It’s the time of year people make their summer vacation plans and for those of you who want an action sports experience, there are many to choose from. You’ll find lots of hard core snow addicts on Oregon’s Mount Hood where Windells is one of several camps to hold sessions.

Even when it’s 90 degrees out you’ll find snow to carve, jumps to hit and rails and walls to ride. And when you’re not on snow there is a lot more to do. Windells is a camp for kids who are serious about their extreme sports.

There are plenty of adrenaline producing camps if a summer vacation on snow isn’t for you. Dawn Church spoke with Ian Brassert of Pali Adventures, an variety camp for 9 to 16 year olds at Lake Arrowhead in Southern California.

That’s snow news for this time, be well.

Some people just don’t know when to give up. With ski areas throughout the northeast closing early because of the warm temps and sparse crowds, three New England resorts announced they were continuing to make snow and would stay open until the end of April. Sugarloaf, Sunday River and Loon are all firing up the snow guns and running the lifts. The idea is to sell season passes for next season. The discounts are steep and a $50 deposit gets you a 3-mountain all season pass.

Speaking of discount tickets, there’s a website dedicated to the proposition that nobody should pay rack rate for lift tickets. It’s called Liftopia and we ran into them liftside in Lake Tahoe.

Another RadXSports Video Blog with Dawn Church

These are the scripts for the on camera and voice over parts. From now we will post the videos and scripts as they are published. They are easier to digest and more timely that way.

December 27, 2011
We’ve been reporting on the Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to shift the operation of Belleayre Ski area from the Department of Environmental Conservatoipn to the Olympic Regional Development Authority.

Well, this is New York and nothing is ever easy or smooth. The state representatives of the region spoke up last week, and what they had to say was anything but fast tracking the move.

Senator John Bonacic said he favored the transfer with four huge Ifs. There has to be clear, local voice for the Catskills on the ORDA board, local business leaders have to be happy with the new management, Belleayre has to receive a fair share of the funding and local leaders have to sign off on the deal.

Assemblyman Kevin Cahill had even bigger problems, saying the transfer is not yet ready for prime time. The problem with Belleayre isn’t management, it’s funding. Disputing the governor’s study, Cahill claimed that Belleayre has been run at a surplus but is still being starved for funds. Cahill thinks it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Add to that the voice of local community organizers saying that the workers are being short changed and suggesting possible union opposition, and this is far from a done deal.

That’s snow news, be well til next time.

Jan 13 2012
It’s snow news that visits to New York’s Belleayre Mountain Ski Area are way down this year, as much as 70 percent. With the other Catskill Mountain Ski areas drawing big crowds, the weather can’t be blamed. In this instance, what hurts the ski area is a boon to the skier. Imagine having the whole mountain to yourself. No lift lines, no skiers or riders cutting in front of you. It’s a blast.

And speaking of Belleayre, RadXSports host and Belleayre superintendent Tony Lanza added another line to his resume this week, fitness guru. Tony was the cover boy of this Health and Fitness supplement in the Kingston Daily Freemen. Now, we know Tony is big on outdoor recreation and exercise, but his idea of a good dinner included a quart of scotch and two cigars for dessert. It’s the good life.

Putting on my Mount Snow hat, the deal of the week comes from Vermont where you can ski and stay at the fabulous Mount Snow for only $75. This deal is for Monday Jan 16 to 19 and there was only a 72 hour booking window that ends at 5 tonight. You have to be plugged in and move fast to get the good deals.

Another deal with fine print is the 41 percent off a backcountry snow trek offered by Destination Backcountry Adventures and promoted through active.com. The fine print – the trek in is the Catskills where there isn’t any natural snow yet. Still, it’s a nice winter hike.

And closing out this weeks video blog – I don’t like Vlog as a term… let’s speak some English here and stop compounding everything… We heard from Gabriel Cohen about our YouTube feature story on Young Bump Skiers. Gabriel said: “I hate it when I find myself in a video on the internet where I am crashing.” Understood, Gabriel, but just to show that we can take it as well as dish it out, here’s a shot from my helmet cam.

That’s snow news, be well ’til the next time.

Jan 20 2012

Our lead story this week is a sad one. Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke succumbed to head injuries received while practicing in the same half that snowboarder Kevin Pierce was in when he suffered his traumatic brain injury. Burke was a true leader. Without her athletic ability and passionate advocacy, women’s skierpipe would not be an Olympic event.

