Outdoors, action and adventure

Shaun White strikes X Games gold with amazing late run

Leave it to Shaun White, who has a flare for the dramatic, to show up at the X Games sporting a new mustache and goatee, enhancing his rock star persona, and wait until the final seconds of his event to swoop in and essentially swipe the gold medal from his longtime rival (see video).

 

Having unleashed a dizzying array of acrobatics on his final run during Saturday night's Skateboard Vert final, White drew a score of 93.00 to pull ahead of defending two-time champion Pierre Luc-Gagnon.

PLG, who seemed stunned by the late development, fell moments after dropping into the ramp and time on the jam session subsequently expired, prompting White to erupt in jubilation.

"I just wanted to put it down for all my fans who came out," White, 24, told ESPN's Keir Dillon immediately after his remarkable triumph. "I've been working so hard to get this season going ... I was working my way through my tricks and after that [720-degree spin] ... I had so much energy I was like, 'I'm making this happen; I don't care.' "

PLG had earned a seemingly unbeatable score of 91.66, largely on the merit of technically-difficulty heel flips and above-the-ramp spins, which included 540 variations and a 720. Bucky Lasek (87.66) was third.

White, whose final run was capped by a remarkable heel-flip body-varial front-side 540, not only erased PLG's hopes of a four-peat, but earned his first victory in the event since 2007. Thus, he reclaimed the medal from his friend and nemesis.

It was a momentous triumph because it gives White, whose ego demands success, a second gold medal in the summer X Games, proving the first was no fluke and that the two-sport athlete can out-perform the world's best on skateboarding's biggest stage.

"I'm beside myself," he said.

(White has two Olympic gold medals and 11 Winter X Games gold medals as a snowboarder.)

To be sure, it seems everything is going White's way these days. He just had a cameo in the Justin Timberlake movie "Friends With Benefits," and has all sorts of sponsorship deals in the works, including new signature clothing and apparel lines with Target, his primary sponsor.

But he put an incredible amount of work into his gold-medal performance. He had been practicing tirelessly on the vert ramp at Tony Hawk's house, and recently bought a ramp similar to the type used last summer at the X Games, and set the apparatus up at his home in Carlsbad, Calif.

"The quality of portable ramps has gotten so much better and I'm psyched to have one," he said earlier this week, in an ESPN story. "I'm pretty much the coolest kid on the street. The kids really look up to me now."

Bob Burnquist reclaims X Games gold in Skateboarding Big-Air; Mitchie Brusco, 14, is fifth

The future of Skateboarding Big-Air may belong to people like 14-year-old Mitchie Brusco, but for now the X Games gold medal belongs to Bob Burnquist. 

Brusco, invited to the X Games after recently becoming only the second person to have landed a 900 on the MegaRamp (Burnquist was the first), finished admirably in fifth place during Friday night's marquee competition at Staples Center in Los Angeles. But it was Burnquist who stole the show and reclaimed a title held for the past two years by perennial rival Jake Brown.

Burnquist, 34, who hobbled into the competition with an array of injuries, took the lead on his second of five runs by performing a switch 180 over the 70-foot gap of the MegaRamp, then sticking a double-grab 540 above the quarterpipe wall. That was good for a score of 92.66, placing him ahead of Adam Taylor.

Burnquist, who won the Big-Air gold in 2007-08, matched his winning score on his fourth run with a switch 540/double-grab 540 combo (see video).

 

Brown, 36, who had been Burnquist's nemesis for the past two years, nailing the winning run at the end of both competitions, was unable to complete a routine on either of his five runs. He fell while attempting a back-flip over the gap on his final run. Taylor ended up in second with a score of 89.66, reaching the podium for the first time in the event. Brazil's Edgard Pereria was third (87.00).

Afterward, Burnquist said he was just happy to have completed a scoring run on an apparatus as difficult as the MegaRamp.

It was a difficult night indeed, as only six full routines were completed -- two by Burnquist -- out of 40 attempts by the eight finalists.

As for Bruscoe, the youngest competitor at the X Games, he turned in an admirable fifth-place performance, on the merit of a backside 36 over the gap, to a 540 over the quarterpipe wall.

Bruscoe, who stands only 5 feet 1 and weighs just 95 pounds, was not disappointed with his performance against the daredevil sport's luminaries. He told sideline reporter Jenn Brown: "I'm feeling good. I didn't expect to do anything; I'm just happy to be here."

Fans can expect a lot more from "Little Tricky" in the years to come.

For Travis Pastrana, balancing X Games and NASCAR careers might be the hardest trick of all

Now that the "Pastranathon" is over, having lasted all of about 40 seconds as Travis Pastrana broke his ankle and foot Thursday on opening night of the X Games, what's next besides surgeries and physical therapy?

The action sports icon was scheduled to compete in four events in four days. This included making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Indianapolis on Saturday, and competing in X Games events Friday and Sunday.

