trip gets here.

To all those who got the white powder early, enjoy!

Ski Press World is reporting that NASA Confirms El Niño’s Return. Awesome! El Niño bringeth snow! Woo hoo!

However, a little bit of reading into the article isn’t AS exciting.  Conditions are not as strong as they were in 97/98 and the effect could taper off. Still, the potential for a great snow season is very strong. Everyone do your rain snow dances.

During the next several weeks and months, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA will continue to closely monitor conditions in the Pacific to determine how the evolution of this El Niño may impact weather patterns this winter.

Remember when I said how great it would be if Texas had an artificial park? Well, it’s happening! The plans are to finish the park by 2008. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the park is just ‘proposed’ or if it’s funded and under way. I will have to try to find out.

The place is called Coolzone Winterplex. I’ve heard that it’s an indoor place. Given our summer heat, this may very well be a good idea. I must admit, I can’t imagine riding inside.

I was also right about what material would be used. It is indeed Snowflex. Check out this CBS video announcement about the park. I was a little surprised to hear that there was nothing like this in the world. I know Europe has enjoyed Snowflex parks for a while. I wonder if our park is going to offer something new and different - other than the rather annoying notion that it’s a theme park. I’ll have to get beyond that real fast though, because I’m going to be able to snowboard in my own backyard!

Here’s the press release from March:

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