Archive

For January, 2010

Jan 19

Real Deal Review: Holden Standard Pant

By Jon Hartley1 Comment

holden 3

I had no intentions of reviewing my pants, but then it rained all damn day. I rode increasingly soaked chairlifts in barely-liquid rain. My jacket fought the good fight for almost an hour before succumbing and soaking that water like a tall-t. My pants, however, held down the fort. When I got back to the car and peeled them off, my shorts and long underwear were dry as a bone.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a skier. If you’re a skier who is interested in Holden pants, it’s likely because no ski company makes anything but balloon sizes. So are you really concerned about waterproofing? Doubt it. They’re better than your sister’s jeans, so that part of the review is over. On to the important stuff:

Tight-o-Meter (based on 5’9” 165lb male):

Holden Large: Slightly tapered knee, but plenty of sag all around. Likely choice for somebody over 25 who can’t get down with the shrink wrap, but still prefers human sized clothing.

Medium: You’re starting to show them knobby knees, but with some breathing room for a layer or two underneath. It’s likely that this is the last size where pockets remain operational.

Small: Chicken legs on display! Still plenty of sag to make it over your boots, but those scrawny ass vegan legs get full billing. Hope your flannel shirt has lots of pockets, because that pack of fashion-smokes ain’t making it in your pants.

Most of you can stop reading now, but here’s some other info: All the pockets are full-zip, which can save you from lost keys if you remember to close ‘em up. The zipper-pulls are little leather tassles that add some rock-n-roll to the equation, and add a little functionality if you’re in park gloves.

Fashion smoking kitty.

Fashion smoking kitty.

My two major qualms with these pants also involve zippers. First of all, the front pocket zippers feel like tiny razors if you’re reaching in there with a cold bare hand. Second, the zippers at the bottom of the pants don’t really grab enough to stay closed. This doesn’t really matter if you’re going for maximum boot coverage, but otherwise they won’t stay down.

I bought them for under $100 over the summer, so keep your eyes open and they’re pretty cheap too!

Jan 18

Happy MLK Day!

By Jon Hartley3 Comments

The worst thing a website can do on MLK day is provide weak token coverage of a black athlete.

Jan 15

Unemployment Chronicles of Owen McKee

By Jon Hartley4 Comments

The Unemployment Chronicles of Owen McKee

This is a project that I decided to put together under Trashpile Productions to document my time on unemployment. I had been working full time at a good job, skiing on the side whenever I could. However, circumstances changed and now I have all sorts of time to ski when I am not job hunting. The fun thing about this series will be that it is ever evolving as my circumstance changes. This video series could last anywhere from a couple of episodes to many (hopefully not too many). My friends and I have also been contemplating a road trip in the near future; Utah, Wyoming, Montana, where ever the pow may fall. Each episode will hopefully have some combination of jibs, jumps, pow, and drops. Regardless of what actually happens, each episode will be unique and have an interesting perspective of life on unemployment.

Jan 14

It’s all OK, Snowboarders Do It Too

By Jon Hartley10 Comments

Pictured below is what may or may not be Tom Wallisch’s new double-tongue ski boots. I don’t claim any trustworthy sources, and for all I know they’re a regular boot with a boxing glove fastened over the buckles.

wallisch boot

I’ve heard some uproar over this alleged boot. It seems that fashion tongues are usually associated with rollerblade boots, and we all know how horrible it would be if skiing were equated with its forward-facing bastard cousin. I’m usually more than willing to jump in on a hatefest, but this time ol’ Jonny is going to assuage your fears. You don’t have to worry kids; snowboarders did it too. Behold, the Danny Kass fashion tongue pro model:

Photo stolen from Yobeat.com

Photo stolen from Yobeat.com

I bet you’re relieved. Don’t thank me, this is what I’m here for. You can buy yourself the same (alleged) boots as Mr. Wallisch and not once worry about whether or not that backside grind you’re calling a lipslide looks like a rollerblade trick. Then again, if ideas must be bit, couldn’t we give something like this a try?

xsjado skate

Jan 13

With a Little Help From My Friends

By Jon Hartley4 Comments

movie faces

For most of us, watching ski movies with friends is a vital part of this thing we call a lifestyle. There’s the annual fall get together as the new films come in, or if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere cool, a tour might even stop near your door. Either way, I’ll bet you watch videos with the same group of friends each time.

I’ve been wading into the shred flick waters with my brother and Barberdude for years now. We know what to expect and die laughing when one of us bitches and moans about some pet peeve that gets violated year in and year out. Every now and again that tradition is broken and you watch some videos with a new group of characters. It’s really a pretty interesting experience, because the new people notice different things, have different perspectives, and will call you on your hatefulness.

I’m currently in Burlington VT, and I spent last night watching ski and snowboard videos with Mike Rogge and a couple friends. As the fine Vermont brews went down, my opinions became louder, and I started bitching like I usually do. Rogge had the audacity to challenge my gripes with insightful tidbits. Bastard.

Continue reading this entry »

Jan 12

Skiers with Jobs

By Jon Hartley3 Comments

ski industry

Greetings from Burlington! I’m on a bit of a fact finding mission in the epicenter of the east coast ski world. If you have any aspirations of making a living in “the industry” here on the right coast, then it’s likely you’re going to end up in Burlington. Always eager to help budding industry drones, I’m here to get a little feel for the city and a couple of the companies that might be getting your resume. Newly minted Vermont resident Mike Rogge, of Ski the East, is my tour guide so you know I’ll be all behind-the-scenes and whatnot.

