Victory

Especially because they are all friends. Interesting to see where this goes. One thing fore-sure is that going across the border or through airport customs is about to become even harder for looking like a snowboarder. $10 million!!! Got to pay for those custom boards somehow I guess : )

Not sure if this has been posted or not: "Two top-level Canadian snowboarders are tied to the largest marijuana grow operation ever found by Ridge Meadows RCMP, according to search warrant application obtained by The News. The search warrant that led to the Sept. 22 raid of Eighteen Carrot Farms on Cedar Way names the current owner of the property, Edward Ian Hadgkiss, an athlete who has competed in the Snowboard World Cup, as well as a former Olympian, Ryan Wedding of Coquitlam. Police seized 6,800 marijuana plants and 39.2 kilograms (86.5 pounds) of dried marijuana worth an estimated $10 million from a large barn on the farm. Court documents show a loaded Remington shotgun, a Remington Express Magnun and ammunition were also seized from the house. Hadgkiss and Wedding were not at the farm during the raid. They have not been arrested or charged in connection with the grow operation. According to the warrant, RCMP began their investigation after receiving information from a Vancouver Police Department detective. In a search warrant application, Ridge Meadows RCMP Cnst. Melvin Wong wrote he received information about a marijuana grow-op at 18 Carrot Farms from detective Cnst. Gilmore of the Vancouver police on Aug. 1. Gilmore told Wong he received the information from by a "proven, reliable source." The source told detective Gilmour there were 8,000 marijuana plants in the Eighteen Carrot Farms warehouse located at 13205 Cedar Way in Maple Ridge. The detective was also told there were 40 high density 1,000 watt grow lights per room. Each light produced .68 to .90 kg (1.5 to two pounds) of marijuana. The source also said there were 16 grow lights located in the house on the same property and that Advance Nutrients, an Abbotsford-based hydroponics company, provided the feeding supplies for the grow-op. The Vancouver police source alleged Wedding was the person who "transports and harvests the marijuana every two weeks." In his application for the search warrant of Eighteen Carrot Farms, Wong said he learned both Hadgkiss and Wedding were associated with a Ridge Meadows RCMP file regarding the cultivation of marijuana in 2004. Wong began his investigation by requesting electricity consumption records from B.C. Hydro for the property. He learned there were two accounts – one for the barn and another for a residence on the property. In the search warrant application, Wong wrote that for a house approximately 3,000 square feet in size, "bimonthly hydro records in the 1,000 of kilowatt hours are abnormally high." Wong also consulted Brent Warner, an industry specialist from the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, about the process of growing carrots in a warehouse. In a letter, Warner, a professional horticulturist who has spent more than 30 years working with farmers, told Wong: "I can advised you that to the best of my knowledge there are no commercial warehouses in North America growing carrots." "The cost of lighting, heating/cooling on top of the artificial soil required, makes such a concept totally unreasonable and economically viable." Before RCMP raided the property in September, Wong used a thermal detection device to detect differences in surface temperature at night. He found a "hot bloom of heat" emitting from the exposed cement footing of the warehouse. The metal roof, the vents and walls of the warehouse also had "hotter" heat signatures. Wong also compared the signature to a similar sized warehouse in the same neighbourhood. Based on the information he had obtained, Wong wrote he had "reasonable grounds to believe that the following offense had been committed: production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking." Wedding, 25 competed in the parallel giant slalom competition, placing 24th at Salt Lake Winter Olympics in 2002. The web site, Canadasport.com, shows Hadgkiss, 33, participated in the Snowboard World Cup in 2001 and Grand Prix in 2002, at which he finished in seventh place . Hadgkiss and Wedding could not be reached for comment on Friday. The Ridge Meadows RCMP said the investigation into the marijuana grow-op is ongoing. They have not charged a 31-year-old man arrested during the raid on Sept. 22.

