Extreme Snowboarding February 26, 2010

As I said in my last post, I have some video of Shaun White’s “secret halfpipe” (somewhere in quaint little Silverton, CO…. I ❤ it!) and him learning many of the tricks we saw him do during his Olympic run. It doesn't say anywhere that this is where he learned the 1260 double McTwist, but I'm willing to bet that it is.

The thing that’s really unique about this halfpipe is the gigantic foam pit at the end. While the use of foam pits has previously been reserved for things like motocross and BMX, it seems that the level of progression in the sport of snowboarding is demanding it.

While the standard tricks for the halfpipe were once 720’s and rodeos, riders quickly saw that doing these tricks would not guarantee them a good score for long. The new standard rotation became 1080 (3 full spins), and that was a couple of years ago. Judges are looking for something fresh. Now, as the stakes rise in competitive snowboarding, the pro’s have to figure out how to deliver new, exciting runs without killing themselves trying.

And voila, Red Bull built a halfpipe leading into a foam pit. Needless to say, practicing a new trick into foam is a little less nerve-racking than practicing with a very good chance you’ll fall into hard packed icy snow.

Here is the video I have as a little intro to the project:

Here you can see White really employing the use of his new foam pit. The following two tricks are ones he did in his winning Olympic run… and now you can see how one might learn something like that 😛

And here’s the double McTwist, the variation of which he did at the Olympics to blow everyone’s mind. (Even though the title of the video is double McTwist 1260, it doesn’t really seem like he completes the 1260 in most of these hits. A regular McTwist is an off-axis 540, meaning a double would only be 1080 degrees of rotation. The last 180 degrees is what he adds to this in the final video to make it a ground-breaking trick.)

…… And just in case you can’t picture what an actual 1260 double McTwist looks like (landed in the halfpipe rather than foam), here’s one more video for you:

I have to say, he pulled it a lot cleaner there than he did at the Olympics.

For more stuff about Project X and the secret halfpipe, check out the official site. And now I’m done posting about Shaun White for quite a while…. He gets quite enough coverage as it is! And I think he makes everyone forget about all the other great snowboarders out there… I’ll pay them some tribute next time.

Men’s Olympic Halfpipe February 25, 2010

The Men’s Olympic Halfpipe event was more unpredictable than I would have thought. Not because of who won (snowboarding legend Shaun White… Of cooourse!!) but because the crrrazy tricks that were thrown down (again… Mostly by Shaun White. Don’t you just hate that guy?)

Since he got first place in qualifiers,
White had the enviable position of going last in the two rounds of finals. Not surprisingly, he had a terrific first run, throwing in back-to-back double corks. The second round started with White’s score being a whopping 46.8.

By the time his turn came around again, no one had beat his score. This gave White the option to take it easy during his second run, since he had already secured a win, but he decided to give the crowd something they could really go wild about.

After consulting with his coaches, White decided to put together a run during which he fused together two of the hardest tricks in snowboarding. He threw a trick he had only done in competition a handful of times, his already near-perfected 1260 double McTwist. White received overwhelming approval from the audience AND the judges, who awarded him a 48.4 for his final run. That’s a damn near perfect score.

The US earned two medals in this event, with White getting gold and Scotty Lago earning bronze. Lago’s run is not to be overlooked; he is, like White, a phenomenal snowboarder. He also has mastered the double cork, working in THREE variations of it in his run. For a more detailed account of the winning runs, visit this article from Transworld Snowboarding.
I also have video floating around of Shaun White learning “the Tomahawk” at his own personal halfpipe (again, don’t you juuust hate him?!), I’ll be sure to embed it (if possible) or at least link to it once I track it down.

That’s all for now!

Vancouver!! – Women’s Halfpipe February 23, 2010

We’re now in the middle of the Winter Olympics, with two of my favorite events behind us: Women’s and Men’s Olympic Halfpipe.

First I’d like to talk about the ladies. We had many great competitors on the US Olympic Team, including Kelly Clark (a past Olympic gold medalist in this event), Gretchen Bleiler (totally awesome, and the gold medalist in Superpipe at the X Games two weeks ago), Hannah Teter (recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit model… haha), and Elena Hight. Gretchen Bleiler was favored in this event (by many people besides myself), but she wasn’t able to put together a winning run. During her first, she got hung up on her signature move the Crippler. She landed it in her second run, but hit the deck on a Cab 720 on her next air.

Hannah Teter was one of the few athletes who was in good standing after the first round of finals. She had already secured a score of 42.4 with a run that included a Cab 720 and a 900.

The winner of the event was in last place at the end of the first round, and was in the least desirable position in the second. She was going first.

Torah Bright from Australia suffered two pretty gnarly falls in the first round, and went into the second with a score of only 5.9. But for me, it really was the comeback of the year. She started off her run with a huge backside 360 right to a switch McTwist 720. Delivering her next 3 tricks with ease, she earned a final score of 45.0

No one could catch her in the second round, and the event ended with Bright in 1st, Teter in 2nd and Kelly Clark in 3rd with a 42.2.

Here are some pictures from Transworld Snowboarding to help you visualize.

Torah Bright:

Hannah Teter:

Kelly Clark:

Vancouver!! February 13, 2010

The 2010 Winter Olympics are upon us, with many of promising American athletes competing in snowboarding, skiing, and tons of other events. Mainly, I’ll be paying attention to the snowboarding and skiing, but I’ll try to report a little on everything. The Olympics only happen once every four years, after all!

I would like to address the incident that occurred today involving a young Georgian luge competitor. In a tragic accident, Nodar Kumaritashvili veered off the course around the last turn in his training run and hit a steel pole at 90 mph. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
An investigation of the area where Kumaritashvili lost control is taking place, and it has been decided the wall next to the turn will be built up as a “preventative measure”, according to the International Luge Federation and Vancouver 2010 officials.

The rest of the Georgian team made the decision to stay in Vancouver and compete, in honor of their fallen teammate. To get the whole story (and watch the video… yikes) check out the NBC Olympics website.