Another lost weekend in Aspen for Lindsey Vonn

Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden won the slalom in Aspen.

The U.S. Ski Team had the home field advantage again this past weekend in Aspen and AGAIN came away with little to show. For those of you counting at home (you must be using your toes by now) it has been 13 races since an American reached the podium at this event. That would be way back in 2004. Instead, Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner was your winner (Read more in the Aspen Times).

So why is that? “It’s just a hard hill,”  said Lindsey Vonn, who skied off the Giant Slalom course on Saturday before finishing eighth in Sunday’s slalom. Really? Well, if Lindsey says so, we’re gonna believe her.

There was some good news: Aspen enthusiastically supported the event, which reminded some locals that the High Country Hollywood does, indeed, know how to throw a race. At least the Americans are winners there.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, enter our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest.

Ramp being built for Denver Big Air to get it ready to fly Jan. 25-26

Excitement continues to build for Denver Big Air presented by Sprint on Jan. 25-26 in the heart of downtown at Civic Center Park. Just this week they started to build the 10-story high ramp that will be used in the competition. Check out this video from the Denver Post.

A number of competitors, including Denver’s own Bobby Brown, have signed up and now two great concerts have been announced: Switchfoot and One Republic on the final day. Get more details on how to see the shows.

Day one competition will feature skiers; on day two snowboarders will rule the hill. Want to buy tickets? (one-day and all-session passes available, as well as VIP tickets) Look at this cool rendering of the jump and the seat locations. Get daily updates on their Facebook page.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, enter our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest.

Video: Evan Berg flies with the greatest on ease (on skis)

Swany Gloves works with a lot of great young athletes, who we will feature throughout the season. Today we have three cool videos from Evan Berg, who sent along this update.

“Lately I have been out skiing on whatever snow I can find.  I have few new videos for you to check from some preseason skiing at Silver Star & Big White, as well as my ’09/10 Season Recap’ video.”

Check them out:

• Big White Preseason
• Silver Star Preseason
• 09/10 Season Recap

Swany’s Weekly Best: Dew Tour, great snow, mastodons and more

The flying Jen Hudak will now compete in more Dew Tour events.

Every week we find a number of cool stories, videos and photographs that we share on Facebook and Twitter. But really, who can keep up with all of them? So today marks the start of Swany’s Weekly Best, a collection of those stories all in one convenient location. So what did we like this week?

• They’ve already started skiing in North Carolina. Let’s hear it for Sugar Mountain and Cataloochee!
• The Dew Tour has seen the light and added the ladies to more competitions. Find out where you can see the likes of Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter fly in the pipe as well as watch the likes of Jen Hudak ski slopestyle.
• You’ve got to like the story about how a construction crew in Snowmass unearthed 100,000-year-old Mastodon bones.
• Have you met our friends on the Snow Squad? They’ll be all over Summit County and Tahoe this season. Meet them all.
• Find the opening dates for a ski resort near you.
• And we just topped 250 fans on our Facebook page, which allowed us to give away some Swany Gloves to  Mariah Muehlman in Washington state. We’ll do it again at 300, so go there and ‘like’ us.

‘New’ idea for a ski resort embraces old ideas

The ski area envisioned by the Mountain Riders Alliance may be similar to New Zealand's Club Fields, like Temple Basin, shown here (Camilla Stoddart)

Jamie Schectman, 41, and five partners in the Mountain Riders Alliance are within a month of announcing their development of a North American ski area, which they plan to transform into a “ski-energy center” and operate on minimalist terms and with a mix of old-school, community-focused strategies as well as innovative, modern energy solutions.

“We feel like the sport has taken a turn and forgotten about us. We’re skiers first,” says Schectman. “Some ski resorts come into a town, don’t embrace the community, and drive out the locals and soul. We don’t want to be like that.”

Learn more about this brave new idea at the Freeskiing blog at ESPN.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, enter our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest.