These two little Georgia girls are a bundle of fun. Way to go Emma on mastering your ollie, and Ella, you can handle the cold better that any four-year-old I have met.

Julie and George, you have some great girls. It was nice to meet your friends and their kids. I hope you had a safe trip back to Georgia, and I look forward to snowboarding with you in Vail and Beaver Creek again. Check out the action photos of the weekend here.

This years Honda Sessions was quite cool. Many men and women pro snowboarders made it out for the event.

All the terrain features this year were bigger than last year. First, the rail jam. It was the same great session format we have all come to love. Each rider goes as many times in an hour-ish. Every 15 minutes they gave away cash money.

I have to say that the rails this year were very cool looking, but a combination of a slow approach and almost too many options, left the event a bit bland. I was cold, and everyone’s boards were slow, but you just didn’t see the same rail tricks up the rails as you did last year. Check out the photos of the Honda Sessions 2007 event and you can view the rail layout.

The Big air contest was killer, and it was freezing that night.
Check out more Honda Sessions Jabber here:
http://www.futuresnowboarding.com/blog/2007/01/honda-session-rail-jam/
http://www.snowblahg.com/author/lpelosi/page/1

Hannah, Leslie and Alex. Hey guys. Go Bears, I guess. These gals and guy are from Ohio and Chicago area. Being a Green Bay guy myself, I can say that now the Packers are out of the picture for the NFL playoffs, I’m backing the Bears.

We had a blast snowboarding chair 15 at Vail. Phyllis, thanks for the Pinnacle Yachts connection, Alex … keep sailing. Look forward to snowboarding with you again. See these kids snowboard at Vail here.

It is quarter to five, the lifts have stopped running, and most of Vail is in Moes BBQ in Lionshead. Huddled in wobbly booths, with dance-hall raggae coming through the speakers and mouth watering pulled pork sandwiches at the bar – it is Apres time, and there is no place anyone would rather be. Skiers and snowboarders alike can’t resist the two-dollar-tall-boy cans of Pabst.

As I’m finishing the last of my corn bread, the place starts emptying out. I check my watch, and pass my banana pudding to Belgium Bob to finish. It time for the Bud Keene show.

Bud Keene is the former U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe coach. I say former because he announced his retirement April after leading the U.S. snowboarding team to four medals in the Torino, Italy Olympics. Including the gold won by the 19-year-old wonder-boy, Shaun White.

Every year Bud comes and speaks to Vail snowboard instructors. I’ve attended his chats for the last three or four years. But this year was different. The conference room at the Marriot Hotel was standing room only.

I poured myself a glass of water and pulled up a chair in the front row. He spoke about his snowboarding career, from initial inspiration from Vail’s own Lowell Hart to U.S. Halfpipe Coach to his new projects, including a halfpipe instructional video with instruction from the top pros.

Bud spoke about coaching passionately, wide-eyed, pulling his smile just off the center of his mouth. He related coaching to selling people their own goals, their own talents, their own abilities … a vessel through which a rider can become the best they can be, that’s what a coach is.

Bud shared some clips from his new instructional video that will be out in several weeks, and shared stories that made you feel as if you were there. He told us about the two hours Shaun White had to wait before his second qualifying run in Torino.

The story you never heard was what Bud did to help Shawn deal with the pressure. How he crashed on a jump while doing some laps with Shaun, and how Shaun came running up the hill, board under arm, when Bud didn’t appear after the kicker. Whether Bud crashed on purpose or not, the fact is Shaun grabbed the gold and as a coach, subconsciously or not, Bud did what ever he had to do help is riders reach their true potential.

Their are a lot of lessons to be learned about coaching. The most overlooked I think is this. Their is a difference between a coach and a rider. You don’t have to be able to do a Crippler to coach it. You have to know your student, and be able to provide an environment for them to unlock their potential and eventually ride better than you.

A good coach is a vessel in which through anything can happen, even gold medals. Thanks Bud, keep up the good work, and I’ll see you next year.

Lorne, Oliver, Caroline, Graham & Will are the X-Boarders from Florida and Tennessee. We had a blast for four days, and finished with some awesome Vail mountain snowboard exploration. From never snowboarding to linking smooth s-turns on green terrain on the fourth day – these kids are real snowboarders and way cool. Check out there skill in the photo gallery.

