I was just lookin at this and thought some of you ladies might like to go have a look...its the new Ride Ladies site. All the new range is there as well as profiles and interviews with the womens team.

Oh and just as a side note...I am in love with the new artist collaboration Tokidoki range (well the way it looks at least)..this board and bindings are fab!

Ok so if rumours are to believed long time friends Danny Kass and The Dingo are set to embark on a reality TV goodness here is a recent upload on YouTube which may or may not be the trailer for their rumoured new show. Where or indeed if it will be aired is yet to be released but ‘The Adventures of Danny & the Dingo’ appears to be the story of the Grenade Strikes Back tour and everything in between.

Check it out 

Well great news for the southern hemisphere...may be old news for everyone else but Burton have chosen to create the third unique Stash run at the Remarkables in New Zealand. The other two are at Northstar, Tahoe and Avoriaz, France.

If you don't know what the The Stash is, its a run which incorporates natural organic materials (eg wood and stone - no metal or plastics) to create jibs and and other creative features for your riding pleasure!

Check out the full press release at Burton.

Another update from Anna Barry, who seems to be having a blast in Europe at the moment. Here is her summary of her trip  to the Nikita Goodie Lady Session in Thyon, Valis, Switzerland.

It was a morning of all mornings that included 3 hours of driving, 3 coffee stops, 3 stops to ask for directions, 3 inches of snow/ice to be negotiated on the road, 3 forgotten passports (NB only to be discovered at border control) 3 snowboarders and one photographer had arrived in what some would call ‘style’ at Thyon, Switzerland to three foot of fresh snow.
Hmmm – by this stage I was ready for my fourth coffee of the morning and it was only 9am! We - Gilly Seagrave, Emma Lee Rogers, Jo Chastney and myself made the journey over from Morzine to attend the Nikita Goodie Lady Session organized by Nikita rider, Maude Richon. 
 The morning started slowly, with the park crew at Thyon working overtime to get the competition underway and deal with the 3ft of fresh snow that had fallen overnight. With a minor delay in the startof the competition – there was enough time to sneak a few cheeky tree runs in and take full advantage of the new snow.

Gilly havin a picnic!

The morning weather wasn’t the best for competition with visibility fading in and out,temperature plus wind chill pushing well into the minuses, the competition was going to be tough. A jib style section of the contest started the event off. The girls had ample choice of rails to hit consisting of a battleship, c-box, s-box and the picnic table. Girls jibbed for well over an hour, before continuing on  with the second stage of competition hitting two kickers for the afternoon - in a jam format.

Jo gapping the battleship rail.

Maude attacking the kicker

The girls were throwing down, with a variety of tricks -  Cab 3’s, to big shifty lofty backside ones to some serious technical tricks on the rails. It was Jo Chastney a member of the morning madness that took the whole event scoring a fistful of Swiss Francs, a Dakine travel bag stuffed with a bunch of goodies and a wildcard entry to ‘Intergirlacktik’ held at Les 2 Alpes in April. Where she will compete against the world’s best female riders.

Winner - Jo Chastney complete with novelty cheque and crown!!

All the girls competing were stoked on the competition and all came away with a prize – a super fun day all round.
A big thanks must go out to Maude for organizing the competition, Thyon park crew for making it happen, all the girls who competed and Emma for keeping me sane whilst I was attempting to take photos in what I thought was one of the coldest days

To find out more information and results check out www.centralcamps.com

This morning I got an email from Photographer Anna Barry filling me in on her day of shooting with the girls enjoying the Our Camp - Etnies Girl Winter Warm up in Morzine.

Here is what Anna had to say, with some pics too.....Looks like a good time had by all!

Camp group

My text message read from Gilly: "Hey! Yes last day of ‘Our Camp’ tomorrow. Pipe in the morning and Park sessions in the afternoon. Can’t wait to see you, good times ahead!"

Gilly showing them how its done.

