Pete Thomas Outdoors

June Mountain to re-open for skiing, boarding next winter

In news sure to please skiers and snowboarders, June Mountain in the Eastern Sierra will re-open for the 2013-14 winter season.

The resort, which is owned by Mammoth Mountain 30 miles to the south, was closed this past winter for financial reasons. It was losing money and Mammoth was hurting financially because of slow business caused by poor snowfall and a struggling economy.

But what a difference a year makes.

Last June, Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory stated in a news release: "June has operated at an annual deficit each year since its purchase in 1986. It is time to invest some of this subsidy into the analysis and planning required to position the resort for a sustainable future, then secure the approvals and financing required to create it."

On Tuesday Carl Williams, general manager at June, stated: "We couldn’t be more pleased to announce that June Mountain will be back in operation for the 2013-14 season.

"Next winter we look forward to bringing skiers and snowboarders a great on-mountain experience while also planning for June’s future, including the possibility of a new lift and enhanced snowmaking."

There were few details offered and and the long-term strategic plan for June Mountain has yet to be finalized. It probably will be announced in early summer.

But for skiers and boarders the only important news is that this remote hidden gem of a resort will again open its slopes. The opening is slated for mid-December.

Mammoth currently has eight lifts operating and will remain open at least through Memorial Day weekend.

--Images are courtesy of June Mountain

Snowboarder, 13, is youngest to throw down a triple cork

For most aspiring young athletes, swatting a grand slam or catching a game-winning touchdown pass would be regarded as major accomplishments.

But for snowboarder Marcus Kleveland, landing a triple cork is both a major achievement and an historic feat.

(Note: This is a reprint from a Pete Thomas story on GrindTv.com.)

The 13-year-old from Norway recently became the youngest athlete, by far, to stomp a trick that's in the arsenal of only a handful of top-flight riders. (Video, posted below, was released Thursday.)

 

Torstein Horgmo, 25, a fellow Norwegian and one of Kleveland's heroes, unveiled a more difficult variation of the triple cork to win the big-air competition at the Winter X Games in January.

(It was a switch-backside triple cork 1440, the first in a competition, and it earned Horgmo a perfect score of 50. Video is posted below.) Mark McMorris, the X Games runner-up, landed a Cab 1440 triple cork (another variation) for a score of 48.

Kleveland didn't win any medals for his remarkable effort on a jump in Vierli, Norway. But he opened more eyes among his older peers and served notice that the younger generation will have to be reckoned with at future competitions.

Said superpipe star Louie Vito: "I remember seeing [a video] edit of Marcus a couple of years ago and I had to ask my Norwegian friends who this kid was… I'm stoked to see him progressing at such a fast rate but having fun doing it at the same time. I hope to see this kid around for years to come."

Kleveland has been snowboarding since he was 3, and he began landing double corks routinely at 11. More recently he began to practice the triple on a trampoline, without any pressure from his parents or his sponsors.

"This is something I do for myself because I think it's fun," he said. "Nobody is pushing me to do this." For the sake of perspective, here's Horgmo's winning X Games run:

 

Skier, 17, videotaped falling 45 feet from chairlift

 

A 17-year-old skier who might have been trying to throw a snowball from a chairlift at a New Mexico resort was videotaped falling about 45 feet.

The teen, who dangled for several seconds before plummeting to the snow, was airlifted to a local hospital after the Feb. 2 mishap at Ski Santa Fe, but he's said to be OK.

"Basically, the kid is home and he is fine," Cody Sheppard, the ski patrol director at Ski Santa Fe, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. "It was kind of a dramatic deal. I guess he was attempting to throw a snowball to the chair in front of him, where some friends were, and when he threw the snowball, the momentum just carried him out of the chair. He did hang on for awhile, but then he had to drop."

Footage of the incident was uploaded to YouTube this week by a user named TriipyHD, and has since garnered more than 500,000 views.

Sheppard did not identify the teen. TriipyHD stated in the video description that injuries included "a concussion, skull fracture, collapsed lung and a lacerated liver."

