Schleper exits World Cup stage on same day as fellow American Shiffrin earns her first podium

Sarah Schleper carries her son on her final run.

On a day when Austrian Marlies Schild continued to dominate the women’s World Cup Slalom competition, the big news was a changing of the guard on the American team.

Sarah Schleper stepped away from the sport on Thursday (Dec. 29), retiring after her 186th World Cup race by taking a ceremonial final run wearing a dress and carrying her 3-year-old child for part of the run. But as one door closed another opened for the Americans as 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin earned her first World Cup podium, taking third in the race at Lienz, Austria .

Learn more about Schleper’s long-running career and Shiffrin’s fast ascent in this SkiRacing.com story.

Lindsey Vonn lights it up with great photos in Italian Sport Week

Lindsey Vonn in Italian Sport Week magazine.

We all know Lindsey Vonn is a superstar on the World Cup ski tour.

But she’s also a superstar around the world for her personal style, a fact reinforced this week with the release of a red-hot photo shoot in Italian Sport Week magazine.

The all-time American leader in World Cup victories posted the photos to her Facebook page, where the response has been predictably enthusiastic.

Take a look at the fantastic photos for yourself.

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

Bobby Brown stoked about slopestyle’s inclusion in Soichi Olympics

Amazing what can happen in a year.

In January of 2010 Bobby Brown was all the rage, winning both the Big Air and Slopestyle competition at the X Games. In 2011, nagged by injuries, he still managed a silver in Big Air and fourth in Slopestyle, leading some to suggest this year is about “redemption,” according to a Denver Post story.

Not that Brown’s worried. He’s healthy and excited about the chance to compete in slopestyle at the 2014 Olympics in Soichi. Read more.

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

Marlies Schild’s on a roll with 3rd straight World Cup slalom win, but Lindsey Vonn’s getting closer

Marlies Schild

Someone else is streaking on the women’s World Cup ski circuit and it’s not Lindsey Vonn  (although more on Lindsey in a moment).

The skier of the moment is Austrian Marlies Schild, who claimed her third consecutive World Cup slalom victory Tuesday (Dec. 20) under the lights in a “home” match in Flachau, Austria. The defending World Cup slalom champ is to this discipline, with 30 career Cup slalom race wins, what Vonn is to the speed races.

Then again, Vonn showed promise on this evening, placing an impressive eighth and saying she is starting to feel “comforatble” in slalom. That could be bad news for the rest of the women. Read more.

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

Holiday gift ideas that will warm their hearts (and their hands)

We know the feeling. There’s someone on your list that needs one more present and you can’t think of anything to get them. We can help. After all, everyone can use a good pair of gloves or mitts.

But that begs the question: Which style will make the best gift? The answer depends on who will receive the glove. Some suggestions:

• X-Change Glove: Is there an active outdoor adventurer on your list who demands high quality, durability and warmth? This is the glove.
• Arctic Mitt: This is for the hard-charging lady on your list who wants a warm, high performance glove that’s made for a woman.
• I-Finger: You know the type: can’t leave that smart phone behind. The I-Finger lets them “touch” without removing their gloves.
• PackyBak: Have a friend who can’t keep track of their gloves? Give them this “go anywhere glove” packed in a travel pouch that’s part of the glove (nothing to lose).

You can order the gloves from the Swany website, but you can also find our great Swany gloves and mitts at sporting goods stores everywhere.

So get  shopping and Happy Holidays!

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

Shaun White, Kelly Clark claim halfpipe wins in Winter Dew Tour Nike Open in Breckenridge

Some things never seem to change. Shaun White’s dominance in snowboard halfpipe is one of them, which he reaffirmed on Saturday (Dec. 17) with a victory after only four days on his board. Or at least that’s he says in this ESPN story. See how Louie Vito and the rest of the field finished.

A familiar name also won on Saturday in the women’s halfpipe snowboard competition, with Kelly Clark just nipping Gretchen Blieler. Read more.

In the slopestyle competition, Gjermund Braaten surprised a loaded men’s field for the win while Spencer O’Brien claimed the win in women’s slopestyle. Read more.

Look here for all results for snowboarders and skiers in superpipe and slopestyle.

PREVIEW

After last weekend’s amazing halfpipe action at the U.S. Grand Prix, we can’t wait to see what will happen this weekend at the Winter Dew Tour Nike Open at Breckenridge.

Competition will be raging in the superpipe and slopestyle. Watch a video “first look” at the snowboard slopestyle course with Eric Willet and the freeski slopestyle course with Eric Shlopy. For a look at the superpipe and oher event highlights, including this week’s return to the slopes by Kevin Pearce, visit this video highlights page.