Her untimely death raises the question if freestyle has gone too far, gotten too dangerous. Every season we read about young skiers or snowboarders who die doing the thing they loved to do most, as if their passion for the sport justifies every risk they take. They are glorified in print, film, on TV. The media attention making the risky behaviors even riskier.

Canadian Freestyle team CEO Peter Judge said it was a simple 540 that she missed, a “freak of nature: in his words. So simple that the best skier in the world bashed her head on a rock hard ice pipe and died. This is a 540 snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler does o most of her runs, does it look simple.

The Associated Press said that Kevin Pierce has recovered and is now back on snow. Truth is Pierce will never recover. He now says the sport is too dangerous, although he probably means to dangerous for him to compete in.

Jake Burton is quoted as saying that “if halfpipe riding became really dangerous the riders would do something about it. It wouldn’t be cool any more.” He has more faith in the wisdom of teenagers and young adults that is justified. Left alone they will push the sport to unsafe levels because they, like all young people and in spite of the evidence, think they are immortal.

The X Games are coming up real soon, the stage where Sarah Burke made her claim to fame. I love these sports, but I don’t watch the X Games. They are extreme beyond reason, have pushed the envelop of every sport they tough beyond safe limits. It’s personal taste, but I don’t like snuff films for athletes. I won’t tune in to watch someone break their body trying an insane stunt. At some point responsible adults have to step in and set some boundaries. It’s elementary parenting, and without it the kids will continue to kill themselves.

On to happier thoughts. We’re finally getting some snow in the northeast. It’s a fact of life in the ski business that until snow falls on Boston Common or in Central Park, skiers don’t come out in force. Makes no sense because all the ski areas are making snow. Just 25 miles from Boston at Nashoba Valley they had 100 percent coverage this past week. In Quebec they’ve already received 175cm of powder and are expecting 25 more in this coming storm. Stratton in Vermont and Hunter in New York are both open top to bottom with plenty of snow, as are most of the other ski areas. Well, there’s a storm blowing in tonight and tomorrow, so it’s time.

On the back page of this blog, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his budget this past week, and it contained good news for skiers in the state. He proposed giving $94 million from the Environmental Protection Fund for improvements in state parks, historic sites and ski areas. This means significant capital improvements are in store for Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre, which he also wants operated by the Olympic Regional Development Authority. Prospects for passage look good.

That’s snow news, be well ’til next time.

Jan 27, 2012

Just because it’s the Super Bowl doesn’t mean you have to give up a day of skiing and riding. Remember, the game doesn’t start until 6:30, long after the lifts have stopped. It’s the Pats and the Giants, so Apres ski Super Bowl parties are all the rage in the northeast.

If you’re in Vermont, Stratton is offering a Super Bowl Sunday Four Pack – that’s four all day, any age tickets plus one cheese pizza for $199. Grizzly’s and Bentley’s in the skier village will be hosting Super Bowl parties on their oversized screens and offering all the game day trimmings.

Not to be outdone, New Hampshire resorts are offering full day adult lift tickets from 34 dollars. The coolest promotion is at Gunstock. Show up in your Patriots gear and get 12 dollars off your lift ticket.

For cross country skiers Jackson Ski Touring will be hosting Super Bowl Widows Weekend with 50% off one or two day trail passes for groups of three or more women.

These packages to get you skiing more, saving more and not missing a minute of the game.

Out west, where the Giants beat the ‘Niners in a rain storm, all that precipitation soaking the sod was snow in the higher elevations. Our photographer friend Gary Pearl sent this picture from Mount Rose in Lake Tahoe. That’s Gwen, Gary and Cory powdering their shadows. Gary isn’t gloating about all that west coast powder. He was on Facebook reminding us east coasters that it became fifty inches ice by the next day. I assume he meant groomed hard pack.

Over to you, Ger.

Feb 3 2012
We received a press release from CSE, a sports marketing company, that claimed their research showed that Shaun White is the eighth most powerful athlete in the world. White was ahead of some really big names, and the biggest surprise to this New Yorker was that Yankee icon Derek Jeter was ranked 78th. We had to find out more.