Sheppard, however, said none of the injuries required surgery.

"They kept him for observation for a couple of days, and then he was released," the patrol director said. "I'd probably shatter. There is something about being young and flexible, I guess, and just lucky the way you land."

--Find Pete Thomas Outdoors on Facebook

--Hat tip to Jason Blevins of the Denver Post

Big Bear Lake ski resorts remain open despite manhunt for Christopher Dorner

With a massive manhunt underway for Christopher Dorner in and around Big Bear Lake, creating a frightening and eerie situation for residents of the San Bernardino County mountain community, the area's two largest ski areas, strangely, remain open.

Apparently it has been determined that Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer suspected to have killed three people and still seemingly intent on killing others, poses no threat to ski operations or skiers and snowboarders visiting the slopes.

Bear Mountain stated Friday on its website: "With the approval of the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department both Bear Mountain and Snow Summit will be open with full operations today."

The same statement appears on the Snow Summit website.

Snow Summit's Friday night session, however, has been canceled because of what has been described by the sister resorts as "a dynamic situation."

Meanwhile, police have been going door-to-door and searching abandoned cabins for Dorner, 33, who is on a mission to kill former LAPD colleagues and their family members as revenge for his firing in 2008.

The manhunt focused on Big Bear on Thursday after Dorner's burned-out vehicle was found in the mountain community, two hours from Los Angeles.

Nearly a foot of new snow had fallen in the region as of 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Shaun White's slopestyle message is a triple cork 1440

With the Winter X Games a week away and occurring during the one-year countdown to the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, Russia, the spotlight shines most brightly upon Shaun White.

Why?

Because this year's X Games in Aspen will serve as a proving grounds for aspiring Olympians, a place to issue statements. Also because White, whose two Olympic gold medals are in the halfpipe discipline, is placing added emphasis on slopestyle, which will debut as an Olympic sport in Sochi.

But mostly because White, who has not performed well in slopestyle during the previous two X Games, this week delivered a powerful statement in the form of a triple cork 1440 (that's three filps and four spins) performed in the terrain park at Breckenridge, Colo.

Only a few athletes can land this absurdly difficult trick on the slope course. White, apparently, has joined the crowd. Here are two videos posted Wednesday, showing White's practice sessions.  Understandably, next week in Aspen, the X Games slopestyle competition will replace the halfpipe competition as the marquee snowboarding event. (Hat tips to GrindTv.com and the Denver Post).

 
 

No gun control for these road crews, which use M60 combat tanks to reduce avalanche threat

A lot of people may not realize that M60 tanks are a very effective means of avalanche control.

Washington state road crews use them to fire live rounds at areas where there is heavy snow accumulation and high avalanche danger.

 

They usually do this between midnight and 6 a.m., out of sight of most people. But last week when conditions became unstable on U.S. 2 near the Stevens Pass summit, they closed the roadway in the afternoon and fired their rounds in broad daylight.

Looks like an effective method and, some might say, a very interesting way to make a living.

--The accompanying footage is via HeraldNet.com. Hat tip to Unofficial Networks

In stunning sports news, Shaun White cuts long red hair

 
Shaun White has won two Olympic gold medals for his snowboarding prowess.

He also has dominated in the halfpipe at the X Games and on the Dew Tour.

Along the way there has been one constant for White: his long, red hair. For more then a decade it was his trademark and, some might say, a significant part of his identity.

Now much of that is gone, but for a good cause.

White, 26, who for years has been referred to (against his wishes) as the "Flying Tomato," has cropped his hair for a charity, Locks of Love, which manufactures hairpieces for kids who have suffered hair loss because of illness.

Viewers can witness this shocking development by watching the accompanying video. White broke the news Tuesday morning on his Facebook page, which is now flooded with comments (more than 500 at 11:30 a.m.)

One of the more recent comments was from Nick Fulton, who wrote: "FACT: Whoever wears a wig made of Shaun White's hair will instantly become a snowboard god."

