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When you ride, do you wear a helmet?  And why or why not?

I know people who don’t wear helmets because they “look dorky.”  I’d rather look a little dorky than break my head open, thanks.  Personally I will not ride without one because I ride in a lot of trees and as I’ve mentioned before, I also wear a helmet to protect myself from other people losing control!  (and I quote a past post, “You just never know when  some dumbass will run into you.“)

Today Boardistan.com posted a  link to a story on ConsumerAffairs.com which highlighted a proposed state Assembly bill which would require all California resort employees and riders under age 18 to wear a helmet.   The proposed bill, AB 1652, would also require resorts to adhere to more uniform standards of hazard & out-of-bounds signage, put standardized safety padding on lift towers & other obstacles, and provide more accessible information about the how and why of each ski or snowboard accident.

I agree with the proposed mandatory helmets law.  After all, isn’t it the law for kids to wear helmets biking?  Seems only reasonable to require for snowboarding too, given the inherent risks in the sport.   I for one am going to keep wearing my helmet!

Since I lagged on getting any primo Hotties on the Hill this weekend in Mammoth (I’ll make it up next weekend I hope!)  I wanted to point your attention to the “SuperBabes of Snow” highlighted on TheSkiChannel.com.  Click the pic and enjoy!

Rate the hotties… (1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Spotted at the outdoor bar at Canyon Lodge on Saturday… when your pants fit this tight, it’s a sign to buy NEW ones!

Then he bent over… I’m surprised these suckers didn’t rip! Yikes!

This long MLK weekend we took a trip up to Mammoth.  As usual we stayed at Viewpoint Condos and enjoyed the proximity to the Village and Gondola.

On Friday night we stayed in and the members of the condo got acquainted.  I love getting groups of my friends together who don’t already know each other.  It always makes for a fun cross-section of the different areas of my life!

Saturday we got onto the mountain by 10am, which is early for Jess and my standards.  (Oftentimes, we are what surfers call “nooners!”)  It was a bright sunny day on the hill, and surprisingly not crowded for the Saturday of a 3 day weekend.

Earlier in the week there had been 15 new inches of snow, and with the temps staying pretty steadily low, there was no meltoff and subsequent freeze-over.  So we had packed powder conditions throughout the day with little to no ice on the runs.  In fact there was still semi-powder in places!   And it was nice that there were virtually NO lift lines, check out the wait at Chair 25:

We rode most of the day on Saturday and then Saturday evening the gang treated me to a nice birthday dinner at the Chart House, yum!  I had a delicious filet & shrimp meal, with a baked potato…what restaurants serve baked potatoes any more?  It even came with 5 different toppings.  A yummy indulgence.

After dinner we checked out the new Hyde Lounge for all of 5 minutes as it was too crowded, so it was off to enjoy the music at Lakanuki. After some dancing, we headed back to the condo.

Sunday turned out dark, stormy, and extremely windy.  We stayed out only a few hours, and I got very windburned.  Luckily I have that season pass so even just going out a few hours was “worth it” since I didn’t put out any more cash towards a lift ticket.  Sunday evening was another chill night, a repeat of Friday… but luckily I saw some people in our complex putting on chains in anticipation of Monday’s coming storms, so I followed suit before it got too dark, to get ready for the next day’s driving.   (Hired Goodyear to put the chains on actually!)

Monday was the big payoff!  It was spitting snow most of the night into Monday so there was a nice coating of 3-4″ in town… then we went up to the mountain early and that’s when it really started puking snow.  It was even less crowded on the hill on Monday than Sat. was… did a lot of people NOT have Monday off and took off home early?  This is a pic headed up Chair 25 looking down the runs:

The snow was mounting up like crazy and there were white-out conditions, but it was amazing if we stayed lower.  Gold Rush was windy and cold with very low visibility but the Lower Dry Creek run was super fun.  The powder built up all morning and we stayed near Roller Coaster and did  tree runs over and over, getting fresh powder tracks on most runs.  It was almost thigh deep in spots! We were soaked and completely encrusted in snow by noon when we got off the hill to head home.  It was one of the best days I’ve ever had on the mountain and I can’t wait to go back next weekend!

 Little Jenny making a snow angel at the end of our morning

Jess and Wade celebrating a great morning!

