How to Get Free Snowboarding Stickers

Skull Candy Logo Sticker

So I read about how you score free stickers simply by asking a while back and gave it a shot myself. Well guess what? It worked! I tried Oakley and Skull Candy (super cool logo). So if you simply write the companies a letter asking for stickers, they’ll send you some (you’ll get enough to share with your friends)!  All you need to do is write the following on a piece of paper (you can type it out too).

“Hey “company x”,
I love your brand, and would love to get your stickers. It would be awesome if you can mail me some so I can represent your gear.
Keep up the awesome stuff.

Regards/Rock on/Sincerely,
Your name”

Stuff the paper into an envelope, slap a stamp on it, and mail it using the following addresses:

Oakley:
1 Icon
Foothill Ranch, CA 92610

Smith:
280 Northwood Way
Box 2999
Ketchum, Idaho, 83340

Forum:
152 Industrial Pkwy
Burlington, VT 05401

Burton:
80 Industrial Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401
U.S.A.

Special Blend:
Hallerstrasse 111
6020 Innsbruck
Austria

Helly Hansen:
P.O. Box 218 N-1501 MOSS
NORWAY

Ride:
Ride Sticker Request
4201 6th Ave. S
Seattle, WA 98108

Electric:
1062 Calle Negocio Suite H San Clemente, CA 92673
PH: 1 800 958 6556
FX: 949-940-9131

Sessions:
60 Old El Pueblo Road
Scotts Valley, CA 95066

Bern:
P.O. Box 1284
Duxbury, MA 02332

Skull Candy:
1441 West Ute Blvd Suite 250
Park City, UT 84098

Hestra:
Hestra-Handsken

Box 116
SE-330 27 Hestra
408 Columbia Street
Hood River, OR 97031

Bakoda/Drake Bindings:
400 North 34th Street, Suite 203
Seattle, WA 98103

K2
K2 Snowboards Sticker Request
4201 6th Ave. S
Seattle, WA 98108

Volcom:
1740 Monrovia Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

DC:
1333 Keystone Way, Unit A
Vista, CA 92081

Anon:
80 Industrial Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401

Lib Tech:
65 Banana Way
Sequim, WA 98382

ThirtyTwo:
25422 Trabuco Rd
Suite 105 #235
Lake Forest, CA 92609

Gnu:
65 Banana Way
Sequim, WA 98382

Nitro:
5 Commerce Ave.
West Lebanon, N.H. 03784

Grenade:
5200 SW Macadam Ave
Portland, OR 97239

Four Square:
152 Industrial Pkwy
Burlington, VT 05401

Analog:
8669 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618

Nixon:
701 South Coast Hwy
Encinitas, CA 92024

Salomon & Bonfire Snowboarding:
1111 NE Flanders Suite 205
Portland, OR 97232

Nike 6.0:
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005

Dragon:
5803 Newton Drive,
Suite C
Carlsbad, CA 92008

Capita:
2700 West Commodore Way
A-1 Suite 301
Seattle, WA 98199

Flow:
1021 Calle Recodo
San Clemente Ca. 92673

Lamar:
800 Englewood Parkway Suite C.200
Englewood, CO 80110

Morrow:
4201 6th Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98108

Rossignol:
1413 Center Drive
PO Box 981060
Park City, Utah 84098

Omatic:
1053 South Coast Highway 101
Encinitas, CA 92024 USA

Technine:
452 Burbank St
Broomfield CO
80020

Buying Your First Snowboard: The Most Comprehensive Guide

Buying Your First Board

I’ll never forget the stark difference between riding my first board (an ’07 Burton Raven) compared to the first rentals I got. Even the so called high performance boards feel childish compared to a brand spanking new one.

Why buy your own snowboard?

1. Rentals suck!

2. Renting costs add up quickly! The average cost of a snowboard package (snowboard + boots + bindings) is roughly $500 and the average cost of high performance rentals (board + boots + bindings) is roughly $40.  Do the math yourself.

3. Different riding/snowboarding styles means different snowboard requirements. Unfortunately, rentals shops usually only carry one style, which forces you to go with whatever they have.

How do you choose your first snowboard? A number of factors will affect which snowboard you’ll end up buying:

1. What’s your style?

• Freestyle: Freestyle boards are built for parks and are aimed to riders who want to do tricks, pipes, rails and parks.
• Freeride/All mountain: These boards are the most commonly used boards and are intended for all-purpose mountain riding. They are stiffer than freestyle boards and their shape makes them somewhat difficult to ride backwards. But this is the most ideal board for someone just started out.
• Freecarve/Alpine (not for beginners): These boards are designed to go fast. They are generally longer/stiffer, much narrower and don’t look like your average snowboard. Designed for high speeds and quick turns, Alpine boards are not recommended as anyone’s first board.

Chances are if you’re just starting out, you’re going to want a freeride/all mountain board. For more information on the differences between freeride and freestyle, click here.

