Snowblower 7.0
Sound Off : Damn, it seems like forever ago that we were sweating it out at Mt. Hood . Now, there's a foot of fresh on Donner Summit , Loveland is getting dumped on, and those snow pumpers in the East are piling up the man-made. In other words, it's beginning to look a lot like winter, everywhere we go. So here are some tidbits to chew on.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Most unlikely couple of the month award goes to Jennie Waara and Mike Ranquet. Seems the Gibson guitar pimping, snowboard shop owning Ranquet has been chasing his Olympic starlet all over the world.
And in other Mike Ranquet news, the new Seattle shop he co-owns with former Ride president Tim Pogue and pro Dale Rehberg had their grand opening VIP party on October 3. Party-goers reported that the event lacked the Ride blow out bash feel that Tim Pogue is known for. No one threw up, the music was mellow, and Mike Ranquet wasn't thrown out. Maybe the infamously naughty Ride boys have turned over a new leaf now that they are playing with their own money.
Burton says Shalon to Trevor Andrew |
Burton says Shalom to Trevor AndrewPRO SHOP, EH?
Ranquet and Dale aren't the only snowboarders opening shop these days. Derek Heidt reports that Kevin Young and Marc Morrisset are opening a shop in Whistler called "The Circle." With all of the recently dumped Canadian Sims and Burton riders the shop should have no problem putting together an impressive new team. And speaking of Canadians it has been reported that Trevor Andrew wiped his sponsorship plate (Burton, Arnette, Westbeach) clean and has started over. This winter he'll be sporting a new look from head to board. Spy for eyewear and Salomon for boards and Nike for outerwear. Good luck air Andrew.
Daniel is no longer the man from Atlantis. |
SWAP MEAT
Since last month's surprise purchase (see story) by Adidas, Salomon has not only acquired the young Andrew but also has signed Atlantis' Daniel Franck. We're not sure, but we also heard that Ingemar Backman, Atlantis' other rockstar, is now riding for Forum. Let's see now, what happened to the mythical city of Atlantis? Oh yeah, it sunk into the ocean. Let's hope that doesn't happen. In other sponsorship news Canadian rider Roberta Rodger is now riding for K2, Adam Merriman has signed with the new Northwest snowboard company Rift, and Jeremy Jones is riding for Type A.
Blue Montgomery is no longer riding for Division 23, but his former teammate Mikey LeBlanc is and has a pro model coming out with Division 23. Also joining the Division 23 team is Ali Goulet. He'll be living in Salt Lake City, Utah, this winter and will be spending most of his free time riding at Brighton Ski Resort. Ali will be competing in the FIS World Cup Halfpipe contests in Europe beginning this November, and the U.S. Grand Prix's starting in December. He hopes to qualify for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Hillary Maybery may or may not be riding for Joyride. She's currently hanging out in Cali seeking other options.
Are neon days back for Avalanche? |
Damian Sanders is back and riding for Avalanche (See Story) (his brother Chris Sanders' company) again. It seems Damian still hasn't quite gotten over the whole hardboot thing so he has joined the crossover crew and is testing all the new step-in bindings with his super-custom hybrids.
SELL OUT TOTE BOARD
To help you keep all of the new company purchases straight we have compiled a list of the companies that have been bought, and who purchased them:
LibTech/Gnu are now owned by Quiksilver
Salomon is now owned by Adidas
Planet Earth is now owned by K2
Nike is rumored to be courting Burton once again. This little gossip nugget gets resurrected every six months. Maybe Jake will finally sell out for the rumored 80 million he is being offered. What we're wondering is whether his investors are expecting interest in the money they lent him during the late 80s when every other company sold out because they didn't have bankers for in-laws.
CROSSING SHENEDOAH
A few months ago Shenendoah had his mountain bike stolen after Jacob Carlson left the door of their Sacramento pad open. Apparently before Shenendoah even discovered that the bike was missing, police had apprehended his bike and the culprit, a cross dressing, peeping tom who had been stalking the neighborhood for sometime. They had apparently caught the dirty he-she as he was riding away from Shenedoah's house wearing a dress that he had acquired from one of his peeping victim's homes. What does this have to do with snowboarding? Nothing other than the fact that Shenendoah still rides for the company formerly known as . . . we'll just call them Scott.
MAKING THE BIG TIME
What do Wendy Wyvill, Shannon Dunn, Morgan Lafonte, Barrett Christy, Hillary Maybery, Aurelie Sayres, and Athena all have in common? They all appeared in an article in the November issue of Women's Sports and Fitness that was about the camaraderie of women in snowboarding. Guess this is just the model sport for sports models.
DOUBLE VISION
Meanwhile back in the magazines those clever boys at Four Star Distribution have come up with a new advertising campaign: yep, they're copying other people's ads. What genius. Here's their version next to the real thing. Look for more ads boosting some of your favorite company's ads in very near future.
If you've ever made the mistake of ordering anything from J.Crew you probably, like the rest of North America, have already seen their latest Winter Fashion '97 catalog which is sporting "real" athletes for models. Check out "extreme snowboarder" Denise Arnett, "freeride snowboarder" Chelsea Paulino, and "North American Extreme Snowboard Champion" Snow Peterson as they perform another "extreme" sport, luging, in extremely preppy J. Crew wear. Hey, if J. Crew is sponsoring we might know a few "extreme snowboarders" who are unemployed at the moment.
You have now reached the end of the blower and we're so proud.