Our Camp – is the all girls camp run by Gilly Seagrave, Emma Lee Rogers and Sonia Shaw and I had arrived just in the nick of time to capture a few images of the last days action.

It was a beautiful day the sun was shining and I was happy to be back behind the lens and stoked to riding with a bunch of girls again. I arrived at the bottom of the pipe and witnessed a bunch of girls dropping into the pipe – like pros!

After the pipe we headed for a well-deserved lunch in Avoiraz it was here that I got the low down from the girls of how their week had gone from the spills and thrills on the snowboard to the shenanigans in the evenings. To sum it all up, the girls were stoked and there were smiles all around. After lunch we headed to the park where the girls razzled and dazzled on all the features, showing off their new tricks and the progress they had made in a week - all under the watchful eyes of the coaches!

The sun was setting and the lifts were closing, it was time to wrap the day up, with high fives thrown all round. We headed back down to Morzine for a few après before heading back to the chilled and beautiful More Mountain chalet – where the amazing hosts Samiee and Johno were preparing the last supper before the girls hit the town for one last hoorah!

'The Last Supper '- Cheers!

For more information on the upcoming camps check out ww.ourcamp.co.uk

Hannah Shreddin

So I saw this posted on Shred Betties the other day, Rip TV has launched a new girls video section featuring more than just snowboarding, definitely worth a look. It has the Roxy podcasts, as well as plenty of other teasers etc. Some interesting content may turn up throughout the season. 

Check it out here Rip.TV

I noticed this a few weeks ago online and forgot to post it...these will be like gold dust...

Nixon has released another LTD Collection which this year is a group of limited edition watches made entirely of skateboards and snowboards from some of the sports best athletes including: Tony Hawk, Danny Way, Danny Davis, Romain DeMarchi and others.

Limited to 500 pieces worldwide, these one-of-a-kind, handcrafted watches are created through a labor intensive process which includes planing the boards top sheets down to .4mm. The plies, which include the boards graphics, are then individually die-cut and inlaid by hand into Nixon’s Rotolog and Chalet links. Case and link plating options include black, gunmetal, gold, antique silver, antique brass and blue metallic finishes and are topped off with custom engraved casebacks which bear the LTD logo, the athlete’s name, number in edition and the collection year.

Due to the nature of the process, each piece is unique, with no two watches alike. Distribution is limited to select skate and snowboard specialty shops and all watches will be available November 15, retailing between $399 and $499 USD.

This year’s collection was created from the board graphics of:

Skate: Tony Hawk, Ryan Sheckler, Danny Way, Paul Rodriguez, Bob Burnquist, Colin McKay, JB Gillet

Snow: Danny Davis, Todd Richards, Romain DeMarchi, Gigi Ruf, Jeremy Jones, JP Solberg

See http://www.nixonnow.com/ltd/ for some pics and more info.

Looking for that ultimate coffee table book to make you look adventurous and interesting, then look no further!!

28 Day Winter - A Snowboarding Narrative, features the fantastic photography of Dean 'Blotto' Gray, Jeff Curtes and Adam Moran. They document the travels of the Burton team during the month of August 2006, capturing riding in New Zealand and Chile, as well as some stolen shots of the riders in their down time.

Buy it on Amazon.com where it is currently discounted, on sale for $26.37 including postage.

My copy is in the mail as I type!

See the press release below...sounds like a great opportunity!

TTR IS LOOKING FOR NEW INTERNS AT HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRIA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are offering talented and motivated individuals a 6 month internship a tour operational headquarters in the heart of Tirol/Austria intended toprovide you with a true learning experience.

As an intern at TTR, you’ll have real responsibility, real work, and real opportunities. (You’ll get paid, too!) It’s an experience you’ll
never find in a classroom. You’ll be given manageable assignments and your efforts will likely influence the shape of the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. You could help develop and create the homepage, a marketing plan, videos, write and distribute press releases and assist in ranking, tour management or sponsorship coordination. You'll communicate in an international environment producing new ideas and realizing them within a wicked team.

