It's all about Hood in the summer and SOL has been stationed at the Bonfire/Salomon house over the last few weeks collecting the latest news, photos, and interviews in preparation for another season of snow. While we were there the industry quarterly's started rolling in, Susanna Howe dropped us a new article about her upcoming book called "Sick," and we have the results from last weeks Gorge Games Big Air and the FIS GS competition in Brazil. So direct your URL finder to the following addresses and find out the latest news in the snowboarding world.

GORGE GAMES BIG AIR
So you missed the Gorge Games? No big deal, we were there to cover it for you. Find out how many women were carried down on stretchers and who won the summer huckfest.

SHE'S BACK
"Dropping In" columnist Susanna Howe is back with an update on how her book is coming along and when we'll be seeing it out there. She has titled it "Sick" and if you have been following along with her progression while she wrote in Tahoe this last winter, you might want to add comments to what you think about snowboard books on the message boards.

FIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN CHILE
Believe it or not there is a whole snowboarding world in Chile. Kathleen Casey is there right now checking it all out and sending us the scoop. Find out who won the GS race earlier this month.

INDUSTRY SCHNOOZE

NIKE AND MARKER INTERNATIONAL SWOOSHING TOGETHER
Nike and Marker ski bindings have teamed up and are ready to conquer the world. Read up on what the well-paid PR people have to say about the new alliance. If all goes well with the plan, consumers will be seeing swoosh boards in 1999. We're anxiously standing by to see how this alliances will go after last year's alliance between Marker's European division, DNR and Sims came to a screeching halt and ended up in the court rooms. Stay tuned for more information as the season moves on.

RIDE BUYS SMILEY HATS
Ride continues its Pac Man-like gobbling of pieces of the industry this time acquiring Smiley Hats, a hat making company formerly owned by the current president of Ride Bob Hall. Are we surprised? Read on to find out more about the deal.

QUARTERLY INFO
For all of the latest quarterly information from public snowboarding companies go to the following URLs:

VANS
/industry/vans_3.htm

K2
/industry/k22.htm

MORROW
/industry/morrow_2.htm

RIDE
/industry/ridepresea.htm

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The Groove 19 was brought to you by the wonderful people at Windell's Snowboard Camp at Mt. Hood, Oregon.