Loveland Ski Resort looking wintry as snow-making begins

 

 You know the skiing and snowboarding season is just around the corner when Loveland Ski Resort, perennially one of the first resorts in the U.S. to open, fires up its snow-making machines.

That began early Thursday morning, thanks to bitter-cold temperatures on the upper slopes.

In the description beneath the video uploaded Thursday afternoon is this statement:

"It typically takes about two weeks for Loveland's snow-making team to cover the opening day run with an 18-inch base and tree-to-tree coverage for the first skiers and riders of the season. Loveland started making snow on October 6th last season and opened on October 14th."

More cold weather, and perhaps a few snow showers, are in the forecast over the next couple of days.

--Pete Thomas

Shaun White arrested for intoxication, vandalism--surprised?

News item: Shaun White, winner of two Olympic snowboarding gold medals and 16 X Games gold medals for snowboarding and skateboarding, is charged with public intoxication and vandalism after allegedly wreaking havoc at a Nashville hotel.

The action sports superstar is reported to have pulled a fire alarm at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, causing evacuation of guests, and busting a hotel telephone.

Judging from his police mug shot (right), White came away with a black eye after colliding with a guest who claimed White intentionally charged him. The guest did not press charges. White has a court date for the vandalism and public intoxication charges on Oct. 10.

Reaction: This comes as somewhat of a surprise, but it's hardly a shocker. White, 26, is a big-time celebrity who likes to have fun -- lots of fun -- on and off the slopes and skate ramps. He loves the Hollywood lifestyle, fashionable clothing, and sometimes even the limelight. He enjoys a good party as much as the next person, and apparently he's still learning how to find a suitable balance.

Said Pat Bridges, editor of Snowboarder magazine, to GrindTv : "I won't go on the record saying if this is [the] first time Shaun White has exhibited such behavior as an adult. But I can say for certain that it is the first time he has been arrested for it."

When White was rising to phenom status, he enjoyed solid guidance from his parents, agents and sponsors. He was fun-loving then, too, but stayed out of big trouble, or kept his bigger troubles largely under wraps. (Wasn't there an incident with a crashed Lamborghini, followed by the purchase of a new Lamborghini, and driving lessons?)

According to People magazine, White was in Nashville for musician Patrick Carney's Saturday night wedding. People also reports that White has recently been romantically linked to Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli.

That's a lot of pressure!

Hopefully, if this misstep was as crazy as implied by police affidavits and the many reports, White will simply learn from the experience and not offer an encore performance any time soon.

After all, the 2014 Winter Olympics, and a chance at a halfpipe three-peat, are not far around the corner.

Colorado resorts welcome early snowfall on upper slopes

Fall is definitely in the air in Colorado's high country ... and winter, too.

The accompanying image reveals spectacular fall colors in the Aspen-Snowmass region, but also a fresh dusting of snow that blanketed the upper slopes early Monday.

Snow and a mixture of snow and rain fell throughout parts of Colorado, and resorts were quick to spread the news.

"If this is a sign of things to come, you better dust off the skis now and wear your boots to watch the Broncos' game tonight," Jeff Hanle, spokesman for Aspen-Snowmass, said in a news release.

The Broncos are playing the Falcons on Monday Night Football in Atlanta, but the comment shows the level excitement generated by the first tangible snowfall of the season in Colorado, arriving about two months before most resorts expect to open for skiing and snowboarding.

The Denver Post reported: "Snow acknowledgments were passed along by Colorado Ski Country USA, Loveland Ski Area, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park Resort and Copper Mountain, among other ski areas and resorts."

Some of the resorts received as much as an inch of snow, mostly above 11,000 feet, which qualifies as a significant dusting.

But, alas, the excitement might be short-lived as a prolonged dry spell is expected after the storm passes through on Monday night.

Nonetheless, this is a sign that the season is changing, and folks in much hotter parts of the country are probably envious. Having been baking for several weeks in unbearably hot temperatures in Southern California, I know I am.

--Pete Thomas

-- Image is courtesy of Jeremy Swanson / Aspen-Snowmass