II admit that I get a little frustrated with skiers and boarders blasting down the mountain with earbuds in. I understand wanting to hear tunes, but I prefer to keep the tunes inside my head, and let my brain come up with whatever seems right at the moment. I remember…
The Gatorade Winter Free Flow Tour kicked off this weekend with amateur events at Vail and Big Boulder Ski Area in Pennsylvania, and four Colorado locals will be on their way to the Free Flow Tour Finals next month: Tanner Coulter, 15, from Vail won the Freeski Slopestyle contest on…
Although not as an athlete, drywaller turned inept Olympic ski jumper Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards made a triumphant return to the winter games spotlight this week. Eddie, whose lack of skills helped him develop a cult following during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, carried the Olympic torch through Winnipeg…
The big (though not at all surprising) news from Mammoth Mountain this week: Snowboarders Shaun White and Kelly Clark have each earned enough points on the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix to claim their spots on the U.S. team for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver next month.White, the 2006 Olympic…
Heads up, local groms: This is your big chance.The Dew Tour’s amateur series, the Free Flow Tour, has helped launch the careers of young skateboarders like Chaz Ortiz, Timmy Knuth, and David Loy, and BMX riders like Kevin Kiraly and Mike Spinner. This year the series got itself a new…
On Wednesday morning, ski patrollers at Steamboat Springs found the body of Grace Lynn McNeil, a ski instructor at Arapahoe Basin who had been reported missing Tuesday afternoon. McNeil, who was 23 and originally from Michigan, was described as a good skier who had been on her high school ski…
Ya gotta love the Japanese: When they’re not busying themselves with tentacle porn or dropping $177K on a single tuna, they’re creating the greatest game shows ever. Me, I’d be happy simply watching a snowboarder rocking a real half-pipe, but this being Japan, they’ve chosen to incongruously include a watermelon…
The very idea of some some schmo coming up and offering to guide or teach me on a frontcountry mountain sounds ri-goddamn-diculous. But I guess it happens, because Vail Resorts is stepping up efforts to bust underground lessons and guide services on their hill. In a recent undercover sting, they…
Three snowboarders from Colorado are among the qualifiers for today’s Women’s Halfpipe Finals at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event at Mammoth Mountain, the second of five U.S. competitions in the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver: Gretchen Blelier (Aspen) qualified in third, behind Kelly Clark and Hannah…
[jump] This is what I’d wear on the slopes if I were filthy rich, or at least scummily wealthy: At 949 Euros — or $1,367 American — it’s not for the light of wallet. But it is light itself, weighing in at just over a two pounds, and it offers seamless…
Miles from the Village, the 885-acre Blue Sky Basin has been a must-explore-spot for Vail skiers for 10 years. The popular woodsy terrain beyond the mountain’s Back Bowls is blessed with plenty of snow, tight trees, steeps, open powder fields, and even a few groomers. On bluebird day, there are…
Three snowboarders from Colorado are among the qualifiers for today’s Men’s Halfpipe Finals at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event at Mammoth Mountain, the second of five U.S. competitions in the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In Heat One of yesterday’s qualifiers Broc Waring (Vail) and Matt…
Atop Wolf Creek Pass between South Fork and Pagosa Springs is one of the state’s highest (10,600 feet at its base) and oldest resorts (70 years old this season), and lift tickets are just $50. It’s also the snowiest (465 inches a year). And it’s 100% open, there’s plenty of…
Helmet cameras are about to get some company in the first person snow sports video market. Liquid Image, already the makers of a digital underwater camera mask, is unveiling a camera-equipped ski goggle at an electronics show this weekend in Las Vegas. The goggle has a 5-megapixel camera that shoots…
What’s the right age to begin teaching your kids to snowboard? Let’s just say that if, at the end of the day, you ask them what their favorite part was and they say “Falling down!” then you’re probably doing something right. January is Colorado Ski Country USA’s Learn to Ski…
Vail’s Gay Ski Week is back! According to the Associated Press, the days-long celebration of everything gay and ski-y was canceled last year due to the economic downturn. But this year, the economy is apparently healthy enough for Vail to host the event, which is scheduled for January 27 to…
Jason Blevins’ story in Saturday’s Denver Post covered the impact of mobile technology on snow reporting. In the process, it also shined a light on a question raised in the comments of a previous On the Edge post about Bob Berwyn’s firing from the Summit Daily News for after criticizing…
Three days in to the 38-day trek and one of the women had already dropped out. Her hands were frostbitten. She couldn’t continue. The seven other women labored on, and on the last day of 2009 they completed their 562-mile cross country ski journey through blizzards, 80 mph winds, and…
A while ago, I wrote about rescues and who should save you in the mountains. The story arose from an incident on Mt. Hood. One of the overreactions to the deaths of the three climbers has been the idea of mandating that climbers carry personal locator beacons (PLBs) with them…
Saw this story in the Sky-Hi Daily News about these nifty GPS units available for about $20 a day for rent at Winter Park. Dubbed flaiks (and made by the Boulder company of the same name), the gadgets can be tracked in real-time, so the user’s location can be pinpointed…
It’s that time of year again, when every media outlet (including us) floods the Web with their ‘best of this’ and ‘best of that’ lists.Let’s be honest, though. Everyone loves them. They’re fun to read and argue about.Here’s one such list. Let the arguing begin…
Traditionally, New Year’s resolutions are about self-improvement of some sort. Of course, most people fail miserably at them, making me wonder what the point of the resolutions is. But no matter.Why not apply the concept of New Year’s resolutions to outdoor activities? Most people who have a passion for the…