To apply for any of our internships, check out the categories below:

WEB CONTENT COORDINATOR  http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?RDCT=dea4350155cab2cafa91

PUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATOR http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?RDCT=dda9d2e75e98f84287c3

ONLINE MARKETING / PR COORDINATOR http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?RDCT=ac761cb392cf035f299a

PR / JOURNALISM  http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?RDCT=23f84deea7ba66043c5d

ASSISTANT TOUR MANAGER / SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?RDCT=6cd21c4187dafe78a4bd

The internship  starts as soon as possible and lasts for the whole winter season – so good powder runs and the attendance of TTR events are assured.

Please email your resume with a cover letter describing your work experience, education and interests and why you would like to intern with us to reini@ttrworldtour.com (Link: reini@ttrworldtour.com ).

In a bid to satisfy my magazine addiction I popped in to Borders just to have a quick look and left 5 snowboard mags heavier! Anyway...after sitting for over an hour scanning the glossy pages for my monthly snow news fix, it dawned on me that there was a big female presence in ALL of the 5 mags I bought! Maybe it was a good month or the cries of "less yo bro", and more female content is finally getting through.

My magazine summary for Oct

Snowboarder (US) - Annie Boulanger Feature

Future Snowboarding (US) - Free women's snowboard magazine The Drift, featuring film review, Jamie Anderson interview, contest scene, fashion spread and nice photo section. A second edition of the drift will be free with the mag again in Dec! This is actually Sept issue, Oct issue is now out!

Transworld Snowboarding (US) - Q&A with Erin Comstock, Amber Stackhouse, and Alexis Waite. Womens pro models page, What the pros are rockin - Jamie Anderson, and 3 days with Gretchen Bleiler.

Onboard (Europe) - Q&A with Jenny Jones, Torah Bright feature (along with Shaun White) and an environmental feature with Silvia Mittermuller

Document Snowboard (UK) - Only a small piece here but Snap Shot with Zoe Gillings.

I think you will all agree this is a good thing...lets see if this is maintained for the rest of the season?

Well my fave beanie makers Coal have launched a more fashion focused range of fedoras and military style hats along with some unique beanies etc. The new range is called Coal Considered 

"Where design meets classic style. This is not your father's hat. It's as unique as you are. Not only has every detail been "considered" but so has the unique way you wear it."

My last snowtrip of the season has come and gone and I am sad! I headed to Falls Creek to enjoy my last trip before I head home to Scotland for a few weeks ( by the time I get back all the snow will be gone).

We all snuck out of work early on Friday and were on the road in record time making it to a small place called Mt Beauty(35-40mins from Falls) at about 11pm. Alas the lure of alcoholic beverages kept us up till 1am (not the best prep for hard day of shredding ahead.)

Luckily we missed the awful winds and rain of the day before and we woke to blue ski with not one cloud to be seen. Spring had indeed sprung! Saturday was all about the sugary snow, my fave. I spent most of my day with a couple of friends (Tanya and Elise) who were mastering the art of linking turns so it gave me some time to do some switch riding and generally mess around popping ollies etc.. Just as much fun as hooting down runs I reckon. The girls were progressing nicely..and I even managed to trick them into a blue run. Which they did really well, and insisted on going back to it later in the day! Well done ladies!

After messing around in the park a little we called it a day and kicked back on the balcony with a Corona...watching the sun go down!...ahhhhh

In a bid to stay budget we headed back down the hill to eat dinner and have a few drinks to finish of the day...and wow what a surprise I got. We sat down to our table in the most typical aussie country pub (all plastic flowers and wood veneer walls very tasteful) and I noticed a group of snowboarders opposite. I felt like I recognised a couple of them and then I realised it was none other than.......drumroll please....... Kelly Clark, Elena Hight and Spencer O'Brien as well as some others I couldn't place. OOOH MY....I couldn't believe it, especially as this place was well not what I would have called a pro snowboarder hang out if you catch my drift. I desperately wanted to go and say something but felt a little weird, so I just remained happy in the knowledge that I knew who they were.

