New for the 2008/2009 season, Vail Resorts is offering their Epic Pass, which at a measly $579 promises way more snowboarding for way less money this season. The pass, which must be purchased before November 15^th, is valid all season long...no strings attached, no blackout dates, no exceptions...at all six of the company's mountains: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Arapahoe Basin. The marketers really picked the right name for this one, eh?

A quick look at the Vail website shows daily lift ticket prices hanging out in the stratosphere, with adult skiers and snowboarders being asked for anywhere from $89 to $94 per day. That's a big chunk of change, even for the biggest resort in the U.S., and it means the Epic Pass begins paying for itself after just seven days! Locals forced to pay their own way onto the mountain should jump all over this deal, but for the first time in recent memory, it also makes sense for destination vacationers to consider a seasons pass as well.

The Epic Pass has certainly made waves in the industry, but not all of the buzz has been positive. Concerns about parking and labor shortages, overcrowding on the slopes, and the potential watering-down of Vail's traditionally high-end clientele base have all been voiced, albeit quietly for the most part. The exception was Vail Chamber and Business Association Executive Director Kaye Ferry, who managed to stuff a big 'ol stinky snowboard boot in her mouth after she was quoted by local media outlet RealVail.com saying,"Throughout the history of (Vail) we have appealed to exclusivity. The only people we let up there during Christmas are the ones with the big homes and their ski instructors. We had eliminated the Front Range riff-raff, and all of a sudden we're selling a pass that's to the masses.” Ferry has since resigned her position...whoops!

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That's right, I said Noboarding. That's not a typo, but rather a new take on the relatively young sport of snowboarding; the "new" sport involves riding a full-sized snowboard without bindings...think snowskate on steroids.

Based in Canada, NoBoard Sport, Inc. has been around for four years, but it wasn't until the company partnered with industry leader Burton Snowboards for the upcoming 2008/2009 season that they began to attract serious attention. According to the company's website, noboarding was developed after a day when "the snow was so deep we couldn't even find our binding straps, so [we] decided to get rid of them. That was 1998 and we haven't used bindings since."

After several years of building prototypes in a garage, the company decided to partner with Burton Snowboards. For the 08/09 season, Burton is offering two NoBoard^TM products: the No Fish, which is based off the popular Fish powder board, and the NoBoard kit, which acts as an adapter to turn any snowboard into a Noboard. Check out NoBoard Sport, Inc. online to see if this new take on an existing sport is for you!

Lake Placid Freestyle Aerials Center.
Photo courtesy ORDA.org
Click on image for larger view

Watching the gymnasts and divers flip, spin and hurl themselves through the air in Beijing got me thinking about their training regimens and how they apply to snowboarding. Just like a snowboarder should never try their first run-through of a difficult trick on snow, gymnasts and divers rarely attempt new tricks on their respective competition equipment, either. A quick Google search reminded me about the Olympic Freestyle Aerials Center in Lake Placid, New York. This facility has several water ramps that allow skiers and snowboarders to safely practice new tricks without worrying about landing on the wrong body parts - i.e., their heads. Aeration machines in the pool further soften the blow, ensuring a soft landing no matter how badly the trick turns out.

Members of both PSIA and AASI can sign up to attend an aerial clinic at this facility. The clinic is being held September 15 & 16, 2008. Interested members should contact Melissa Skinner in Albany, NY at 518-452-6095 x107, or check out the respective websites for more information.

If you're unable to participate in the PSIA/AASI clinic, you can still gain some of the benefits of water ramp training in your own pool. DON'T try jumping off the diving board while strapped to your snowboard! Simply practice spins and flips off the diving board while focusing on where your body is in the air. Experiment with speeding-up or slowing down your spins by opening your arms or by pulling them closer to your body. Air awareness is a skill that can only be learned through experience, so the more time you spend spinning and flipping, the better you'll be equipped to try new maneuvers on the snow!

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One of the most vexing problems facing new skiers and snowboarders is how to get on and off the chairlift while remaining upright and with dignity intact, a task that even seasoned snowboarders occasionally have difficulty with. For riders of at least one U.S. resort this season, that task just became much easier. The Mountain Ops whizzes at Okemo Mountain Resort, in Ludlow, Vermont, believe they've solved this age-old problem. Their solution? Install loading and unloading conveyors at one of their two South Ridge Quads, which for the majority of the mountain's beginner skiers and snowboarders is the first chairlift they'll ever ride. Announcing the planned install, resort spokeswoman Bonnie MacPherson said, "Although familiar to European skiers, the loading carpet is a rarity in North America. Okemo’s loading carpet will be the first one in the East and the unloading carpet will be the first of its kind in the U.S. A conveyor belt, marked with lanes and moving in sync with the chairlift, will make loading and unloading easier and safer. It will reduce lift-line lengths, minimize starts and stops, reduce ride time and improve overall lift capacity."

A little personal insight: I've been skiing and riding at Okemo for nearly 20 years, so I'm intimately familiar with the lift system. The South Ridge Quads (there are two) serve to funnel well over two-thirds of the resorts guests to mid-mountain, where they either board another lift to get to the upper mountain areas, or they ride the lower mountain terrain, all of which is rated for beginners. Because a significant percentage of beginner skiers and riders are using the same two lifts as more experienced guests, the lifts tend to stop frequently, which leads to long ride times and even longer lift-lines. I've never seen one of these newfangled carpet loading/unloading systems before, but I do have high hopes for it. If nothing else, the system will likely segregate the two base quads, with beginners opting for the quad with the system while more experienced guests ride the other quad.

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