Comments [0] posted: Apr 29, 2010 gonzo

Read about the test here: Float 30 Test at Alpental

“The most difficult part about this procedure is operating in avalanche terrain while the threat of a real avalanche is high. Bottom line: high avalanche hazard = good testing conditions.”

 

Here’s more information on the product: Float 30 Avalanche Airbag

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      tags: [cool thing | ski]


Comments [0] posted: Feb 19, 2010 gonzo

1. Marathon. 
The ultimate Olympic sport.  Nothing compares to the marathon leader entering the stadium at the end of 26 miles of running.  Sport at it's most pure.

2. Alpine Downhill.
Another pure sport that has everything.  Death defying speed.  Incredible skill of the athletes.  One shot at the gold.  A 2 minute race is often decided by hundredths of a second or what amounts to a foot or two between the eventual medal winners.

3. 100 meter sprint.
A theme is developing here.  My top three sports are in there essence very pure sports.  Who's the fastest.  Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt.  It's all here.  And it is all over in less than 10 seconds.

4. Bobsled (4-man)
I can't explain this one.  But the fact you have four grown men pushing a sled as FAST as they freakin' can down an icy chute...well it's a thing of beauty.

5. Moguls
I'm a skier and can ski moguls pretty dang well so I identify with this one the closest of all the sports listed.  Although putting a 10 foot kicker in the middle of the hill and pulling an inverted iron cross is insane.

6. Short Track Speed skating
Who knew about this sport before Apollo Ohno.  Now that we do know about it I really like watching it.  It's so quick and over so soon and is the NASCAR of Olympic events.  If it ain't rubbin' it ain't racin'!

7. Gymnastics
I would be a terrible judge for this event.  Every single competitor would get a 10.0 from me.  Also I had like the hugest crush on Nadia Comeniche.

8. Nordic Jump
Just.Plain.Psycho.

9. Rowing (8 man shell)
Ultimate team event.  The crew has to work as a machine and perform in fluid perfection to win.  And they always leave it on the course.  These guys always looked like the most wiped out athletes in any sport at the end of their races.

10. Decathlon
I like the concept of the decathlon more than the actual event.  But the athlete that wins the decathlon (or the heptathlon) are inarguable the best athlete in the world.

Interesting that 8 of my selections are individual competitions.  And the two others are not traditionally popular team sports.  I guess the normal team sports just don't feel Olympic to me.

What do you think?  What are your favorite sports at the Olympics?

      tags: [game | ski]


Comments [0] posted: Nov 16, 2009 gonzo

http://www.winterfeelsgood.com/downloads/partners/GPschedule2010p.pdf

I cannot find specific dates, but be assured when I do I shall post them.

      tags: [rock n roll | ski]


Comments [0] posted: Apr 28, 2009 elvis

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Shane McConkey, 1969-2009, one of my heroes and a pioneer in freeskiing and ski-BASEing died on March 26th, 2009.  While shooting a promotional film in the Italian Dolomites, one of McConkey’s skis failed to release resulting in an uncontrollable spin which led him to be unable to release his shoot.  McConkey will be sorely missed and are hearts and prayers go to his family.

My favorite story about Shane involved him poaching a mogul course in Vail:

“Perhaps the most famous Vail McConkey story came from a Pro Mogul Tour event. McConkey took his run down the Look Ma course and did a flip, which wasn’t allowed at the time. After the disqualification, McConkey slipped back up Chair 3 and proceeded to poach the course naked, to the delight of the crowd. The stunt got McConkey banned from Vail Mountain”

When I saw him throw a back flip off a cliff back in the late 90s I became a bigger fan, my first experience watching McConkey was in the film Walls of Freedom by Robb and Scott Gaffney (now Matchstick Productions.)  They are two of his long time friends, run don’t walk to see it.

Rest in Peace Shane.

      tags: [ski]


Comments [1] posted: Apr 10, 2009 gonzo

      tags: [rock n roll | ski]


Comments [0] posted: Jan 06, 2009 gonzo

      tags: [ski]


Comments [0] posted: Jan 06, 2009 gonzo

Featuring the skills of Danny Walton on teles.

      tags: [ski]


Comments [0] posted: Dec 12, 2008 elvis

Sun Valley first, then it's off to Jackson Hole.  These guys tear it up.  Nothing else to say except enjoy.

      tags: [ski]


Comments [0] posted: Dec 06, 2008 elvis

and pray to the almighty snow god...

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Ullr - Norse God of Snow

      tags: [ski]


Comments [0] posted: Dec 05, 2008 gonzo

In case you are unfamiliar, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in South America and the Americas as a whole for that matter: 22,841 feet high.  EXACTLY the sort of place that I'd want to climb up and then jump off.

      tags: [ski | spectacular]


Comments [0] posted: Nov 27, 2008 gonzo

http://www.pioneersaloon.com/

      tags: [ski]


Comments [0] posted: Nov 21, 2008 elvis

In previous posts, you may have realized that we at byrner love skiing.  Our previous post has had no current effect on current snow fall in our local hill.  Therefore, Byrner offers a new video to the all mighty Ulwar, Glacius, or whatever.


