New High-Speed Quad at Mt. Hood Meadows

Kind of. The Stadium (AKA Yellow or Old Yeller) double chair is getting quad-ified this summer. It's going to pick up closer to the north lodge and drop off farther uphill all with fewer towers. What does this mean? More riders on hill at any given time. Another way to get to the north side. Possibly shorter lines at Mt. Hood Express. Ski racers get a high-speed quad while the pipe, Rose City Park and the Zoo have the slowest lift on the hill. Bottom line: more people in the same amount of space. Hopefully I can take advantage of this new route somehow, but nothing is jumping out at me. Let Meadows tell you all about it here.

Outside Magazine is Hip to Brain Farm

The September 2011 issue of Outside Magazine just hit mailboxes and the first article in the book is a 5-pager entitled The Next Picture Show chronicling Brain Farm's rise to fame. Don't run out and buy it just for that, though, the text is available at Outside online. The article throws around names like 'Justin Timberlake' and '50 Cent', talks about Curt Morgan's millions of dollars worth of high-tech toys and generally brings awareness to Brain Farm and their newest child, The Art of Flight. One thing you won't find on the web version is a sidebar entitled The Toy Chest. In it, we the reader learn about the $70,000 Phantom HD Gold camera, the $500,000 Cineflex V14 HD camera system, the $35,000 RED ONE HD camera and, ya know, the AStar B3 Helicopter. Well worth the read.

[Link: Outside Online]

Videograss Leaves Grass Stains on Portland

Mr. Popper's Penguin is actually the subtitle of Gus Engle's section.

Videograss brought the whole crew out for a real-deal world premiere of both their movies, Retrospect and Shoot the Moon. Going in I thought there might be the feel of an 'A' movie and a 'B' movie, but it wasn't the case. So much that I can't really distinguish them in my mind anymore. Retrospect played first, so I'll talk about it first.

Title: Retrospect

Riders: Alex Andrews, Alex Cantin, Ben Bilocq, Austin Smith, Curtis Ciszek, Bryan Fox, Ethan Deiss, Jake Blauvelt, Jake Kuzyk, Harrison Gordon, Knut Eliassen, Xavier De Le Rue

Points of interest: The first rider's part ran in front of the obligatory sponsor section. Not sure I've seen that before. I like it. A decent dose of quality freeriding, including a surprise (to me) part by De Le Rue. Of course you know where Blauvelt, Smith, Cizek and Fox do most of their riding (hint: not on rails, with some exceptions). Ethan Deiss owned rails like Superman. The bespectacled rider never did find a phone booth to change out of his Clark Kent garb and into the cape and tights, though. No matter, the secret is out now.

Quick Verdict: Great balance of riding. Quality flick, but nothing extraordinary. Lacked lifestyle. All trick porn.

Imagine a brief intermission here. Product toss, raffle drawings, rock-paper-scissors, etc. NEXT!

Title: Shoot the Moon

Riders: Chris Grenier, Darrell Mathes, Gus Engle, Jake Olson-Elm, Jed Anderson, Johnny Miller, Jon Kooley, Jonas Michilot, Jordan Mendenhall, Justin Bennee, Louif Paradis, Nick Dirks, Nima Jalali, Will Tuddenham, Zac Marben


Points of Interest: Lots and lots of urban in this one. Then again it's about the best urban around. Jake OE slides things in ways I've never seen. Jon Kooley returns with a sickness. Gus Engle and Nick Dirks are true characters. Louif and Jed, well, they are just going to have the best video parts until they're dead or in jail, like the rappers say.

Quick Verdict: 90% urban, 100% trick porn yet still 100% enjoyable. Goes to show that if you do it well, you'll get the result

Snowdays Golf Days

Any golfers out there? Snowdays needs YOU to compete for wonderful prizes at the Inaugural Golf Days Tournament. The tournament is Friday, August 26th at Colwood National Golf Course in Portland. Registration is at 1:00, shotgun start at 2:00. Some of the prizes available are Timberline lift tickets, a $100 Jimmy Mak's gift certificate, a Nike golf bag and shoe carrier, eight (yes, 8, Bob) rounds of golf at Colwood, Portland Timbers tickets, gift packages from RVCA, Bonfire and Skullcandy and a 3-burner gas grill.

Entry is a $75 charity write-off per golfer and covers your cart, your first drink ticket (more available thanks to Heineken), a raffle ticket and a bag of goodies from our sponsors. If you have three friends, sign up together to guarantee your foursome. Mulligan tickets will be for sale and we have some other surprises for you from our hole sponsors. Don't golf but still want to give something back to the local snowboarding community? Show up at 6:30 with $25 for the kids and we'll treat you to a BBQ dinner. That way you can skip all the walking and still have a chance to buy raffle tickets and bid on our silent auctions.

Don't wait! Registration closes August 19. Click the thumbnail below for all the details and go to our purpose-built payment page to register. Yes, all the proceeds go to charity. FORE!

Videograss: Shoot the Moon Premiere

Is it that time already? Seems like snowboard movies come out earlier every year. I just found out about this one. Videograss' Shoot the Moon and Retrospect; Friday, August 12; Portland's Bagdad Theater & Pub; doors at 7:30pm; raffle drawings; autograph signings; oh yeah, and it's free. Minors allowed with parent/guardian. Check the flyer or Videograss' site for more info.