Gear you want but don’t need: Top five at SIA edition

The Snow Show has traded the Colorado Convention Center for the slopes at Winter Park, and the demo orgy is now in full swing. On the convention floor, unnecessary but super-sweet gear was in bountiful supply, including the Zipfy sled profiled in this space a few weeks back. (I bought…

SIA Show roundup: What moved us

Saturday brought snowsports fans out in force to the Colorado Convention Center for Day 3 of the SIA show, while Sunday had a much more relaxed atmosphere. Plenty of cool toys were on display, and buzzwords abounded throughout the weekend…

Turning 80, Frisco super-skier still tearing up the corduroy

Summit Daily News columnist Miles F. Porter IV opened with a shout-out to Jay Brossman for his 80th birthday on Sunday, and I wanted to second the notion.I briefly met Jay after getting onto his chair on the Lift 2 reload at Loveland last spring and our conversation sticks out…

Sneaker Treats: Shoe Shine 4.0 Exhibit

Lo and behold: The blessed union between sneaker geeks and snow sports aficionados has finally hit the honeymoon hotness in Saturday’s Shoe Shine 4.0 Winter Sports Edition exhibit at Andenken Gallery. Since the snow boot is Colorado’s winter sneaker of choice, the shindig (hosted by PULSEarts) is going down as…

SIA Show: Braving the booths on Opening Day

Braving the downtown parking prices, I hit opening of the Snowsports Industries of America show at the Colorado Convention Center. Hordes and hordes of exhibitors were on the main floor of the show, including several local Colorado companies.While the après-ski show parties haven’t really gotten into full swing yet, drink…

Five lessons from the SIA Snow Fashion Show

Overheard at the SIA Snow Fashion Show: “On the lookout for FYB, blue steel, and the assured unintentional comedy” – Jonny Burns, proprietor of SouthOfTheNorth.com and, ahem, FuckYeahBro.com, irreverent snowboarding blogs tracking the trends at the SIA Snow Show this week.If the fashion show at the Wells Fargo Theater (the…

Believe it: Colorado skier/snowboarder visits are UP

The news keeps getting better: For one thing it’s actually snowing up in them thar hills this week, and for another — economyshmonomy — visits to Colorado ski resorts are up this year, according to Colorado Ski Country USA. A couple inches here, one lone percentage point there… We’ll take…

SIA Party Planner: Five fab Friday fiestas

The SIA Snow Show’s in town this week, and we’ll be helping you sort through the swag:  On Friday, start at the Fillmore for the 11th Annual TransWorld Snowboarding Rider’s Poll Awards ($17). Then hit Marc Frank Montoya’s party with DJ Crime at City Hall, benefiting Colorado’s Snowboard Outreach Society…

Ski Tuning, Part 4: How to Wax your Skis

In this final episode of our four-part series on ski tuning strategies, Matt Hupperts of the Edgeworks in Denver shows you how to hot wax your skis, using a waxing iron and a plastic scraper. On the slopes, you can crayon on a cold wax to improve performance of your…

Jamaica’s got a ski cross team

There’s a good chance Errol Kerr has heard all the bobsled jokes before. The mid-90s flick Cool Runnings did wonders for popularity of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled crew, and in a way he’s following in the footsteps of the four-man team. Kerr, who has a Jamaican father and an American…

Could Vail Resorts buy Whistler?

What if an Epic Pass got you access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin and Whistler? A Vail Daily report suggests Vail Resorts acquiring Whistler — it’s largest competitor — isn’t as far fetched as it might sound…

Ski Tuning, Part 3: Waxing strategies explained

In the third episode of a four-part series on home ski tuning technique, Matt Hupperts of the Edgeworks discusses waxing strategies. Ski waxes vary wildly in price, from $15 for basic waxes to over $100 for performance waxes. While those high-priced waxes may seem like an indulgence, for skiers looking…

Boulder climbers summit Nepali peak, make killer film

Boulder climbers Renan Ozturk and Corey Richards just bagged a new route on 21,320-foot Tawoche in Nepal — a mighty feat in any case, but this time made worse by crumbly rock and 36 hours without water. Even so, they managed to safely tag the summit and make this video…

Top 10 Winter Olympics scandals and screw-ups

It’s looking like the Vancouver Winter Olympics already has a scandal — a bad real-estate loan might leave the city on the hook for a cool billion — plus two fuck-ups — NBC is set to lose $200 million (Conan’s $45 billion buyout is kinda pitiful in comparison) and the…

Ski Tuning, Part 2: Sharpen those edges

Yesterday we kicked off the first of a four-part series on tuning your skis at home, talking about vice grips and base repair. Of course, that’s only the first part in getting the most out of your boards…

Ski Tuning 101: Home tunes, step 1

For the next four days, we’ll go over what types of things you can do to maximize the performance of your boards on the slopes. Check back tomorrow to learn how to deburr and sharpen your edges.While there are several places in town that can tune your skis or snowboard,…