Swany’s Weekly Best: The top stories (so far) of the 2010 season

Kevin Pearce, left, with his family.

Hey, it’s the end of the year, so why should we limit ourselves to just one week? So here’s a look back at the most popular stories we posted about on the Swany Outdoor Adventures Blog.

• The feel-good story of the year is the ongoing recovery of snowboard star Kevin Pearce, who served as an emcee and host at the Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge. Read Scott Willoughby’s great story in the Denver Post.
• Entries are rolling in for our Outdoor Adventure Video Contest. Watch one and enter. It’s EASY!
• The Nike 6.0 Winter Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge produced a ton of powder and wins for Louie Vito, Queralt Castellat, Simon Dumont, Dania Assaly,Alexis Godbout (who edged local favorite Bobby “Big Air” Brown) and Ashley Battersby. Read the complete story.
• The first-ever Denver Big Air competition is poised to take off Jan. 25-26 in the heart of Denver.
• Workers at Snowmass Resort in Colorado dug up a mastodon. No word yet on whether it preferred powder or spring skiing.

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.

More good reviews for Swany Gloves

The completely recyclable Eco-Circle gloves.

As we always say, it’s one thing to hear us praise Swany Gloves, but even better to hear OTHER people talk about why they’re terrific.

This week we were fortunate to get the good word from Scott Willoughby, who covers outdoor sports (World Cup skiing, X-Games, Olympics) for the Denver Post. Scott, who also gets out and hits the halfpipe himself, wrote about our Eco-Circle gloves and mitts, the first completely recyclable gloves. Among other things, he said “the proven Swany brand deliver(s) the digit insulation that skiers have come to expect” and “riders looking for good gloves and a good cause will find both in the Eco-Circle.” Full review.

He’s not the only one saying good things. Check out these as well:

• Terrific consumer review of our X-Cell II gloves.
• This happy customer loves the Swany Legend.
• James Gardiner, a member of the Vail Snow Squad, previously wrote “The end of hand warmers” in praise of his new X-Change Gloves.
• Then there was this nice shout-out for Arctic Toasters.
• Here’s a nice review of our Heavy metal glove.
• How about this awesome write-up of our recyclable Eco-Circle gloves on the Whom You Know blog.

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.

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World Cup: Bode 8th in downhill in Bormio; Vonn loses overall lead

Ted Ligerty

U.S. star Bode Miller finished 8th to lead three Americans to finish in the top 20 in Wednesday’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill in Bormio,  Italy. Steven Nyman (11th) and Travis Ganong (20th) joined him. Austria’s Michael Walchhofer won the race. Read the story.

Tessa Worley of France has won a third straight women’s World Cup giant slalom on Wednesday, while second-place Maria Riesch overtook Lindsey Vonn (who finished 7th) at the top of the overall standings.

What a World Cup season it has been so far for Ted Ligety of Park City, winner of three straight giant slaloms and the current overall points leader.

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.

Great snow conditions for Christmas skiing!

Seriously, is there a bad place to ski on Christmas Day? Of COURSE not! It’s Christmas, for heaven’s sake. Everything’s better on that great day. So wherever you are headed, have a great day. But in case you need a hint about where to go, consider these Christmas Day suggestions (Hint: Our pals at Okemo are in the list!)

Elsewhere, lots of snow has been falling in the past week, meaning some of the best Christmas conditions in years across the country. Get the latest conditions for a resort near you from On the Snow.

Looking for a deal on lift tickets? Head over to Liftopia, where they have discount tickets for Snowbird, Mt. Bachelor, Angel Fire and Stowe, to name just a few.

Live in Colorado? Two new deals have been announced. For $99, you can ski without additional payment every time Copper Mountaingets four or more inches of snow (it happens more than 42 times a season, they say). For $199 you can get the 4by40 Ski Pass: two days at Steamboat and two days at Winter Park. Hurry, deal ends Dec. 31.

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.