Gum schtick

We had a cold snap last week, which got us thinking about dressing properly for outdoor sports in the winter. Here’s what Tony Lanza has to say about it.

Just because there’s no snow outside your front door doesn’t mean it’s not snowsports season. We found
these stories and pictures in a quick cruise around the web. It reinforces what I’ve always said about the snow at a ski area – you don’t know what the conditions are unless you’re on the mountain.

That’s snow news, be well ’til next time.

Feb 17 2012
The images of Lin and Carter appearing on the back pages tell us a lot about the different eras in team sports. Carter’s face is full of the joy and enthusiasm of youth in victory. That’s why they called him The Kid.

Lin’s expression is that of a warrior who has just vanquished his foe. Conquest is in his eyes as he screams and bares his teeth. It is the face of a killer who has just taken his prey.

What does this have to do with snow sports? When I started following extreme sports the big news was the American snowboarders and the men’s sweep of the Olympic podium at Salt Lake City. It was the look on 19 year old Ross Power’s face as he stood on the top step that said it all; pride in his accomplishment, proud to represent his country, enthusiastic about what he has just done for his sport.

That look was totally captivating. It pointed me in a direction I have followed without any regrets ever since. The look of the killer, as important as it is to winning in professional team sports, is just not my idea of sport. Bill Russel, as fierce a competitor as ever laced up his high tops, said it all – Strange things happen when grown men play kids games.

We’re off to New England and some great skiing this holiday weekend. Video when we return.

That’s snow news for this week, be well.

Feb 24 2012
I guess we know now what it takes for ski news to make the front pages of the New York Times. Four back country skiers dieing in an avalanche at Stevens Pass Resort in Washington State is news. 17 similar deaths already this season make it a newsworthy trend. And the fact that one of these skiers was a leader in the Free Ski world makes it even a bigger story.

Jim Jack, former President of the International Freeskiers Association and until this unfortunate accident the head judge for the Freeski World Tour, was a visionary who guided the s port to international acceptance. The IFA says that his passing has left an enormous scar in the industry.

That’s very true, and this devastating death, coming just a few weeks after the death of freestyle champion Sarah Burke and in a sport that has lost many prominent athletes to fatal accidents in the past, begs the question: is the sport safe?

The press releases and statements by the people who were there all say that the the back country skiers were properly prepared. ELYSE SAUGSTAD, the pro skier who survived the avalanche, said on her website that “ All the people in the party were properly equipped and experienced backcountry travelers.”

Well, part of preparation is having good information and heeding it. 30 inches of recent snowfall elevated the risk factor at Stevens Pass to high danger. It’s not surprising that hard core back country skiers would jump at the opportunity challenge the mountains in a season with little snowfall. But were they really properly prepared for the conditions? One was. Saugstad survived because the had an Avalanche Airbag backpack. The others weren’t, and they paid tragically for it.

Jim Jack was, among other things, a mentor to young freeskiers who developed safety criteria and standards for the sport. And this is a great and growing sport, but if it’s going to reach its potential it has to improve its safety standards. If the conditions call for it and the equipment is available, leaders in the field have to set the example and use it. It might not make the front page of the Times, but if five skiers survived an avalanche using an airbag backpack, it would be big news for other freeskiers.

Donations for the family of Jim Jack are being accepted at GoForward.com
(www.GiveForward.com/JimNormJack)

Back on the home front, the transfer of Belleayre Mountain Ski Area to the ORDA hit another hiccup last week when five critical lift crew workers called in sick on the same day. It was the beginning of a holiday week and there was a good crowd on the mountain. While nobody is calling it a job action, Joe Kelly, the chairman of the Coalition to Save Belleayre, said the employees were probably making a statement. Kelly said that the Belleayre workers are concerned for their livelihood.

In an act of kindness and cooperation, Windham Mountain loaned Belleayre one of their lift inspectors and, in the words of DEC Press Officer Lisa King: There was a temporary shortage in staff, but the situation was resolved, and the lifts were opened by 11am Saturday.

ORDA, meanwhile, responded that it is too early in the game to be issuing statements and noted that 10 inches of snow had just fallen on Whiteface, the Olympic Mountain. Now that’s the kind of good news we like.

That’s snow news for this week, be well.