Sacrifices for Ulwar - Amazing videos are here

Glacies the God of Snow and Ice

    A young girl came up behind her mother who was standing at a crib.  “Yes, Persephone?” Her mother, Demeter, asked.
    “Mommy, who is that?”
    “It’s your little brother dear.”
    “Oh, ok.” the girl said, and she went to play with her toys.
    “Yes, her little brother.  Your sister, her name is Persephone, and your father was Poseidon now wasn’t he?  And you, you shall be called Glacies.”
    As the years went by, Glacies and Persephone grew up together traveling the Earth.  Their mother always took them with her when she tended it, and taught them how to care for it.  Persephone always loved to make the flowers bloom.  Yet Glacies, no matter how hard he tried he could never get them to bloom, they withered under his touch.  His mother told him that he just needed to try harder and that they only withered because he was so depressed, which in itself only got worse each time he tried.  Despite her reassurances though, Demeter herself was worried.  “How is it,” she thought, “that the son of two gods as powerful as Poseidon and I has no powers?”
    He grew up a skinny and gangly young man, not at all looking like a god.  This along with his failure to have powers made him the subject of ridicule among some of the other gods.  This coupled with his own feelings of shortcomings led him to become a wanderer.  He no longer lived with the gods, but rather with the mortals because he felt that since he had no godly powers, he had no right to live with them.  Yet where he thought he might get acceptance among man his appearance of a weakling did him no good while with mortals either.  He was the subject of ridicule and mockery from many, and his short temper with them just made it worse.
    He heard of Persephone’s abduction by Hades while on the road and became heartbroken and rushed immediately back to his mother’s side.  Just as his mother’s sadness was reflected in the Earth, as was his.  Something that the Earth had never seen before came falling from the sky.  Hard clear balls that pounded into the land and smashed roofs, causing much damage.  When Glacies looked at what was happening realized that he was doing it.  He had channeled his anger into the weather, creating this.
    As the search for Persephone continued he learned how to control this ability, fine tuning it so that he could make it appear in a variety of ways.  He tested the snow, a soft, almost fluffy ice on Athens, where it was received with awe and wonder.  Women looked at it on the ground and thought of it as beautiful, and children loved to play in it.  In Sparta he tried a freezing rain where it froze as it hit the ground and created icicles on houses.  The latter was thought beautiful, yet the former was hated, because it caused many wagons to crash.  Glacies was pleased that he now knew his power and was determined to use it correctly.
    Once Persephone had been negotiated for, and Demeter let the Earth grow beautiful again, Glacies saw no reason to make the snow and ice.  So in the summer months he stayed with his mother and sister and they had many fun and happy times together, and in the winter months when Persephone was taken from them he accompanied his mother in making the Earth barren and cold, as he had felt during his youth.
    When he would create the snow and ice he enjoyed going out and walking among those who suffered from it.  To those whom he loved the most and who had been kindest to him, he gave only the beautiful snow coverings.  Light dustings that covered everything yet harmed nothing.  But if you had been one to mock and hurt him you had the fury of ice.  Hail and freezing rain were your gifts.
    This is how the snow and ice came to be.  Through the anger and loss of a god, beauty and destruction came hand in hand.  Never let oneself attack another because of their looks or abilities, but take them for who they are.
Poseidon: Father
Demeter: Mother
Persephone: Half Sister

October 17, 2006

The Snow God, a.k.a.

Like every year, the Snow God was born the moment the first snowflake fell from the sky. Then another flake fell, and another. They all had the freedom to choose where they wanted to land. Often, they looked at the wide world from the clouds high above and contemplated where to fall. It was very important to them, where they fell that is.
This is because they were created with the sole purpose of purifying everything by touching it. And they had but one chance, for the life of a snowflake was very short. The moment it touched something, it absorbed all the impurity and sin and evil and sadness associated with that object, and died. It was an honorable death, a death every snowflake wanted to achieve.
This is how a snowflake fell: it began a quick descent from the cloud that created it, and rushed towards earth faster and faster. Then as it began to close in on earth, almost as an afterthought, it began to slow down, to sway from side to side..to pause, to think, and finally, light as a feather, settled on a tree top, or a lady's lilac hat, or a birds wing, or on the barren grass, whichever it chose.
So it is in this way that the tiny snowflakes fell from the sky, like little white blessings being scattered all over humankind.
The humans of course, did not know of this, and they brushed away any tiny flake that happened to touch them. Unknown to them, they were brushing away a chance to be clean and pure again. The trees, and the grass and the earth all happily welcomed the snow, and it happily gathered on them till you couldn't see anything of the trees, or the grass, or the earth.
Soon everything was covered with snow, all evil was dead, everything was white and pure and happy again. The snowflakes had met their destiny, and lived worthy lives.
The Snow God was the last to go. Eventually he chose the window sill of a tiny cottage in which lived a little girl with her mother. The girl's father had died during the summer and the tiny cottage was full of sadness. This is a worthy place to bless, he thought.
As he neared the window, a tiny outstretched hand darted out from within. "Look mama, I caught a snowflake!" said the little girl running in from the window to her mother.
"Alas...this year I shall die in vain, for I have touched the most innocent" ...thought the snow god as he melted into water under the warmth of her soft kiss.

posted by Selma Mirza at 8:00 PM

We raise this offering to you, all mighty ski god.  May you look kindly up on us mortals and bless us with  bountiful snow fall.

      tags: [ski]


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