I heard on the lift the next day, from a old guy that the day before there had been a helicopter flying really low in the Ruined Castle Park filming...not sure if thats true or not but I am presuming there were up there doing something along those lines. Elena Hight’s blog on Burton said she was doing a photoshoot in Australia at some stage so perhaps that was it!

Anyway, Sunday showed with pretty much the same sun and blue skies, and more of the same sugary conditions. I had a killer day, hitting some bigger boxes than my usual attempts and going of the jumps with confidence...Everyone was progressing and having a ball...the best day to finish the Aussie season. So unless a trip to the northern hemisphere materialises it looks like that's it for me till June next year!

Interesting - if not a little cheesy at times - interview with three of Australias finest snowboarding ladies. Aired on Sunday on a current affairs show 60 Minutes a 15 minute segment featuring Torah Bright, Holly Crawford and Emily Thomas worth a watch.

High Flyers (there is a random blurb to the side of the video that doesn't seem to match the footage..?)

Just incase you have not already read it check out the interview I did with Holly a few months back

While checking out my new fave website Method TV I found these little gems.

Labour of Love - Roxy

The Roxy Snow team has been hard at work. Follow Sarah, Amber, Alexis, Erin, Kjersti and Torah as they drop pillows in Japan, snowmobile into the midnight sun of Sweden, and ride their way through the southern hemisphere. From a producer of Misschief Films bring you this full-length feature flick about the ultimate Labor of Love.

La La Land - Runway Films

We heard whispers a few months ago of a new rail park that was in the works, but like all snow rumours in Oz, it was a case of believe it when you see it! Fast forward a few months and the rumour had become reality. The smallest ski ‘resort’in Victoria (and I use the term resort loosely) Mt.Baw Baw  has put together their first rail park in association with Cactus Black clothing.                             

We made the 2.5hr trip to heady peaks of Mt Baw Baw, known as the family hill its not really where we go to get the pow turns in. It’s a fun spot nonetheless to go with people who are learning or just have a mess about. The biggest downside being the leg burning T-bars.  

The park is set just to the side of the main lift, a selection of 8 features have been set up amongst the trees. 4 Boxes, 2 wide rails and one metal rail oh and a cheeky rubbish bin lid sunken in the ground..for those Robotfood wannabe moments.

With park only passes costing $39AU, and close proximity to Melbourne it seems to have been well received. It is in its early stages and there will be some improvements and changes over time, its no Snowpark but hey it’s a good start!

The other half showing me how its done! Apparently not his best effort the camera puts him off!!              

http://www.mountbawbaw.com.au/

Whilst surfing around the internet looking for photographic inspiration I found the websites of two of the best aussie snowboard photographers around. Jess Mooney and Jake McBride...! Check out their websites at the links below.

www.jakemcbride.com

www.jessmooney.com (although it seems her site is now under construction - add it to your faves and check back soon)

SIDEWAYS SNOW ART EXHIBITION

Balmoral Boards (NSW, Australia) together with Burton Snowboards are holding a charity auction of celebrity snowboard artwork on August 16 to raise money for underprivileged kids. Each 'artist' has been given a Burton snowboard to use as their canvas and all proceeds will go the Chill snowboarding program.  Chill is a Burton initiative to help young people at risk of drug and alcohol abuse by taking them snowboarding.

Artists include: (Mostly aussies..)Ozzie Wright, Bianca Dye, Sunrise's Mark Beretta, Brett Walker and Olympian Ross Rebagliati

The Sidewayz Snow Art Exhibition is on Aug 16th at Boronia House, Mosman, NSW, Australia.

