skategoat

Did some Googling and found that you are right Rob. It was started by three pro riders who were dropped by Burton. I like their attitude - no marketing hype, just pure snowboards. Of course, that could just be marketing hype <G>.

And the boards are priced at $449.00. Let's see, 100 x $449 = $44,900.00 That wouldn't pay for the company Mazda.

Is anyone familiar with the Yes brand? I met a guy in Whistler who just raved about them, especially the 162 directional twin tip. They are made in Europe and have limited distribution in North America. Anyone try one? http://www.yesnowboard.com/

Online backup is the only way to guard against theft or natural disaster. If a burglar breaks into your home or office, he will take your external hard drives. If you have a fire or flood, your external drives will likely be damaged or ruined. Mozy.com is really cheap. $5.00 a month for personal use, unlimited data. The only problem is uploading your initial backup. It could take days if you have a lot of files. Backup to CD is unreliable and difficult to manage.

Mark: I'm sure you know, sometimes it's just about being in the right place at the right time. At least I can say I raced against the famous Richie Evanoff. Even if we were separated by 3 age brackets and 5+ seconds on a 40 second course. Henry

This commercial is playing non-stop on CTV. At the end is 18-year-old Richard Evanoff. Richie started out with the Oshawa Lowriders, same club as Matt Morison and now he races with the Calgary club. I used to watch him as a 14-year-old and I knew he was going places. He just rips. He's a great kid too. <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-4Z6xyn3Go&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-4Z6xyn3Go&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Richie's going to be fore-running at the Olympics: http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/148646

I was standing beside a corner the locals call Toilet Bowl during the Women's DH. You enter the turn over a blind ridge. Take a bit of air and land on a traverse. Then you have to take a 110* turn left before going over another small bump. I would've snowplowed down the thing. A lot of the racers were running scared. Can't say I blame them.

Saw Jon Montgomery win gold on Friday. Whistler went nuts. The village is getting more and more crowded. I think the word has spread that the Whistler experience is friendlier and more intimate than Vancouver. Went to the Latvia - Slovakia hockey game yesterday and I didn't like the crowds in Van. On my way home tomorrow. Sure wish I could stay for the PGS but I know a huge contingent of Oshawa Lowriders (Matt's club) will be there. I'll be jumping up and down in front of the TV.

skatha: We could use more doctors. Come on up. Luge was cool. Standing right by the rail, the sleds would come by and make you jump. Apparently, the bobsleds are even scarier. They sound like trains. How any sane person could do this is beyond me.

Here are a few more photos from Whistler. Swiss house was hopping last night after the two golds. Then Didier Defago and Dario Cologna showed up. The place went nuts. I give Switzerland the gold medal for fan support. They are everywhere, carrying cowbells the size of buckets. Poles take silver for enthusiasm. Estonia and Ukraine share a sentimental bronze for friendliness.

Here is what it was like in rainy Whistler yesterday. Everyone I meet is loving the Whistler experience. I rode a lift with a French alpine coach yesterday and he was just raving about how great these games have been. I thought he was going to kiss my wife on the mouth. At the village level, the rain is doing nothing to dampen the enthusiasm. The Victory Celebration on Saturday was jam packed. It was also tremendous fun. The crowd wouldn't let medalists leave the stage. High fives, posing for photos - the organisers had to practically push them off to keep the proceedings going. When All-American Rejects hit the stage, even old fogies like me were dancing in the mosh pit. All of you moaning about the commercialisation of the Olympics - name a sport that hasn't been commercialised. Watch a European hockey game, the players themselves are human billboards. How about auto racing? Sailing? X-Games? It's the marketing dollars that make it all happen. Maybe we should go back to running in bare feet wearing white underwear? I left my cynicism behind when I got on the plane for Whistler and I am having the time of my life. Some marketing disaster.

I've seen racers eject out of Burton bindings. No breakage. So I know it happens. But I don't ride hard, rutted race courses. I prefer the simplicity of standard bindings with less points of failure and less chance of there being hidden damage. The convenience factor is a non-issue for me. It takes me 5 seconds to engage a standard bail. kjl, I don't know about the Fintecs. Never seen one in person.

That photo gave me a good chuckle. My immediate reaction was - wtf is wrong with his foot? Step-in failures are the reason why I run standard bindings only. I had an Intec pin break on me a few years ago. They too are just cheap pot metal.

Same here. The guys at work know to just send the FedEx guy to my office.

I love this: http://bit.ly/a6snQE You can scope out the resort from the comfort of your office. I just wish the runs were labeled so I could have better context.

I know in '08, Canadian gold medal winners were awarded $20,000 in cash. Not sure the amount this year but I'm sure they get something similar. Like Surf Quebec says, pocket change to the NHLers. They have the right to do whatever they want with the money but it sure would look good if they handed the cheques to Right to Play or a similar charity.

I might be able to meet up for a few runs or beers, at the very least. I am there with family so not sure of my obligations in that regard. I'll email you with my cell #.

If there is a lot of snow, I would go into the bumps and trees. Without snow, just the open runs. I like riding fast in the open bowls like Seventh Heaven. I'm not that big on steeps unless there is a boatload of snow. The Tanker 172 looks good but kinda pricey at $749. What do you guys think of rockered boards? Boris, I was looking at that Hammer but it's hard to find any info on it online. I I think for now, I'm going to take my old Volkl Spline 166 which is mild BX board. I'll see how it works while demoing some of the Prior fleet.

Do you think Ross would've made an appearance on The Tonight Show and been Roots poster boy for 10 years if he just won a gold medal without the controversy? I don't know why he's whining about the "cloud". He made out fairly well with the limited amount of success he had in the sport. Mark Fawcett's gold medal hopes were undone by an equipment failure yet I have not once heard him complain about it. He moved on with his life and has found his place. I sure wish Ross would do the same.

I just read your review on the Tanker. Makes me want one but at $749, I need to demo it before laying down that kind of cash. I posted in the BC forum that I need a Whistler board. Something I can leave at my relative's home there.

I have a family in Whistler and I'm sick of lugging equipment on plane trips so I'm going to buy something and leave it in Whistler. I'm going to probably just go with a softie setup because I get enough hard booting out East. So what would you pick as the ultimate Whistler setup? Something with enough float for the powder days but stable enough to rip the groomed runs. I like to ride fast. I was thinking Dupraz but you can't get the things in North America anymore.

Don't keep us hanging. Which are your top two?

I would call the Canadian Embassy and ask where they are going to be watching the games. Wish I could join you guys.

Ya, he's a tough little bastard. To get to where he is now, you know he had to be tough. I'll bet he's taken worse hits in training.

I'm amazed he stayed conscious. It had to hurt like hell. <object width="580" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygOIy7b9mR8&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygOIy7b9mR8&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object> Apparently, he went back up for another run. Not a good decision in my opinion. I'm sure he was mildly concussed. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/01/29/white.injury.ap/index.html