Vail’s Dummy Gelunde 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlWKRPu-Y6E

Check out the Mike Master Mike show in Vail. It was off the hook. I got body passed through the crowd. It was rocking. Mix Master Mix Vail photos here. Hey Mike, ya wanna go snowboarding?

I’ve been riding a Burton Jussi snowboard for about 3 years now. The Jussi is a great directional board, and I love it. It’s quick edge to edge, light & fast, real responsive, and now it’s stance is just 20mm off center.

Actually, I have three Burton Jussi boards. One from the last three years. I’ve been rocking the oldest one the most. It’s my teaching board. It’s soft, buttery soft, and full of scratches and stress fractures. You won’t hear me complaining when a three-year-old skier decides to scrape her sticks across my deck all the way up the chair lift just for fun.

The only thing this buttery Jussi doesn’t have is an edge. That’s where last year’s model comes in. It’s the goto board for dynamic carving and ice. The new deck, with sick graphics, I keep at home for when one of the others snaps. (I’ve only snapped one, actually. And Burton’s warranty department rocks)

Today I decided to set up my Burton Un.Inc snowboard. It’s really last years model, the 157 with the pirate sword on the bottom, really flash.

Beside being a bit softer than the Jussi, the Burton Uninc is a true twin. Can you say spin to win! This board puts the snap in snappy. There is nothing like a jib stick that can hold an edge. FYI. A twin board, or a symmetrical snowboard has a nose that is as big as it’s tail. The rider is completely centered on the deck.

Being centered is great for spinning, and really is a cool ride when you downsize the board length to really see the g-forces you can pull. Time for a hand plant or a cartwheel. Believe me, turn on your iPod and you will feel like you are on a skateboard flying down the mountain.

One thing to remember is that twin boards are really responsive. It’s kind of link riding switch on a directional board, where you have a smaller nose, and the edge is really quick to initiate the turn. Fore and aft movement is key here. Especially through the bumps.

Until the next powder day when I pull out the classic spoon nose deck with the dove tail. Ride on.

That’s right, the back bowls are open. Blue Sky Basin was sick this week. Tuesday and Wednesday we received almost two feet of fresh snow. With the day off, Tuesday, my roommate and I rode all day and took some cool photos. Check out the gallery, under December for the powder picks.

Snowboarding in Vail just keeps getting better. There may be a bit of variable conditions on some of the runs the Skree, but with one more dump, Lover’s Leap will be ready to huck. Keep riding, and see you on the slopes.

Lastly, the old Bwana park in Lionshead is now open. Vail has renamed the terrain park, and has added new 8 to 12-foot ollie on boxes, a down box, a spine, two 10-15 foot kickers and a 18-foot quarter pipe at the end. Last but not least, they are almost done with the new 12-foot mini pipe. It looks awesome, and the park flows better than last year. Snowboarders will find themselves lapping Chair 8, Born Free, more than ever before. Especially, since this pipe will be done before the superpipe is completed in Golden Peak.

I just finished a three-day booking with Emma from Atlanta. Emma is 7 years old and had never snowboarded before we met. She has spent the last several years skiing at Vail, and has reached the Mountain three status.

Basically, Mountain Three at Vail mountain means that she rips. Well, rips as much as any seven-year-old girl can. She can ride any chair lift herself on skis, cruise on greens and easy blues, and understands how to read the terrain.

For a little girl that already has found her independence on the mountain, to want to try snowboarding is very cool. I think that Dad being a snowboarder was motivation enough to make it happen.

Emma started out slowly, not know if she was regular footed or a goofy-footed rider. After twenty-five minutes of hands on training, she was skating and gliding down flat terrain with ease.

Over the next few days, we rode together, hand-in-hand. Progressing from the beginner area, and chairlift fifteen, we cruised the mountains easy green terrain. We spoke about how riding her horse “Little Dude” was a bit like snowboarding, and how if we thought about being in a rocking chair, our heel-side turns got easier.

I spoke with Emma’s Dad today. He called to say how Emma enjoyed her time snowboarding, that they would be back in January, and looked forward to seeing me and snowboarding again.

I can’t wait to hear about how “Little Dude” is, and if she taught him anything about snowboarding.