Shred The Gnar, BRAH » burton

“Walk the Line” Fashion Show @ EVO

Mel — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:21:20 +0000

Last Min Friday night I was invited by my friend Brooke to go to a fashion show at Evo. I had heard talk of this going on but figured it was just gonna be some low budget deal. Kind of like what us girls do when trying on clothes at a department store or something…try on one thing walk it, try on another thing walk it…you know the deal. Little did I know it was like a LEGIT fashion snow. BIg names like Nike 6.0, Oakley, Holden, and Burton just to name a few had around 10-20 pieces each to show of for this coming season. Gretchen Blieler and Kelly Clark were a couple more big names to be dropped all night. Gretchen was there promoting her signature line with Oakley and how its 100& recyclable…kinda rad.

So, with all these big names, needless to say there were tons of people, food, and goody bags. Snagged myself some new laces, sunnys, and even a Nike jacket – STOKED (i’ll blog more on that when I get it of course)

Brooke and I got VIP treatment from our other friend Molly who put this whole thing together, and got put front row.Now, I’ve never been to an outerwear fashion show…I’ve never been to a fashion show…but knowing how I like to wear my gear and knowing what I think looks hot and how the brand had intended it to be worn – clearly these models were not riders…and it made it extremely awkward to watch- but I guess they did the job and showed the clothes. ANYWAYS…

It was bit hard for photo’s so bare with the blurry-ness – BUT there was a photo booth WHICH WAS AWESOME.

so enjoy the pics and blurry gear

I tried to go through and just pic the good ones from the photobooth – but truth be told – they were all fucking good…

New Zealand Burton Open at Cardrona

Mel — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:08:07 +0000

Being that I’m obviously not in New Zealand attending the Burton Open, I AM however fortunate enough to have a grip shit offriends who are. One friend Chris who among my group of friends, is our photo shooter – friend photo shoots, catching that one SICK shot to send home to mom and dad or sending me to post on here is pretty much his specialty.

He’d recently gotten a Media Pass to the open and hit me up wanting to share what he’d gotten. Again since I wasn’t able to attend or for whatever reason watch live online all I have along side Chris’s shots are the Press Releases from the event.

So enjoy Chris’s skills…

BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN HALFPIPE FINALS

WANAKA, New Zealand (14^th August, 2010)

The eighth annual Burton New Zealand Open Halfpipe finals took place under blue bird skies today at Cardrona Alpine Resort with Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) taking first place in the men’s event and Kelly Clark (USA) winning the women’s competition. Podladtchikov and Clark both finished the day NZ$6,000 richer for their efforts and set themselves up nicely with solid early season results counting towards the 2010/11 Burton Global Open Series and the Swatch TTR World Rankings.

Although the weather was perfect, warm temperatures meant the competition format had to be shortened, in order to keep Cardrona’s 22-foot Olympic sized halfpipe in top shape. All 38 men and 19 women semi-finalists went straight into a single final round, with the best of two runs counting for their final ranking.

The women were up first, and Kelly Clark threw down the gauntlet on her first run with a giant frontside air, backside 540 mute, frontside 900, method air, frontside 720, and Cab 720 mute for 88.70 points and her 2^nd consecutive NZ Open halfpipe title. Kelly was very happy with her win saying, “I had a great day, it’s a great way to start off my season and I was really happy with how I rode today. I walked away doing the tricks I set out to do and had a lot of fun.”

Queralt Castellet (ESP) was the closest challenger with 82.45 points, also on her first run. Queralt’s run started with a backside 540 mute, frontside 540 melon, method air, and frontside 720 to place second. Taking third with 76.84 points was veteran Soko Yamaoka (JPN), who’s run consisted of a McTwist, frontside 720, Cab 720, frontside 540 melon, and backside 540. Kendall Brown was the top New Zealander, finishing in 8^th place.

BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN SLOPESTYLE FINALS

WANAKA, New Zealand (13^th August, 2010)

The Burton New Zealand Open Slopestyle finals took place today at Cardrona Alpine Resort with Burton rider Christian Haller (SUI) taking first place in the men’s event, and Jamie Anderson (USA) winning the women’s competition. Haller and Anderson both walked away NZ$6,000 richer for their performance on the challenging Slopestyle course which was even more tricky with today’s variable weather conditions.