He suffered his injuries after back-to-back crashes during the Moto X Best-Trick competition.

In a statement after being released from the hospital Thursday night, he said: "I am sorry this happened and will be back in action as soon as I can. I look forward to Pastranathon 2012 at X Games 18."

But will there be another Pastranathon? Will Pastrana, who has won 16 X Games gold medals, continue to be a major X Games presence if he's going to take his budding NASCAR career seriously?

With his Nationwide Series debut postponed indefinitely, that's something he's going to have to think about.

Before Thursday's incident he told me, "As soon as the X Games are over and this trick is landed, I'm going to really focus on the NASCAR stuff. For the next three years I'm going to be really dedicated to NASCAR." He did not say whether this means reducing his X Games commitment.

The trick is the 720 TP Roll, which Pastrana has yet to land and which now has twice landed him in the hospital. Can he give it up? Probably not until he lands one. He'll most likely keep working in the foam pit trying to master the trick, which is sort of a flipping 720-degree spin.

It seems next-to impossible because the motorcycle must be brought upright from a sideways position just before landing. "The motorcycle weighs so much and you have to be perfect on every pull," said Pastrana, 27, who tried the trick Thursday on a smaller 125cc motorcycle.

He had been scheduled to compete in seven Nationwide races this season, driving the No.99 Toyota for Pastrana-Waltrip Racing. His earliest debut now will be Sept. 9 at Richmond International Raceway.

His team has to be disappointed but co-owner Michael Waltrip said Friday at Indianapolis: "We knew there was a risk, but when you say the name Travis Pastrana, what's the first thing you think? Risk. That's how he lives."

Pastrana has been working on a 3-D feature film based on the popular Nitro Circus television series. That's close to completion and due to be released later this year.

He's planning to marry pro skateboarder Lyn-z Adams-Hawkins in late October in Southern California.

Does that mean the high-energy daredevil athlete is ready to slow down, focus on a single career and raise a family? That remains to be seen.

Asked whether he and Adams-Hawkins were planning to have kids, he answered, "Not anytime soon."

-- Pete Thomas

-- Travis Pastrana photo is by Christian Ponder / ESPN

Jackson Strong makes X Games history with Moto X front-flip, while the Travis 'Pastranathon' comes to abrupt end

A night many thought would belong to Travis Pastrana, during the X Games' marquee Moto X Best-Trick competition on Thursday, instead belonged to event rookie Jackson Strong, who became the first freestyle motocross rider to land a front flip at a competition and easily won with a score of 95.66 (see first video).

 

As for Pastrana, it was all bad news. Running seventh out of eight riders in what might be the rawest, heaviest competition of the X Games, the action sports icon crash-landed while attempting what has been referred to as a 720 Toilet Paper Roll, which is sort of a flipping 720-degree spin and seemingly impossible to land.

Pastrana got up, climbed back on his 125-cc motorbike and tried the same trick again, out of turn, and landed sideways again, on his right leg, and had to be helped off the dirt.

Pastrana broke his right foot and leg and his much-hyped "Pastranathon," which was supposed to have him compete in four events in four days -- one of them his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in Indianapolis on Saturday -- came to an abrupt end.

 

"I am sorry this happened and will be back in action as soon as I can," Pastrana told ESPN after his release from the hospital. "I look forward to Pastranathon 2012 at X Games 18."

But for Strong, 19, a Metal Mulisha team rider known as "Jacko," there was lots of reason to celebrate. His front-flip, which was completed during the first of two rounds, defeated two double back-flips, including one by superstar Cam Sinclair, who even added a variation for his trick.

[Related: "Pastranathon" might present too many obstacles.]

Double back-flips were once considered impossible, but a front flip seems to defy the laws of physics, as the rider must get the motorcycle spinning forward after launching from a steep dirt ramp that is designed to allow for backward rotations.

It was a huge night for Jacko but also his fellow Australians.  Sinclair finished second (94.66) and Josh Sheehan, who also stuck a double back-flip, finished third (93.33).

Paper fishing license vs. scanned copy on smartphone?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Game and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly Q&A column:

Question: If I scan my fishing license and save it as a pdf file on my smartphone, can I then just show my license saved on my phone to any game warden who asks to see my license? (Dave B.)

Answer: No, you are required to have your actual sport fishing license in possession while fishing (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 700 and Fish and Game Code, Sections 1054.2 and 7145(a)) and to present your actual license upon request to any game warden who asks (FGC, section 2012). Fishing and hunting licenses are printed on special waterproof paper to prevent fraudulent duplication. A scanned or digital version of your license on your phone could be easily altered from its original image.

Q: I have a question about a new broadhead I’ve found and whether I can use them to hunt big game in California. They are sold in 100 grains, have a one-inch cutting diameter and are advertised to fly very accurately.

