The SOL Groove Vol. 1 Num. 20
(August 4, 1997)

It has been a painful summer for a quite a few young huckers at Hood. Show dog courage has been high and the price is being paid daily. In the last month we've seen a handful of knock outs, a broken back, broken leg, and three shoulder blow outs. You think that people would start to realize they should chill, but in the words of Lamar pro Jimmy Halopoff, "That crazy stuff is just so much fun."

Speaking of fun, summer has been great at Hood. There's more snow than ever before and the halfpipes are just beginning to get moved lower to keep up with the melting snow. Mt. Hood snowboard camp just moved to a new area below all of the other camps and Windell's snowboard camp took over the pipe that was cut for last week's Cuervo Gold To Gold Snowboard/Wakeboard contest.

Apparently last weekend's Cuervo contest was more of a televised drink fest than serious board event. The riders were all stoked because each contestant took home $1,000 in cash and the first place team took home an additional $4,000. We're not quite sure when Tequilla became the appropriate drink to promote a sport where the average age of the participant is 16, but hey, it's never too early to become a wasted, gutter-lounging alcoholic.

WHO IS IT?
Have you played "Who Am I?" If you haven't made a guess on our latest mystery rider you could be missing your chance to win a Nitro baseball cap. Last week Salomon/Bonfire rider Jason Ford was the first person to guess the rider of the week, but we figured he probably doesn't need a baseball cap, so the prize went to Kyle Phillips of Walla Walla, WA. Be sure to play every week because you might win something!

TALKING BACK
Susanna Howe's latest dose of "Dropping In" has got a few of you talking about her new book and what you think of snowboard books. Go ahead, be brave, tell the world what you think.

SEARCH
Can't find Susanna's old columns? Looking for a picture of someone or results from a contest you missed. Have you tried our search engine yet? The button is located at the top of the page or try the URL because everything on SOL is indexed for easy searching. Simply enter the word that describes what you're looking for and the SOL | Search will return a list of stories to you. Well, that's the way it's supposed to work anyway. You'll never know until you try though, so what are you waiting for?

NEW MAGS ARE ALMOST OUT
The latest mags will be in the stores before you know it, in some cases they are already there. Check out what's coming up in the fall issues of Blunt, Plow, Snowboarder, Fresh And Tasty, and more with our easy to use SOL Print MEDIAtor.

GOING SOMEWHERE?
Last week Jason Ford told us that he used the SOL Travel Desk to get his ticket and plans dialed for a trip to Chile. Next week it could be you figuring out where to go for snow. Try the SOL Travel Desk so you to can feel like a bad-ass traveling snowboarder and find the latest information and schedule planning for your snowboarding trip. It doesn't have to be an exotic trip either. Perhaps it's in your state or in the Rockies. Whatever. Think of it as your own personal travel agent compliments of SOL.

STICK SOUND OFF
What do you think constitutes a hard trick? Stick magazine wants to know. Check out their latest question of the month and you could win a subscription to Stick.

If, in some bout of insanity, you decide you no longer want to receive the SOL | Groove in your mailbox point your browser to this URL: http://www.snowboarding-online.com/register/unsub.cfm

The Groove 20 was brought to you by the wonderful people at The MEDIAtor