Check out www.balmoralboards.com

Fresh from the Nikita Myspace bulletin check out the cool new book of Swedish Street art! As a lover of all things street art I may have to get my hands on this. Check it out here:- Icepick

A long time lover of Kiehls products I got some of their SPF range as a gift and I thought I would spread the Kiehl's love!

Recommended

All-Sport "Non-freeze" Face Protector SPF 30 recommended for water and winter sports.

Lip Balm SPF 15 - Comes in clear and two different tints.

Check out www.kiehls.com for all products and stockists if you are outside the US.

The closer for my week of all things snowboarding was the Australian premier of Lines at the George Cinema, St. Kilda, Melbourne. The movie is the mastermind of Axel Pauporte who was there to say a few words and introduce the move along with the Aussie Billabong team. (No one would have guessed that Billabong were involved…their massive tour bus parked out front was really inconspicuous).

After a few beverages in the bar we took our seats for all 80 minutes of big mountain goodness. Archive footage from many production companies showing the likes of Tom Burt and Mike Ranquet tackle some of the best known big mountain lines, went hand in hand with new footage from Absinthe Films featuring the next generation of riders.

Most of the focus was on a group of riders including Gigi Ruf, Jonaven Moore, Wolle Nyvelt , Travis Rice and our favourite queen of the hill Victoria Jealouse on one of their latest trips to Alaska. One on one interviews some of them illustrated the frustration of bad weather days, alongside an insight into their fears when tackling some of the most extreme Alaskan terrain.

An appearance from Mark Frank Montoya, not a name synonymous with fat pow turns was surprising! You learn something new everyday.

All in all a fantastic movie, showing that laps of the park and city handrails are not the only thing out there and that some of the most talented riders choose to stay as far away from that as possible. Ooh and I almost forgot the excellent soundtrack, including tunes from The Fratellis, The Sounds, The Kooks etc.

For trailers and more info check out www.linesthefilm.com.

Some of you may or may not remember the story I wrote about the Shred Bettys last year. http://www.powderroom.net/page.php?pageID=1072&title=Living 

Bryony - one of the two girls behind the program - contacted me last month with a bit of an update on what they are planning for the new season and an invite to come along to their launch night at local snowboard shop Trigger Brothers. Never one to turn down an invite I headed down to meet the girls.

I wasn't able to hang around too long, but I did get the chance to meet the girls, Bryony and Shannon. It's nice to finally meet people who have been at the other end of an email for a while. They were pretty happy with the turnout, plenty of ladies turned up to say hello and grab some of the bargains on offer and generally have a gossip in a relaxed environment! I think the night really reflected what they want to do with the program this year, keep it fun, relaxed and most of all FREE!

I have it on good authority that Bryony will be bringing some updates from the snowy slopes in her own blog soon!!

For those of you down under in the Melbourne area, keep your eyes peeled for updates both on here and on their site www.shredbettys.com.

With flip flops and shorts packed away for the winter, my attention was starting to focus on all things snowy. It seems everyone else was too. My email inbox has been inundated with event announcements, film showings and all things snow related.

The first to hit Melbourne was Warren Miller's latest movie, Off the Grid. Warren Miller movies have a bit of a reputation of being a bit ski biased and well I would have to say that there was no difference with this one.  

However a couple of token boarders were included - Frederik Kalbermatten and Mads Jonsson had a nice section filmed in Saas Fee and Hemesdal, Norway respectivley.

Despite the lack of snowboarding still pretty interesting to watch. Regardless of whether its skiers or snowboarders it blows you mind what some people are doing. A rediculous and I think record breaking cliff drop by Jaime Pierre in Utah, was pretty unreal to watch. Exploration of Kashmir, India and intense comedy competition snowballing in Japan, broke up the audience pleasing big mountain footage in Alaska that was to be expected.

A pretty decent film, despite the shameless plugging of the films title throughout and the shocking soundtrack.

Maybe I have just been watching too many snowboarding films.