If the blades are made of razor wire, does this make them illegal? If the blades bend and flex when pushed through a hole, are they then illegal? Should the test be done with a metal sheet or wood?

I just want to have all my ducks in a row before I purchase these broadheads for my own use. (Tyler Audisio)

Mother gray whale in Klamath River resists all efforts--even the sounds of killer whales--to drive her back to sea

Perhaps when a whale enters a river and refuses to leave, it's doing so for an inexplicable reason and ought to be left to its own instincts.

While that may seem cruel, consider what's happening in the Klamath River in Northern California.

A mother gray whale and her calf were spotted in the waterway about a month ago. The six-month-old calf last Friday swam back into the ocean, perhaps on its own volition, driven by hunger; but perhaps by so much commotion. 

The mother simply will not go, and good-natured efforts to drive the cetacean out have proved fruitless.

On Wednesday this included broadcasting the sounds of killer whales underwater, hoping that the whale will think its archenemy is nearby. It didn't work.

Other tactics, according to the Daily Triplicate, have included spraying water cannons and banging on pipes and hammers.

The story quotes a Humboldt State University scientist as saying, "It's about time the baby should be leaving."

The baby should be leaving its mother soon, but this is a little early, according to American Cetacean Society researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger. The researcher added that the calf has never been to the Arctic feeding grounds and probably was still nursing. "It's unlikely that it can get there on its own, and its chances of survival without its mother are slim," she said.

Both whales had been a tourist attraction for motorists on the Highway 101 bridge, nearly three miles from the ocean. Now there's only the female, which is about 45 feet long and weighs perhaps 40 tons.

Scientists and members of the Yurok Tribe, which has fishing rights on the Klamath, weren't sure sure what to do next.

One concern is that the river will soon be dropping. Perhaps that will provide impetus for the whale to leave. Perhaps hunger will eventually drive the whale out, though the baleen whale may be finding some food on the river bottom.

Perhaps boat traffic -- there has been harassment, as boaters and jet-skiers have been seen closely approaching both whales -- ultimately will prove bothersome enough for the leviathan to swim downriver, toward the ocean.

The Yurok Tribe states in a news release that the last time a whale entered the Klamath was in 1989. "The whale left the river without incident," the statement concluded.

This mother gray will not leave without incident, because of all the efforts of persuasion, but maybe it will, ultimately, just pick up and leave.

-- Image is courtesy of Matt Mais / Yurok Tribe

Travis Pastrana's long X Games weekend, the 'Pastranathon,' might present too many obstacles

ESPN has been hyping the so-called "Pastranathon," which centers around action sports superhero Travis Pastrana and his attempt to compete in three X Games competitions in Los Angeles and, between competitions, make his debut Saturday across the country on NASCAR's Nationwide Series.

But will the Pastranathon really materialize?

His itinerary has him competing in the X Games' Moto Best-Trick competition Thursday night; the Moto X Freestyle on Friday night; catching a redeye flight to Indianapolis for his NASCAR race; and flying back to L.A. late Saturday so he can compete in the X Games' RallyCross final on Sunday.

There are two major obstacles. The first is a trick he calls the 720 Toilet Paper Roll, which he hopes to finally land Thursday. It's sort of a back-flipping sideways rotation and does not seem possible in principle. It has been "four years of hell" in the making.

Pastrana tried it at the 2009 X Games and it unraveled in mid-flight. He landed hard on his backside and his injuries required surgery. He did not try the trick at last year's X Games.

"This year I've got it dialed as close as I think I'm ever going to get this trick," he told me in a phone interview Wednesday morning.

The second obstacle is a dislocated middle knuckle on his left hand. Travis said the "stupid injury" might prevent him from competing in Friday night's grueling Moto X Freestyle competition, which requires a lot of squeezing and releasing of hand breaks. He's scheduled to have surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday.

Pastrana added that he should be in good enough shape to grip the steering wheel of his race car if he survives the TP Roll. If he does that, he'll rename the trick the Circus Roll, in honor of his Nitro Circus tour mates, and put the trick to rest.

When asked if it were good that the difficult best-trick event was first, so he can get it out of the way, he joked: "Or it would have been good for them to put it last because, in case I get hurt, I can still do the rest of the week."

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of Christia Pondella / Red Bull

Great white shark steals spotlight with rare close approach during Southern California whale-watching voyage

Passengers aboard the Dana Pride on Tuesday evening had marveled at the sight of a blue whale mother and calf, and a third blue whale during an excursion from Dana Point, Calif.  But it was when Capt.  Todd Mansur had begun to move in the hope of locating dolphins that a truly rare sighting was made: that of a great white shark.

More unusual was that the shark, a juvenile or sub-adult measuring about 10 feet, had its fin out of the water and was approaching the boat, from straight off the bow. It even briefly rode the bow wake, like a dolphin.