March 2 2102
They say the big racers come from the small hills, probably because there’s not enough mountain to go exploring so all you can do is run gates all day every day. It seems to work for the Cochran family who own a tiny ski area not far from Burlington Vermont that has been a factory for world class ski racers for three generations.

The latest member of this ski racing dynasty to rise to the top is Ryan Cochran-Siegle, whose mom Barbara Ann Cochran won a gold in the slalom at the 1972 Olympics. Ryan took his place on the top step of the podium at the Junior World Ski Championships by winning the downhill event, and this is what he had to say about his family tradition.

I mentioned last week that I was taking a New England road trip, and what a trip it was. 1235 miles in four and a half days. Too much driving, but the skiing was magnificent. First we were at Sugarloaf in the great state of Maine. First tracks on a bluebird day.

Next stop was Jackson Ski Touring Center in New Hampshire. Another perfect day and another memorable experience. I hadn’t cross country skied in more than 20 years. This much I’ll tell you, it’s not like riding a bicycle. Equipment changes and your body forgets. Still, it’s great to work up a sweat outdoors in the winter and it’s a low impact aerobic workout. Two good reasons I like it more than running.

Last stop was down in Massachusetts where we visited another small hill, Nashoba Valley just 25 northwest of Boston. We visited with our good friend and Olympic ski racer Pam Fletcher – there’s a theme here in case you missed it – and her father Al, who founded the ski area. Nashoba Valley is a great teaching mountain. With only 200 feet of vertical the lift rides are short letting you spend a lot more time on snow. Al, who is retired now and on a cruise in rthe Caribbean as I speak, is really proud of their tradition.

We’re off to Lake Tahoe and four feet of fresh powder tomorrow morning. It’s a rough life.Video soon.That’s snow news for this week, be well.

March 20, 2012
A group of snowsports journalists I belong to was invited to Lake Tahoe for what I thought would be the typical PR pablum – you know, this is a perfect place it is for enjoying the active lifestyle. Instead, what the assembled reporters received was a candid discussion of a world class resort undergoing profound change. Casino gambling was in decline and the region had to redefine itself.

One special component of this rebranding is their hope to host another winter Olympics.

Sadly we have to report another death in the snowsports world. 29 year old Canadian freestyler Nik Zoricic suffered a fatal had injury at a skiercross competition in Switzerland.

We have said before that safety must come first, and that these deaths need to be prevented. It is wrong to say that these young athletes died doing what they loved because they lost a lifetime of doing it more and the opportunity to teach the next generation and their owen offspring. Each loss is enormous.

Kelly Vanderbeek, Zoricic’s childhood ski buddy, wrote on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s sports blog that

My hope is that Nik and Sarah Burke’s deaths don’t deter people from picking up these sports. In saying that, I also believe that we can never do enough to improve, grow, and further the safety measures taken.

I can’t post a link to her article here, YouTube, bless em, has filtered off site links. I encourage you all to Google Nik Zoricic, you’ll find her highly intelligent and deeply felt post. People are beginning to speak up about these issues, it’s good to hear from a young athlete.

By the way, we were in Tahoe to receive an award for our videos from the North American Snowsports Journalists association. We are extremely proud of that honor.

That’s snow news for this week, be well.

In a repeat performance, the North American Snowsports Journalists Association’s (NASJA) Harold S. Hirsch Award for best Video went to RadXSports creator, Gerry Pallor of New Paltz, New York.

The judges cited Pallor for his “straight ahead story telling which is a pleasure to watch” and said he is a filmmaker for sure, no fooling around.” In accepting the award Pallor added that it is “truly an honor to be singled out for my work by a group of such talented, hard working professionals.”

The videos which were honored were released in 2011. They covered a mixed bag of winter sports including professional freestyle ski and snowboard competitions, ice climbing, telemark skiing, tips and how-to videos. The videos can all be seen on the RadXSports channel on YouTube.

The award was presented at NASJA’s annual awards dinner which took place at Harvey’s Hotel and Casino in the shadows of Heavenly Ski Resort and on the shores of the spectacular Lake Tahoe.

Photo caption: NASJA Harold Hirsch Award winners Tom Winter-Photography and Gerry Pallor-Video, at Harvey’s, South Lake Tahoe. Photo by Dino Vournas 3/8/12

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