Skiers vs Boarders

We all thought that the age-old fued between boarders and skiers had been put to rest. Oh, but to the contrary it still has its moments. Burton Snowboard has a campaign entitled "Poacher Freedom" which offers $5,000 to the person who submits the best video documentation of their poaching experience at each of the four resorts in North America that do not allow snowboarding.
Surely this will only result in provoking a confrontation somewhere this winter. I am not certain, but I would be willing to bet that Burton's design on this gimmick is to do exactly that..........provoke confrontation which they hope will lead to change. By the way, is it just coincidence that Taos Ski Valley revealed its surprise in mid December, announcing that it will allow snowboarding starting March 19, 2008?
Who are the remaining holdouts?????????? Mad River Glen in Vermount, Deer Valley and Alta in Utah.

Reaction to RCR

Last Fall I blogged you about Resorts of the Canadian Rockies(RCR) stunning the freeride community when it banned jumps from terrain parks at all of its resorts. Their objective was to maximize safety for its guests. Reaction from the freestyle community have included the following............
"stunningly misguided," "laughingstock," 'bunch of old skiers" (not meant in a nice way)!
Riders have accused RCR of simply not wanting to spend the $ on such snow-heavy features. RCR denied such, but by bolstering its rail gardens, they cemented suspicions that the motivation was fincncial as rails are inexpensive in comparison to jumps.
Irregardless of who is correct, many freestylers have sworn to avoid RCR resorts.
Will the RCR policy take off and see others jump on board???????? Not likely in my mind. I have yet to see such actions anywhere else. Whistler even jumped on this and went the other direction. They have reinforced their comittment to keep their jumps. Freestylers love to get air and I do not believe they will be denied.
Later, ed

Special Olympics.......

Special Olympics.........what a great event.........what a run of bad luck. Thursday morning we were sitting at 10 degrees below zero......
Three days later we are under the gun with 60 degrees at noon and temps to continue the rise throughout the afternoon. It is so strange, but something we have become accustomed to is looking out at 2 to 4 foot of snow throuhgout the entire area while people are cruising the slopes in shorts and short sleeves. Keep in mind that the calendar says early January.
Anyway, this will mark 4 years in a row that Special Olymics has been zapped with crazy warm weather..........irregardless of what day they pick.
They deserve a break!
ed