 

"At first it was in the glare and I thought it could be a swordfish or a marlin," said Mansur, who works for Dana Wharf Whale Watching  and has been a local captain for 25 years. "As soon as I saw what it was I got on the P.A. and announced that we have a great white shark."

Mansur said he was 100% sure it was a white shark, but that has not yet been verified by experts. However, while white sharks are rarely encountered, Southern California waters are a feeding ground for juvenile sharks. They prey largely on fish and rays before they reach about 12 feet, when they migrate offshore and to the north to prey on seals and sea lions.

Mansur was able to turn the boat away from the glare long enough for his passengers to enjoy a clean look, and for him to videotape part of the encounter from the wheelhouse with his cellphone. This was about 1.5 miles off San Clemente, just south of Dana Point, at a depth of 120 feet.

[Related: Expert takes extreme measures on behalf of great white sharks]

The captain said he has seen only eight white sharks in all his years as a captain and big-game fisherman, and four of them were at high spots near the offshore islands. Two others were pointed out by airplane pilots.

"It's very rare to see them, and even rarer to see one finning," he said. "They hardly ever put their fins up. This thing was coming right at us at [a position of] 12 o'clock. It was like a game of chicken."

ASP might toughen stance on surfers who skip major contests

Kelly Slater, Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds were no-shows at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay competition, won Sunday by Jordy Smith before a hometown South African crowd.

The Assn. of Surfing Professionals, obviously, was not pleased, and according to ESPN it's  considering an increase in fines for athletes who skip future competitions, without sufficient explanation, from $5,000 to as much as $50,000.

That'd be an appropriate response because the surfers, as World Tour competitors, are obligated to the tour and fans of elite-level competitive surfing. This kind of flakiness diminishes the tour's credibility.

Slater, 39, a 10-time world champion and the second-oldest competitor on the tour, apparently was surfing a huge swell in Fiji and chose to skip the first round of the J-Bay event, hoping he could still make it to South Africa in time for the losers' bracket second round.

"Seems Slater had a genuine desire to forfeit the first round, which in a World Tour event is a non-elimination round. He hoped to surf his way from round two, but rolled the dice and lost when it was run earlier than he thought," wrote Peter "Joli" Wilson for ESPN.

Perhaps Slater ought to simply retire. He no longer needs the tour and the tour is going to have to get used to his absence soon enough, anyway. He dropped to No. 6 in the rankings after the J-Bay contest and has a substantial hill to climb in order to get past Smith, top-rated Joel Parkinson and three other devoted tour competitors.

If Slater wins or has a high result in the next contest, the Billabong Pro in Tahiti, his title aspirations will remain realistic. If he has a bad result and falls farther behind, he might lose interest in the remainder of the 2011 schedule.

As for Martinez, 29, he's seemingly burned out and will be hard-pressed to make the mid-season roster cut to 32. He's currently ranked No. 22 on the World Tour but only 48th on the World Rankings, which will be used to determine who makes the cut. The cut will be made after the next two contests.

Grizzly bear attacks group of teens in Alaska wilderness; one victim states, 'I thought I was going to die'

A nighttime crossing of a creek in the Alaska wilderness turned into a nightmare situation for seven teenage hikers taking part in a survival-skills course, as a mother grizzly bear with a cub attacked the group and inflicted serious wounds to two of the hikers.

The incident occurred Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains about 120 miles north of Anchorage, where hikers between the ages of 16 and 18 were backpacking as part of a month-long National Outdoor Leadership School course.

At least four hikers were attacked and all seven were injured, directly or indirectly, as a result of the attack. They gave each other first-aid, according to reports. Ultimately, they were evacuated by Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Air National Guard.

The two seriously injured hikers are Joshua Berg of New City, N.Y., and Samuel Gottsegen of Denver, Colo. Both are 17.

Gottsegen, who was bitten on the head and chest, and suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs, told 7News in Denver: "I thought I was going to die when I was being attacked. I was so scared. I looked behind me and the bear was behind me. So, I started running down the hill and it tackled me on the way down."

The teens were able to activate a personal locator beacon and built a makeshift camp to await their rescue.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that the attack occurred during the group's first day of backpacking without adult supervision. The hikers, on their 24th day of the course, were supposed to call upon skills they had learned earlier in the course.

The ADN quotes a spokesman for the National Outdoor Leadership School as saying that the group, which had been walking in a line, was making noise, which is intended to prevent surprise encounters.

The spokesman also said three members of the group carried bear spray, but it remains unclear whether any  of the hikers used the repellent.

The bear apparently mauled the first teenager to have crossed the creek, then attacked another hiker before returning to its first victim.

Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as of Monday morning had not decided what to do about the bear, if it can be located by Troopers.

-- Generic grizzly bear image is courtesy of Wikipedia