Due to the snow conditions and morning delays, the competition format was condensed, with all 37 men and 19 women semi-finalists going straight into a single final round, where the riders took two runs, best of which counted for their final score. The low visibility and variable snow didn’t seem to hinder the best riders, with some amazing runs being thrown down regardless. The first feature of the course offered a choice between a down-flat-down round bar or a round down bar, the second feature was a choice between an up box or a gap to flat box, followed by three jumps measuring in at 45-feet, 55-feet, and 75-feet, then finishing with a quarterpipe to goalpost / hip.

Christian Haller put it all together in his second run to score 80.84 points with a backside lipslide on the down-flat-down bar, tailslide on the gap to flat box, switch backside 720, Cab 900, frontside 720 tailgrab. But the margins were tight with current TTR tour leader Gjermund Braaten’s first run score of 80.64 points holding top spot until then. Gjermunds run consisted of a frontside 270 gap over the down-flat-down rail, frontside 270 on the gap to flat box, frontside 540, Cab 720, and double back rodeo 900. Coming in third with 79.00 points was 2010 Burton US Open Slopestyle winner Mikkel Bang. Mikkel’s run started with a gap to switch backside lipslide on the down-flat-down rail, backside lipslide on the gap to flat box, backside 540, Cab 720, switch backside 900.

In the women’s competition, Jamie Anderson (USA) took her third straight New Zealand Open slopestyle title and had this to say about her win, “I can’t believe it, I love the Burton Opens and winning this event three times in a row is amazing, so I’m ecstatic and so stoked to start of the year with a good result.”

Jamie’s winning run earned her a score of 79.20 points and consisted of a boardslide-to-tailpress on the down bar, a frontside 180 out on the up box, switch backside 180 mute, backside 360 mute, and a backside 180 mute. Coming in second place behind Jamie was Burton rider, Shelly Gotlieb (NZL), who held it down on her home turf with a great second run earning her 74.56 points. Rounding out the podium in third place was Kjersti Buuas (NOR) who also had a good run that scored 73.60 points.

The newly developed Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS) was used today by the judges, which gives scores for each individual hit during a run that is then combined with a flow score to provide a more transparent final score. Viewers of the live webcast on GO211.com were able to see this system in action and watch real-time ranking changes, among other features of the site. The live action at the Burton New Zealand Open culminates tomorrow with highlight event, the halfpipe.

The Burton New Zealand Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a 5Star event on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. Semi-finals and finals of tomorrow’s halfpipe event will be webcast live from New Zealand on www.GO211.com and full results and details will be available at the completion of each day on www.opensnowboarding.com, including high-res photos in the Press Section:

14 year-old Taku Hiraoka (JPN), who dominated the pre-qualifiers and qualifiers, continued to amaze with his first run score of 89.35 points setting the benchmark. Hiraoka’s run was a backside 540, frontside inverted 720, Cab 1080, and massive frontside 900 tailgrab. This Cinderella story proved that it’s possible to ride all the way from the pre-qualifier round through to the podium and second place. But taking the win was Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) who let out all stops on his second run with a huge crippler, double McTwist 1260, frontside 1080 tailgrab, and Cab 720 for an impressive 93.70 points. Louie Vito (USA) also had a strong second run to jump up into third place with 88.04 points. Louie’s run started with a frontside 1080 double-cork, Cab 1080 double-cork, double crippler, backside 900, and frontside corked 900.

It was also a monumental day for judging, with the newly developed Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS) proving itself for the first time in the halfpipe. Scores are given for each individual hit during a run, as well as a flow score, to provide a very transparent and informative final score. Viewers of the live webcast on GO211.com were able to see this system in action and watch real-time ranking changes, among other features of the webcast.