Kevin Pearce riding strongly into recovery

Kevin Pearce, Pia Pearce, Adam Pearce (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

It was nearly one year ago when Kevin Pearce nearly lost his life in a snowboarding accident in Park City, Utah. Prospects seemed dim, but friends rallied closely around the 23-year-old from Vermont. Last weekend his remarkable recovery continued when he attended the Dew Tour event in Breckenridge, acting as an ambassador for the sport at the bottom of the pipe, greeting his old friends and lifting spirits.

Read a great story about Pearce by Scott Willoughby of the Denver Post.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. Our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest has returned for a second year. Entering is as easy as sending an e-mail.

Video contest entries rolling in, but we want YOUR outdoor adventure video, too

Swany’s second annual Outdoor Adventure Video Contest is ON! It’s easy to enter and you could win cool prizes, ranging from Swany gloves to a helmet cam. Check out the video from Josh below to see what a current entry looks like, or look at winning videos from last year to get an idea of what to do. And then ENTER TODAY!!!!!

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. Our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest has returned for a second year. Entering is as easy as sending an e-mail.

Lindsey Vonn sweeps downhill, super-combined; Vito, Castellat win Dew Tour superpipe

Lindsey Vonn celebrates her downhill victory.

In World Cup ski action, it was a  HUGE weekend for Lindsey Vonn, who continued to round into her amazing form in Val D’Isere by winning her first downhill of the season on Saturday and then a super-combined on Sunday.

DEW TOUR

It was snowing like crazy for the Snowboard Superpipe Finals at the Nike 6.0 Winter Dew Tour Open in Breckenridge on Saturday. Which made for low speeds in the pipe and even lower scores in the first round for the men. But then Louie Vito brought down the hammer in an amazing second round to crush the field. On the women’s side, Spain’s Queralt Castellat claimed victory in the Superpipe.

Adding to the emotion of the day: Kevin Pearce, injured last year while training, was on hand to cheer on the competitors. Read ESPN’s complete report. Simon Dumont and Dania Assaly were the winners in the ski halfpipe competition later in the day on Saturday.

The Slopestyle competition on Sunday featured some amazing, heated competition as well. On the men’s side in skiing, Alexis Godbout edged local favorite Bobby “Big Air” Brown. While on the ladies side, Ashley Battersby took the win over Keri Herman. We have complete results.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. Our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest has returned for a second year. Entering is as easy as sending an e-mail.

Swany’s Weekly Best: Dew Tour, World Cup win, powder dumps and lift ticket deals

Dania Assaly during Dew Tour qualifying

The season is heating up, with huge snowstorms to competitions of the world’s best. Some of the best stories we saw this week:

• The Dew Tour’s ready to rock Breckenridge all weekend after two days of qualifiying. The women qualified for freeski superpipe on Friday, as did the men. The qualifiers for snowboarding took place on Wednesday. There are more prelims today with the Cool Kids performing tonight; finals on Saturday and Sunday. Complete schedule.
• Ted Ligety stayed on a winning roll in the World Cup. Lindsey Vonn surprises.
• The 2011 Ski Guide from the New York Times is awesome. Read it and dream.
• Tahoe is getting buried in snow. Plus: conditions at resorts near you and the best lift ticket deals.
• Our Outdoor Adventures Video Contest has returned for a second year. Entering is as easy as sending an e-mail.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

New York Times Ski Guide 2011 a winner

Sun Valley trail map.

The New York Times is well known for its worldwide coverage of news, but don’t sell the newspaper short when it comes to covering skiing, whether it’s the World Cup tour or recreational skiing. The most recent proof? Check out Ski Guide 2011, the special report in its Travel section. It’s full of gear, destinations and advice. Some stories of note:

• From Vail to Gstaad, things to do AWAY from the slopes.
• Is Disentis in Switzerland the next big ski secret to be revealed?
• 36 Hours in Sun Valley, Idaho.
• Avalanche survival: know your snow.

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.

What does a World Cup judge demand? Swany

So there you are on the Birds of Prey course, judging a gate during the recent World Cup events held at Beaver Creek. It’s a cold day and you KNOW it’s going to be a long day, so what do you demand for your hands? “The Legend” from Swany Gloves, of course. Take a look for yourself at these shots (click to enlarge) from the top of that amazing course, where Ted Ligety got a win Dec. 5. He won again the following weekend.