Well hey it’s my birthday today :-)  To celebrate, 8 of us are headed up to our favorite snowboarding getaway, of course Mammoth!  As is our custom, our crew is staying at Viewpoint Condos - probably the best value by far for the money.  It’s the perfect location - we just park the car and we’re in for the weekend, as Viewpoint is walking distance to the gondola and the Village.  Some might even say stumbling distance…

I will be interested to see how the night life and the village itself continues to evolve.  I’ve been hearing (and observing myself) that Mammoth is going really “luxe” and upscale - a big evolution from how it used to be, more chill and laid-back.  As part of its attempt to revitalize its image and become more worldly, to attract more tourist dollars, many new and very upscale shops & restaurants have opened in the Village.  Some might even say Mammoth is turning into the Los Angeles of the mountains!

As proof of this, I just about spit out my coffee when I read that there is now going to be a “Hyde Lounge Mammoth” opening this weekend.  I for one am kind of bummed that this has come to “our” little resort town - does the vibe of mean-looking bouncers creating false lines, dudes with Ed Hardy shirts, plasticky women with breast implants, and velvet ropes fit with the Mammoth scene?

As always, a lively discussion going on at the Mammoth forums.

Will report on the weekend when we return!

If you’re in the SoCal area and available the morning of Saturday, 1/16/10, hit up Bear Mtn at 8:30am to check out the Burton 2010 gear and try it out.   This is also a stop for the Burton Am Series which will let amateurs compete for a spot in the US Open pre qualifiers.

Get details or RSVP for the Super Demo tour here (it’s a Facebook link so you may be asked to log in).  Here’s info about the Am Series.

Have you heard of Augmented Reality (AR) yet?  It’s the next frontier of marketing & advertising - allowing you to use your mobile phone to view virtual overlays and callouts of real-life features and points of interest in your immediate physical surroundings.

WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?

Well maybe a better way to explain it is to check out the first Augmented Reality application for Skiers & Snowboarders, REALSKI!  Here’s a few screen grabs of REALSKI in action, from their YouTube video:

The way it works is, you download the app, launch it, and then view your real-life surroundings through the iPhone camera.  The digital display of the camera will change based on what the camera itself is viewing.  The app uses the phone’s GPS, compass, camera, and other features to activate what the display shows.

REALSKI will show you key features when you are on the mountain, such as trail features, names, skill level, lodges, restrooms, terrain parks and more.  Watch the video, it’s really cool to see this live on the slopes!

I’m getting closer and closer to getting an iPhone when I see things like this are available.  REALSKI is a very cool and useful app especially if you’re on a mountain for the first time and have no idea of how to find your meetup point, or more importantly, where the nearest Bloody Mary bar is!

Download it from the itunes store for just $0.99.

Read the full press release here.  

Well hello!  After a LONG delay since my last post near the end of the 08-09 snowboarding season (at the end of which I made a final trip to mammoth but didn’t even write about it, how lazy!)  at long  last I am back.

It’s been a long slow summer and I was feeling not really enthused about boarding this winter even though I have a Mammoth Mountain season pass so my riding days are basically paid for.  This is because I’m currently inbetween jobs and so trying to plan trips is kinda sketchy with the money situation.  But, I still wanna get out there and enjoy life regardless, because in the end, all you really take with you are your memories and life experiences. 

OK enough philosophizing!

Taking advantage of my current status of “funemployment,” on Monday, Dec.  14, 2009 my good friend Tone and I made a day-trip up to Snow Summit.  We bought cheap tickets from someone on Craigslist and made it up there in 2 hours.  The conditions were great since on Sat/Sun the entire SoCal area had big winter storms - rain in LA and of course nice snow in the higher elevations.

It was completely empty because it was Monday, people weren’t off for the holidays just yet, and of course the ever-present “economic situation” has definitely affected people’s disposable income.

We did get to the mountain a little bit later than was planned, but we still squeezed in about 10 runs apiece.  Tone was a good fast skier - after all he did grow up in Colorado!  There was good coverage everywhere and we went down almost all the different runs available (although we did not hit the park.)  It got warmer and a little slow/melty later in the day - I learned my board definitely needs waxing before I head up to Mammoth in two weeks.

All in all it was a good warmup day and I’m looking forward to our 3 days in Mammoth starting on 1/15/10 (which is my birthday!) 

It was cold enough that they were blowing snow on a few of the runs and had them closed.

As always, Big Bear Lake is beautiful and scenic!