Photo Credit: Chris Moran: grimstills@gmail.com www.TheGrimLab.com

POST BURTON B PREMIER

Mel — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:30:00 +0000

So, having already seen the video – i knew what to expect and the whole IMAX deal was cool. It was like we were all on a field trip. There were goody bags and some of the team riders were there to give out some rad prizes. The video is a bit short but over alllllll the riders parts are decent and the big banger ender, it was my favorite part, was pretty rad. Everybody is gonna hate and be like that video was stupid blah blah blah Shaun White this blah blah. Yeah, he had a ridiculous(in a not so good way) part, but it’s SW…what else do you expect. So anyways, i liked the video but the after party at Ozzies was where the REAL fun was had…

one word.

KARAOKE

I’m just gonna come out and say probably the best four performances of my Karaoke career.
Kumara and I performed such hits as:

Everybody – Baskstreet Boys
Red Light Special – TLC
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
and
Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bengals

Needless to say I’m pretty sure Kumara and I out Karaoke’d Mason and others…despite the claim of karaoke masters.
sadly something was wrong with my camera and a lot of the pics came out blurry
but you can still get the jist of how good the night was.

red light special

“now throw ya hands up in the air – and wave’em ’round like ya just dont careee”

So as you can see from the pics…we got down…waaaaaaay down.
oh and just a lilt reminder…I’m completely sober…
I like to party.

i cant wait for all of ours next time to party…oh it’s tomorrow…what a surprise!

end.

BURTON “B” VIDEO…ON THE IMAX!!!

Mel — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:02:00 +0000

::click pic for bigger image::

I don’t know if you’ve gone to BURTON’S SITE and checked out all the teasers for the new video “B” but they’re pretty awesome.

Tomorrow night at the freakin IMAX at the Seattle science center. Stoked to see snowboarding on the biggest screen there is…way to one up everyone Burton…this is gonna be sick.

get your tickets @ EVO

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Burton Showroom labor dayssss

Mel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:03:00 +0000

so the last two days i’ve been working at the Burton showroom helping them tag old smaples that never sold at the sample sales…

over 600 tags and 2 days later … im finished
all witht he hopes that i’ve worked up enough credit to get some new gear…

badda bing
badda boom

new four square jacket
new analog pants
new burton pack pack

stoked….and i still have more credit and prolly more work once the 2011 stuff gets in
woooooo luggage here i come!

i want the big blue gravis bag…bad….

end.

BURTON “B” VIDEO…

Mel — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:44:00 +0000

::click pic for bigger image::

I don’t know if you’ve gone to BURTON’S SITE and checked out all the teasers for the new video “B” but they’re pretty awesome.
i know everyone kinda hates on Burton…but ya know what…get over it
i like’em
they like me
and i like the G-Twin…
so there

end.

ART FOR GEAR=BEST TRADE EVER

Mel — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:31:00 +0000

life as a snowboarder, as glorified as it may be, is not cheap and is financially outstanding compared to the majority that call it life.
we hardly work and if we do it’s only for six months or less during the summer therefore we’re always broke. yet, we somehow afford and find money to get new gear, passes, housing, food, and travel all over just to get our shred on in other places.
how it all comes to work, after 13yrs, i still do not know.
but nonetheless, we make it work.

I’ve recently come to find that art is a really good form of currency. and if you’re good at it-even better.
last season my form of art was shaking my butt. it landed me new boots, outerwear, and bindings.
this season, it turns out to be my actual painting skills. who knew.
a friend of mine, Mr. Chris Zimmerman, happen to like some of my art. he asked for some and of course i replied, “what do i get?” conveniently, he’s a rep for Burton. he asked what i would want and i told him I’m in dire need of a new board and the Burton G-Twin just so happens to be my board of choice.
so we discussed what sort of paintings he would want i instantly had a few idea’s in my head. we then discussed my “payment”. decided i would be getting the 146 G-Twin and the Molotov bindings.
stoked.

so yesterday i went down to the Burton showroom like 5 blocks from my apt. and we got it all setup. i don’t have to tell any of you how excited my heart got setting up my new shred baby…i know you’re all familiar.

2009 146 Burton G-Twin EST / Molotov EST

so there she is.
all shiny and new can not wait to get her to her new home.
Mammoth-you have a new lover.

end.