2. Stability/flexibility: There are 2 main shapes that you’ll need to keep in mind.

• Camber snowboards, when laid flat down, will have an upward facing arc/bend in the center. It’s designed this way so you don’t catch an edge (it’s when the side of your board digs into the snow forcing you to fall over) and provides more stability. This shape is also the most common type of snowboards out there

Camber Snowboard

• Reverse camber is the opposite and it’s when the middle of your board is designed to be flat while the board ends curve upwards (Lib Tech snowboards are known for this). Reverse camber boards are far more flexible than camber boards.

Reverse Camber Snowboard

3. Board size: Depends more on the type of riding you’ll be doing and less on your height.

• Freestyle board: you’ll want something that reaches somewhere between the base of your neck and just below your chin.
• Freeride/All mountain board: you’ll want the board to reach anywhere above your chin and below your nose. This will give you enough flexibility while maintaining the stability you need for all mountain riding.
• Freecarve/Alpine board: you’ll want something that’s long (above the nose) to ensure maximum stability at high speeds.

4. Board feel: The stiffer a board, the more stable it is, but the tougher it is on your legs. While flexible boards are easier on the legs, they are more likely to wipe out at higher speeds.

• As a beginner, your best bet is a board that provides a good balance between stiffness and flexibility. So while you’re shredding the mountain, you can still go in for jumps and some rails.
• Freestyle boards are usually more flexible, because speed is not necessary and you’ll want that for days at the park.

Other things to look out for that affect the feel of your board:

• Twin Board: This is a 100% percent symmetrical snowboard. The nose and tail are the same shape, the stance and flex are centered, and the board rides the same regular and switch. Best for: The park, jibs and jumping. Twin boards help to keep you balanced so if your goal is to spin and master the tricks, get a twin board.
• Directional: This board typically has a slightly longer nose than tail. Directional boards are designed to be ridden in one direction, not to say that they cannot be ridden switch (I ride my Burton T6 switch all the time!). The steering and pop power are controlled by the tail, enabling easy turns through the powder and mucho control at high speeds. Best For: Powder turns and high speeds.
• Directional Twin: These boards combine elements of both the directional and twin boards. They may have a directional shape or core, and a twin flex pattern (or vice versa).

5. Board brand: This is where it gets vague and somewhat confusing. There are a ton of brands out there that do a very good job of designing boards. My recommendation is you go to a local snowboarding store, tell a store rep what kind of board you want (given the information on this page), browse around, and check for prices.

My personal favorites are:

• Burton (my first 2 boards were a Burton Raven and a T6)
• Rome (my 3rd board was a WWW Rocker)
• Bataleon (I’ve heard good stuff from friends and other riders)
• Lib Tech (creators of the reverse camber snowboards)
• K2
• DC
• Apo
• Forum

Some advice: You can save a ton of money by buying a last year’s model. I’ve done that with all my boards, and honestly the differences between this years and last years are usually aesthetic. If you want more snowboarding tricks and tips, click here.

What to do now? Take this information and walk into your local snowboard store and shop around. Find a good deal, because you’ll be changing the board in a season or two once you get the hang of riding. You should certainly consider buying a last year’s model.

Pamela Anderson Snowboarding?

Here’s Pamela Anderson, appropriately dressed might I add, on a snowboard in Malibu. She’s looking good, but I wonder if she really does ride or not. This seems to be part of a fund raiser so I do hope they raised some money. If you attended, let us know what you thought about it.

Will My Old Bindings Work With the New Burton ICS Boards?

Burton Custom ICS 2010

Ever since Burton introduced the Infinite Channel System – ICS (not sure why it’s called infinite… flexible would have been a better word) –  many riders have been confused about whether they can fit older bindings on the new ICS boards. The short answer is yes! New Burton boards come with an adapter that fits in the ICS slot to which you can screw your old bindings to. But if you’re going to shell out for a new Burton board, you might as well buy their new EST bindings to get the full benefit of the ICS design.

A lot of people will argue that this is Burton’s way of making you buy new bindings, and while I’m not a 100% sure if they could have fitted the adapter to give older bindings the benefit of the new ICS design, it’s still a useful feature. In case you don’t know, the ICS design lets you easily (a matter of loosening up two screws) move the bindings along the board. With traditional systems you are bound by fixed positions on the board and on the plates. With ICS you can move the bindings fractionally in all directions to achieve your perfect stance width and foot position.

Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie is Ben & Jerry’s Newest Ice Cream Flavor

Hanna Teter's Maple Blondie Ice Cream Flavor

In an effort to appeal to the snowboarding audience, Ben & Jerry’s has named its newest ice cream flavor after champion snowboarder Hannah Teter. Personally, I’ll scoop up buckets of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream regardless of whom they name it after, but this will certainly sweeten the spot for many.  As twitter user @ShannonShreds exclaims: “whaaat Hannah Teter has her own Ben&Jerry’s flavor!? I wish I was good enough at snowboarding to have my own ice cream“.

This would mark the first time the company has named a flavor after an athlete and appropriately enough, Teter’s ice cream flavor sounds like it will make a splash. Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie is a maple ice cream with blonde brownie pieces and a maple caramel swirl. Who will be able to resist all that goodness? But more importantly, part of the sales will go to the professional rider’s charity,  Hannah’s Gold, which provides funds for infrastructure improvements and various humanitarian projects in Africa.

Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/