I’m going to do some interviews and analyze the companies based on some highly scientific criteria, but I’m open to suggestions. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

-          Number of pros working there that you can go totally fanboy over on your first day.

-          Amount of free product laying around for five finger pro deals.

-          Office vibe: Are there dogs? Putting machines? Wall Street style screaming?

-         # of employees (the more the better for you, someone’s always getting fired).

Drop any further questions you’d like me to ask into the comments. I hope to visit Orage and Meatheads headquarters today, and we’ll see what else the day brings.

Jan 11

Disabled List: Casual Gets Cut

By chrasual4 Comments
My life. How good do I look?

My life. How good do I look?

If I gave one worthwhile suggestion in my previous Disabled List entry it was this: find a way to be on skis post-injury, pre-surgery. I did just that this past Sunday when I rode at Angel Fire Resort in NM. I headed up to AF with a couple of pals with the intention of just cruising a few groomers in order to beat back my obnoxious ski cravings. I convinced myself in the car that simply sitting on the chairlift with headphones on and straight-lining flattish runs would be a nice little treat before the cutting—and, right up until I found myself at the top of the most meticulously maintained baby shred park known to man—it was. Needless to say, I unleashed my entire trick catalog on a number of ride-on, buried features. It took roughly two runs. While I probably looked ridiculous and gapertastic trying to spin onto ride-on flat boxes, I had an absolute blast. It was warm, sunny, dead, and most importantly…free (titans of ski media don’t pay for lift tickets). It was exactly what I needed to reconnect with why I love skiing so much. To be honest, nearly a year of living ski-free with NS as my only real source of, ahem, “ski culture”, I was growing more and more cynical by the article. You probably noticed.

So, Tuesday the Doc finally fixed me up.

What they allegedly did.

What they allegedly did.

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Jan 08

Huntony Contest!

By Matt Barber8 Comments

Know-Your-Roots-Header

There are tricks, grabs, and styles that have come and gone in skiing over the last decade, but there’s one long lost grab that is greater than them all– the infamous Huntony.

Mike-Douglas-Huntony-BroBomb

The Godfather’s Huntony. Photo: Paul Morrison

During the first couple years of skiing’s “newschool movement” the Huntony was one of the grabs made famous by the likes of JP Auclair, JF Cusson, Mike Douglas and Shannon Schad. It’s more or less an overly tweaked mute grab that is pulled into the opposite thigh while the other leg is bent back like a daffy or back scratcher.  To use more common grabs as reference, I guess you could say it’s a daffy mute grab, but that sounds really lame.

What’s interesting is that grabs and old school tricks always seem to come and go, but the Huntony just hasn’t been trendy again in almost a decade.  It’s one of the original “newschool skiing” grabs and probably not one skier under the age of 25 could tell you what a Huntony is.  We even searched it on NS and only found one thread, 4 photos, and zero videos. BroBomb is on a crusade to change this, because there might just be potential for the Huntony in today’s scene.

So, we would like to reward those who will help us bring back the overly tweaked mess that is the Huntony.  Every month “Know Your Roots” will feature the Huntony of the Month.  The best photo of YOU performing a Huntony posted on the BroBomb Facebook wall will be featured on BroBomb.com, and you’ll get some sort of schwag.  This month the winner will receive a bunch of stickers and a sick ass Orage t-shirt.

JF-Cusson-Huntony-BroBomb

JF Cusson full tweak. Photo: Chris O’Connell

Go tweak it to your knee, and let’s make the founding fathers proud!

Jan 06

There are Other Songs, I Promise

By Jon Hartley2 Comments

Ski the East started a new Music Mondays feature this week. My plug is 100% self-serving, as I’ll be the featured tastemaker next week, but I also think it’s a damn good idea. We live in a world with dizzying access to new music; so why do you need some weak sauce list? Well, mostly because we still end up with the same songs in every damn edit. I’ve got three examples here that not only use the same song, but as my buddy Nick (who made the first vid) pointed out– the beat is sampled from the most overused edit song ever.

I’m sure these fine folks just picked a song they liked, but maybe if we increase the pool we can avoid this sort of thing. By the way, the edits are pretty good.

Jan 05

Bring on the Tens

By Jon Hartley4 Comments

evolution

The turn of a decade is a pretty arbitrary designation of change. Nobody flips a switch on times and trends, but it makes it a lot easier to laugh at the way people used to look and act if we can point to the “nineties” or “aughties” as the period in question. I’ve had enough looking back on the last decade, so let’s fix our gaze forward. By the time we break into the 20’s (isn’t that weird?) we’ll be looking at a changed sport. It’s hard to predict, but a few things are for certain:

The last stragglers left behind from the visionary generation of skiers that revived our stagnated sport will be too old even for pow segments. Guys like Mike Douglas, JP Auclair, and Eric Pollard will take up permanent residence as behind-the-scenes influencers, rather than on-screen icons. As long as the culture provides space for them to work and accepts their guidance, this is a promising reality rather than a sad passing.

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