Indigo Snowboards out of Germany makes some beautiful boards with a bamboo topsheet (with aluminum inset logo). They look AMAZING in person, even though personally I don't care much for the "wood topsheet look". http://www.indigosnow.de/ Broz

I'll be bringing a friend of mine. I'm not sure if it would be worth bringing extra boards for people to try out...I'd rather just ride than worry about that stuff since it's only a one day event. Broz

I can bring my crew. Let's do this! Broz

There's 3 of us that ride (together) over at Grouse on a regular basis. We have passes there, so it doesn't make much sense to go over to Cypress (even though it's probably a better hill for carving). The 2 others I ride with are my new recruits to carving, so they're still getting the hang of it. We should all meet up someday and carve around all the rails in the park : ) Broz

A few years back I rode in Zakopane, Poland...it was really fun, and the mountain was considerably larger than I was expecting. My family is Czech, so I am over in that region quite a bit. The local hills are quite small, but I can't speak for Jasna in Slovakia. As said above, I hear that they are doing alright for snow this year. Have fun! Broz

Ya, it was a great board and very ahead of its time. I believe that it was designed by Nelson Jenson (spelling?) who then went on to work with Chris Prior after Rev's downfall. Broz

I used to ride that board back in the day (like 1995). It doesn't have the Rev slidder / Freedom Groove insert, but it does have a channel base. It's also super stiff and has an asym core (meaning that the toeside edge of the board is thicker than the heelside), so make sure it's right for you. Broz

I'm good to go anytime! I'll send you an email. Broz

Good to hear that I'm not the only one riding plates @ Grouse (when they actually have snow). I'll try to chase you down if I see you. Broz

Other than the Grindrite, there isn't much to justify spending any amount of money. The press looks extremely lightweight, and I'm sure the 100 boards worth of materials are for circa 1990's style jibber boards. I could be wrong though. Broz

Hey! I was so stoked to see that one of my old boards is still on the slopes (See: "Monday" pics). It's a one of a kind. I have some new stuff in the works for next season, so watch for it soon! Broz

I got caught in a freak lightning storm up Grouse Mtn. (Vancouver) once. They couldn't risk putting any more people on the lifts, so some people hiked back up the runs (after about 2 hours of waiting), but eventually they had to take people out in the cats and on sleds. I had a seasons-pass, so they hooked me up with a voucher for the bar. Broz

There is no doubt that Titanal is a great material (if used properly in the correct lay-up). As mentioned above, it has been used in boards and skis for years, so don't get TOO caught up in the hype. Having said that, it is always inspiring to see old ideas reinvented and improved upon...especially to get results like Bruce's boards are getting. I've never heard a product plug on TV quite like that before! To credit a World Championship win solely to the performance of your board is amazing, and it must have made all of those super long days in the workshop, stress, and headaches suddenly worth it for Bruce. Congrats! The majority of us have no real reason to ride such a specialized piece of equipment, yet we all want to anyway. I can't see Titanal being the Holy Grail we've all been searching for in board design, but it does have it's place........(don't forget that it also comes with negative attributes as well). Will it be a "sea change"...probably not, but it IS pushing the envelope of innovation, and I have nothing but respect for that. Broz

Yes, it's me...Jason Broz. Yes, I'm still building boards (lots of them). I've been up to all sorts of projects over the past year. My own brand of freestyle boards called Logic (www.logicsnowboards.com) went off last year because of my "Artist Series" of boards. I also did a collaboration with Endeavor Snowboards and built their Paavo Tikkanen Pro Model (which, if I may toot my own horn (sorry for this), was voted one of the 10 best boards in the world by Transworld Snowboarding Magazine's "Good Wood" product test : ). Ahhh, what else....I've also been working with a company in Switzerland building OEM boards for them. I've been up to all sorts of stuff. It's all been REALLY fun, and I've learned a lot about building boards and doing business. I'm finally making a living doing what I love, but I still have one huge regret: I never started the alpine board company I wanted to do a few years back (hence my re-appearance on this forum). Carving has always been my #1 passion and it hurts to see all of the big companies pulling out (but there's obvious benefits). I have about 50 boards worth of raceboard materials kickin' around and I'm good to go. Freestyle boards are fun to build and all, but there's NO comparison to the challenge of building a custom raceboard (nor the satisfaction of seeing it on a podium). I hate the fact that I never persued it any further than the random custom board here and there, but that's about to change. You heard it here first! Bomberonline.com! Seriously though...it's something that hasn't left my mind in quite some time. I didn't want to do it unless the boards were going to be perfect. Keep your eyes peeled...there're coming. Broz

The Inca's flare is pretty dramatic from what I remember. There are some guys that still rock tail flare on their slalom boards to assist in turn initiation. I have an old 162 that I built a few years back that has a 4mm reverse taper. I like it, but I actually prefer no taper on a smaller board. Broz

A friend of mine rode one of their alpine boards and found that it had WAY too much tail flare (the tail was wider than the nose), so it tended to lock you into a turn and you had to really struggle to get out of it. It sounded really hard to ride. Broz