Competitors his weekend include the sport’s best: Defending champs Louie Vito (men’s snowboard superpipe), Kelly Clark (women’s snowboard superpipe), Torstein Horgmo (men’s snowboard slopestyle), Jamie Anderson (women’s snowboard slopestyle), Kevin Rolland (ski superpipe) and Breck’s Bobby Brown (ski slopestyle).

But the biggest news might be who’s BACK at the event, as superstar Shaun White returns to compete after a two-year hiatus. Others competing will include Luke Mitrani, Greg Bretz and Simon Dumont.

For a complete schedule, look here.

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

Kevin Pearce is back riding? Believe it!

We’ve never been one to believe in miracles (not even Tim Tebow). But Tuesday’s events at Breckenridge might change our minds.

That’s because Kevin Pearce was back riding his board. The same Kevin Pearce who was so badly injured in a snowboarding accident two years that not many people expected him to walk again, much less ride.

But there he was on Tuesday, followed by a posse both famous (Jake Burton, Scotty Lago and others) and just plain folks. And Kevin was RIPPIN, according to this great story from ESPN. Or else check out this video and story.

You can get more of Kevin if you tune in this weekend to the Winter Dew Tour’s Nike Open, which starts Thursday in Breckenridge.

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

It’s time to enter Swany’s Third Annual Outdoor Adventures Video Contest, win cool prizes

Entries already are coming in for Swany’s third annual Outdoor Adventures Video Contest! The video above comes to us from Philly. Watch it and then read the rest of this post to see how you can enter.

It’s easy to enter and you could win cool prizes, ranging from Swany gloves to a helmet cam. Here’s what you need to do.

• Make an outdoor adventure video: It could be a ski or snowboard trick, a visit to the backcounty for Telemark skiing, or a snowball fight. We don’t need an epic: 1 minute is just fine. Have you already made a video? Enter that. Want the inside track? The judges give extra credit for including Swany gloves.
• Upload your video: Any public site on the web is fine. YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
• Enter: E-mail the URL of your video to swanygloves@gmail.com. In the “Subject” line, write “Video Contest.” In the body of the e-mail include your name, home town, age and a sentence describing where the video was shot.
• Winners’ notification: Swany will select weekly and monthly winners and notify them via the e-mail address used to enter your video.
• Prizes: Weekly winners will be awarded one pair of Swany gloves or mittens. The monthly winner gets a Helmet Cam. In addition, we’ll highlight your video on this page for the whole world to see.
• Who’s eligible: Everyone. Unless you work for Swany America.

What’s a winning entry look like? Go ahead and look at winning videos from last year to get an idea of what to do. And then ENTER TODAY!!!!

It doesn’t have to be a mountain rescue, like this winning video below from last season. But watch it anyway to marvel at the great things people do.

Mitrani’s amazing first run claims U.S. Grand Prix snowboarding halfpipe over Vito

Luke Mitrani’s unreal first run proved enough to hold off an astonishing effort ( three double corks and frontside 1260) by Louie Vito on Saturday (Dec. 10) to win the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix.

Kelly Clark repeated as champ for the women. Read more.

FRIDAY

The spoils went to the young in the ski halfpipe competition on Friday (Dec. 9) at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain. Wing Tai Barrymore, a 19-year-old, took first while 16-year-old rising star Torin Yater-Wallace took second and another 19 year old was third. Read more.

PREVIEW

Want to watch some of the world’s best snowboarders and freeskiers? You’re in luck, if you can get to Copper Mountain this weekend for the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix. (Can’t make it up? Watch the live webcast.)

Those lucky enough to get up there to watch the freeskiing today will see rising star Torin Yater-Wallace, along with icons such as Jossi Wells and Simon Dumont.

If you can make it up for Saturday’s snowboarding finals at noon, you’ll have a chance to see defending champion Louie Vito, fellow star Scotty Lago and plenty of other big names.

Check back with us for full results. Learn more in this story from SummitDaily.com and get a complete schedule.

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

What’s with Lindsey Vonn and Tim Tebow and ‘Tebowing?’ The answer

UPDATE (12/13): So what’s the deal with Lindsey Vonn and Tim Tebow? As Vonn explains in her World Cup Diary in the Denver Post, it’s a “family” thing that brought Robby Tebow to her World Cup victory last week at Beaver Creek and brough Vonn to the Broncos’ thrilling overtime win on Sunday against the Bears. Read more.

Wow, talk about a mix of sports cultures!

American skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn “Tebowed” in front of the podium on Tuesday after her victory in a Super G on the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek.

The “Tebowing” move was popularized by Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and blown into a social media firestorm by Tebowing.com. And it’s no accident that Vonn pulled the move — Tebow’s brother Robby has become a friend and was in attendance.

Is there a romantic connection between the two in the wake of Vonn’s recent divorce? You’ll have to read the Denver Post story to find out.

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