Volcom pieced together this phenomenal tribute to our fallen friend. Please take the time to donate after watching this:

IFM client Chas Guldemond is absolutely on fire this season, seemingly on the podium in every major contest to date. At the European X-Games, Chas got a record 99.33 score from the judges in his final run. Are you kidding me?

 

When snowboarding made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano Games, Terje Haakonsen, a leading halfpipe competitor at the time, boycotted the qualifying in protest.

Now, with the International Olympic Committee considering another snowboarding discipline for the 2014 Sochi Games, Haakonsen has helped revive the debate for a new generation of competitors.

At the United States Open Snowboarding Championships, taking place in Stratton, Vt., about 50 of the world’s top riders met Thursday to discuss creating a union to deal, in part, with how Olympic qualifying should be handled.

Such a union would be a first for snowboarding, riders said. Competitors on the Association of Surfing Professionals world tour belong to a union, but attempts to create a union for summer action sports like skateboarding, BMX and motocross have failed to attract a majority of athletes.

As the International Olympic Committee considers adding snowboarding slopestyle — in which riders perform maneuvers on a course filled with obstacles and jumps in a setup similar to a ski resort terrain park — the athletes want to put the brakes on what they say has become an increasingly crowded competition schedule.

“We have no time to train, no time to recover from injuries,” said Chas Guldemond, 23, of Reno, who during the past three weeks has won slopestyle competitions in Europe, Asia and North America. After the United States Open, Guldemond will fly to France for Winter X Games Europe next week.

Many riders say they fear the schedule will only become more grueling if an Olympic qualifying series is added to the mix.

“People don’t know how hard it is to travel around the world and compete with jet lag,” said Jamie Anderson, 20, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. She is a two-time gold medal winner in slopestyle at the Winter X Games.

With tricks growing increasingly difficult and dangerous, competitors say injuries could become a serious issue.

“All the riders see we’re risking our lives and promoting our sponsors on our helmets,” Guldemond said.

Haakonsen, 36, of Norway, no longer competes and did not travel to Vermont. Still, he remains active in snowboarding, running an annual competition in Oslo called the Arctic Challenge. He also founded Ticket to Ride, a seasonlong series that unifies snowboarding competitions that are not affiliated with F.I.S.

And his stance on Olympic qualifying — that snowboarders should have the oversight — continues to resonate.

“He stuck his neck out there,” Guldemond said.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to announce its decision on slopestyle and other new sports in April. In January, Christophe Dubi, the I.O.C. sports director, said in an e-mail: “The chances are extremely high for ski slopestyle, ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle to be part of the Olympic program in 2014.”

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Olympic committee referred questions about qualifying to the International Ski Federation, known as F.I.S., the governing body for snowboarding.

Sarah Lewis, an F.I.S. spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that “the qualification system will be similar to other snowboard events on the program of the Olympics, and used in Vancouver.”

She did not rule out that some events, like the United States Open, could count toward Olympic qualifying points.

Snowboarders are required to qualify for the Olympics through ski federation events, and many riders complained that judging criteria and subpar courses stifled creativity and style. While those issues have mostly been corrected, many snowboarders still view F.I.S. qualifiers as second-tier events compared with the Winter X Games, the Winter Dew Tour or the United States Open.

In January, as the ski federation held the world snowboard championships in La Molina, Spain, several of the world’s top riders were at a Winter Dew Tour event in Killington, Vt.

Guldemond helped organize the riders’ meeting this week. “I feel like the people who built the event to what it is — the riders — should have a generous say in how the qualifying process is created,” he said.

Haakonsen says the issues prompting his boycott in 1998 remain relevant today.

“Back in ’98, it was a personal decision based on the fact that they gave snowboarding to a ski organization while there still was a snowboard organization running the sport,” he said in an e-mail. “It was wrong, and it is still wrong. It is the exact same story coming up again, but now it seems that more people understand the implications of it.”

Haakonsen has steadfastly maintained his message. In January, he wrote an open letter to several news media outlets criticizing F.I.S. At the Arctic Challenge in February, he presented a charter that called for a common Olympic qualifying series among existing events to reduce scheduling conflicts, and three dozen competitors signed it. And Haakonsen delivered a charismatic talk about empowerment and activism.

“Having him talk to us,” Anderson said, “I think he inspired a lot of the younger riders.”

Guldemond said his reaction to Haakonsen’s talk was: “Wow, we do have a voice and we can be powerful together.”

Guldemond and seven other riders — including top competitors like Mark McMorris and Sebastien Toutant of Canada and Peetu Piiroinen of Finland — soon discussed how they could organize a union they would call We Are Snowboarding. They have outlined goals, including increasing prize money at competitions and having some existing events count as Olympic qualifiers.

Guldemond acknowledged that the meeting Thursday was merely a first step toward a union, with many details to be worked out. Another meeting is scheduled for next week.

But Anderson seemed certain of one thing. Asked if snowboarders would consider a boycott of the Olympics this time, she said, “No, don’t say that at all, but say we want to work together.”

Squaw Valley Local, and IFM client Ralph Backstrom is a big mountain badass. We would like to congratulate him on his 2nd place finish this past weekend at the final stop of The North Face Masters competition at Kirkwood Ski Resort, as well as a 2nd overall finish in the prestigious contest series. Snowboard-Mag.com had a great recap of the final stop. Congrats again Ralph!

 

Chas Guldemond is one of the best snowboarders on the planet. We here at IFM have had the pleasure to build his now popular website, ChuckG.tv. If any of you know Chas, you probably would have looked at us and asked how the heck we got him to run a website. And our answer would have been simple, his lovely fiance Drea. It's no wonder why Alli Sports took the time to profile her, she rocks!

 

JP Lagos & Tom Knox were sent to a skate park in the middle of nowhere outside of the town of Visalia, CA. They had the skatepark completely to themselves. Once they accomplished their goals for Bern Helmets, they decided to get artsy. JP's shot ended up winning for 5 weeks of voting in YoBeat's Photo Battle and ultimately the Champions Battle. Follow the link to see the shots!

http://www.yobeat.com/2011/01/11/2011-firing-squad-champions-battle-skate/

Tahoe Snowcial 2011: connecting networks, sharing passions and linking turns!

January 6th – 9th, 2011

The worlds of digital storytelling, snowsports and technology will converge again on Heavenly Mountain Resort January 6 – 9, 2011 for Tahoe Snowcial. A winter festival of technology and snowsports, Snowcial unites and celebrates our global community of enthusiasts who live their passion in the snow and tell their stories online.